Lord of Mysteries

Chapter 401 The Growth of a "Newbie"

In the dimly lit, sturdy room, Derrick Berg, who was pretending to be unconscious, suddenly rolled over and stood up.

His "hurricane axe" had been taken away and sent for inspection, and all the pockets of his clothes had been emptied, leaving nothing behind.

Derrick took a breath and calmly looked around.

Two small sun-like rays suddenly shone in his eyes, bringing everything in the room into his gaze.

The furnishings here consist of only a table and two chairs, along with a stone floor with unusual patterns.

On the table sat a half-burnt candle, a standard feature in every room of Silver City, because if it were dark for too long, monsters might suddenly appear.

Derrick didn't hesitate any longer, sat down, and reached out to pick up the half candle.

Then, he broke and tore the candle into three pieces, one piece taking up three-quarters of the original candle, and the other two pieces sharing the remaining quarter.

After Derrick's adjustments, the wicks of all three candle sections were now fully visible.

Snapped!

He rubbed his fingers together, creating a golden flame that lit the three candles.

The two bars at the top represent Mr. Fool, while the remaining bar symbolizes Derrick himself.

After completing the preparations, Derrick did not follow the normal procedure of burning herbal powder and adding medicinal essential oils. Instead, he leaned back, very quietly recited the name of "The Fool," and quickly entered a meditative state.

He recited it over and over again, monotonously and repeatedly, as if constantly hypnotizing himself.

With the help of meditation, Derrick entered a strange state of mental slumber and spiritual dispersion. He was both dazed and unaware, yet strangely clear-headed, his spirit constantly drifting upwards, higher and higher.

This is precisely "artificial sleepwalking".

With Mr. Fool's permission, Derrick could simplify some unnecessary steps.

…………

Above the gray fog, inside the majestic and ancient palace.

As Klein, the "Fool," was playing with the "All-Black Eye," he suddenly saw the crimson star, symbolizing a small "sun," expand and condense into a humanoid phantom, and the power of the mysterious space was slightly stirred.

Seeing this, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, because it meant that the little "sun" had completed the relatively more dangerous preliminary tasks, and only the final "finishing work" remained.

Without delay, Klein immediately put down the "All-Black Eye" and picked up the "Black Emperor" card.

His level and status instantly rose, causing the forces that had been manipulated above the gray fog to submit one by one.

Then, he grabbed a paper figure, flicked his wrist, and threw it towards the deep red star corresponding to the "sun".

The paper figure merged with the flowing power and rapidly expanded into a giant angel with twelve pairs of twenty-four jet-black wings.

The "angel" pierced through the deep red light, overlapping with the phantom of the small "sun".

It burst into flames silently and turned to ashes in less than a second.

At this point, Klein could no longer influence the situation in Silver City. As for whether his "Angel Substitute" could help Little "Sun" successfully pass the upcoming questioning and investigation, he wasn't entirely confident and could only sigh inwardly.

"Having done what I was supposed to do and exerted all my effort in all areas, all I can do is wait for fate to take its course. I hope it will be a good outcome..."

…………

In a daze, Derrick saw an angel descend before him with an aura that could blot out the sky, and wrapped himself in layers of twelve pairs of jet-black wings.

He suddenly came to his senses, and in his eyes were three candle flames burning quietly.

After sincerely thanking Mr. Fool, Derrick ended the ceremony and extinguished the two candles that only accounted for a quarter of the original number.

Then, he plucked them and created golden, clear flames in his palm.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, the two candles melted rapidly, and "tears" kept falling, either onto the remaining candle or around it.

As the wick burned out completely, only one candle remained on the table. It was shorter than before, but not very noticeably; it just seemed to have burned a little longer.

After cleaning up the remaining traces, Derrick extinguished the last dim candle flame.

He sat up straight in silence, staring blankly ahead, without making a move for a long time.

He worried that the "Council of Six" was not reacting quickly enough, allowing the exploration team members to contaminate more Silver City residents with "mushrooms" and "Dum Fruits";

He feared that the "Chief" and others might find other clues elsewhere, thus ruining his preparations;

He loathed those "outsiders" who lurked in the depths of darkness, always carrying intense malice, including Amon and the "fallen creator";

He felt guilty for avoiding the exploration and failing to warn Dark and the others, which led to them becoming corrupted monsters.

He was tormented by the fact that he had personally eliminated a classmate who could be considered a friend.

—Although Derrick didn’t see Dark’s final fate, he believed that the person who had mutated into that form was already dead.

Amidst his complex and chaotic emotions, Derrick lost track of how long he had waited and eventually relit the candle midway through.

Finally, he heard the sound of the seal being broken and the door being opened.

Turning his head, he saw, by the dim candlelight, a woman in a black dress with her hair tied in a long braid that reached down to her vest walk in.

"Ms. Aphrodite," Derrick called out instinctively.

Aphrodite had delicate features, but some wrinkles had appeared at the corners of her eyes. She smiled and nodded in response to Derrick, then briskly sat down opposite him.

"Is there anything you want to say?" she asked softly.

Derrick instinctively looked up and saw that the other person's eyes had turned into pale gold vertical pupils.

His thoughts drifted for a moment, and Derrick seemed to enter a sleepwalking state.

