Chapter 602 Divinity and "Anchor"
At 2:30 on Monday afternoon, Angel locked himself in the study next to the bedroom in advance so that he could start this week's Tarot session at any time.
For the housekeeper and servants, this was their mistress's fixed reading time every afternoon. No one would disturb her without explicit orders or urgent matters.
This didn't mean Angel had a free day. She sat at her desk, reading the various newspapers of the day, focusing on the entertainment sections and local news from Backlund. These contents of interest to the upper class would become topics of conversation at the salons and dinners she attended this week, giving her something to talk about with professors, lawyers, and noble ladies.
Of course, I would occasionally take a nap on the recliner in the study.
"I always feel much more tired than before... When I was in Tingen, I just had to go to work on time and handle simple interpersonal relationships. My first time in Backlund, apart from completing missions for the 'Witch Cult', the rest of my time was free. After arriving at sea, I've been traveling in a relatively relaxed manner... It seems that the upper class may appear glamorous on the surface, but in reality, it's a life of hard work..."
Angel muttered, his eyes scanning a local news item in the Backlund Post.
"An unexpected explosion occurred on Dirham Street in the Backlund Bridge District, resulting in the mass death of a gang's top brass... Usually, these kinds of accidents aren't accidents. It's just that we don't know who they offended. Was it retaliation from another gang, or was it the work of a Beyonder?"
She folded the newspaper and placed it on the table with a slight boredom, took a sip of the slightly cold coffee, and prepared to wait for the tarot meeting at 3 o'clock.
"I've started to lose interest in this kind of 'ordinary' news... Is this the effect of being promoted to a High Sequence? At the ball the other night, I was secretly laughing at Miss Hazel Macht for calling herself a Beyonder and looking down on every ordinary person equally. Now I'm falling into a similar mentality?
"This thought must be curbed. Although I don't know why, my intuition tells me that this change may cause me to lose control... Fortunately, I have already figured out how to play 'despair'. Similar to 'pain', giving others despair, or even my own despair, can help digest the potion. Actively digesting the potion can stabilize my condition and prevent the possibility of losing control.
"No wonder Panatia created a city-wide smog. This one time might have been enough to help her digest her despair... And my battle with Triss seemed to have briefly plunged her into despair, which actually helped my potion digest a little... Aside from the smog and the premature effect of Adam's despair on me, this is the first time since my promotion."
Sitting down on the recliner by the window, Angel summarized his gains from coming to Backlund after his promotion, and watched the minute and hour hands of the wall clock form a right angle.
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"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool~"
Justice stood up first and greeted the Fool at the head of the long table. The other members also greeted each other one by one and sat back in their high-backed chairs.
Audrey seemed in a good mood. Had she completely digested the "psychiatrist"? "Hanged Man" Alger was looking at me because of the information about the "Mad Captain"? Klein was still as serious as ever, but he looked listless, as if bent by the weight of life. Didn't I give him the gold coins that belonged to him...
Angel observed all the Tarot Club members, and finally his gaze stopped at the Hermit, who happened to speak:
"Mr. Fool, I brought three pages of Emperor Roselle's diary."
"I also have three new pages of my diary this time," Audrey said immediately.
I... didn't have a single page. After returning to Backlund, I was busy looking for a house, hiring servants, and attending salons and balls...
Angel looked at the others guiltily, and found that except for "Justice" and "Hermit", everyone else was as silent as she was, so she felt relieved.
The reason she hadn't bothered looking for the diary wasn't just because she was too busy. Thanks to Audrey "Justice"'s extraordinary financial resources, the diaries had practically disappeared from the underground market in Backlund. Unless she broke into the Steam Church's warehouse and snatched the original Russell diary, it would be difficult to collect a new one.
Angel, lost in thought, waited like everyone else for Mr. Fool to finish reading the new diary. He looked towards the female members and said with a smile:
"As a reward for collecting diaries, you can make your own requests."
"Dear Mr. Fool, I would like to see the two new 'Cards of Blasphemy'."
As expected by Angel, Audrey made the request she had been eager to try for half a month.
"Okay, anyone else wants to join the deal? Short-term debts are allowed."
Klein the Fool swept his gaze across all the members, finally stopping at Cattleya. He saw her hesitantly shaking her head and saying,
"I want to know if Emperor Roselle ever joined a very ancient and secretive organization."
Her question was very targeted. The three pages of the diary she submitted happened to contain relevant content. It seemed that these diaries were directly provided by the "Mysterious Queen" Bernadette. Although the latter could not read Chinese, she was able to find the time when Russell wrote this part of the diary from her memory and guess what events it roughly involved... Klein smiled slightly and replied:
"Yes."
At the same time, he thought of the little online joke he had seen in his previous life:
During an exam, a poor student passed a note to his top student classmate, which read, "Do you know the last question?"
