Chapter 110: The Activation Incantation

Chapter One Hundred Ten
The Activation Incantation

Judging by its outward appearance, the bookmark was nothing special. Roselle’s portrait could be seen everywhere at the memorial exhibition, and both the imperial image and the still-middle-aged appearance were equally common.

Klein examined it back and forth several times. He found the tiny mark that had been pricked into it, confirming that this was the bookmark Miss Justice had tested.

He tried extending his spirituality and slowly pouring it inside. The result was just like with any ordinary object: his spirituality merely flowed over and covered it, neither penetrating nor producing any abnormal change.

That makes sense. Roselle’s idea was to find a “person of fate.” He would not specifically limit it to Beyonders…

After thinking for a moment, Klein switched to Feysac and pronounced in a low voice:

“Pirate King!”

The bookmark remained completely unresponsive.

He tried again in ancient Feysac, Intis, Loenese, and other languages, but what he received remained the same result.

As for languages of the mysticism field such as Jotun, Elvish, and Dragonese, those were too limited in target, so Klein tried them only without much hope.

Unsurprisingly, he failed.

Next, Klein switched back to Feysac and translated:

“One Piece!”

The bookmark lay quietly in his palm, showing not the slightest abnormality.

Klein followed the same procedure and tried again in different languages, only to encounter setback after setback.

“It seems my earliest guess was wrong. The young Roselle might have used a One Piece joke to make fun of things, but the older him may not necessarily have done so. People always age, always change.”

Klein reflected on his error. His finger tapped the edge of the mottled long table as he tried to infer the activation method from the little information revealed in the diary.

After a while, he manifested paper and pen, sorting and recording his thought process to avoid confusion and contradictions.

“In this matter, Roselle was both mad and despairing, yet clearly displayed his bad taste as well. The phrase ‘for the fated’—a description that does not fit the linguistic habits of this world—is proof.

“Therefore, it can be confirmed that he truly intended for certain people, by a stroke of fortune, to discover the Card of Blasphemy’s special nature.

“Since that is the case, the way to activate it cannot be too difficult to imagine. It must be something that could appear in daily life.

“What Roselle needed was a coincidental accident. For example, while holding a worthless bookmark, someone casually says a certain word. Then—congratulations, you have obtained a fortuitous encounter! Mm, that fits this sort of bad taste very well.

“Following that logic, different Cards of Blasphemy should have different activation incantations. A single word capable of activating every Card of Blasphemy clearly is not Roselle’s style.

“What is this card’s activation incantation? Hm. First, I can rule out the most common words, the ones spoken all the time.

“Also, when Roselle created the Cards of Blasphemy, his state was despairing, mad, reluctant, nostalgic, struggling, and angry. I can try to place myself inside that state of mind, pretend I am Roselle at that time, and imagine what activation method I would set.”

Klein stopped writing. He began acting as Roselle, trying to find inspiration.

First, he tried words of curses and hope in various languages plus ancient Feysac, and shamefully harvested only failure.

Then he began pondering what a powerhouse on the verge of despair would be most unwilling to part with, most reluctant to leave behind.

“His wife Matilda? A playboy like him probably did not have that deep a feeling toward his original spouse.

“His children? His eldest daughter Bernadette, eldest son Charles, second son Bonova…

“According to the diaries, what he found hardest to let go of should have been his daughter Bernadette, who may have become a major figure in the mysticism world.”

Klein paused and drew in a breath, preparing to make a new attempt.

“Bernadette,” he recited in Intis.

The bookmark showed no reaction.

Klein changed successively to Loenese, Highland, and Feysac, yet he still failed to obtain the hoped-for result.

He sighed, lowered his voice, and uttered the corresponding syllables in ancient Feysac:

“Bernadette.”

The name echoed above the vast, silent gray fog without seeming special in the slightest. Klein was just about to search for a new inspiration when he suddenly felt the bookmark in his hand sink slightly!

Immediately, it formed an invisible vortex, madly absorbing Klein’s spirit.

For an ordinary person, this would have been an enormous burden. But for a Sequence 7 Magician, it was not a particularly serious drain. Klein endured this checkpoint with ease, staring at the object in his palm with joy that he could not conceal.

Upon the bookmark, clear radiance rose bit by bit. The image of Emperor Roselle on its surface was transformed along with it.

He sat upon an ancient stone throne. On his head was a black crown inlaid with all kinds of gemstones. He wore black armor, covered himself in a cloak of the same color, held a scepter, and looked coldly ahead.

At the upper-left corner of the bookmark, brilliant starlight condensed into a line of words:

“Sequence 0: Black Emperor!”

Sequence 0! It really does hide the secrets of godhood! Black Emperor is actually Sequence 0…

A smile appeared on Klein’s lips as he thought with half-sighing, half-astonished emotion.

