Mysteries... Klein's heart palpitated when he heard that. He subconsciously wanted to return to Sefirah Castle and leave the scene.
However, no matter how much he tried, his Spirit Body remained inside his body without any changes.
Man... This vexed Klein. He instinctively cast his gaze towards Reinette Tinekerr who was beside him. He saw that Miss Messenger had already floated over, looking like "She" was facing a terrifying enemy. And the surrounding darkness froze like a cold lake. Lightning stopped streaking across the sky.
Mysteries... Klein felt a slight sense of security as he thought back to the title he had just heard.
He was no stranger to that. However, the last person who addressed him in this manner was the ancient sun god—the City of Silver's Creator—from two thousand years ago. Before "He" died, "He" sensed Klein's divination and shouted this out through an insurmountable distance of space and time!
No way... The True Creator is equivalent to the ancient sun god? No, "He" is only a Sequence 0 true god, far from the level of the Creator that I assumed. Furthermore, from Amon's attitude, the ancient sun god must have really perished... The True Creator is the pitch-black infant that emerged from the ancient sun god's stomach and inherited some of the ancient sun god's characteristics and memories. "He" is the degenerated body of that Creator? Klein composed himself and attempted to rapidly think of a solution to his present conundrum.
At this moment, in the cloak formed by the "curtain," the dark whirlpool made another sound:
"Go to the Giant King's Court and meet Sasrir."
This sentence directly reverberated in Klein's mind. Then, in the form of an illusory word, it shrunk into a pitch-black membrane, forming a strange "seed."
The "seed" immediately fell into his body and Spirit Body, melting inside.
Without waiting for a response, the dark whirlpool dissipated. The cloak formed by the "curtain" lost its support and fell back onto the ground.
The True Creator's consciousness that descended had corroded a portion of my Spirit Body and some of my physical body. I'm compelled to go to the Giant King's Court and open the slumbering Dark Angel Sasrir's palace... This is a matter that many deities are paying attention to. After watching for a long time, the True Creator has finally found an opportunity to force me to do it... Klein looked around and summoned his past self, picking up the "curtain."
Then, he said to Miss Messenger without hesitation, "Let's leave immediately!"
The True Creator had already sent a sliver of "His" will over. Would Amon still be far away?
In addition, Klein also tried to seize the opportunity to enter the world above the gray fog, hoping to use the power of Sefirah Castle to remove the corrosive influences that plagued him.
"Alright." Reinette Tinekerr nodded, allowing the numerous Beyonder characteristics left behind in the crater to fly over and be contained within "Her."
According to their prior agreement, other than the spoils of war that involved the high Sequences of the Seer pathway, half of them would go to "Her," with "Her" having the priority to choose. After all, Klein had also received some of the spoils back when dealing with Shaman King Klarman.
As for the remaining half of the spoils, Klein planned on offering it to the Evernight Goddess as a form of gratitude. Regardless of whether the deity needed it or not, he still needed to do the necessary procedures. He had to express his gratitude when needed.
After clearing the battlefield, Reinette Tinekerr entered the iron cigar case in Klein's pocket and "possessed" the gold coin's surface.
Klein didn't immediately seal "Her." Holding the Staff of the Stars, he conjured a scene in his mind.
That was one of the scenes he had memorized during his inspection of the terrain.
As the gems flashed, his figure disappeared from the crater as he teleported far away.
A few seconds later, the air there fluctuated as a tiny creature that was difficult to see with the naked eye crawled out.
The creature rapidly expanded, turning into Amon who wore a pointed hat and classic black robe.
The corners of Amon's mouth curled up as "He" adjusted the monocle on "His" right eye and chuckled.
"Someone is finally opening that door."
...
After two rounds of teleportation, Klein took out the iron cigar case that Miss Messenger was hiding in, and used the Staff of the Stars to create several layers of seals—the kind that would be removed the moment he touched it.
Right on the heels of that, he entered the fog of history and dashed all the way to a time before the First Epoch. He relied on the prayers he had yet to reply to and instantly entered the world above the gray fog through the summoning of Sefirah Castle.
As the roars and the ravings echoed, he felt the corrosion in his Spirit Body gather together, curling into a ball. Despite passing through layers of cleansing effects, it managed to maintain its stability and didn't completely evaporate.
Is this the power and level of a true deity? Yes, and it's a true deity who wields the domain of degeneration... Sitting in the seat belonging to The Fool, Klein frowned slightly as he observed his state.
The corrosion created by the True Creator wasn't strong. If they were to leave the protection of Klein's Spirit Body, they wouldn't be able to last long above the gray fog. This was also the main reason why he had made the judgment and dared to directly enter Sefirah Castle.
However, unless he planned on dying again, there was no way he could bypass his own Spirit Body to remove the corrosion.
With the help of divination and other abilities, Klein quickly figured out the various effects of the corrosion.
