Hayden didn't react for a moment: "What? The second one?"
[Silly boy. Don't you know you should compare prices at three different places before doing business?]
Abigail said calmly,
Next, we'll go find the Sofia Order and see what their conditions are.
The Sofia Order? Why bring this up?
The answer is actually quite simple. When Hongye caught the two mercenaries hired by the guild, the cyborg warrior asked Hayden if the Sophia Order had sent them to steal the salt. But if others really couldn't effectively mine and utilize this Dead Sea salt, what exactly was the Sophia Order sending people to steal?
Seizing territory and workers to help them mine salt? Unlikely. The Sofia Order rejects modern material civilization and wouldn't rely on heavy modern machinery to extract and utilize this salt. They must possess their own unique set of classical magic.
Abigail, with her keen senses and sharp mind, immediately realized from just one sentence that the Sofia Order was likely a real competitor to the Adabit Workers' Union in the salt mining business. The guild master of Luz might even be afraid they would try to steal the salt!
If the Black Witch, who has been in business for four hundred years, doesn't know how to utilize this, then she has truly wasted those four hundred years of her life.
200: The Art of Ascension
After leaving the lower-level area, just to be on the safe side, Hayden sent Red Leaf alone to monitor and investigate the situation of the Adabit Workers' Union.
Hongye, of course, wouldn't refuse. In fact, she was more used to this type of work and gladly accepted the assignment.
Next, Hayden and his team are going to find a strange and bizarre new religion, go to their headquarters, and do business with them!
Does that sound strange?
It's actually not so bad. The gods of this world are the bosses, and companies are their temples and churches. Trading with them is paying homage to the gods. This is what everyone does every day in a capitalist society.
Hayden simply never had any dealings with this kind of unorthodox religion.
In old-fashioned terms, they were what was known as a "secret cult"—but modern secret cults are no longer truly hidden from the world. Abigail found the Sophia Order's hideout with little effort; inquiries were easy, as it was essentially open knowledge. This group had acquired some housing in the middle class of [New Babylon], not in a single building, but rather several houses connected together on either side of a street. These houses were abandoned, so the Sophia Order bought them cheaply for their followers.
Hayden and his group walked to the door of the largest room in the very center, and even saw a sign on the door that read: [Sophia Spiritual Cult]
"A secret cult that openly displays its name?"
Hayden couldn't help but complain immediately.
Abigail replied matter-of-factly, "What else? These days, if you don't have a house number, even food delivery won't be able to get through!"
Secret cult, heh.
What exactly are these cults of this era?
The witch pushed open the door and led Hayden and the others inside.
As luck would have it, after passing through the reception area at the entrance, Hayden and his companions were soon greeted by a spacious room that resembled a café or lounge, and there were quite a few people already seated inside. They were all dressed quite traditionally, mostly in classic wizard robes like Hayden, except that no one else was wearing gray.
Frankly, that alone is somewhat amusing. Hayden wears a classic grey robe all the time, partly because he likes it, and partly because he used to be a mercenary in the city, and in the mercenary and underworld circles, you need to make a name for yourself. Hayden used to rely on this unconventional attire to earn the reputation of a lone wolf, the "Grey Wizard," which allowed him to earn enough to cover Angela's construction costs in seven or eight years. Now, although Hayden no longer needs to rely on that title, he's too lazy to change it since he likes it and is used to wearing it.
Normally, even academics studying classical magic wouldn't wear robes all the time. Even a leading figure in academia like Professor Albion was dressed in a reddish-brown suit this time.
On the contrary, when Hayden entered the room, he noticed that all the followers of the Sofia Order were dressed in white robes with belts. Their robes were decorated with patterns of the sun, moon, stars, and various constellations, interwoven with yellow squares, blue circles, red equilateral triangles, and silver crescents.
"...I believe the [yod] character is the most important in the entire spell; it symbolizes passion and explosive power, which is precisely the symbol of fire..."
