Chapter 1321 The Six Special Pathways
The Fool Klein slowly surveyed the area. He didn’t provide an explanation to everyone as they had expected. Instead, he reined in his sigh and asked with a smile, “Where do you think the twenty-two Beyonder pathways originate from?”
This was one of the three most important questions in mysticism, with no consensus for the answer. Every school of thought had its own theory; no one could convince anyone.
Cattleya deliberated for a moment before replying, “The essence of the world is knowledge, and the essence of knowledge is data. Humans are data, and the Beyonder characteristics of the twenty-two pathways are data. All things are a form of data, and this is how it was born.”
She had offered the Moses Ascetic Order’s theory, but that was not her own point of view.
“The seven Churches believe that the Beyonder characteristic originated from the original Creator. ‘He’ transformed into all things, including the deities, humans, sea, land, and Beyonder characteristics,” Leonard briefly explained. “Of course, this is an explanation given to deacons and above. The official Beyonders below Sequence 6 don’t need to know so much.”
Then, he glanced at Emlyn and said, “The Life School of Thought believes that the world is split into three levels. The material world, the world of the spirit, and the world of absolute rationality. Beyonder characteristics are the projections of certain things from the world of absolute rationality into the material world and world of the spirit. Therefore, characteristics can’t be destroyed. It only rea.s.sembles.”
From the looks of it, the world of absolute rationality that the Life School of Thought promotes might be referring to the river of fate… The Fool Klein thought of Will Auceptin, but he remained silent and didn’t interrupt the conversation between the members of the Tarot Club.
Emlyn returned a glance at The Star and said, “As one of the rulers of the Second Epoch, us Sanguine believe that Beyonder characteristics do come from the original Creator. Then, the various characteristics acc.u.mulated and produced the ancient G.o.ds. The ancient G.o.ds then created different races.”
This was the Sanguine’s explanation for the First Epoch, and Emlyn already had some doubts about it. After all, he had encountered many secrets thanks to the Tarot Club.
Alger nodded slightly.
“Although there are many explanations for the origins of a Beyonder characteristic, most of them point to the original Creator. The orthodox Churches, Aurora Order, and the City of Silver share such a belief.”
“In other words, Beyonder characteristics originating from the original Creator is quite the prevalent understanding?” Audrey asked thoughtfully.
The Psychology Alchemists mainly studied the mind world and the sea of collective subconscious. They lacked complete theories regarding the origins of the Beyonder characteristics.
“Roughly.” Alger didn’t conceal his views.
At this moment, The Fool Klein sighed and said, “Not all of them.”
He didn’t proceed on to give a long story, but gave a rather vague answer.
Not all of them… Mr. Fool means that Beyonder characteristics indeed originate from the original Creator, but not all of them. A small number of them are special cases? Is this the reason for the specialness of the Planter and Moon pathway? Alger instantly thought of a lot and grasped the essence of the problem.
As it had nothing to do with her, Fors continued listening leisurely. At this moment, she asked curiously, “Honorable Mr. Fool, your meaning seems to be that most Beyonder characteristics originated from the original Creator, and the two pathways such as Planter and Moon are an exception. Then where did they come from?”
The Fool Klein said simply, “The Cosmos.”
Cosmos… Emlyn was alarmed when he heard that. He realized that the matter might be more serious than he had imagined.
The Tarot Club had already shared the danger of the underground corruption and the cosmos. All of the members knew that these two concepts led to corruption simply from understanding it.
When Audrey, Cattleya, and company looked at each other, The Fool Klein maintained his hint of a sigh and added, “Not just these two.”
He and the Seven Lights had always maintained their contact and had already confirmed that six of the Beyonders of the twenty-two Beyonder pathways belonged to Outer Deities.
“Honorable Mr. Fool, what other pathways come from the cosmos?” Audrey habitually raised her hand and asked curiously and warily.
The Fool Klein replied succinctly, “Prisoner, Criminal, Lawyer, and Arbiter.”
The first two came from the Mother Tree of Desire, and the latter two, along with the Nation of Disorder, came from the Son of Chaos.
Chaos gave birth to order, and order came with its own shadow.
Arbiter… Fors turned her head in surprise and glanced at Xio.
She had just thought that this matter had nothing to do with her. She could only watch and not worry about it. Who knew that the trouble was right at her doorstep?
Xio frowned slightly and looked at the end of the long bronze table.
“Honorable Mr. Fool, I usually don’t sense any abnormalities, nor have I received any divine epiphanies. Uh, other than those from you.”
The Fool Klein smiled and said, “The Arbiter and Lawyer are relatively better.”
According to his understanding, the influence the Son of Chaos had on both the Arbiter and the Lawyer pathway wasn’t deep. It was incomparable to the Mother G.o.ddess of Depravity’s influence on the Moon and Planter pathways, and the Mother Tree of Desire’s influence on the Criminal and Prisoner pathways. This Outer Deity had gone silent, as though “He” had disappeared.
