Chapter 19: Another Use for the Wishing Lamp

Chapter 19: Another Use for the Wishing Lamp

The Queen Mystic, Bernadette, seemed to have had a certain premonition of Gehrman Sparrow’s arrival. Without the slightest surprise, she set down the ancient scroll in her hands and turned her gaze toward the visitor at the door.

Klein did not stand on ceremony. He said directly, “I wish to borrow the Wishing Lamp for one day.”

Bernadette nodded lightly and raised her hand, picking up the Wishing Lamp placed beside her.

Her invisible servant immediately carried the uniquely shaped lamp and delivered it before Klein.

Klein reached out, accepted it, and said in a low voice, “Thank you.”

Bernadette made no request, as though she was not at all worried that she would accumulate wishes and die strangely as a result.

She believed that Mr. Fool could resolve this problem, because that existence had already displayed such ability last time.

The next second, Klein, in the guise of Gehrman Sparrow, vanished from the Dawn and returned inside Sefirah Castle.

After placing the Wishing Lamp on the table before him, he immediately saw the wick ignite, emitting thick, viscous light that formed a twisted, blurry, pale-gold figure.

“You have yet to fulfill your promise. I will no longer grant wishes according to your will,” the Lamp Genie said in a vast, majestic voice. “You should know that the current holder of this lamp is Roselle’s daughter. The first wish you make will accumulate on her as well, causing her to gather three wishes and suffer backlash at a level beyond the Sequences. And this time, I will not allow you to transfer the number of wishes she bears onto yourself.”

When Klein had previously used the Wishing Lamp to escape his predicament, he had not altered the ownership of this Grade 0 Sealed Artifact. It still belonged to Bernadette. Its holder remained the Queen Mystic.

Therefore, the wishes he made would accumulate on both himself and Bernadette.

At that time, his first wish had been to transfer the two wishes Bernadette had previously made to his own name. This cleared the wishes on Bernadette while causing Klein to bear two wishes.

However, that first wish itself had also accumulated. Thus, after it was fulfilled, Bernadette’s true number of wishes was one, while Klein’s was three.

After that, Klein made a second wish. Without question, it was counted on both Bernadette and himself.

In the end, Bernadette bore two wishes, not exceeding the critical threshold, while Klein’s count reached four. As expected, he suffered backlash from the rules at the level of an Outer Deity and died on the spot inside Adam’s Cathedral of Bones, successfully escaping.

Under such a premise, if Klein made any further wish now, Bernadette’s count would reach three, inevitably causing something terrifying to happen.

Of course, he could imitate his first wish from last time and transfer the wishes Bernadette bore to himself, spending one resurrection opportunity in the process. But the Lamp Genie had already clearly stated that He would distort such a wish and cause it to be fulfilled in a way Klein did not wish to see.

Sigh. It was too rushed last time, and Roselle was affected by the Primordial Moon, so the wishes we discussed still had certain loopholes… Back then, I should have added one extra condition, making the first wish count only under my name. Or between the first and second wishes, I should’ve added another wish to transfer ownership of the Wishing Lamp to me. In any case, after my death, ownership would surely be cleared, and the Wishing Lamp would return to its actual owner… Klein sighed inwardly, then smiled at the Lamp Genie.

“You should be no stranger to Tampering or Reorganization.

“With this lamp’s own level and your current state, I can now rely completely on Sefirah Castle to ‘graft’ its ownership from Bernadette to myself. Or we can use another method and directly employ Theft. How does that sound?”

The Lamp Genie’s blurry and distorted golden figure fell silent. Only several seconds later did He speak:

“Although you are not as cunning as Him, you are every bit as shameless.

“However, that will be useless. After you accumulate wishes and die suddenly, ownership of this lamp will still return to Roselle’s daughter. I will distort the rules and count the wish you made on Her as well.

“Besides, I already said this just now: before you fulfill your promise, I will not grant your wishes normally.”

Maintaining his smile, Klein said, “I once heard a story, a story about investors.

“When a company encounters difficulties, the ones more willing to provide assistance are certainly its original investors. They have already paid a great deal for it, but if they stop investing, it is very likely they will not recover their investment and will lose all their principal.

“Of course, if they can retrieve their share by some other method or channel, or if they can exchange their principal for an even greater return, then that is another story.

“Which category do you think you belong to?”

The Lamp Genie stared at Klein, who sat in The Fool’s position, and gave a laugh.

“After further mastering Sefirah Castle, you seem to have acquired the eloquence of a Swindler. However, unless you undo my seal now, it will be very difficult for me to influence matters at the level of Sequence 0. At most, I can cause you to suffer unimpeded backlash from rules beyond the Sequences and die one more time.

