Chapter 140: Expert at Courting Death

Chapter One Hundred Forty
Expert at Courting Death

“The source of this drop of golden liquid.”

After silently reciting the divination statement seven times, Klein held the parchment in one hand and the virtual golden liquid in the other, then leaned back against the chair.

He did not know whether he could perform divination relying on an item manifested and separated purely through feeling. He could only make a bold assumption and then carefully seek proof.

Within a few seconds, Klein’s eyes deepened, changing from brown to black as he entered a meditative state.

His eyelids drooped, and he “saw” an illusory, hazy dreamscape.

Inside that gray, fragmented world, a golden, dazzling sun suddenly leaped into view!

A deep hum came from across countless layers of empty distance. Pure, clear radiance instantly ignited everything, and golden, scorching flames swept outward in a frenzy.

Boom!

Klein broke free of the dream at once. His whole body trembled as he toppled sideways, already transformed into a torch, burning furiously.

At that moment, his thoughts were completely chaotic. Not a single normal idea surfaced.

Rumble!

The mysterious space above the gray fog shook violently. The towering, majestic palace collapsed inch by inch. The ancient, mottled bronze long table was smashed into pits and broken into several sections.

That terrifying change lasted only three seconds. Then everything above the gray fog returned to silence, as if nothing had ever happened.

The golden flames on Klein’s body slowly went out as well. Charred black all over, he rolled and screamed until the ability to think finally began returning to him.

Supporting himself against the armrest of the high-backed chair, he stood with great difficulty, both terrified and baffled by what he had just experienced.

Before this, he had never imagined that a single divination could produce such consequences!

He panted several times and lifted his head to scan the surroundings. He discovered that the towering palace, which had seemed eternal, and the ancient long table had both suffered damage. To the “world above the gray fog,” which had never shown any abnormality before, this was an unprecedented injury.

“What exactly happened? Did my divination point toward some inconceivable existence?”

Klein recovered a little while letting the charred black peel from his body. He tried to guess the truth behind the incident.

“If the space above the gray fog had not blocked it, I probably would not even have had ashes left… Could that drop of golden liquid be divine blood? Did I just see the Eternal Blazing Sun, or some powerful angel under Him? No—what I saw was a sun. It felt more like the former… Damn. Did I just look directly at a deity?”

The more Klein thought, the more afraid he became. He felt he had very nearly died completely.

“The ignorant really are fearless. If you do not court death, you will not die… From now on, I cannot just divine anything I pick up. Who knows what I might see!

“If this happens again, I really do not know whether this mysterious space can still block the most fatal damage for me… I would be dead beyond saving…

“Mm. If I continued using that golden liquid to try again, that definitely would not work. That existence suspected to be the Eternal Blazing Sun was affected by how secret, strange, and sudden divination above the gray fog is, and had no time to react further… If He became prepared, this mysterious space probably could not block it for real…”

As the thought reached this point, Klein’s figure had returned to normal. He was no longer charred black, though he appeared a little dimmer and more illusory than before.

He raised a hand, rubbed his temples, and willed the palace and long table to be restored.

The palace resembling a giant’s residence and the bronze-cast long table instantly recovered. Everything returned to how it had been before.

Klein sat down and leaned against the back of the chair, giving a self-mocking laugh.

“It is not entirely a bad thing. At least I have roughly figured out where the limits of this mysterious space lie and now have a definite target… I probably need to approach the level of an angel serving a deity before I can fully pry open the power above the gray fog?

“Sigh. I need to add another rule to my Seer’s code: Do not casually divine matters that may involve high-level beings. Also, do not activate spirit vision randomly. If I look directly at something I should not look at, perhaps it will be Game Over on the spot. Outside, there is no mysterious space to help me resist most of the negative influence…”

After several more seconds of recovery, Klein’s expression suddenly turned strange, because knowledge was echoing inside his mind.

Yes—knowledge.

During that brief moment of contact with the existence suspected to be the Eternal Blazing Sun, Klein had been in a divination state the entire time. So, instinctively, he had divined some matters and knowledge from the other party.

He hurriedly used dream-divination techniques to recall and organize the gains outside his original purpose. Taking up the manifested black round-bellied fountain pen, he wrote them down one by one:

“1. Do not look directly at God.

“2. Pure White Angel.

“3. Technique for making the Sunflame Charm… This is a relatively high-grade charm in the Sun domain, and its effect can remain for one year before declining… It is not necessary to hold a ritual and pray to the Eternal Blazing Sun. Instead, Sealed Artifact 3-0782 may be used as a substitute, stealing power from the Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem…

“4. Extreme hostility toward the Lord of Storms and the God of Knowledge and Wisdom.

“5. Bard potion formula: main ingredients—one crystallized sunflower, or the tail feather of an adult flint bird, or the tail feather of an arson bird; one siren stone, or one singing sunflower. Supplementary ingredients—one midsummer grass, five drops of July wine sap, and one elven dark leaf.

