Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

Monday afternoon, 3:00 PM.

Crimson beams of light shot up within the magnificent palace, freezing into blurry human figures.

"Justice," Audrey said quickly, glancing around the room before looking at the head of the bronze table and bowing with a smile.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool!"

After the Tarot Club members had finished exchanging greetings, "The Hermit" Cattleya adjusted her glasses, turned to the side, and bowed to the blurry figure shrouded in gray mist at the head of the bronze table:

"Dear Mr. Fool, this time there are three pages of diary entries."

Klein smiled and said:

"very good."

A few seconds later, with permission granted, the Hermit Cattleya materialized the diary, watching it "jump" into Mr. Fool's palm.

Klein glanced at it casually, and suddenly exclaimed "Huh?" in his mind.

He discovered that the diary provided by the "Mysterious Queen" this time seemed to belong to the early period of Emperor Roselle's reign, and did not seem to contain any important information.

Normally, if it's impossible to distinguish the importance, one would definitely prioritize the later entries in the diary, as this would allow for the most accurate reconstruction of the mystery surrounding Emperor Roselle's assassination... I believe the 'Mysterious Queen' has enough intelligence... Shang Klein muttered to himself in confusion as he carefully read the diary.

This diary entry can be divided into three parts:

The first page recounts Emperor Roselle's first visit to Saint Milon with a troupe. At this time, Emperor Roselle was still preoccupied with his womanizing, but failed due to being drunk. He also visited the Temple of Twilight and met a giant named Oneg.

For thousands of years, Oneg and his people often dreamed of towering mountains, massive city walls built upon them, palaces, towers, and various buildings forever bathed in the light of twilight, much like the Twilight Palace, yet even more incredible, epic, and miraculous.

Without needing to be told, Oneg and his people were convinced that this was the royal court of the giants.

Thousands of years have passed, but the giants have never forgotten their homeland.

"My hometown..."

Homeland... Upon reading this, Klein felt for the first time that he had a complete emotional connection with the Emperor.

Unsurprisingly, the second and third pages of the diary contained similar content.

On the second page of his diary, Russell, during his visit to Zonia, also reminisced about his almost forgotten homeland.

On the third page of the diary, Russell decides to teach Bernadette two Chinese characters as special symbols, telling her that they are protective spells given to her by her father, and that she should remember them forever.

And these two Chinese characters are:

home.

Hometown… Klein repeated the word once again, his eyes even getting a little hot.

He finally understood why the "mysterious queen" Bernadette had chosen these three pages of her diary: they contained the protective symbol her father had left her.

"home."

Unfortunately, Klein knew all too well that they could never return to their homeland.

They have been hanging on the gate of light for thousands or tens of thousands of years, and even if they were to return, the world would have changed beyond recognition.

Everything they once knew—their family, their friends, their way of life—is gone.

The so-called hometown is nothing more than a vague dream left to oneself by a lost person.

At that moment, Klein seemed to see a river of emotions, flowing calmly on the surface, but with countless turbulent currents churning beneath.

Klein then looked away, making the diary disappear, and looked up at the 'Hermit' Cattleya, saying:

"What is your question?"

When Klein looked at the "Hermit" Cattleya, he had already anticipated what request she would make, and he felt both sighing and certain.

How did Mr. Fool know I was going to ask a question instead of making a request? Truly worthy of the title "Follower Fool." Cattleya's thoughts shifted, and she spoke respectfully:

"Dear Mr. Fool, I would like to know the meaning of these two symbols?"

After receiving permission, she manifested two Chinese characters, namely "故" and "乡".

As expected, Klein sighed silently:

"Together, they mean home, a place of belonging for the heart and spirit."

Together, they form a haven for the soul and spirit… The Hermit, Cattleya, focused on the latter half of the sentence because she knew very well where the Mysterious Queen’s hometown was and didn’t think it was anything special.

Klein didn't say anything more, leaning back in his chair and saying:

"You may begin."

The Hanged Man, contrary to his usual practice of speaking first, asked:

"Miss Justice, I'd like to know if you've already advanced to Sequence 4?"

"Huh?" Audrey was taken aback. How did Mr. Hanged Man figure that out?

After thinking for a moment, Audrey nodded slightly:

"Yes, I am now a Sequence 4 manipulator."

"really."

The Hanged Man, having received an affirmative answer, sighed softly.

