Chapter 107: President

Chapter 107: President

In that dimly lit world, the enormous crimson moon hung quietly above the roof, while everything inside the garden seemed to be asleep.

The incomplete grayish-white dragon’s eyes lost their despair. It folded the wings covered in membrane and became docile, like a domesticated hound.

Hvin Rambis, this member of the Psychology Alchemists’ Psychology Review Committee, this demigod of the Spectator pathway, had lost his life and become Klein’s marionette!

Klein had no time to admire it. He directly swapped positions with Winner Enuni, who stood beside the grayish-white dragon, appearing there in the image of Gehrman Sparrow: black windbreaker, silk top hat.

Then he manipulated the new marionette and began treating the Mental Plague with which he had been infected.

A gentle yet slightly cool wind blew over. It passed through the collective subconscious sea and seeped into Klein’s island of consciousness, making him feel as though something stinking, festering, split, and contradictory within his Mind Body was being gathered bit by bit into a single mass, then peeled away like a surgical excision.

Klein’s face immediately twisted, baring his teeth in a grimace as he once again experienced the extreme pain of having his soul torn apart.

Fortunately, for the sake of making Spirit Control Bullets and Yesterday Once More charms, he had already grown used to that feeling. He did not clutch his head and roll all over the ground.

After the highly contagious mental “virus” and the infected consciousness were separated out, that cool wind became tinged with a warmth that made one want to take an afternoon nap. It relaxed Klein’s injured spirit body, making him feel as though he had soaked in a bathtub, body and mind nourished, and began recovering at high speed.

Once he had recovered from the mental illness, the gentle wind that blew over suddenly turned fierce. It swept in every direction, cleansing away all remaining “viruses” in the air.

After finishing this, Klein made the grayish-white dragon rapidly shrink its body, restrain its divinity, and return to human form.

However, because Hvin Rambis’s clothes had already been torn into shreds, the grayish-white scales covering his body were not withdrawn.

Several seconds later, Arianna, the leader of the Church of Evernight’s ascetics, wearing a simple robe, a bark belt, and loose black hair, walked out from that enormous crimson moon. She stepped upon the void and arrived diagonally above Hvin Rambis.

This angel extended Her right hand and merely made a light grabbing motion, causing Hvin Rambis’s faintly blurry spirit to leave his body and float upward from the top of his head.

“Why are you helping George III?” Arianna asked quite directly.

Hvin Rambis’s vacant expression suddenly turned solemn.

“This is the choice of the era. This is the inevitability of fate. We are merely conforming to the trend and offering a certain degree of guidance, allowing the era to develop in the correct direction.”

A standard answer from the Twilight Hermit Order… Looking at it this way, even a demigod of the Psychology Alchemists is unaware of Adam’s true goal… Even among the official members of the Twilight Hermit Order, I suspect the vast majority do not know either… Relying on the fact that he was inside a concealed world, Klein thought this without much mental burden.

Arianna did not show any surprise. She followed up by asking,

“What is the next trend of the era?”

Hvin Rambis’s eyes lacked focus, yet his expression was extremely solemn as he answered,

“A war. A war that sweeps across the entire world.”

This… Is peace so bad? Klein’s brows furrowed slightly, and he could not help muttering inwardly.

He knew very well what kind of trauma a world war could bring to humanity.

He could only hope that his and the Church of Evernight’s investigation would soon grasp the key point and successfully prevent the outbreak of the war that the Twilight Hermit Order was doing its utmost to push forward.

Arianna fell silent for a second, then asked instead,

“What is George III’s secret?”

A faint smile appeared on Hvin Rambis’s face.

“Every king is bound by the three great contracts and can at most reach Sequence 5. With our help, he has bypassed this obstacle and, in substance, already possesses a higher status. He is only waiting for the tide of the era to arrive, so that he can smoothly ascend to the position that belonged to him all along.”

The three great contracts… What are those? Hmm, the clause limiting a king to Sequence 5 is understandable. After all, under the major premise that the mystical should remain hidden from the world as much as possible, it is best for kingship to change hands normally. If they live eighty or ninety years, the public can understand it. But if they remain lively past one hundred and twenty or thirty, it would inevitably provoke guesses and panic… George III cooperated with the Psychology Alchemists and the Demoness Sect just so he could live longer? Under normal circumstances, that should only be a restriction on the king himself and not affect other members of the Augustus family. They should have angels on earth among themselves. There is no reason for them to support George III… Question after question immediately surfaced in Klein’s mind.

“George III is not yet a demigod. He merely possesses a higher status ahead of time through some method, allowing him to begin acting in advance?” Arianna asked at an unhurried pace.

To the Church of Evernight, this was an extremely critical question. If George III was already a demigod in substance, then they could directly contact the Churches of Storms and Steam and Machinery to arrest him, because the king’s very existence would be evidence.

