Klein didn't actually remember if he had told The Hanged Man and the others that the Sailor, Spectator, Sun, Reader and Secrets Suppliant pathways were interchangeable—unless he used dream divination to recall it.
However, since The Hanged Man had expressed his doubts towards the Church of the Lord of Storms, it meant that he hadn't thought about the interchangeability of both paths. Regardless of whether he knew it or not, or if he had yet to connect the two matters together, Klein believed that there was a need for him to explain things clearly. This allowed the members of the Tarot Club to grasp the true stances of the various major factions, thus letting them avoid many dangers.
After The Hanged Man, Alger, and the others cast their gazes at him, he controlled The World Gehrman Sparrow and made him say in a low, uncertain tone, "The Storm, Sun, Spectator, Reader, and Secrets Suppliant pathways are neighboring pathways.
"Likewise for Evernight, God of Combat, and Death.
"And neighboring pathways often become enemies. Of course, that's not absolute. At least the seven deities have established an alliance."
Upon hearing The World's reply, Alger first recalled Adam pushing for the "flood of the times" to become a god. Following that, thoughts flashed through his mind as he gained a certain level of understanding of the Church of the Lord of Storms's current attitude.
This made him feel a rather special sense of superiority and joy. It was as if he had seen the essence of the matter, exceeding the level of most Beyonders in the Church of the Lord of Storms.
Similarly, Audrey had a brand new understanding of Intis's strange silence in this war. She was even more worried about the situation in Lenburg, Masin, and Segar.
In addition, she also knew that she could switch to Unshadowed, Cataclysmic Interrer, and to the corresponding Sequence 4 demigod of the Church of Knowledge and Wisdom she had recently met.
As for the corresponding Sequence 4 of the Secrets Suppliant pathway, it wasn't within her considerations at all.
Of course, compared to other pathways, she still preferred Manipulator. She liked the Spectator pathway from the bottom of her heart. However, she also felt deep fear towards the upper echelons of the Spectator pathway—Hvin Rambis had left a rather bad impression on her. Adam's "any mention of it will be known" had left her with a trauma.
She had no choice but to undergo self-evaluations and treat the corresponding problems from time to time.
The Hermit Cattleya had always been deeply knowledgeable about such matters. Apart from the information mentioned by The World Gehrman Sparrow, she also knew that the Mystery Pryer and Savant pathways were neighboring pathways that could be interchanged at high Sequences. It was likewise for the Arbiter and Lawyer pathways, the Prisoner and Criminal pathways, the Hunter and Assassin pathway, and the Planter and Apothecary pathway.
As the other members of the Tarot Club dispersed their thoughts, Alger said to The World Gehrman Sparrow, "Thank you for your answer."
He didn't say exactly what insights he had gleaned from the answer.
In fact, for an instant, Alger wanted to leave the Church of the Lord of Storms and switch to another pathway. This was better than waiting for a very slim chance in the Church. However, he ultimately gave up on this idea. After all, his goal for a long time was to become a cardinal of the Church of the Lord of Storms. At present, he was beginning to yearn to be ranked first amongst the cardinal ranks, becoming an angel in charge of the Mandated Punishers or Ascetics.
As for the position of pontiff, Alger didn't yearn for it. This was because it was too close to the Lord of Storms, and he had many secrets he kept close to his chest.
If he were to be chosen as pontiff, Alger suspected that he would be smote to ashes by a lightning storm that descended from the sky the moment he put on the papal tiara.
Seeing that the exchange between The World and The Hanged Man had ended, Emlyn asked with curiosity, "Which pathway can the Apothecary pathway be interchanged with?"
Being from the Sanguine race made them have no thoughts of switching to other pathways, as it would often mean that they had lost their "identify." Therefore, Emlyn wasn't too concerned about such matters.
"The Planter pathway of the Church of Earth Mother," Cattleya answered casually.
The Planter pathway... Possessed by the Church of Earth Mother... Emlyn frowned as he vaguely grasped something.
At this moment, Xio also asked, "Which pathway neighbors the Arbiter pathway?"
"Lawyer," Cattleya answered simply.
Lawyer of the Black Emperor pathway... In other words, if I could become a Sequence 5,1 would be able to switch to Sequence 4 of the Black Emperor pathway. And Fors had previously told me that Mr. Fool has the Card of Blasphemy; it contains all the secrets of the Black Emperor pathway... Xio suddenly realized that there was a glimmer of light for her future.
It had to be known that the Arbiter pathway was firmly controlled by the two royal families. Even the corresponding military only had the potion formula for the Low- and Mid-Sequences. If they wanted to advance beyond Sequence 5, they had to receive a bestowment from the royal family. Just like how every general had to be conferred by the king or queen. Furthermore, what they obtained in the end was the concocted potion and the ritual.
