Prayer

A streak of dark light shot into the room, and Sno, who had been lying on the bed like a corpse, immediately sat up. He casually closed the gap in the window, then reached out and gently scratched the little guy's chin.

The little guy let out a soft "Mee~" as Sno did so. The unusually spirited eyes gradually lost their otherworldly radiance, leaving behind only a hint of shrewdness, proving that this little cat was no ordinary feline.

Sno smiled, rubbing the little guy's head. After replenishing the cat's energy, he took out a bag of cat food from his suitcase. While the little guy began to eat, Sno's mind wandered again.

Although the plan had been set for a long time, he still felt a bit hesitant when it came to execution.

He had to admit, this was a risky move. It was more dangerous than having Triss steal the Antigonus family's notes, more dangerous than assassinating Heinason Farsent and Sirius Arepis by manipulating time, and more dangerous than facing Dunn Smith directly in a dream.

A single misstep, and the next place waiting for him would be the Church of the Night Mother's basement.

But...

"There's no other choice."

Sno spread his arms and fell backward, lying on the bed in a spread-eagle pose. It had been a month since he transmigrated.

In other words, it had been a month since he drank the Secret Speaker potion.

A month wasn't a very long time for most Beyonders, but for a Secret Speaker of the Aurora Society, it was a rather dangerous deadline.

The reason for this was the Acting Method.

The Acting Method was a precious treasure for the vast majority of Beyonders. With this technique, they could avoid the risk of Sequence degradation relatively safely. However, for a Secret Speaker, the Acting Method was a huge pitfall.

This was because the acting rules for a Secret Speaker were too straightforward—

Just as its name suggested, one only needed to pray devoutly to the hidden existence.

And as a member of the Aurora Society, an extremely cultish organization, who they prayed to was self-evident.

But therein lay the problem.

The True Creator, as a Sequence 0 true god, was among the very top tier of hidden existences that one could pray to. Because of this, the feedback received from praying to him was practically perfect. Even the most dull-witted Secret Speaker could completely digest the potion within two months as long as they sincerely prayed to him.

But conversely, if any Secret Speaker had not completed their digestion after two months...

It meant they weren't devout enough.

And for an extreme cultish group like the Aurora Society, being labeled as not devout could have dire consequences.

During this past month, Sno had tried to imitate K, praying to himself and attempting to resonate with himself through the authority of "White Horse is Not a Horse" to gain feedback. However, whether it was because his pathway didn't belong to this world, or because he knew in his heart that he wasn't some high-level existence, or for some other reason, Sno could only use the power of "White Horse is Not a Horse" to create talismans, and the feedback he received was minimal.

Later, he had considered if he could find other acting rules, such as proselytizing. While it wasn't entirely useless, it was barely better than nothing. To this day, Sno's potion digestion progress was less than a tenth.

Even K, who became a True God in three years and an Old One in five, spent a month and a half on his Sequence 9 acting. This past month was already the final deadline Sno had set for himself.

Now, with no turnaround in sight, it was finally time for him to make a choice.

Sno sealed the room with a silver coin infused with spirituality. He then drew out a three-hundred-year-old silver dagger and placed it on the table. He then actively activated "White Horse is Not a Horse" and used the ability to swap concepts.

Feeling the spirituality in his body begin to surge, Sno started to chant in his mind—

"Derrick could directly pray to Mr. Fool by relying on the antique in his hand. The dagger in my hand is also an antique, so I can also directly pray to Mr. Fool through this dagger."

After chanting this repeatedly, the sentence began to transform into layers of whispers echoing in Sno's ears. Accompanied by a stinging sensation in his brain, a connection began to form, converging somewhere above the spiritual realm with the dagger. Sno then began to recite the lines he had prepared—

"Great existence, I pray for your response, I pray for your gaze."

"Praying again?" Klein, who was still helplessly dealing with the matter of 'not understanding foreign languages,' was about to leave the gray fog when he noticed another deep red star beginning to contract and expand.

"I hope it's not another one speaking ancient dragon language this time,"

Klein muttered inwardly, but he still chose to extend his spirituality and touch the deep red star. Then, a blurry and distorted image appeared in his vision—

It was a youth whose black, choppy hair could vaguely be made out. In front of him, there should have been a pure silver dagger.

Above his head, a white cloud that looked like a galloping horse was faintly visible, it was unclear whether it was due to his Sequence or the influence of some extraordinary item.

The youth was wearing relatively casual home clothes, and the surrounding environment was simple and tidy. However, judging by the furnishings in the room, it should have been a hotel room.

Klein intended to observe further, but as the youth's voice reached his ears, he immediately lost interest in watching, because he heard several words that struck him deeply—"An evil god is about to descend upon Tingen."

However, when he tried to listen carefully, he suddenly realized that the youth had stood up and said in a dejected tone:

"Failed again, is this ritual really effective? Should I report it to the Church of the True God? But I already... Or should I abandon the glory of the Perrdax family and defect to the evil god... No, I can't! No matter what, I cannot pray to the True Creator..."

Seeing the youth's words becoming more and more hysterical, and the language he used changing from Ancient Hermes back to Loen Common, Klein's brows furrowed deeply. He couldn't recall the slightly familiar surname Perrdax for a moment, but he understood words like "Church of the True God," "report," and "True Creator." Coupled with the previous sentence about an evil god descending upon Tingen, a strong sense of crisis immediately surfaced in his heart.

However, this youth had already broken out of the praying state, and it was likely that this connection would be severed soon. It seemed unlikely to obtain information through covert observation.

Taking a deep breath, Klein tapped the edge of the bronze long table, his decision already made—

Although it was a bit reckless, it concerned Tingen, and he had to figure it out.

"Failed? As expected, it's impossible to succeed on the first try. Should I cause some trouble tonight and then use it as an opportunity to sell it to Mr. Fool tomorrow?" After finishing his act, Sno still didn't notice any changes and felt a bit dejected. However, failure was within his calculations. Maintaining the pretense, he returned to the table and was about to pull out the dagger when he suddenly saw a burst of deep red light erupt from it.

This light, like flowing water, instantly engulfed Sno's figure. When he regained his ability to think, he found himself in a magnificent hall supported by huge stone pillars. An ancient and mottled bronze long table extended before him. Opposite the long table, a figure shrouded in gray fog was scrutinizing him with an unidentifiable gaze.