Secrets: Priestess

Chapter 107 Alive
Thick curtains block out the late night street scene.

Claire took out a simple set of clothes from her somewhat empty wardrobe and replaced her tattered clothes.

During this process, Claire heard a woman's prayer voice from the gray fog.

It's Audrey.

Claire buttoned her shirt, thinking that the Fool's attempts in the gray fog world might not be over yet. "At this moment... Audrey should be praying for a blessing through ritual magic."

Claire was still frightened by the experience just now.

At the most critical moment, if it weren't for the church bells, she would probably lose control and become a monster.

"Prayer, sacrifice, bestowal... these are undoubtedly the powers of the gods. So, while observing the Fool attempting these things, I glimpsed a hint of divinity."

Claire tried hard to face her inner fear and recalled the events that had just occurred.

"It was this very divine power that, while allowing me to gain divine knowledge, also allowed the sage's hidden corruption within me to take advantage and run rampant. The sealing power of the goddess's sacred artifact fell into a disadvantage and subsequently lost control. The manifestation of this loss of control was the growth of 'long, multi-eyed wolf legs' from my back..."

"The question is, to whom does this divine power belong? When I glimpsed this divine power, why did the words 'Fu Sheng Xuan Huang Tian Zun' echo repeatedly in my heart?"

"That hint of divinity on the hazy gate, is it the divinity of the fool?"

Claire guessed that wasn't the case, because the Fool's behavior when he was alone in the gray fog world, his inability to perceive what she was observing... didn't seem like that of a demigod, let alone a god.

"Blessings come from the dark and yellow..."

"I was able to ascend to the Gray Mist World on my own, largely because of these four spells."

"I can peek into the gray fog world because of these four spells."

"'Fushengxuanhuang Tianzun', 'the Black and Yellow King who controls good fortune'... if the two are actually the same individual, then how could a fool allow me to borrow his honorific name to spy on the gray fog world?"

"And when I saw the overlapping symbols of the 'Pupilless Eye' and the 'Twisted Thread,' when I glimpsed that hint of divinity, it was clear that a will different from that of the Hidden Sage was attempting to awaken within me..."

"Could it be that 'Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianzun' is the master of the divine kingdom of the Gray Mist World, and the Fool is just a successor? Or were they once one, a single deity, but now split into different individuals?"

"Divinity and humanity?"

Claire had a vague feeling that she had grasped the clue, but without more information, she couldn't be sure.

Audrey's prayers grew clearer in the gray fog. Claire clenched her hands tightly and sighed inwardly, "Danger and opportunity always go hand in hand. This might be the only channel in front of me that can observe 'God'..."

Claire's eyes darkened slightly, and as she chanted the mantra "Fu Sheng Xuan Huang Tianzun" in her heart, her gaze once again turned to the gray fog.

She saw the Fool sitting upright in his seat, playing with a palm-sized object in his hand that kept changing color. It was the pituitary gland of the colorful lizard dragon sacrificed by The Hanged Man.

As Audrey prayed, the gray fog gradually fluctuated, and Claire saw the hazy door behind the Fool condense again.

Claire's clenched palms were slightly sweaty. She looked at the symbol on the hazy door again and felt that indescribable will once again.

The pages of the illusory book in the memory library turned silently.

This time, the mysterious will did not have much impact on her.

It just caused her eyes to suffer unbearable pain.

Claire endured the pain in her eyes and watched the Fool throw the potion ingredients in his hand into the hazy door.

The material seemed to be delivered to the altar set up by Audrey.

The Fool is indeed able to grant physical objects...

Watching the Fool disappear into the gray fog, Claire sighed softly and averted her gaze.

“Divinity and Duality, Prayer and Gift.”

Claire took a deep breath and thought with envy, "I wonder when I will be able to do this..."

"Perhaps I have what it takes to compete with the Fool for the Gray Mist World?" Claire pondered this possibility carefully. After a long silence, she smiled wryly and shook her head.

"Unlikely... More likely, the will of 'Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianzun' has emerged within me at some point. It's this will, not me, that qualifies me to compete with the Fool for the Gray Mist World."

