Chapter 27: Even fools need diaries?
Klein Moretti, the Fool, quietly listened to the mysterious lessons of Audrey, the Justice, and Alger, the Hanged Man, secretly memorizing and learning these obscure yet interesting contents.
Ever since the first gathering in the gray fog, he had been thinking about how to conduct a fair "transaction" between several people. The potion formula transaction between Justice and the Hanged Man was a good start, but there were four people present. Apart from himself as the organizer who was trusted by the others, the transaction between any two of the remaining three could be listened in on by a third person for free, resulting in the loss of fairness.
If this continues, there will be fewer and fewer people sharing and selling knowledge. Everyone wants to free ride, so no one is willing to drive the car.
Trading without motivation cannot be sustained in the long term.
At this Tarot meeting, Klein came up with a good way to solve the fairness issue. When he entered the gray fog in advance, he tried to summon parchment and a fountain pen from the long bronze table. As expected, just like the first time he summoned the long table and high-backed chairs, paper and pen also appeared conveniently.
In this gray foggy space dominated by his own thoughts, he didn't even need to write with the paper and pen he created. As long as he had an urgent desire to write in his mind, the pen would automatically imprint the content on the parchment.
Watching Miss Justice using the tools he provided to record the key points of the potion's configuration, Klein nodded with satisfaction. The gray fog in the space obscured the vision of others, but he himself could clearly see the contents on the parchment. At this time, the formula of the "audience" potion was firmly memorized in his mind. This might be considered the commission of the "platform."
Klein glanced at Miss "Queen," who had failed in her freeloading attempt. She was looking around boredly, seemingly uninterested in the knowledge the Hanged Man was sharing.
This further confirmed Klein's suspicions about her—she was a Beyonder with considerable experience in the world of mysticism, but she seemed wary of others, always staying on the fringes of the Tarot Club and only intervening when necessary.
Miss Queen is the exact opposite of Miss Justice, who is curious but lacks vigilance. The latter seems like a descendant of an aristocracy with considerable family background but lacks social experience. Although she also showed panic and worry when she first came to the gray fog space, she is now the most relaxed among the crowd.
Together with the Hanged Man who seemed to have many resources and connections in the Extraordinary World and whose strength was unfathomable, and himself, the deliberately mysterious initiator, these were the members of the entire Tarot Club.
Although the circle is small, its members are spread all over the country, and their professional and social relationships are different. As long as you make good use of it, it will definitely help you grow your strength.
Refocusing his scattered thoughts, Klein heard the Hanged Man talking about "mastering" and "exploring" potions. Suddenly, his mind moved, and he recalled what he had read in Emperor Roselle's diary.
He had an idea.
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“Dongdong——”
There was a knock on the table, and the Hanged Man's bland and old-fashioned explanation came to an abrupt end.
The three turned to look at the source of the sound and saw that the "Fool", who had been silent before, was raising his right hand to knock on the table. It was he who had just knocked on the table to stop the Hanged Man's story.
"It's not about mastering, it's about digesting. It's not about digging, it's about acting. The name of the potion is not only a symbol, it's also an image, and it's the key to digestion."
Came the Fool's low, steady voice.
Angel chewed over these words carefully. She recalled the "Hanged Man's Class" that had gone in one ear and out the other, and realized that it was a supplement to what Mr. Fool had told the Hanged Man about how to master the power of potions.
This also coincided with the memory of Cole Granger in her mind, and was even more concise and precise, pointing directly to the essence of potions as a means of power.
After all, Cole entered the extraordinary world under the guidance of his "predecessor" Mrs. Sharon. Under the guidance of this mentor, who had bad intentions but was at least a qualified mentor, he learned a lot of knowledge about potions.
This includes how to master the power of potions and how to use the names of potions.
During his assassin phase, Cole Granger lived up to his name, transforming into a mysterious "assassin" who came and went without a trace in Tingen City, with his hands stained with countless blood. This was a "performance" he performed at the request of Madam Sharon.
After wholeheartedly playing the role of "Assassin", in less than half a year, he successfully mastered the power of Sequence 9 potions, took Sequence 8 potions, and advanced to become an "Instigator".
He then used his newfound Beyonder abilities to "instigate" many already ill-intentioned individuals into committing several major crimes, even causing the sensational disappearance of a student at Tingen University. His actions perfectly matched the symbolism of the potion's name, so much so that even Madam Sharon was surprised by his progress in mastering it.
