Chapter 12: A Reminder

Chapter 12: A Reminder

The identity, status, and strength of the Sea God… Hearing the example Mr. Fool gave, Alger, The Hanged Man, felt his mind go blank for nearly two seconds.

This was something he had never dared to dream of!

In his view, Mr. Fool had obtained the Sea God’s authority through Gehrman Sparrow, replacing Kalvetua and gaining a stable and fairly numerous body of believers. This had been an extremely critical step in His recovery. Therefore, this hidden existence would definitely not abandon the corresponding identity.

Who could have expected that, at this moment, he would actually hear Mr. Fool tell everyone that the Sea God’s identity, status, and strength could all be exchanged for?

After recovering further, Mr. Fool no longer needs an identity at the level of Sea God or the corresponding believers? This is the bearing of a great existence. Things of insufficient status are only borrowed briefly and will not be occupied forever… The Hanged Man Alger sighed inwardly at first, then became intensely excited. He felt that Mr. Fool’s words had been addressed directly to him.

Within the Church of Storms, Alger had relied on external power to become a Sequence 4 demigod and had barely entered the upper ranks. But if he wanted to advance further, it was almost impossible. As for stealing the Book of Calamity, he could not yet see even the slightest hope. Thus, Alger could only suppress his ambition for the time being and patiently wait for an opportunity to arrive.

And now, the opportunity had arrived—far faster than he had expected!

Alger was presently the Cardinal of the Church of Storms in charge of the Rorsted diocese. Once he secretly became the Sea God and controlled the authority over that sea region, he would become the king of the Rorsted Archipelago—the true king!

At that thought, The Hanged Man Alger nearly lost control of himself. It took him great effort to calm his state.

Justice Audrey, The Sun Derrick, and the others could not hide their shock that the Tarot Club had begun trading the identity, status, and strength of a deity. Even though it was only a false god, they had no intention of switching to the Storm pathway. Compared with Alger, they were not nearly as excited and soon regained control of themselves, turning their gazes toward Mr. Hanged Man.

Alger quietly inhaled and humbly addressed the very end of the bronze long table.

“Honorable Mr. Fool, what price must be paid in exchange for these things?”

The Fool Klein had been waiting for The Hanged Man to ask this question. With a smile, he said,

“Some tasks I assign, and frequent prayers, as well as devout wishes.”

The true emphasis of this sentence was actually on the final short phrase, but he believed the members of the Tarot Club would not hear it.

As for how he would fulfill the corresponding wishes, he currently had two methods. The first was to use other Beyonder powers he possessed to achieve the corresponding effect. For example, by summoning a historical scene and reproducing the act of giving someone beer, he could fulfill the wish of “having the bar owner treat me.” The second was to rely on the wish power he had already accumulated to directly respond to lower-level wishes and create true miracles. For example, with a snap of his fingers, he could instantly restore a collapsed house to perfect condition and truly complete its reconstruction.

In addition, above the gray fog, Klein could mobilize the status and power of Sefirah Castle, which was equivalent to a King of Angels who had not accommodated a Uniqueness. In other words, when responding to prayers, he could use the core ability of Sequence 1 of his own pathway—the core ability of Attendant of Mysteries.

After exploring during this period, Klein had preliminarily figured out two of them:

One was creating the embryonic form of a divine kingdom. The other was “grafting.”

“Grafting” was a name Klein had given it himself. After all, he was not yet a true Attendant of Mysteries and had not obtained the corresponding mysticism knowledge.

This ability could “graft” together things that normally could not form a direct connection, creating unbelievable effects.

A simple example was grafting together the concepts of “end point” and “starting point” of a road, making those who stepped onto the road eternally unable to leave it.

For Beyonders, quite a few abilities could accomplish similar things, but the “grafting” of an Attendant of Mysteries acted directly upon the concepts themselves. It not only possessed an extremely high level, as though a true god had descended, but its effects were bizarre and carried a sense of secrecy.

Combined with the Staff of the Stars, the Grade 0 Sealed Artifact capable of simulation, when Klein was within Sefirah Castle, he could fully respond to prayers like a King of Angels—and he could accomplish even more.

Hearing Mr. Fool mention tasks, The Hanged Man Alger immediately recalled a certain matter and hurriedly lowered his head.

“Honorable Mr. Fool, do the three targets from the Feysac Empire who participated in the Konot Sea Battle still require further investigation?”

He had previously gathered preliminary intelligence on the three suspected former owners of Creeping Hunger, but he had not discovered anything abnormal.

The Fool Klein nodded lightly.

“No need.”

He had originally intended to use that line to catch the tail of the Twilight Hermit Order. But since Adam had most likely become a god, it was better to avoid Him.

