Chapter 2: The Aftermath

Chapter 2: The Aftermath

After a silence that seemed almost frozen had lasted nearly ten seconds, Verlos and the other members of the Abraham family turned their gazes toward Fors in unison.

Sensing the mixture of vigilance, wariness, and fear in their eyes, Fors proactively took several steps to the side and reminded them, “Be careful of negative effects.”

Even if Beyonder characteristics had not yet fused with surrounding objects to form Sealed Artifacts, they still carried certain negative effects. It was just that most of the time, direct contact was required for those effects to manifest. Of course, the Beyonder characteristics here all belonged to high Sequences; no one could be certain whether they would actively expand their sphere of interference.

Seeing that Fors did not show any obvious greed, Dorian nodded and said, “Once you finish digesting the Scribe potion, you may consider advancing to Sequence 3 Traveler. I will give you the potion formula and prepare the corresponding ingredients for you. Of course, at this level, the higher the Sequence, the greater the danger one faces. That is an objective reality, and it will not change according to personal will or arrangements. When the time comes, whether you wish to advance will be your own decision.”

He said this partly out of care for his student, and partly to stabilize her—to tell her that what the Abraham family possessed was the same as what she possessed, that no one would regard her as an outsider or deliberately make things difficult for her in terms of Sequence advancement.

This could effectively dispel some of the hotheadedness brought about by greed.

As for Verlos and the other Abraham family members, after suddenly obtaining so many high-Sequence Beyonder characteristics, they were not reluctant to part with one Traveler characteristic at all. They even felt that using it to purchase “peace” was absolutely worth it. After all, there was only one demigod present, and that was Fors.

With the Abraham family members unable to use their Grade 0 Sealed Artifact in time, and unwilling to take out most Grade 1 Sealed Artifacts because the seals had nearly failed just moments ago, Fors was fully capable of dealing with every single one of them.

Facing her teacher’s promise, Fors gave a soft “Mm” and asked, “Was the ‘door’ to a hidden space opened?”

She believed the high-Sequence Beyonder characteristics before her had all come from the Abraham family’s treasury, merely tossed back into reality because of the earlier abnormality. Still, she felt the quantity was clearly too great.

“No.” Dorian slowly shook his head, his face full of bewilderment.

The other Abraham family members remained silent, similarly at a loss.

If treasure had not fallen from the sky right before their eyes, no one would ever believe such a thing could happen.

“Should we pray to Mr. Fool?” Fors tentatively offered her suggestion.

Dorian, who vaguely had some conjecture, immediately looked toward Verlos and the other family members. Those who had already converted to Mr. Fool nodded in agreement, while those who had not clearly hesitated and wanted to object.

After considering for a moment, Dorian steadied his emotions and said, “Gather the characteristics whose negative effects are area-based according to the correct procedures. Prevent them from fusing with surrounding objects.”

“I will go to the side and pray to Mr. Fool.”

“Very well.” After hesitating for two seconds, several of the Abraham family members present agreed.

They then seized the time to identify the characteristics and attempt to gather them.

Only after those members had made some progress did Dorian retreat to his student Fors’s side, lower his head, and pray to Mr. Fool.

Very quickly, a grayish-white fog and an ancient palace deep within it appeared before his eyes. In his ears echoed a lofty, solemn voice:

“These are Mr. Door’s relics.”

“The curse upon your bloodline has been completely lifted.”

Mr. Door’s relics… relics… Dorian chewed over that word, opened his eyes, and once again turned his gaze toward those high-Sequence Beyonder characteristics.

He looked at them in silence. Gradually, his vision blurred.

…

East Chester County, within the Hall family estate.

Alfred and the others, having just clarified the source of the earlier explosion and the cries of “enemy attack,” watched as doors and windows opened simultaneously, slamming into the walls with a crash.

Several panes of glass shattered in the process.

There really is an abnormality… Alfred’s expression turned solemn. He raised a hand toward his adjutant, attendants, his father’s guards, and private bodyguards, and said, “Retreat to the main house first. Guard against any accidents that may occur next.”

“At the same time, telegraph the archbishop of the East Chester diocese and request assistance.”

He believed the most important thing at the moment was not investigating the cause of the abnormality, but protecting his father, mother, and sister.

There would be plenty of time to do the former after dawn. If anything happened to the latter, it could never be remedied.

After retreating to the estate’s main house and arranging a strict patrol, Alfred entered the sitting room and said to Earl Hall, “There is indeed an abnormality, but that guard cannot describe what he saw. He only said he felt extreme fear at that moment.”

Earl Hall nodded steadily.

“We will investigate further after daybreak.”

“You should sit down and rest first.”

Beside him, Audrey held her mother’s arm and listened quietly as her father and two brothers spoke.

Of course, that was only on the surface. She had continuously split off virtual personalities, trying to find the reason behind the strange opening of the doors and windows from the memories of those who had witnessed it.

