CHAPTER 458: CHAPTER 357 TELL XIAOWO, I WANT TO EAT FISH

Byron’s collection of Forbidden Books was far from insignificant; several had reached the level of Bloodline Codices that could touch upon the Divine Domain.

These included the *Thousand Faces Rites* he had snatched from the Versatile Enchantress Beatrice, the *Life Alchemy* inherited from the Great Pirate Flint through a Promotion Ceremony involving a pirate treasure chest, and the *Crown of the Giant Dragon* he had just extracted from the Heavenly God Itzamna.

Cross-referencing these texts, he didn’t just confirm that "Dagon" had become a Mythical Creature that had reached the Divine Domain. He also witnessed firsthand a Mythical Creature’s new path forward after balancing "Divinity" and "Beastliness," touching upon the Divine Domain.

Dagon seems to have made a big stride on this divine path, a stark contrast to those in the Bantaan Archipelago who bear the names of gods but are merely Nature Spirits. He has immense power, is free from the constraints of the public law network, and has started to establish his own belief network from scratch. And he also possesses his own Three-part Honorable Title: an Ancient One among the Deep Sea Clan, a loyal guardian of Luanyun City, the Abyssal Horror that commands ocean currents! This is indeed the standard of the Divine Domain.

Byron recalled his own Three-part Honorable Title, which had been revised several times but never finalized, and his old face turned slightly red.

Before undergoing the third bloodline ascension and reaching the corresponding realm, the so-called Three-part Honorable Title is just a game, fun to play with but without any other use. But once one reaches the Divine Domain, it becomes a Transcendent’s identity code in Mysticism. The moment you recite this Three-part Honorable Title, you will gain a strong unique directionality. In all kinds of mystical rituals that revolve around this being, you need to use this Three-part Honorable Title as the key. Only by reciting the Three-part Honorable Title accurately is it possible to make the ritual effective and receive a response from the gods.

The youth whom Byron possessed quickly ran out of the residential area, leaving behind the devout prayers of the townspeople.

However, anyone who dares to recite this casually, opening their Spirituality to a high-ranking being they don’t know, will most likely experience misfortune. The best result would be to become an anchor for the other party, sharing the powerful side effects that stem from their ’Beastliness’ aspect. If they encounter an indiscriminate entity, it’s not impossible to be immediately Fallen into a mad beast.

In the Old Continent, where forbidden knowledge was scarce, such dangerous honorable titles were even less circulated. This was thanks to the Church’s tight blockade during the Dark Millennium, which prevented the proliferation of wild and grassroots gods.

However, this situation was likely to be broken soon.

Since even some Cardinal Bishops and Saints were scheming to become Angels on earth, or even gods, it was imaginable how many people in the shadows couldn’t resist the temptation of immortality and had begun studying the forbidden knowledge to reach the Divine Domain. If Hightins could cooperate with the Bloodthirsty Cult, other powers could naturally cooperate with other Black Sorcery cults. Such things were simply unstoppable.

Of course, Byron wasn’t in a position to point fingers at others; after all, he was the one who had walked the farthest on this path!

Additionally, Byron learned from the memories of Nils Henrik, the Lamplighter, that among the Slumbering God’s host of so-called Lesser Gods, besides Dagon, the Abyssal Horror, there were Yemengade, Tyr, the God of War, Eton, the God of Youth, Dark God Hodu... nearly a dozen others. This meant they had at least reached the level of Fourth Order Mythical Creatures and all bore ancient divine titles from the Bayfolk myths of the North Bay.

While walking, Byron shared his discoveries with Violet, "The Transcendent System here seems to have changed again. On the surface, like the Bantaan Archipelago, it’s mostly centered on Black Sorcery. However, it’s no longer about worshipping gods and Nature Spirits, but regarding oneself as Divine and having believers as ’anchors’. Furthermore, using an existing Godly Name, the Anchoring ability is stronger than crafting a new one from scratch."

By using these historically significant, ownerless titles with sufficient affinity to oneself, one could leverage the civilization, history, and legends tied to an entire nation to steadfastly anchor oneself in the collective subconscious of one’s own people, solidifying oneself. Even without holding a profession from the Ladder of Glory, one could resist the strong pull of one’s Beastliness. But it came at the cost of the collective welfare of the North Bay Folks.

Byron and Violet, both Direct Blood Descendants of the Blue Dragon King Reinhardt, were also central figures within the Bay National Group. Thus, the so-called collective interests were effectively their own interests. Understanding the causes and consequences, they cursed in unison in their hearts:

Damn thieves! How dare they steal from our family? Does having Bayfolk blood make one Bayfolk? Is someone born in a stable necessarily a horse? Expelled! They must be expelled from the clan!

After the collapse of the North Sea Empire, the main Bayfolk Nations were Hightins, Iron Anchor Bay, and the Kalmar Union of Three Nations. The Union’s ruler, Evernight Queen Margaret, was left with only one sickly, hemophiliac lone grandson. These two notorious thieves had long considered the entire North Bay Folks’ influence as their own possession. Usually, it was they who robbed others. Now someone dared to rob them! If this could be tolerated, what couldn’t?

