"O Fool who does not belong to this era, You are the mysterious ruler Above the Gray Fog, You are the King of Yellow and Black who presides over good fortune. Thank You for Your grace, for allowing me to have a wonderful morning..."
The prayer recited in Ancient Hermes echoed back and forth through the spiritually sealed room, seeming to turn into endless reverberations that reached the heavens.
"Crack!"
It was as though some sturdy shell had finally shattered. Sno suddenly felt a jolt in his mind. Then, an illusory sound of breaking, accompanied by a peculiar sensation, enveloped his spirituality. It was like pouring a ladle of water over hot sauna stones; vast amounts of steam began merging with his body, as if endless heat were flooding through him.
He needed no indication to know clearly that he had completely digested the Donkey of Buridan potion.
"Yet there seems to be a bit of Mental Remnant from indecisiveness. Is it because I haven't fully acted out Donkey of Buridan, or is it an aftereffect of forcibly implanting the Mental Imprint?" Sno tried constructing two options in his mind, and immediately felt signs of his spirituality becoming unstable again. He hurriedly took out a coin and flipped it, deciding to eat buttered toast for breakfast. Only then did his spirituality finally stabilize.
Although this instability was far better than before, when even a minor choice nearly caused him to lose control, and was not enough to truly affect his mental state, he still decided not to consider advancing to Pavlov's Dog for now. Instead, he would try acting as Donkey of Buridan and see whether he could digest this lingering negative influence.
As for how Donkey of Buridan should be acted out...
Naturally, by facing plenty of choices and making the correct decisions!
Having figured that out, Sno ended his shut-in life. He hung the "Back in Business" sign on his door again, then, as usual, put on a half-height silk top hat and a high-collared double-breasted coat, hiding his handsome face beneath the shadow of the hat.
This time, however, he did not bring Lily. First, Lily needed to act as an Assassin. Second, Lily was too recognizable, and bringing her along would make it easy for his identity to be exposed.
He took a hired carriage to Cherwood Borough, easily found a residential house, changed into the attire of a wage worker—a flat cap and suspenders—and only then continued toward the Bridge District.
Simply put, Backlund was a place with very clear class divisions. Whether one belonged in a certain district could be determined at a glance from one's clothes. If Sno, who lived in West Borough, went out dressed in commoner's clothing, patrolling policemen might even mistake him for a thief and detain him for questioning. Meanwhile, strolling around the Bridge District in formal wear would, even if he avoided being knocked out and robbed, almost certainly draw countless stares.
It was precisely because of this that Backlund had all kinds of trading platforms. For example, Mr. A's trading platform was located at the border between West Borough and Empress Borough, and most new guests were nobles or relatively wealthy people.
Mr. Eisinger Stanton's Beyonder gathering, on the other hand, was held in the Bridge District, which meant that he dealt more with Beyonders who needed to take risks.
This was not to say that Eisinger Stanton's Beyonder gathering was lower class than Mr. A's. Their purposes were simply different.
Mr. A needed to act as a Shepherd and develop believers, so naturally he preferred quality over quantity and hoped to attract people of higher status.
Eisinger Stanton, as a Knowledge Keeper/Detective, needed contact with people from all walks of life. Compared with important figures who merely wished to experience the supernatural, those who had little money yet still found their way to the gathering were more likely to have Extraordinary Items to sell. Moreover, since they ventured everywhere, they were clearly more efficient at obtaining intelligence than noble heirs who never stepped beyond their doors—particularly Beyonder intelligence.
Following the memories of the original owner of this body, Sno pushed open the door of the Brave Man Bar with practiced ease. Assaulted by the stench of sweat and alcohol, he quickly reached the counter, lowered his hat brim to conceal his disguised face in shadow, tossed a soli coin onto the table, and asked:
"Is Kaspars here?"
The bartender casually swept the coin behind the counter and pointed with his chin toward a side corner. "Pool Room Three."
