On Klein's forehead beneath the bizarre mask, the illusory symbol grew ever clearer. Yet at this moment, when he was incomparably close to becoming the Lord of the Mysteries, he clearly felt another consciousness taking root within his mind.
"Adam?!" Klein suddenly recalled that strange glance from when he had escaped Adam with the Genie's power. It had nearly turned toward the Genie, but before Klein could speak, the Genie darted behind him and shouted:
"You promised to protect me!"
"Protect... Ancient Chaos?" Klein suddenly remembered that existence mentioned only in the accounts of The Little Sun and Adam. His expression immediately turned ugly, while the man opposite him, who had changed out of his classical robe into an Intis-style suit, began to change as well. His somewhat gaunt face became one Klein knew all too well.
"Sorry for the trouble, Zhou Mingrui. I'll be taking Origin Castle!"
A slightly sinister, teasing voice came from the other man's mouth. Klein was briefly dumbfounded, but the consciousness of the Lord of the Mysteries, now nearly fully awakened, left him unable to react at all.
Seeing this, Feng Xue before Klein made no further move. Instead, he spread his hands with a hint of helplessness and said:
"How boring. That reaction is really boring. Hmm, is it because of the Mysteries?"
As he spoke, he somehow pulled out a hardcover book that was not particularly thick and looked somewhat like a toy book. On its cover were two lines of artistic lettering, surrounded by tentacles and spheres of light, forming its main title and subtitle—
"Chronicles of the Mysterious Descent"
"~The Path of the Supreme Pillar~"
Almost instantly, Klein's mind, somewhat numb from the clash between two high-level consciousnesses, issued a fierce warning. His Spiritual Intuition told him that he absolutely could