Bernadette the Clever

Neph wasn't too surprised by the question. She carefully considered her words before speaking, "Your father? Hmm, to talk about your father's corruption, we probably have to start with the Primordial Moon."

Are you familiar with Him?

"I know a little," Bernadette nodded. "I know His Authority involves procreation and reproduction."

The answer was standard and conventional. Neph nodded and told Bernadette, "I thought that someone at your level should know that some pollution comes from the Cosmos, and the Primordial Moon is one of those pollutants from the Cosmos."

"More often than not, I refer to Her as the Mother Goddess of Depravity," she is called the Mother of All Things, one of the three Pillar, and your father's corruption comes from Her.

"Pillar?" Bernadette repeated.

Neph nodded and continued, "Yes, Pillar."

"These are three relatively special Great Old Dominator. The Great Old One Ones—well, that's a level above Sequence 0. You're probably familiar with the existence of Adjacent Pathways. By accommodating Sefirah and gathering Adjacent Pathways, one can become Great Old One."

"For this reason, some people call the Great Old One Sequence -1. Of course, I think this is not quite accurate, as it doesn't reflect the huge difference between the Great Old One and Sequence 0. I think we can call them Sequence e^iπ----"

Uh, do you have Euler's Formula here? Wait a minute, maybe it's not called Euler's formula...

"----?" Bernadette deliberately ignored the last paragraph, "What is Sefirah?"

Neph thought for a moment and said, "In this world, there is a Original Creator. He is the exception, the inconceivable, the incomprehensible, the indescribable. He is the embodiment of all that is reasonable and unreasonable. He is both lucid and insane, both yearning to live and yearning to die."

"Every time He awakens, the world is destroyed once. I think you probably have guessed that I come from the civilization before the Oldest One awakening, and I have memories of that civilization. The Rosellean your father mentioned is a product of our civilization."

"Upon this awakening, whether through procreation, creation, or division—in short, an unknown number of Great Old One were Oldest One created in various ways. Among them were three Pillar: the Mother Goddess of Depravity, God, and the God Almighty of Lord of the Mysteries. As their names suggest, they possess certain symbols that support the world, such as the Lord of the Mysteries, the ruler of the Spirit World, my My Lord, the Lord of the Astral World, and the Mother Goddess of Depravity, the ruler of reality."

"And what determines these Great Old One positions, Authority, and symbols is precisely the Sefirah they possess."

"Of course, not all of the Great Old One reside within Earth; those beyond Earth are what we call the Outer Deity, including the Mother Goddess of Depravity, the Supernova Dominator, and the Circle of Inevitability."

Neph listed all the Great Old One surrounding the Earth in one breath, and then, amidst Bernadette's barely concealed astonishment, continued, "There are more Great Old One in the Cosmos than these, but only these surround the Earth. They were attracted here by the Sefirah within the Earth, as you know, because of the Aggregation of Extraordinary Characteristics."

As for the situation inside Earth—

Neph's expression was somewhat strange. She chuckled and shook her head, "When the Original Creator fell into slumber once more, a barrier enveloped the earth, Quarantine it from the outside. This meant that those Great Old One surrounding us, no matter how much they longed for them, could only wait outside the barrier for it to dissipate. This is the Apocalypse mentioned in many Prophecy."

"In our current civilization, we have experienced five eras. In the First Epoch, two other Pillar must be mentioned: the Lord of the Mysteries and God Almighty."

"They were inherently contradictory from the moment they were born, for they were the two Oldest One aspects, opposed to and averse to each other—perhaps for other reasons as well. In any case, they waged war, ultimately perishing together, leaving behind their own resurrection plans, while also influencing each other's resurrection plans."

"That war had far-reaching consequences; none of the Great Old One on Earth survived, including—well, including your lamp."

"A lamp? You mean the Magic Wishing Lamp?" Bernadette exclaimed in surprise.

She didn't ask what Earth was, even though it was an unfamiliar term, but from the context it wasn't hard to guess that it was the name for the planet they currently lived on.

Neph nodded, first reciting the names of the Nine Sefirot and their corresponding Pathway, before continuing, "Among these Nine Sefirot, three are relatively special. You should have noticed that some Beyonder Pathway are particularly dangerous, such as the ' Abyss ' Pathway, and the Planter ' Pathway. This is because their corresponding Sefirah come from Outer Deity."

"Of these, the Brood Hive comes from the Mother Goddess of Depravity, the Shadow World from the Mother Tree of Desire, and the Nation of Disorder Uncertain Mist." As for your lamp—

"The consciousness hidden within, you may call Him the Son of Chaos," He was originally the consciousness of "the Uncertain Mist," who, through some means, entered the barrier in the First Epoch, where He was "captured on the spot by the Lord of the Mysteries" and sealed away using the Beyonder Characteristic of a "Miracle Invoker"—

As Bernadette continued to ask questions, Neph filled in the gaps in her answers, only selecting the parts she was certain of and avoiding any speculation.

Having learned more about the Great Old One, Bernadette finally stopped asking questions about it. She nodded thoughtfully and asked, "Miss Pure White, I have a question."

Since the Symbol my father invented were actually a kind of language from before the First Epoch, what about his other inventions? And what about the works he created?

"Did those also come from that civilization?"

"Huh?" Neph was stunned.

"And what about my father?" Bernadette continued, "Was he also from that civilization?"

Good question— Emperor Roselle, this isn't my opinion, it's your daughter's own guess. Don't blame me when you're born!

Neph began tactfully, "Even beings from our era might not be able to bring all the Wisdom accumulated over the past, your father—"

"He also has Beyonder Pathway," Bernadette added, "The 'Savant ' Potion allows him to recall what he has learned, as well as enhance his learning and comprehension abilities."

