Plan

"Klein is still quite a bit less experienced now compared to his Backlund days," Sno thought as he returned to reality. He immediately severed the connection with the Sea of Origins' "Conceptual Substitution" and closed his eyes, beginning to pray silently:

"Fool who does not belong to this era, you are the mysterious Sovereign above the gray fog, you are the King of Yellow and Black who wields good luck. I beg for your help, I beg for your favor, I beg that you allow me to smoothly digest the potion..."

This prayer chant was incredibly standard, but if anyone else were present, they would only see Sno repeatedly drawing an inverted cross, short on the bottom and long on the top, on his chest while chanting, "Lord who created all, Lord behind the curtain of shadows; the fallen nature of all living beings."

The reason for this state was that the passive abilities etched into White Horse is Not a Horse, besides the one used to block knowledge pollution and divine observation, had another one—

"The True Creator is a hidden existence, and the object of my prayer is also a hidden existence. Therefore, in the eyes of others, when I pray to a hidden existence, I am pointing to the True Creator."

The primary reason for etching this was to conceal his "lack of piety." After all, living within a cult where one had to pray to the "Lord" every morning, noon, and night, not praying was equivalent to loudly declaring oneself a heretic. However, once one prayed, they would irreversibly slide towards the abyss. Therefore, Sno added this disguise for himself. As long as he prayed to himself in situations requiring prayer, the members of the Aurora Society would naturally see his "pious" side.

Actually, he had originally intended to achieve the effect of "anyone who sees me praying will believe I am praying to the deity they believe in," but he found that doing so would require more spiritual power than he possessed.

Activating White Horse is Not a Horse was somewhat similar to using an electrical appliance. When activating an ability, one first had to pay an instantaneous high voltage to complete the activation, and then it would stably output low voltage for continuous effect. If even the minimum activation voltage couldn't be gathered, even with the perpetual motion machine of A Foot of Rod, he couldn't add abilities. This also meant that theoretically, Sno could borrow all the abilities of his pathway through Origin Quality, but in reality, he could only activate abilities below Sequence Six. Of course, another major factor was that at his Sequence Nine rank, he could only access information about abilities below Sequence Six.

Incidentally, the "high voltage" for activating an ability was not tied to the difficulty of the ability but to its rank. Conceptual Substitution alone was a Sequence Six ability. Even if he used this ability to directly block stellar pollution and the gaze of true gods, the activation cost did not exceed the spiritual power limit of a Sequence Nine.

Of course, without A Foot of Rod, even continuously activating it for five seconds would consume enough spiritual power to drain a Sequence Seven.

Based on this clue, Sno deduced that the ability "making observers believe they are praying to the deity they believe in" likely involved some high-sequence Extraordinary abilities of his pathway, in addition to Conceptual Substitution. Although with his current permissions, Sno had no idea which sequence or what ability it was, he knew that at least in the low-sequence stages, he absolutely could not afford the cost.

Sno's prayer continued until evening. During this process, he could clearly feel that with each utterance of the Hermesian prayer, a crack would appear in the potion's solid "shell."

"Praying to Mr. Fool really works wonders!" Sno suppressed his excitement, looking at the darkening sky, and rang the bell by the door to order dinner.

If this progress could be maintained, digesting the Secret Speaker potion within a month should no longer be impossible.

After resolving the most pressing crisis, Sno finally breathed a sigh of relief and began to ponder a question—

Why was it that despite having Origin Quality, and even possessing a Uniqueness, praying to himself yielded almost no feedback, while praying to Klein provided feedback comparable to a True Creator?

Was it because of his mindset?

It shouldn't be.

If he couldn't receive feedback because he knew he wasn't a big shot, then Klein, who was also only Sequence Nine, shouldn't have provided feedback either.

After thinking for a long time, even unconsciously finishing his dinner, Sno finally arrived at a seemingly reasonable speculation—

When praying to the Fool, it wasn't just Klein who was being invoked, but also the mark of the Prosperous Heavenly Venerable of the Yellow and Black, hidden within the Sea of Origins and within his body. It was this mark that provided sufficient feedback for the Secret Speaker potion.

So, conversely, did this mean that there were no remnants of hidden existences above White Horse is Not a Horse?

If this speculation was true, it would undoubtedly be fantastic news. Ever since he transmigrated to this world and realized his golden finger was a piece of Origin Quality, Sno had always suspected he was a contingency plan for some big shot's revival. But now...

"No, I can't be sure yet. Perhaps this is just a trap deliberately set by that person. I must be cautious, maintain my humanity, and remember that I am just playing a role!"

Sno forcefully patted his face, which was handsome enough to attract the Aurora Society, letting the sting pull him out of the nascent sense of ease.

He was in a world where the apocalypse was only 19 years away. Every passing day meant the approaching doom. If he didn't want to be powerless when the apocalypse arrived, let alone becoming a True God in three years and an Old One in five like K, he at least had to reach Sequence Four within nineteen years. Only by becoming a demigod could he possibly protect himself during the apocalypse.

Although all the Tarot Club members were at least Sequence Four by the end, with occasional Sequence Threes, this was no reason for Sno to relax.

Relying on the protection of White Horse is Not a Horse, he once again reviewed the original plot in his mind and began to formulate his next plan of action...

"Give me a list of your extraordinary materials," the beautiful girl with a round face said to the old man wearing a black soft hat in the hidden room of the Dragon Bar's underground exchange. Although she had covered most of her face with a veil, it couldn't conceal her beauty, and her soul-stirring sweet voice made the old man's heart tremble.

Although this woman was alluring and her tone sounded experienced, the old man did not violate the rules because of it. The burly man reached under the counter, pulled out a notebook, flipped to the latest pages, and said after a cursory glance:

"Water Ghost brain tissue, depending on completeness, ranges from 3 to 15 pounds. Star Crystal, 150 pounds per 50 grams. Queen Bee Grass, 200 pounds per plant. Adult..."

"I'll take the Queen Bee Grass," the girl said casually, stating the material she needed without any intention of haggling.

The old man wasn't surprised by the girl's generosity. He took the scattered banknotes she handed over, quickly counted them, confirmed the amount was correct, and then rang a bell, signaling for the materials to be brought from the safe.

The girl took the tin box containing the materials, confirmed everything inside was in order, and immediately turned to leave the bar—

"No Abyssal Demon Fish eyeballs. I'll check another gathering spot. If there's nothing there, I'll have to find those guys..."