"Thanks." Sno nodded, bypassed the gamblers venting their adrenaline over dog-catching-mice wagers, and slipped directly into Pool Room Three without knocking.
Seeing someone barge in without knocking, the two people playing pool raised their heads almost at the same time. However, when the big-nosed, pale old man saw Sno slightly lift his hat brim, he immediately propped his cue aside and said familiarly:
"Long time no see. I thought you were dead!"
"I nearly thought I was dead too!" Sno spread his hands. Only after watching the other person tactfully leave the room did he reveal a bitter smile. "Seriously, if the Waltz Faction hadn't collapsed, I'd still be hiding out in Tingen!"
"So when you first realized you were being followed, you should have come straight to me instead of leaving a letter and fleeing Backlund! It was something that could've been settled with a little money. You just didn't trust me!" Kaspars sounded somewhat agitated. Sno merely shook his head at the old man, who had been quite close to the original owner, and said:
"This is more complicated than you think. The Waltz Faction had backers too. Who knows whether using your connections would've made things even worse? You know my profession depends on connections. If I ruined my reputation, how would I keep making a living?"
"Reputation? Does 'Veterinarian Noble Son' count as a reputation? Or does 'Lady Killer' count as one? Your damned father spent his entire life trying to restore his noble status, but when it came to you, all you cared about was restoring your relationships with noblewomen, huh?" Kaspars's words were quite blunt. Sno gave two awkward laughs and skipped over the subject.
"More importantly, I wanted to ask about that gathering you mentioned..."
"Don't even think about it for now!"
Kaspars cut Sno off at once.
"Although that gathering is still being held, the atmosphere has been off lately. You probably came to ask because you heard the rumors too, right? In any case, wait until the heat dies down."
Hearing Kaspars's words, Sno relaxed slightly. It was not because the gathering was still being held, but because—Kaspars could be trusted.
The reason he had chosen to come today was because he had seen news in the newspaper about Eye of Wisdom—that was, Eisinger Stanton's Beyonder gathering. As for why he had come to ask despite knowing the password, naturally, it was because he wanted to see whether this "friend" from the original owner's memories was truly as reliable as remembered.
But since Kaspars had offered such a warning, he was clearly someone worth associating with. Sno thus went along with it and inherited this relationship from the original owner with a smile.
"In that case, I'll wait a little longer."
I don't know whether low-level Beyonder Characteristics have a numerical limit, but Low Sequence Beyonders should be able to increase without limit—actually, there is a limit, but it far exceeds Earth's total population—as long as the corresponding true god is willing.
First, Origin Quality possesses the trait of self-replenishment. This was mentioned in the original work. Although it was never stated whether this replenishment could increase Origin Quality itself, it could at least increase Beyonder Characteristics and the Great Old Ones they supported.
In other words, if Earth possessed the ability to tear apart Origin Quality, it could completely rip the Chaos Sea into five pieces. Then the five families of Omniscient and Omnipotent could each become a Great Old One through the newly created Origin Qualities. Of course, this would also divide the authority of Omniscient and Omnipotent.
I even suspect that the reason the Primordial One constantly split apart and reassembled was to use this property of replenishment after division to achieve "growth."
Division, replenishment, then reassembly—this might be a process from disorder to order. Once all power returned to order, the Primordial One would no longer need to split apart.
Second, according to Cuttlefish, the Western Continent's system involved "granting registers" through Origin Quality. In other words, Origin Quality/Beyonder Characteristics granted Supernatural Abilities without the need to consume potions. This meant that one could use the power within them even without consuming Beyonder Characteristics.
In other words, Beyonder Characteristics might be limited, but they were enough to support supernatural beings across the entire world. If people were willing to research it, "shared Beyonder Characteristics" might not be impossible either. The Western Continent most likely possessed this technology.
As for the protagonist's Origin Quality, that was one of this book's major mysteries. The information that could currently be revealed was that the protagonist's Origin Quality was not from outside.
Before you continue