After the Lord of the Abyss Awakens - Chapter 80.1

A few minutes later.

The little Siamese cat ran back and forth in the bookstore, bouncing around energetically. Its excited and lively appearance simply frightened the little Munchkin cat.

In the Munchkin cat’s impression, this older brother usually hid in the shadows, revealing cold emerald eyes. Occasionally when their gazes met, it would be very scary.

But this dog-like little Siamese cat was completely different. He seemed to love this place full of his father’s presence. He ran around everywhere meowing, and when He got tired, He rushed back into His father’s arms, nestling inside his coat with only a coal-black cat head poking out.

Love love! Strong emotions surged in His eyes, just wanting to cling to His father and not let go. Though He was a cat, He looked like a dog, and His greedy clingy appearance was also like a snake.

He meowed softly, as if singing the great song of the father.

Xiu Si indulged Him, allowing Him to crawl around freely.

The weather had been colder recently, so he usually wore two layers – a cotton inner lining plus a fleece-lined button-up coat. When going out, he would usually button up all the buttons to block the cold wind on his neck. At home, he would undo a few buttons, appearing more relaxed.

Siamese cats seemed to have a nickname called “the Huskies of the cat world”, with lively and active personalities, prone to destroying things. But in Xiu Si’s memory, his Botis hadn’t been this active before. Had He let himself go in recent years?

Xiu Si revealed a curious look.

The little Siamese cat raised His face, like a little coal ball, with His nose tip pressing directly against His father’s palm, lowering His head to nuzzle nuzzle nuzzle!

Xiu Si paused for a moment, seeming to understand, “Is it because we haven’t seen each other for too long, so you’re too excited?”

He couldn’t help but feel distressed, and patted the little Siamese cat’s head.

“I’m sorry, Father should have come back earlier.”

“Meow~”

The little Siamese cat’s eyes were watery and bright. How could He blame His father in His heart? His most beloved father, wuwu, since He had returned, He would protect His father well, and no one could hurt Him again!

The little Munchkin cat next to them blinked, only now realizing that both of His older brothers had been sanctioned by [Sin] and [Punishment], while nothing had happened to Him. Why was that?

If He were smarter, He would have thought that [Sin] and [Punishment] were karmic abilities. The reason those two suffered was because they had committed the cause of [Sin], so they suffered the [Punishment].

As for Him, a diligent and hardworking virtuous little kitty, how could He have any sins?

The little Munchkin cat’s gaze fluctuated, watching Brother Botis clinging to their father without restraint, unable to hide the envy in His eyes.

Meow, I want to snuggle with Father too.

The little Munchkin cat’s little paws shrank, secretly watching, then realized that the brothers and sisters in the mental shared domain seemed to have started discussing.

At this moment.

“Something’s not right, how was it resolved so quickly? Aelioge is still fine, is Morax just letting it go?”

Bachin was originally going to watch the excitement, but didn’t expect it to end so soon, giving rise to some doubts in his heart.

Valefor took a sip of tea. “Usually, He wouldn’t stop without going crazy for a few days and nights, right?”

Ayni nodded. “That’s right, last time He chased me and beat me for three months!”

They understood their sibling as well as they understood their own limbs, and Morax was basically a sibling who didn’t think much, with a straightforward personality, easily emotional, unable to hide his thoughts, and once angered, difficult to calm down.

This time He quieted down so quickly, something “unusual” must have happened. And Morax not even responding made it even more suspicious!

Buer probably knew what was going on, and fell into a dilemma.

What, what should she do, should she tell everyone!

In the subspace, if it weren’t for the poor signal, Bachin would have wanted to contact Aelioge in the chaos.

But there was still one demon involved, Beelzebub.

Bachin thought for a moment, slowly stood up, walked to the bathroom sink, splashed some cold water on his face, and suddenly felt refreshed, with the dark circles under his eyes disappearing.

He directly @ mentioned Beelzebub in the mental shared domain.

—@Beelzebub

“Beelzebub, can you explain what’s going on?”

Several demons were watching.

Unlike Aelioge, Beelzebub, though at the edge of the continent, had abnormally good signal. Of course he saw the @ mention from the 2D demon Bachin, but He chose to play dead.

Just… pretend He didn’t see it.

Beelzebub closed the mental shared domain, thinking to himself, what am I doing? I’m looking for the mastermind behind the scenes! I don’t have time to mess around with you guys.

The mental shared domain was quiet for a while, and all the demons felt something was off.

Beelzebub couldn’t reply? Impossible, right? Didn’t He just ascend recently? Who could make Him unable to respond?

Bachin narrowed his eyes, his expression gradually changing from bored and weary of everything, to becoming excited, his eyes shining.

Whether it was Aelioge or Beelzebub, the movements of these two demons were too incredible.

There must be some secret that can’t be told to demons.

Speaking of which, the news of Beelzebub regaining the power of destruction had spread more or less. Regarding the matter of “I might originally be a god’s consciousness”, some demons cared, some didn’t.

