Lord of the Mysteries (Web Novel)

After a brief moment of consideration, The Hermit Cattleya made the choice that benefited her the most. She said without betraying her emotions, “I’ll make a decision after seeing what the commonly seen monsters are around the City of Silver.”

Another person who gains something without risking anything of her own… Are the people who spend too much time at sea good at fleecing others? Or is Little Sun in such a state that makes it impossible to resist fleecing him… Klein instinctively excluded himself from the group of seafarers.

“Alright.” Under Justice and company’s scrutiny, Derrick didn’t hesitate to agree to Ma’am Hermit’s request.

He recalled the content and conjured it, recording the most commonly seen monsters around the City of Silver into a list. However, it wasn’t as detailed as before, and there were quite a few missing. After all, the Sun pathway’s improvement in regards to his memory was rather limited. A few days had passed.

Cattleya received the piece of information and read through it in a serious manner.

The more she scanned through it, the more alarmed she became. This was because the types of monsters had far exceeded her expectations by nearly a hundred times!

Most of the names used were ancient names. If not for her being a Moses Ascetic Order member who had been pursued by knowledge, and having reached Sequence 5, making her experienced and knowledgeable, there was no way she could’ve known what these names would really be referring to.

But even so, there were still a few monsters she had never heard of. They were like shadows who would never reveal themselves in dreams or imaginations, forever lurking in the depths of the darkness.

Where exactly is the City of Silver? Why are there so many monsters? Ten seconds later, Cattleya raised her head without a change in expression. She said with a staid tone, “Use the history of your City of Silver in exchange.”

“Alright.” Derrick’s eyes lit up as he seemed to see hope in advancing.

He soon conjured the historical materials of the City of Silver with the help of Mr. Fool. Having had ample experience, he knew that even more complete and detailed information was worth more than the fruit of a Radiance Spirit Pact Tree; hence, he retained some of what he knew.

Cattleya knew that she wasn’t Mr. Fool, so it was impossible for her to let the members patiently wait for her to finish reading. Therefore, she casually flipped through it. After confirming its value, she deliberated and asked, “How should I hand over the fruit of the Radiance Spirit Pact Tree to you?”

Just as she said that, she suddenly thought of something. With a guess, she looked to the end of the long bronze table.

“Mr. Fool, is it done by a sacrificial ritual?”

This left Audrey, who had prepared the answer, to be clearly stunned. She swallowed the words that she was about to say.

Ma’am Hermit is very impressive and knowledgeable. She directly guessed that it’s done via a sacrificial and bestowment ritual! Audrey controlled her minute facial expressions as she clicked her tongue and sighed inwardly.

“Yes.” Klein gently nodded without going into detail.

He believed that it was impossible for a pirate admiral, a Sequence 5 powerhouse of the Mystery Pryer pathway, to not know how a sacrifice was made. This was even something they were good at. Furthermore, she knew The Fool’s honorific name, so she didn’t lack any of the necessary conditions.

Indeed, with a godlike existence bearing witness to a gathering, a sacrificial and bestowment method is the safest and most convenient way of trading… And a conversation through the Soul Body can result in direct knowledge transfer… Cattleya thanked him before saying to The Sun, “I’ll do it as soon as possible.”

Although she didn’t show any abnormalities, her heart was in no way calm. From her casual flipping of the information provided by The Sun, she discovered that the City of Silver was truly filled with oddities.

It included matters about being forsaken by the Lord, how it didn’t have a sun, resulting in a state of eternal darkness and high- and low-frequency lightning. Matters like how strange and terrifying monsters hid in the darkness when there was no light, and how they survived thanks to Black-Faced Grass. It mentioned that they had survived for more than two thousand years since the Dark Ages. All of this exceeded Cattleya’s expectations.

As a powerhouse at sea who was knowledgeable and had acquired many secrets, she instantly connected the time and descriptions to a famous concept in history—the Cataclysm!

Following that, she followed this line of thought and made a further inference.

The Forsaken Land of the Gods!

Suddenly, the figure she looked up to surfaced in Cattleya’s mind once again. A sentence filled with an emotive sigh surfaced.

“He had always been searching for the Forsaken Land of the Gods back when he was alive. He said that the ultimate answer towards everything is hidden there.”

The Sun comes from the Forsaken Land of the Gods which Emperor Roselle couldn’t find despite all his efforts? Mr. Fool can connect to that place directly? No, perhaps, “He” awoke from that place… Cattleya thought in alarm and solemnity.

She had previously belittled the Tarot Club because The Moon, Justice, and The Sun were of low Sequences. She believed that with Mr. Fool having awoken only recently, he was obviously unable to pull members of significant strength. However, she now had to reevaluate matters.

It involves the Forsaken Land of the Gods, the Church of Storms, the Church of Mother Earth, the Loen aristocrats… Perhaps, it’s precisely because they’re low Sequences that these members can be nurtured to be able to reach higher ranks in their respective circles without being suspected. This will allow them to play a more important role… As for me, is it because of the Moses Ascetic Order or Her Majesty? Cattleya seriously analyzed the motives of Mr. Fool.

