Chapter 29: Two-Pronged Preparations

Chapter 29: Two-Pronged Preparations

At that moment, Forsi felt her cheeks burning hot. Her entire body froze in place, and she did not even dare turn her head to glance at her friend.

She deeply realized that she had far too “lowly” underestimated the magic mirror’s bottom line!

After her lips trembled for a while, Forsi remembered Mr. World’s reminder, closed her eyes, and said, “I choose to accept the punishment.”

With a crack, a bolt of silver-white lightning dropped from midair inside the room. But the moment the lightning appeared, it vanished soundlessly, like an illusion.

On the mirror’s surface, the dark-red words were abruptly stained silver-white and swiftly changed into new content:

“Today’s question-and-answer game ends here. Goodbye!”

Before Forsi opened her eyes, and before Xio could react, the rippling light slowly spreading inside the mirror instantly calmed. The room’s gloom and eerie darkness shattered with it, swallowed by candlelight.

“Wasn’t there supposed to be a punishment?” Forsi waited several seconds, then opened one eye slightly. She looked at the mirror, which had returned to normal, then at Xio, who had been watching.

Xio pointed above her head.

“A bolt of lightning did fall at first, but it disappeared halfway. Also, the magic mirror has already left.”

“…The magic mirror was only joking? No, the reminder I received was that the question would be rather embarrassing, and the punishment would be quite severe… Could it be that Mr. Fool protected me?” Forsi rubbed her right cheek and voiced her guess.

“Perhaps.” Xio nodded, agreeing with her friend’s view.

Just as Forsi breathed out in relief and secretly rejoiced, she suddenly noticed Xio looking at her seriously.

“Do you need something?” Forsi’s heart thumped.

Xio asked thoughtfully, “In those erotic dreams of yours, who were the protagonists?”

“…Haha. Who would remember dreams from so long ago? Besides, aren’t things in dreams always vague and unclear?” Forsi forced out a smile.

Xio gave an “Mm.”

“In that case, why didn’t you answer just now?”

“…I was nervous. Too nervous.” Forsi glanced at the luggage already packed inside the room. “We should move. I miss fireplaces!”

As she spoke, she walked toward the luggage.

Only now did she realize that sometimes, whether or not she answered the magic mirror’s question, the result was more or less the same.

Is this the social death Gehrman Sparrow mentioned? I really want to bury myself right now! Forsi took several deep breaths in succession, trying to calm the heat in her cheeks and the shame in her heart.

…

Above the gray fog, inside the ancient palace.

Klein tossed the Sea God Scepter back into the pile of miscellaneous items and gave a “heh” at the magic mirror Arrodes’s performance.

“It knew very well that I sent someone to summon it, yet it still dared to ask that kind of question. Only after I stopped the lightning punishment did it hurriedly change its attitude and flee in a panic… Having quite a lot of fun, are you?

“Still, its answer did give me a new idea. I truly don’t need to limit myself to becoming a Miracle Invoker…

“The second Blasphemy Slate most likely originated from the Creator of the City of Silver and is now in Adam’s hands… Although Amon and His brother each mind Their own business and don’t exactly have a good relationship, They have still cooperated before. I refuse to believe He has never seen that Blasphemy Slate… In that case, He must already know the Miracle Invoker ritual and can guess that I next want to bring the City of Silver out of the Forsaken Land of the Gods. When the time comes, He won’t even need to work too hard to track me. He only has to wait at the Giant King’s Court…

“Mm. I cannot proceed according to the enemy’s expectations, especially when the enemy is a God of Deceit and God of Mischief. Who knows how many accidents will arise from that… If, because of my involvement, the City of Silver’s thousands of years of hope is shattered instead, that would completely violate my original intent…

“The problem with Planeswalker is that I may hear Mr. Door’s ravings. And compared to Sequence 2 angels of other pathways, I’ll have to endure more attention and corruption from the cosmos. Of course, none of that is completely unacceptable…

“Also, do the three resurrection chances Sefirah Castle gave me need to be repaid? That’s still fine. At Sequence 1, I will definitely switch back to Attendant of Mysteries, because Mr. Door has already blocked the Apprentice pathway’s route upward. He holds at least the Uniqueness plus two Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristics, perhaps even all three…

“I do not necessarily have to switch to Planeswalker, but I must make the corresponding preparations. When I have more choices, the difficulty for Amon to block me and set traps in advance will increase dramatically. Only then might I become an angel under the powerful pressure of a King of Angels!

“Mm. Do not presuppose a position. Prepare for Miracle Invoker on one hand and Planeswalker on the other. When the time comes, decide which pathway to choose based on the concrete situation.”

