Lord of the Mysteries

As the layered sounds of the illusory pleas rang in his ears, Klein felt as though he possessed a corporeal body. The deepest part of his head throbbed with pain, so much so that he yearned to slam his head into the wall to alleviate the pain with more pain.

The scenes of different people praying to him made him feel an uncontrollable and abnormally terrifying sense of dizziness. It was as if he was walking the edge of a deep abyss and could fall down at any moment.

It was only because he had his Spirit Body reinforced with the Dark Emperor card and Azik’s copper whistle, as well as being accustomed to being prayed to, which had prevented him from losing control straight away like other non-demigod Beyonders. They would’ve already collapsed to the ground in pain, turning into a monster or erupting into a mess of flesh and blood.

All of the Beyonder characteristics in this area have combined together to form a Sealed Artifact with the help of the serpent fang. Moreover, the degree of danger and negative effects have far surpassed that of a Grade 2 Sealed Artifact… Klein didn’t rashly move forward but instead took a few steps back and left the area where the praying voices were concentrated, to ease the pain and dizziness that would’ve caused his Spirit Body to collapse.

He stood next to Kalvetua’s mashed body which resembled slush, and he stared at the white scepter that was embedded in the half-collapsed pillar. He considered how he could take it away.

At the same time, he naturally chose a name for the Sealed Artifact: Sea God Scepter!

Yes, from the feelings and reaction just now, I can barely get close to it and pull it out, but I can only last a few seconds. There’s no way for me to hold it or use it… However, it doesn’t matter. Once I have it in my hand, I’ll terminate the summoning ritual and return above the gray fog. There, I can effectively block the thousands of prayers and any of the still-unknown negative effects. It will allow me to study it with ease… Klein quickly came up with an idea.

In his wraith state, he could instinctively communicate with the spirit world to receive a revelation without the need to toss a coin.

His spiritual intuition told him that doing so wouldn’t be too dangerous.

After making up his mind, Klein began to clean up the mess and take the opportunity to see what he could find in the ancient elven ruins.

He first headed to the corner and picked up the translucent Biological Poison Bottle, screwed the lid back on, and stuffed it into his body. Then, he turned around to find an iron cigar case that was half-hidden beneath the slushy remains of Kalvetua.

This… I thought it had been swallowed by Kalvetua and corroded into dregs… Klein clicked his tongue in wonder and quickly walked over.

Because he had been left feeling numb from the discharged electric currents from the seawater, he raised his right hand, allowing the iron cigar case to float slowly in the air before landing in his palm.

Klein glanced around and saw that the surface of the iron cigar case was covered with corrosion marks. However, it was still barely usable. As for the other items that were sucked away by the seawater whirlpool back then, there were no signs of them.

The aura of the gray fog made Kalvetua uncomfortable, so it vomited it out right away, or has this iron cigar case undergone some sort of mutation that makes it not prone to corrosion, allowing it to survive until Kalvetua died? Amidst his puzzlement, Klein placed the cigar case into his body, planning to study it after he left.

Under such circumstances, he was in a race against time. He couldn’t afford even the slightest delay, because Klein didn’t know when the Church of Storms and the kingdom’s military would find this place!

He walked around the half-collapsed pillar from a distance and entered the rear of the hall which had almost completely collapsed.

There should’ve been many murals here, but with the destruction of the walls, they had all disappeared. Klein flew all the way to the end before seeing about a third of an exquisite throne being buried by stones and pillars.

On the left side of the throne, there was half of a mural that depicted a confrontation between two figures.

Looking down on the enemy from above was a man treading waves with dark clouds above him. He seemed to have storms draped over him as he had relatively softer features. His contours had an oriental trait from Klein’s past life. He held a spear formed of pure lightning in his hand against an ocean that had drowned everything.

Beneath the man was a man wearing a simple white robe. His face was blurry, and it was difficult to discern his age. It was only barely possible to tell that he was a man.

There was a halo behind the head of the white-robed man. It quietly emitted a bright light like the sun.

Beneath his feet was an illusionary circle with twelve segments. Each segment had symbols representing different times.

Behind him was a shadow that was like a curtain, and within the shadows, it appeared as though there was an eye peeking out from it.

Relying on his solid foundation in mysticism and rich knowledge from many sources, Klein quickly made an interpretation.

Waves, storms, dark clouds, lightning… This should be the ancient god, Elf King Soniathrym… Indeed, he’s just like the legends, with the rather soft facial features of an elf… This ancient Lord of Storms doesn’t give off any irascible vibes, and his looks are surprisingly good. Heh, this is a mural in an elven ruin, so it’s normal for them to beautify their own deity…

The sun-like halo and the twelve circular segments that symbolizes time, this… Isn’t this the father of Amon and Adam, the Creator who’s known in the outside world as the ancient Sun God and is revered in the City of Silver as the omnipotent and omniscient God? There’s a shadow curtain behind him, and behind it hides an eye… Yes, one of the images of the True Creator is the Eye behind the Shadow Curtains ¹ !

