Chapter 197: Plans Of Players

While Daniel was asleep, in the deepest and most hidden part of the Holy City, a large number of players had gathered.

Most of them were standing, while the strongest ones were seated around a table. There was one empty seat—it was clear they were waiting for someone.

"I didn’t expect this floor to be a group mission," said one of the seated players, a young man with long red hair.

"That’s how the Tower is. You can never predict what the next floor will be like," replied another young man with blue hair who had his eyes closed to calm his mind.

"Just out of curiosity... is your mission also to fulfill the Paragon’s request successfully?" asked a girl with black hair tied into bunny ears from across the table.

"Yeah... but what even is this Paragon? Why are we gathered here in the first place?" the red-haired boy asked. It was clear he was running out of patience.

And honestly, he had a point. As soon as he opened his eyes, he had found himself in a white robe, on a desert road. He had to walk for several days to get here.

And when he finally arrived, some guards told him to come here instead of going to the inn. And now, he had been stuck here with these idiots for hours.

"From what I understand, the Paragon is a possible successor to the leadership of the religion. And our mission is to complete his request successfully," the blue-haired boy answered patiently.

"Now that I think about it... any guesses on what the mission might be?" Velina—the girl with bunny ear hair—asked curiously.

Since they had arrived, they had done nothing except introduce themselves. Some of them knew each other because they were relatively famous prodigies in the Celestial Domain.

Like this red-haired boy, Zarek. He was the heir of the Crimson Flame Mountain—one of the well-known forces in the Celestial Domain whose Climbers mostly focused on fire-element training.

Or the blue-haired boy, Rowan—an otherworldly prodigy and a member of one of the famous guilds of the Central Plains called Warguard.

That’s why most of them had heard each other’s names beforehand, and they quickly got along and became acquainted.

Though you couldn’t really call them friends. Even though the mission of this floor was a group mission, they still kept their guard up around each other.

"It’s probably related to succession. He wants our help to secure his position as successor," Rowan answered.

"Makes sense. Shouldn’t be too hard, right? From what I’ve heard, there’s only one other Paragon. Maybe our mission is to assassinate that person," Velina whispered.

"Heh, if it’s just an assassination, I can handle it myself," Zarek said with a proud tone.

"Don’t be stupid. Even though this test is tailored to our strength, it’s a group mission. I doubt it’ll be that easy. Maybe he wants us to kill a mid-rank B enemy," Rowan responded, visibly bothered.

"What?! A mid-rank B? Is that even possible? Even if we all work together, I doubt we can pull that off," Velina said with a frown.

Most of the people here were only rank D. There were only five rank C players. If they had to fight a mid-rank B, they had no chance.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," a deep, charismatic middle-aged voice suddenly echoed before anyone could respond to Velina.

Everyone turned to see a middle-aged man wearing a grand, decorated robe approaching them.

Velina was about to stand up out of respect, but when she noticed the others didn’t, she stayed seated as well.

"Tch, that’s the Paragon? Took him long enough to get here."

"He even came in acting all high and mighty."

"The mission is to listen to his request, so whatever," a few players muttered among themselves.

But the Paragon completely ignored their comments and sat down in the empty chair, seemingly unbothered that no one stood up for him.

"So, you’re the ones who are supposed to help me? The ones my friend sent?" he looked at all of them and asked with a smile.

"Old man, instead of wasting time, just tell us your request. We’ve been stuck here for hours because of you," Zarek said harshly.

The others didn’t say anything, but it was clear they agreed with him.

"Hoho, old man? I may be up there in years, but I’m not that old yet," the Paragon chuckled slightly, then his expression suddenly shifted.

At the same time that his face turned serious, the atmosphere around them also became heavy and tense. Velina, Rowan, and Zarek noticed the shift and frowned a bit.

"My request is simple. But before that, I want to know—how much do you know about the Eternal Faith?"

They looked at each other and shared everything they had learned over the past few days.

"You know the basics, more or less. Actually, the Eternal Faith has two branches. One is the Endurers, and the other is the Ashbound."

"Both originated from two different interpretations of the words of the Great Prophet. And unfortunately, for reasons no one knows, the Prophet never said which interpretation was right or wrong."

"The Endurers’ interpretation is that eternity must be found in awareness, order, and stability. Stay. Endure. Change nothing, and you will reach the truth."

"Eternity can only be achieved through total obedience to Zirham’s original teachings. Innovation is deviation. Worship must be silent, without interpretation, and strictly imitative. The immortality of the body is holier than that of the soul; we must strive to bring the body into eternity as well." The Paragon paused briefly, letting them take in the explanation.

"But the Ashbound are different. Eternity is not stillness; it’s endless transformation. We get closer to Horvand by burning in change."

"Eternity means constant cycles of death and rebirth—not just in body, but in thought. Rituals must always evolve. Prayers, ceremonies, even languages must transform. Fire is the sacred element: the symbol of destroying the past to forge a new path in eternity." Then he finished the explanation.

"I see. So the reason for these two ideologies is the existence of two Paragons, right? Each one took a different interpretation and created a separate branch?" Rowan suddenly asked.

"Exactly. And my request is to ruin the reputation of one of these two branches—the second one, the one that says death is the beginning of eternity. How you do it is up to you. But your best chance will be tomorrow during the second sermon. That’s when the Paragon of that ideology will preach publicly." The Paragon also gave them a summary of the events planned for tomorrow.

"We understand. Don’t worry. I already have an idea of what to do," Rowan nodded and looked around at the others.

"I need to go now. Otherwise, they might get suspicious. If you run into trouble, use these badges." The Paragon said goodbye and left.

Of course, he didn’t give them his own badge—but the badge of the other Paragon. If something went wrong, all the blame would fall on his friend.

At the same time, Rowan explained his plan to the others—a plan that could completely destroy the image of one branch of the Eternity Faith.