Chapter 138: The “Giant” Pathway

Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Eight
The “Giant” Pathway

The Lord who created everything… the omniscient and omnipotent God…

Klein leaned back, maintaining his profound posture while silently repeating the key phrases from the City of Silver boy’s words.

He was not unfamiliar with “the Lord who created everything.” The Creator mentioned in The Book of Storms, The Revelation of Evernight, and folk legends bore a similar title. The “True Creator,” worshiped by secret organizations such as the Aurora Order, was also described in similar terms.

But “the omniscient and omnipotent God” was a phrase Klein had never heard in this world before. Whether the Evernight Goddess, the Lord of Storms, or the God of Steam and Machinery, none had ever claimed to know everything or to be capable of everything.

If—if the City of Silver truly lies in the Forsaken Land of the Gods, and if the Forsaken Land of the Gods truly belongs to this world, then perhaps “the omniscient and omnipotent God” is how living beings of the ancient ages respectfully referred to the Creator…

Klein looked thoughtfully at the young boy across from him, looking at the colors of grief and pain in the other’s emotions.

Derrick felt the Fool’s gaze and involuntarily lowered his head a little further.

Recalling the contents of books and the legends his parents had told him, he spoke slowly, sorrowfully.

“When the sun vanished from the sky, when the clouds were torn open, when lightning and thunder became sovereign over all, the monsters hidden in the depths of darkness suddenly appeared. They were so terrifying, so unimaginable, that one city after another of the Nation of Silver was destroyed… Humanity’s Deep Dark Age had arrived.

“The surviving powerhouses gathered in the City of Silver. Relying on united strength and two mystical objects, they finally resisted the attacks of the ‘things of darkness.’ Gradually, they cleared out the region within one day’s travel for ordinary humans and established a city-state that sheltered the last flame of human civilization.”

A standard textbook-style explanation…

Klein could not help giving that evaluation inwardly.

The other party’s description always made him feel that the region where the City of Silver lay did not belong to the same world as the Northern Continent.

Perhaps this is what makes the Forsaken Land of the Gods special?

He thought, not allowing the slightest emotion to show outwardly.

Derrick took a breath and continued.

“In the first few decades, plants could not grow, and the City of Silver suffered a severe shortage of food. We could only hunt dark monsters that possessed physical bodies and certain mutated animals to fill our stomachs. The population began falling rapidly beyond control. Fortunately, black-faced grass was later discovered. It could survive tenaciously in this environment and became our reliable, stable food source.

“It was regarded as the final grace left behind by the great deity, allowing the City of Silver to persist generation after generation—to persist through two thousand five hundred and eighty-two years of the Deep Dark Age.

“That is the time recorded by generations of Chiefs. The ordinary citizens of the City of Silver take the periods when lightning is more frequent as daytime, and the periods when lightning calms as night. One alternation counts as one day… Because that is often chaotic, we cannot grasp the exact number of days.”

What a peculiar place…

Klein was grateful that just now, he had not thoughtlessly said “tomorrow,” but had instead used the vaguer phrasing of “the next two days.”

After briefly describing several memorable events in the City of Silver’s history, Derrick turned to its present circumstances.

“After the population recovered to a certain degree, the number of Beyonders increased as well. The six-member council began organizing elite teams to explore the darkness. Recently—up to today—we have finished exploring the former territory of our nation and the nearby city-states. We are now moving toward deeper, denser, more terrifying darkness. On the edge of that region, we discovered many cities with peculiar styles that had nevertheless been destroyed. We suspect they were shelters established by other surviving humans. Unfortunately, they too were ultimately devoured by the ‘things of darkness.’”

The “things of darkness” he describes should refer to all kinds of monsters hidden deep within the darkness—monsters that normal people can scarcely imagine…

Klein nodded almost imperceptibly.

“…The Nation of Silver was once ruled by the Giant King’s Court, so the Beyonder chain we possess is precisely the ‘Giant’ pathway. We also call it the God’s Blood Warrior pathway…

“When we killed certain monsters, and when we explored those destroyed cities, we obtained potion formulas from several other Sequences. But those chains are incomplete, each missing more or less.”

Derrick began introducing the City of Silver’s current state.

Hearing this, Klein’s spirits immediately lifted. Though his posture did not change, he was plainly much more attentive.

I love hearing about Sequence potions most of all!

The Giant King’s Court… So the City of Silver and the Northern Continent share the same history? The history of the Second Epoch… Hm, killing monsters drops formulas? What is this, a game? No—there is another possibility. Those monsters were once human. They were once Beyonders…

Klein suddenly felt a little heavy.

Seeing that the Fool gave no response, Derrick gritted his teeth, considered his words, and continued.

“The potion formula names of the ‘Giant’ pathway are, in order: Sequence 9, Extraordinary Warrior; Sequence 8, Gladiator; Sequence 7, Weapon Master; Sequence 6, Dawn Paladin; Sequence 5, Guardian; and Sequence 4, Demon Hunter. As for the names of higher Sequences, only the elders of the six-member council know them.”

