Klein listened in silence, recalling his previous encounter with King of the Five Seas Nast:
He was indeed pursuing the Black Emperor card, pursuing the opportunity for advancement. The rules he had established at sea had basically met the requirements for the Duke of Entropy's advancement ritual. In this situation, his own advancement would undoubtedly be more important, unless the Loen Royal Family or the Demoness Sect could directly provide the Duke of Entropy characteristic, which was clearly unlikely.
After a moment of silence, he continued to ask:
"Who do you think are the collaborators of the Loen Kingdom and the Demoness Sect?"
Leyton continued to play with the strange crown in his hand, and his voice was calm as he said:
"It's impossible to be certain. The number of existences that possess the complete Black Emperor Pathway potion formula is neither too many nor too few. Besides the descendants of Solomon, there are also the Sanguine, and those old fellows who survived from the Third Epoch and Fourth Epoch."
"For example, the Primordial Demoness. She has seen the blasphemy slate before and has lived for so long. She must have killed some Black Emperor Pathway Saints and Angels, so it's not strange for her to possess High-Sequence formulas for this Pathway."
"Anyone who can cooperate with the Loen Kingdom and the Demoness Sect certainly wouldn't have a low status. No one can be ruled out."
Klein nodded in understanding, temporarily skipping this topic, and continued to speak:
"Those pirates didn't know much, and what they remembered most were all the restricted scenes in the sea."
"They were just acting on the orders of Mad Captain Connors Victor. Besides knowing that their boss was involved in human trafficking, they knew nothing else and were completely unaware that a demigod was hidden on board."
Leyton was not surprised. With the help of a group of Spectators, it would be strange if clues were found so easily.
Putting down the strange crown in his hand, he pondered and said:
"That Mad Captain most likely fell into the hands of the Church of the Lord of Storms. The effect isn't much different anyway. Aren't you planning to report the information to the Church after getting it?"
Klein's mouth twitched slightly, then he made a final summary:
"This trip basically didn't yield any new effective information, other than knowing that there's a third party force that possesses the Black Emperor Pathway High-Sequence potion formula."
Sighing lightly, he added:
"How do you plan to deal with the remaining Beyonder characteristic and Mystical Item? They correspond to the Folk of Rage and Sailor of the Storm Pathway, and there's also a Hunter."
"The Mad Captain didn't have many Beyonders under him. You already targeted their characteristics when you had that 'Siren' capture people, didn't you?"
Leyton spread his hands, defending himself:
"That has nothing to do with me. Perhaps it thought these three Beyonders were stronger and could better meet its needs."
After a pause, he continued:
"I've already taken the Earl of the Fallen's characteristic. The rest are yours. You can use them to create a few Mystical Items, or you can choose to sell them directly. It just so happens that this afternoon is this week's Tarot Club."
"That Loen Military demigod is quite poor. He should have just advanced not long ago. His Relics only has one Mystical Item corresponding to Wind-Blessed, which has strong negative effects and cannot be used."
"I suggest directly pulverizing it into a characteristic, then finding a fish in the sea to feed it to. This way, you can shepherd a Wind-Blessed. At sea, the Wind-Blessed's abilities are still very practical."
Klein listened in silence, then complained, "Your idea is very novel. No wonder you can be friends with Frank."
Finally, he added:
"How do I pulverize a Mystical Item? Mr. Azik hasn't fully recovered yet, so he probably can't exert Angel-level power."
Leyton leaned back against the chair, his voice leisurely as he said:
"Perform a ritual and request some power from the Hidden Sage or the Evernight Goddess. This is a very simple matter for Them."
"Alternatively, you can also find Bernadette. She is already a Sage.
"Oh, my food supply is running low. I need you to help me prepare some fresh food and two brass lanterns later."
"Alright." Klein nodded lightly.
After obtaining the specific details of the ritual from Leyton, he ended this brief meeting.
In the Forsaken Land of the Gods, Leyton rested for a period in a city ruin that only had broken walls remaining, until Klein sent a notification that everything he needed was ready.
Only then did he use the remaining materials to set up a simple ritual, taking out the Earl of the Fallen's Beyonder characteristic, the crystal ball he used as a lighting tool, the food for the next few days, and the two brass lanterns.
After the ritual of requesting a bestowal, the shadow beneath his feet wriggled and surged like water, swallowing all the items placed on the ground and transferring them into the Shadow World.
After doing all this, Leyton held a lantern in one hand and the Earl of the Fallen's Beyonder characteristic in the other. Deep blue, almost purple, radiance flowed in his eyes, outlining one mysterious symbol after another.
Behind him, a slightly incomplete ring made of gears and chains emerged.
The ring rotated slowly, and in the center, a pair of cold, indifferent, lashless eyes, containing countless brilliant stars, suddenly opened.
It carried a chilling sense of Insight into everything and indifference to everything, permeated with a suppressed madness.
The appearance of these eyes caused Leyton's aura to suddenly rise. The coldness and madness in his eyes gradually intensified.
During this process, he felt a faint, indistinct summons from the east, seemingly present yet absent, more like an intuition of his own rather than an actual sound or sensation.
He quickly composed himself. While he could still resist the divine erosion from that Sage characteristic, he squeezed his left hand, which held the Earl of the Fallen characteristic. Points of brilliant starlight spilled out from his hand, accompanied by the crisp sound of crystal shattering.