"...No, it is the nature of matter that forges minerals with fire. The flame and its purification are still impure, just as we see when iron ore is melted and transferred into carbon slag, but this is still not pure carbon slag..."
Several people sat in the room, holding pens, paper, and many books, passionately debating something. Next to them was a whiteboard covered with numerous words written horizontally and vertically, as well as characters from a very ancient language and diagrams of the sun, moon, stars, the ecliptic, and so on.
Although they were having a lively discussion, some people noticed the arrival of a guest. Soon after, the leader of the Sofia Order, the tall, robust man Hayden had seen once before from afar, their Grand Master Bogomir, hurriedly came out of the house.
"Welcome, welcome, distinguished guests!"
The cult leader opened his arms wide and smiled as soon as he saw Hayden and his group.
That being said, there are four people here now: Hayden himself, Abigail, the professor, and Angela. How did they become "two" distinguished guests?
Fortunately, the next sentence from the great master Bogomir explained this question.
"Professor Percival Albion! Master of classical sorcery theory! Doctor of Alchemy!"
He first smiled, spread his arms, and bowed to Professor Albion as if addressing a respected figure, before nodding to Hayden in return.
"And then there's Mr. Hayden! Although you're hardly known in academia, our Order has connections in Protoss society. Many of the most remarkable new technological inventions recently have your involvement!"
Hayden and the others immediately understood.
So that's what "distinguished guest" meant!
They are not impolite to modern rulers, after all, those in power are very powerful; and they are certainly not indifferent to wealth and resources, after all, these are very useful tools.
But what these spiritual mystics value most is always their wisdom, reputation, and ability related to magical knowledge.
From this perspective, Hayden made the right decision to come with Professor Albion this time. After all, his own reputation isn't very valuable in academia.
However, with Professor Albion's influence, the situation was completely different. Grand Master Bogomir immediately invited the two distinguished guests (and their entourage) to a special reception room, and even served them drinks—three cups of coffee with milk foam, plus three long pipes, all filled with the finest tobacco.
Seeing that the intellectuals weren't interested in her, Abigail wasn't annoyed. She leisurely picked up her pipe and began to act as if she were invisible. Angela, needless to say, never ate or drank; she simply watched the spectacle from afar.
Hayden doesn't smoke, but he still glanced at the pipes. The tobacco inside wasn't ordinary tobacco, but rather aromatic herbs. As for the coffee, Hayden politely took a sip (after all, they were all immortals and wouldn't be afraid of being drugged), only to discover that what looked like a regular cappuccino had a faint salty taste, the flavor of mineral salts.
He could sense a very faint, yet undeniably present, secret fire within. It acted like gunpowder in the material world, generating a powerful, invigorating force that spread from his stomach.
"The oldest coffee, like the oldest tea, was used as medicine. Ancient Africans made coffee into a secret medicine to enhance their fighting ability, which was given to warriors who were about to go into battle."
Grand Master Bogomir smiled and said,
"There's nothing wrong with drinking coffee as medicine. But if we can't do better than the ancients thousands of years from now, wouldn't we be utterly worthless? So we've incorporated groundbreaking alchemical achievements into the modern cappuccino. It's now a superior medicine that can help us optimize our thinking."
Honestly, this is quite impressive. Hayden has had Angela by his side for two or three years, and he's never even considered making something like this—for different purposes, he's always focused on developing medicines to heal and enhance physical health using the Secret Fire, rather than medicines to optimize thinking and mental abilities. Of course, improved physical health will also enhance mental abilities, because the body and mind always influence each other. But this coffee is still very interesting.
"Thank you for treating us to this drink. Actually, we came here today for what's in this coffee."
So Hayden turned to look at the professor, and seeing that he didn't seem to be planning to speak, he took the initiative to speak.
"It's clear that you possess the technology to mine and utilize the mineral salts deposited in the Dead Sea. We've come to [New Babylon] to study these deposits and require sufficient pure samples. If you're willing to provide assistance, we can offer you a very good price."
