Chapter 59: Two Choices

Chapter 59: Two Choices

Inside the room, crimson radiance flowed like water, soaking every corner.

Dorian slowly lifted his head and looked toward the full moon outside the bay window. For a long time, he did not move his gaze away, as though this was the first time he had ever appreciated such beauty.

Whew… He exhaled, rose to his feet, and entered the washroom. Turning on the faucet, he scooped up a handful of icy-cold tap water and splashed it hard against his face.

After washing up, Dorian dried his face with a towel, returned to the living room, sat down on the sofa, lowered his head, and devoutly muttered to himself:

“Praise Mr. Fool!”

Once he completed the prayer, he walked into the study, took out paper and pen, and wrote to his student, Forsi:

“…

“Please tell Mr. Gehrman Sparrow that I have verified his promise and hope he can find a better method to resolve the curse…

“I will gather the other members of the family to discuss whether we should use one of the two Grade 0 sealed artifacts to exchange for the Box of the Great Old Ones…

“Here, I will first introduce those two Grade 0 sealed artifacts, so that Mr. Gehrman Sparrow has sufficient time to consider which he wishes to obtain.

“One is called God’s Painting. It looks like an ordinary oil painting set inside a brass frame, but the contents depicted upon it change at irregular intervals.

“When it depicts different locations, the holder can alter the region around a target, causing the corresponding scene to descend.

“When it depicts different people, the holder can make those people attack the target once each.

“When it depicts abstract, incomprehensible images, different effects will appear in reality. However, we have only understood a small portion of the corresponding relationships.

“When it depicts one door after another, opening different ‘doors’ will transfer one to different places. The destination cannot be predicted in advance, and this can be used to banish a target.

“When it depicts a gloomy underground region or the depths of the starry sky, it becomes extremely dangerous and must be sealed!

“If no one watches or appreciates this oil painting, the people inside will come alive. They will stretch their hands out of the painting and gradually enter the real world. This must be accounted for during sealing.

“Once, when one branch of my family was in charge of this God’s Painting, a mistake occurred. For an entire minute, no one appreciated it. At that time, what it depicted was angels surrounding a god. Then that god came alive and walked out of the oil painting.

“That branch of my family was destroyed just like that. Only a few mentally deranged members remained. As for that god, no one knows where He went, but He did not take the oil painting with Him.

“For a long time, we were deeply worried, afraid that god would destroy the world. Fortunately, He never appeared again. Perhaps He was noticed by the seven gods and dealt with.

“Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility that this was a story made up by those deranged survivors. But for most members to die overnight while a small number went mad already implies many things.

“The other Grade 0 sealed artifact is called the Staff of the Stars. It appears as a black cane inlaid with gemstones.

“When holding it, if the corresponding scene appears in one’s mind, and that place truly exists and still exists, the cane will bring you directly to the destination. But one must pay attention to a crucial point: the imagined scene must be absolutely correct. Not a single detail can be wrong, and there must be no difference from the original. Otherwise, you will never know where you are actually going to arrive.

“Similarly, when holding the Staff of the Stars, if one can imagine certain Beyonder powers or people, the cane will reproduce the corresponding power or person. In the latter case, the reproduced person can launch one attack. To achieve such an effect, sufficient understanding of that power or person is a prerequisite. Otherwise, you will not know what sort of mutation may occur. Once, someone tried to use the Staff of the Stars to release Lightning Storm, and the result was that he turned himself into a frog. He only recovered after we found a way to remove the curse.

“The Staff of the Stars is sturdy enough to be used directly in attacks. Anyone struck by it will randomly mutate or suffer all kinds of strange effects. Before, I used the Staff of the Stars to strike a Beyonder from the Aurora Order. The left side of his body was transferred outside the door, while the right side remained in place. His internal organs spilled out with a splash.

“The Staff of the Stars itself will randomly transfer away. If it is not properly sealed, it may disappear at some unknown time and escape control.

“When holding it, one’s mind must remain blank most of the time. Once a scene appears, it may trigger the effects I described above.

“If no one holds it, all sorts of abnormalities will occur around the Staff of the Stars. Whether good or bad is difficult to predict. It must be sealed…

“Burn after reading…”

After writing the letter, Dorian read it several times. Only after confirming that there were no mistakes did he place it inside an envelope and attach a stamp.

At that moment, above the gray fog, inside the ancient palace.

Through the prayer light, Klein had watched the entire process of Dorian writing the letter.