Neph stopped.

Seemingly noticing her hesitation, Bernadette sighed and continued, "You don't need to put yourself in such a difficult position, I just—I just—"

"I admit that knowing all this has indeed had some impact on the image of my father in my mind, but my respect for him is not entirely due to his achievements, besides—"

Chapter 20 The Clever Bernadette

She gave a bitter smile, shook her head, and said, "Even if the person I knew was somewhat different from the great person I admired, the moment he asked me to seal him away in the Mausoleum, all those differences were erased."

Neph was speechless. She realized that this was a difficult question to even address. After a brief hesitation, she tentatively spoke up, "I think he must be proud of you too."

Bernadette's mood was low, Neph could understand quite well. After all, anyone who had sealed away their father would need time to adjust. It was likely that for some time to come, Bernadette's emotions wouldn't be very high when her father was mentioned.

But she wouldn't wait for Bernadette to calm down. She glanced at Bernadette quietly, considered for a few seconds, and then gave Bernadette a task.

"You're still maintaining contact with the Church of Steam and Machinery, aren't you?" she asked.

"Of course," Bernadette nodded, "After all, as you know, I have a younger brother who works in the Church of Steam and Machinery."

Neph nodded and said with a smile, "In that case, when we get back, you can keep an eye on the Church of Steam and Machinery for me."

"I made a very special deal with Stiano —well, I made a deal with Steam. You can go to the Saint Hylarn Church to find out more."

"In short, we need to see how many Angel and level 0 Sealed Artifact they've moved over—and maybe even some Saint —and how many they've brought over."

This command left Bernadette somewhat bewildered, but she still replied, "Your will is my will."

"Don't," Neph took a step back, "If you're like Bornova, I'm afraid your father will come after me when he wakes up."

Bernadette paused for a moment, seemingly unsure how to answer the question. Fortunately, Neph didn't keep her waiting long and asked again, "By the way, do you still want to learn that language?"

"No need," Bernadette shook her head. "I did want to know more about my father, and before you told me the truth, I was determined to learn that language. But after I learned about my father's background, your expression told me that perhaps he didn't want me to know too much."

Neph chuckled softly, a hint of amusement in her expression, and told Bernadette, "Of course he wouldn't want you to know those things. After all, what kind of place is Intis? What kind of place is Trier? You should be familiar with those."

"I think it shouldn't be hard to find out what kind of person your father was when he was young. Those gossip stories weren't fabricated, and in his diary—well, I think you can probably guess what you'll see."

"We have to admit that in this matter, a father's attitude towards his daughter is different from his attitude towards his son. If Bornova were standing here, your father probably wouldn't have so many worries."

"By the way, your father actually had a pretty good physique when he was young, although the effects of the Potion cannot be ruled out—"

"----?" Bernadette paused for a moment, then looked up, her face showing a clear question.

Neph blinked and said with a smile, "Alright, I should go now."

"Remember to keep an eye on the Church of Steam and Machinery's movements for me."

Her figure disappeared from the spot, and Bernadette remained silent for a moment before maneuvering the "Dawn" back to port.

With Sequence membership of Tarot Club growing, material transactions within the Tarot Club are no longer frequent. Most of the time, after a brief silence, they skillfully initiate a period of free exchange.

Today was no exception. After a brief silence, "Justice" Audrey took the initiative to speak, mentioning her prepared draft. "The Church of Evernight has distributed the newly printed Holy Bible to various churches, and they have already begun using the new Holy Bible to preach."

"It mentions an unfamiliar God, the Twin sister of the Evernight Goddess, known as the Winter Goddess." It is said that she was formed from the other eye of the Creator, and was attacked by the Eternal Blazing Sun at birth, thus falling into a deep sleep in the Winter County.

Later, with the help of the Evernight Goddess, He awoke in the Forsaken Land of the Gods the forsaken gods, Forgetting them all.

Audrey briefly described the new myth enshrined in the Holy Bible, then looked around and asked, "What are your thoughts on this?"

As she spoke, Audrey's gaze was very focused, fixed on "the world" sitting at the end of the Bronze Long Table, and she did not look at anyone else.

She actually wanted to ask the Fool, who sat at the head of the Bronze Long Table, for his opinion, but staring at the Fool like that would be too offensive, so Audrey didn't dare to do so and instead chose "The World."

Ultimately, she already knew the answer; all that was missing was final confirmation.

As expected, before "the world" could speak, the Fool gently tapped the Bronze Long Table, drawing everyone's attention, and then chuckled, "You should congratulate Miss Pure White."

After a long journey, he finally met his Twin Sister whom he had never met before and successfully recognized her. With her help, he further grasped the Authority left by his mother.

"I think you may soon be able to meet a true God of Winter."

The implication in those words was quite obvious, the most striking being the use of "He." Audrey lowered her head, realizing that the "Pure White" lady had now become Angel, only one step away from Divine Office.

However, new questions arose at the same time. Palenque Tasibu's questions were not surprising. Everyone who knew Neph would start to ponder her relationship with her mother after hearing this story, because the Holy Bible of the Evernight made no mention of her mother's appearance.

Audrey couldn't contain herself any longer and asked the question herself. The "Hermit" Cattleya replied, "This is not a rare phenomenon—for those at a higher level, giving birth to oneself is perfectly normal."

This answer did indeed resolve Audrey's question, but Audrey was startled, suddenly recalling the rumor that lingered around Dwayne Dantès.

She couldn't help but glance at "the world," and a logical thought popped into her mind:

If the mother and daughter are the same person, then it makes perfect sense for the man to fall in love with the daughter after the mother's death, just as Mr. Fool favored Miss "Pure White"—

Thinking of this, Audrey couldn't help but glance at the Fool of the corner of her eye.