Immediately afterward, the bookmark became three-dimensional, like a miniature book.

Without any wind, the book moved by itself, revealing an image of Roselle wearing a white wig, beside which were corresponding descriptions in ancient Feysac:

“Sequence 9: Lawyer.”

“Skilled at discovering and exploiting loopholes in rules and weaknesses in opponents. Possesses outstanding eloquence and argumentative logic…”

“Potion formula…”

Klein glanced at the formula ingredients without reading carefully, then reached out and touched the page. The book turned.

“Sequence 8: Barbarian.”

“What cannot be resolved by law will necessarily be settled by force; this, too, is a kind of rule… Beyonders of this Sequence possess a fairly high resistance to mental influence…”

“Potion formula…”

With each touch from Klein, the book presented by the Card of Blasphemy turned page after page.

“Sequence 7: Briber.”

…

“Sequence 6: Baron of Corruption.”

…

“Sequence 5: Mentor of Disorder.”

…

“Sequence 4: Earl of the Fallen.”

…

“Sequence 3: Frenzied Mage.”

…

“Sequence 2: Duke of Entropy.”

…

“Sequence 1: Prince of Abolition.”

…

“Sequence 0: Black Emperor.”

…

After roughly browsing it once, Klein could not help sighing aloud:

“This truly hides the mystery of becoming a god!”

“No wonder Beyonders of this pathway, once they reach the high Sequences, try to establish nations and walk upon the earth.”

Because the ritual for becoming a god required exactly that!

To advance from Sequence 1, Prince of Abolition, to Black Emperor, the ritual required one to possess a nation belonging to oneself, to have one’s own name linked with the title of emperor and become common knowledge among the people. One also had to establish a strict and complex set of rules that violated normal conditions, including architectural style.

Afterward, one had to drive the populace to secretly build nine mausoleums similar to pyramids. Then one would enter one of them and, amid corresponding sacrificial rituals spread across different cities, involving the overwhelming majority of the populace, consume the Sequence 0 potion.

Once the advancement succeeded, before all nine secret mausoleums were destroyed, the Black Emperor would not truly die. Even if He perished, He could awaken and return from one of those mausoleums.

Even more terrifying was this: even if someone succeeded in killing the god and destroyed all nine mausoleums, as long as enough of the order established by that god remained, He still had the possibility of strangely reviving. It seemed to exploit a loophole in death itself.

The best way to make Him completely vanish was for a new Black Emperor to appear!

“This is a god!”

“And mortals cannot fight gods. Even angels are the same.”

“Those who have not become gods can never imagine the power of gods.”

At the end, Roselle made those meaningful comments.

In addition, Klein also learned one thing: once a pathway had a true god at Sequence 0, no Sequence 1 Beyonder could appear in that same pathway. Not even one. If there was no Sequence 0, then within that pathway there could be at most three Sequence 1s. This was a detailed point within the Law of Beyonder Characteristics Conservation and Indestructibility.

Based on the Black Emperor Card of Blasphemy’s descriptions of all ten Sequences, Klein clearly saw that the greatest feature of this pathway was that it gradually evolved into the shadow of order.

Roselle also mentioned one more point: after advancing to the high Sequences, holding this Card of Blasphemy would produce a subtle sense toward Beyonder materials one personally required.

Of course, this was limited to high-Sequence Beyonders of the Black Emperor pathway.

“What a pity. This is not much use to me.”

Klein watched as the Card of Blasphemy grew thin again and turned into a playing card.

But now, it no longer disguised itself. Its face showed Roselle seated on the stone throne: Sequence 0, Black Emperor!

After several seconds of silence, Klein sighed silently.

“The greatest use this card has for me is trading its formulas for things I need. Next is the knowledge it contains about gods and Sequences. Apart from that, there is almost nothing it can help me with directly.

“Heh. At least now, as the leader of the Tarot Club, as The Fool, I am no longer an empty shell. I possess one path to godhood. I will not be unable to produce even a high-Sequence formula!

“Hm… I remember that in the Beyonder gathering organized by old Mr. Eye of Wisdom, the lady who seems to have an Artisan behind her has always been seeking to buy the Barbarian potion formula…”

As thoughts surged, Klein looked once more at Roselle on the Black Emperor card and suddenly laughed.

“He used his own image for every single Sequence. How narcissistic…

“Now I suddenly feel very curious what the Card of Blasphemy corresponding to the Demoness pathway looks like. Heh heh.”

Gathering back his various thoughts, Klein damaged the other bookmark he had casually taken and confirmed it was merely an ordinary bookmark.

After doing all that, he changed his sitting posture, leaned back in his chair, and answered Miss Justice’s prayer from the night before in a low, calm voice:

“That was a Card of Blasphemy created by Roselle.”