When the plot-skips players into the game world

"[Killed a second energy level Transcendent, gained 8 free experience]"

"[Killed a second energy level Transcendent, gained 12 free experience]"

"[Killed a second energy level Transcendent, gained 14 free experience]"

"[Killed a third energy level Transcendent, gained 54 free experience]"

…

A slew of experience alerts appeared before Aiwass's eyes.

Fierce flames roared and spread, with the redness of the blaze reflected in the depths of Aiwass's eyes.

The Flame Butterflies, transformed from the Defiant Flame Butterflies, quietly perched on his shoulder, while the flame currents released by the other Flame Butterflies consumed the Demon Scholars who stood motionless in their tracks.

At least, it was certain that they were not puppets—their will had been manipulated by others, yet their souls remained intact.

And the spells they released did not land a single hit on Aiwass.

As the great Guardian held aloft the insignia, spells from illegal Paths disintegrated under the radiance of the order's Light.

All three squads of Demon Scholars were devoured by Aiwass.

Most of them were second energy level cannon fodder, roughly on par with "Da Zi" Veronica. Only a few were of the third energy level—Their ability to launch a successful ambush relied almost entirely on prepared materials for highly synchronous ritual casting.

It's no wonder they were directly dumped here, those Giants didn't care about the loss. These were merely newcomers who had completed an advancement ritual once or twice. Perhaps, in the Giants's view, the value of these cannon fodder was even less than the materials they used up.

According to intercepted correspondence between Da Zi and Minister Drost's secretary, these individuals had already begun infiltrating during the time Da Zi was sacrificing Aiwass.

Their initial purpose of coming to Glass Island was to seek a "Holy Entity".

Though to this day, Aiwass still didn't know exactly what they were searching for.

But considering the current situation…

Finding whatever it was they were looking for, they'd likely be unable to escape.

It was feasible to enter in a large group, but to leave together would be far too difficult.

—It was even possible that after obtaining what they wanted, they'd be controlled into self-sacrifice and die right here.

In the original timeline, Yulia went berserk because of their actions. Although Yulia was saved by Aiwass, members of the Noble Red Society were still on Glass Island.

In other words, aside from the projections of those two Giants… others had infiltrated a month ago.

This operation was likely an unforeseen event, directly related to the actions of Aiwass. Star Antimony hadn't expected their significant informer, Drost, to be suddenly captured, and could only order Noble Red to rescue him.

Judging from the low-level soldiers mobilized by Noble Red, it seemed like they were also quite dissatisfied with this order. But they had no choice but to comply.

Noble Red had at least infiltrated more than ten third energy level Demon Scholars, but according to the experience gathered, only three were dispatched for this operation. And it was probably just to lead and guide the ritual that they reluctantly sent out three members.

So, this operation could also be considered as "lightening the load".

Noble Red realized that if they attempted to rescue Minister Drost... whether successful or not, it would elicit retaliation from the official forces of Avalon. If there were too many of them, hiding would be impossible… so they sold off those low-level soldiers all at once to reduce their numbers.

From this wave alone, Aiwass had directly acquired 280 points of experience.

That's even more than the Aberrant Limb Demon, and over twice that of Miss Assassin.

Aiwass's experience accumulation had now surpassed seven hundred points.

He could now say that he indeed had more experience than he could use—his pace of experience accumulation and leveling had completely outstripped the cooldown of rituals. But because forcibly raising his level with experience could lead to an inflated sense of his own strength, Aiwass wasn't too keen on doing so.

It wasn't because of the symptom akin to "gem hoarding", stemming from accumulating too many resources for draws…

But because by his own talents alone, Aiwass could accumulate a level increase of seven or eight about every half-month. He only needed to use experience to pull up the last two or three levels to fill in the gaps. After all, Sherlock and the others were advancing once a month, but Aiwass needed to advance every half-month... If Aiwass also advanced once a month, then he wouldn't even need to allocate experience, and after maxing out the level he could even spare an extra week.

So, if possible… Aiwass still hoped to use experience to learn some skills. That was the choice that maximized benefits.

But where could he go... to learn so many skills? "Biting off more than one can chew" with too many skills wouldn't do, even if he mastered them, he still needed to improve by himself, and experience-fueled levels wouldn't grant knowledge.

"—What kind of skill could possibly consume so much experience?"

Aiwass mused internally.

It would be best if the skill was difficult to begin with, but something he could study and improve on his own. That's when the benefits would be highest.

