Chapter 192: “Scholar of Yore”

Chapter 192: “Scholar of Yore”

In the Highlands, upon an altar embedded with eyeballs, arms, heads, and internal organs.

Crimson light, red as blood, surged out like a tide and twisted into the vague shape of a deformed tree.

Amid a buzzing sound, human bones, candles, silver plates, golden boxes, and other objects trembled all at once, as though they could cut spiritual bodies.

The surrounding worshipers instinctively lowered their heads and prostrated on the ground.

Then, a realization appeared simultaneously in their minds:

“Berserk Sea, Rock Island…”

…

Seeing the ancient palace above the gray fog and feeling that mysterious space tremble lightly, Klein sensed that he had formed a deeper, indescribable, invisible connection with the so-called Sefirah Castle.

At that moment, he truly felt that this place would gradually come to belong to him.

In just a few seconds, all abnormalities disappeared. Klein did not delay. He had his two marionettes gather up the valuable items and destroy the remaining ones, while he himself pulled out a paper figurine and casually shook it once.

With a snap, the paper figurine ignited with crimson flames. Dense illusory wings grew from its back.

Klein stared blankly for a moment. He had not expected a simple Paper Figurine Substitute used to interfere with divination to carry a bit of the feeling of an Angel’s Embrace.

He then grabbed his marionettes Qonas and Enyuni. Using Teleportation, he vanished from the rocky island.

After transferring through several islands in the Sonia Sea and making an enormous detour, Klein finally returned to his residence in Backlund’s East Borough.

During this process, he used the transformed Paper Figurine Substitute several times to interfere with divination, prophecy, tracking, and observation.

Whew. I didn’t expect my advancement to truly cause Sefirah Castle to change, producing abnormalities impossible to conceal… Fortunately, I was cautious enough and did not grow careless. If I had advanced in or around Backlund, Amon and Zaratul would certainly have already “seen” me… Klein exhaled. Without delay, he took four steps counterclockwise and entered above the gray fog to perform divination.

After confirming that his current situation was safe, he did not linger. He immediately returned to the real world and, with the help of meditation, initially restrained the spirituality spilling from him.

Once he finished this step, he removed his clothes while leaning backward and collapsed onto the bed, falling into deep sleep.

Ordinarily, a Bizarro Sorcerer who successfully advanced to Scholar of Yore would not be as exhausted as he was, and would still have energy to examine their new state. But when Klein had roamed through history, relying on the fact that his mark could be traced very far backward and on the fact that he grasped ancient secrets far beyond his current level, he had rushed all the way back to the early Second Epoch or late First Epoch, to the time when the Giant King’s Court was established.

That in itself was equivalent to digesting the potion.

After several hours of deep sleep, Klein slowly opened his eyes and woke.

He groped his way up into a seated position, pulled a pillow behind his back, and raised a hand to rub his temples.

After more than ten minutes of recovery, he was fully awake and began examining himself.

“The potion has indeed digested for the most part immediately after consumption—at least four-fifths of it… That more or less matches my expectations… But I don’t know how many more ancient materials I must obtain, or how much true history I must research, before the remaining portion digests…

“From the current picture, the acting for Scholar of Yore has two directions. One is a scholar from ancient times. The other is a scholar who studies ancient times. Both must be present. The first is relatively easy, because the ritual itself contains the key point of making oneself an ancient person. Once advancement succeeds, one can very naturally act as a scholar from the ancient past.

“The second is extremely difficult. In a normal society, it would still be acceptable. But in this world of true gods, devils, and evil existences, merely collecting ancient materials is something that requires taking enormous risks. If one wishes to discover the truth of history as well, one may die miserably and ‘without cause’ at any moment. It is the standard case of the more you understand, the more danger you face…

“The reason I know so much is mostly thanks to the arrangements of certain existences, as well as the complicated fate brought about by Sefirah Castle. That makes me constantly encounter all kinds of things. Of course, even so, I, a blessed of a true god, have already died once—let alone other Scholars of Yore.

“If the positions of Miracle Invoker and Scholar of Yore were swapped, acting would be comparatively much easier. Unfortunately, there is no such if…

“Also, the two meanings before both lean toward yore. I must also pay attention to the word scholar. Only someone who can research something out of history can be called a scholar.

“Next, there are several directions for digestion. First, clarify Dark Angel Sasrir’s current state and truly reconstruct the specific process of the Cataclysm. Second, spend effort linking the history of the Fourth Epoch together properly, rather than leaving it as scattered fragments. Third, go deeper, progressing from grasping the macro-level state to researching micro-level details, such as the rise and fall of the Antigonus family…”

After confirming that his prior acting had been effective and considering his future path, Klein combined the mysticism knowledge obtained during advancement with his observations of his own divine patterns. Through divination, practice, and other methods, he began gradually exploring the abilities of a Scholar of Yore.

