Chapter 166: Travel Notes

Chapter 166: Travel Notes

Within the majestic palace above the gray fog, Klein extended his right hand and lightly tapped the edge of the mottled long table, muttering soundlessly to himself.

“The five great families of the Tudor Dynasty were Amon, Abraham, Antigonus, Jacob, and Tamara… Those who helped Alista Tudor become the Blood Emperor were Adam, Amon, Abraham, and other Kings of Angels…

“Can this be used to infer that, during the Tudor-Trunsoest United Empire, standing on Alista’s side as one of the dual consuls were Amon and Abraham?

“If that is true, when the Blood Emperor Alista Tudor first built the mausoleums in secret and had not yet intended to switch pathways, He should have sought help from one or several among Amon, Abraham, and Antigonus. And Bethel Abraham is Mr. Door, the one who commands the Apprentice pathway. In terms of Teleportation, even a true god might not surpass Him…

“So, is it possible that the fixed-point Teleportation of Tudor’s ruins was arranged by Bethel Abraham?

“The probability is very high!

“Mm. Only a major figure with Mr. Door’s status could make entry and exit from the secret ruins reach such a level, preventing even divination above the gray fog from locating them, and making it difficult for angels who command concealment to directly infiltrate…”

As thoughts crowded his mind, Klein increasingly leaned toward believing his guess was close to the truth.

I wonder whether Mr. Door left behind corresponding information, providing precise coordinates or another method of entering and exiting. That means I’ll have to have Miss Magician ask her teacher again…

Sigh. I really hope Miss Magician becomes a Traveler as soon as possible. Then she won’t need to write letters to contact her teacher; she could Teleport directly there. Uh, she technically can now, but Recording Travel so many times would itself frighten her teacher and arouse suspicion. What a nuisance…

If the Abraham family has no surviving records, will I have to try speaking with Mr. Door? That would not only be troublesome, but dangerous… Most importantly, Miss Magician still hasn’t reached Sequence 5. Each time she hears Him, she can’t make things out clearly, much less respond to Mr. Door. And I can’t possibly turn her into my marionette or descend into her body… When Klein had first pulled The Magician Forsi above the gray fog, he had seriously considered the issue of communicating with Mr. Door through this young lady after raising his Sequence. Later, the more he learned, the more afraid he became, and the less he dared take the risk.

Moreover, at his current level, he still lacked sufficiently effective and safe methods.

His thoughts rose and fell for a while before Klein suddenly sighed softly and uttered a single word:

“Patience…”

…

On the sea, on an island where pirates were relatively active.

Forsi lifted a glass cup and, with some anticipation, took a sip of the transparent, colorless liquid.

Her face immediately wrinkled, as though she had tasted something utterly difficult to swallow.

“Pah. This Lelang Qi is far too inferior. Why are they drinking it so happily?” Forsi set the glass down, lifted her right hand, and fanned at her mouth, muttering softly, “Aside from its high alcohol content, it has no other merits. Oh, right. It’s cheap!”

After drinking a mouthful of cold water from another cup, Forsi picked up her fountain pen and wrote in a notebook of rather poor quality:

“The pirates here pursue only strong liquor and care greatly about price. To them, getting thoroughly drunk matters more than anything else.

“Three pirate friends I met told me that this port city was built by pirates themselves. At first, they docked ships here, hid their spoils, and settled their families. Later, bankrupts, adventurers, and people fleeing taxes drifted here one after another and settled down, opening up land for farming and building houses on the island. Later still, a market formed, and merchants of the sea swarmed toward it like sharks scenting blood.”

At this point, Forsi raised her head and looked toward the three pirates curled up in the corner.

“Do you have anything else to add?”

The three broad-shouldered, burly pirates all trembled at once. With mournful faces, they said, “No. Truly, nothing else.”

…I have to admit, imitating Mr. World’s manner when dealing with pirates feels quite good… Forsi sighed inwardly, shook her head, withdrew her gaze, and continued writing.

“The local atmosphere is very open. If women take a liking to a man, they can also offer a price. Likewise, men taking a liking to men, women taking a liking to women—all are possible. According to my three pirate friends, when drifting at sea, long-term repression and boredom inevitably drive people to try taboo acts. In this regard, they were very honest, each describing their own experiences…

“In addition, they taught me something I would never have dared believe before: pirates actually revere democracy and fairness.

“This utterly overturns my understanding. Yet after thinking about it carefully, it doesn’t seem difficult to comprehend. At least they did not claim to pursue justice.

“My three pirate friends explained that when an individual plus weapons does not possess absolute, overwhelming strength, then on a pirate ship, the majority must certainly defeat the minority. Moreover, controlling a large ship requires many people to cooperate. These factors added together have made pirate crews extremely democratic. Every so often, a captain is voted out by his subordinates, or even killed.

“I imagine that if a captain possessed absolute strength, the pirate crew would definitely develop into another form.”