Perhaps even Miss Justice herself didn't realize the changes that occurred to her after advancing to Sequence 4.

This change is not usually easy for others to notice, but for the "Hanged Man," who is used to observing others, he still noticed something unusual, which is why he asked.

"Sequence 4..." 'Moon' couldn't help but find it hard to believe. He had become a demigod? In the vampire race, this was equivalent to an earl, belonging to the absolute upper echelons. Even in the entire Northern Continent, there wouldn't be many strong individuals at the same level!

'Moon' thought that as long as she continued to save money, she could exchange it for the Earl's extraordinary traits from the embers, and perhaps have a chance to become the first member of the Tarot Club to become a demigod, apart from 'The World' and 'The Lovers'. However, Miss 'Justice' actually completed the promotion without making a sound!

How did she do it?

The Hermit was also somewhat shocked, and at the same time, he couldn't help but feel a strange sense of urgency.

She had already digested the potion, but she was unable to advance to Sequence 4 because she lacked a drop of angel blood!

She had already collected all the potions for the 'Hermit' pathway sequence 'Mystic'. The angel's blood was not used to concoct potions, but rather as part of a ritual—a ritual that required the complete analysis of a drop of blood from a mythical creature to obtain complex and vast knowledge.

The Mysterious Queen was already an angel; she could have easily given Cattleya a drop of her blood, which would have been no difficult task for her.

However, the "Mysterious Queen" never brought up this matter herself, and out of trust and respect for the "Mysterious Queen," Gadriya rarely brought it up either, which left her with no choice but to approach it from other angles.

At the Tarot Club, "The World" has promised to obtain a drop of angel blood within two months. Theoretically, "The Hermit" Cattleya, who has been waiting for several years, doesn't need two more months. However, if other members get ahead of her and advance within these two months, it will put enormous pressure on her.

Klein wasn't as shocked as the others, after all, Miss Justice and Karula had a close relationship. He had successfully hunted the first Lord of Cinder, so the "curse" preventing him from advancing to Sequence 4 had naturally been broken.

With Karula's help, it would be strange if Miss "Justice" hadn't been promoted.

Klein thought for a moment, then manipulated the 'world' to speak in a hoarse voice:

"Sun, have you begun your exploration of the Giants' Royal Court?"

'Sun' hadn't expected to be asked this, but quickly replied:

Not yet.

"The Chief originally planned to lead us to the Giants' Court for exploration this week, but because of the embers that Mr. 'Lover' asked me to pass on, the Chief has decided to postpone the exploration by one week."

"Justice," Audrey asked curiously.

"Did he crush the embers?"

"Yes."

The sun nodded and said:

"When His Excellency obtained the embers, he crushed them almost without hesitation."

"In addition, the Chief has gathered all the extraordinary materials required for advancing to Sequence 3 'Silver Knight'. The remains of the six powerful creatures needed for the ritual have also been prepared, all of which the Chief hunted alone or as the main force in the past."

After a pause, Derrick the Sun continued:

"But the chief is still lacking the blessing of the gods, which can also be obtained from the blessings of the gods, that is, the angels."

'Sun' subconsciously turned its gaze to Ember. Ember was at least an angel, fully capable of providing blessings to the Chief. Moreover, the potion recipe was given to him by Ember; since he had given the recipe, he shouldn't refuse to offer help.

Ember seemed to have anticipated this, and said:

"You can ask Mr. Fool for help."

The Sun paused for a moment, then subconsciously looked at Mr. Fool, who sat in the head seat.

"The Fool" Klein smiled and said:

"You can go back and tell him that I can offer blessings, as long as he recites my name."

"I will."

"The Sun" answered earnestly.

"That chief of Silver City has real guts."

Klein sighed inwardly. The 'Ember' was both a blessing and a danger. The reason the chief of Silver City accepted it without hesitation was because he understood one principle—

It was the chief of Silver City who crushed the embers, so he was the only one 'cursed,' and it had nothing to do with Silver City. However, the 'gift' contained within the embers—the potion recipe for the Sequence 3 'Silver Knight'—can be left for everyone in Silver City to use.

It's as if he sacrificed his life to secure the future of the entire Silver City.

Since he had already chosen to shatter the remaining flames, the chief naturally wouldn't mind asking other gods for blessings; after all, the more debts one has, the less one worries.

