When the plot-skips players into the game world

Because Path Power originates from when Lord Candle Master burned away the Sin Thorn, and the holy number of Candle Master is three... that's why the ascension ritual always presents three options.

This time, six Path traits have exploded all at once. And half of them are Devotion, the other half Transcendence—

"Is this a choice involving two Path traits this time?"

Aiwass pondered.

He still had sufficient time to deliberate… because this time, the ascension ritual was short, the pace exceedingly swift, and there was still a long, long time before dawn.

The first to be excluded were the two purple traits.

This was a crescent ascension ritual from four to five—already at the difficulty level where gold traits are guaranteed. To choose purple traits would equate to wasting a gold trait. With his Mana Points already sufficient and no intention to pursue further Elemental Affinity, he didn't need to even glance their way.

Among the remaining four Path traits, the first trait Aiwass excluded was [Elemental Emperor].

The dual attributes of Light and Darkness were immensely important to him and could not be forsaken.

This ascension ritual had already proven that the "Four-colored Wings," representing the Endless Knot, was a kind of "wrong future." He must achieve "Six-colored Wings" to have a chance to contend with the Serpent Celestial Marshal.

Choosing this trait would mean that in the Heavenly Battle against the formidable Celestial Marshal, Aiwass could only use Four-color Elemental Magic. For him, this would undoubtedly be a detriment.

Moreover, [Transcendent Snake] was a choice that, as a Transcender, Aiwass could not possibly skip.

—This trait was one not available as a selectable option within the game.

Its namesake trait served as a catch-up mechanism designed for newcomers or players lagging in progress.

If the dungeon was not the current version's difficult instance, but one from a previous version or the main quest of the current version, and if players experienced party-wide annihilation in it even once, all players would receive an 8% bonus to all attributes. Depending on the dungeon's lagging progress, this bonus could stack three to eight times.

For example, in an era when level 90 was the norm, if newcomers repeatedly wiped out in level 60-era difficult dungeons... [Transcendent Snake] could stack up to a maximum of 64% bonus to all attributes. This straightforward strength was sufficient to enable novices and rookies to easily bypass some stages prone to party-wide annihilation.

In this world, Aiwass as a Transcender was almost certain to confront powerful enemies. Currently, based on his "Divinity" priority enhancements, he essentially only had the scales granted by the Silver-Crowned Dragon. Outside situations of "attacking oath violators," he was quite prone to maxing out the +2 priority in Heavenly Battle scenarios.

With just one more unconditional priority source from elsewhere, Aiwass could intervene in the Heavenly Battle at the Fifth Power Level!

What truly made Aiwass indecisive, however, was actually the two traits from the Path of Devotion:

[Endless Mercy (Gold): Your healing can resurrect the recently deceased.]

[Si Zhu's Horn (Gold): You drink the blood at Candle Master's neck and become the Son of Candle.]

These two traits were also rare ones unavailable as player choices.

He had no way of knowing [Endless Mercy]'s trigger conditions—the specific duration for "recently deceased," nor did he know whether this effect came with any drawbacks or internal cooldowns. Similarly, he was ignorant of what being the "Son of Candle" signified.

Without an informational advantage, he couldn't guarantee he would pick the optimal trait...

Did it mean he had to choose blindly?

However...

Only at this moment did Aiwass realize something entirely different.

Unlike every previous ascension ritual.

This time, after offering him blood, Candle Master surprisingly did not leave!

He simply stood nearby, quietly observing as Aiwass made his decision.

"...Lord Candle Master."

Aiwass didn't hesitate but directly opened his mouth to seek help—after all, he was something akin to a Pope, and seeking his god's guidance in times of uncertainty was perfectly reasonable: "Could you explain [Endless Mercy] and [Si Zhu's Horn] to me?"

"Of course. After all, both traits come directly from me."

Candle Master seemed long prepared, answering calmly and evenly: "Your understanding of the Candle Celestial Marshal already includes these two Path traits."

He remained here, as if specifically to provide Aiwass the answers he sought.

And upon hearing this, Aiwass began to understand—

The Candle Celestial Marshal, the only Celestial Marshal to voluntarily descend into the Material Realm to be slain, featured dungeons whose names were not "Campaign of Repulsion," "Campaign of Extermination," or "Campaign of Annihilation," but rather "Trial Campaign," "Examination Campaign," and "Ultimate Examination Campaign."