“6. Light Suppliant potion formula: main ingredients—one radiant stone, or the powder of a blazing white soul, or… mirror hedgehog blood, or the heart of a lava giant. Supplementary ingredients—one golden-edged sunflower, three drops of aconite juice…

“7. Priest of Light potion formula: missing main ingredients. Supplementary ingredients include five grams of rosemary, seven drops of golden bergamot juice, rock water…

“8. Sequence 4 Unshadowed potion formula: the golden divine blood extracted from the Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem may be used as a main ingredient. It can also be replaced by three tail feathers of an adult Sun Divine Bird and one sacred radiant stone. Supplementary ingredients missing…”

After finishing those eight points, Klein could not help tapping the edge of the bronze long table.

The harvest was much greater than he had imagined.

To him, merely surviving that reckless and rash divination was already enough to satisfy him. Who would have thought there would be additional “survival rewards”?

From the Nighthawks’ internal materials, he knew that the Sequence pathway controlled by the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun was called “Sun,” and that Sequence 9 was precisely Bard—a “profession” that used song to bring courage and strength to oneself and one’s companions, along with piety and obedience. Their motto was: “Let us praise the Sun!”

The corresponding Sequence 8 was Light Suppliant, capable of casting some spells and rituals within the Sun domain, highly effective against corpses and ghosts. Sequence 7, meanwhile, was called Solar High Priest; its spellcasting and sacrificial abilities within the same domain were greatly strengthened.

“In other words, I have obtained the complete Sequence 9 and Sequence 8 potion formulas of the Sun pathway. Mm. Unlike the ones from before, this time the potion formulas list substitutes and the names used in different eras… As expected of formulas divined directly from the Eternal Blazing Sun!”

Klein thought with some satisfaction.

As for the request from the boy in the City of Silver, his original plan had been to see whether the Hanged Man could solve it. After all, the Church of the Lord of Storms and the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun were both among the most ancient orthodox Churches. They had spent thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of years or more cooperating and opposing one another. It was perfectly normal for the former to have collected the initial Sequence formula of the Sun pathway internally.

Perhaps the Hanged Man had never paid attention to that sort of thing and had never applied to read the corresponding information. But given that he was very likely Sequence 7, Seafarer, if he truly wanted to obtain it, it should still be relatively easy.

But now there is no need. I solved it myself, in a way that was unfathomable and extremely dangerous… Miss Justice, Mr. Hanged Man, Sun classmate, your Fool nearly turned into a charred corpse…

Klein still felt lingering fear as he complained inwardly.

He lowered his head to examine the records on the parchment again and began considering the other formulas.

“Could Priest of Light be the ancient name for Solar High Priest? No, that is not right. The Nighthawks’ internal materials never mentioned anything of the sort, and the information I divined did not mark it either… Is it Sequence 6, or Sequence 5?

“Sequence 4, Unshadowed… This is the first high-Sequence formula I have obtained! What a pity that the supplementary ingredients’ names are missing. I wonder if there is any way to complete them… That drop of golden liquid truly is divine blood. Sealed Artifact 3-0782 is probably much more powerful than anyone imagines. In my eyes, it is enough to become a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact.

“Mm. The previous Nighthawks probably only verified whether the item had living characteristics, how dangerous it was to surrounding humans, how difficult its effects were to control, and whether it could deal with corpses and ghosts. They did not have, nor could they have had, any method for determining the source of that special nature.

“This Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem can probably even contend against evil spirits… How could the original verification team easily find an evil spirit for experimentation…

“As a qualified Nighthawk, I have no way to become the owner of Sealed Artifact 3-0782. But, mm, I can find opportunities to make Sunflame Charms and steal its power… Sigh. It is impossible this time. I did not prepare the corresponding materials at all. As a Nighthawk of the Evernight Goddess, why would I carry Sun-domain materials around with me?”

Regretfully, Klein rubbed his forehead. Seeing that there was no further movement above the gray fog, he finally relaxed, confirming that the Eternal Blazing Sun had not followed the thread back to this place.

“Do not look directly at God. Do not look directly at high-level beings. I must remember that sentence!

“The Eternal Blazing Sun’s hostility toward the Lord of Storms and the God of Knowledge and Wisdom is simply intense to the extreme. Why?

“And what exactly is the Pure White Angel?”

…

Amid scattered thoughts, Klein felt the hollowness and pain in his head. He also believed much time had passed and that he had to return to the outside world as soon as possible in case anyone discovered something wrong.

Originally, he thought he would only perform one or two divinations in the mysterious space, taking less than a minute. And with the wall of spirituality isolating him, if it was touched, he above the gray fog would immediately sense it. Therefore, he had believed himself very safe and had not considered too many accidents. In the end, he nearly succeeded at courting death and lost quite a bit of time.

Because he was afraid of being greeted by a beam of “purifying light” the moment he returned, or discovering that the Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem had been damaged, Klein’s heart rose into his throat. Wrapping himself in spirituality, he plunged downward.

Crimson moonlight entered his vision. Deep darkness hid within it. Klein once again saw the sparse woods, the weeds ahead of him, and the intact Sealed Artifact 3-0782 in his hand.

For several seconds, he remained apprehensive. Only then did he finally believe he was safe.

Hoo…

Klein let out a breath, feeling a profound exhaustion that came from frantically testing the edge of death.