It wouldn't mutate, send a message to the True Creator, or interfere with what he did. It would only continue to steer him via mystic means towards the Giant King's Court. It compelled Klein to open the palace where Dark Angel Sasrir was in deep sleep.
It's partly in the mind, and also at the level of fate... When I become a Miracle Invoker and become an angel, deepening my control of Sefirah Castle, I should be able to clear this "corruption"... However, if I want to become a Miracle Invoker and become an angel, I have to go to the Giant King's Court and open the door to that palace, helping the City of Silver find a way to leave the Forsaken Land of the Gods... As Klein thought, he revealed a wry smile.
Fortunately, this was something he was prepared to do, and it didn't burden him further.
Following that, Klein summoned the Unshadowed Crucifix from the fog of history, attempting to use the power of Sefirah Castle to drive it into purifying his body. Unfortunately, part of his body was also merged together with the corrosion, preventing him from completely cleansing it.
This also made him truly understand how terrifying Sequence 0 was.
I can't just pray to an evil god like the True Creator unless I'm in a hopeless situation... Klein shook his head and returned to the real world before sacrificing the "curtain" above the gray fog.
It does indeed contain the Beyonder characteristic of an Attendant of Mysteries, as well as a Miracle Invoker's Beyonder characteristic... There's even Scholar of Yore and Bizarro Sorcerer characteristics... It has a rather high level. The power I can use from Sefirah Castle at present isn't able to directly shatter it. However, this place seems to be at the highest level of the Seer pathway, so it can effectively suppress it. Through the accumulation of time, I should be able to slowly separate it...
The first to be separated should be the Attendant of Mysteries characteristic. The rest can be used to concoct a potion directly... Hmm, it doesn't have any living characteristics. The one that was summoned just now has already disappeared... With the translucent black velvet curtain in hand, he looked at it for a while.
Then, he activated Sefirah Castle and conjured a metal pot which was boiling with invisible power.
After staring at it for a few seconds, he threw the "curtain" into the "metal pot" and pressed down with layers of seals onto the pot's lid.
In about three to four days, the Attendant of Mysteries Beyonder characteristic would separate. The supplementary ingredients could be thrown into what remained, and it would then be a Miracle Invoker potion, one that included the characteristics from Sequence 9 to 2.
Looking around, he raised his right hand and took a piece of paper from the junk pile.
This was one of his other preparations.
He had spent a large amount of time in advance and had failed time and time again to successfully summon 0-08. Using this quill, he wrote down what reasonable reactions Dark Demonic Wolf would have. This was to prevent the other party from reacting in unexpected ways from the very beginning, causing his plans to fail.
With the cooperation of this short script, the Dark Demonic Wolf had been attracted by Klein's strange behavior. Therefore, it was very reasonable that "He" didn't extinguish the prayer light immediately.
Similarly, without knowing how many enemies or what strength the other party had, the Dark Demonic Wolf didn't flee in a hurry. Instead, "He" created a complete independent "kingdom," isolating it from any possible reinforcements. It was a very reasonable reaction.
With a flick of his wrist, Klein burned the piece of paper, then he hurriedly sacrificed the sealed iron cigar case to Sefirah Castle. He then responded to Miss Magician's prayer and relayed The World's message.
Fors didn't dare to delay any further. She immediately got up and used her "Recording" Beyonder powers to grab at the area ahead, dragging out Gehrman Sparrow from history.
With that, Klein "Teleported" to the empty room in a nearby hotel. He set up a ritual and brought the iron cigar case back to reality, releasing Reinette Tinekerr.
After thanking Miss Messenger and watching "Her" take away half of the Beyonder characteristics, he changed the ritual and began to perform a sacrifice to the Evernight Goddess.
At the end of the ritual, he prayed with anticipation:
"I pray for a hint on how to purify the corrosive influences in my body."
In his opinion, at present, only an existence at the level of the Evernight Goddess could deal with the corrosion provided by the True Creator.
If the Goddess agreed to it, Klein planned to descend in a way that would allow his actual spirit to return to Backlund and receive purification.
As for removing the part of his body that had been corroded, he hadn't thought of a solution yet.
As he said that, a ball of darkness enveloped the altar.
When the darkness vanished, all the Beyonder characteristics disappeared.
Apart from that, there were no other hints.
...It looks like I can only rely on myself... Klein wasn't depressed. He raised his right hand and tapped his chest four times, drawing the crimson moon.
"Praise the Lady!"
His gratitude was very sincere. After all, he had received a lot of help.
After dealing with the subsequent matters, his historical projection vanished and he returned to the Forsaken Land of the Gods in person.
He held the lantern he had pulled out from the past, and he looked at the silent and desolate plains under the dim yellow light. He felt much more relaxed and couldn't help but sigh.
Finally...