The note the top student returned read: "Yes."
I can only blame you for asking the wrong question. Besides, as the mysterious "Fool", I'm unlikely to answer too many questions proactively, as that would make me seem less than impressive... He muttered silently. Seeing that others had no intention of joining the transaction, he blocked everyone's vision and hearing, turned over the two blasphemy cards that Angel had deposited, and faced them towards "Justice".
Of course, it only shows the tarot card form with the name "Sequence 0", rather than a spiritual reading that allows one to see the complete contents of all the potion formulas for this path. In that case, let alone three pages of the diary, even three diaries wouldn't give one chance to view them...
"The witch, and the Red Priest... The former should be a Sequence 0 of the 'Assassin' path. What about the latter?"
After a brief moment of shock, Justice breathed a sigh of satisfaction and bowed, "Thank you for your generosity."
"Actually, you should thank the Queen. She collected these two 'blasphemous cards' and temporarily stored them with me. Therefore, viewing them requires an additional price."
Klein spoke in a low voice as he tapped the table to restore the other members' vision and hearing to normal. The next second, everyone's attention was focused on Angel, who shrank back into the high-backed chair, looking petite and helpless.
I didn't want to draw attention to her, but if I didn't reveal the owner of the two Blasphemous Cards, it would appear that The Fool was taking credit for someone else's work. Besides, the Queen was now a card of the Tarot Club, so she could be more confident... Seeing Angel's little gesture, Klein chuckled and continued:
"As compensation, I will give her a portion of the translation of Roselle's diary that may be helpful to her."
After saying this, The Fool knocked on the table again, and a piece of parchment densely written in Rune script instantly appeared in front of Angel. It was surrounded by a faint gray mist, so that even Audrey, who was sitting next to her, could not see the specific content clearly.
"Excuse me, can we also exchange this...reward?"
When the others looked at the parchment with confusion and shock, the "Hermit" suddenly asked, his voice trembling, as if he was extremely excited.
"Of course, I always follow the principle of equal exchange, but you won't be able to use this part for now."
Klein replied calmly.
He gave the "compensation" to Angel on the spot for this very purpose.
In his estimation, as Roselle's eldest daughter, the "Mysterious Queen" Bernadette must have one or more "Blasphemy Cards". After he hinted that the "Blasphemy Cards" could be exchanged for the "Plain Text Diary", Bernadette might entrust the "Hermit" to conduct a similar transaction. If he could exchange them for the "Fortune Teller" path cards and obtain all the formulas needed for future promotions, then there would be no need for him to risk breaking into the Chanis Gate to steal the Antigonus family notes, or to let Angel come forward to try to negotiate with the church.
Of course, what he said about "others can't use it" was not wrong. Part of the content of the diary obtained this time was related to demigods or higher sequences, which he thought it necessary to tell Angel.
At this moment, Angel, who was sitting next to The Fool, was stunned for a moment. Then, with gratitude, he picked up the parchment in front of him and read it quickly, ignoring the envious looks of others.
"After a High-Sequence Beyonder dies, the Beyonder's released characteristics will leave a strong mental imprint. Taking this as a potion ingredient will most likely result in failure to advance unless there is a similar spiritual form.
"Even direct descendants who can withstand the influence of the mental imprint will gradually be affected by it after taking the potion, evolving step by step and becoming the carrier of the resurrection of that High-Sequence Beyonder. The higher the sequence, the more obvious the influence.
"Besides the spiritual mark, the potion itself also represents madness and despair. Starting from Sequence 4, the ascension ceremony will reveal the characteristics of the path itself, which is often a collection of cruelty and negativity. At Sequence 2, this madness will gradually cause the Beyonder to break away from the will of 'humanity' and transform towards 'divinity'. To combat this madness, "He" needs others to serve as 'anchors' to position himself. However, this 'anchor' cannot be prepared on the spur of the moment and must be prepared in advance!"
These contents had obviously been sorted and reorganized by Mr. Fool, and were not presented in the form of a diary. Moreover, the wording was very much in the Loen style, probably to accommodate her as a "Loen native."
However, the content clearly pointed to the various problems that "High-Sequence Beyonders" would face, especially the "anchor" used to locate humanity, which inevitably made Angel think of the Orthodox Church and the relationship between the seven gods and their believers.
"Is the reason the gods spread faith in order to maintain their own humanity, to avoid being affected by the spiritual imprint within their Beyonder characteristics, losing control, or becoming 'another self'?
"Mr. Fool compiled this information for me because I've been promoted to Sequence 4 and possessed divinity, and I might face similar problems?"
Thinking of this, Angel looked towards The Fool at the head of the long table again, and discovered that the mysterious being hidden in the gray fog seemed to be casting his gaze in this direction as well.
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