“However, that will not help the matter you wish to accomplish now, because death means failure. Moreover, you should know very well that losing control and going mad during advancement will affect all avatars. It is not something that can be avoided simply by severing the connection.”

Klein nodded with a smile.

“Indeed. I also haven’t yet decided what wish I should make. I’m only making a preparation.”

At this point, he glanced at the Wishing Lamp.

“In fact, this lamp has another use that can affect matters at the level of Sequence 0.

“I heard that a true god once tried to destroy this lamp, but ultimately failed. Naturally. A lamp that can seal an Outer Deity could hardly be that easy to damage. The power of the Lord of the Mysteries or Sefirah Castle must be attached to it.”

As he spoke, Klein’s smile gradually became more apparent.

“It would be a waste not to use something so sturdy as a shield.”

“…”

The Lamp Genie fell silent for a while and did not respond for a long time.

After this cordial and friendly exchange, Klein and the Lamp Genie fully exchanged views and preliminarily reached a consensus on the fact that the two of them were bound together by fate.

Then Klein placed the Wishing Lamp into his pocket, making it ready for use at any time.

After finishing all this, he turned his gaze toward the fragments of light in the fog of history related to the Hornacis mountain range.

His preparations were almost complete. Next, he only had to create an avatar and have it steal away the undigested Attendant of Mysteries Beyonder characteristic within him. Then he would be ready to face the ancestor of the Antigonus family.

And that would very likely ignite a battle of gods.

Frankly speaking, Klein did not want such a thing to happen, because a divine battle would almost certainly bring extremely negative effects to the real world.

The battle of gods in which the Rose Redemption stopped the Original from reviving and, with the help of the Dark Angel Sasrir, assassinated the ancient Sun God had directly caused a disaster that swept across the entire Eastern Continent. Ninety-nine percent of the living beings there died, leaving the land itself like an abyss.

The War of the Four Emperors and the Pale Disaster had nearly destroyed the Northern Continent, causing countless deaths and mutations. Mountains became lakes, valleys became peaks, rivers changed course, the earth collapsed, and the seas went berserk.

The conflict between the Evernight Goddess and the God of Combat had the smallest impact on the real world because it occurred in the astral world, within the Evernight Goddess’s divine kingdom, and it was also quite brief. But before that, a total war lasting more than a year had wrung out the blood and tears of countless people.

If possible, Klein truly would have been willing to give up Sefirah Castle and survive as a Sequence 1, or even a Sequence 2 angel, letting events develop in the most peaceful way.

However, after walking this path until now, there were already far too many existences who had shown him goodwill and offered him help, and far too many people who believed in him and followed his footsteps. If Klein said he would give up now, it would be equivalent to pushing them into danger. That would not be mercy. That would be selfishness.

From ancient times until now, what successful person in the end did not bear the fates of many others?

If he gave up, what would happen to them?

The faces of the Tarot Club members, the believers of The Fool in the City of Silver and Moon City, Azik Eggers, Reinette Tinekerr, Will Auceptin, and many others flashed rapidly through Klein’s mind.

At last, he slowly let out a long sigh.

If Amon were trustworthy, Klein would not have been entirely unable to “transfer” these responsibilities to Him. But this God of Deceit had always acted without restraint, and even all of His believers were none other than Himself.

If Klein gave up now, putting aside his own safety, the people and demigods he had just thought of might be captured by the enemy—or directly fitted with monocles over their right eyes. Among them, Will Auceptin and the believers of The Fool would be in the greatest danger.

Trust in the might of gods, but do not trust in Their mercy.

This was Klein’s decision. When he faced the Evernight Goddess, he had used the Lord of Storms and the others as examples precisely because he wanted to tell Her that he would not betray Her help. She was the existence who had wagered the most on him. If Klein gave up, the Evernight Goddess might have to pay an even greater price to obtain the River of Eternal Darkness—or might never obtain it at all. Once the two Pillars, the Lord of the Mysteries and God, appeared one after another, the threat of the Outer Deities would be reduced to a minimum, and there would be no need for any additional Great Old Ones to be born.

Whew. Later, I can use Sefirah Castle to “graft” the main peak of the Hornacis mountain range to the astral world. That will minimize the damage a divine battle causes to the real world, and it will also allow the Goddess and the other deities guarding the cracks in the barrier to fully display Their strength. After all, most of my supporters are orthodox gods… Klein’s thoughts turned, and he found a solution.

He immediately snapped his fingers, relying on Sefirah Castle to create an avatar that stood beside him.