The Fool Was Frightened

Could the Sealed Artifact in Mr. Devil's hands be powerful enough to interfere with divinations Above the Gray Fog? Or perhaps it wasn't that I saw nothing, but that Mr. Devil's own fortune was as elusive as White Mist? Then were my previous divinations actually real and valid?

Thinking of this, Klein immediately changed the divination statement and tried again. To his surprise, most divinations concerning Sno worked normally, but whenever they involved the other man's fortune or fate, they all pointed toward that patch of White Mist.

Considering that the space Above the Gray Fog has the power to exclude interference, Mr. Devil's fate must be obscured by some force on roughly the same level as the Gray Fog. But that doesn't prevent me from divining his actions. As long as it doesn't involve his fate, the results should be trustworthy. Klein shook his head. No, I can't blindly trust the results of divination. I still need to take the necessary precautions...

After completing several divinations, Klein did not remain Above the Gray Fog. He immediately returned to reality and tried using ordinary astrological divination to interpret the information Sno had provided. Yet the answers he received were as absurd as an ion-permed curly-haired baboon.

"Phew..." Klein took a deep breath and calmed himself. Just as he opened his door, intending to head to the reception hall to find Mr. Devil, he heard the other's gentle voice—

"Mr. Moretti, did your divination yield any results?"

"..." Klein gave Sno, who seemed to have been waiting outside the door all along, a long look before stepping aside.

"Let's talk inside."

"Alright." Sno reached out and rubbed Lily's head, then stepped into the Amethyst Room. Considerately, he turned around and locked the door behind him before Klein spoke again.

"Can you tell me your true purpose for coming here to divine something, Mr. Beyonder?"

"Plan C!" Sno's third contingency plan had been triggered, and his expression immediately turned solemn. "Looks like my luck is pretty good. I actually ran into a genuine Seer."

He knows I'm a Seer? Or did he come here specifically to find one? Klein tried to glean some information from Sno's words. He also suppressed his original plan of directly recruiting the man as an informant under the identity of an official Beyonder, merely narrowing his eyes as he said:

"Looks like I guessed correctly?"

"That's right. Or rather, we both guessed correctly." Sno smiled and stroked Lily's head. "I need a Seer's assistance. If you're willing to help, I can give you the subsequent Potion Formulas for the Seer Sequence."

"You have the later Potions?" Klein restrained his excitement and asked as evenly as he could.

"That's right. In fact, I came here to find a young, talented Seer and cultivate one of my own. I didn't expect to encounter a ready-made one." Sno spread his hands, his tone carrying obvious self-mockery.

Klein frowned slightly at that, but still probed, "Aren't you afraid that I'm an official Beyonder?"

Upon hearing Klein's words, Sno seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, becoming much more relaxed.

"First, official Beyonders don't know the Acting Method. Since you appeared at the Fortune Telling Club, there's a high probability that you aren't an official Beyonder. Mm, and you showed neither surprise nor confusion upon hearing me mention the Acting Method, so the probability of you not being an official Beyonder just went up.

"Second, only the Church of the Evernight Goddess possesses the Seer Potion, and they don't have the Potion Formulas to advance further along this Sequence. In other words, as long as you want to advance, we have room for a deal.

"Actually, if you are an official Beyonder, I'd be even happier. That way, I won't have to figure out how to report this to that Beyonder with the terrible memory! As for you arresting me, that doesn't matter either. I think that, for the period ahead, the Church's underground prison would actually be the safest place."

A Beyonder with a bad memory... Is he talking about Captain Dunn? Klein felt as though the corner of his mouth might be twitching. This Mr. Devil... how should he put it? Wasn't he being a little too casual?

Realizing that Mr. Devil was starting to lead the conversation astray, Klein forcibly suppressed the urge to complain and said seriously:

"So, what do you want a Seer to do?"

"Find someone." Sno's expression immediately turned grave, and the abrupt change left Klein somewhat at a loss.

"Tell me about it. If it isn't too dangerous, I wouldn't mind earning some extra money." Klein showed interest, but Sno still wore that solemn expression.

