“June 3rd. After discussing with Edwards and the others, I gave up on the idea of reaching a tacit understanding with the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun. This might very well reveal my true intentions, making the Sauron family and the ancient nobles who support them aware of them in advance and carry out a direct approach. That would make matters extremely difficult and dangerous.
“It’s a pity that Grimm died in the Sea of Fog. He was the smartest among us.
“Descend into chaos! Descend! Only with everything in chaos will I get the chance to fish in troubled waters! Only when the Sauron family is incapable of handling this situation will the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun reluctantly acknowledge me!
“Perhaps I should give some help to those rebels, but how should I conceal myself so that no one would notice?
“June 4th, Zaratul from the Secret Order came to visit me in incognito very suddenly.”
…
This made him feel a sense of irrepressible anger.
Although the three diary pages didn’t provide very detailed descriptions, with rather straightforward accounts from Roselle, Klein could still feel the famous turmoil in Intis that happened in 1173, more than a hundred years ago.
The outcome was clearly recorded in history textbooks. As a colonel, Republic quashed the rebellion and enacted political changes. The Intis Kingdom was transformed into a republic, with him acting as a self-appointed consul.
In the following 19 years, he reformed the penal code, encouraged inventions, and protected the industrial revolution. He greatly increased the country’s strength and fought wars both north and south, making Lenburg, Masin, Segar, and other countries protectorates under the Intis Republic. He also made the three mighty countries on the Northern Continent—the Feysac Empire, the Loen Kingdom, and the Feynapotter Kingdom—bow their heads.
At the end of 1192, almost twenty years after his appointment as consul, Roselle converted the Republic into an Empire, declaring himself Caesar.
Less than six years later, he perished in the White Maple Palace, ending the Fifth Epoch’s most legendary piece of history to date.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt that there was more to Roselle’s death than what appeared on the surface. It was just like how this famous historical event definitely had power struggles amongst Beyonders behind it, and that a Beyonder faction had leveled the situation, unlike the descriptions in textbooks.
The sixth page was about the same as the first one, with accounts of his daily life. However, the last one made Klein’s eyes light up.
“8th April, I have to send someone to investigate the Secret Order to get more information. I can’t repeat my passiveness from before. I can’t let Zaratul lead me by the nose anymore.”
He knew that an investigation from over a hundred years ago was unlikely to help him find any clues related to the Secret Order Association. After all, over such a long period of time, other than the special ones, many of the High-Sequence Beyonders would’ve already died of old age, not to mention the middle or low-level members. However, Klein believed that this would help him obtain inspiration and grasp the precise identity and activity patterns that the Secret Order often used.
Putting down the six diary pages, Klein tapped his right index finger on the edge of the long bronze table, slowly moving his gaze from Miss Justice to The Hanged Man, and then to The Sun.
Audrey suddenly fell into a trance. She immediately turned her body around and looked at the very top of the ancient long table in pleasant surprise.
Compared to her, The Hanged Man, Alger, was much more composed. However, the subconscious straightening of his back heartlessly betrayed him.
Only The Sun, Derek, had always believed that the items of interest to Mr. Fool contained many mysteries, but he didn’t know anything about Emperor Roselle and didn’t know what this name represented in the Northern Continent. Thus, he just found it difficult to hide his curiosity and didn’t reveal any unusual behavior.
“Mr. Fool, did Emperor Roselle mention some general knowledge? I’m willing to pay for this information,” Audrey couldn’t help but say.
Klein chuckled and said, “There’s no need. This is very simple general knowledge.”
“After reading this part of the diary, as the summoner of the Tarot Club, I feel it’s necessary to let all of you know this. Of course, I’m very certain that some of you are already aware of this.”
He was mainly referring to The Sun. The City of Silver had a history of two to three thousand years, so it was impossible for them to not discover the Law of Beyonder Characteristics Indestructibility.
Moreover, they were in a relatively extreme environment. Even if the surrounding areas had no lack of monsters in the darkness, there would still be times when they failed to obtain the corresponding materials. In order to pass on their heritage, in order for their city to continue on, using the Beyonder Characteristics of the remains of their predecessors to create a potion wasn’t particularly unacceptable.
To them, this was perhaps a sacred and glorious ceremony.
Of course, Klein could see from a previous exchange that The Hanged Man knew something.
“Thank you very much! Mr. Fool, you are just too generous!” Audrey replied in joy.
She was originally feeling three seconds of regret for the coarse action of using cash to purchase the information.
Klein stopped rapping the table and described with a calm voice, “The first piece of general knowledge—Law of Beyonder Characteristics Indestructibility. The characteristics of a Beyonder is never destroyed or reduced. It’s only passed from one carrier to the next.”
Her emerald green eyes turned, and when she saw that neither The Hanged Man nor The Sun showed any signs of surprise or contemplation, she immediately understood that these two members of the Tarot Club had long known of this law.
At this point, Klein added, “After a Rampager dies, they will leave behind an item of Beyonder Characteristics. It could be the main ingredient, or it could be a mystical artifact that requires sealing. An ordinary Beyonder’s death results in similar results. However, the item left behind will be equivalent to the corresponding potion without the supplementary ingredients. Of course, the item alone will contain Beyonder powers. They can be used as a half-mystical object.”
The plain and indifferent words instantly echoed in Audrey’s mind. Layers stacked upon layers and, bit by bit, it eventually reached a crescendo.
Audrey thought of cannibalism and the question—would a Sequence pathway be severed if the source of Beyonder materials ceased to exist— she had asked The Hanged Man previously came to mind.
Now, she knew the answer, but she would’ve rather not heard it. She felt like she was having a nightmare!
However, this time, she discovered that the mystical world was filled with grayness and darkness.
She saw that The Hanged Man and the Sun were making only habitual movements and appeared to understand what had just been said.
Klein wasn’t surprised by the three members’ reaction. He continued in a calm tone, “The second piece of general knowledge—Law of Similar Sequence Beyonder Characteristics Conservation.”
Justice and The Sun shared the same feelings as he did. They were unable to directly understand the true meaning behind this law.
“Why Similar Sequence?” Alger couldn’t help asking.
Klein smiled and replied, “What do you wish to pay for the answer?”
One of the ideas he had was that general knowledge was free, but any explanation required a fee. This both matched his status and didn’t waste the information.
