Chapter 222: Origin

Chapter 222: Origin

On the heaving sea, inside the old, dim sailing ship.

Alger Wilson stood by the window, thinking about what he should pay attention to when returning to Pasu Island to report on his duties. Then, before his eyes appeared the boundless gray fog and the figure seated high above everything.

Immediately afterward, he saw crimson light and a blurry figure suspected to be The World. Beside his ears, the other party’s calm, indifferent voice sounded.

After listening seriously, Alger’s eyes widened bit by bit. Irrepressible delight filled his heart, along with intense surprise and astonishment.

He remembered very clearly that during the last Tarot Gathering, The World had only promised to help The Sun obtain the Notary potion formula within three days. He had not mentioned anything related to Ocean Songster at all. Yet only a few days had passed, and this gentleman had already obtained that rarely circulated Sequence 5 formula—and even harvested the main ingredient!

“What exactly did he do?” Alger silently muttered to himself. In his mind, he involuntarily recalled Gehrman Sparrow’s stern, cold appearance and increasingly felt that the man was impossible to see through.

Is this the benefit of becoming a Blessed? Mm, I received news yesterday that Gehrman Sparrow boarded the Future at Nas last week. On one hand, that proves Admiral of Stars is indeed The Hermit. On the other hand, does it also show that what The World did last week was extremely important? For example, he entered that dangerous sea in the east and obtained some item, so he had no choice but to seek The Hermit’s help? Because of that, he advanced and became a Sequence 5 powerhouse?

That would explain how he managed to obtain the Ocean Songster potion formula and main ingredient in only a few days… But what exactly did he do? He couldn’t have killed a Church quasi-high-ranking member, could he? Alger could not help frowning.

He quickly calmed himself and shifted his focus to another matter.

Although obtaining the formula and main ingredient in one go truly made him exceptionally happy and excited, and sincerely made him feel that becoming a member of the Tarot Club had been a turning point in his life, he also had to pay a sufficient price for them!

“What can I give The World…” Alger sank into thought, sadly discovering that he did not possess items or money of equivalent value.

Unconsciously, he paced back and forth, circling the area near the window again and again.

…

Above the gray fog, the busy World vanished, and Klein turned his gaze toward Travels of Groselle, which he had just brought above the gray fog.

The yellow-brown parchment-bound book rested quietly at the head of the bronze long table. It displayed nothing unique, looking so ordinary that only people fond of researching history would be willing to pay it any attention.

Klein conjured paper and pen. Cautiously, he wrote the first divination statement:

“This is the Uniqueness of the Spectator pathway.”

That was what he worried about most, because it would mean he could not seal this travelogue above the gray fog—it would be very likely to bring unimaginable accidents. And if he carried it around, Klein might be sucked into the book again at some unknown time. That would be extremely troublesome.

Taking off the pendulum hidden inside the cuff of his left wrist, Klein calmed himself and attempted the divination.

When he opened his eyes, the yellow crystal pendant was rotating counterclockwise.

That meant negative.

“Looks like this strange book isn’t the Spectator pathway’s Uniqueness. Then I don’t need to be too afraid…” After thinking for a few seconds, Klein tried divining whether Travels of Groselle was an item corresponding to Sequence 1 or Sequence 2 of the Spectator pathway. Unexpectedly, the result was failure.

Hm… He pondered for a long time before writing a new divination statement:

“Its origin.”

Klein dared perform this divination because he knew very well that Sequence 0 of the Spectator pathway had long since fallen, while the Uniqueness was most likely in the Twilight Hermit Order’s hands. The possibility of there currently being a corresponding true god could be ignored for all practical purposes.

Putting down the fountain pen, he held the paper and the book, leaned back against his chair, and, while murmuring the statement, entered a dream through meditation.

The gray, foggy world suddenly split open. High above, the sky became extremely dark, as if violent winds were rolling storm clouds everywhere.

Under that dim environment, a point of light first appeared at the horizon. Then it grew larger and clearer.

It was a floating continent!

A continent that could accommodate several normal cities!

The outer edges of this continent were gray-white, and massive rocks revealed their outlines one after another. Above them stood one towering stone pillar after another, each several dozen to a hundred meters tall. Some stood alone, while others supported lofty, ancient palaces.

Dragons, gray-white, scarlet, cast from brass, or condensed from ice crystals, flew above this continent and this city belonging to other species. From time to time, they landed atop stone pillars to rest and overlook everything, and from time to time, they entered the tall, grand palaces and vanished from Klein’s sight.

The smallest among them was comparable to the King of the North, Ulyssan. The largest reached a hundred meters.

The scene rapidly drew closer, and a palace that might have exceeded two hundred meters in height began occupying Klein’s field of view.

