Chapter 235: Amon’s Possible Origins

Chapter 235: Amon’s Possible Origins

Amon… Klein silently spoke the word in his heart.

He had originally thought that the “Blasphemer” who haunted the City of Silver in the Forsaken Land of the Gods was a descendant of that ancient family, Amon, one who had inherited what the ancestors had left behind and climbed step by step to the level of a demigod. Who would have thought that the other party had very possibly lived for more than two thousand years and had been a member of the Amon family at its very peak!

An antique among antiques… Why did he build a mausoleum for himself when he had nothing better to do? To fake his death and escape? Or was there another reason—for example, to anchor the traces time had left on him? Did he survive from the Fourth Epoch into the Fifth by plundering the lives of others? I originally guessed he was Sequence 3 or Sequence 2, but looking at this today, even Sequence 1 isn’t impossible. Long ages always bring essential improvement… Klein was by turns puzzled and speculative, his thoughts boiling like water, bubbling without pause.

The “puppet” Horamick tugged at his throat and accidentally tore away a piece of outer skin, exposing the abnormally complex mechanical structure inside.

His voice leaked out from that spot, carrying a somewhat airy quality.

“Search the corpses on the ground. Do not come near this side.”

“Yes, Your Excellency Archbishop!” Ikanser and the others clearly breathed out in relief.

Inside those corpses on the ground, Beyonder characteristics had already condensed. Some had even fused with certain parts of their bodies, forming mystical items that made one’s skin crawl.

In addition, the dead had also carried all sorts of belongings.

The Machinery Hivemind has quite a harvest this time. Including the Ghost Picture Frame, the Human-skinned Shadow characteristic, and other items they obtained earlier, it more than offsets the expense of that mad “carpet bombing”… High investment, high returns… Klein’s gaze lingered on the ground for a while.

He inhaled, pulled his eyes away, and followed the lanternless “puppet” Horamick toward the wall on the other side of the coffin.

At that moment, the magic mirror Arrodes obsequiously brightened the image, making the things ahead clearer.

Klein saw that the opposite wall, due to the rapid “weathering” just now, had large patches of mottled damage. Many murals had thus been destroyed and could no longer be restored to their former appearance.

The only relatively complete, barely legible, colored mural was located at the top of the wall, extending upward to occupy a small half of the dome.

It depicted a towering, continuous mountain range. On the highest main peak stood a gigantic cross, taller than the mountain itself.

Layer upon layer of radiance covered the cross, making it appear exceptionally sacred.

Before it, a majestic, towering figure was faintly visible, while the mountain range seemed like a pet prostrate at His feet.

Around this figure gathered one angel after another with two, four, or six wings on their backs. Some held trumpets, some played harps, and some blew flutes, appearing both devout and joyful.

Beneath the mountains, two angels with twelve wings each held an infant in their arms and humbly walked toward the summit.

The infant on the left had slightly curled black hair, while the one on the right had pale-golden hair.

One had black pupils; the other had golden eyes.

In other areas of the mountains, faint images of giants wearing shackles and dragons bound by their legs, unable to ever touch the ground, had been painted.

Horamick first looked toward the infant on the left. His benevolent expression grew increasingly grave.

In a very low and very soft voice, he spoke a single word.

“Amon.”

Then he turned toward the infant on the right. After several seconds of silence, he uttered a name.

“Adam…”

Amon, Adam… Klein repeated those two names, feeling the fog shrouding the history of the Fourth and Third Epochs grow thicker and thicker.

Combining all the pieces of information he had heard, he rapidly formed certain guesses in his mind:

On the mountaintop, the figure before the radiant cross, surrounded by angels and receiving the submission of giants and dragons, must represent a true god at Sequence 0… The other one who likes to use a cross as part of a symbol is the True Creator… Rumor says the original Amon was a descendant of the ancient Sun God, but the one on the mountaintop doesn’t seem like a pure Sun God…

Could He be the “Lord who created everything, the omniscient and omnipotent God” worshiped by the City of Silver?

That matches the City of Silver’s myths, where the Creator awakened and stripped the ancient gods such as the Giant King and the Dragon of Imagination of their authority…

The so-called ancient Sun God was actually the City of Silver’s Lord who created everything? Perhaps He held dominion over the domains of “Sun” and “Time,” and the authorities belonging to the Giant King Aurmir and the Dragon of Imagination Ankewelt should also have returned to Him…

This—this can no longer be encompassed by Sequence 0…

So the original Amon was a descendant of the City of Silver’s “Lord who created everything, the omniscient and omnipotent God,” and inherited the Beyonder characteristics of the domain of time? That seems to explain, somewhat, how he could remain quietly in the City of Silver’s dungeon for decades.

Besides him, the “Lord who created everything, the omniscient and omnipotent God” also had another descendant named Adam…

What did the original Adam inherit? Does he have living descendants? If so, where would they be…

And what is the relationship between the True Creator and that Lord? Did He merely imitate Him, using the title of Creator and the symbol of the cross? Or is there some deeper connection between the two?