Sequence 4, Demon Hunter… So this is the name of a high-Sequence potion formula? This is the first time I have learned anything like this!

Klein felt gratified that he had finally mastered the “title” of a high-Sequence powerhouse. Still, he suspected that this was an ancient name, differing from the descriptions currently used on the Northern Continent—just like the difference between Storm Priest and Seafarer.

Hm. Extraordinary Warrior, Gladiator, Weapon Master… Those sound a little familiar… Right, the Church of the God of Combat controls a complete Sequence very similar to this one! Sequence 9, Warrior; Sequence 8, Pugilist; Sequence 7, Weapon Master!

Because of confidentiality limits, Klein only knew the names of the first three formulas in the Church of the God of Combat’s complete Sequence. But that did not stop him from equating the two.

From the core meaning, they are basically the same… So the complete Sequence controlled by the Church of the God of Combat is the so-called “Giant” pathway… Did this deity, said to have appeared during the Third Epoch—the Epoch of Cataclysm—inherit the legacy of the Giant King’s Court? Or is He Himself an ancient giant?

As Klein analyzed and judged, his gaze remained “indifferent.”

Derrick continued introducing the situation.

“After surviving the earliest difficulties, the City of Silver has always been ruled by the six-member council. The highest-ranking elder within it is honored as the Chief, while the other five have no hierarchy among themselves…

“The current six-member council is composed of three Demon Hunters, two Guardians with the greatest potential, and one Shepherd.”

Holy—The City of Silver has three high-Sequence powerhouses! Three demigod-level experts! Any one of them could annihilate the Tarot Club hundreds of times over…

Klein listened with a surge of guilty unease. He had never tried pulling someone into the gathering under the noses of high-Sequence powerhouses.

Still, considering that the boy before him was only an ordinary person and not even Sequence 9 yet, it was unlikely he would draw the attention of high-ranking figures for a long time. Klein slowly relaxed.

Shepherd—is that from another Sequence? One of those incomplete chains… It sounds very much like the Aurora Order’s style. That one—that Aurora Order member whose name I forgot, the one who wrote to Mr. Z, kept mentioning the Lord’s lambs…

Maintaining his leisurely posture, Klein asked in a seemingly casual manner, “Shepherd?”

“Yes. That is a Sequence pathway we found in the cities destroyed by the ‘things of darkness.’ It goes only to Sequence 5, Shepherd. But Elder Lovia is very powerful, very strange, and very frightening. It is said that she once fought a high-Sequence-level evil spirit and remained unharmed. So when a seat on the six-member council opened, she became an elder as an exception,” Derrick answered with faint fear.

Klein thought for a moment, then asked with a smile, “What are the previous Sequences of Shepherd? I feel somewhat familiar with it. As you know, names in history and names in the modern era often differ.”

“In the City of Silver, potion names have never changed,” Derrick instinctively retorted. Then he lowered his head and said, “Sequence 9, Secrets Suppliant…”

As expected!

Klein was satisfied that his guess had been confirmed.

That was the name of Sequence 9 of the Aurora Order’s pathway!

“Sequence 8, Whisperer; Sequence 7, Hermit; Sequence 6, Rose Bishop; Sequence 5, Shepherd,” Derrick continued, honestly recounting everything he knew.

Whisperer and Listener are close enough… Heh, I now know more than the materials in the Tingen Nighthawks branch do…

In a rather good mood, Klein signaled for Derrick to continue.

Derrick roughly described the City of Silver’s present condition again. At the end, he could not help mentioning, “We bear the curse of fate. Whether ordinary people or Beyonders, after death, all become evil spirits. Beyonders transform into even stranger, more terrifying, more difficult-to-handle evil spirits. Historically, this curse has nearly destroyed the City of Silver several times. The only solution is for someone of the same bloodline to personally end the dying person’s life.”

“What a cruel thing,” Klein said as the empty-shell Fool, able only to ladle out free spiritual encouragement. “I hope you can grow strong and find a way to let the people of the City of Silver escape this curse.”

“That is why I want to become the Sun. To become the Sun…” Derrick whispered with difficulty and pain. “When sunlight still shone upon the land, we never suffered such a curse.”

Klein nodded slightly.

“You will have that opportunity. Remember: over the next two days, I may pull you here again at any time. Try your best to avoid remaining with others.”

“All right,” Derrick answered in a deep voice.

“Before that, you must decide your code name.”

Klein smiled and pointed at the surface of the bronze long table, where a deck of tarot cards had already appeared.

Believing that the other party had certainly never encountered such a thing before, he gave a brief introduction.

“Choose one card as your code name. The Fool, Justice, and The Hanged Man are excluded.”

Derrick took two steps forward and flipped through the tarot cards. Almost without hesitation, he said, “The Sun. I choose The Sun.”

“Remember your choice. It will accompany you for the rest of your life,” Klein said expertly, using the tone of a charlatan.

At the same time, he stretched out his hand and, with tremendous self-restraint, ended the connection.

He watched the crimson light withdraw. He watched the boy opposite him turn into an illusion and scatter bit by bit.