"Fool" Klein Moretti quietly listened to the little lesson in mysticism being given by "Justice" Audrey and "Hanged Man" Alger, secretly memorizing and learning this obscure yet sufficiently fascinating knowledge.
Ever since the first gathering above the Gray Fog, he had been considering how to conduct fair "transactions" among them. The potion formula trade between Justice and Hanged Man was a good start, but there were four people present. Aside from himself, the organizer trusted by the others, any transaction between two of the remaining three could be overheard for free by the third party, causing the trade to lose its proper fairness.
If this continued, fewer and fewer people would be willing to share or sell knowledge. Everyone wanted a free ride, so no one would be willing to drive.
Transactions without motivation could not last long.
At this Tarot Club gathering, Klein came up with a good solution to the fairness issue. When he had entered the Gray Fog early, he tried summoning parchment and a fountain pen onto the bronze table. Sure enough, just like the table and high-backed chairs he had summoned the first time, the paper and pen appeared conveniently.
Within this Grey Fog Space, governed by his own thoughts, the paper and pen he created did not even need to be written with personally. As long as he had an urgent desire to write, the fountain pen would automatically imprint the contents onto the parchment.
Watching Miss Justice use the tools he provided to record the key points of potion preparation, Klein nodded in satisfaction. The gray fog in the space obscured the others' view, yet he himself could clearly see the parchment's contents. By now, the Spectator potion formula had been firmly committed to his mind. Perhaps this counted as the platform's commission.
Klein glanced at Miss Empress, whose attempt to freeload had failed, and saw her looking around boredly, apparently uninterested in the knowledge Hanged Man was explaining.
This further confirmed Klein's guess about her—she was a Beyonder with considerable experience in the world of mysticism, but she seemed somewhat wary of the others, always lingering at the edge of the Tarot Club and only joining the conversation when she needed something.
Miss Empress was the complete opposite of the curious but insufficiently cautious Miss Justice. The latter seemed like the descendant of an aristocratic family with considerable means but little social experience. Although she had shown panic and worry upon first arriving in the Grey Fog Space, she was now the most at ease among them.
Together with Hanged Man, who seemed to possess many resources and connections in the Beyonder world and whose strength was unfathomable, and himself, the initiator putting on an air of mystery, that made up the entire Tarot Club.
The circle was small, but its members were spread across the country, with different occupations and social connections. If used well, they would certainly help increase his strength.
Refocusing his wandering thoughts, Klein heard Hanged Man discussing the "mastery" and "excavation" of potions. Something suddenly stirred in his heart as he recalled what he had previously seen in Emperor Roselle's Diary.
He had an idea.
Knock, knock—
The sound of tapping on the table rang out, and Hanged Man's bland, rigid explanation came to an abrupt stop.
The three turned toward the source of the sound and saw the previously silent Fool raise his right hand from the table. He had just tapped it, stopping Hanged Man's explanation.
"It is not mastery, but digestion. It is not excavation, but acting. A potion's name is not merely a symbol; it is also an image, and the key to digestion."
The Fool's deep, steady voice came through.
Angel carefully mulled over those words. She recalled the Hanged Man's lesson, which had gone in one ear and out the other, and realized that this was Mr. Fool's supplement to Hanged Man's explanation of how to master potion powers.
It also matched the memories of Cole Granger in her mind, yet was even more concise, precise, and directly pointed to the essence of the Potion Pathway of power.
After all, Cole had entered the Beyonder world under the guidance of his "senior," Madam Sharon. Under the teachings of this woman, who had ill intentions but at least qualified as a mentor, he had learned quite a bit about potions.
This included how to master potion powers and how to make use of potion names.
At the Assassin stage, Cole Granger had lived up to his potion's name, becoming a mysterious "Assassin" who came and went without a trace through Tingen City, with countless lives' blood on his hands. This was the "acting" Madam Sharon had required of him.
After wholeheartedly acting as an "Assassin," it took him less than half a year to successfully master the Sequence 9 potion's power, drink the Sequence 8 potion, and advance to become an "Instigator."
Afterward, he used his newly acquired Beyonder Ability to "instigate" many villains who had already harbored evil intentions, committing several major crimes and even causing the once-sensational Tingen University Student Disappearance Case. His actions happened to match the symbolism of the potion's name so well that even Madam Sharon was quite surprised by the speed at which he mastered the potion.
Having inherited Cole's memories the moment she arrived in this world, Angel had originally assumed this was common knowledge in the Beyonder world. She had not expected the Fool to mention it so casually...
