Standing beside the makeshift altar on the ground, Klein held his breath as well, his eyes fixed on the two lines of elegant writing before Angel.
This was the complete formula for Scholar of Yore!
Although the Fugen Hound's other name, Source Castle Watcher, startled him and once again made him suspect that some arrangement of fate had guided his choice of the Seer pathway, he had already experienced that shock twice: when he saw the Fool card in Mist Town, and when he learned of the Sequence 3 promotion ritual. This time, therefore, he betrayed nothing before Arianna.
But the Goddess didn't even provide the promotion ritual. It seems She already knows I learned about it from Angel... Is She really in poor condition, as we previously guessed? Or is Her active response to Her believers—perhaps even overly active—actually a way of concealing Her condition...
The thought suddenly surfaced in Klein's mind, but he immediately buried it deep within his heart. Taking a deep breath, he firmly committed the Scholar of Yore potion formula to memory before the herbal ashes scattered.
Angel had obtained this by killing Hvin Rambis, uncovering the truth behind the Great Smog, sacrificing a Sealed Artifact contaminated by the "cosmos," and giving up her own reward...
At that thought, he suddenly felt touched.
From Tingen to Backlund, from low Sequence to high Sequence, Angel had helped him far too much, while he had given her very little in return. Even counting what he had done as the Fool, it was hard to say it was enough.
Fortunately, if my prediction is correct, the Scholar of Yore promotion ritual is practically tailor-made for me. I'll soon be able to catch up with her...
Pressing his lips together, Klein looked toward Arianna. She seemed to have known