Chapter 152: Accumulating Contributions

Chapter 152: Accumulating Contributions

Hearing the words spoken by the pools of black shadow, a figure instantly surfaced in Klein’s mind.

It was an old man wearing a plain white robe embroidered with brass thread. His hair was completely white and neatly combed, and he had a pair of striking grayish-green eyes.

He claimed to be a clergyman of the Church of Knowledge, responsible for West Balam affairs, and he seemed to have a close relationship with Mesanyes.

At the time, he had suddenly visited Dwayne Dantès, claiming the reason was that he had prophesied he would one day be trapped in a very troublesome predicament, and that someone he met during that period would help him resolve it.

Klein thought for a moment, then slowly said, “Luca Brewster?”

“Yes, it’s me! You actually still remember me!” The liquid-like black shadows in different parts of the illusory bookshelves answered all at once, scrambling to speak.

Their voices were no longer neat and unified. They overlapped layer upon layer, echoing endlessly, making even Klein, separated from them by a marionette, feel a faint ringing in his ears and a certain dizziness in his head.

That is not a normal voice. It contains a certain tendency toward loss of control, or mental pollution… Those illusory bookshelves themselves are one manifestation… The thought had only just flashed through Klein’s mind when he heard the black shadows, which sometimes curled and sometimes stretched, speak at the same time.

“Sorry. I was too excited just now and failed to control myself.”

Hidden in the shadows outside the residence, Klein manipulated his marionette, Qonas Kilgor, and said, “What happened to you? Why did you become like this?”

The black shadows sighed together.

“The Feynapotter military’s Arbiter Belakos and Archbishop Martina of the Church of the Earth Mother joined forces to launch a sudden attack here. Their main target was me. I had no choice but to assume my mythical creature form, forcing them to retreat temporarily. From the looks of it, since you appeared here without noticing anything in advance, you must have arrived directly through Teleportation.

“You are a demigod as well. You should know that once one reveals a mythical creature form, it is not so easy to recover. I was also affected by tendencies of madness and nearly lost control. Fortunately, I was once a Mysticism Magister and mastered many strange yet effective secret arts. At the critical moment, I carried out a certain self-sealing and became what I am now.

“Sigh. This can only last for a period of time. Madness is still continuing to corrode me. I have already contacted the pontiff, and help should arrive before long, but I do not know whether I can last until then.

“Just now, I was thinking that this should be the very troublesome predicament in the prophecy, and wondering whether the person who could help me resolve it would appear. It truly is delightful that you came. This proves that my prophecy and my interpretation of it were not wrong. It has even improved my mental state quite a bit…”

He really is a demigod fixated on whether his prophecy succeeded… If I turned around and left right now, would his state of mind instantly collapse and cause him to lose control on the spot… Klein slandered inwardly a few times, then turned to consider the key information Luca Brewster had revealed.

The Feynapotter military and the Church of the Earth Mother had begun to move!

Klein then made his marionette Qonas Kilgor take out a gold coin, flick it up with a clang, and catch it.

In his understanding, no matter what, clergymen of the Churches of the Seven Gods were devoted to stabilizing order and protecting believers. From that angle, Luca Brewster would not be some demon or devil.

And the impressions left by Vice Admiral Iceberg and Detective Isengard Stanton made Klein’s view of the Church of Knowledge fairly favorable. He felt that, aside from a habitual discrimination against those who were not intelligent enough and did not love studying, their conduct and style had no major flaws.

That’s precisely why they can’t expand and grow stronger, and can only stay curled up in a few small countries… Without looking at the result of the tossed coin, Klein muttered inwardly a couple of times, then said aloud, “How do you need me to help?”

“…” The black shadows, which had originally been somewhat excited, fell silent. Only after a few seconds did they say, “I don’t know either…”

Klein looked at them. They looked back at Klein. For a moment, they actually stared at one another speechlessly.

How about I suggest turning you into my marionette? Nearly ten seconds later, Klein finally lampooned silently.

His thoughts then raced as he began considering how he could resolve Luca Brewster’s inability to recover from his mythical creature form.

To be honest, the reason he was helping so seriously was not only that he had a good impression of the Church of Knowledge and Luca Brewster, but also because he was motivated by certain interests.

First, the God of Knowledge and Wisdom’s hand had appeared in the matter of Groselle’s Travels. Klein still had no way to determine that true deity’s purpose, and he felt that properly showing some goodwill might perhaps bring unexpected benefits. Second, if Roselle’s return truly happened, the attitude of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom would be extremely important.

From the tone and phrasing of the Red Angel evil spirit, Klein could make a preliminary judgment: compared to the Fourth Epoch, the current Seven Gods’ attitude toward the appearance of a Black Emperor had greatly changed. Their reaction was no longer so intense. They leaned more toward tacit permission, even if that Black Emperor was not Their preferred candidate.

Under such circumstances, if Emperor Roselle were to return, the only ones who would truly oppose him would likely be the Eternal Blazing Sun and the God of Steam and Machinery. After all, back when Roselle fell, Their shadows had faintly appeared behind the event.

However, that opposition might not necessarily be too fierce. As long as Roselle’s mind was normal and he had rid himself of corruption and madness, there was still the possibility of acceptance. After all, the Black Emperor pathway had no interchangeability with the Sun or Savant pathways. There was no direct conflict of interest.

