The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　At this moment, Ollie had already brought over a fruit platter and pastries, and Aurora had also arrived from the library.

　With one more person to chat with, there are naturally more topics to discuss.

　Dak gradually transformed from a narrator into a listener, gleaning insights into the situation in the capital from Claire's account.

　Changes in momentum.

　As he listened, a strange look involuntarily appeared in his eyes.

　"No wonder the real changes in the situation in the capital are hard to see from the surface."

　Dark's ingrained way of thinking completely blinded him to the possibility of this route existing.

　It wasn't until Claire spoke that he suddenly realized everything had changed and the old ways could no longer be used.

　We're using our mindset to view the future.

　Yes, the changes are truly enormous!

　No wonder the eldest prince and princess have been showing less and less desire to perform; it turns out the king has become more assertive again!

　The old king reigned for thirty years, experiencing the most intense years of the war against the demons, which nearly exhausted him.

　Therefore, with the war over and his heart weary, after managing to rebuild the kingdom, he considered abdicating.

　law.

　This led to the struggle for the throne between the eldest prince and the eldest princess.

　Humanity had won the war, and the king had achieved something worthy of being recorded in history. He ascended to the summit...

　After reaching the peak, one should retire gracefully, so that one can enjoy a peaceful old age.

　But an unexpected turn of events did occur.

　No one knew exactly what had happened, but the king's energy improved day by day, and his overall complexion became better.

　Everything has changed dramatically, as if we've returned to our heyday twenty years ago.

　Although Princess Elizabeth came to discuss the matter with Arvid because she was worried that the King might be overworking himself, her words also revealed her concern for the King's potential resurgence.

　I imagine that Prince Charles would have similar concerns.

　In short, the situation in the kingdom changed drastically as a result.

　"Although it may be overly sensitive to link everything to deities, this is precisely the most sensitive time."

　Claire said these words without a trace of worry on her face.

　"Perhaps the king has also begun to make contact with gods, or things related to gods."

　"These discoveries revitalized him."

　"The royal family's power is already enormous, so the possibility of this happening is not small."

　Dak casually agreed, appearing outwardly composed.

　But deep down he was extremely shocked.

　Based on his deduction of the original game's plot development, this situation shouldn't have occurred.

　An old king who is about to abdicate.

　A princess with core competitive advantages.

　This aligns with the original plot's standard direction of the protagonist supporting the princess to ascend to the throne, thereby winning her heart.

　He hadn't forgotten that the game's core concept was a visual novel.

　This situation is truly unexpected.

　Fortunately, although the Duke's mansion was on the side of the eldest princess, after the discovery of the [Netherworld Fire] last year, the Duke...

　The government's core strategy has already shifted.

　The priority has shifted from supporting the princess to the throne to collecting the "Fire of the Underworld".

　After discovering clues about the "divine resurgence," they significantly adjusted their strategy.

　They are unlikely to be affected by the downfall of the eldest princess's faction.

　Of course, the eldest princess's power will not collapse immediately.

　Even if a king rises to power, his age is a factor, and one day he will have to abdicate and hand over the throne to a more capable person.

　When that time comes, the rivalry between the eldest princess and the eldest prince will begin again.

　The only thing to worry about is Eliza's age.

　It's like a normal life for the elderly.

　Princess Elizabeth has reached the age where she should be getting married.

　She herself harbored ambitions to contend for the throne, and consistently avoided discussing marriage.

　But if the king becomes too assertive, she will inevitably be pressured to get married.

　There's a saying that a married daughter is like water spilled from a bowl.

　Once she marries a foreigner, she will no longer be a competitor to Prince Charles.

　If the eldest prince brought this up last year, it would seem like he was just joking.

　If we bring it up again this year, something really bad will happen!

　However, taking this as an opportunity, another layer of concerns will emerge at this time.

　The kingdom's territory is vast, and it's hard to guarantee that no one might actually come into contact with the gods, especially since those cult organizations have been heading there.

　The more you explore, the higher the chances of making contact.

　If that happens, the kingdom's peace probably won't last much longer.

　“I can think of these things, and others certainly can too. But even if we anticipate them, they are still difficult to deal with. That’s the most troublesome part.”

　"Just like Claire and the others suspected that the king's resurgence was influenced by divine factors, but it was not easy to investigate."

　"Moreover, besides the kingdom itself, or rather, besides humans, there are a large number of subhuman races in this world."

