On a high ground, at an altar inlaid with eyeballs, arms, heads, and internal organs.
A crimson, blood-red light surged forth, Distortion into deformed, tree-like phantoms.
Amidst the buzzing sound, the human bones, candles, silver plates, gold boxes, and other items trembled simultaneously, as if they could scratch the spirits.
The surrounding worshippers instinctively lowered their heads and prostrated themselves on the ground.
Then, a realization dawned on them simultaneously:
" Raging Sea, Rocky Island..."
Upon seeing the ancient palace above the Gray Fog and feeling the gentle tremors of the mysterious space, Klein felt that he had a deeper, more intangible connection with the so-called " Sefirah Castle."
At that moment, he truly understood that the place would gradually become his own.
In just a few seconds, all the anomalies disappeared. Klein didn't waste any time. He had the two Marionette collect the items that still had value and destroy the rest. He then took out a paper figure and casually flicked it.
With a snap, the paper figure burst into crimson flames, and countless illusory wings sprouted from its back.
Klein was stunned for a moment, not expecting that the simple " Paper Figurine Substitute " interference would have a bit of the " Angel's Embrace " feel to it.
He immediately seized the Marionette Qonas and Marionette Enuni, and using " Teleportation," disappeared from the island made of reefs.
After circling around several islands in the Sonia Sea, making a long detour, Klein finally returned to his residence in the East Borough of Backlund.
During this process, he repeatedly used " Paper Figurine Substitute " of varying quality to interfere with Divination, prophecy, tracking, and observation.
Whew, I didn't expect it to actually trigger changes in the " Sefirah Castle " and produce an undeniable anomaly... Fortunately, I was cautious enough and didn't let my guard down. If I had advanced in Backlund or the surrounding area, Amon and Zaratul would definitely have "seen" me... Klein breathed a sigh of relief, busily took four steps backward, entered the Gray Fog, and began to perform Divination.
After confirming that he was safe, he did not linger and immediately returned to the real world, where he used Cogitation to begin to rein in his scattered Spirituality.
After completing this step, he leaned back as he took off his clothes, fell onto the bed, and fell into a deep sleep.
Normally, a " Bizarro Sorcerer " who successfully advances to " Scholar of Yore " wouldn't be as exhausted as he is, and would certainly have the energy to check his own condition. However, when Klein traveled through history, relying on his own imprint to go back a long way and on his mastery of ancient Concealment far beyond his current level, he rushed all the way to the early Second Era or the end of the First Era when the " Giant King's Court " was established.
This is essentially equivalent to digesting Potion.
After several hours of deep sleep, Klein slowly opened his eyes and woke up.
He groped his way to sit up, pulled a pillow behind his back, and rubbed his temples.
After about ten minutes of calming down, he fully regained consciousness and began to examine himself:
" The Potion was indeed mostly digested immediately after ingestion, at least four-fifths... which is about what I expected... but I don't know how much ancient data I need to obtain, or how much true history I need to research, before I can fully digest the rest..."
"Currently, there are two directions for Acting of an ' Scholar of Yore ': one is a scholar from ancient times, and the other is a scholar who studies ancient times. Both are required. The first point is relatively easy because the ritual itself implies the key point of making oneself an ancient person. Once the promotion is successful, one can naturally Acting of a scholar from ancient times."
"The second point is extremely difficult. In a normal society, it's manageable, but in this world where true gods, Devil, and evil exist, simply collecting ancient materials is an extremely risky undertaking. If one wants to uncover the truth of history, one could die a 'for no reason' and in a very tragic way at any time. The more one knows about the standards, the greater the danger..."
"I owe most of my knowledge to the arrangements of certain beings and the complexities of Fate brought about by the ' Sefirah Castle,' which constantly subject me to all sorts of events. Of course, even as God's Blessed, I have already died once, let alone the other ' Scholar of Yore.'"
"If you switched the roles of ' Miracle Invoker ' and ' Scholar of Yore,' the Acting would be relatively simple. Unfortunately, there's no 'what if'..."
"In addition, the previous two meanings leaned towards 'ancient'. We also need to pay attention to the word 'scholar'. Only those who can study history can be called 'scholars'."
"Next, we need to digest several directions. First, we need to figure out the current state of the ' Dark Angel ' Sasrir and realistically reconstruct the specific process of the ' Cataclysm '. Second, we need to put in the effort to truly connect the history of the Fourth Epoch, rather than just focusing on individual fragments. Third, we need to delve deeper, from grasping the macro-level situation to studying the micro-level details, such as the rise and fall of the Antigonus Family..."
Having confirmed the effectiveness of his pre-emptive Acting and considered his future path, Klein combined the occult knowledge he gained during his advancement with his observation of his own divine markings, relying on methods such as " Divination " and practice to gradually explore the abilities of an " Scholar of Yore ":
"The number of differentiated ' Worm of Spirit ' has reached six hundred, and the divine patterns have also undergone certain changes, becoming more complex and better able to express concepts such as power, the bizarre, and the extraordinary..."