But no one would talk about it openly.

There was no need to.

At the banquet, Ayni glanced at Buer, “Sigh, if it weren’t for the sisters’ meeting, I would go ask Beelzebub about the situation. They’re forming a small group and excluding us.”

Bachin felt the same, but He was helping Aelioge control the space, so He didn’t have time to see exactly what was going on.

Ayni couldn’t hold back, suddenly slapped the table and stood up, @ mentioning Barbatos and @Paimon in the mental shared domain, urging, “Eighth sister, ninth sister, why haven’t you arrived yet?”

The initiator of the sisters’ meeting was Barbatos, but now after waiting for so long, Barbatos still hadn’t shown up. It couldn’t be that She was choosing a dress to the point of OCD, beating the air in the fitting room, right?

Regarding this point, Valefor was also a bit worried.

Barbatos was a relatively punctual demon, how could She make them wait for so long?

Secondly, Barbatos generally wouldn’t suddenly initiate a sisters’ meeting. This time was so unusual, was it because of something?

****

On the other side, in the bookstore.

The little Siamese cat poked out His head and saw the alchemy book placed on the table.

He tilted His head in thought, revealing a curious look.

Seeing His curiosity, Xiu Si said, “Father has been studying alchemy recently and is a bit busy. Why don’t you play with Cele?”

Hearing this, He shook His head, His dog-like wet eyes looking at Xiu Si, as if saying Father is busy, don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine on my own.

Xiu Si smiled slightly, thinking how understanding his child was. Over 8,000 years had passed, and he was afraid they would become unrecognizable to him, but the facts repeatedly proved that he was wrong. They always remembered him, never forgot, and never changed.

A flash of pain passed through Xiu Si’s eyes. In a sense, he rather hoped they could forget, so that they wouldn’t suffer because of his “disappearance”.

His heart softened, and he patted the cat’s head again, comforting, “Father won’t leave again. Father will work hard to level up, work hard to become stronger, and won’t let that kind of accident happen again.”

The little Siamese cat meowed, nuzzling His face over for kisses and cuddles.

After comforting His cub for a while, although there was a brief interruption, the difficult problem facing Xiu Si still existed.

While telling the little Siamese cat about what had happened since his resurrection, he also mentioned his own leveling up.

The little Siamese cat nodded, looking as if He half-understood, appearing a bit silly.

Due to the large amount of information, He also needed to digest it slowly.

Xiu Si told Him about each of the recently returned siblings, and He nodded with an innocent face.

In fact, the Siamese cat’s inner thoughts slowly deduced that the starting point of the trouble was Aelioge.

The demon who first used the 36 Stratagems’ Cat Stratagem.

Aelioge truly lived up to being a scheming demon. From a young age, His thoughts were not pure. Hmph hmph, He was indeed capable of monopolizing Father!

The little Siamese cat snorted, continuing to think. According to the rules, the first thing to do upon discovering Father was to tell the eldest brother. But everyone knew that once the eldest brother returned, there would definitely be no place for them by Father’s side.

The eldest brother was a fierce demon who acted decisively and upheld justice. He would definitely discipline them one by one, and take the opportunity to settle accounts for their various misdeeds over the years.

It should be known that when the eldest brother was still on the continent back then, although they also acted freely, they were more or less restrained from acting recklessly due to their fear of the eldest brother.

But after the eldest brother went to the subspace, they began to let themselves go even more, and so…

The little Siamese cat’s pupils trembled, realizing that Aelioge’s concerns were very reasonable. But Aelioge’s sin lay in not telling Him!

In an instant, the little Siamese cat’s watery puppy-dog eyes changed to the fierce gaze of a vicious dog. It seemed that if Aelioge were present, He would surely bite Him a few times.

Those bad demons trying to monopolize father, each one of them was so hateful!

But He only got angry for a moment, because Xiu Si looked down at Him and said, “They haven’t been very active recently, it seems to be because they’re leveling up in dreams.”

The Siamese cat immediately transformed into a pitiful state.

His rapidly changing reactions undoubtedly shocked the little Munchkin cat.

The little Munchkin cat thought, is this the composure of an older sibling?

A few minutes later, Xiu Si, flipping through the book on the table, mentioned something else, “Regarding the matter of Duke Luo Ke of the Roman Kingdom, I should be powerless. Although Mr. Francis has some expectations of me, I still can’t risk anything related to curses.”

If it were before, he would probably have helped, because he was, after all, one of the heroes.

But now he was nothing, just the children’s father, so of course he had to consider the children in everything. He had already made Them sad, he couldn’t make Them sad again.

Hearing this, it seemed like the identity of a father was a kind of constraint? Haha, so what if it was, it was a sweet constraint.

However, Xiu Si considered for a moment, and also looked at some knowledge related to curse-breaking.

Every book said that a god’s curse was almost unsolvable, unless you killed the god.