As for the original enmity, at the level of deities, it was not necessarily such a grave matter. Of course, this was only Klein’s conjecture based on ancient history and mysticism. As far as he knew, aside from the God of Craftsmanship, the other six gods had stood opposed to one another during the First Solomon Empire, leaving behind countless grudges. They had each had to win over the Black Emperor of that era to help themselves. And afterward, had they not still put aside the past and formed an alliance lasting to this day?

Even gods of neighboring pathways could coexist peacefully to some extent. As long as Roselle could truly revive, then the enmity between him and the Eternal Blazing Sun and the God of Steam and Machinery might not be impossible to resolve.

Of course, based on Klein’s understanding of Roselle, that grudge would eventually be repaid. But as long as he was not mad, not forced into desperate straits, not extreme or radical, he would still be able to see the situation clearly, know what should be done, and know what it meant to wait for an opportunity.

Under such conditions, when the Eternal Blazing Sun and the God of Steam and Machinery expressed opposition, the ones capable of suppressing Their opinions and making Them tacitly accept the outcome would, in Klein’s opinion, certainly include the Lord of Storms and the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, because Their pathways could interchange with the Eternal Blazing Sun’s.

“I only fear that corruption from the starry sky won’t be so easy to resolve, and that the resurrected Roselle might completely become an evil god. But something like this can only be handled step by step. Only after understanding it can one grasp the key and decide at the final moment whether to press that ‘button’…

“Likewise, we still need to observe, again and again, how all parties react to Roselle’s return, and how intense those reactions become. Only then can we find the solution most acceptable to everyone… At present, destroying the ritual at the critical moment remains the option with the greatest chance of success…” As thoughts ran through Klein’s mind, he looked at those pools of black shadow and slowly asked, “How much longer can you hold on?”

Luca Brewster examined his own state and said, “Seven… seven minutes.”

I thought it was going to be seven, six, five, four, three… Klein lampooned inwardly, then said, “I’ll invite a psychiatrist for you.”

As he spoke, from his position hidden in the shadows outside Mesanyes’s residence, he retreated several hundred meters. He then set up a ritual and sacrificed Creeping Hunger above the gray fog.

After completing this, Klein sat down in The Fool’s seat, conjured the figure of Gehrman Sparrow, and had him offer the corresponding prayer in a concise and rapid manner.

By then, it was close to dawn, and Audrey, who had been busy with charity work, had not yet gone to bed.

“Treating a demigod showing signs of losing control… More contribution can be accumulated…” Audrey put down the fountain pen in her hand and put on her white cloak embroidered with golden patterns.

Just as with the previous mission, she set up a ritual, received Creeping Hunger, put on Lie—now transformed into a silvery-white mask—and, under the protection of Angel’s Embrace, followed the route map given by The World Gehrman Sparrow and Teleported to Mesanyes’s residence in Cookawa City, West Balam.

The difference was that, because she was facing a demigod this time, Audrey not only wore a mask, but also used Lie to adjust her figure, aura, and the appearance beneath the mask.

Then, she saw Mr. World in the form of Dwayne Dantès.

“That demigod has currently decomposed into pools of black liquid. Try your best not to communicate directly with his mind body. That will allow his tendency toward losing control to infect you in reverse. If treatment proves impossible, I can lend you the Beyonder characteristic.” Klein specially warned Miss Justice a few times.

Audrey did not say that she was well aware of such things and was very professional in this field. She listened seriously, then said, “I’ll try first.”

She pulled her cloak tighter around her body, took a few steps forward, and turned her gaze toward the illusory bookshelves and the pools of black liquid.

“Fortunately, he has not truly begun losing control yet.” After observing for a few seconds, Audrey spoke in a gentle voice.

Accompanying those words, which held a calm, steady power, was an invisible wind of Placate that quietly began blowing.

The frequency with which the pools of black liquid curled and stretched began to slow, and the sense of agitation weakened in turn.

Audrey used Placate several more times. Only after Luca Brewster’s mental state had stabilized completely, giving him the ability to cooperate, did she have him open his mind and embrace treatment.

She then took the opportunity to open the door to the demigod’s mind body, carrying out Placate and cleansing the corruption over multiple sessions while planting a psychological cue: Luca Brewster was now mostly fine. He could easily put away his mythical creature form and return to human shape.

The reason she divided it into multiple sessions was that whenever Audrey was touched even slightly by corruption or influence, she immediately withdrew and first resolved her own mental problem.

At last, she completed the treatment and the suggestion. She took several steps back and said, “Your Excellency, you may release your mythical creature form now.”

As soon as she spoke, every illusory bookshelf within the hall disappeared. The pools of black liquid gathered together as though alive, condensing into a human form.

The black color swiftly faded, and Luca Brewster returned to his original appearance. He sighed with emotion and smiled.

“I truly must thank you. When I saw a Sequence 5 Spectator come over, I thought she might become the main ingredient for switching pathways…”

This old man speaks so directly… I don’t even know how to respond to that… Klein turned his head and glanced at Justice Audrey, only to discover that she had tightly closed her eyes.

Uh… Klein spoke in response to Luca Brewster, “Don’t mind it. What you need most right now is a set of clothes.”