Klein did not let too much of his doubt show. After all, the magic mirror Arrodes might be watching him.

Horamick stared at the mural for a while, then suddenly took several steps forward and pressed both palms against the wall.

Silently, that grand mural disintegrated, turning into flakes of stone that fell to the ground. Even the colors rapidly evaporated and vanished.

The Church of the God of Steam and Machinery is consciously covering up the history of the Third and Fourth Epochs… Are the other Churches the same? Klein frowned slightly, then followed the “puppet” Horamick to the other side.

After circling halfway around, they made another discovery.

A stone door that had only had its outline drawn stood hidden in a corner.

By now, the joints of the “puppet” Horamick were continuously making grinding, rattling sounds, but this did not stop it from quickly approaching the stone door, extending its right hand, and attempting to push it.

Upon the stone door, water-light suddenly rippled, condensing into a scene so realistic it seemed possible to touch it directly.

Deep-blue waves surged forward one after another. Ahead of them was black fog so dense it seemed liquid.

A jagged mountain peak protruded from the fog, viscous liquid constantly flowing down its surface.

Behind that peak, the black fog was boundless, without any end in sight.

Its bottom was equally without limit. The deeper one looked, the more profound and dark it seemed, as though once anything fell in, it would keep falling forever.

What is this place? Klein muttered inwardly without changing his expression.

Horamick withdrew both hands and watched that scene gradually fade until it disappeared.

He tilted his head backward slightly and muttered to himself, half in doubt and half in sigh.

“The Abyss…”

The Abyss? The source of all corruption, the Abyss said to be able to corrode even true gods? Klein was quite astonished, but as someone who had once been a Clown, he maintained the state of his face and body very well.

He immediately thought of one matter: when Roselle had explored the Fog Sea, he had once deviated from his course, then left behind a confusing statement:

“I saw the Abyss.”

As Klein recalled the layers of waves surging toward the black fog, he vaguely formed a guess:

“Somewhere in the Fog Sea is an entrance to the Abyss?”

Immediately afterward, he looked toward the stone door again. He suspected that the Amon who had appeared in the City of Silver might have used some ritual to set up this mausoleum, then, instead of leaving normally, used a special passage to travel to the Abyss. Thus, in the eyes of most people, he had truly passed away.

As for whether the City of Silver—or rather, the Forsaken Land of the Gods—was located somewhere within the Abyss, Klein could not be certain. After all, this mausoleum was at least fifteen hundred years old. Amon had ample time to take a detour through the Abyss and go elsewhere.

Would he occasionally come back and take away time? If he discovers his own tomb has been dug up, the expression on his face would certainly be marvelous… For some inexplicable reason, Klein felt somewhat pleased.

Just then, the “puppet” Horamick gripped its left hand with its right palm and twisted hard.

With a creak, its left hand folded down from the wrist, but no bones pierced through skin and flesh, and no blood followed.

Inside its left wrist was embedded a cold, heavy black metal tube!

Its entire left arm was a small-caliber mysticism cannon!

As expected of the Machinery Hivemind, hiding one mole of black technology. But this sort of thing clearly has too high a requirement and costs too much. It can only be provided to specific personnel and cannot be equipped to the army… Klein felt that today had truly opened his eyes, giving him the fortune of seeing another developmental direction for the mystical world.

The only problem was that Beyonder characteristics were conserved, Artisans were limited, and many things could not be mass-produced.

The “puppet” Horamick pressed its left wrist against the stone door.

The sound of gears meshing and turning came from within its body, and brilliant spiritual radiance burst out.

A flash of light like broad daylight appeared and vanished.

That stone door abruptly turned into pure powder, as if it had never existed.

He destroyed the door? If Amon the Blasphemer runs into an emergency and tries to return here, only to discover that the door won’t open, that would be interesting… Imagining such a scene, Klein nearly laughed aloud.

The exploration of the Amon family mausoleum ended there. The image around Klein rapidly shrank and became a backdrop.

An illusory, ancient, strange silver mirror appeared in midair, its eye-like black gemstones on either side flickering faintly.

White words swiftly outlined themselves on the mirror’s surface:

“Your loyal servant Arrodes has finished reporting, and stands ready at all times to serve you again.”

Faced with this overly enthusiastic fellow, Klein instinctively felt wary and uncomfortable. He nodded lightly and said, “Very good. You may leave for now.”

“Yes, great existence above the spirit world.” After Arrodes displayed that line of words, it made the surrounding scene shatter completely.

After confirming that its power had indeed left his dream, Klein muttered thoughtfully to himself:

“Great existence above the spirit world? It has indeed vaguely detected the gray fog…

“Does this nasty-minded magic mirror truly wish to pledge itself to me, or does it have some other purpose?

“I’ll observe it cautiously for now. Besides, it’s with the Machinery Hivemind. I don’t want to get carpet-bombed three times…”

Putting away his thoughts, Klein began to look forward to tomorrow.

Once the Machinery Hivemind finished sorting through their gains, they should let him choose an item!