Inside it, stone pillars stood upright, supporting the dome. The space was large enough to let any dragon move freely.

The “camera” kept moving inward, and Klein soon saw a yellow-brown parchment-bound book. Its cover was blank, and it floated in midair. Compared to its surroundings, it was impossibly small.

Behind the book, directly opposite it, an enormous shadow emerged.

The outline of that shadow had only just begun to take shape when the thoughts and ideas in Klein’s mind instantly exploded!

His eyeballs shot out with blood. Only two black holes remained where his ears should have been. From his mouth and nostrils, milky-white matter dyed crimson kept pouring out.

The mysterious space above the gray fog immediately shook gently, smoothing all of this away. Klein rapidly returned to normal. Grimacing, he lifted a hand and rubbed his head.

“Painful! So damn painful!

“That was no weaker than the Eternal Blazing Sun. I didn’t even see His appearance clearly, nor did I gain any knowledge…

“He is the Dragon of Imagination, Ankewelt, right? According to Little Sun’s information, He fell at the end of the Second Epoch. Yet across several epochs, across two or three thousand years, I merely pried for an instant and ended up this miserable. If not for the gray fog’s isolation and help, I would definitely have died on the spot… This imprint is way too strong, isn’t it?

“There’s no way to make a concrete comparison, because the damage wasn’t as bad as the time with the Eternal Blazing Sun. But one has long been dead, while the other is still alive, so it does make one suspect that ancient gods were a little stronger than the current true gods…”

After nearly a minute of recovering from the shadow of pain, Klein turned his gaze back to Travels of Groselle. His finger gently tapped the edge of the mottled long table as he silently mused, “Is the author of this book the Dragon of Imagination, Ankewelt?

“A storybook written by an ancient god, one that can automatically develop its ending?

“What was His purpose? When this book was formed, the Dragon of Imagination should not yet have encountered the ancient Sun God or suffered any problems. After all, for a book to spread from the City of Miracles, Liveseyd, to the Giant King’s Court, a not-short span of time must have passed. And before Groselle was swallowed by the book, the Giant King was clearly still alive.

“A pure prank? A toy to pass the time because He was bored? Or did the ancient god Dragon of Imagination foresee a certain future and specifically create this book to leave Himself or the dragon race a path to resurrection, only to misjudge the ancient Sun God’s strength and horror, falling so completely that this book failed to function for thousands of years and merely naturally sucked in characters and developed the story?”

Klein made several guesses, but he could not obtain further confirmation. He could only consider finding opportunities to enter the book again later and gather clues little by little.

“In the future, I can enter in spirit-body form above the gray fog. Once an accident happens, I can immediately return… Mm, I’ll try only after separating from Edwina, Anderson, and the others. I must be sufficiently careful and cautious…” Klein nodded, then tried divining whether Travels of Groselle would bring any undesirable changes to the mysterious space above the gray fog. The result was still failure.

As for the reason, he actually had some understanding: this place’s essence was above the spirit world. Matters involving it naturally could not be used to obtain revelations from the spirit world through divination.

After deciding that he would often come above the gray fog over the next few days to take a look and prevent accidents from happening, Klein threw Travels of Groselle into the junk pile and waved over a partially flattened golden goblet.

The goblet had intricate, exquisite patterns engraved into it. Upon it were the two Elvish words: “Calamity, Cohinem.” There was nothing special about it.

Holding it, Klein silently rubbed it for several seconds.

…

Knock, knock, knock!

Klein politely knocked on the captain’s cabin door.

“Is there something?” Edwina, her hair now let down, looked at Gehrman Sparrow standing outside.

Klein handed over the golden goblet that had belonged to the Elven Queen.

“Place it in Siatas’s grave.”

“…All right.” Edwina first fell silent for two seconds, then nodded and accepted it.

She habitually studied the inscriptions and symbols on the golden goblet, then seemed slightly embarrassed as she withdrew her gaze. Turning her head to look out the window, she said, “They’re holding a bonfire party. Will you join?”

“No.” Klein shook his head.

“I understand. I will not attend either. Not everyone is like Anderson, able to quickly pull free from low spirits.” Edwina pressed her lips together slightly.

Actually, that may not be a bad thing… For a moment, Klein did not know how to respond. Edwina, apart from teaching classes, was likewise not someone good at conversation. The two instantly fell silent, facing each other without words.

More than ten seconds later, Klein silently inhaled and broke the silence.

“That key originating from a giant. Are you still selling it?”

“I am,” Edwina said after thinking. Then she glanced toward the collection room and added, “I can lend it to you for study first. Before you leave the ship, you can decide whether you want to buy it.”