At this moment, the transactions were nearly coming to an end. The Moon, The Sun, and Justice had all confirmed their respective transactions. As for The Hermit Cattleya, she was still observing. Out of caution, she didn’t rashly open her mouth to expose more information about herself.

Alger had originally planned on making a request to buy the Sequence 5 Ocean Songster’s potion formula so that he could make the subsequent preparations, but with the addition of The Hermit, he became especially wary. He gave up on his decision at the last minute and prepared to push it back until he had really advanced to Wind-blessed. Only with him being stronger would he have the room to breathe.

As Fors would be able to obtain the Astrologer potion formula and a certain amount of ingredients from her teacher soon, she hadn’t prioritized her purchases yet, so all she did was watch silently.

She actually curbed her desire to buy a mystical item to make up for her relatively showy Trickmaster powers that were lacking in strength, as well as how her Apprentice powers were only good for passing through walls and opening doors. However, her real life circumstances restricted her desires.

Up to this day, her savings had exceeded 400 pounds. For a member of the middle-class, that was rather good, but she clearly remembered how Miss Justice had bought a mystical item for 5,500 pounds previously.

Even if it was a relatively average mystical item without significant negative side effects, it will still require one to two thousand pounds… Fors languidly sat there, unable to open her mouth to make a purchase.

Klein controlled The World to scan his surroundings before hoarsely saying, “I need a pair of eyes from a six-winged gargoyle.”

The supplementary ingredients of a Nimblewright Master—drago bark and the spring water from Sonia Island’s Golden Spring—were commonly seen items in the mysterious world. As long as he purchased them at different occasions, he wouldn’t garner suspicion from anyone. Therefore, Klein only requested for the eyes of a six-winged gargoyle.

The Hermit glanced at The World and said without rushing, “300 pounds, or the equivalent cost in gold coins.”

She had noticed that the previous transactions were all made in Loen’s gold pound.

As expected of the Admiral of Stars who has a pirate crew with an ancient faction backing her. She is very resourceful, and her prices are cheaper than usual… If not for Little Sun’s imminent advancement, and how he would soon obtain the method for removing the mental corruption of a Beyonder characteristic, I would’ve even consulted her on this problem… Klein thought as he made The World smiled deeply.

“Okay.”

With the transaction completed, the palace that resembled a giant’s residence fell silent for more than ten seconds.

Without Mr. Fool’s reminder, Justice, The Sun, and company knew that they had entered the free exchange segment.

The Hanged Man Alger deliberately looked at Miss Justice and Miss Magician without looking at Ma’am Hermit.

“Something major recently happened in the Rorsted Archipelago.”

He didn’t plan on divulging The World’s involvement since it was very likely that Mr. Fool was in possession of the Sea God’s identity. If he were to rashly confirm this matter, it might spoil Mr. Fool’s plans and throw himself into danger.

He planned on using a normal tone to mention the happenings on the surface while emphasizing the Moses Ascetic Order member—archaeologist and adventurer, Leticia. He planned on using this to sound out The Hermit to figure out if she was Admiral of Stars, Cattleya. This was because this pirate admiral was rumored to also be a member of the Moses Ascetic Order.

“What happened?” Justice asked with piqued interest.

Alger said calmly, “A disguised archaeologist, Leticia, discovered an ancient elvish ruin in Symeem Island and took out an item from it. This pushed the deity the locals believed in, Sea God Kalvetua, to be on the brink of collapse.

“This fake god wished to create tsunamis to drown the island so that everyone could accompany it in its death, but it was stopped by the Church of Storms’s Sea King.

“Finally, Leticia was found and Kalvetua had died. The threat of the tsunamis was leveled, but strangely, the devout believers of the Sea God would still occasionally receive responses.”

Leticia is dead? For an ancient elvish ruin… Cattleya had heard of this archaeologist, who was part of the same organization, before, but she wasn’t too familiar with her. This was because formal members of the Moses Ascetic Order had to spend a certain amount of time in silent ascetic training. When fully paying attention, she was able to control her powers in a way that significantly exceeded the average person. Therefore, she only seemed slightly stirred as she listened seriously to The Hanged Man’s description without showing any obvious abnormalities.

When The Hanged Man said that Kalvetua was dead and how the “Sea God” still responded to its believers, Cattleya first frowned in puzzlement before using her spiritual intuition to recall a certain scene.

Yesterday, she had seen Mr. Fool hold a milky-white scepter when “He” pulled her above the gray fog.

At the tip of the scepter were many tiny blue “gems” which were swirling with countless points of holy light.

And more importantly, it emanated an aura of godhood, one that seemed like the corporeal aura of the ocean and storm!

This… Cattleya instinctively turned her head to the end of the long bronze table, where Mr. Fool was shrouded in the grayish-white fog.