The Mystery Pryer Pathway

This announcement drew enormous attention in the Loen Kingdom at the time. Everyone wanted to know whether it was a delaying tactic or a genuine decision.

As a noble, Marquis Argyle naturally held a seat in the House of Lords, and his words carried considerable weight. Yet from that point onward, no one ever occupied that seat again.

The customary way for nobles to train their heirs was to send them to military school once they came of age, then into the military for a few years after graduation. Once they had secured a rank, they would return home and wait comfortably to inherit their titles.

But from that point onward, not a single member of the Argel family entered military school or joined the armed forces, whether the army, where the family had the greatest influence, or the navy, the nobles' private preserve.

It was precisely this resolute stance that finally made the Argel family safe.

They no longer had any enemies in the entire Loen Kingdom. Hostile nobles turned their attention elsewhere, and even the royal family's goodwill toward the Argel Family reached its peak.

Thus, the marquis of that generation, Marquis Abner Argel, was called "Wisdom" by his family. Like the family's founder, Abel Argel, and its "Restorer," Portu Argel, he left an indelible mark on its history.

From then on, the Argel family focused entirely on making money.

Midseashire was indeed unsuitable for growing grain, but research revealed that its climate was ideal for fruit, especially grapes. Though their quality was not the very best, they were still quite good.

The wineries of Midseashire became the finest producers of mid-range wine in all of Loen. Almost two-thirds of the country's mid-range wine came from there.

The region bordered both mountains and the sea, giving it abundant resources from both. Many mineral deposits were even discovered there.

With no one left to obstruct them, the Argel family's wealth truly began to accumulate rapidly.

And because they stayed out of politics, partisan struggles no longer had anything to do with the Argel Family.

They did not have to cling to their land like the members of the Conservative Party, who could recognize the advantages of industry and finance yet still could not act because of their political stance.

When the age of industry and finance arrived, the Argel family quietly invested in numerous businesses. To keep a low profile, they took only small stakes, but the sheer number of their investments more than made up for that.

Even Earl Hall, the leader of the New Party who later rose to the height of power, had investments in these fields that amounted to less than a tenth of the Argel family's.

Their favorable standing with the royal family even earned the Argel Family the right to buy shares in many royal assets, every one of them guaranteed to turn a profit.

In short, Kronos would not have traded his starting position even for that of a prince. Besides, being a child of George III would have been a trap.

It was now early 1347, two and a half years before Klein's arrival in this world. Kronos still had enough time to lay a few plans.

Whether he relied on himself to grow stronger or eventually latched onto the protagonist, he could at least put a few more trump cards in his hand.

Speaking of strength, the Argel family possessed its own series of potions-the Mystery Pryer Pathway.

It was the pathway of "The Hermit," Admiral of Stars Cattleya, and "Queen Mystic," Huang Beibei-Bernadette-in the original novel. It was also the pathway of the Moses Ascetic Order, which worshipped the awakened Uniqueness known as the Hidden Sage.

This pathway was excellent in every other respect. At its summit, never mind a true god-there were not even any angels at present. Only later did Huang Beibei advance to Sequence Two.

But the thought of a Uniqueness chasing after you to force knowledge into your head was terrifying. Kronos suspected that the reason even demigods of this pathway were rare was most likely that the Hidden Sage had "hunted" them to death.

Kronos was currently a Sequence 9 Mystery Pryer. The strip of cloth he had touched earlier, tied over his mouth, was actually a Beyonder item: the Oath of Secrecy, crafted from a Mystery Pryer Beyonder characteristic.

This was a rule of the Argel family. After coming of age at eighteen, anyone who voluntarily chose to become a Mystery Pryer could drink the potion, but they had to refrain from speaking for five years and learn silence to aid their practice and improve their concentration.

The Oath of Secrecy had been created for this purpose. Its ability prevented the wearer from speaking. It could be removed during meals, but had to be put back on afterward. Whenever the wearer felt an urge to speak, their lips would sting.

Kronos had drunk the Mystery Pryer potion on his eighteenth birthday, almost five years ago now. In another week, he could remove the Oath of Secrecy for good and drink the Melee Scholar potion.

The Argel family already had records of the acting method. If not for the family rule requiring five years of silence, Kronos could have advanced long ago.

But it was precisely this five-year rule that made Kronos suspect a connection between his family and the Moses Ascetic Order. His former self had not known, but having read the novel, he naturally knew that this had been a rule when the Moses Ascetic Order was first founded.

