Apprentice

After putting away the notebook containing the Apprentice pathway potion formulas and explaining the existence of the Acting Method, Cyril finally looked up and asked:

"If you choose the Seer pathway, can I acquire the Apprentice potion ingredients you have on hand?"

Owen nodded readily. "Of course, just take them. Whether it's the potion formulas for Faceless and Marionettist, or the Acting Method, their value already far exceeds these materials."

"Wait a moment, I'll go get the materials for you."

Cyril raised a hand to stop him. "Aren't you going to check if the potion formulas I gave you are genuine first?"

Owen slapped his forehead in realization. "Right, I was too excited and forgot all about that. But I trust you."

Although he said he trusted him, Owen still took a crystal ball slightly smaller than an adult's fist from the left pocket of his overcoat.

It was a very pure crystal ball, azure and translucent, with faint, sporadic starlight shimmering within.

Cyril looked at it with some curiosity. When he had gone to ask Professor Fells for leave at Backlund University, he had noticed the dense spiritual radiance in Owen's pocket and knew he carried a mystical item with him.

It was likely around Sequence 8 or Sequence 7, but since it was shaped like a crystal ball, it most likely corresponded to a Beyonder characteristic of an Astrologer.

Seeming to notice the confusion on his face, Owen tilted his head and explained:

"This is a mystical item left behind by my father. I call it the Fate Crystal Ball. As long as you carry it, you gain the effect of interfering with divination and the spiritual intuition of Beyonders. Beyond that, you can actively use it to perform divination and receive revelations from fate, which can help avoid danger or seek opportunities."

"However, revelations from fate are not a shortcut. After every divination, you will encounter different dangers depending on the degree of the revelation received."

"But most of the time, it's just losing money, tripping on flat ground, encountering a pickpocket, or getting robbed by thugs; there's no lethal danger."

Cyril glanced at his injured shoulder and seemed to understand something:

"So, the reason we encountered that group of Highlanders earlier was because you used it for divination?"

"Uh, that's about right."

Owen scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. He had brought the danger, but it was his friend who had ended up injured.

Cyril didn't mind too much; trading a minor injury for three potion formulas and a complete set of ingredients was a profit by any measure.

After a brief pause, he asked another question: "Was your previous desire to consume the potion during the Full Moon also because you received a revelation from this crystal ball?"

"That's right." Owen's nodding motion stiffened, and he realized something belatedly:

"No wonder I didn't encounter any danger after that divination; the danger was hidden within the revelation of fate!"

Cyril nodded gently. "This should be a hidden negative effect of this mystical item. You shouldn't use it for divination so casually in the future."

"Hmm... and you probably won't need it much anymore anyway. The Sequence 9 of the pathway I gave you is Seer."

Owen's hand, holding the Fate Crystal Ball for divination, froze in mid-air. He suddenly felt that this mystical item, which had always been quite useful, was a bit too hot to handle. Having danger hidden within the revelations obtained from divination was truly difficult to guard against.

After hesitating for a moment, he placed the Fate Crystal Ball on the notebook containing the Seer pathway potion formulas, closed his eyes, and whispered the divination statement.

Just divining whether these potion formulas were real and effective shouldn't pose any serious danger; at worst, he just wouldn't go out today.

A few seconds later, a flash of azure light shone from the crystal ball.

The divination was valid; all the potion formulas were real.

With the last bit of worry in his heart dispelled, he looked up at Cyril. "Do you need to perform a divination? The Fate Crystal Ball is very simple to use; as long as you can perform a formal divination, you will receive a response."

Cyril shook his head. "No thanks, I don't want to run into any more Highlanders looking to rob me."

Owen scratched his head in embarrassment again. "Actually, most of the time it's just tripping, losing some change, or forgetting your keys."

"I'll go get the materials for you, and I can witness the birth of a Beyonder while I'm at it."

A few minutes later, in the living room with the doors and windows closed and the curtains drawn, Cyril held a glass and meticulously added the ingredients one by one.

Water from an ancient well, Goat-beard Grass dew, flowers grown from a corpse, soil contaminated by Spirit World creatures, and finally, the main ingredients: the Gem-eating Insect and the Illusion Crystal.

The moment all the materials were placed into the glass, they seemed to trigger a chemical reaction and melted strangely.

As Cyril gently swirled the glass, the melted materials gradually blended into a mass, turning black and viscous, looking like the most traditional herbal medicine—or perhaps a poison.

"Looks a bit hard to swallow."

Cyril rubbed his stomach. Although he knew the potion would be absorbed by his body before it even reached his stomach, the appearance looked exactly like a "dark dish." Just looking at it made his stomach feel uneasy.

Owen offered some comfort: "Although it looks hard to swallow, and in reality it probably is, as long as you drink it, you can become a Beyonder. In this situation, even if it were sludge from a sewer, you'd have to grit your teeth and drink it."

"You really aren't good at comforting people."

After a casual remark, Cyril brought the glass containing the potion to his lips and downed it in one gulp.

Bitter, spicy, like biting into a mixture of garlic, ginger, mustard, and lemon—the overwhelming taste made him forget to even breathe.

The stimulation to his taste buds lasted less than two seconds before the black, viscous potion flowed down his throat and vanished, completely absorbed by his body.

At the same time, his spirit suddenly began to soar, his vision expanded, and it felt as if he had detached from reality and entered a higher dimension.

In this state, he felt like a fish returning to the water—no, not a fish, but a dragon, a sovereign returning to his own domain.

Before he could carefully savor this wondrous state, a grand, majestic will, filled with fury, descended.

"Thief!"

Cyril instinctively tilted his head back and saw a shadow appearing in the infinite heights, impossible to reach. It was looking down at him, watching him with fury and greed.

Yet he could only watch, for an invisible, intangible barrier stood between them, and neither could touch the other.

Seeing that the other party could only stare at him from the other side of the barrier, Cyril finally set his mind at ease and began to carefully sense the changes within himself.

What he had feared most before was that the elevation of his life essence brought about by consuming the potion would establish a deeper connection between him and the High-Dimensional Overseer, allowing the entity to influence him from across the void.

But it seemed that while the connection between them had indeed deepened, the barrier remained effective; the High-Dimensional Overseer could see him but could not touch him, at least not until he advanced a few more times.

As the changes brought by the potion deepened, Cyril was surprised to discover that something ethereal yet undeniably real had transferred from the High-Dimensional Overseer to himself.

Then, he realized he had gained a certain level of control over the surrounding dimensions, able to see and even touch them. Even his soul, which had always felt somewhat hollow, had become fulfilled, as if a floating pavilion in the air had finally gained a pillar, allowing it to touch the ground and barely stabilize.

"Is this an Authority, or a Symbol?"

"Despicable usurper!"

"Thief who intends to taint the dimensions, the barrier left by the Primordial will not protect you for long..."

As the voice, sounding like a delirious murmur, reached his ears, Cyril saw an eye open within that unreachable shadow at the infinite heights.

The next instant, his spirit suddenly grew heavy, plummeting downward until he returned to his own body.

Before he could even adapt to his surging spirituality, a familiar figure with golden hair and a white robe silently entered his vision. It was as if the entity had just appeared, yet also as if he had been there all along, only for Cyril's brain to subconsciously ignore him.

"Adam..."

Cyril opened his mouth with a complex expression, feeling somewhat surprised, yet not entirely unexpected.