Aphrodite adjusted the candlelight, allowing the dim yellow light to fully illuminate the boy's face opposite her.

Her pale gold vertical pupils grew increasingly indifferent, like those of an emotionless spectator.

Suddenly, faint halos of light appeared within those pale golden vertical pupils, seemingly forming a vortex and constructing a labyrinth.

In a daze, Derrick felt himself drifting, surrounded by endless darkness and countless bright colors.

Just then, he suddenly woke up, feeling as if something had cleverly taken over his sleepwalking state.

He saw the dim, flickering candlelight and saw Aphrodite sitting opposite him, her eyes pale gold and upright.

From the shadows in the corner emerged the white-haired "Chief" Elder, Colin Iliad.

After nodding to the "Chief," Aphrodite gently asked Derrick:

What have you been doing lately?

Derrick remembered the teachings and maintained the same posture as before:

"I don't know, I've been in a daze, like I'm dreaming, only occasionally waking up..."

As he answered, two complex, dark green symbols appeared in Colin the Witcher's eyes.

Aphrodite continued to ask:

"Are you aware that you had a conflict with Darko Riggins?"

"I only remember fighting him... I think I saw a man hanging upside down on a cross, a man wearing a pointed soft hat and crystal glasses. Yes, I saw him in the dungeon... He spoke, he spoke with a smile..." Derrick recounted the story he had been making up for a long time.

Aphrodite glanced at the "Chief" and pressed for an answer:

"What did he say?"

"I can't remember clearly, I can only recall a little... He smiled and said, 'Fallen Creator, True Creator... Shepherd...'" Derrick almost couldn't control his excitement.

He took such a huge risk just to tell the "Chief" about the name "Fallen Creator" and the suspicion that the "Shepherd" was involved!

"The Fallen Creator... the True Creator... it matches the content of those murals at the bottom of the temple." Colin nodded slightly, frowning as he murmured, "The Shepherd..."

"And then?" Aphrodite's voice was unusually gentle.

Derrick replied, somewhat confused:

"Then they collided, and there was a lot of light, a very bright light, and I woke up, coughing constantly..."

The dark green symbol in Colin's eyes hadn't faded, signaling to Aphrodite to ask some details.

Derrick answered selectively, reciting the ones he had already considered according to the script, and delegating the ones outside the scope to Amon, saying he couldn't remember them.

Finally, Aphrodite asked:

"Where did you get that axe? Where did you get your 'Sun' pathway potion recipe?"

"I bought the axe from the underground market. The man was masked, so I could only tell he was male... The potion recipe for the 'Sun' pathway was left to me by my parents. I discovered it during an exploration..." Derrick said without a hint of guilt.

These were questions that had always existed, and the "Hanged Man" believed they would inevitably appear when he was guessing the riddle, so he had Derrick repeatedly rehearse how to answer them.

—Although the underground trading market in Silver City is semi-public, some people still try to conceal their identities for various reasons, which provides the best explanation for Derrick's situation.

After listening attentively, Aphrodite turned to Colin, the "Witcher," and said:

"He didn't lie, he couldn't possibly lie, I had the power of the 'Crown of Glory'."

Colin nodded and said:

"In this state, he did not show any signs of evil, depravity, or corruption."

Discovering these things is a special ability of "Demon Hunters".

As a high-sequence profession, the greatest strength of the "Demon Hunter" is that they can conceal their actions and intentions, making it impossible for targets who can foresee danger to detect them.

Therefore, every "demon hunter" is the nemesis of "demons".

After thinking for a while, Colin got up and left the room, saying to the shadows in the corner outside:

"We'll let Derrick leave soon; for now, we assume he's fine."

"But if we keep monitoring them secretly for a while longer, Amon could create two clones, and he might be able to create a third."

"Yes, Your Excellency," the shadow replied respectfully.

When Derrick "came to his senses," the interrogation room was empty, leaving only the words that he was free to leave.

He quietly breathed a sigh of relief, stepped outside, and kept thinking about Mr. "The Hanged Man's" advice:

"We cannot let our guard down or become complacent. The covert observation will definitely continue for some time; otherwise, your 'chief' will be unqualified!"

"Well, I can't chant the name of 'The Fool' anymore lately..." Derrick muttered to himself as he walked down the spiral staircase.

As he walked, he suddenly saw a familiar figure. It was Elder Lovia, the "Shepherd," who was dressed in a black robe with purple patterns and had a beautiful and elegant appearance.

Lovia's pale gray eyes swept over Derrick, and a gentle smile appeared on her face.

…………

Back in her own room, Lovia walked indifferently to her desk and unfolded a piece of paper made of leather.

She pinched her right index finger with her left palm and snapped it off, but no blood dripped out; it seemed to have all been drawn to the surface.

Holding the severed finger, Lovia drew a complex symbol on the paper, a symbol composed of half a "pupilless eye" symbolizing secrecy and half a "twisted line" symbolizing change.

After examining it carefully, Lovia wrapped the severed finger in the paper, put it in her mouth, made a snapping sound as she bit it, and then swallowed it all.

Suddenly, flesh and blood began to wriggle at the wound on her right palm, where only four fingers remained, and quickly grew into a new index finger, a slightly pale index finger.

Lovia lowered her head, looked at her palm, and whispered a word:

"A fool?"

(End of this chapter)