Angel inherited Cole's memories upon arriving in this world. He had originally assumed these contents were common knowledge in the Extraordinary World, but he hadn't expected the Fool to casually mention them...
She looked at the Hanged Man who had been talking so eloquently just now, and saw that he was sitting there stunned, his whole body stiff, as if he had heard something incredible.
...Could this be extremely secret knowledge that even the Hanged Man, who seemed to have a good understanding of the power of potions, was shocked by it?
However, Miss Justice on the side did not quite understand the significance of this knowledge. She did not show any shock or excitement at being exposed to secret knowledge, but tilted her head curiously as if she had heard some new words.
Compared like this, I still have some advantages in mystical knowledge... Angel thought secretly.
The Hanged Man was stunned for a long time before he recovered. He expressed his gratitude in a hoarse voice, "Thank you, Mr. Fool. Your tip is as precious as my life."
"It's just an advance payment."
The Fool in the gray fog replied as if he didn't care.
"I need you to collect Russell Gustav's secret diary, even if it's just one page. The more diaries you have, the greater the reward you will receive."
Diary? Another diary of Emperor Roselle?
Thinking of the three pages of Russell's diary that she had just forced herself to memorize that morning, Angel's heart tightened as if her inner secret had been discovered. She looked up at the Fool, whose eyes swept over the Tarot Club members one by one, without stopping on her.
"Diary? So those symbols are diaries?"
The Hanged Man muttered to himself, as if he had discovered some new world.
"Just think of it as a diary for now."
The Fool answered vaguely.
But in Angel's opinion, this mysterious existence must have deciphered the text left by Emperor Roselle.
After all, it is not some self-created mysterious symbol, but a mature writing system from the earth. It is different from impromptu creation. It is the crystallization of wisdom after thousands of years of use and evolution. It has its own system and the expression is precise and concise.
It also means that it can be cracked.
"It is said that this is written in symbols invented by Emperor Roselle himself?"
Miss Justice asked.
Seeing that the Fool had no intention of answering, Angel combined Old Neil's interpretation with his own knowledge of cryptography to answer:
"Indeed, due to Emperor Roselle's legendary experience, many people believe that it is a set of mystical symbols he created, concealing the secret treasures and mystical knowledge he acquired in his later years. Some scholars also say that they have the ideographic characteristics of hieroglyphics and that as long as enough samples are collected, they can be deciphered through word frequency analysis. But after so many years, no one has been able to truly decipher the meaning of the text."
"We will definitely fulfill your request. But if it's words or symbols we can't decipher, how can we convey it to you? Do we need to mail it to a certain location?"
The Hanged Man also raised his questions.
Then he saw brand new parchment appear in front of several people.
"Ah, I see. We just need to memorize the patterns of those symbols and write them on paper just like we wrote words."
Miss Justice excitedly picked up the paper and pen.
Angel also took the paper and pen in front of him and tried to follow the method just described by the Fool. He sketched out a paragraph of words in his mind, imagined that he had to write them down, and then put pen to paper.
Swish, swish, swish, as if an invisible pen was writing quickly, the words in her mind appeared on the parchment almost instantly.
“It’s just amazing.”
Even though he had just seen the Hanged Man and Justice use this method, Angel still sighed sincerely.
The Fool at the head of the long table chuckled and explained, "It's a simple matter. I simply simplified the process of writing the text, turning it into a rubbing method to quickly display it."
"With this method, you can hand over the memorized Russell diary directly to me here. I prefer equal exchange. The advance payment just now is only equivalent to two pages of diary per person. If you have more, I will give you additional rewards."
Wait, don't include me, I actually know all that knowledge... As Angel listened, he suddenly realized that he had already missed two pages of his diary, and he felt something was wrong.
But how could she dare to say this?
Angel, who was in a state of distress, suddenly thought of the "Roselle Diary" he saw in Old Neil. It seemed to have... three pages?
This would not only pay off the debt owed to Mr. Fool, but also give him an extra page. From what he said, if he could get him more Russell diaries, there would be additional rewards.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but feel fortunate that she had memorized all three pages of Old Neil's diary. Even though she couldn't understand the contents at all, as long as she was in this mysterious gray fog, she could use Mr. Fool's power to write out those square characters and receive his reward.
But Angel was not going to hand in the diaries now. Not only would it be difficult to explain why he had written down so much, it would also easily attract excessive attention from the other two.
Seeing that the Hanged Man and Justice had expressed their determination to find Russell's diary, she planned to decide how many pages of the diary to submit at the next Tarot Club based on the progress of the other two.
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