To Xio, this meant that it was almost impossible for her to get the Sequence 4 potion formula for the Arbiter pathway.
Of course, no matter how tightly guarded the potion formulas was, there were bound to be loopholes. The military's demigods knew of the ritual, and from time to time, they would cooperate with the royal family to hunt powerful supernatural beings. They could roughly narrow down the candidates for the main ingredient to a small area, but this also meant that they could only confirm the formula through repeated experiments. At the same time, the military demigods were also unable to grasp the supplementary ingredients. If they wanted to rely only on the main ingredients to advance, they needed to seek out the benediction of fate.
And now, Xio had seen another possibility.
At this moment, Audrey had already summarized the neighboring pathways that Mr. World and Ma'am Hermit had mentioned before thoughtfully asking:
"Among Prisoner, Criminal, Hunter, Assassin, Savant, Mystery Pryer, and Monster, which ones are neighboring similar pathways?"
The World Gehrman Sparrow glanced at The Hermit and replied hoarsely, "Prisoner and Criminal, Hunter and Assassin, and Savant and Mystery Pryer are similar pathways that can be interchanged at high Sequences."
This was knowledge that could be confirmed by Klein. Among them, the interchangeability between Prisoner and Criminal was something mentioned by the Red Angel evil spirit to which Miss Sharron tacitly accepted. The interchangeability between Savant and Mystery Pryer had been personally demonstrated by Emperor Roselle. As for Hunter and Assassin, it was information that he had accumulated over time which could finally be confirmed.
''What about Monster? There's only this one left, Fors, who was listening, couldn't help but ask.
Seeing The World remain silent, Cattleya thought for a moment before saying, "It's difficult to be categorized as a neighbor of any other Beyonder pathway. Just like fate, it can only objectively exist alone.
"I can be sure of that. I can only say that the most fundamental order in our world's supernatural powers might be chaos and disharmony."
The reason why Cattleya was certain that the Monster pathway didn't have the means to be interchanged with other pathways was because her advancement ritual required her to analyze the Snake of Fate's blood.
I see... Audrey was slightly uncomfortable with this disharmonious situation, but she quickly adjusted her state of mind.
After the exchange was almost complete, all the members of the Tarot Club looked at The Sun Derrick.
The youth said without any hesitation, "We've already set off. We're currently less than a day away from Afternoon Town. When we arrive, we'll be resting for another day or two before we begin exploring the Giant King's Court."
The Sun's words made Alger, Cattleya, and company suddenly feel like myths were entering reality. Compared to places like the ruins of the battlefield of the gods, the Giant King's Court was a symbolic entity that appeared in various legends and in different secret documents.
What secret was it hiding? What was buried in it? The answer was about to be revealed!
Even though they had followed The World Gehrman Sparrow into the City of Miracles Liveseyd, which was on par with the Giant King's Court, The Star Leonard and Justice Audrey were also secretly excited and looking forward to hearing more. After all, the city that the Dragon King had "imagined" into existence had lost too much in the process of being transferred to Groselle's Travels. There were no traces of anything of value. Apart from the building itself, there was only the hall that expressed the extraordinariness of the ancient myths.
Furthermore, what was even more important was that Derrick had mentioned that the Kings of Angels had come to a secret plot in the Giant King's Court!
As for The Fool Klein, he was thinking of something else:
Should I get Little Sun to pray to The Fool before the exploration? Then, I'll use the crimson star and the Sea God Scepter to extend my vision to a certain distance so that I can watch a live broadcast...
Yes. In that case, if there are any accidents, I can still provide some help. The only problem is that this method of relying on the prayer points of light for "observation" cannot last too long.
This has nothing to do with my own spirituality. It's just that this connection will fade away with time and last forty- five minutes at most... Let Little Sun pray every once in a while? Uh, that's under the premise that it doesn't affect his battle or attract the attention of the people around him...
In that case, my spirituality can probably last for two hours. It's not on the same level as my Sequence 5. Heh heh, it's also because of my recent rapid digestion of the potion.
After pondering for a moment, Klein didn't speak. He controlled The World Gehrman Sparrow to hint to The Sun:
"Before exploring the Giant King's Court, you can pray to Mr. Fool and pray for good luck. In the process, you can also pray many times."
Mr. World really is a nice guy... After Derrick sincerely thanked him, he hurriedly turned his body towards the end of the long, mottled table.
Then, he saw Mr. Fool, who was enveloped by the grayish-white fog, nod slightly.
