Lord of the Mysteries

“The origins of this drop of golden liquid.”

After reciting the divination statement seven times, Klein held onto the goatskin and the illusory golden liquid before leaning back in his seat.

He didn’t know if he could divine with the item that was instantiated based purely on a feeling. All he could do was make bold assumptions and carefully seek confirmation.

In seconds, Klein’s eyes darkened, turning from brown to black as he entered a state of Cogitation.

His eyelids drooped down and he “saw” the illusory yet blurry dream.

In the blurry world that looked in shambles, a golden, glaring sun suddenly appeared!

A low grunt resounded across the void. The pure and clean light suddenly lit everything up as the gold and burning flames swept outwards.

Boom!

Klein was instantly expelled from his dreamworld and flipped onto his side as he shivered. His body seemed to become a huge bonfire which burned with a raging flame.

At that moment, his thoughts were all over the place. No proper idea could form from the chaos in his mind.

Rumble!

The mysterious space above the gray fog shook violently, and the lofty palace collapsed inch by inch. The ancient, mottled bronze table broke into a few pieces.

The terrifying changes only continued for three seconds before the world above the gray fog returned to tranquility as though nothing had happened.

The gold flame on Klein gradually extinguished. He rolled around on his charred skin as he groaned in pain, until he eventually regained his ability to think.

He supported himself on the armrest of the high chair and stood up with great difficulty. He was terrified and confused about what had just happened.

He had never imagined that a mere divination would result in such consequences!

He panted and lifted his head to survey his surroundings. He realized that the lofty palace and ancient bronze table, which looked like they had stood unchanged since ancient times, had been damaged. In the world above the gray fog, which had never experienced any abnormality, it was simply an unprecedented level of damage.

What happened? Did my divination point towards some unfathomable existence?Klein calmed down slightly and let his burned flesh shed while he speculated. If I wasn’t protected by this mysterious space above the gray fog, there might not even be ashes of me left behind… Could that drop of gold liquid be the blood of a god? Did I see the Eternal Blazing Sun, or some powerful angel of His? No, that was the sun, so I think it was the former… Damn, did I just look directly at a god?

Klein felt more fear as he thought about it. He felt that he had nearly died.

Those who know nothing fear nothing, but those who don’t court death won’t die… In the future, I can’t just divine anything and everything. Who knows what I’ll see!

If that were to happen once more, I don’t know if this mysterious space could even shelter me from fatal damage… When that happens, I’d actually die…

Yes, it definitely won’t do if I continue making experiments with the golden liquid. The existence from before which was likely Eternal Blazing Sun. He must have sensed the sudden, hidden and unexpected influence from the divination above the gray fog and failed to respond in time… If He were prepared, this mysterious space might not have been able to withstand the repercussions…

Having come to this realization, Klein’s body had already returned to normal. It was no longer charred, but compared to before, he was dimmer and more incorporeal than before.

He lifted his hand to massage his temples and commanded with his mind to restore the palace and the long table.

Then, the palace that looked like the home of a giant and the long table cast out of bronze returned to normal. Everything looked like it had before.

Klein sat down and leaned against the back of the chair. He mocked himself and said,

Well, this isn’t entirely bad. At least I know the limit of the mysterious space and I have a certain goal… Only powers approaching the angels of the gods can completely influence the power of the area above the gray fog?

Sigh, I have to add another new rule to my Seer principle. ‘Do not randomly divine things that involve a high-level entity.’ Yes, I shouldn’t hastily activate my Spirit Vision either. If I were to look directly at things that shouldn’t be looked at directly, it might be game over. In the outside world, I don’t have the mysterious space to fend off most of the negative effects…

After a while, Klein’s expression turned odd because some knowledge was reverberating in his head.

Yes, knowledge!

In the short time he had spent with what appeared to be Eternal Blazing Sun, Klein was constantly in his divination state. Hence, he could instinctively divine certain matters and knowledge from the being that he was looking at.

He quickly used a dream divination to recall and organize what he had gathered that wasn’t his primary objective. He picked up the black fountain pen and wrote one line after another.

“1. Do not look directly at God.

“2. Pure white angel.

“3. The technique of making a Flaring Sun Charm… It’s a relatively high level charm in the domain of the Sun. Its potency can last a year before it deteriorates… There’s no need for a ritual to pray to the Eternal Blazing Sun, but the procedure requires the Sealed Artifact 3-0782 to take the ritual’s place. It will siphon power from the Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem…

“4. Extremely hostile towards Lord of Storms and God of Knowledge and Wisdom.

“5. Bard potion formula:

Main ingredients: a Crystal Sunflower or an adult Flint Bird’s tail feather or a Fire Bird’s tail feather… A piece of Siren Rock or a Singing Sunflower…

Supplementary ingredients: a blade of Midsummer Grass, 5 drops of July Wine Juice, a blade of Elf Dark Leaf…

“6. Light Suppliant potion formula:

Main ingredients: a piece of Brilliance Rock or powder of Dazzling Soul or… Blood of a Mirror Hedgehog or the Heart of a Magma Titan…

Supplementary ingredients: a Golden-edged Sunflower, three drops of Aconite Juice…

“7. Priest of Light potion formula:

Information of main ingredients missing.