Hvin Rambis’s spirit nodded.

“Yes.”

“What method, specifically?” Arianna continued asking.

Hvin Rambis slowly shook his head.

“I am not clear. The one responsible for this matter is our president. I only remember that he once mentioned making George III more talented.”

More talented? Hearing this description, Klein instantly and keenly connected it with certain contents in Roselle’s diary.

In the emperor’s eyes, so-called talent meant making one’s spirit and soul more like those of a high-status ancestor. This allowed them to obtain the recognition of the corresponding mental imprint within Beyonder characteristics or Sealed Artifacts, making it comparatively easy to endure the severe negative effects brought by consuming potions or wielding Sealed Artifacts.

This was not a perfect method. It could even be said to contain tremendous hidden dangers, because the mental imprint would reshape the consumer’s or wielder’s soul in reverse, causing a certain degree of mutation.

If someone relied on this method to advance to demigod, there was an extremely high chance that they would become a mental patchwork monster!

Was George III hypnotized into accepting this method? No. If it was hypnosis, the Augustus family’s angels or Sealed Artifacts would definitely discover the problem… Klein grew increasingly puzzled, waiting for the ascetic leader floating in midair to ask another question.

Arianna clearly understood what “more talented” represented. Without any change in expression, She asked,

“Who is your president?”

Hvin Rambis revealed a reminiscent expression.

“He has many identities and many names. But as long as I see him, I can determine that he is the president of our Psychology Alchemists.

“His current identities and names include:

“One of the Four Kings of the Sea, the King of the Black Throne, Barros Hopkins; former president of Backlund Medical School, royal medical consultant, the already ‘dead’ Pauli Delrau; the famous hermit of the Central Sonia Sea, Eric Drake…”

King of the Black Throne… Only then did Klein realize he had heard this title before, but each time, he had ignored it, placing no importance on it and rarely thinking back on it.

So this Pirate King belongs to the Spectator pathway… He nodded in sudden understanding.

Arianna quietly listened to the end, then asked instead,

“What secret exactly is George III hiding inside that Blood Emperor ruin?”

Hvin Rambis’s rather dazed expression changed slightly.

“An extremely important thing. He wants to grasp it. This requires a large number of sacrificial rituals.”

“What thing?” Arianna pursued without the slightest pause.

Hvin Rambis froze for a moment.

“I—I do not remember…”

He abruptly raised a hand and clutched the head of his own spirit, appearing rather pained.

Yet no matter how he tried to recall it, he could not remember the answer.

Was that memory cleansed away by Adam, or by some angel of the Spectator pathway? Klein watched with a grave expression, increasingly feeling that the secret inside that ruin might be even more important than he had imagined.

After remaining silent for several seconds, Arianna lowered Her head toward Klein.

“Is there anything you wish to ask?”

Klein thought for a moment and asked Hvin Rambis directly,

“What are the names of the high-sequence potions of the Spectator pathway?”

The pain afflicting Hvin Rambis’s spirit eased. He answered slowly,

“Sequence 4, Manipulator. Sequence 3, Dream Weaver. Sequence 2, Discerner. Sequence 1, Author.”

He did not mention Sequence 0, Visionary. Clearly, he did not know.

“What is the potion formula for Manipulator?” Although Klein felt that his question was somewhat vulgar compared with Madam Arianna’s, he still spoke.

Hvin Rambis did not hesitate, speaking in a dazed tone:

“The main ingredients are: the complete brain of an elderly Mind Dragon, or the crystalline heart of a Tree Mentor, or the Beyonder characteristic of a Manipulator.

“The supplementary ingredients are: eighty milliliters of elderly Mind Dragon blood, three golden leaves from a Tree Mentor, and one tear each produced from intense emotion by seven different humans or humanoid creatures…

“The ritual is: in a specific occasion with at least ten thousand people present, consume the potion amid an enormous resonance of their emotions.”

By comparison, the Spectator pathway’s demigod ritual is not that difficult… That makes sense. Spectators can treat themselves and analyze themselves. They can effectively resist the madness and tendency toward losing control brought by potions, so naturally the ritual can be a little simpler… Klein nodded thoughtfully.

“What is the potion formula for Dream Weaver?”

“I do not know.” Hvin Rambis shook his head.

All right… Klein then asked why Hvin Rambis had personally come to find Audrey and received the corresponding answer.

After that, he said to Arianna,

“I have no more questions.”

The questions he still had were not ones Hvin Rambis could answer.

Arianna lightly pressed down with Her right hand, sending Hvin Rambis’s spirit back into his body.

Then the angel glanced at Klein and said in a calm tone,

“Do not use him as a marionette.

“Before his mental imprint is removed, it is best not to use his Beyonder characteristic to make an item either.”

Of course. I do not want Adam to come knocking… Klein nodded sincerely.

“I will remember. Thank you, Madam Arianna.”