After writing to this point, Forsi once again lifted her head and looked out the window. Under the azure sky and white clouds, buildings made of wood or piled stone clustered densely and chaotically around a market. From time to time, children in slightly ragged clothes could be seen skipping past.

Listening to that energetic clamor, Forsi put pen to paper again.

“There is no urban planning here at all. Everyone builds houses and expands the borders however they please, to the point that many roads can only allow one person to pass, and sunlight cannot be seen at all…

“My first reaction was that if a fire broke out, the result would be terrifying. Backlund once had a similar tragedy. However, my three pirate friends told me that this was not worth worrying about, because this place is damp and rainy, and people who possess strange powers never conceal anything…

“This place has not yet been affected by the war. Although chaotic, it gives one a feeling of tranquility.

“Also, what they fear most is not King of the Five Seas Nast, nor any sort of horror legend, but the crazy adventurer Gehrman Sparrow. Every pirate warns the others: do not drink too late into the night, do not walk night roads, and do not go into alleys to relieve yourself, because that may very well cause you to vanish. According to rumors, the culprit is that gentleman…

“Is this a kind of hunting?”

As she wrote, Forsi’s expression gradually became solemn. She hurriedly took out another stack of paper and continued the story she had already begun:

“…Night in the hospital was always filled with a peculiar chill, and the darkness beyond the window was thicker than elsewhere…

“…No one knew why the lady in the private ward asked her relatives to bring mushrooms and weeds, nor did anyone know where those things ultimately went. In any case, there were no traces of fire in the ward and no discarded debris outside. This made several young nurses suspect that the patient was secretly eating mushrooms and weeds raw…”

…

Afternoon Town, built along the mountain and divided into upper, middle, and lower layers, within the encampment established by the City of Silver.

Derrick Berg clasped his hands before his mouth and softly recited, “The Fool that doesn’t belong to this era…”

After praying devoutly, he stood, picked up the ancient cross covered in verdigris and thornlike spikes, and walked toward the bonfire outside.

Because the Unshadowed Crucifix repelled other mystical items, his massive hammer called Thunder God’s Roar could only temporarily be carried by Haim and Joshua.

As the City of Silver exploration team gathered, Klein, in Backlund, had already arrived above the gray fog. Taking up the Sea God Scepter, he used the expansion and contraction of one crimson star to see the situation in Afternoon Town and extended his field of vision toward the Giant King’s Court.

Without relying on prayer light spots and the Sea God Scepter, through the crimson star alone, Klein still did not have such a wide observation range for the time being.

As his field of vision moved, a stretch of splendid yet heavy twilight gradually appeared in Klein’s eyes.

Where the twilight hung frozen was an enormous complex of countless palaces, countless towers, and layer upon layer of majestic walls. They were grand and magnificent, like a miracle that could only exist in myths and legends, frozen in the long passage of time.

The Giant King’s Court!

Klein tried to draw his vision closer, only to discover that he could not clearly see the specific conditions beneath that twilight.

As expected of an ancient god’s divine kingdom—and not the kind that was abandoned and hidden away… No wonder the Kings of Angels chose this place as the site of their secret gathering back then… I hope Little Sun’s prayers after entering the Giant King’s Court area can help me see more clearly… Klein nodded thoughtfully.

He simultaneously placed part of his attention on Lovia, the Shepherd elder, and discovered that this woman had hidden within her a set of illusory silver full-body armor.

This should be the evil spirit she is Shepherding… For now, I still don’t see any influence being exerted by the True Creator… Klein slowly exhaled and patiently waited for subsequent developments.

A while later, under the leadership of Chief Colin Iliad, the nine-member exploration team, including Derrick Berg, left the Afternoon Town encampment. Following stairs paved from gray stone, they passed between towering, gloomy buildings and made their way toward the summit.

They were at least Sequence 6 Beyonders, and most belonged to the Warrior pathway. Their traveling speed was quite fast. After clearing several waves of monsters mostly composed of decaying giants, they finally arrived before the region covered in twilight. Shocked by the grand, enormous, intensely epic buildings, they fell briefly silent.

This was also their first encounter with a place that had no alternating lightning yet possessed “natural” illumination!

Demon Hunter Colin narrowed his eyes slightly, took out a small metal vial, and drank the liquid within.

After generation upon generation of change, they had already adapted more to an environment of frequent lightning and deep darkness. Toward this state of frozen twilight, they felt an instinctive fear.

Both hope and fear.

After drinking the prepared potion and making the necessary mental preparations, Colin Iliad and Shepherd Lovia led the members of the exploration team into the area ahead, where twilight shone.

Before Derrick could even sense anything, he saw the verdigris on the Unshadowed Crucifix in his hand peel away, revealing a solid body made of pure light.

Yet the light emitted by that body was no longer clean and clear. It had been tinged with the distinct orange-red of twilight.

Immediately afterward, Derrick felt his state drop to its lowest point, as though he stood at the most exhausted moment of “daytime,” already prepared to welcome the night that was about to arrive.