And the Candle Celestial Marshal's most potent trait was that nearly unrestricted resurrection ability.

In the Candle Celestial Marshal's first stage, he brought along two Papal Guards and continually applied various group-wide buffs onto them. If they weren't killed, the buffs stacked continuously; if killed, the Candle Celestial Marshal ceased applying buffs and instead resurrected them three seconds later. In the second stage, after resurrecting them, he sang a mechanism capable of party-wide annihilation that lasted six seconds.

In the highest-difficulty "Ultimate Examination Campaign," Candle Celestial Marshal started directly with six Papal Guards—three sets of Guards and one set of Guards presented entirely different levels of pressure. That seemingly endless resurrection capability left players utterly unnerved.

Thus, defeating the Candle Celestial Marshal hinged on controlling the Guards' health, ensuring they died sequentially and that their deaths all occurred within nine seconds.

The key lay in using the Guards' deaths to interrupt Candle Master's long cast times for high-risk special actions, creating opportunities to strike his main body.

By utilizing this approach, players could negate all buffs, delay Candle Master's special actions, and ensure the newly revived batch of Guards lacked any frightening buffs. Furthermore, Candle Master would be forced to resurrect the Guards continuously, leaving him defenseless for an extended "damage window."

If defeated by Candle Master, players couldn't respawn at revival points, nor could they receive the unique battle resurrection from player Priests. Instead, they were directly revived by Candle Master and isolated outside the battlefield—because they had already been revived, they couldn't be revived again.

Thus, the Candle Master Trial Campaign was a uniquely "non-death" battle mode.

—This battle was genuinely a "Trial Campaign."

This fight itself wasn't excessively difficult—making one or two mistakes wouldn't spell doom unless compounded. It conveyed one core lesson to players—some bosses' minions needed their health controlled but not killed.

This was a very classic MMORPG-style boss fight mechanism and marked the first time such a health-control, non-kill mechanic appeared in the game "Ring of Ouroboros."

If players were reckless, prematurely killing one or two Guards, they would likely struggle during subsequent health control sequences to kill revitalized Guards returning to full health. They would then helplessly watch as buffed Guards rampaged unchecked. If unable to resist and mass-targeted those Guards again, chaos would ensue. If Candle Master twice consecutively sang the party-wide annihilation mechanism, players inevitably fell en masse.

"The ability provided by [Endless Mercy] is literal resurrection. So long as the recipient's death occurred within three seconds and their physical injuries could be repaired sufficiently to "allow them to survive" through your healing, they would revive immediately. Without any restrictions, without any costs… once possessing this trait, for you, there would no longer be 'those who could have been saved if only you'd arrived a moment sooner,' or 'those killed unexpectedly due to an oversight.'

"Its flaw, however, lies in the inability to use this resurrection method on yourself. Because mercy is not something one can grant oneself."

Candle Master spoke softly: "As for [Si Zhu's Horn]… that is a power to summon miracles.

"Have you heard of [symbolism] or [totems]? Certain esoteric texts may also refer to them as [mythic stances]. This draws directly upon the symbolic strength deep within the Source River.

"This Path trait allows brief access to the essence of civilization within the Source River, granting you godlike privileges. The side effect, however, is… the more you use this ability, the more you will gradually grow antlers and acquire the form of a deer.

"This power enables you to aid anyone you wish to save—whether due to tree petrification, amberfication, stone petrification… reviving a corpse whose soul still lingers inside, or transcendent beings suffering spiritual aberrations or Path deviations. The [Flame of Civilization] can burn away all darkness—as long as you're willing to pay enough of a price, it can even revive a soul already returned to the Source River. As long as the soul hasn't been shattered and recollected, anything is still possible.

"The cost, however, is that the more you use this power, the more you'll resemble me. You will grow antlers, and your soul will be purified, while 'impurities' from other Paths will be progressively filtered away by the power of the Source River.

"When your soul wholly synchronizes with the Third Source River, you will become like 'Ann,' that child—taking the humanoid form with a deer body. To continue using the power thereafter would result in full transformation, resembling me entirely."

Ann Eternal—that was the name of the first Pope of Eternity.

And also the real name of the Candle Celestial Marshal.

"If I end up like that… what will happen to me?"

Aiwass couldn't help but ask.

"—When that time comes, take my place."

Candle Master simply smiled: "That would be the price of succumbing to the temptation of Devotion."