When surrounded by the Transcend Sect believers, Ash had thought he was in for a tough fight—although the believers posed no threat to him in his Host God Status, he couldn’t just steal their Great Skill and go on a killing spree in their territory.
Silver Lamp might be shameless, but Ash still had his dignity!
However, to his surprise, the Transcend Sect believers didn’t immediately attack but were willing to listen to their explanation.
Had it been any other sect, Ash might have thought they were scared, but the concept of fear didn’t exist in the Transcend Sect; their decisions were the result of calculations made in their intelligence hub. If they had deemed Ash guilty of stealing the Great Skill, they would have kept him there, even if it meant losing all their believers.
Now that Silver Lamp had taken the Sonic Strum and fled, leaving behind the Transcendence Prison Technique on Ash, they would surely want to suppress Ash first before negotiating.
But when Ash tried to explain, the Transcend Sect believers pointed to Harvey, demanding the Necromancer to speak instead. After listening to Harvey’s account, the believers expressed their willingness to trust them, as long as Ash returned the Transcendence Prison Technique before leaving in the morning.
Everyone was surprised by Harvey’s affinity within the Transcend Sect; recalling Harvey’s actions, Ash couldn’t help but ask, "Is it because you can play the harmonica?"
"How could that be?" Harvey replied, "It’s probably because I’m very close to Necromancy right now."
Ash was momentarily taken aback, then quickly understood.
Transcend Consciousness, shedding the self.
Beings of necromancy, intelligent but lacking consciousness, perfectly epitomize the goals of the Transcend Sect. Of course, there’s a crucial difference: necromancy’s subjects are already dead, while the Transcend Sect seeks to evolve while alive.
Harvey’s ’Ice Cold Flowing Fire’ stance was a state between life and death, his consciousness closely resembling the silent necromancy, yet he was still alive, exactly fitting the sect’s criteria.
Still, Ash thought that the harmonica played a part—the little girl’s adoration for Harvey must have also uploaded into their intelligence center. If one person liked Harvey, maybe the entire Transcend Sect did too.
Then the Transcend Sect posed a question: Did Ash gain civic rights to the Transcendence Prison Technique?
After confirming positively, they proposed a trade: if Ash used his civic status to help them unlock several Gray Fox relics, they would gift him one relic and allow him to remotely Host the Transcendence Prison Technique.
"Remotely Host?" The silver-haired beauty’s eyes shimmered, "Have you converted to the Transcend Sect?"
"No," Ash took out a card, "but they gave me this."
"Oh," the silver-haired beauty realized, "It’s a redemption card."
Redemption cards, which can be produced by any sect during worship rituals through resonance between believers and the Great Skill. Initially, their purpose was not to host but to help believers pass through the dark night.
Although determined believers could endure the night, some less steadfast might be corrupted by it.
With a redemption card, even if a believer’s willpower was insufficient to withstand the darkness, they could remain unharmed. Later, believers discovered that redemption cards were the most reliable channels connected to the Great Skill, ideally suited for remote hosting.
"So you not only avoided conflict with the Transcend Sect but also obtained a redemption card and the relic..." the silver-haired beauty nodded thoughtfully.
Ash chuckled and stood, declaring, "I’m not afraid to tell you what relic I’ve obtained—this, a Host God Belt!"
Ash showed off a wickedly designed belt around his waist with a slot seemingly intended for a redemption card.
"With this belt in combination with the redemption card, even if the Transcendence Prison Technique is not with me, I can host perfectly," Ash said. "Even if I encounter Silver Lamp again, I’ll be able to fight him."
While he referred to Silver Lamp, his gaze fixed on the silver-haired beauty, obviously implying the Gods of Four Pillars Sect. Since he was bound to reveal his hosting abilities in a future battle with Silver Lamp, he might as well use them now to intimidate the Mercury Wooden Horse.
However, the Host God Belt sounded impressive but was only a toy from the Gray Fox Era.
When Ash picked up the Host God Belt, thanks to his civic status, feedback about the belt read, "Unregistered user detected, please log in at Play Zero Company or continue as a guest..."
"Play Zero Company thanks you for your purchase. The Play Zero Morph Belt is currently set only for hosting. Please use it with Great Skill cards! Logging in can unlock more features, supporting up to 10 cards simultaneously, with many more plugins available for download!"
"Hosting: Load a Great Skill card to operate, maximum load 100%, capacity 1."
Great Skill cards, redemption cards, the same items have different names and expectations in different eras.
From this, Ash could also see the intelligence of the Transcend Sect: the Host God Belt was meaningless to the Transcend Sect believers since they never left the Transcend building. By giving it to Ash, however, no matter how Ash used it outside, he was draining the strength of other sects and serving as a living advertisement for the Transcend Sect—a win-win situation for them.
If the redemption card ran out, Ash would have to return to the Transcend Sect to replenish it. Coming and going, maybe Ash would indeed become a Transcend believer—this was just Igula’s thought, as Ash always felt the Transcend Sect was more interested in Harvey than in himself.