Lord of the Mysteries

After Audrey and Leonard left the gray fog, Klein didn’t immediately return to the real world.

He was still sitting on the high-back chair that belonged to The World, silent for more than ten seconds.

Then, he beckoned for an item.

It was a “heart” that was the size of a child’s fist, one that full of grayish-white wrinkles:

A Manipulator’s Beyonder characteristic!

Holding the Beyonder characteristic, Klein stood up and walked out of the majestic palace. He entered the depths of the mysterious space above the gray fog and arrived at the staircase of light that seemed to lead to a divine kingdom.

Walking along the stairs, he walked up to the floating grayish-white clouds and stood in front of the strange door of light and the hanging transparent cocoons. Klein raised his right hand, lifting the brain-like, heart-like Manipulator Beyonder characteristic to his chest and extended his spirituality, hoping to use it.

He wanted to see if there were still any subconscious thoughts in the people inside the “cocoons.” He wanted to see if they had put together a miniature sea of collective subconscious.

If that happened, he planned to use Hvin Rambis’s Manipulator Beyonder characteristic to enter the consciousness and check on the psyche branding to figure out what the people who had been hanging above the door of light had experienced before their “transmigration.” He wanted to know if they sensed anything during that long “slumber.”

This was the inspiration that the expedition today gave him.

Of course, the Beyonder characteristic left behind by Hvin Rambis might not be able to help Klein do what he wanted.

It was because it hadn’t been made into a mystical item, and it was very difficult to use effectively.

In an instant, the grayish-white and wrinkled “heart” in Klein’s hand started to beat slowly as it emitted thumping sounds.

Klein then heard the synchronized heartbeats among the transparent “cocoons.”

Thump! Thump…

This meant that the people inside were still alive, only in a certain state of slumber.

In Klein’s vision, their figures gradually evolved into several blurry islands beneath them.

This represented their consciousness.

However, these spiritual islands were also trapped within transparent “cocoons,” separating them from the prying eyes of the outside world.

Similarly, they were unable to integrate and create a sea of collective subconscious.

Unless the ‘cocoon’ is destroyed, there’s no way to bypass them and enter the corresponding mind world… Klein muttered to himself and lowered the hand holding the Manipulator Beyonder characteristic.

After a few seconds, he sighed deeply and turned around to leave.

In Empress Borough, the opulent villa of Earl Hall.

With the silk blanket over her, Audrey, who was sleeping soundly with her eyes closed, suddenly opened her eyes.

She then sat up, moved to the side of the bed, and prayed sincerely to Mr. Fool, asking “Him” to witness her vow to secrecy.

After she was done with this matter, she pulled a pillow over and placed it behind her waist, reminiscing over the experiences that she had yet to “forget” during the exploration.

The history of ancient times is really interesting and terrifying… Mr. Star’s performance is similar to my usual observations of him. He’s more carefree and casual, and his thoughts easily wander in an uncontrollable manner. Yet, there are matters where he shows his experience and acuity. He’s rather reliable… This isn’t a contradiction, as many people have such “mixed layers to themselves”…

Mr. World is indeed a gentle person. He doesn’t seem to wear much of an expression on his face, but he’s secretly inwardly muttering something to himself all the time. His mental conversations with Mr. Star can practically be adapted into a play…

People call him a crazy adventurer who doesn’t care about his surroundings, one that directly draws his gun to shoot when he sees a target… Well, at the last moment, I thought he would attempt to approach the bronze door, but in the end… He fled. No, he broke away so decisively! Audrey’s lips slowly curled up when she thought of this.

Then, she made a conclusion.

The facts have proven that, in the mysterious world, unless one has completely lost all sense of rationality or has given up on thinking, there will not be any Beyonders who will really do crazy things. One has to be careful and cautious, not seeing things that shouldn’t be seen, and not hear things that shouldn’t be heard.

Audrey, you must remember this!

7 Pinster Street. Leonard returned to his body.

He quickly thought of how he should talk to Pallez Zoroast before pretending like nothing had happened and saying in a deep voice, “Old Man, I have something to ask you.”

In his mind, Pallez’s slightly-aged voice immediately laughed.

“You have to remember this. The more you ask, the more I can guess what you did tonight.”

“It’s not like there’s anything that needs to be kept a secret…” Leonard replied habitually before getting down to the main issue. “Old Man, what do you know about the Amon’s brother?”

“That depends on what you want to know.” Pallez Zoroast tossed the question back at Leonard.

Leonard thought for a moment and said, “After Amon’s brother obtained 0-08, is ‘He’ only short of the ritual to become a god?”

Probably.” Pallez didn’t give an affirmative answer.