　“Some of these subhuman races have even worshipped their own gods for thousands of years.”

　Dak listened attentively while pondering, occasionally interjecting a few words, creating a harmonious atmosphere.

　After dinner, Claire made up an excuse to send Aurora away, and then began to talk to Dark about things in detail.

　That [circular array diagram].

　Dark summoned the [Magic Secretary] and displayed the true scene recorded by the [Magic Secretary].

　Claire sat at her desk, the [Magical Writing Manual] spread out on it, magical light flowing in her right hand as she wrote at lightning speed.

　Extremely quickly, in a short time, he completely copied down the [Circular Array Diagram], and in the process of copying, he completed his first memorization of the array diagram.

　Dak was speechless with astonishment.

　Therefore, all "sages" are monsters.

　Ergani's [Wisdom Affinity] might just boost her intelligence by a lot.

　Dark shook his head slightly, and waited until she had completed her initial observation before asking, "Did you see anything?"

　Claire pondered, "It's like a kind of array that can generate the power of faith."

　"The Power of Faith" Dark looked astonished.

　Claire's first words gave him a new understanding of the array.

　He originally thought he had grasped 99% of the meaning of this [circular array diagram].

　"Is it because of a sudden surge in intelligence that he's become somewhat blindly confident?"

　Dak sat down beside him and couldn't help but reflect.

　"But if the power of faith provided by this array seems to make sense in every way."

　"So that's how it is! So that's what happened!"

　"I always thought that what was extracted from the statue of the Moon Goddess and the remains of the Sun and Moon Serpent was either [Ecstasy] or [Pride], but it turns out that their essence is the power of faith?"

　"The power of stars, the power of faith, the power of the mind—these powers, in some ways, are similar to [the Great Sin]."

　"No wonder they look similar yet are not the same."

　"So if I simply take them and use them directly, all that will be produced is the power of faith."

　"Under these circumstances, even if one manages to forge [Elysium IV] or [Pride IV], it will still be due to the two..."

　The conversion efficiency of force-based properties is extremely low, making it impossible to achieve the desired effect.

　"This array must be modified! It must produce pure 'bliss' or 'arrogance,' rather than faith in and worship of the moon god and the sun god."

　"But how can we do that?"

　Dak fell into deep thought.

　Seeing that he had fallen into thought before even starting to speak, Claire also began to study on her own.

　In her adventuring career, things like the [Circular Array] were not new to her.

　In those ancient temples, there were more or less similar things.

　This is the first time I've ever seen such a complex and complete array as the [Circular Array].

　This sparked her intense interest.

　Half an hour later, Dak finally figured out a way.

　He suddenly understood, and began to explain his understanding of the [Circular Array] to Claire in detail.

　solution.

　Claire also made some progress in her half-hour study, but of course, it couldn't compare to what Dak had gained over the past month.

　Therefore, she spent most of her time absorbing the information, only occasionally raising a few questions.

　After a brief discussion, the two sides cleared up their doubts and continued their conversation.

　In the midst of this discussion, she completely forgot to seek Ergani's blessing.

　With her help, Dark further refined his thinking.

　Night passed.

　A faint light appeared in the sky.

　Dak jumped up from his chair, and without saying goodbye to Claire, excitedly left the room and ran towards his dormitory.

　Claire shook her head, showing a hint of fatigue, but also a smile.

　"As expected, young people have more energy."

　Five o'clock in the morning.

　Claire Kate walked onto the familiar balcony, almost greedily inhaling the crisp, cool air, her mind becoming increasingly clear and lucid.

　As the night deepened, although Dak tried to hide, there were many things he couldn't conceal.

　Claire had already known halfway through that what her only student was researching must be a path to the divine.

　the road!

　"The younger generation is already pushing the older generation forward; we old ladies can't possibly be pushed over."

　She smiled, shook her head, and then turned to Ollie, who had appeared outside the balcony door at some point, and said, "Where is the room of the God of Wisdom? Take me to see it."

　Ollie smiled and said, "Okay, Miss."

　February 1st.

　The Noble House Tower, Dormitory 301.

　Upon his hasty return, Dak couldn't wait to begin the experiment.

　Yesterday's transmutation experiment was forced to stop halfway through due to Claire's arrival.

　Today, he returned and overturned all his previous experiments, starting from scratch to compile new magic runes.

　But the new magic rune had already taken shape in his mind; he was simply drawing it by hand.