Even though the door refused to budge after being pushed open a crack, Edward could still see everything through that narrow gap.
Before his eyes was a surging river, and above it floated one phantom-like, transparent figure after another. Further downstream, a figure clad in a black robe and hood, holding a scythe, hovered above the water, its glowing red eyes watching everything in silence.
"That figure with the scythe…why does it look so much like Death?"
But why would he see Death?
Even encountering Mr. Door again would have made more sense.
A moment later, the river vanished.
Everything seen through the crack in the door seemed to zoom in rapidly, as if through a fast-forwarded lens. Everything blurred—until suddenly, everything stilled.
What appeared was a towering castle crowned with familiar spires.
Hogwarts Castle?!
Edward had imagined countless times what might lie behind that door, but he had never expected to see Death…or Hogwarts Castle!
This time, he wasn't even given the chance to think. The door slammed shut with a heavy thud, and the brilliant multicoloured stars in the sky rained down toward him like falling meteors—just like when he advanced to Astrologer (Madman). Each streak of starlight was like a stream of information pouring into Edward's mind from every direction. Time, in that moment, seemed to lose all meaning.
It wasn't until the starry sky faded away that Edward's consciousness returned. He realised he had successfully advanced to Sequence 6, and a brand-new set of information had surfaced in his mind:
[Sequence 6: Bookworm]
You wholeheartedly believe that the stories within books are reflections of the real world. The people and creatures within those stories exist with flesh and blood. Because of that unwavering belief, you can draw mystical power from the words that compose those tales.
Abilities:
- [Record]—Use your spirit as the pen and your spiritual body as the paper to record mystical abilities you've witnessed.
- [Silverfish]—When you consume words imbued with mystical power, you temporarily gain the ability they describe.
[Sequence 5: Wandering Mentor]
Ingredients: Traveler's Potion + Shepherd's Beyonder Characteristic.
Ritual:Establish four special coordinates across four completely different worlds.
That was the end of the information stream.
But Edward hadn't forgotten that the Madman potion allowed him to temporarily borrow an ability from the next Sequence through [Delusion].
He immediately activated Delusion, and right away, another new ability was added to his list:
[Converging Paths]
Knowledge and abilities you pass on will return to you in the form of feedback. However, the ability you gain will be somewhat weakened.
Edward was stunned.
Was this ability telling him to become a teacher?
But..."new" knowledge and abilities?
Did that mean he had to teach Potioneering in the Harry Potter world, and magic in the Lord of the Mysteries world? If so, wouldn't his greatest advantage—being able to travel between worlds—become meaningless?
Still, what kind of 'feedback' would this ability provide? Would he truly gain what his students learned from him? That sounded a bit too powerful...
No wonder it required the Shepherd's characteristic.
In a way, this was another form of shepherding.
As he was pondering, he suddenly felt a wave of lightness sweep over him. The confusion and questions stirred up by Converging Paths gently faded. He looked up and saw that Audrey was using Placate on him.
"How do you feel?" Audrey asked, concern written all over her face.
Lilith had also jumped onto the sofa, looking up at Edward with wide eyes. "Edward, you looked…really scary just now."
Seeing the worry in their eyes, Edward's heart warmed, and he smiled.
"The advancement went smoothly. I'm now a Sequence 6 Bookworm. The name of Sequence 5 is Wandering Mentor."
Audrey sighed in relief. "Bookworm…So how are you supposed to act the part?"
Edward chuckled, "Maybe…read more books? Hmm?"
Suddenly, he froze, then murmured, "The Bookworm potion…it's already been fully digested."
"???"
Audrey was stunned. "Again? Another early digestion?"
After a moment of confusion, realisation struck Edward.
The Bookworm description was: You wholeheartedly believe the stories within books are real worlds. The characters and creatures inside are flesh-and-blood existences.
The core idea was the unshakable belief that the worlds in books were real.
Now, consider this—aside from rare Spectators like the Dragon of Imagination (author of Groselle's Travels) who could create book-worlds, who else could possibly believe more in the reality of fictional worlds than Edward?
He had truly lived inside Lord of the Mysteries and Harry Potter. Every person he met, every story he experienced, every emotion he felt—it was all real.
This was no longer a matter of belief or not. To Edward, the two book-worlds were as objectively real as anything else—beyond question!
That was why the "Bookworm" potion had melted the moment it touched his tongue.
But Edward couldn't bring himself to feel happy. A sudden thought emerged in his mind:
The "Bookworm" Sequence seemed tailor-made for Harry Potter and Lord of the Mysteries—as if...as if the Cereal had been made just for the milk.