After several minutes, she ended the investigation in slight disappointment and temporarily classified this abnormality as a lingering influence left behind by the mind dragon Ariehogg and Mr. Wrath.

Just then, she noticed that the golden retriever Susie’s eyes had become somewhat strange. She hurriedly split off a virtual personality and entered the other party’s mind island, conducting a concealed conversation.

“What did you discover?” Audrey asked directly.

On Susie’s mind island, a voice echoed.

“I smelled a strong scent of blood at the edge of the estate. It appeared some time before the doors and windows opened. Mm… about ten seconds after the explosion sounded.”

After listening, Audrey pursed her lips and remained silent for several seconds.

“Go and take a look.”

Susie immediately stopped sitting, quietly backed out of the sitting room, and left the estate’s main house through a side door located on the first-floor corridor.

During this process, people glanced at her from time to time, but none paid her much attention or tried to stop her. After all, she was only a dog—a dog who had mastered psychological invisibility.

Taking a small path to the row of buildings farthest from the estate’s main house, Susie twitched her nose, chose an open window, and leapt inside.

Then she saw a terrifying, blood-soaked corpse on the bed—one stripped of its skin.

And what she saw was also seen by the virtual personality Audrey had lodged on her mind island.

Inside the sitting room of the estate’s main house, Audrey lowered her head while holding her mother’s arm.

Then she raised it again, letting her gaze slowly, deeply sweep across the faces of her father, Earl Hall; her mother, Lady Caitlyn; and her brothers, Hibbert and Alfred.

She remained quiet, becoming even more silent.

…

Bayam, inside the Waves Cathedral.

Alger, dressed in robes embroidered with the symbol of storms, walked step by step up from underground. He nodded to the Mandated Punishers, pastors, and bishops waiting on either side.

“The seals returned to normal in time.”

“You may put the items under your supervision back.”

“Yes, Your Eminence Wilson.” The Mandated Punishers, pastors, and bishops all breathed a sigh of relief and placed their right fists over their left breasts.

Alger said nothing further. He returned the same salute.

After walking all the way back to his room, he slowly looked around, took a soft breath, and found a place to sit.

“The Fool that doesn’t belong to this era…” Alger prayed to Mr. Fool in a nearly soundless voice, expressing his intention to leave the Church of Storms.

—The claim that the seals had returned to normal in time could only convince lower-ranking members of the Church. It could not deceive any cardinal or high-ranking deacon, much less the Pope and the Lord of Storms.

And if he did not receive Mr. Fool’s consent and protection, Alger would not dare casually leave the Church of Storms. That would surely bring divine punishment upon him.

A few seconds later, he saw the familiar boundless gray fog and heard Mr. Fool’s response:

“You may.”

“Go to the Sea God Church.”

Hah… Alger relaxed, rose to his feet, and removed his storm robes.

After changing into a linen shirt, brown jacket, and wide-legged trousers, Alger looked at the cardinal’s robe he had discarded on the table and remained silent for quite a while.

Then he reached out and folded the robe neatly.

After carefully examining it back and forth for several seconds, Alger withdrew his gaze. Riding the wild wind, he flew out of the cathedral through the open window.

First, he flew to the bell tower and landed at its top, overlooking the surrounding streets and the entirety of Bayam.

During this process, Alger stepped along the edge of the top, slowly circling once.

Finally, he closed his eyes.

A hurricane suddenly rose, carrying Alger toward the Sea God Church.

…

Above the gray fog, within the ancient palace.

Klein sat silently in The Fool’s high-backed chair.

His figure sometimes turned illusory, as though he had put on a mysterious, classical black robe and a hood beneath which no face could be seen. At other times, he returned to normal, with only a thin layer of grayish-white fog shrouding him.

These changes alternated, their frequency gradually slowing.

Whenever Klein became the figure in black robes and a hood, slippery tentacles patterned with strange markings would extend from beneath his clothing.

These almost transparent tentacles spread arrogantly, slapping and occupying the entire palace.

After a while, Klein’s figure finally stabilized.

Out of habit, he raised his right hand, rubbed his temples, and muttered silently, “The revival of the Celestial Worthy’s will was faster and stronger than I expected… If I hadn’t devoured Zaratul’s Beyonder characteristic and used His residual mental imprint as a balance, buying enough time, I wouldn’t have been able to adjust in time, much less stop Him from awakening…”

However, doing this had also left Klein’s mental state quite unstable.

The reason he had not directly lost control was that the Miracle Invoker potion had been fully digested, and the first Attendant of Mysteries Beyonder characteristic he had just consumed had also been mostly digested within a very short time after he drank the potion. After all, the positioning of The World was that of a blessed of the owner of Sefirah Castle, directly equivalent to an Attendant of Mysteries. Therefore, Klein had already been acting as an Attendant of Mysteries for a very long time, and with considerable success.

As for the second Attendant of Mysteries Beyonder characteristic, it still awaited digestion.