A very strange experiment? Ebner opened the notebook and immediately saw Abby's name on the title page.
He had some impression of this woman. Back when he left Bayam, "Lion" Leon had specifically warned him about how dangerous she was.
"I remember she was supposed to be the daughter of a gang leader and the mistress of the Governor of Bayam..." Ebner said casually as he continued flipping through the pages.
"That was just her false identity. In truth, as you'll see in the diary, she doesn't remember her origins at all. That experiment caused her to lose most of her memories." Klein paused here, then added, "By the way, the one I showed you was a version I had Mister Fool 'materialize' for me. Reading the original would be extremely painful."
"Painful..." Ebner frowned and asked, "Even when reading it here?"
"Yes..." Klein affirmed.
He didn't bother explaining why it remained painful even with Mister Fool present. The answer would just be "equivalent exchange" or "an unbearable price."
That really is something special. To interfere with Klein's senses even above the gray fog—it has to be at least angel-level power, right?
While thinking this over, Ebner began reading the contents of the diary carefully.
Very soon, words like "experiment," "five survivors," "Bianca," "Lofia," and "Pale Admiral" appeared before his eyes...
So in Bianca's memories, the experiment eleven years ago, which gave her the ability to cause her 'master' to fall into misfortune, didn't just involve her as the only test subject...
Could Pale Admiral Maria also be a product of that experiment?
In that case, among the deities, at least the God of Knowledge and Wisdom was unaware of the experiment. Otherwise, He wouldn't have deliberately "arranged" for the Undying King to probe Pale Admiral Maria.
The result of that probe was that Maria had distorted her understanding of "evil," replacing indulgence in malice with extreme justice in her roleplaying in order to digest the potion...
That "Pale Justice" was the tool used to collect her "malice," allowing her to appear like a normal person most of the time...
If Maria really was a product of the experiment, then this definitely couldn't be unrelated to Old Huang! After all, Pale Justice was modified by his own hands, and it was completed nearly a hundred years in advance!
If the abilities the five survivors gained from the experiment were seen as high-level contamination...
Then Maria undoubtedly received a kind of twisted power, which is why among the Prisoner path, only she could use this relatively "positive" way of indulging her role... Could it be the Black Emperor? No, even a True God could only make adjustments within their own path, not affect another. To influence at that level, it could only be the Great Old Ones! Or the Sefirot themselves!
So that's it... What the God of Knowledge and Wisdom really wanted to test was this... Makes sense. Only power at the level of the Great Old Ones would be worth His personal "arrangement" and "guidance," right?
Then, did Maria actually obtain some trace of power from the Nation of Disorder or the Mist of Uncertainty?
Hmm... considering the situations of the other survivors, the former seems more likely...
A bold hypothesis, carefully verified... The essence of that experiment might have been to use something to connect with other Sefirot sealed within the Western Continent by the Sefirah Castle, and in doing so, some contamination leaked out!
Based on that, Miss Abby's pain was undoubtedly from the Witch path, originating from the City of Calamity.
Miss Bianca's misfortune had many potential sources. Any path related to luck or fate couldn't be ruled out—River of Eternal Darkness, Key of Light, City of Calamity, Knowledge Moor were all possible!
As for Lofia, whose whereabouts were unknown in the diary, her ability was to restore broken items under extreme emotion... That sounded a lot like 'fate reset'... Could it be Key of Light?
And the last survivor wasn't mentioned in Abby's diary at all. It was possible she deliberately left them out, or perhaps she didn't know either.
All in all, eleven years ago, someone or some organization conducted an experiment on an unknown number of people, attempting to connect with the Sefirot sealed in the Western Continent. In the end, only five survived, and it was very likely that all of them were contaminated by the Sefirot, gaining some abilities—either actively or passively—though almost completely uncontrollable.
Wait a second... eleven years ago!
At this thought, Ebner suddenly recalled another lead—the mind of the Shaman King, whose characteristic had been taken by Helen, also contained a sealed memory from eleven years ago, and Closfia had only glimpsed a few fragments of it.
I remember one line: A strange spirit walked out of the box, with a high status, but without any Beyonder characteristic...
The box... Could it be referring to the God's Casket?
In that dreamscape cave, the Queen of Calamity, Cohinem, had said the God's Casket was empty, and she was sure it was the other her who had opened it...
Could that strange spirit who came out of the box be the one who conducted the experiment?
So that's it... Lilith's long-term mission for me was really about uncovering these secrets!
Heh, the Sefirot in the original work were never this active. The current situation is probably the fault of some transmigrator senior. No wonder Lilith wants me to investigate...
Having sorted his thoughts, Ebner flipped through the later pages of the diary. They were filled with Abby's painful experiences. He skimmed them briefly, committing them to memory for future use, and then asked cautiously:
"I had asked you to do a 'divination' on the God's Casket before. Do you have any results?"
"I saw some interesting scenes through dream divination..." Klein said as he pretended to offer a prayer, then manifested a series of images in the center of the bronze long table.