She looked toward Hanged Man, who had just been speaking fluently, and saw him sitting there stiffly, frozen as if he had heard something unbelievable.
...Could this be extremely secret knowledge, shocking even Hanged Man, who seemed so knowledgeable about potion powers?
However, Miss Justice beside her did not quite understand the use of this knowledge. Rather than showing the shock and excitement of encountering secret knowledge, she merely tilted her head curiously, as though she had heard some unfamiliar terms.
Compared to them, I still have some advantages in mysticism knowledge... Angel thought to herself.
Hanged Man remained stunned for quite a while before recovering. In a hoarse voice, he expressed his thanks. "Thank you, Mr. Fool. Your guidance is as precious as my life."
"This is merely advance payment."
The Fool within the gray fog answered as though he did not care.
"I need you to collect Roselle Gustav's secret diaries, even if it is only one page. More diaries will earn greater rewards."
Diaries? Emperor Roselle's Diary again?
Remembering the three pages of Roselle's Diary she had forcibly memorized that morning, Angel's heart tightened as if her inner secret had been exposed. She raised her head toward the Fool, whose gaze swept across the Tarot Club members one by one without lingering on her.
"Diaries? So those symbols are diaries?"
Hanged Man muttered to himself, as though he had discovered a New Continent.
"For now, regard them as diaries."
The Fool answered vaguely.
But in Angel's eyes, this mysterious existence had surely already deciphered the writing left behind by Emperor Roselle.
After all, they were not self-created mysterious symbols, but a mature form of writing from Earth. Unlike an improvised creation, they were the crystallization of Wisdom refined through thousands of years of use and evolution, complete in their own system and precise yet concise in expression.
That also meant they could be deciphered.
"I heard these were 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 her own knowledge of cryptography and replied:
"That's right. Because of Emperor Roselle's legendary life, many believe they were a set of mystical symbols he created himself, concealing the secret treasures and mysticism knowledge he acquired in his later years. Some scholars also say they possess the ideographic characteristics of pictographs, and that if enough samples were gathered, they could be deciphered through character frequency analysis. But after all these years, no one has truly managed to understand what the writing means."
"We will certainly fulfill your request. But if they are writings or symbols we cannot decipher, how should we relay them to you? Do we need to mail them to a certain location?"
Hanged Man raised his question as well.
Then he saw brand-new parchment appear before them.
"Ah, I understand. We only need to memorize the appearance of those symbols and reproduce them on the paper, just as we wrote words earlier."
Miss Justice excitedly picked up the paper and pen.
Angel also took the paper and pen before her, trying the method the Fool had just described. She sketched out a passage in her mind, imagining that she absolutely had to write it down, then set pen to paper.
Swish, swish, swish. As if an invisible pen were writing rapidly, the passage in her mind appeared on the parchment almost instantly.
"This is truly amazing."
Even though she had already watched Hanged Man and Justice use this method, Angel still gave a heartfelt sigh.
The Fool at the head of the long table seemed to chuckle softly as he explained, "A simple matter. I merely simplified the process by which you write down words, turning it into a method of imprinting them for rapid display."
"With this method, you can hand the Roselle's Diaries you have memorized directly to me here. I am someone who likes equivalent exchange. The advance payment just now only amounts to two diary pages from each of you. If you have more, I will grant additional rewards."
Wait, don't include me in that. I already knew all that knowledge... As Angel listened, she suddenly realized that she now owed two diary pages, and immediately felt something was wrong.
But how could she dare say that aloud?
Angel, unable to voice her grievance, suddenly thought of the Roselle's Diary she had seen with Old Neil. There seemed to be... three pages?
That way, she could not only repay her debt to Mr. Fool, but also have one extra page left. From what he said, providing him with more Roselle's Diaries would earn additional rewards.
Thinking of this, she could not help but feel fortunate that she had forcefully memorized all three diary pages at Old Neil's place. Even though she could not understand their contents at all, as long as she was within this mysterious Gray Fog, she could use Mr. Fool's power to write out those square, orderly characters and receive his reward.
However, Angel did not intend to submit those diaries now. Not only would it be difficult to explain why she had memorized so much diary content, it would also easily draw excessive attention from the other two.
Watching Hanged Man and Justice both state that they would do their utmost to search for Roselle's Diaries, she decided that when the next Tarot Club gathering was held, she would determine how many diary pages to submit based on the other two's progress.
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