Klein scratched his head, not quite understanding what Nimrod meant. Still, he paid little attention to the minor interruption and asked:
"By the way, when did you arrive here? Which Beyonder pathway are you on? Your sequence doesn't seem low... ah, I'm just asking out of curiosity. If you'd rather not say, there's no need."
"There's nothing I can't tell you." Nimrod shook his head and gave a vague figure:
"I only transmigrated into this world about ten days ago. The reason I have the Beyonder abilities of my current sequence is that I transmigrated directly into a Beyonder's body."
"As for my pathway, hehe, I'm a Beyonder of the Marauder pathway."
Marauder, ten days ago... he transmigrated only a little later than I did... Klein's heart tightened, and he asked tentatively:
"Do you know about that part in Roselle's diary, where he said that if he could choose again..."
-What he wanted to ask about was the matter of the Apprentice, Seer, and Marauder pathways mentioned in Roselle's Diary.
The two of them were in a private room at the café, sealed off with a Wall of Spirituality, so they did not have to worry about anyone overhearing their conversation. Nimrod lightly tapped a finger against the table before him as though considering the question, then said slowly:
"Yes. It involves a very important Beyonder theory. Hehe, perhaps it's also connected to the secret behind our transmigration."
At this point, Nimrod smiled and spoke candidly to Klein in a calm tone. "We both came from the same place, so I don't want to lie to you. But I need to tell you something up front: I want to return to our original world, and I won't give up advancing along this Beyonder pathway."
Klein froze for a moment, and a hint of awkwardness crept into his voice. "Uh, isn't it a little too early for us to discuss this? We don't even know how to get back..."
"Early? Not at all." Nimrod sighed softly:
"I hope we can become friends who trust each other. That's why I'm telling you all this. I can tell that you feel the same way I do, that you want to go home too-but what if only one of us can go back?"
Nimrod "earnestly" planted both arms on the table and said to Klein:
"I'm not sure whether I can make it to the end, but one more person means one more chance. If I fail, I hope you can take me back to our original world. The reverse is also true: if I succeed, I'll do my best to take you back to the world you came from."
"Right now, you only trust me because you've met a fellow countryman in a foreign land, and that goodwill extends to me. I don't want to use you that way-a friendship sustained by lies is nothing but a bubble on the water. But a friendship supported by shared interests and a common position is the kind that lasts longest."
[Ha, you don't want to use him.] The Celestial Worthy suddenly delivered a cutting remark in Nimrod's ear, seemingly mocking his lies.
-Unlike Zhou Mingrui, Nimrod was a genuine "transmigrator," not one of the "Remnants of the Great Old One."
Klein listened quietly to Nimrod, picking up on the meaning hidden beneath his words.
After a long while, he nodded gently and said to Nimrod:
"All right. I understand what you mean."
At this point, a smile suddenly appeared on Klein's face:
"Still, we really should make these things clear. Otherwise, there'll always be an unspoken thorn between us."
"Phew, it looks like my luck isn't bad. The first fellow countryman I met turned out to be a decent person..."
Hearing the faint emotion in Klein's words, Nimrod smiled as well. "Actually, I originally planned to invite you straight to my home. But after thinking it over, I realized that, first, it wouldn't be convenient, and second, we'd only just met, so it wouldn't be appropriate. That's why I asked you to meet at this café."
"Yeah, I understand."
Klein nodded to show that he understood what Nimrod meant. After learning that Nimrod was a "fellow countryman," his behavior had become more like it had been when he was "Zhou Mingrui"-he cut off a piece of the cream bread before him with his knife and fork, put it into his mouth, and said indistinctly:
"Right, how did you transmigrate? Maybe we can share information about how we each got here. We might find the secret behind transmigration in it."
"Me?" Nimrod said. "My transmigration was very simple. I saw a patch of gray fog, and then I appeared in this world-when I arrived, I was already a Cryptologist."
"A Cryptologist?" Klein keenly picked up on the unfamiliar sequence name. "You said you're a Beyonder of the Marauder pathway? What sequence was the Beyonder whose body you transmigrated into?"
Nimrod gave a slight smile, as though his plan had succeeded, quietly showing off:
"Sequence 7. I'm currently digesting the potion again."
Did you roll an account with god-tier luck?
Damn you, lucky bastard (note 1)!
These thoughts immediately surfaced in Klein's mind. He grumbled inwardly, but a moment later, he heard Nimrod say:
"But this class is also one hell of a trap-can you believe it, Zhou? Based on what I know so far, high-sequence Beyonders of the Marauder pathway hunt down lower-sequence Beyonders, either of their own accord or otherwise. That's also why I'm worried I won't be able to make it to the end."
"You've seen that page of Roselle's diary too, so you should have some guesses about 'true gods'..."
Nimrod sighed and continued feeding Klein his story:
"From the information I've obtained, even an ordinary person can advance to become a true god by consuming potions step by step. And becoming a true god may also require certain special conditions."
At this point, Nimrod deliberately made his tone grave:
"I suspect there's already someone close to godhood on the Marauder pathway. Perhaps they can only become a god after hunting down every Beyonder of the same pathway, or perhaps He is eliminating obstacles to His ascension."
"After all, each pathway has only one god."
-Of course, Nimrod knew the information from the original novel, but what he said had to fit his current identity.
Compared with Klein, the "Fool" who was currently only at Sequence 9, Nimrod was now a Sequence 7 Beyonder. The information he had access to might include details about higher-level beings, but it would necessarily be riddled with errors and omissions.
Nine parts truth, one part falsehood-only then could he deceive the future "Fool."
Before you continue