"The change in divine patterns stems from two sources: newly acquired traits and the mystical knowledge contained within the Potion. This is both inherent to Beyonder Characteristic and derived from a higher level... Once one becomes a true high-ranking being, is it possible to directly modify knowledge located in a higher dimension and influence other Sequence beings?"
"The ability to decipher Potion recipes from divine patterns seems to be one example..."
"Furthermore, at the Sequence 3 level, the changes in divine markings are also influenced by personal traits. This is closely related to prayer and response. Even among ' Scholar of Yore,' the corresponding honorifics will be inherently different because their personalities, experiences, and traits are all different."
"Yes, I can make different ' Worm of Spirit ' listen to prayers instinctively and respond on a simple level without affecting my other actions... Those that are specially marked or more complex will be handed over to my main body..."
" Scholar of Yore could Acting of deities through differentiated ' Worm of Spirit,' but how do other Sequence 3 pathways handle this? They couldn't possibly be responding while asleep..."
"Hehe, I'll think about my esteemed title of ' Scholar of Yore ' later. Let's study my specific abilities first."
"Uh... The main ability of ' Scholar of Yore ' is to draw help from history, which is divided into two parts: one is to borrow strength from their past selves."
"For me, it's rather awkward. It's not very useful right now because I was definitely weaker in the past than I am now. Well, when I was suspended above the Gray Fog at that Door of Light, I was just an ordinary person... But for someone who was once a great figure but is now weakened for various reasons, this is a divine skill. They can act like a baby, crying for ice cream, while participating in the Sequence 1 battle, without showing any weaknesses... The only problem is, it's not long-lasting..."
"Of course, as I spend more time as an ' Scholar of Yore,' this will come into play. I can often draw strength from my former self as an ' Scholar of Yore ' so that I will never be weak, even if I suffer a severe blow... In a sense, this is called self-existence and eternal existence, a state that never reaches a low point, until my Spirituality is exhausted."
"Yes, before my Spirituality is exhausted, I can keep borrowing power from my past self without any limit on the number of times. And with my current Spirituality, even without the recovery process, I can borrow power nearly ten times a day, each time for five minutes."
"The second part is to summon images from the gaps in history. These can be people or objects. The more detailed and accurate your understanding of the relevant history and things, the greater the probability of success and the longer it will last."
Similarly, the lower the target's position is compared to one's own, the greater the probability of success and the longer it can be maintained.
"In addition, the closer the goal is to oneself, the higher the probability of success and the longer it can be maintained."
"These are the three conditions for success. Moreover, when summoning people or things of a higher rank than oneself, even if it is barely successful, the final projection will only possess partial power and traits, not the complete form. Also, the images I summon from the Historical Void can only be maintained in three at a time, including those summoned by the Marionette..."
"Currently, even with the most ordinary, well-known items that once belonged to me, I can only hold onto them for a maximum of fifteen minutes."
"The fact that the goal is closely related to oneself is quite intriguing. In essence, borrowing power from oneself is also a form of summoning an image. It's just that the relationship between oneself and oneself is so close that there is no possibility of failure. It is an extreme case."
"In other words, if I want to summon images of important figures from the Historical Void, it's best to establish a sufficiently friendly relationship with them and maintain it for a long time. Hmm, if I were to summon a projection of Mr. Azik, the probability of success would definitely be higher than summoning other Angel images from the Historical Void..."
"This isn't just extraordinary ability, it's clearly the science of emotional intelligence, relationships, and interpersonal communication!"
With a sense of awe, Klein sincerely felt that the core ability of " Scholar of Yore " was divine skill, since most things involving history and time were extremely magical.
However, to make it truly effective, one must have sufficient Wisdom and make the necessary preparations.
This is a consistent requirement of the " Seer's " approach.
"Yes, when summoning images from the Historical Void, there is no dialogue, no communication. In other words, ' Scholar of Yore ' cannot interfere with history or change the past. From a Acting perspective, this can be summarized as witnessing Fate, influencing the present, but being unable to reverse the past..."
"Besides transferring illnesses, wounds, curses, attacks, prophecies, and gazes, the ' Paper Figurine Substitute ' has another ability: it can transfer a part of the paper doll to a target, making it function like the real thing until the target realizes it's fake. Heh, if anyone encounters me in the brief moment before their heart dies but their brain is still alive, I can give them a paper heart, drawing power from history to beat and circulate blood..."
"The initial control time of the ' Spirit Body Threads ' has been shortened to two seconds, and the complete transformation into a puppet takes ten seconds. The range for completing these two Manipulation is five hundred meters... The limit for manipulating the Marionette and exchanging positions is five kilometers..."
"' Flame Jump ' also operates at a range of five kilometers... Air Cannon can have their power freely controlled, reaching a maximum equivalent to coastal defense artillery..."
"It can transform into organisms whose size difference does not exceed a certain limit; some of the simulated organs are functional, while others are merely decorative..."
"Phew, so this is the ' Scholar of Yore,' the ' Scholar of Yore ' who has digested most of the Potion..." Klein slowly stood up after examining himself.
He prepared to ascend above the Gray Fog to inspect the changes in the " Sefirah Castle ".
P. S.: Bonus chapter for the player with the most monthly votes in October!