But who would even have the power to arrange all of this?
Even if the Ancient Sun God had resurrected, could "He" really connect the two worlds and specially create a brand new Sequence?
For the first time, Edward began to question his own existence…Could it be that he himself was a contingency left behind by some great being, a backup plan meant to ensure someone's return?
What if, upon advancing far enough in the Sequence, some "primordial consciousness" were to awaken within him?
When that happened, would he still be himself?
No. That would be no different from death.
No—that would be even more despairing than death!
Once that suspicion took root, it could no longer be suppressed. His mind spun into chaos, his spirituality surged out of control, and everything in his vision blurred and twisted—he was showing signs of losing control.
"Edward!"
"Edward!"
"Eeedwaaarrd~!"
Suddenly, Audrey's voice pierced through the fog, as if calling from afar. There was fear and panic in her tone, as she cried out his name again and again.
Edward's heart jolted. Audrey's figure gradually came into focus before his eyes—
Her face was pale, and despite the pain of spiritual depletion, she continued to use Placate without pause.
Only then did Edward realise what was happening. He forced himself to concentrate and chased away all wild thoughts. As his anxiety and dread were gradually smoothed over, he finally awoke from that black hole of despair. The signs of spiritual outburst faded away.
Audrey breathed a sigh of relief. Overwhelming exhaustion rushed in as she collapsed forward, drained of all strength.
Edward quickly caught her, gently laying her down on the sofa. Holding her cold fingers, he whispered, "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry, Audrey. I shouldn't have let my thoughts run wild like that."
Her eyes fluttered open, revealing a faint smile. "As long…as you're okay."
Lilith cautiously placed her little paws on Edward's leg, looking up at him with big eyes. "Edward~"
"Don't worry, I'm fine now. Really. It's all over. That was just some instability from advancing—it's a side effect."
Audrey gave a soft hum of acknowledgement with her breath, eyes closed.
Lilith whispered, "Miss Lilith was helping too, you know…"
"Thank you too, Lilith~"
"You're welcome."
Audrey soon drifted into deep sleep. Severe spiritual depletion in a Beyonder could sometimes lead to loss of control, but most of the time, it just left them physically and mentally drained—a good rest would usually suffice for recovery.
Edward picked up a blanket and draped it over her. With his fingers, he gently stroked her pale cheek, then sat down on the floor beside the sofa, leaning against it, and began reviewing the extraordinary abilities he had just gained.
Advancing to "Bookworm" had granted him two abilities: [Record] and [Silverfish].
He had already tasted the [Silverfish] ability in advance thanks to [Delusion]. But now, at Sequence 6, the number of abilities he could 'consume' had doubled—up to ten in total! The duration remained at 48 hours, but the previous cooldown for switching abilities was gone.
This meant that, purely from a Beyonder ability standpoint, he was now at least on par with a demigod on both the Black Emperor and Red Priest pathways—
Of course, due to limited spirituality, he couldn't sustain battles for long. He still lacked the spiritual reserves to 'eat' Sequence 3 abilities.
As for [Record], it functioned similarly to an ordinary Scribe.
At the moment, he could store one demi-god level Beyonder ability. For Sequence 6 and Sequence 5 abilities, he could record up to 8, though their effects would be roughly halved. For abilities from Sequences 7 to 9, he could store up to 20, with effects nearly identical to the originals.
As his potion continued to digest, these limits would improve further. In the end, he would probably be able to store even more than what Leymano's Travel Notebook could contain.
Disregarding the issue of spiritual consumption, a fully stocked Edward—maxed out with [Silverfish] and [Record]—would be equivalent to five or six Beyonders from different pathways. And that's not even counting his spellcasting. He was basically a walking artillery unit—but again, that all hinged on having sufficient spirituality.
With his abilities reviewed, next came the matter of acting and digestion.
The "Bookworm" had already been fully digested. All that remained now was the Scribe. In the original novel, Fors digested Scribe by travelling widely and recording local customs, blending it with recording Beyonder abilities.
As for that first part—he could travel between two worlds, which meant his digestion should be even faster.
For the second part, he could directly record the abilities he 'devoured' with [Silverfish]—self-sustaining!
That meant he could soon digest Scribe and advance to Sequence 5!
…Wait. Not quite.
The ritual for Wandering Mentor was a lot more complicated than that of Traveler. The latter required setting up special coordinates in four vastly separated areas deep within the spirit world. But the Wandering Mentor needed special coordinates in four different worlds.
And where on earth was he going to find four different worlds?
The real world counted as one.
The spirit world could be the second.
The Harry Potter world made three.
But what about the fourth?
———
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