Otherwise, Aiwass would rather hoard the experience… and when his level was higher, he'd use the stockpiled experience to catch up to the level progression of Sherlock, Isabel, and the others when he couldn't keep up due to his average allocation in dual Paths.

Even hoarding was better than wasting.

Unless it was a truly valuable skill.

But what could he learn?

Divination? Curses? Ether Magic?

It surely can't be Advanced Divine Arts, can it? Your journey continues on empire

If he could learn that, it'd be great... In Aiwass's memory, the Holy Nation had indeed invited nine bishops from Avalon to study for a year before 2.0 started. But after a year, the nine didn't learn a fart's worth and were chased back.

The Holy Nation realized that humans truly couldn't be taught, so they never brought it up again. Since then, the chance to acquire Advanced Divine Arts was lost.

If he was lucky, Aiwass might be able to blend in. He could find an excuse like "I'm going to the Holy Nation to find my foster father" or "I heard my sister is in the Holy Nation," and maybe he could sneak into the team.

As long as he could audit, Aiwass would be able to burn experience and directly learn the skills. This would probably be the highest value for use of experience—using it to shorten the time needed to learn a skill.

"...I need to find a chance."

He muttered softly.

Find a chance and ask the mentor... If there's no time conflict, it's best not to miss that window of opportunity.

Advanced Divine Arts are completely different from the Divine Arts taught by the church—it's an entire system, and even elves might not be able to learn it. The most representative of these is the God Descent Magic, which allows an Angel Envoy or even a Pillar God to descend into one's own body. And this skill is a requirement for inheriting the position of Pontiff and wearing The Holy Crown that grants an unconditional "Energy Level +1."

...Or maybe he could ask the Guardian?

No, better not. It's too much trouble for them.

It would be better to help Old Lady Meg survive... As thanks, maybe she would find a way to secure a spot for me. Besides, if she survives, Aiwass could leave with peace of mind to study abroad—lest he turns around and finds his home blown up.

That's what happened to those nine bishops in the original timeline. Avalon was no more before their studies had even ended.

However, after killing all the Demon Scholars, Aiwass didn't immediately leave.

The Guardian went to check the security of the secret room while Aiwass stayed behind to start emergency treatment.

Although he had the Defiant Flame Butterfly for group healing, Illumination Art was better for treating severely injured patients—especially since he didn't have much fire attribute mana left.

Using the Flame Butterfly for group healing still cost fire attribute mana, but Illumination Art needed only a spark to ignite, and the sustaining Illumination used primarily light attribute mana.

Under Aiwass's focused treatment, the new bureau chief, whose name he didn't know, was also directly saved by Aiwass.

Even her shoulder injuries, gastritis, and menstrual cramps were conveniently cured by him.

After that, Aiwass entered the Supervisory Bureau to start treating the others. Some looked as if they were kaput, even with stopped hearts... but they could still be saved.

Especially since Aiwass's Illumination Art was guaranteed not to go wrong. Thus, unless there was on-the-spot brain death—if someone was at the stage of "complete organ failure," as long as Aiwass had enough mana, he could still bring them back.

He left his wheelchair and knelt on the ground to treat the injured lying there.

To conserve mana, Aiwass would move his hand away after stabilizing the injury and move on to the next person. The remaining work could be left to bishops who would arrive later, or the patients could be sent straight to the hospital.

As Aiwass busied himself, he started feeling pain in his knees and shins. The marble floor of the Supervisory Bureau was cold and hard, causing him discomfort.

At that moment, Aiwass suddenly felt someone touching the back of his neck.

Then, she patted Aiwass's thigh and stuffed a soft cushion under his knees.

He turned in surprise—only to find it was Lily.

"I stole it from the bureau chief's office."

Lily smiled, and from behind her pulled out another pillow: "There's more if it's not enough."

Aiwass only felt that Lily seemed to have changed entirely.

Her eyes held deeper darkness, and the gentle smile that always hung on her face now seemed even more charming.

The original Lily, while cute, always gave off a common vibe. The smile on her face felt thin and fake, making her appear like a "very pretty maid" rather than "a young lady of a house" when standing with others.

But now, things were different.

If her smile before was that of a meek, lukewarm personality that disliked trouble—submissive and polite...

Now, she gave Aiwass the impression of a mature, composed elder. She had a charming allure that could draw the eyes of others.

"Come help me, Lily."

Aiwass smiled after a moment's stupor.

He instructed softly, "Put something under the patients' heads... Then help me open up their clothes, expose the chest for men, and the back for women."

"Yes, young master,"

Lily replied with a gentle smile.