The Beyonder characteristic, which had already aggregated into form, shattered into specks of black and dark Red Light, merging with the surrounding points of brilliant starlight. Slowly, with a peculiar rhythm, they fused into the brass lantern he held in his right hand.
The ordinary lantern was stretched and deformed, gradually becoming exquisite and somewhat heavy. The brass surface also gradually darkened. Faint, extremely asymmetrical and irregular patterns appeared on the transparent glass lampshade. In the center of these patterns was an eye full of evil strangeness.
In less than half a minute, the Earl of the Fallen's characteristic was completely integrated into the lantern.
The slowly rotating ring behind Leyton rapidly became transparent until it disappeared.
He looked at the greatly transformed lantern in his hand, sighing slightly in relief, but his body instinctively recoiled a few steps, unable to resist the urge to move away from the crackling fire in front of him.
"The negative effect is fear of fire?" he muttered softly. Suppressing the discomfort in his heart, he refocused his gaze on the dark brass lantern in his right hand.
Fortunately, it was just integrating the already extracted characteristic into other items. It didn't require Angel-level power, only careful guidance to make the formed Mystical Item evolve in the direction I desired. With previous experience in crafting Mystical Items, this wasn't too difficult for me.
While sighing inwardly, his eyes suddenly deepened, clearly losing focus and appearing vast.
The magical effects and negative influences of the lantern in his hand were quickly understood by him. Fortunately, it wasn't too outrageous, but it wasn't too good either. As expected, crafting Mystical Items still needs to be left to an Artisan.
"A lantern that never extinguishes, whether positive or negative, its influence is limited to the range of its light."
"It retains the most core abilities of 'Chaos' and 'Distortion' from the Earl of the Fallen. 'Magnification' and 'Exploit' have more restrictions, only being able to act on effects created by one's own Beyonder abilities. The 'Bestow' Beyonder ability was not retained."
"There are three negative effects: First, as the usage time increases, the user's mind will gradually become darker and greedier, making it easy to make irrational choices. If its Beyonder abilities are used, this process will accelerate;"
"Second, it will make the user afraid of fire, excluding the lantern's own light;"
"Third, within the range covered by the lantern's light, any act of giving or taking will cause negative effects on oneself, such as passive laziness, greedy urgency, loss of fighting spirit, or only being able to focus on money…"
Leyton held the lantern in his right hand in silence for a while, not feeling any obvious change in his mind. After a pause, he looked at a large, mostly collapsed building nearby, built of bluestone and somewhat resembling a temple.
Boom!
The building, which had been standing quietly, suddenly seemed to become fragile, its structure no longer stable, and it collapsed with a roar.
The lightning strikes in the sky during this period were very frequent, and Leyton could clearly see the several meters high dust raised at the location of the ruins ahead.
Feeling the faint greed rising in his heart, Leyton estimated that if he maintained high-intensity combat, his dark emotions and thoughts would become severe enough to affect judgment and combat in at most one minute. Even if he lowered the frequency of use, he could only last for three minutes at most.
"The best match for this Mystical Item is the Black Knight's Shadow of Deprivation ability. Once the dark thoughts in one's heart reach a limit, directly separate the inner Fallen thoughts and combine them with the shadow to form an uncontrollable independent creature, then eliminate it."
"The Manipulator's 'Virtual Persona' might also work, but it's easy to lose control, leading to spiritual schizophrenia or even loss of control."
"I still need to have the Prophet Clone stationed in the Southern Continent find a Saint from the Aurora Order to analyze the Shadow of Deprivation ability and develop a practical secret technique."
After making his plans, Leyton, suppressing his fear of fire, approached the bonfire and placed the lantern aside.
Feeling the deep fear of the bonfire in front of him disappear, he exhaled a breath of relief and sighed:
"Could the fear of fire as a negative effect come from Charles's strong will before he died?"
Thinking carefully, Leyton found this conjecture quite plausible.
After a pause, he turned and sat on a large stone he had moved nearby, then closed his eyes and began to pray to Klein, asking him to help convey the message to the Prophet Clone.
Above the Gray Fog, Klein sat on the high-backed chair belonging to The Fool, his expression complex as he sighed:
"I'm probably the most undignified Great One, even if it's just an act."
"Normally, I have to moonlight as a delivery person, helping the Tarot Club members transfer trade items, and now I even have to be a messenger and procurement specialist for others."
"One-on-one service from Mr. Fool, shouldn't I charge a fee?"
While complaining inwardly, Klein had already turned the content of Leyton's prayer into a speck of light and cast it into the crimson star representing the Prophet Clone.
After doing all this, he was not in a hurry to leave the Gray Fog. Instead, he took out a pocket watch from the inside pocket of his coat to check the time, then sent a reminder to Sun Derrick, who was also in the Forsaken Land of the Gods, that the Tarot Club was about to begin.
Klein leaned back slightly, resting his eyes for a moment in the high-backed chair. He gently tapped the edge of the table in front of him twice, and a somewhat gloomy and restrained figure suddenly appeared and sat at the lower end of the mottled long table.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, he straightened slightly, extending his spirituality to connect with the crimson stars representing the members of the Tarot Club, pulling them into this space above the Gray Fog.
Illusory crimson light surged out like a tide, rapidly engulfing the entire hall, then quickly receding, condensing into vague figures on both sides of the mottled long table.
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