Once the direction was clear, Klein’s entire mind felt refreshed. His thoughts became extraordinarily active, and he soon had a preliminary plan:

“There is no need to rush to ask Miss Magician’s teacher for the Planeswalker potion formula and the corresponding Grade 0 sealed artifacts. That would scare the Abraham family. They would suspect that Miss Magician had begun worshiping some evil god or joined some dangerous organization…

“With their current condition, there is a high chance they would stop replying, change identities, relocate, and cut off contact completely…

“Mm. The head of Saint of Secrets Botis would be a very good gift. Whether or not the Abraham family gives a Star Worm, this matter must be placed on the schedule… I hope Miss Justice digests the Dreamwalker potion as soon as possible. I hope Madam Hermit makes proper preparations. I also hope Miss Magician and Miss Judgment can improve before the operation…

“Right. According to Miss Magician, Saint of Secrets Botis is a defector from the Abraham family, while the Aurora Order controls a Grade 0 sealed artifact of the Apprentice pathway. That is quite interesting… Perhaps there is not necessarily a need to contact the Abraham family. From Saint of Secrets Botis, we might be able to obtain what we want. Uh, I need to remind Madam Hermit that Botis might be carrying a Grade 0 sealed artifact at certain times. Confirmation must be made before the operation…

“If that Grade 0 sealed artifact is not in the hands of the Saint of Secrets, obtaining it might require facing the Angel of Fate Ouroboros directly… No, the Grade 0 sealed artifact itself is already very terrifying, one of the sources of danger…

“Whew. For now, I should wait for Miss Magician’s teacher to reply and see whether the Abraham family is sensitive about the Star Worm matter…”

At this thought, Klein suddenly felt somewhat self-mocking. He felt that he and the Aurora Order truly seemed destined enemies, always intersecting with one another in all sorts of ways.

“Once this operation begins, the Aurora Order will definitely scream in their hearts:

“Why you again? Why us again?”

After exhaling, Klein gathered his thoughts and manifested The World Gehrman Sparrow, replying to Miss Magician, who had reported the answer.

Then the dummy The World remade a prayer, asking Mr. Fool to pass his request to Danitz.

…

On an island somewhere in the Fog Sea, Danitz, who was waiting for the Golden Dream to come pick him up, turned his head to glance at Anderson and chuckled.

“I’m about to summon Gehrman Sparrow’s messenger.”

Anderson raised his brows and clicked his tongue.

“You are qualified to consume the Conspirer potion.”

“You made it too obvious. Even I could tell you’re afraid of that messenger,” Danitz replied, increasingly pleased, while still offering a modest remark.

Anderson suddenly laughed.

“Why don’t you suspect that I am deliberately showing this fear? That it is simply to find a reasonable excuse to avoid this place, so I won’t hear something I shouldn’t?”

“…Shit. You think I’ll believe a lie you thought up in a hurry?” Danitz nearly had been convinced.

Anderson spread his hands and walked toward the door.

“You’ve already gathered all the ingredients for the Conspirer potion. Remember to remind Gehrman not to forget my Iron-blooded Knight potion formula.”

Danitz waved impatiently, indicating that he knew.

After Anderson left the room and closed the door, Danitz immediately arranged the ritual and summoned the messenger carrying four blond-haired, red-eyed heads.

When those eight eyes looked at him at the same time, Danitz’s puffed-out chest instantly shrank back.

He piled on a smile and handed over a gold coin.

“Madam, Gehrman Sparrow asked me to tell you that he is fine now. He is currently in the Forsaken Land of the Gods.”

…Wait, what did I say? The Forsaken Land of the Gods? As a crew member of Vice Admiral Iceberg, Danitz’s mysticism knowledge was at least adequate. After a moment of shock, his pupils visibly dilated.

“All right…” Reinette Tinekerr bit down on the gold coin with one mouth while another answered.

Then she stepped into the void and vanished from the room.

After reporting this matter back to Gehrman Sparrow, Danitz received the Iron-blooded Knight potion formula and a new command.

“Prepare local delicacies and sacrifice them to Sea God Kalvetua… Isn’t this mission a little too strange?” Danitz muttered inwardly, but he did not dare raise any questions.

He quickly tidied up the altar, found a piece of parchment, and wrote down the supplementary ingredients and corresponding ritual from the Iron-blooded Knight potion formula.

Immediately afterward, he opened the door and handed the parchment to Anderson.

“Form a team of at least thirty people… The stronger the team and the higher the tacit understanding, the better the ritual’s effects…” Anderson unfolded the parchment in front of Danitz and began reading. As he read on, his brows gradually furrowed. “If the team’s tacit understanding is built on wanting to kill me, the captain, then this ritual should be rather easy…”

Before Danitz could mock him, a smear of blazing white flame rose from Anderson’s fingertip and burned the parchment.

Anderson then laughed softly.

“I need to return to my homeland and look for an opportunity. Feynapotter is invading it, and war is always the best place to temper a team.”

After a pause, he looked at Danitz, his smile unchanged.

“I prepared some questions for you and left them in my room. Once you become a Conspirer, you can try answering them and see whether your intelligence has genuinely improved.”

“…Shit! You’re trying to trick me into reading all the books in your room, aren’t you?” Danitz was almost moved, then immediately realized what was wrong.

No matter how high one’s intelligence was, without having read the textbooks, one still could not answer the questions!

“Not bad. This time you only needed three seconds to grasp the key point. In the past, heh, you really would have believed me.” Anderson praised him, then turned with a smile and directly left the hotel.