The first image that appeared was of a man wearing a simple, loose-fitting robe. His ears were long and pointed, his facial features had soft contours, and each strand of his hair was thick, a mixture of black and blue. His facial features were striking on their own, but when combined, they made him downright handsome. Yet he gave off an unmistakable sense of brutality.
At this moment, the man was handing a heavily sealed box to the Queen of Calamity.
The image shifted again, now showing the God of Luck. He seemed drawn by something and proceeded to undo one of the seals... but right after, he covered his eyes.
—Since Mr. Tower had previously manifested the mural of the elven temple, they all recognized what the God of Luck looked like.
And that was the end of the vision.
That's it? What about the rest? Who really emptied the box... and what exactly was released... none of that showed up in the divination?
With that in mind, Ebner looked toward Klein.
Klein naturally understood what he meant, but he could only spread his hands and say, "After the God of Luck covered his eyes, I couldn't divine anything else."
I see... he opened his eyes... was that the 'Pure White Eye'? Did the God's Casket thereby connect to the 'unknown land' behind the Pure White Eye, and that's what disrupted Klein's divination?
But the God of Luck only undid one seal... yet judging from how he covered his eyes, even a single seal must've revealed something to him, or even released something...
While Ebner was still deep in thought, Klein dismissed the images and turned to ask, "After reading that diary, what's your hypothesis? What exactly was that experiment?"
Hearing the question, Ebner fell silent for a few seconds before carefully replying, "They were all subjected to high-level contamination... The reason they survived—partly luck, and partly perhaps because they later received attention from some great beings."
"Like Abby, who joined the Rose School of Thought and started worshipping the Mother Tree of Desire, or the Pale Admiral who was already from the Spirit Cult?" Klein mused.
According to the information Closfia had uncovered, Bianca had gained the notice of the Hidden Sage after the experiment.
As for Lofia and the unnamed fifth person, they likely weren't exceptions either.
"What do you mean by high-level contamination? Contaminated by whom, or by what?" Klein asked again.
Ebner shook his head and said, "That's not something you should know at this stage... Hmm, if you absolutely insist, you could pray to Mister Fool. If He permits you to know, then He will surely tell you."
"..." Klein was left speechless. Am I supposed to tell myself that and pretend I don't know already?
After a pause, he changed the subject. "Do you know about the 'Shadow World'?"
"...That's also something you're not supposed to know for now..." Ebner replied, a bit puzzled as well, not sure where Klein had come across the term.
Hmm, the most likely source is Roselle's diary... was it that page Fors submitted? Thinking of this, Ebner glanced at Klein and saw that he had no intention of showing him the diary, so he thought for a moment and guessed his reasoning: The diary ultimately belongs to Mister Fool, after all. There's no way he can just let others read it without cost every time.
Then again, Klein might assume I can read it from Fors anyway... Fine, when I help Fors hunt that Three-Eyed Thunderbird tomorrow or the day after, I'll take a look at what's written on that diary page.
As these thoughts passed through his mind, Ebner discussed with Klein the possibility that those five survivors might be tied to divine tasks. He asked for help in capturing Abby and gathering information on Lofia and the other unidentified survivor.
Klein agreed and informed Ebner that he had already tasked the Pale Admiral with capturing Abby.
"The Pale Admiral seems to see you in a different light?" Ebner asked, looking slightly amused.
Klein knew what he was implying but was also a bit puzzled himself, so he only replied, "She said that Pale Justice expressed fondness and goodwill toward me..."
Pale Justice? No idea what materials that sword's made from... but one thing's for sure—it's alive, and it recognized the aura of the Sefirah Castle... Don't tell me it's another sycophantic artifact like Arrodes?
After a few silent jabs in his mind, Ebner exchanged a few more pieces of intel before bidding Klein farewell.
However, Klein seemed to remember something just then and stopped Ebner to ask him to deliver the main ingredient for the Savant potion that he had gathered to Melissa...
.....
Backlund, in a café near King's Avenue.
Melissa held a porcelain spoon, gently stirring her lemon tea. From time to time, she turned her head to glance at the faintly misted window.
Her black veiled hat was resting on the seat beside her. In front of her sat a plate of the cheapest toasted bread, but she hadn't taken a single bite.
Across from her sat Miss Hazel, wearing long gloves. She was accompanying her mysticism "student" while they waited for Benson, who was taking an exam nearby.
Time ticked by slowly. The condensation on the glass grew thicker. Melissa couldn't help but extend her right hand and use her finger to clear a small transparent patch.
Just then, Hazel's spiritual perception was triggered. She instinctively activated her Spirit Vision, and immediately saw a ghostly eight-legged wolf rubbing against her calf, a sealed box dangling from its mouth.
"What's wrong?" Seeing her mysticism teacher bending down, Melissa asked in confusion.
Hazel opened the box and took a glance inside, then smiled. "Your main potion ingredient has arrived."
(End of chapter)