Fortunately, the ember gave the Silver City's chief hope of advancing to Sequence 3, successfully buying him at least a week; otherwise, the enemy would already be exploring the Giants' Court.

However, once the Silver City Chief is promoted to Sequence 3, he probably won't wait for the 'Sun' to be promoted to Sequence 4. Otherwise, he would just be waiting indefinitely, which would completely miss the best opportunity in the other party's eyes.

Therefore, at the latest within the next two weeks, Silver City will definitely go to the Giants' Court to explore.

In other words, Klein needs to complete all the preliminary work within this week.

Digest the Sequence 4 potion, advance to Sequence 3, and complete the digestion of the Sequence 3 potion.

Fortunately, this is not difficult for Klein now.

Hunting the Abyss Watcher has already allowed him to digest the Sequence 4 potion, and Klein has neither the extraordinary characteristics of the Sequence 3 Ancient Scholar nor the ritual requirements, so advancing to Sequence 3 is a foregone conclusion.

In other words, he only needs to digest the Sequence 3 potion within a week.

This isn't too difficult.

According to Klein's calculations, he only needs to hunt two more Lords of Cinder, plus other bosses he can take down along the way, to achieve this condition.

These two Lords of Cinder are, of course, Yhorm the Giant and the God of Eating.

As for the two princes, the most difficult boss should naturally be left until the end.

If all goes well, by the time he arrives at the palace where the two princes reside, he should have already been promoted to Sequence 2 'Miracleist'.

This precise calculation also made Klein realize one thing—

Everything in the dream world is meticulously calculated.

To digest a Sequence 5 potion, you must defeat at least three different bosses, while to digest a Sequence 4 potion, you must defeat a Lord of Cinder.

Only by defeating at least three Lords of Cinder can one digest the Sequence 3 potion.

The remaining bosses combined are probably only enough to digest the Sequence 2 potion, which is already the limit of the dream world.

But that's not surprising.

After all, the creator of the dream, Karula, was only a Sequence 2 'Insightful One', so it was impossible for her to directly promote someone to Sequence 0.

"I hope everything goes well," Klein thought to himself.

To be fair, neither Yhorm the Giant King nor the God of Eating is difficult to defeat.

The former is a plot-driven death, and the latter is also a plot-driven death—I admit that you are very strong, and your strength has increased greatly after absorbing the cross-dresser, but if, I mean if, I were to use the Silence Ban, how would you deal with it?

However, one should always be prepared for the unexpected.

If anything unexpected happens, it could easily lead to situations that catch them off guard.

The moon pondered for two seconds, then asked carefully:

"Last week, there was an earthquake in Backlund, and at the same time, 'doors' all over the city suddenly opened. Does anyone know what happened?"

The Hermit and Alger's expressions shifted slightly, because they were also eager to know the answer!

Alger, the "Hanged Man," slowly began to speak:

"Not only Backlund, but all the doors in Bayam were opened at the same time. I have reason to suspect that the same thing happened throughout the entire North and South continents."

The moon gasped for breath. Did that mean it was a force powerful enough to influence the entire world?

What level of existence would it take to do that?

Is it Sequence 1? Or perhaps the true god of Sequence 0?

Klein, the "Fool," tapped the table lightly, instantly drawing solemn glances from everyone around him. He spoke calmly:

"That anomaly originated from the return of Mr. 'Door'."

"Is Mr. 'Door' back?"

The Hermit's pupils constricted sharply, and he asked impatiently:

"Mr. Fool, where is Mr. Door now?"

The Fool, with a smile, looked around and said:

"He has fallen."

These words struck like bolts of lightning, jolting the Tarot Club members awake and sending chills down their spines.

That being was the closest to the true god! And it just vanished so quietly?

Hasn't He just returned?

The Fool spoke calmly as before:

"Mr. Door's return was thwarted by the combined efforts of the Seven Gods, because if the corrupted Mr. Door were to return to reality, it would bring unimaginable disaster to the world."

"Was Mr. 'Door' killed by the Seven Gods?"

The idea immediately popped into the minds of the Tarot Club members, but most quickly dismissed it.

If Mr. Door fell because of the Seven Gods, then Mr. Fool wouldn't have used the word "restraint"!

This means that when Mr. Door returned, the Seven Gods may have only played a supporting role, and someone else was the one who killed Mr. Door!

And this person is very likely Mr. Fool!