Supplementary ingredients: 5 grams of Rosemary, 7 drops of fingered citron juices, Rock Water…

“8. Sequence 4, Unshadowed potion formula. Main ingredients could be the golden blood of god extracted from the Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem. It could also be replaced with three adult Sun Divine Bird’s tail feathers and a piece of Holy Brilliance Rock.

Information of supplementary ingredients missing…”

After writing down the eight lines, Klein couldn’t help but rap the edge of the long bronze table.

He had gained way more than he imagined!

He was already satisfied with surviving his reckless divination earlier, but now he had received an unexpected “survival reward.”

From the confidential information he received from the Nighthawks, he knew that the Sequence pathway that the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun held was called Sun, and its Sequence 9 was Bard. It would allow the Beyonder to imbue courage and strength for themselves and their allies through their singing, a “job” that brought about devotion and submission. Their slogan was “Let us praise the Sun!”

The corresponding Sequence 8 was Light Suppliant. They could cast spells and hold rituals from the Sun’s domain which were very effective against corpses and spirits. Sequence 7 was called Solar High Priest, which greatly enhanced the spells and rituals within its domain.

In other words, I have obtained the complete potion formulas of Sequence 9 and Sequence 8 in the Sun Sequence pathway. Yes, unlike before, the potion formula even lists replacement items and ingredient names from different eras… As expected of formulas obtained directly from Eternal Blazing Sun through divination! Klein thought in satisfaction.

He had originally planned on seeing if The Hanged Man could solve the request of the young man from the City of Silver. After all, the Church of the Lord of Storms and the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun were the most ancient orthodox sects. They had fought against each other for thousands of years, so it would only make sense for the two churches to have learned the initial sequence of each other’s pathways.

The Hanged Man might not have cared about the Sun pathway previously, but since he is very likely a Sequence 7 Seafarer, it would probably be easy for him if he really needed to gather the information. However, I don’t need him now. I solved it myself, through an unbelievable yet extremely dangerous method… Miss Justice, Mr. Hanged Man, my Sun friend, your Fool nearly turned himself into a charred corpse… Klein lampooned silently while still feeling a lingering sense of fear.

He lowered his head and looked at the records on the goatskin before him. He thought of another formula.

Would the Priest of Light be an ancient name of Solar High Priest? The confidential information of the Nighthawks never mentioned it, and my divination didn’t pinpoint the Sequence number… Is it Sequence 6, or Sequence 5?

Sequence 4, Unshadowed… This is the first High-Sequence formula that I’ve obtained! It’s such a pity that it lacks the supplementary ingredients. I wonder how I can fill in the blanks? I can’t believe that drop of golden liquid is really the blood of a god. Sealed Artifact 3-0782 is probably far stronger than anyone imagines. From what I can see, it’s sufficient to become a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact.

Yes, it’s likely that the Nighthawks from before only determined whether the item has any traits of the living, how much danger it would cause to nearby humans, how difficult it is to control the item’s effects, and if it can be used against corpses and spirits. They had no way of discovering its unique origin.

The Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem can probably even fight against evil spirits… How could the examiner find an evil spirit to experiment on?

As an official Nighthawk, I can’t become the owner of Sealed Artifact 3-0782, but, yes, I can find an opportunity to make a Flaring Sun Charm and siphon its power? Sigh. I certainly can’t do it now. I haven’t prepared the necessary ingredients. Why would I, a Nighthawk of the Evernight Goddess, carry the ingredients of the Sun around with me?

Klein massaged his forehead regrettably. He saw that there was no other movement in the world above the gray fog and finally relaxed. He confirmed that the Eternal Blazing Sun hadn’t managed to track him down.

Do not look directly at God, do not look directly at a high-level entity. I must remember this!

Why would the Eternal Blazing Sun be extremely hostile towards the Lord of Storms and the God of Knowledge and Wisdom?

What the hell is a pure white angel?

…

As these mixed thoughts filled his brain, Klein felt the emptiness and an aching pain in his head. Plus, he felt that too much time had passed. He had to return to the outer world, just in case someone discovered anything amiss.

Back then, he thought it would take a minute or so to divine two or three times in the mysterious space. Plus, there was a spirituality wall isolating him from everything else. Once it was touched, his body in the world above the gray fog would sense it. Hence, he felt utterly safe, but he hadn’t considered the possibility of having some sort of accident. In the end, he nearly lost his life and that wasted quite a bit of time.

Due to the fact that he was afraid that he would be greeted by a Light of Purification beam or discover that the Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem was damaged, he enveloped his body with spirituality before he stimulated a descent with his heart in his mouth.

The crimson moonlight reflected in his eyes, and there was a darkness hidden within. Klein saw the sparse forest and the weeds before him, as well as the intact Sealed Artifact 3-0782 in his hands.

After a few seconds of breathless anxiety, he finally believed that he was safe.

Phew… Klein let out a breath of relief. He felt exhausted after his insane probing at the border of death.