The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Levian returned to the Dark Night Sanctuary, which was not only a religious name but also a real place, albeit one that existed only in a dream.

As for why it's called the Dark Night Holy Court, besides the fact that the Lord of the Morning Star uses the power of darkness to control dreams, it's also because this place is truly pitch black, with only a long table used for meetings.

Levian's mask remained impassive, but inwardly he felt a certain disdain for this so-called Holy Court. After all, he had already seen a more magnificent, more exquisite, and more fantastical church in his dream. In Levian's opinion, the church that Lady Bernice casually built in her dream was the only one worthy of being called the Holy Court.

This place is nothing but emptiness. If you look closely at the long table, you can see that several patterns on it are very blurry and have poor resolution, as if reminding the viewer that this is a dream.

Levian felt that he was no longer the same as those around him who were complacent after gaining a little power and called themselves saints of the Morning Star. He saw the true apostle of the gods. The so-called Lord of the Morning Star was nothing compared to the great goddess and His Majesty the Emperor of the Empire.

Having undergone the baptism of the goddess, Levian felt that he had already distanced himself from these bumpkins on the continent of Solon.

Although Levian's expression on his mask was quite arrogant, the figures that appeared one after another did not sense anything wrong with him, because everyone in the Dark Night Holy Court was so arrogant, and it was normal for Levian, as a regional bishop, to be even more arrogant.

However, Levian, hidden beneath the mask, sneered. He had already betrayed the faith of the Lord of the Morning Star and even accepted the baptism of heretics, yet these people hadn't noticed the slightest thing amiss.

How magnificent is the goddess! How magnificent is His Majesty the Emperor! If we weren't in a meeting, Levian would have even wanted to follow Professor Bernice's procedure and pray to the goddess once more.

"Alright, let's begin the resolutions of this meeting."

In the darkness, the Morning Star Pope, wearing a tall crown, said, "Levian, how is your contact with that grey-robed man going? You seem to have taken up a lot of the Morning Star Apostles' time."

The so-called Morning Star Apostles are nothing more than brain servants. They sound impressive, but in reality, they are just the cheapest consumables.

"After all, the other party is a well-established high-level professional, and was once a national advisor, so it will naturally take some time."

Levian stood up to report.

Upon hearing this explanation, the Morning Star Pope merely nodded slightly, his tall crown swaying with each nod, appearing somewhat comical.

No one objected to this explanation. After all, their ability to invade dreams is a kind of magic in itself. It's perfectly normal for an experienced spellcaster like Grey Robe, who once held a high position and could even cross the Sea of ​​Impermanence, to be on guard.

Seeing that no one seemed to find anything wrong, Levian grew even more disdainful, but still continued as Bernice had requested, "He doesn't want to cooperate with us, but he also doesn't want to be our enemy."

"Heh, there's no such thing as a free lunch."

A slightly mocking voice came from beneath the mask of a bishop.

"That grey-robed man has already established a kingdom in the port of Valenia with the little princess of Castile. I think we don't need to ask him what he's thinking."

"Let's just invade that little princess's dream and threaten her there. As for those so-called imperial guys, let's get our hands on that fleet first."

During the meeting, the bishops talked one after another, completely disregarding the so-called empire. But the more they discussed, the more foolish Levian felt they were. How could he have worked with such fools before?

"Everyone!"

Levian finally said helplessly, "I think it's not a bad idea to establish cooperation with Neo-Castilla."

Within the Dark Night Holy Court, everyone's gaze once again turned to Levian.

“You should know that with our current number of Morning Star Apostles, controlling half of Castile is already the limit. We still need to consolidate our territory, control the three Castiles, and capture the Morning Star Apostles.”

"Moreover, in addition to the cannons of the old empire, the grey-robed men also brought the dragons of the Mu continent."

Upon hearing this word, even the Pope, who sat on the main seat, trembled slightly.

"You mean there are dragons in that empire's fleet?"

Upon hearing the Pope's question, Levian bowed and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, they are not dragons from the continent of Solon, but dragons from the continent of Mu. They arrived here under the escort of dragons. The so-called empire is likely an ally of the dragons, just like the Avars. I think we need to be careful in this regard."

Upon hearing this news, everyone fell silent. They had no way of invading the dragon's dream, and they didn't even know if the dragon could dream.

If they had a way to deal with the dragon, they would have headed straight for the Dragon Church long ago. Unfortunately, they couldn't. Before the church grew stronger, they still had to be wary of the dragon's revenge.

In fact, it is not so simple for the Dark Night Holy Court to kill people in dreams. It is much more difficult than the Lantern Dream. They need the person involved to cooperate even to control the dream. Pulling people into the dream is just a matter of talking and then using illusions to threaten them. Although it is not impossible to kill people, it would be very troublesome and would consume a large number of Morning Star Apostles. Each time they take action, the Dark Night Holy Court needs to make a decision and approve it.

"I understand."

The Pope's tall crown on the main seat swayed gently once more.

“Accept the gray-robed man’s conditions. Gentlemen, do not forget that our ultimate goal is to fight against those brutal dragons, restore, and even surpass the former Lord of Morning Star’s status on the continent. There is no need to make too many enemies.”

“Levian, you have done a good job. Recently, some people within the church have been too impulsive, to the point that many monarchs are very resistant to our sect. Everyone should take Levian as an example and do their homework before threatening others. Investigate the intelligence before making a decision.”

Several bishops lowered their heads. After gaining the power of the dream, they became somewhat arrogant and frantically targeted the small countries that had split off from Castile to enrich themselves. As a result, those small countries directly blew themselves up and joined the Dragon Church, preferring to join their former mortal enemies rather than join the Dark Night Holy Court.

The Dark Night Holy Court had only just begun to show some progress when many people became complacent and started dividing up the spoils. The bishop then gave Levian a slight reminder and a pep talk to those guys.

Afterwards, in the Dark Night Holy Court, the bishops discussed other issues, and the meeting quickly came to an end. After all, although this method of communication was convenient, it was physically exhausting, as each communication required the consumption of double-digit Morning Star Apostles.

However, after everyone else left, Levian remained in place, even though in the eyes of others, Levian had also already left the Dark Night Holy Court meeting.

In the darkness, a lantern appeared in a daze, accompanied by the crisp sound of leather boots stepping on the floor.

“Great goddess messenger, Lady Bernice, I have done as you requested and have stopped those foolish fellows from coveting New Castile.”

If he hadn't known that the Empire forbade kneeling at will, Levian would have even wanted to kneel down and kiss Bernice's boots in his dream.

"Of course I know, I've been watching."

Bernice sat down in front of Levian and crossed her legs.

"But you did a really good job, I approve of you."

Upon hearing this, Levian was overwhelmed with emotion, tears streaming down his face. He had completely fallen into the fervor of a convert.

Bernice handed over a stack of documents and said, "This is the Emperor's gift, the foundation for controlling dreams. Take it and study it carefully, don't disappoint people."

Levian solemnly accepted the documents with both hands. He had even begun to fantasize about sitting on the throne of the Dark Night Holy Court, leading the entire Holy Court to surrender to the Empire, and truly becoming a member of the Goddess Cult.

Just thinking about it made Levian excited.

After Bernice left, Levian slowly opened the document in his dream.

"Numbers, math problems?"