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As Celestial Worthy's consciousness receded, the "curtain" grew increasingly transparent and ethereal, eventually becoming invisible to the naked eye. Even Cavendish could only perceive faint, dark, illusory "Spirit Body Threads" coiling on the ground.
Attendant of Mysteries characteristic!
Suppressing the intense craving that originated from the depths of his Spirit Body, Cavendish manipulated the Spirit Body Threads to place the characteristic on a makeshift altar he had set up. The Door of Sacrifice and Bestowal opened, yet for a moment, he couldn't successfully sacrifice the characteristic.
Was this due to the drop of River of Eternal Darkness water, or the Celestial Worthy's instinctive resistance?
Aaron, within the Nation of Disorder, felt the strong repulsion from the Door of Sacrifice and Bestowal, and his brows furrowed. He was still maintaining the "reappearance" of Pallez Zoroast, relying on the Worm of Time and the cooperation of his hidden authority to disrupt this space, preventing the two evil gods from noticing him. However, this effect wouldn't last much longer.
As he pondered whether to fully mobilize the power of the Nation of Disorder and try again, the surrounding Darkness surged, sweeping the curtain into the deep pupil of "Rusco's Eye."
Passing through the Door of Sacrifice and Bestowal again, the strong sense of repulsion significantly weakened. Aaron looked at "Rusco's Eye" in his hand with a strange expression, then put the "Ring of Mysteries," which had been sacrificed again, onto his finger.
Since he had successfully brought this item out of the Forsaken Land of the Gods, the most difficult and troublesome step was complete. The remaining matters were much simpler and clearer. It was just a pity about that evil god umbilical cord, but it was put to good use.
Collecting his thoughts, Aaron re-bestowed Arianna's dark emblem to Cavendish. Regardless of the outcome of the battle between "Dark Side of the Universe" and the True Creator, the Forsaken Land of the Gods would become even more dangerous.
With the Evernight's protection, at least for a short period, his safety against the two angels of the Aurora Order would be somewhat guaranteed.
Receiving the medal that flew out from the dark gold double-door, completely translucent and seemingly cast from black gems, Cavendish's body rapidly faded, vanishing into the historical fog and fleeing.
A few seconds later, the air here rippled, and a tiny, almost invisible creature crawled out.
This creature rapidly expanded, transforming into Amon, wearing a pointed soft hat and a classical black robe.
Amon adjusted the monocle on his right eye, curved the corner of his mouth, and revealed a smile.
-----------------
Berserk Sea, Damir Harbor, inside a certain hotel.
Klein suddenly opened his eyes, his body springing up like a coiled spring, pressing against the wall and cautiously surveying his surroundings. When he saw the crimson moon outside the window, his expression couldn't help but become somewhat dazed.
He clearly remembered being on the street at the time, and his last memory was of that endless terrifying babbling, yet it was only afternoon then.
Feeling a blankness in his mind, Klein's expression changed repeatedly. The black glove on his right hand instantly became transparent, transforming into a human skin glove as thin as a cicada's wing.
A string of flames appeared in the room, and Klein's figure vanished with it. After a long while, he returned, his expression still somewhat uncertain.
He had confirmed that he was currently in a hotel not far from Damir Harbor, and using the "Creeping Hunger" to shepherd that Nightmare, he had entered the dreams of the hotel's front desk.
Seeing himself in the dream, arriving at this hotel in the evening with a normal expression, these discoveries made a chill involuntarily rise in his heart.
Just as Klein was struggling with whether to leave Damir Harbor that very night, he suddenly turned his head sharply, and the glove on his left palm burst forth with a brilliant light, like direct sunlight.
Priest of Light, "Holy Light"!
The pure, blazing pillar of light had just condensed when it silently dissipated. Aaron waved away the scattered light points, emerged from the Spirit World, and glanced at Klein, whose expression was slightly relaxed but somewhat awkward, and teased:
"What, does Mr. Gehrman Sparrow, the Mad Adventurer, still wish to hunt me?"
Klein, who had reacted excessively due to his continuously tense emotions, coughed dryly, but his body also relaxed.
Regardless of whether there was a hidden danger in this hotel before, as long as this Duke, who had the backing of two gods, arrived, any danger would leave on its own.