Leonard wasn’t too satisfied with this answer. Instead, he said, “I remember you mentioning it once. In the early stages of the Solomon Empire, the two Kings of Angels, Medici and Ouroboros were quite scared of Amon and his brother. This means that they were already very close to being divine.”

This was something that Pallez had occasionally mentioned during their previous exchanges. This time, Leonard had confirmed it from some of Mobet’s answers.

“Heh, I’ve only said the first half of the sentence. I didn’t tell you that Amon and Adam are very close to being divine.” Pallez rejected Leonard’s claim. “There are too many possibilities as to why Medici and Ouroboros are afraid. It’s not just because ‘He’ is close to being divine. It’s not enough to make such a conclusion based on that.”

The Sequence 1 angel cleared his throat and continued, “‘Them’ being close to being divine is one of the possibilities. Adam and Amon wield unique authorities, and them being hard to deal with is another possibility. For instance, you will always have no idea that Adam is sitting beside you. You have no idea if what you’re doing was arranged by ‘Him,’ nor do you know that you’re walking into ‘His’ trap by your own volition. Heh, I’m referring to you, not me. Of course, I also have to be way of such matters. Letting my guard down might result in terrible consequences for me too.

“As for Amon, ‘He’ has many different ideas and has a ‘do-it’ spirit, making it hard for people to guess ‘His’ motives and be on guard against ‘Him.’ Besides, ‘He’ is very good at deceit. There’s always some conspiracy behind ‘Him.’ In that era, apart from the true deities, there was no one who wasn’t afraid of ‘Him.’ Heh heh, even true deities had to be wary of him; otherwise, they might have certain authorities stolen by ‘Him’ at some point in time.”

Leonard nodded indiscemibly and diverted the topic:

“Old Man, do you think the Spectator pathway is hiding any secrets?”

“I don’t think there are any secrets below the level of angel. I’m not sure of anything above it.” Pallez said after pondering for a few seconds.

Without waiting for Leonard to respond, “He” hesitantly added, “I heard from Medici that high-level Beyonders of the Spectator pathway are the hardest to lose control or go crazy, but it’s also the easiest to lose control and go crazy.”

“Why?” Leonard asked in surprise.

Pallez Zoroast scoffed and said, “I have some guesses, but I lack the necessary evidence and logic behind them. I don’t want to tell you for the time being.”

“You actually don’t have any ideas or theories, right…” Leonard habitually grumbled.

“Don’t try your little tricks in front of me.” The slightly-aged voice wasn’t affected at all.

Leonard didn’t dare to ask further as he deliberated for a moment before saying, “Old Man, I went to a real dream this time. There were quite a lot of psyche remnants of people from ancient times in it.

“Do you know a viscount named Mobet Zoroast?”

“Mobet…” Pallez’s voice suddenly aged significantly before returning to normal. “He’s a direct descendant of my bloodline. He vanished after a large-scale war, and I thought that he had been killed by Amon or Jacob in passing, causing me to fail to divine the murderer… From the looks of it, things weren’t that simple.”

“Indeed.” Leonard gave an affirmative answer. Then, he briefly provided the gist of things: “He’s been dead for some time, leaving some of his psyche behind. In that real dream, he married a songster from the elves…”

After listening quietly, Pallez said after a while, “That’s good, too…”

Leonard had originally wanted to mention that Mobet also addressed Pallez as “Old Man,” but he suddenly couldn’t bring himself to. He had no choice but to end the conversation there.

After witnessing Leonard’s and Audrey’s vow, Klein returned to the real world.

He tidied up the altar in the room, took out a pen and paper, and drew a complicated symbol that was a mixture of concealment and mystery prying.

He wanted to summon Arrodes to ask how it had confirmed that Groselle’s Travels had appeared after the disappearance of the City of Miracles, Liveseyd.

After waiting for more than ten seconds, the full-body mirror in the room lit up with a faint aqueous light.

Silver words appeared one after another in the dim light:

“Exalted, benevolent, Great Master, your puny, loyal, and humble servant, Arrodes, is here to answer your summoning!

“Do you have any orders for me?”

“Some questions.” After giving his answer, Klein was in no hurry to ask about the matter regarding Groselle’s Travels, intending to start with something that wasn’t very sensitive first.

He thought and said, “Arrodes, there’s an abandoned castle in Delaire Forest. In the depths of it is a pair of bronze doors. It seems to be sealing some power coming from underground. Do you know what it is?”

The moment he finished speaking, the light on the full-body mirror’s surface suddenly dimmed and turned pitch-black. In the pitch-blackness, white, liquefied words appeared one after another:

“I came from underground…”