Fors and Xio secretly heaved a sigh of relief. At the same time, they became more wary of the future.
With Mr. Fool not explaining further, Emlyn composed himself and said, “The uniqueness of the Planter and Moon pathway comes from the cosmos. The divine epiphanies I sensed are likely a form of corruption?”
Alger looked at Mr. Fool at the end of the long, mottled table. Seeing that “He” had no intention of speaking, he nodded and said, “Probably so.”
This is a test for me… Emlyn sighed and said,
“I’ve already grasped the names of the High-Sequence potions of the Planter and Moon pathway. I’m somewhat puzzled about two of them.”
After becoming a Sanguine Earl and a high-ranking deacon of the Church of Earth, he obtained the corresponding clearance to access plenty of information that he had never been able to.
Seeing the other members of the Tarot Club look over, The World Gehrman Sparrow raised his hand to pinch his chin. Emlyn thought and said, “The Moon pathway is as follows: Sequence 3—High Summoner; Sequence 2—Life-Giver; Sequence 1—Beauty G.o.ddess. The Planter pathway is as follows: Sequence 3—Pallbearer; Sequence 2—Desolate Matriarch; Sequence 1—Naturewalker.
“What I don’t understand is that the names of the two potions—Beauty G.o.ddess and Desolate Matriarch—have certain gender inclinations. What are your thoughts on this?”
“…” For a moment, no one from the Tarot Club spoke. They looked at each other and thought of a possibility.
A few seconds later, Audrey controlled her gaze and said in deliberation, “I remember that Sequence 7 of the a.s.sa.s.sin pathway is called Witch. a.s.sa.s.sins who consume this potion become Witches.”
…This is a test for me… Emlyn’s lips moved slightly, unable to say a word.
When he learned the name of the potions, he already had a certain premonition, but he wasn’t willing to accept it. He hoped that he could obtain another explanation from the Tarot Club.
Don’t worry. You have a low chance of becoming an angel. Even if you can, you won’t have the chance to be a Beauty G.o.ddess… Klein mumbled inwardly, but he didn’t say any words of “comfort.”
Everyone fell silent. Leonard coughed and took the initiative to say, “I’ll share some matters.”
He spoke at a moderate pace regarding Merlin Hermes, the rebuilding of Constant City overnight, and the Fully Automatic Wis.h.i.+ng Machine.
As he spoke, he shot a glance at The World Klein.
The corners of Klein’s mouth twitched as he made The World Gehrman Sparrow look ahead.
“I’ll be leaving the eastern coast of Midseas.h.i.+re soon.”
Eh… These were all done by Mr. World? Can he already create such miracles? As expected of an angel, a “Him”… Audrey recalled the information the Psychology Alchemists councilor, Mr. Gluttony, had shared. She was both surprised and impressed.
She didn’t use her Spectator’s powers to conceal her reaction. This was because everyone had expressed the same emotions, except for Mr. Star, who clearly knew about it.
Merlin Hermes… Wandering magician… Fors noted the name deep down and secretly decided to distance herself from this name whenever she heard it in the future.
This didn’t mean that she was still afraid of Gehrman Sparrow, but she knew something:
It definitely wasn’t safe around Gehrman Sparrow. Something would always be happening in some way or another.
Of course, an instinctive sense of fear was inevitable. It was just like how a seed of “fear” sown when one was young would remain even when one became an adult.
Granting wishes for pleasure… Fully Automatic Wis.h.i.+ng Machine… Is this The World Gehrman Sparrow’s “acting”? Alger and Cattleya had similar thoughts simultaneously flas.h.i.+ng through their minds. Then, they thought of something:
Ever since some time ago, Mr. Fool had made everyone pray to “Him” in the form of a wish before granting them.
“He” is helping The World digest the potion, or is it that “He” and The World are from the same pathway? After “He” awoke, “He” also exhibits similar characteristics? Little Sun said before that Mr. Fool’s actions were a miracle, allowing the city’s residents to directly move from the Forsaken Land of the G.o.ds to outside Bayam City… With the fact that The World Gehrman Sparrow is still acting, this shouldn’t be something he can do… Alger nodded indiscernibly as he made a guess about the pathway Mr. Fool was in.
About to leave the eastern coast of Midseas.h.i.+re? Then my investigation will be even easier. I can just come up with a simple conclusion. At most, I can just directly report that Gehrman Sparrow has become a Miracle Invoker and is acting… Anyway, the people who should know are already aware… Leonard mumbled silently and didn’t ask further.
At this moment, The World Gehrman Sparrow looked around and asked, “What do you know about the King of the Black Throne, Barros Hopkins?”