“I seem to have forgotten to tell him that he can have Mr. Fool pass the information directly to Gehrman Sparrow… This is fine too. Treat it as a benefit for formal Tarot Club members. If every believer did this, and I didn’t leave some Worms of Spirit in Sefirah Castle, I simply wouldn’t be able to keep up… Mm, this can also effectively maintain Mr. Fool’s status, preventing the Abraham family members from daring to look down on Him…” Klein muttered a few words, then turned his attention back to the two Grade 0 sealed artifacts.

Once again, he confirmed that all Grade 0 sealed artifacts were things with severe negative effects. They could not be used as ordinary items.

Of course, their abilities and effects were also terrifyingly powerful. They were fully worthy of the title of Grade 0.

“Comparatively speaking, the Staff of the Stars suits me better…

“I can have Miss Justice hypnotize me in advance, making the thoughts that surface in my subconscious exist as pure ideas rather than images. I would need conscious control before I could sketch any scene…

“I wonder if having a City of Silver resident hold the Staff of the Stars and picture a street in Backlund could allow them to directly leave the Forsaken Land of the Gods…

“But there’s no way to hypnotize them beforehand, and they’ve never truly seen Backlund. Even if I recreate the corresponding scene for them, they may still find it hard to correctly imagine the details…

“In short, it will be very troublesome, but it can be tried. I can choose volunteers who aren’t afraid of death…

“If I can trade for the Staff of the Stars, I won’t rush to shatter it into a characteristic. Perhaps it will be useful at some point. After all, that advancement ritual may not necessarily be completed…

“With the Staff of the Stars, I’ll have a little more confidence in dealing with the Dark Demonic Wolf and escaping the Forsaken Land of the Gods from under Dark Angel’s eyes…” Klein sighed. His decision had already formed.

At that moment, he realized another fact.

If some members of the Abraham family followed Dorian in converting to Mr. Fool, then even if he returned the Box of the Great Old Ones to them, borrowing it again in the future would not be difficult.

In other words, among the Staff of the Stars, God’s Painting, and the Box of the Great Old Ones, he would have ownership of one and usage rights over two.

“Developing believers really is useful… When the time comes, won’t the Abraham family become a subordinate force of the Tarot Club? However, Dorian definitely won’t spread Mr. Fool’s faith that quickly, unless certain members are already wandering near the edge of losing control and can no longer withstand the next full moon curse.” Klein inexplicably felt that the Tarot Club’s influence was expanding.

He thought about it seriously and felt sorrow for the life he might have in the future, where he had to respond to believers twenty-four hours a day.

Only after becoming an angel, truly grasping Sefirah Castle, and daring to leave some Worms of Spirit there could he resolve that problem.

“If there really is no other way, I’ll have Arrodes serve as an AI customer service agent…” Klein rubbed his forehead, left the space above the gray fog, and returned to the Forsaken Land of the Gods.

…

Deep night, in the waters of the Rorsted Archipelago.

An enormous sea monster swam rapidly to the target location.

This was the “helper” Alger had requested from Sea God Kalvetua. At his level as an Ocean Songster, he still could not command a creature of this size.

In truth, he could have swum here from Bayam himself, but that would have been too exhausting and would have left him unable to respond to accidents.

A few seconds later, the sea monster opened its mouth, and Alger swam out, approaching a brilliant coral cluster.

After circling around several obstacles, a trace of deep blue suddenly appeared in Alger’s vision.

Through that deep blue, he saw a magnificent palace formed from coral.

It was clearly so real, yet no one could see it without a particular medium.

Alger stared at it for a long while, then swam forward until he arrived before the palace and reached out to push open the doors.

The swaying waves stopped there. Wrapped by the wind, Alger passed through the barrier and landed on the ground.

He looked around and discovered murals painted on both sides.

The contents of these murals were not especially unusual. They mainly depicted ship after ship, and people with elven faces, resisting storms and fighting enormous waves.

However, Alger noticed that the place those ships sailed through was not the sea, but a patch of blackness so thick it seemed impossible to dissolve.

That made Alger think of one word:

Abyss.

This looks somewhat like the Abyss of legend, only somewhat, and there are no devils… They seem to be surging up from underground… Are these murals recording the history of the elves? But they do not quite match the corresponding myths… Mr. World said that every word in Elvish corresponds to an original elf… As Alger pondered, he walked toward the nine-tiered staircase ahead.

As the distance narrowed, he saw two thrones and a deep-blue, crystalline coral.

Silver-white electric serpents crackled and leaped across the branches of the coral, illuminating the surroundings.

Alger held his breath, slowed his steps, and climbed the staircase layer by layer until he arrived before the thrones.

He solemnly extended his right hand and picked up that piece of coral.

A rushing sound immediately rang out. The seawater outside the palace shook violently, while the coral, wrapped in a patch of deep blue, gradually turned illusory and fused into Alger’s body.

One bolt of lightning after another bloomed like petals.