As expected, this is the Creator who took back the ancient gods’ authorities with eight King of Angels following him?

Is this mural a depiction of Elf King Soniathrym’s battle against the Creator?

Klein retracted his gaze and began searching for something of value.

Following his spiritual intuition, he came to the throne, reached into the base of the collapsed stones and pillars, and pulled out an object.

It was a flattened golden wine cup.

Its surface was engraved with intricate patterns, and its wine leg was already bent. At the bottom was a row of elven words: “Calamity, Cohinem.”

The original owner of this ruin is a high elf named Cohinem? Did he, or should I say “He” have the title of Calamity? Hmm… It matches the Book of Calamity that Leticia and company found. Both ruins should belong to the high elf, Cohinem, and there should be some kind of miraculous connection between them… Unfortunately, this golden wine cup is just a simple wine cup. It carries a bit of spirituality simply because it’s inscribed with the true name of the high elf… If Cohinem hadn’t fallen, just a real name would imbue the wine cup with extraordinary powers. What a pity… Klein initially judged that Cohinem was completely dead because Sea God Kalvetua had inherited his powers.

However, Klein couldn’t be too sure, because despite it being hundreds or thousands of years later, the Book of Calamity still had the quality of driving Leticia, a Beyonder whose Sequence wasn’t too low, to lose control.

Furthermore, it doesn’t seem like it’s something Sea God Kalvetua was capable of… Could the high elf, Cohinem, have the ability to split his Beyonder characteristics? Kalvetua only inherited a portion. Most of the remaining Beyonder characteristics is the source of the Book of Calamity’s unique quality?

Cohinem is dead, but he hasn’t completely perished?

Of course, Kalvetua, who swallowed Cohinem’s Beyonder characteristic, was just a beast without intelligence. No one knows what happened at that time; perhaps some of the characteristics were lost and formed a Sealed Artifact. After Kalvetua’s defeat, it fell into the hands of the Church of Storms…

Yes, I’ll ask Little Sun via The World at the Tarot Gathering next week. He should know who Cohinem is. Actually, there’s no need to ask; he’ll be offering two pages of ancient god legends. Perhaps there might be a detailed description of high elves next time…

After thinking it through, Klein stuffed the wine cup into his body. After all, this was made of gold, and even if the high elf, Cohinem, wasn’t dead and had some sort of connection with the wine cup, the gray fog could still block him out.

After a thorough check, and seeing that there was nothing of note, Klein quickly flew back outside and picked up the black hardwood cane before wiping out any traces of the battle.

Then, he took out a paper figurine. With a casual shake, he threw it into the seawater, causing it to quickly turn soggy before reducing to dust.

The earlier parts can be interfered with, but I won’t have the time or opportunity for the rest… Luckily, I am now disguised as Dark Emperor… As for the remains of Kalvetua, his flesh no longer have any value, and his bones are too heavy. It might affect my ability to wield the Sea God Scepter… With the help of Cogitation, Klein stabilized his state and quickly flew towards the white bone staff on the half-collapsed pillar.

Again, the sounds of illusory pleas filled his ears. Either pious, crying, fanatic, or numbed worshipers filled his vision, and the throbbing and dizziness became more and more intense.

Relying on his rich experience and the Spirit Body reinforcement from using the Dark Emperor card and Azik’s copper whistle, Klein barely managed to hold on until he finally arrived beside the Sea God Scepter.

He extended his right hand, and he grasped the middle section of the white-boned scepter.

As soon as the two made contact, the scene before Klein’s eyes became clear, and the buzzing sound beside his ears instantly became real.

He saw the bald, wheelchair-bound rebel, Kalat, collapsed on the ground, struggling to reach the shattered figurine of Kalvetua, chanting its honorific name over and over, his eyes filled with despair.

He saw Edmonton, with his blue sea serpent tattoo, prostrating himself in front of another Kalvetua figurine which was strangely bleeding, constantly knocking his head against the ground, creating a bloody mess.

In the slums, he saw believers hiding in their homes, weeping and praying numbly.

…

Klein’s black armor couldn’t support his body anymore as it quickly collapsed.

At the same time, his solidified “muscles” tightened as he exerted strength with his hands. Amidst the layers of resonating prayers and numerous clear scenes, he suddenly pulled out the short white bone staff that symbolized the Sea God’s authority!

Whoosh!

The seawater in the ruins surged violently, either churning or transforming into a whirlpool.

Klein calmly held onto the Sea God Scepter with his pitch-black crown before immediately vanishing. He directly returned above the gray fog.

When the familiar towering palace entered his sight, the sounds of praying and the hallucinatory scenes in front of him had already disappeared.

Sitting on the high-back chair belonging to The Fool, Klein lifted his right hand and examined the Sea God Scepter inlaid with blue gems and stained with some darkness and the light of dawn.

Countless points of light floated around the Sealed Artifact. Each point of light seemed to correspond to a praying believer. This caused the milky-white body of the scepter to glow with psychedelic and holy streams of light.

At this moment, Klein felt like this scepter was the true body of the Sea God!