New Member: Mr. Hermit

During one of his previous projects, Odys had accidentally discovered that the Scribe's ability, the Sequence 6 Polymath ability Mimicry of the Reader Pathway, and Scroll Professor's ability to create scrolls were all advanced applications of occult knowledge and symbols through Beyonder Abilities!

So he began studying the abilities of these three Sequence 6s one by one. Today, it was time to study the Scribe.

The first step was finding information. The light spheres making up the tower contained all kinds of knowledge. By touching the sphere in the center of the room, he could search through them with his thoughts.

However, Odys could currently access only part of the knowledge. For example, he had once searched for information related to "potion formulas," only to obtain the formulas for the two Sequence 9s, Mystery Pryer and Savant.

Odys could sense that much of the knowledge remained inaccessible because his authority level was insufficient.

Still, the knowledge he could access was enough to complete most of his research.

After searching for some time, Odys found that descriptions of the Scribe ability were essentially the same: a phantom book slowly turning its pages was reflected in the caster's eyes. The mutated brain reproduced the target's Beyonder Ability, then drove activated cells to form the corresponding symbols, patterns, and markings, completing the storage process.

This was "I came, I saw, I recorded," using the mind as a pen and the spirit body as paper!

Odys stared at the information in a daze. "What is the principle behind using symbols, patterns, and markings to store Beyonder Abilities? Could it simply be a 'black box' operation produced by Beyonder Characteristics?"

"Since symbols, patterns, and markings are involved, could the corresponding Beyonder materials and Magic Formations be used to replicate such an ability?"

About two years ago, Odys had still considered this kind of research rather pointless. After conducting countless studies and experiments, was it really worth spending priceless Beyonder materials to create a downgraded Magic Formation with similar abilities?

Take the Octagram Magic Formation he had built in the basement. Its Teleportation range could not exceed fifty kilometers, and it could only establish a fixed passage. After being used once, it had to rest for an hour before it could be used again.

The initial cost of the entire Magic Formation was around 4,000 pounds, and it required maintenance afterward, costing another 300 pounds or so each year.

A Sealed Artifact comparable to a Traveler would cost around 12,000 pounds. Of course, since Sealed Artifacts of that Pathway were relatively scarce, there would definitely be a premium.

Using 12,000 pounds as the benchmark, the initial cost of the Teleportation Array was already one-third of that price, yet its effects were far inferior to the Sealed Artifact. After all, a Sealed Artifact with the Travel ability could take its user wherever they wanted to go.

In terms of effectiveness, the downgraded Magic Formation was actually a terrible bargain.

But Odys had later decided to continue his in-depth research into Magic Formations and Occult Symbols, because such research would certainly bring enormous losses to others, but not to him.

The research process could be completed in Knowledge Moor, and any Magic Formation built in the outside world had an almost one hundred percent chance of succeeding, saving vast amounts of experimental expenses and time.

Moreover, although the Magic Formations he created had rather poor effects, their negative effects were also easy to avoid.

As long as Beyonder materials were used, there would be certain negative effects, but those negative effects were basically borne by the Magic Formation itself.

For example, with the Teleportation Array Odys had created, as long as he followed the rule of not using it repeatedly within an hour, he could barely feel any negative effects.

That was also why later maintenance cost so much. The gemstones in the Magic Formation, as well as the symbols and diagrams written with Spiritual Materials, would crack or peel away after being used at most fifty times, requiring maintenance.

For Odys personally, this direction of research still held considerable promise. However, there were currently many problems that needed solving, so it could only be researched and used on a small scale. It lacked universal applicability.

Odys first spent more than ten hours searching for and reading the relevant materials. Of course, after every five hours of work, he rested for two hours.

There was no need to sleep here, but rest was still necessary, or it would affect work efficiency.

After that came the specific theoretical research. This once again required the light sphere in the center of the room. Odys had named it the Central Simulator. It could simulate the Beyonder Abilities of all Pathways, though the current limit was below Sequence 5.

At the same time, it could simulate attacks from targets or enemies to test Odys's research results. Simulations here were almost completely equivalent to the effects under the same conditions in the outside world.

After Odys stated his requirements to the light sphere, a phantom figure appeared before him and began repeatedly using the Record ability.

After observing it continuously, Odys found a direction for his research.

First, he realized that the process of using this ability was that the Scribe's mutated brain first analyzed the Beyonder Ability displayed before it, then used the corresponding symbols, patterns, and markings to Record that ability with the Beyonder's spirit body.

The process of analysis was an ability a Beyonder possessed after consuming a potion. This was the first "black box" operation of the ability.

Furthermore, Beyonders did not need to learn anything. The corresponding symbols, patterns, and markings would simply appear in their minds. This knowledge was also provided by Beyonder Characteristics.

Odys's research direction was whether a Beyonder who was not of the Apprentice Pathway, but possessed the relevant knowledge of symbols, patterns, and markings, could analyze a Beyonder Ability.

Of course, without Beyonder Characteristics, even if someone analyzed the ability, they could not use it like a Scribe. But if he could reach the stage of analysis, that alone would already be tremendous progress.

It was like cracking a code. Once it was cracked, it might be possible to simulate all Beyonder Abilities.

After half a month of research, Odys finally made some progress. He discovered that the symbols, patterns, and markings composing Beyonder Abilities followed certain rules in their arrangement.

This meant that Beyonder Abilities truly had hope of being deciphered, though the research process would certainly be extremely long.

This discovery was enough for Odys to report back to Knowledge Moor and leave the dream. He could continue the remaining research next Sunday.

Odys did not intend to stay here for too long either, lest he become confused about reality and dreams after leaving.

After leaving Knowledge Moor, he still needed to meditate repeatedly, focusing his mind and telling himself that he was now in the Real World, and that what had just happened was only a dream.

Odys glanced at his pocket watch through the hazy night. It was past three in the morning. He could still sleep a little longer and rest.

A little after eight in the morning, to reward himself for the discovery he had made during last night's research, Odys deliberately took a detour to buy a serving of red bean toast. It was one of the few foods in this world that he liked.

Carrying the toast to the shop, his spirituality once again sensed someone watching the place as he opened the door.

But he still sensed no danger, so Odys was not overly worried. After all, he had the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery backing him. Ordinary Beyonders would not dare attack him.

Only if he sensed danger would Odys go to the Church of Steam and request assistance.

Monday was the day Odys's subordinates handed in their accounts, as well as the day to settle the herbal shop's inventory and income.

Odys spent the entire morning buried in calculations and account books. At half past two in the afternoon, he told Kainer, the fifteen- or sixteen-year-old clerk, that he was going to rest for a while and that no one was to disturb him.

Lying in a room at the back of the courtyard, Odys took out his pocket watch and stared at the jumping second hand. It was his first time attending the Tarot Club, and he was actually a little excited.

At exactly three, boundless Gray Fog flooded Odys's vision. When he came back to his senses, he was already in a magnificent hall, seated beside the Bronze Long Table.

Justice, Audrey Hall, rose and bowed. "Good afternoon, Mr. Fool!"

Then her greeting came to an abrupt halt because she saw a new member.

Fool, Klein, introduced him. "This is a new member, Mr. Hermit."