Bayfolk Princess Violet, quite uncharacteristically in front of Byron, showed her true colors as a female pirate chief, "Since they claim to be descendants of ’the Exiled,’ when they were exiled hundreds of years ago, they definitely didn’t do anything good.

"That ancestor of theirs was too indecisive back then. If he had killed them all early on, would there still be such trouble today?

"Even if for various reasons it wasn’t good to kill them outright, couldn’t they have arranged for them to ’hit a reef and die,’ ’slip and fall into the water and die,’ or ’get killed by a Sea Monster attack’—all sorts of accidental deaths?

"Byron, who is best at eradicating problems thoroughly, is far more appealing. He’s pleasing to the eye no matter how one looks at him."

Of course, Byron wouldn’t say that his own painstaking efforts to buy shares in the Bantan Grand Cathedral United Company and scheme for Ranks like ’Creator’s Youngest Child’ and ’Saint Heir’s Younger Brother’ were also in preparation. He was preparing to thoroughly fleece the Silver Law after completing the third bloodline ascension and advancing to the Fourth Order to step into the Divine Domain. What he was doing wasn’t much different from these ’false Gods’ of the Deep Dive Church.

Following Nils’s memories, they quickly made their way to the dock at the edge of the town. Here, a massive Leviathan Whale, just captured, was being dismembered.

"Hurry up, don’t let the meat spoil!"

The workers peeled large strips of blubber from the whale’s body, hooking them to pulley systems. People ashore would use a winch to drag the blubber onto the dock. It would then be further divided and rendered into usable Whale Oil in large iron cauldrons. A hole had also been cut into the whale’s head, and a slender worker would strip naked and crawl inside, scooping out the most precious spermaceti bit by bit with a bucket. The dock was covered in blood and oil, truly like a hell of flesh and blood.

As they worked, they sang a strange, eerie song:

"...One day, the Deep Sea Clan members who crawl in the mire will carve themselves on stone tablets, receiving the worship of terrestrial beings;

"One day, they will arise from the great waves, extend their claws and drag these feeble, pitiful humans into the deep sea;

"One day, the land will sink to the ocean floor, and the black ocean continent will rise, replacing this topsy-turvy world..."

Byron’s attention was first drawn not to the bloody scene of rendering Whale Oil, nor to the song, but to the ubiquitous Whale Oil equipment. There were whale oil stoves that could cook the Whale Oil without firewood, also called ’Whale Oil flamethrowers,’ which could be modified into powerful weapons. The winch that could lift an entire whale was not human-powered but driven by an odd Whale Oil steam power furnace. Additionally, the sharp harpoon cannons on the whaling ships seemed to use Whale Oil to heat water, providing steam power usable even in stormy weather.

He couldn’t help but be a little dazed.

While we were still celebrating the discovery of Whale Oil, the Whale Oil technology of the New Continent has already become so widespread? Fortunately, they don’t yet have Whale Oil-powered warships. Otherwise, in the age of great geographical discoveries, it’s not certain who would be colonizing whom.

Centuries ago, Old Continent colonizers used the guns and cannons of the Black Iron Age to blast open the gates of the indigenous people’s New Stone Age. But upon arriving here, they found that the New Continent had sprinted into the Whale Oil steam era. Were they the ones being steamrolled by technology?

Evidently, who could decree that these adventurers, in their overseas colonial activities, would invariably encounter weaker civilizations? In the unknown dark forest, every opponent could be a Hunter with a gun. And every Hunter could become pitiful prey in the next moment!

Fortunately, the Whale Oil technology research of Black Tide Town and the Deep Dive Church seemed not to have been underway for too long. It still remained at the level of using Whale Oil to heat water. Under the guidance of the Pirate King, Harold the Whale Hunter, they had arrived in the New Continent early enough to have a chance to catch up.

The Silver Law system’s forte was leveraging the collective. Especially its public library, the ’Key of Omniscience,’ which could pool wisdom and significantly boost research and development efficiency.

Seeing the situation before him, as a qualified pirate, his first reaction was, of course, to rob them. He’d snatch everything—technology and talent—and bring it back to ignite the spark of Whale Oil technology in the Old Continent.

Understanding the profound intentions of this pioneer, the Whale Hunter, Byron’s gaze turned dark as he silently thought, Tell Snail I want to eat fish!

However, before the Golden Deer could take action, shedding its guise as an adventure ship and entering the fray as a pirate ship, a powerful yellow light flickered once on the dark sea not far away, dimming and brightening. That was the distress signal of an Old Continent sailing ship in peril. Clearly, other outsiders besides them had arrived in these waters.

Seeing the distress lights on the distant sea, in the ordinarily bustling open-air rendering workshop, everyone froze as if a pause button had been pressed. Then, they all turned their heads towards the distressed sailing ship and chanted in unison, their voices low and hoarse, "’More... ’fish’ have arrived...’ HEH HEH..."