As Hayden spoke, he gestured several prices in the air for him. After hearing the Black Witch's previous advice, Hayden now had a slight understanding—he would always find a way to get funding and investment, so he might as well spend money boldly.
However, after seeing the numbers Hayden gestured in mid-air, Grand Master Bogomir shook his head: "Mr. Hayden, we are a religious organization and academic researchers of magic, not factories. You want to pay us to transfer some research resources, and the offer is quite generous, which is certainly possible, and we are happy to cooperate. However, if you want us to mine large quantities of salt to sell to you on a long-term basis, that's not a matter of money. It would interfere with our own main business, and we will not do that kind of business."
This was truly unexpected for Hayden. He had come with money, ready to spend lavishly, but for the first time, he had seen someone who wasn't so keen on making money.
"...So what exactly is your main job?"
He couldn't help but ask in his astonishment.
Then the Great Master Bogomir extended his right index finger and pointed to the top of his head: "Our main task, of course, is to pursue ascension."
……ah?
Ascension?
In modern times, this term generally refers to rising in social class and living in the space stations or space colonies of the Protoss in outer space. However, Hayden recalled the High Priest's preaching he had overheard on the street earlier and quickly realized what it meant.
The ascension mentioned by the followers of this secret cult probably refers to leaving this world, right?
This is an ancient ideal. Since ancient times, many people, having seen through the wickedness of the world and thoroughly fed up with society, have wanted to completely escape this painful and messed-up world.
But this is ultimately just a legend and an ideal. Hayden has now achieved an immortal body through external alchemy, but at most he can only fly into outer space. What immortal realm in this world would allow him to ascend?
In ancient times, cultivators lived in a world where vast spaces for seclusion existed. Immortals could live in seclusion on mountains or overseas islands. However, in the modern world, where the power of capitalism and deities is immense, such spaces no longer exist. Where can one escape to? Even if one flies beyond Earth, it's still just outer space.
So Hayden shook his head: "Ascension to the upper realm is ultimately just a vague and illusory legend."
But Grand Master Bogomir shook his head: "This is exactly the delusion that cavemen trapped in the material world often have."
Cave Prisoner
Hayden had certainly heard this story. It was a famous parable told by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato.
In Plato's story, he describes a cave with only one long passage connecting it to the outside world, through which only very weak light shines. Imagine some prisoners who have lived in the cave since childhood, their heads, necks, and legs bound, unable to move or turn their heads, only able to look forward at the cave walls and see only the reflections of people making gestures in front of the cave.
Over time, Plato believed that because these prisoners had only seen images projected onto the walls since childhood, they would eventually mistake these images for the real world. At this point, even if someone broke free, left the cave, saw the real world, and realized the truth, and returned to tell them the truth, they would think that person was crazy or a liar, wanting to re-tie him, or even kill him.
...But this is ultimately just a story.
No one would really believe that this material world is just a phantom of the real world, and that we are trying to ascend out of it, right?
"The essence of the world is what Plato called the Ideas, and what Hilbert called the infinite dimension. The material world we see now is an illusion, merely a subjective phantom."
However, Grand Master Bogomir argued vehemently that...
"Mr. Hayden, your father-in-law himself is an alien god who fell from the upper realm in ancient times, without a physical body. How can you not believe in the spiritual and conceptual higher world?"
He stood up from his chair and waved vigorously at Hayden as he walked out of the meeting room.
"Words are no proof. I will personally show you the technical research and achievements our order has made in ascension!"
Yes, words are no proof. Seeing the other party's reaction and actions, Hayden turned to look at the professors and saw that they didn't seem to have any intention of making a decision for him, so he had no choice but to stand up as well: "Alright. I'll see what you're up to."
"well said."
The Grand Master was actually quite pleased to hear this.
"We just want to show you the medicine."