“The number of Worms of Spirit I can split off has reached six hundred. My divine patterns have changed to a certain degree as well. They are more complex now and can better express concepts such as power, strangeness, and the transcendent…

“The changes in the divine patterns come from two sources. One is the newly acquired Beyonder characteristic. The other is the mysticism knowledge contained within the potion. This knowledge is both carried by the Beyonder characteristics themselves and obtained by them from a higher level… After becoming a true high-ranking existence, is it possible to directly alter knowledge located in a higher dimension and influence Beyonders of the same pathway?

“The ability to interpret potion formulas from divine patterns seems to be one example…

“Also, at Sequence 3, changes in divine patterns are also affected by personal traits. This is closely connected to prayer and response. Even among Scholars of Yore, corresponding honorific names will be different in essence, because everyone’s personality, experience, and traits differ.

“Mm. I can have different Worms of Spirit instinctively listen to prayers and, when the matter is not too complex, provide responses without affecting my main body’s other actions at all… Specially marked or more complicated prayers will be transferred to the body itself…

“A Scholar of Yore can use split-off Worms of Spirit to complete the acting of a deity. How do Sequence 3s of other pathways handle this aspect? Surely they cannot respond while sleeping…

“Heh. I’ll think about my own Scholar of Yore honorific name later. First, I should study the specific abilities.

“Uh… The main ability of a Scholar of Yore is to obtain help from history. This is divided into two parts. The first is borrowing power from one’s past self.

“For me, this is somewhat awkward and currently not very useful, because the past me was certainly weaker than the present me. Mm, when I was hanging from that door of light above the gray fog, I was merely an ordinary person… But for a high-ranking existence who used to be a major figure and has become weak for all kinds of reasons, this is a divine skill. They can cry for ice cream as a baby on one hand, and participate in a Sequence 1 battle on the other, without showing any obvious weakness at all… The only problem is that it cannot last long enough…

“Of course, as the length of time since I became a Scholar of Yore increases, this will become useful. I can frequently borrow strength from my past self as a Scholar of Yore so that I will have no weak moments, even after suffering heavy injuries… In a certain sense, this is called self-existence and eternal existence. My state will never fall into a trough until my spirituality is exhausted.

“Mm. Before my spirituality runs out, I can continuously borrow power from my past self. There is no limit on the number of uses. With my current spirituality, even without the recovery process, I can borrow nearly ten times a day, each time lasting five minutes.

“The second part is summoning projections from the historical void. They can be people or objects. The more detailed and real my understanding of the corresponding history and object, the higher the chance of success and the longer it can be maintained.

“Similarly, the lower the target’s status compared to my own, the higher the success rate and the longer the duration.

“In addition, if the target is more closely connected to me, the success rate and duration will both improve.

“These are the three conditions for success. Also, when summoning people or objects with higher status than myself from the historical void, even if I barely succeed, what ultimately arrives will only be a projection with part of their strength and traits, not the complete form. Moreover, I can only maintain three projections from the historical void at the same time, including those summoned by marionettes…

“Currently, even for the most ordinary object that I understand well and that once belonged to me, I can maintain it for at most fifteen minutes.

“The point about close connection to myself is quite interesting. In essence, borrowing power from oneself is also a kind of projection summoning. It is merely that the relationship between myself and myself is as close as possible, with no possibility of failure. It belongs to an extreme case.

“In other words, if I want to summon the projection of a major figure from the historical void, I had better establish a sufficiently friendly relationship with Them and maintain it for a long period of time. Mm. If I summon Mr. Azik’s projection, the chance of success will certainly be higher than if I summon a projection of some other angel from the historical void…

“What kind of Beyonder ability is this? This is clearly The Study of Emotional Intelligence, The Study of Relationships, and The Study of Interpersonal Communication!”

Despite this inward lament, Klein sincerely felt that the core abilities of Scholar of Yore were divine skills. After all, powers involving history and time were almost always extraordinarily miraculous.

However, to bring out their true effect, one needed sufficient wisdom and adequate preparation.

That was an unchanging requirement of the Seer pathway.

“Mm. When summoning projections from the historical void, there is no way to converse or communicate with them. In other words, a Scholar of Yore has no possibility of interfering with history or changing the past. From the perspective of acting, this can be summarized as: witness fate, influence the present, but never reverse the past…

“The Paper Figurine Substitute, in addition to transferring disease, wounds, curses, attacks, prophecies, and gazes, has gained one more ability. It can transfer a certain body part of the paper figurine to a target. Before the target realizes it is fake, it will function as though real. Heh. If someone meets me in the brief moment after losing their heart but before their brain dies, I can give them a paper heart, letting it draw power from history to beat and circulate blood…

“The initial control time for Spirit Body Threads has shortened to two seconds. Complete transformation into a marionette takes ten seconds. The range for both types of control is five hundred meters… The limit for manipulating marionettes and swapping positions with them is five kilometers…

“Flame Jump is likewise five kilometers… Air bullets can have their power freely controlled, with the maximum equivalent to a coastal defense cannon…

“I can transform into creatures within a certain size difference range. Some simulated organs can function, while others are merely decorative…

“Whew. This is the Scholar of Yore—the Scholar of Yore whose potion has already digested for the most part…”

After examining himself, Klein slowly stood.

He prepared to enter above the gray fog and inspect the changes to Sefirah Castle.