Lord of the Mysteries

The Fallen Creator? Derrick frowned immediately.

The residents of the City of Silver had always believed in the “omnipotent and omniscient God, the Lord that created everything”; therefore, when he heard a similar name with the word “fallen” tagged to it, he couldn’t help but instinctively reject and feel uncomfortable about the notion.

Fallen Creator… That’s the way Mr. Fool addresses the True Creator… So that’s the image of this evil god… But why would his statue and temple appear within the City of Silver’s exploration confines? That place is suspected to be the Forsaken Land of the Gods! Or perhaps, before it was abandoned by the gods, there was already the faith of the True Creator… Could the holy residence that the Aurora Order always talks about be the Forsaken Land of the Gods? Many thoughts came to Alger, but he couldn’t make an accurate judgment because the history before the Cataclysm had long evolved into myths and legends. It couldn’t simply be described as information shrouded in fog.

He thought for two seconds and deliberately said, “We have another name for the Fallen Creator. It’s the True Creator.

“The faction that believes in ‘Him’ is in control of the Beyonder pathways such as the Secrets Suppliant, Listener, and Shadow Ascetic. The subsequent Sequence includes the Shepherd you mentioned before.”

Shepherd? The silent Derrick sat up straight, his eyes filled with horror.

He wasn’t unfamiliar with the Beyonder pathways which The Hanged Man had referred to, other than some of the Sequences being described with similar words in the City of Silver. For instance, The Whispered and Listener.

So that strange and evil statue represents the Secrets Suppliant pathway… Elder Lovia is already a Shepherd… She’s been acting more and more strangely… Derrick suddenly started to worry about the six-member council’s newly advanced elder and the safety of the City of Silver.

In the past, when they explored the surrounding areas, the City of Silver had found a few cities that were completely destroyed. In those places, only a few pieces of rubble had been carved with words that proved the existence of such a civilization.

These words were all variations of Dragonese, Jotun, and Elvish and most of them repetitively described one kind of existence.

That existence was called: “Evil god!”

The residents of the City of Silver who was involved in the expedition were guessing that those cities were destroyed by evil gods. So, after finding out that Elder Lovia’s pathway was probably controlled by an evil god, how could Derrick not be shocked, worried, and terrified?

He returned to his taciturn state, disappointing Audrey who had been waiting to hear more stories about the City of Silver.

After so many gatherings, after her purchase of the dragon race’s intelligence, her interest towards the City of Silver had grown even more.

His reaction is a little different from what I expected… Alger observed calmly for a while, but he failed to gain anything from it.

For a moment, he couldn’t find a point of entry into the conversation. And if he asked directly, he suspected that The Sun would request payment which wasn’t an easy task for him since he was burdened with the debt of two Beyonder ingredients.

It was at this moment that they simultaneously heard the sound of the table being tapped gently.

Klein concealed his fatigue with the thick gray fog and said with a chuckle, “Let’s end today’s gathering here.”

“Your will is our will.” Audrey immediately stood up and curtsied with her illusory skirt. The Hanged Man, The Sun, and The World successively replied with similar words.

Klein waved his hand and severed the connection, quietly watching the blurry shadows of Miss Justice and the others disappear into thin air.

Then, he made his smurf, The World, disappear. Then, he picked up the small badge which he had obtained from Lanevus and studied it.

“You can join if you have this item.” Klein read the sentence on the back of the badge but realized that it didn’t undergo any changes.

He thought for a moment and carefully injected spirituality into it.

A layer of faint light bloomed and quickly condensed into a light beam, shooting out of the gray fog.

However, it was repelled by the endless gray fog.

The beam of light suddenly dispersed, transforming into a palm-sized piece of illusory goatskin parchment. On it was written in ancient Feysac: “January 4, 1350, 8 p.m. in Babur Valley.”

A simple communication device in the field of mysticism? It sends out messages, requests synchronization, and gets the latest rendezvous time and venue? Klein recalled the scene he had just seen and made a preliminary judgment on the use of the badge.

1350, that’s next year… The Babur Valley lies in the area before the Tussock River enters Backlund… The time is precise, but the venue is vague. It’s a valley that’s almost a hundred kilometers long… Perhaps, this badge can be used as a location tool when one gets there… Klein turned the badge over and over, with interest, trying to figure out the corresponding symbols, incantations, and characteristics, to see if he could copy one himself.

Unfortunately, since he was no longer part of the Nighthawks, his knowledge in mysticism was still at the same level as before. He had no opportunities of improving it further.

Therefore, after studying it for a few minutes, he could only helplessly give up.

As for the phrase “you can join if you have this item,” Klein’s plan was to not consider it for the time being.

If I can become a Faceless by the end of this year, then I can head there in disguise. Otherwise, forget it… Klein silently said to himself, then he turned his attention to the matter of advancing to Magician.