"His name is Lanevus, a con artist. He is very likely a Sequence Eight Con Sorter. As for the rest, that's not something you can get involved in. You only need to help me find him."

"Lanevus?" Klein vaguely remembered hearing that name somewhere before. After thinking for a moment, he recalled that Mr. Gracis had once asked him to divine an investment, and that investment had pointed to someone named Lanevus.

Considering the Sequence name "Con Sorter," Mr. Gracis's investment would probably truly go down the drain.

But why was Mr. Devil looking for this person?

Klein instinctively felt that this matter was far from simple. Since Mr. Devil was a member of the Aurora Society, there was no reason for him to come over something as trivial as being swindled. In other words, could this be related to the seed Mr. Devil had mentioned, the one planted by Heinsohn Vincent and another Secrets Suppliant?

Or was Lanevus that seed?

At this thought, Klein's eyes widened. Sno suddenly looked at him and revealed a chilling smile.

"If you're an official Beyonder, then please arrest me. It would be best if you locked me in the Church's lowest-level prison. It would be even better if you could escort me to Backlund. If you're not, then help me find Lanevus, leave Tingen as soon as possible, and run as far away as you can."

"..." Klein activated Spirit Vision and studied Mr. Devil's somewhat chaotic Aether Body aura. He felt slightly uneasy, but recalling his earlier doubts, he hesitated briefly before speaking.

"Mr. Panredax, I will try to complete your request. However, aside from the subsequent Potion Formulas for the Seer Sequence, could I ask you for some information about the Beyonder world? Mm, I will offer appropriate compensation."

As he said this, Klein could not help feeling somewhat guilty. But when he thought of Miss Justice behind him, he gained a little confidence. At worst, he could make a deal with Miss Justice under the pretext of "I have a Blessed who needs some operating funds." Mm, as a complete novice in the Beyonder world, Miss Justice still had quite a lot that could be traded.

Watching Klein's ever-changing aura, how could Sno fail to guess what he was thinking? Amused, Sno nodded.

"Sure, if I know the answer."

Personally, I think the two strongest among the twenty-two Pathways are undoubtedly the Spectator and the Hanged Man. The three survival-oriented Pathways rely on prior preparation, using calculation against the unsuspecting, which itself means they are weak in direct confrontations. Still, they are good at staying alive.

In terms of direct combat, the Death God Battle Pathway seems fairly decent too, but it is too specialized, lacks versatility, and is easy to scheme against. The Justiciar and Black Emperor are even more purely support-oriented, incapable of serving as the main carry.

As for the Spectator, it is the earliest Pathway capable of fighting in Mythical Creature form. It is no weakling in close combat, is omnipotent in matters of the mind, and when fighting a Spectator, you may not even be able to muster the thought of resisting. Turning around and discovering that a Spectator has been watching you from behind all along feels more terrifying to me than a monocle. Moreover, a Spectator's mental control and script-guiding abilities ensure that they always seize the initiative. Not to mention that after becoming a true god, they can freaking use Imagination to create a Great Old One... They are practically the favored child of the meta.

As for the other one, the Hanged Man is also a Pathway built around comprehensive suppression. Secrets Suppliants master a great deal of Ritual Magic and communicate directly with hidden existences. Listeners come with corruption built in—if you hit them, you suffer a loss; if they hit you, you still have to take it. Shadow Ascetics possess anti-divination, Rose Bishops are practically physically immortal, and Shepherds become main carries the moment they use Shepherding. Extraordinary Items that come with severe side effects for others can be used by Shepherds to directly corrupt someone, turn them into a half-Loss of Control Beyonder, and then Shepherd them. In other words, Extraordinary Items are Extraordinary Items in other people's hands, but in a Shepherd's hands, they are selectable Beyonder Abilities.

The only problem is that the True Creator has gone mad. If the True Creator had not gone mad, the Secrets Suppliant Pathway, which communicates directly with Gods, would definitely be even more broken than the Spectator Pathway.