Claire warned herself in her heart: "You can be greedy, but you can't be greedy."

Claire pressed the back of her hand, pressing the spot where the teardrop mark disappeared, and recalled that from the moment she crossed into this world, the gray fog and the four-line spell of "Fu Sheng Xuan Huang" had been in contact with her.

Especially after being dragged into the gray fog world by the Fool, she seemed to have a closer connection with "Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianzun".

This time, she observed the symbol on the hazy gate. If the divinity in the symbol had not triggered the riot of the hidden sage's pollution, she might have become the carrier of someone's will.

"So, you must be cautious when interacting with the Gray Fog World. For now, just remain on the sidelines and avoid entering that Gray Fog World unless absolutely necessary."

Claire looked at the giant white book floating in the memory library again.

"This can be considered a blessing in disguise... This is probably the manifestation of my own memories under the pressure of the divine power. It was with its help that I was no longer stimulated by the divine power in the symbol. In other words, with it, my resistance to pollution has finally increased a little."

Claire recalled the divine knowledge she had gained when she lost control:

"'All Beyonder characteristics actually contain divinity. As Beyonder characteristics converge, more divinity accumulates, and the closer one becomes to God.'..."

"In other words, the essence of Beyonders losing control is actually the awakening of divinity, and divinity erasing their own humanity? This statement may not be complete... My sequence is still too low to fully understand the knowledge of divinity."

"But what is certain is that the 'acting method' emphasizes acting, because if you get too addicted to it, you'll lose control. But if you don't act, you won't be able to digest the potion..."

"The Fool's metaphor is truly apt... Playing the role of the castle's original owner, he gradually becomes its new master, yet at the same time, he must not lose sight of his own existence."

"The Fool can explain the method of acting so easily. Could it be that... the Fool is impersonating a certain god, stealing that god's power, stealing the Gray Mist World?"

"This speculation remains to be seen. In short, the Gray Mist World is a complex place. Meanwhile..."

Claire smiled bitterly and said, "The water on my body is also very deep..."

At first, she thought that the gray fog protected her from the pollution of the Hidden Sage, so she has always felt a sense of familiarity with the gray fog world.

But this experience made Claire realize that it was actually a certain existence in the gray fog world who wanted to use her to revive or turn her into an avatar.

The purpose is similar to that of the Hidden Sage.

"So what about the goddess... What is the purpose of the goddess of night?"

Whether it is the Hidden Sage or the Will of the Gray Mist, compared with the righteous Goddess of Night, they can be temporarily classified as evil gods.

The Goddess of Night not only bestowed upon her holy objects to influence her, but also used divine revelation to allow the church to repeatedly help her overcome difficulties.

Claire didn't believe that these kinds of "investments" meant no return.

"As long as they don't want to erase my will like the first two did, everything is fine..." Claire rubbed her forehead helplessly.

"Also... the potions I took were clearly from the 'Educator' path. According to divine knowledge, shouldn't I be close to the 'God of Steam and Machinery'? But I haven't been influenced by that righteous deity until now. This is because..."

After thinking for a moment, Claire had to admit a reality:
"Perhaps it's because my sequence is too low... I haven't entered the sight of that god yet."

"According to the roleplaying rules, the divine influence will only become noticeable when a Sequence 5 is promoted to Sequence 4. In other words, when I take the Sequence 4 potion, I might even receive the attention of the 'God of Steam and Machinery'?"

Claire felt more clearly the difficulty of obtaining extraordinary power in this world.

"But even if this road has an end, at least we should walk to the end. Even if it's just for a glimpse, it will be worth the journey."

"Although I don't agree with all of Senior Russell's actions, looking at the historical records related to him and the private diaries he wrote in Chinese characters, this senior must have explored this alien world very deeply before his death..."

"Based on this alone, it is still worth looking forward to."

Claire, wearing a coat, pulled aside the heavy curtains and looked out the window at the crimson moon and the quiet streets. Her mood gradually calmed down. "Who wants to die when they can just live?"

(End of this chapter)