The true root and juice of the Mist Treant is likely “in the bag” with The Sun… If my luck isn’t too bad, I should be able to get the spinal fluid of a Dark Patterned Black Panther this week. Sequence 7, a Mid-Sequence. I can already see and touch it… Hmm… How should a Magician act? As he thought about it, Klein began to consider specific issues.

Due to his experiences before and after his death and resurrection, he instantly comprehended the true essence of Clown. Therefore, in this month or so, he only needed constant acting in his daily life to gradually digest it. He didn’t need to make further summaries and adjust it according to the feedback. After killing Lanevus and attaining his initial revenge, the Clown potion was completely digested the moment he was laughing amid tears.

This wasn’t the same as the process in which Klein first digested the Seer potion. It was considered a special case, and now he had to return to such a situation with the Magician’s acting.

The true essence of Magician, to pass off the illusory with the genuine? Hmm, according to what Zaratul said in the Emperor’s diary, although the main focus of this pathway isn’t fate, a portion of it still belongs to it. So, there must be something corresponding to it? For example, it might seem that fate can be changed to a certain extent, but in the end, it turns out to all be an illusion. It’s just a magic trick that fools you? Klein rubbed his temples, then wrapped his remnant spirituality around himself and descended into the gray fog.

…

St. George’s Borough, in a two-bedroom apartment.

“Fortunately, I prepared another place like this. Otherwise, I wouldn’t even know where to hide.” Fors stared into the mirror and removed her dropping hair.

“That’s right…” Xio replied weakly, lying in bed.

“I just read in the newspaper that Lanevus is dead, but this matter involves godhood, so it won’t end so soon. We have to hide for a while. Uh, no, it’s you who’s going to hide, not me. I’m an upright clinical doctor, the author of a bestseller!” Fors looked at herself in the mirror and began putting on simple make-up.

Xio couldn’t provide a rebuttal as she slowly sat up and said, “Thankfully I was sufficiently clever and possess rich experience. When I got someone to make the report, I didn’t directly say that it involved the godhood of the True Creator. I only described it as seemingly very dangerous and that the target had experienced huge changes like he was praying to evil gods. If not, I wouldn’t even dare to stay in Backlund. To be embroiled in high-level battles sure is troublesome and dangerous. I don’t want to take on any more of Miss Audrey’s missions again!”

“Really?” Fors asked without looking back.

“Uh…” Xio fell silent for a few seconds and said, “Actually, there was no need for us to mention the godhood. Since Miss Audrey was able to discover this on her side, the Church of the Goddess would definitely be capable of doing so… They’ve most likely killed ‘Giant,’ right?”

“I can’t be sure,” Fors replied without mincing her words.

Xio froze, then let out a long, slow sigh.

Fors stopped what she was doing, turned her head to look at her, and said, “This mission was basically completed by you, so I won’t be sharing the payment with you. There’s a total of 200 pounds, so with the 70 pounds you’ve saved up, even if you deduct the expenses, you should be close to obtaining the first Beyonder ingredient for the Sheriff potion!”

“But I wouldn’t be able to receive the 100 pounds from the police so quickly.” Xio pursed her lips.

This wasn’t to say that the police wasn’t willing to give the bounty money, but that she couldn’t take it directly. She had to go through the friend who had helped her deliver the clues—that was the official bounty recipient.

Since she believed that this matter would definitely cause a huge ruckus, she didn’t have the guts to find her friend any time soon.

As for whether that friend would usurp the bounty, she was quite confident. The other party had helped too many shady bounty hunters before. It was fine to take a commission, but if he dared to directly usurp all of the bounty money, he would’ve already died in some unknown dark alley.

“But it will ultimately belong to you.” Fors paused for two seconds and seriously asked, “When you’ve collected enough money, will you contact the masked guy and work for him so that you can purchase the corresponding ingredients from him?”

“No, unless I can’t get it anywhere else and that there’s no hope.” Xio gave her answer.

…

In Empress Borough, the opulent villa of Count Hall.

Audrey was still reminiscing over today’s gathering when she suddenly saw her personal maid, Annie, coming over with a piece of paper.

“Miss, here’s your telegram.” Annie smiled and said, “It’s from the east coast of Balam.”

Alfred’s? Audrey happily received it and read it carefully.

“Dear sister, the Rainbow Salamander that you asked for has arrived at Pritz Harbor last night. My orders are to deliver it to your manor in the suburbs.”

Arrived last night? Then it’ll be delivered to my manor as early as today and by the latest, tomorrow… Audrey tilted her head to the side and looked at Susie, who was fighting with her snacks. With a shallow smile, she said, “Susie, the gift I prepared for you is almost here.”

“Woof?” Susie looked at her mistress in confusion.