In the depths of the night, the waxing gibbous moon almost dipped back into the earth. The horizon showed the faintest hint of dawn.
In Aiwass's room, the seat clock rhythmically swung its pendulum, its hands now pointing to 4:20 a.m.
Yet he sat still in his wheelchair, motionless as a statue, leafing through the "Nurturing Secret Sequel".
Two streams of eerily purple-red tears slid continuously from the corners of Aiwass's eyes, who sat dazed at his desk, dropping tepidly onto the pages of the book before being absorbed into it.
Aiwass was engrossed in the secrets within the book.
His skin flushed crimson, the veins on his forehead and arms visibly swollen. Those veins, which should have been tinged with blue, showed a web of deep purple.
Despite it being winter, the room remained warm. Yet with Aiwass's deep and harsh breathing, wisps of a pale, white hot mist continuously exhaled from his mouth. Occasionally, a low cough would spark a few embers.
Only when morning came and birdsong was heard outside did Aiwass seem to awaken from a great dream.
His eyes cleared, and the purple veins on his face slowly retracted.
By then, he had unwittingly reached the end of the thin black leather book. The knowledge had been deeply etched in Aiwass's memory, vividly recalling it the moment he closed his eyes. The words even seemed to glow.
"...So it's such a thing," Aiwass murmured with a solemn expression.
The black Codex Book contained the description of a mystical skill known as "Shepherd's Nurturing".
It was a mystery dating back more than a thousand years—long before the concept of "profession" existed.
At that time, almost all Transcendents were journeying along various Paths because the superhuman common sense of "minimizing the number of Paths to delve into simultaneously" had not yet been established.
Walking multiple Paths at once not only made it easy to go mad and hindered progress on each Path but also was extremely detrimental to inheritance. In that environment, every Transcendent, after a lifetime of developing and mastering mystical skills, had to pass them on to successors who matched their personality, hobbies, and essence exactly.
Therefore, in ancient times, Transcendents were a rare presence in human society. Moreover, their superhuman powers were not very strong.
Without an inheritance system, almost no Transcendent could pass on their legacy beyond three generations. Each individual's progress along their Path was severely limited by their personal exploration alone.
It was not until about the fourth or fifth century that the concept of "profession" began to form. Transcendents, through various forms of practice, gradually purified and radicalized their personalities, rejecting the Paths they did not intend to traverse. They were careful not to let their intrinsic nature be corrupted, and while maintaining their original intent, they aimed to align as much as possible with the safe paths already explored by their ancestors.
The principles of the nine major Paths are actually quite blurred. Their boundaries overlap each other and are constantly changing.
For example, the Path of "Beauty" associated with art has the most noticeable shifts. Almost every few hundred years, people's understanding of "beauty" changes. Many arts considered unorthodox in the past became "ancient trends" decades or centuries later.
But if a Transcendent had no guidance, they could easily stray.
Because all mentally healthy ordinary people would certainly fit the criteria of multiple Paths at once.
For instance, wild Transcendents of the Path of Devotion might also stumble upon the Illumination Art. But if they do not know that the core principle of the Path of Devotion is "altruism," they can easily take the path of "exploiting their healing abilities to grasp power." For example, becoming the leader of a small religious faction.
That would easily lead them onto the Path of Authority unknowingly.
Similarly, those who pursue knowledge and science on the Path of Balance, aiming to demystify everything, could end up on the Path of Wisdom if they become too obsessed with truth or deem themselves intellectually superior, surpassing ordinary people.
If one becomes overly fixated on becoming a Pope or bishop, eager for promotion within the church hierarchy, then they have already set foot on the road to Transcendence.
If one were following two Paths, it might still be manageable. But everyone's mental and physical energy is limited, and humans are forgetful.
If one's original purpose is utterly forgotten, becoming entirely different from one's former self... then the power that originally came from the Path of Devotion would also weaken and vanish over time.
The most important part of "profession" inheritance is the "baseline of the Path." Even if the scope of the Path is vague, its core must be clear. Therefore, one should not test the boundaries of the Path, but follow only the most central part of its principles and use only the safest part of its power, thus gaining a relatively pure force of the Path.
Even if a Priest yearns for promotion or seeks money, power, or desire, as long as they remember that the core principle of the Path of Devotion is "altruism," they will not lose their Priest class rank for it.