Later, however, the Hidden Sage had come alive. He frequently pursued Beyonders of his pathway to pour knowledge into them, causing more and more low- and mid-sequence Beyonders to lose control. A perfectly respectable secret organization had become a cult of an evil god.

That night, Kronos integrated and sorted through countless memories-not only his original self's life experiences, but also everything he had learned.

Thanks to his family's scholarly heritage, his original self had studied the continent's history and various languages since childhood. These included not only the languages spoken by its nations, but also Ancient Feysac and Hermes, the even older Ancient Hermes, and Jotun, Dragonese, Elvish, and others.

After drinking the potion, Kronos's memory had become even better, and he had read every book on mysticism in the family's collection.

From these books, Kronos judged that the family probably possessed potion formulas up to at least Sequence 6, Scroll Professor, since many of the books described Beyonder abilities and provided instructions for making scrolls.

But whenever Kronos tried to ask his father about the family's Beyonders and pathway, his father refused to discuss it. With Kronos still bound to silence, there was nothing he could do.

Thanks to his considerable talent, his original self had completely digested the potion within six months of drinking it. Another two years later, he had finished learning all the family's knowledge of mysticism.

He had accomplished all this while keeping up with his studies as a student in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Backlund University.

For the remainder of his period of silence, Kronos had therefore spent his time in Backlund University's library. His studies were not limited to mechanical engineering; they also included mathematics, medicine, law, literature, painting, and music.

It was impossible to imagine just how vast a mass of information his original self's memories contained. In any case, Kronos found that night's sleep utterly exhausting. He slept until noon the next day before he finally managed to sort through them.

Brother, I'm sorry. I don't know how I ended up here and forcibly merged with your soul, either. But I can feel that we really have become one. Your personality and habits have affected me. Since I'm the one in control, let me live on under your name.

That was certainly true. Given his old penchant for adolescent dramatics, he probably should have been laughing up at the sky, declaring himself the chosen one, and pulling some outrageous stunt.

But the current Kronos found that sort of behavior rather distasteful. He had become much more mature and levelheaded. This was a merging of souls, not simply a crude takeover of someone else's body.

Kronos sat on the edge of the bed in a daze for a while, then sighed.

Now that I'm here, I can't just give up because it's dangerous. I have to test my potential. If it's good enough, I'll at least try to experience the satisfaction of being the chosen one of this era. If it isn't, I'll go cling to Mr. Fool.

After changing his clothes, Kronos left his room, arriving just as his family was having lunch.

Kronos sat down to eat with them. His father, Marquis Hanno Argel, his mother, Marchioness Audrey Argel, and his younger sister, Annie Argel, all looked at him with concern.

His sister Annie asked outright, "Brother, why did you get up so late? Is everything all right?"

Kronos shook his head and gestured that he had spent a little longer reading last night and stayed up too late.

Because of the family's rule of silence, everyone in the Argel family understood sign language, so communication was not a problem.

"I gave some careful thought to what you brought up yesterday. You can decide for yourself. Our family has been away from the center of power for more than three hundred years. Besides, there are so few of us left. No one from your grandfather's generation is still alive, I'm the only one in mine, and you only have one younger sister. Whatever you decide, there won't be any problem," said Kronos's father, Marquis Argyle.

Out of habit, the Argel family rarely stayed within Backlund itself, instead living year-round at their estate on the outskirts. Kronos, however, lived in the city and only returned on weekends.

The family owned houses in every borough of Backlund, even the East Borough and Bridge Borough, where the poor congregated. Those properties were not for their own use, though, but for collecting rent.

Kronos usually stayed in either Empress Borough or West Borough, choosing between them as he pleased, since both were closer to Backlund University. Although he had graduated the previous May, he could still visit the library to read whenever he wanted.

That was because his teacher was Portland Momont, a fellow of the Loen Kingdom's Royal Academy of Sciences and a full professor in Backlund University's engineering department.

The distinction mattered: he was his teacher, not his academic supervisor.

Kronos had become famous at Backlund University for his strange attire and constant presence in the library, earning the nickname "Library Oddball." He later attracted Portland's interest, and the two had exchanged ideas in the library many times.

Kronos had not known it then, but now he naturally knew that Portland was a Sequence 7 Appraiser of the Savant Pathway. Two Beyonders from knowledge-oriented pathways naturally found it easy to communicate.

Kronos had even helped Portland develop his research ideas, so their relationship was that of both teacher and friends. To outsiders, of course, Portland was simply Kronos's teacher.

This time, Kronos had returned to the family estate on a Wednesday because of something closely connected to Portland.