Just as he was about to speak of the anomaly he discovered, Klein fell silent. Those babblings were clearly related to that mysterious gray fog space, which was also his biggest secret.
As a fellow member of the Tarot Club, if only he had experienced such a situation, the identity of a mere Blessed (favored one) wouldn't explain it.
Bearing these concerns, Klein composed his expression and directly asked:
"Mr. 'Emperor,' may I ask what brings you here so late at night?"
"I'm here to see if you're still alive…" Noticing Klein's hesitant expression, Aaron muttered to himself and responded with a smile:
"By divine oracle, merely to give you two items."
Divine oracle? For me?
Klein quickly caught the key points in the words. Before he could ask the doubts in his heart, he saw two items appear in Aaron's hand.
One was a blood-stained, deep eye, and the other, from its appearance, seemed to be a Tarot card.
Pushing both items towards Klein, Aaron then spoke:
"This eye is 'Rusco's Eye,' an item bestowed by the Evernight Goddess. It is said to originate from Flegrea, the Demonic Wolf, one of the ancient gods of the Second Epoch. The Goddess commanded me to deliver it to you."
"As for this Tarot card, I acquired it by chance, but unfortunately, it is of little use to me. I am lending it to you for temporary use; you can return it to me after dealing with Ince Zangwill."
"Hmm, it has another name, 'Blasphemy Slate,' which you should be quite familiar with."
The moment he left the Forsaken Land of the Gods, Aaron immediately separated the Attendant of Mysteries characteristic from "Rusco's Eye" and personally suppressed it within the Nation of Disorder.
However, due to it not being an adjacent Pathway, and fearing to disturb the slumbering Celestial Worthy's will again, separating the Sequence 2 Miracle Invoker characteristic contained within it would still require some time.
But "Rusco's Eye" was no longer useful to him. It was time to return it to Klein according to the Evernight Goddess's initial arrangement, so as not to disrupt the Goddess's plans.
As for the Blasphemy Slate, it would serve as rent for borrowing "Rusco's Eye," plus compensation for almost awakening the Celestial Worthy's will and nearly killing Klein this time.
Unaware that the culprit behind his unwarranted suffering was right before him, Klein's eyes almost popped out as he looked at the Blasphemy Slate floating before him:
The card face depicted a portrait of Roselle, leaning against the Cosmos, with an illusory Door appearing before him. In the upper left corner of the Tarot card, brilliant starlight condensed into a line of text: "Sequence 0: Door."
"This is the Blasphemy Slate…" Klein murmured silently to himself, quickly recovering from his sudden surprise and noticing the anomaly within it:
"That Rusco's Eye, Mr. 'Emperor,' you could have directly sacrificed it to the Fool. Why did the Goddess specifically issue a divine oracle to have it delivered to me?"
"It couldn't be…"
Feeling a little uneasy, Klein glanced at Aaron, rephrased his question, and voiced the doubt in his heart.
Guessing that Klein would ask this, Aaron showed a similarly puzzled expression, spread his hands, and responded:
"Indeed, why such a superfluous act?"
Klein was choked for a moment and didn't know what to say. He couldn't very well go and ask the Evernight Goddess, so he finally nodded silently.
He naturally wouldn't believe that the Blasphemy Slate was useless, and he roughly guessed Aaron's purpose in temporarily lending him this item:
"To use the Blasphemy Slate's anti-divination and anti-prophecy to counter 0-08, so as not to be completely defenseless against Ince Zangwill."
Every gift of fate came with a hidden price, but facing Ince Zangwill, who now had an additional evil spirit possessing him, Klein had no choice but to accept this gift.
Watching Klein accept the items, Aaron nodded and said no more, directly stepping into the Spirit World and traversing away.
After the Duke left, Klein looked at the two items in his hand, hesitated for a moment, and then set up a Sacrifice and Bestowal ritual first.
After confirming that the ritual could still proceed normally, Klein felt relieved and performed the four steps in reverse to ascend above the gray fog.
Looking at the magnificent palace around him, which seemed unchanged, Klein sat at the head of the bronze long table and picked up the "Door" card he had sacrificed earlier.
Since this "Blasphemy Slate" was already activated, he didn't need to find an additional incantation; by simply infusing his spirituality, he could observe the corresponding changes.
The "Door" card quickly transformed into a miniature, illusory book. Guided by Klein's thoughts, it continuously flipped backward, finally stopping on a certain page:
Sequence 4 - Secrets Sorcerer
.....