With the advent of the "profession" system, superhuman knowledge could be formally passed down. From then on, Transcendents as a whole have become increasingly powerful.
But that does not mean the ancient mystical skills were weak.
The mystical skills from the pre-profession era were almost all legacies left by the strong of those times.
For example, the "Nurturing Secret Sequel" that Aiwass acquired was imprinted from the memories of a man known as "Shepherd".
This skill requires adaptability to both the Path of Devotion and Path of Transcendence and demands that these two Paths be as balanced as possible—only when the depths of the two Paths are consistent can one use the "Art of Herding".
When Aiwass advanced his Priest profession, he could temporarily no longer use it before the Demon Scholar advancement.
And this Mystical Skill could be frankly described as sorcery—
Its basic principle was "to nurture the tangible with the intangible, and to nurture the intangible with the tangible."
Overall, it described a Mystical Skill that could make anyone stronger…
After opening the book, Aiwass fell into an illusion. From those words, he faintly saw a hooded man in a black robe, feeding a weak demon with his own flesh and blood.
He did not sign a contract with the demon but simply seduced it with his flesh and blood to follow him. It was like keeping a pet, and akin to herding cattle and sheep. These weak demons were nurtured by him and became progressively stronger.
As a result, he himself became gaunt and covered with scars.
After that, Aiwass saw people kneeling before the man in the black robe, imploring for something.
And the man, with a special technique, infused the intangible strength of the demon into the supplicants. Amidst a blaze, it brought a drastic change to them and also endowed them with strength.
Thus, the supplicants became the man's followers. They killed many people, offering them as sacrifices to an ever-increasing number of demons. And when they weakened, they too were ruthlessly used as sustenance for a new batch of demons.
Through such exploitation, the demons gradually became stronger and more numerous. Thereafter, using the same secret method, he infused these demons into other followers craving power.
In this way, he amassed an evil legion comprised of demon-possessed individuals.
The legion garnered various secret treasures and usurped wealth for him. The man, growing weaker and weaker, started to nurture more and more Phantom Demons. At this point, not only demons followed him. Even light-attribute Phantom Demons appeared by his side.
They were all raised by the man from a young age. Without a contract, they willingly accepted the man's commands and shared a portion of their strength with others.
Under the management of the man in the black robe, his followers increased in number, and they grew increasingly powerful.
Like a snowball rolling, in a short time, they formed a terrifying force. This attracted attacks from all sides.
In the end, during the encirclement by the alliance, he sacrificed those followers who had followed him as food, nourishing powerful Phantom Demons with the Art of Herding.
Anyone who had been nurtured by him was powerless to resist the forceful sacrifice of the Shepherd's Nurturing.
They were used as sustenance, summoning even more powerful Phantom Demons.
Aiwass saw it all clearly in the illusion.
Although it was only a silhouette, it was undoubtedly the "Fallen Celestial Marshal" who had descended in version 3.0 and had been defeated!
The plan of the man in the black robe went awry at the last moment—he tried to use the Nurturing Skill to infuse the Fallen Celestial Marshal's power into himself.
—but he had not expected that the Nurturing Skill would suddenly fail at that moment.
He himself could not properly contain the power of the Fallen Celestial Marshal. He missed the optimal moment.
Without using the Nurturing Skill capable of extracting the essence of Phantom Demons without harming their nature, his actions became a theft of the Phantom Demon's essence—and the infuriated Fallen Celestial Marshal struck him down in retaliation, and thus he was killed by an assassin from the alliance.
The man known as "Shepherd," his evil legacy was thus severed.
"...Because when he tried to infuse the power he had seized into himself, he had already deviated from the Path of Devotion," Aiwass sighed.
This name, he really hadn't chosen it incorrectly.
To use humans as a sacrifice to feed the Phantom Demons, then extract power from the Phantom Demons, or directly sacrifice the entire Phantom Demon to nurture humans.
It was like a real shepherd.
Using omnipresent grass to herd cattle and sheep, then obtaining milk and meat from them.
The grass represents the common people.
The cattle and sheep represent the Phantom Demons.
Such a deplorable metaphor.
—If one does not regard the endless grass as a cost, "nurturing" cattle and sheep would then seem like a secret technique that creates something out of nothing.