And the Otherworld God No. 002 was almost the origin of curses, the concept of curse itself. His curses were even more terrible than those of ordinary gods. Even if you accidentally touched a bit, it would be certain death.

Duke Luo Ke had been cursed for two days without dying, which was already a kind of miracle.

He truly was a persistent person.

Xiu Si’s eyes were complex. He put this matter aside for now and continued his research on alchemy.

The book said that throughout the history of alchemy, there were three great pursuits, among which the first great pursuit was — “creating something from nothing”.

Some said this was the essence of alchemy, and also the divine realm that alchemy pursued endlessly but could never reach.

Others said that creating something from nothing was the unique power of the creator. Humans were not creators, and could never become creators, so it was impossible to achieve “creating something from nothing”.

“Creating something from nothing” was just an illusion given to humans by language. Humans mistakenly believed that as long as a definition existed, there must exist a corresponding concept. Little did they know that it was an illusion of language. Humans were tortured by this illusion, tossing and turning for thousands of years without peace, unable to extricate themselves from abstraction.

These sayings… all had their reasons.

Xiu Si slowly comprehended, while at the same time conducting thought experiments in his mind, trying to imagine, how could “something” appear from “emptiness”?

In an environment without material, how could tangible objects be created?

Xiu Si continued reading, seeing that the second great pursuit of alchemists was — the ultimate material or energy conversion.

This statement had a sense of materials science. Using certain elemental materials to create infinite forms of matter, constructing indefinite forms of energy.

… It was incredible.

It was quite similar to his method of creation, except that his creation itself was very close to “creating something from nothing”.

From point, to line, to plane, then various edits.

He didn’t need anything, just imagination, and then slowly construct according to the established technique.

So, if the standard was lowered a bit, the process from his mental activity to actual modeling could also be a kind of “creating something from nothing”.

— All imagination can become reality.

Xiu Si thought, suddenly feeling a sense of freedom from it.

A freedom to do as one pleases, where all things are created and defined by oneself.

This freedom seemed to not belong to humans initially, but humans learned it later.

Because they mastered the power called [Thought].

Xiu Si was inexplicably shaken, repeatedly murmuring. “The power called ‘thought’…”

This statement scared him.

Occasionally, one or two statements that shocked even himself would pop up in Xiu Si’s mind.

He didn’t know how they came about, they were his thoughts indeed, just rather sudden.

He muttered to himself. “Can thought also be a kind of power?”

Indeed, compared to species without the ability to think, humans who can think do possess a kind of power.

The ability to think, the power of thought, just a difference of one word, but the sense of mystical purity feels different.

Xiu Si nodded, his eyes slightly glowing, thinking, “In other words, when humans think, it’s equivalent to using the power of [Thought]?”

This statement sounded like nonsense, just a word game, merely sanctifying the act of “thinking”. But Xiu Si could clearly feel — after he “sanctified” thought, his spirit seemed to sublimate, also entering a sacred realm.

He could feel himself improving, without needing to look at system value changes, he could clearly feel it.

Was this… leveling up through enlightenment?

He realized it after the fact, though not understanding the principle, he fully experienced it.

It seemed to indeed be the case.

Then, the system suddenly flashed.

[Congratulations, your profession matching degree has risen to 70%!]

[You’re understanding the Creator profession more and more. Wishing you all the best, hope you reach 100% soon and break through to the divine realm]

[Ding! Congratulations on reaching a new level, you’re now level 41]

…W-what?

Xiu Si widened his eyes, surprised yet not surprised, neither excited nor carried away by this.

Does learning alchemy help understand the Creator profession, thereby increasing my own level?

This really opened up a new path for leveling up.

Xiu Si was shocked for a moment, but quickly chose to calm down, slowly comprehending, gradually savoring.

Indeed, alchemists were quite similar to the Creator profession. Many aspects should be able to draw inferences from one instance to another.

Xiu Si continued to focus on learning. Although outwardly calm, the thirst for knowledge stirred endlessly in his heart.

****

On the other side.

Seeing father engrossed in reading, a light bulb appeared above the little Munchkin cat’s head, as if suddenly remembering something important.

Oh right, isn’t brother Amon looking for brother Botis? He needs to tell brother Amon!

The little Siamese cat opposite was super clingy, having climbed up to His father’s collar, looking like a cat head growing out of the collar, with big black pupils, light green irises, watery eyes, just like a little fairy.

He was so intoxicated that He ignored the little Munchkin cat’s movements.

The little Munchkin cat secretly called out.

Amon was startled upon hearing this and immediately rushed over.

Only to see another little Chinchilla cat appear at the door, like a little furball. Due to the shock, its fur was puffed up when it came over. Looking again, it was simply a cream-colored large sea urchin.

The little Siamese cat was originally staying obediently, but sensing something amiss, turned to look, and actually discovered the little Chinchilla cat at the door!

The little Siamese cat immediately activated [Sin] and [Punishment] again, but never expected that Amon had prepared in advance. The [Void] power formed a light screen, directly clashing with the little Siamese cat’s power!