He led Hayden, striding briskly through the cult. The others followed, of course; they weren't so careless as to let Hayden be led around by the strange cult leader alone. They soon entered a room. Four cultists in white robes were operating a huge distillation apparatus. They were continuously using the machine to extract a tincture. At first it was yellow, then gradually turned red.
“I thought your cult was a bunch of retro enthusiasts.” Hayden stroked his chin thoughtfully. “This distiller is basically a new thing.”
“Of course. Because we are not retrogressives. We are simply pragmatists. For ascension, no technology is unusable.” Grand Master Bogomir said matter-of-factly, then shouted to one of his followers, “Rondolo! Bring me a few pills of the new pill-forming elixir!”
The believer immediately stood up and strode to the medicine cabinet. When he returned, he was carrying a small square box.
Then Grand Master Bogomir turned to Hayden and asked, "Well then, Mr. Hayden, you once said you wanted to study the salt deposits in the Dead Sea. Do you know where these salts come from?"
This question surprised Hayden for a moment.
Because he truly knew. After all, Professor Albion had previously led Hayden to spy on Sodom 5,300 years ago. They had witnessed firsthand how that indescribable god blasted the Dead Sea into existence. That's why they came here to study the salt.
But Grand Master Bogomir might not know that. And even if he did, Hayden might not need to let him know that he knew too…
However, Bogomir had no idea what was going through Hayden's mind. So he continued rambling on: "This is a new medicine developed by our order using Dead Sea salt. Based on our independent theory, it can effectively sever interference between the physical body and other sympathetic connections, helping our spiritual bodies to temporarily return to past times and see the distant past! Through this medicine, we can directly witness the Dead Sea salt—and the secrets and evidence from the upper realms!"
Uh, but I've already seen it...
Hayden had just started to think about it when he suddenly realized something.
First of all, there's no harm in watching it again. Understanding the true form of a deity is itself a deeper understanding of magic. The more you see, the clearer your understanding becomes.
Secondly, did he really see that many secrets and evidence last time? In reality, Hayden and the professor only managed to see a small fragment of the past using magic.
If the new medicine made from Dead Sea salt by the Sofia Order can truly reveal more about the circumstances at that time, allowing Hayden to figure out what that indescribable orb of light was, or even what Angela was—then what's wrong with taking it once?
Professor Albion said nothing, but he and Hayden exchanged a glance and seemed to be thinking about the same thing.
"Row."
Finally, Hayden spoke up.
"Surely some strange time-space hound won't come out and eat us, will it?"
He was just making a joke to lighten the mood.
But Grand Master Bogomir did not laugh.
"Probably not, but who knows? Nothing in the spirit world is foolproof."
噫
---------------------------
However, they didn't linger on for too long.
Abigail, Professor Albion, and even Angela did not object. The professor cast some spells as a precaution and took out a pen and notebook to record the scene.
It's not that they're cold-blooded, but rather that Hayden... is, after all, a celestial being who has achieved the Great Perfection of External Alchemy. How could he possibly be in trouble so easily?
So Hayden swallowed the red pill given to him by Grandmaster Bogomir. The potion worked quickly, and Hayden already knew the art of astral projection. His spirit immediately detached from his body and ascended, ever upward. However, this was not a journey through space, but a crossing through time.
"Time does not exist."
So said the Great Master Bogomir.
"Time and place are merely illusions that our physical bodies are trapped in. Time is not flowing water, but a thin veil. Step out of this illusion, and your soul can see the truth!"
Hayden ignored him.
But Hayden did indeed see what he wanted to see very quickly.
Unlike Professor Albion's previous projection of past events through time travel, this time he was viewing the past directly as a soul free from the laws of physics. The soul was unbound by physical matter, and this strange medicine eliminated the influence of chaotic interactions, solely strengthening the connection with the salt. Light filtering through the cleaned mineral glass made Hayden's thoughts clearer than ever before. The higher he ascended, the more he saw, allowing him to directly perceive the spacetime most relevant to the salt used in the medicine.
He saw the Earth in ancient times again.