Advancement Ritual: The advancer seals a demigod-level creature with clear hostility. The less external aid used, the better the ritual's effect.
"A complete Pathway of a god, truly worthy of the name Blasphemy!"
Withdrawing his gaze from the Secrets Sorcerer potion formula, Klein sighed with emotion, muttering to himself. The most direct benefit of this Blasphemy Slate for him was solving his future advancement problem.
If he couldn't find a Seer Pathway demigod formula after advancing to Marionettist, he wouldn't be left without options.
Thinking this, Klein tentatively tried to accommodate the "Door" card into his body.
His state immediately changed. A layer of starlight appeared on his body, and layers of illusory Doors seemed to faintly emerge within the surging gray-white mist, making his demeanor even more profound.
Klein could clearly feel that his connection with this mysterious gray fog space had deepened significantly, along with some other, more subtle changes.
Nodding with satisfaction, Klein then looked at "Rusco's Eye" bestowed by the Evernight Goddess. Apart from an intense feeling of unease that arose when his gaze met its deep pupil, he gained nothing else; even divination yielded no useful information.
"This is something the Goddess gave to the Fool. I'm not even a demigod, so it's normal that I can't activate it…"
Sighing, Klein consoled himself, then placed both "Rusco's Eye" and the Blasphemy Slate into the pile of miscellaneous items, and retrieved the telegraph machine again.
After some thought, instead of immediately returning to the real world, Klein used the previous scene of his prayer to examine the hotel where he had awakened with his True Sight, hoping to gain some useful information from this mysterious space.
His gaze swept past the various room doors and the sleeping faces, but Klein detected no anomaly, as if everything was perfectly reasonable.
Suddenly, his eyebrow twitched, and the prayer scene paused, stopping at a room on the 3rd floor of the hotel:
The original disguise was rendered useless under the gaze of True Sight, revealing a man in the prayer scene who appeared to be in his thirties.
His hair and eyebrows were yellowish-brown, his eyes deep blue yet bright, and his features were not too sharp, like people from southern Intis and the Lenberg and Masin regions.
This face gradually overlapped with a portrait on a wanted poster in Klein's mind. His expression was somewhat intriguing as he muttered softly:
"'Golden Dream' Boatswain, Blazing Danitz, bounty 3700 pounds…"
Waving his hand to dismiss the prayer scene, Klein held the telegraph machine, his consciousness simulating the sensation of falling, and swiftly passed through the gray-white mist to return to the real world.
Not rushing to find the first unfortunate soul he met after arriving at sea, Klein first looked at the telegraph machine in his hand, but waited for a long time without any reaction.
His brow unconsciously furrowed. Klein thought for a moment, then cut his finger and used his blood to draw the symbol for summoning Arrodes on the side of the telegraph machine.
Time passed by second by second. Klein stood up expressionlessly and decisively sacrificed the telegraph machine back above the gray fog.
Something happened to Arrodes! Did the Steam Church discover the anomaly of this magic mirror?
His thoughts raced. Klein took a deep breath, deciding not to think about it anymore. The human skin glove on his right hand quickly manifested an impure Darkness, with specks of light flickering at its core, like a night sky dotted with stars.
In a hazy, illusory dream, Danitz lay comfortably on a bed made of gold coins, watching the blurry figures bustling on the deck, and commanded arrogantly:
"Hurry up and work, I'm talking to you, Iron Skin."
"Tsk, when the Captain returns from his vacation and sees such a brand new Golden Dream, he'll definitely praise me profusely."
Using the shepherded Nightmare, Klein entered Danitz's dream and guided it to some extent. Looking at this pirate with a completely different demeanor, his expression was somewhat strange.
He was playing the role of a Mad Adventurer, not a cold-blooded killer. If this guy wasn't utterly wicked, he didn't intend to actually kill this unfortunate soul, especially since he might need to deal with Admiral Iceberg later, and the mermaid matter also required foresight.
Thinking this, Klein's expression became indifferent again. He appeared directly behind Danitz, lightly patted his shoulder, and said coldly:
"Blazing Danitz."
"Shit! How many times have I told you, call me Boatswain…" Before he could finish speaking, Danitz had just turned his head when his pupils violently constricted.
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