Respecting Sequence 0 true gods was one of Klein’s consistent principles. When he had to yield, he would yield. When he had to give up, he would give up.

Before The Hanged Man Alger could speak again, The Fool Klein continued in a relaxed tone,

“Your current task is to cooperate with the believers of the Sea God and properly settle the people leaving the Forsaken Land of the Gods.”

“Your will is my will!” The Hanged Man Alger replied without hesitation.

This made The Sun Derrick silently breathe out in relief. He no longer had doubts, concerns, or worries regarding the developments that would follow.

He had full trust in Mr. Hanged Man’s ability to handle matters.

At that moment, The Fool Klein looked around and smiled.

“Besides the Sea God’s identity, status, and strength, many other things can also be exchanged for—for example, the potion formula and Beyonder characteristic of a Law Mage.”

He did not give too many examples, lest it damage The Fool’s status. As for why he had spoken at such length earlier, it could be understood as Mr. Fool being in a good mood after recovering further.

Moon City possessed the inheritance of a Law Mage. Klein could exchange for it by fulfilling the wish of “being saved.” Of course, even if he directly ordered the residents of Moon City to sacrifice the corresponding items, those people who had finally found protection would certainly be very willing.

What they feared was that Mr. Fool would abandon Moon City and refuse to accept their sacrifices.

Aside from that, Klein himself also possessed a Silver Knight marionette, the Beyonder characteristics from Sequence 9 to Sequence 3 of the Seer pathway, the Sealed Artifact General Without Pupils, a drop of blood blessed by the Primordial Moon, and various charms and bullets related to Spirit Worms.

If the wish-maker wanted a consumable item or wished only to borrow something briefly, Klein could take even more things out of the historical void.

The potion formula and Beyonder characteristic of a Law Mage… Judgment Xio inexplicably felt as though Mr. Fool had glanced at her.

Frankly, she had recently lacked enough motivation to advance. On one hand, she was only one of many mid-to-high-level members of MI9, and the chance of obtaining a ticket to demigodhood was extremely low. On the other hand, her father’s reputation was about to be restored within a limited scope, leaving her suddenly without an urgent goal.

At the same time, the war had ended. Her mother and younger brother had returned to Backlund and were about to begin normal lives. With Xio’s present total income, she could fully support a wealthy family.

All these reasons combined made Xio feel that her current life seemed rather good, and she did not really want to change it.

Of course, if there were a chance to advance to demigod, she would not let it pass. In the previous war, she had experienced the helplessness of a Sequence 5. Moreover, in the Tarot Club, aside from herself and The Magician Fors, everyone else had already become demigods. There was no doubt she did not want to fall too far behind.

As many thoughts filled her mind, Judgment Xio glanced at The Magician Fors, then lowered her head toward the end of the mottled long table to indicate that she would work hard.

The Magician Fors could roughly guess her friend’s mentality, because she was more or less the same.

If not for the fact that advancing to Sequence 4 could effectively resist the ravings of the full moon, eliminating the need to frequently trouble Mr. Fool, and if not for the Abraham family already preparing the potion formula and Beyonder ingredients for her, she would not have been all that eager to become a Secrets Sorcerer.

As a Traveler, being able to go wherever she wanted, to eat whatever food she wanted on-site, had completely satisfied Fors’s earliest expectations of the supernatural.

Of course, she had another motivation for advancing: after becoming a demigod, she could better help her teacher’s family with certain matters.

Seeing Mr. Fool, shrouded in grayish-white fog, lean back in His chair and cease speaking, Justice Audrey hesitated. Then she opened her mouth.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I have a question.

“If there is a matter whose outcome you know has absolutely nothing to do with you, and depends only on the moods and contests of certain existences, what would you do?”

The instant she finished, The Hanged Man Alger gave a laugh.

“Everyone is destined to die. No matter how hard one works, that outcome is difficult to change. Does that mean a person’s entire life is meaningless?”

He seemed to have been thinking about such matters for a long time. Immediately afterward, he added,

“Since the current you cannot change the result, then work hard to improve yourself, obtain greater power, and grasp more authority, until one day you can participate in those contests. If you die during that process, it is still better than doing nothing at all.”

These were some of the most sincere words Mr. Hanged Man had ever said. They seemed to come straight from his heart… Even something small can become great… Justice Audrey was touched and nodded imperceptibly.

At that moment, The World Gehrman Sparrow looked around and said,

“Everyone, there is one thing I must remind you of.”

When the Tarot Club members all looked over, Klein controlled the dummy World and spoke in a low voice.

“The apocalypse will arrive in a little more than ten years. Everyone may be destroyed, including the gods.”