Inside the dim basement, every test tube had been carefully placed on its rack. A solitary beaker sat in the center of the lab table, containing a black sphere that looked like a twisted shadow.
Snow stood before the lab table. He didn't add any "auxiliary ingredients," instead quietly channeling his spirituality. As he did, the extraordinary characteristic in the beaker began to melt, bit by bit.
The potion formulas of the Paradox pathway were simply a combination of a characteristic and The Sefirots' imprint. For Snow, drinking a finished potion would actually be a waste. Fortunately, the auxiliary materials for low-sequence potions didn't contain much spiritual material, so even if consumed, they wouldn't introduce many impurities. However, having reached Sequence 7, Snow clearly had no intention of stuffing unnecessary things into his mouth, not even pure water or floral extracts!
As the Shadow Ascetic characteristic in the beaker gradually melted, a series of mind-numbing whispers began to escape the beaker as if they had substance. The True Creator's pollution began to spread through the room, turning into ripples that crashed against the walls formed of spirituality. Simultaneously, the True Creator's gaze was cast upon him.
Prepared, Snow didn't activate The Sefirots. Instead, he ignored the decadent aura spreading through the room, allowing it to crash repeatedly within the spiritual wall while his attention remained fixed on the black liquid in the beaker.
Perhaps understanding that His gaze could easily cause the consumer to lose control and still wishing to hear more songs, the True Creator slowly withdrew His gaze. As the attention faded, the power of The Sefirots reactivated, beginning to strip away the spiritual pollution that had flooded his body during that brief moment.
"Whew..."
Snow let out a long breath of murky air. Sensing the mental imprint of The Sefirots being infused into the potion, he watched as the liquid began to clear slightly. If one ignored the black gas spreading from it, it almost looked like a glass of flat cola.
Only...
'Crap!'
Snow instinctively jerked the beaker away from his eyes. The sensation was a hundred times more pungent than an onion, making his eyes sting. Yet, no matter how much he resisted, he still had to drink the potion. Swallowing hard, Snow closed his eyes and brought the beaker to his lips.
Gulp...
The potion was as viscous as thick lotus root starch and inseparable. The moment the first drop entered his throat, it seemed to come alive, tunneling its way into his stomach.
"Ugh--"
The discomfort in his throat and stomach made him want to gag, but immediately, a bone-chilling cold spread through his entire body. He felt as though his body were collapsing.
It was a bizarre sensation, as if countless tiny palms were tearing at his body from a microscopic level, completely separating every cell before gluing them back together with a unique power. Even more bizarre was that throughout the entire process, he felt no pain. Or rather, after drinking the potion, he had lost all sensation.
In contrast, the mental torment far exceeded any ordinary pain. At this moment, Snow felt as though he were experiencing an out-of-body sensation, looking down from a god-like perspective at his skin as it festered bit by bit, only to heal again as if time were reversing. The horrific sight, which would make anyone's scalp tingle just as a bystander, gave no feedback of sensation, as if he were no longer himself.
Worse still, he knew perfectly well that it wasn't just his skin that was festering. Every inch of him--his bones, organs, muscles, and blood vessels-- was constantly festering and healing. That lack of feedback seemed to sever the connection between him and his own body.
The entire process lasted for over ten minutes. Though there was no physical pain, compared to the mental agony, the True Creator's whispers echoing in his ears during the advancement seemed almost pleasant. Had it not been for the headache granted by the whispers, Snow might have even suspected he was dead. He was absolutely certain that the moment he truly thought that way, losing control would be the best possible outcome.
"Gratitude to my Lord." Snow withdrew The Sefirots' power and carefully drew an inverted cross over his chest. While it might have been unintentional on the True Creator's part, Snow had indeed received His favor this time. Of course, favor was favor. Once his prayer was finished, he immediately activated his power to clear the influence of the True Creator's ravings.
'My physical fitness has improved further... though I still can't draw a three-hundred-stone bow. I've also inherited the shadow magic of the Shadow Ascetic. That's a pleasant surprise.' Snow moved his body, sensing the surge in physical strength and the memories that had flooded his mind alongside the physical modification, beginning to sort through his gains.
Compared to the single ability of Mental Projection from the previous sequence, the changes brought by Sequence 7, Relativist, were far more numerous. Aside from the shadow abilities inherited from the Shadow Ascetic, he also finally learned the true names of the abilities he had previously nicknamed after Water-type Pokemon.
The four abilities known as The Fourfold Veil (Relativist) were:
Unveil: Allows Snow to perceive details he would normally miss and provides a limited sense of other people's mental states and emotions.
Shroud: Grants Snow and his targets immunity to mind-reading abilities and reduces their spiritual presence.
Parade: Distorts an observer's perception of the target, making them firmly believe in their own (incorrect) judgments.
Veil: Misleads observers by forcibly reversing their impression of the target and carries a powerful anti-divination effect.
For Snow, who had become a Relativist, these four abilities were permanently solidified passives. Aside from making adjustments to the settings, they required no additional expenditure of spirituality. Only when used as active skills on others would they consume his power.
It was worth mentioning that the four advancement options for the Relativist--Psychiatrist, Shadow Ascetic, Mystery Pryer, and Serial Killer--provided two core elements when extracted into a potion: "Secrecy" and "Revelation." Since Snow had advanced using the Shadow Ascetic characteristic, which leaned toward "Secrecy," he had gained an enhancement in that area, resulting in strengthened anti-divination, anti-observation, and anti-mind-reading capabilities.
Snow felt no regret. Compared to the more aggressive "Revelation," his weak and helpless self truly preferred the self-preservation offered by "Secrecy." After familiarizing himself with his body, Snow immediately turned his attention to his greatest concern.
The side effects. This potion was, after all, a "Fish." If it gave him a seven-second memory debuff, would he even be able to live?
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]
T/N: Relativist (庄周之鱼) - Sequence 7 of the Paradox pathway.
T/N: Shadow Ascetic (阴影苦修士) - Sequence 6 of the Hanged Man pathway. Also known as Shadow Monk.
T/N: The core abilities of the Relativist are based on the famous "Joy of Fish" (鱼之乐) debate between the Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi (庄子) and his friend Huizi (惠子).
1. Unveil (Zi Fei Yu -- 子非鱼): "You are not a fish." Huizi's original argument was that since you are not the fish, you cannot know its joy. This ability breaks that logical barrier, allowing Snow to "perceive" and "know" another being's state as if he were them.
2. Shroud (Zi Fei Wo -- 子非我): "You are not me." Zhuangzi's rebuttal: "You are not me, so how do you know that I don't know the joy of fish?" This ability asserts the absolute boundary of the self, Shrouding one's thoughts and spirit from external knowledge or "knowing."
3. Parade (An Zhi Yu -- 安知鱼): "How do you know the fish?" This focuses on the observer's subjective projection. Since no one can truly know the fish, whatever an observer "knows" is merely their own internal judgment. This ability forces that judgment to be a Parade of incorrect assumptions that the observer firmly believes.
4. Veil (An Zhi Wo -- 安知我): "How do you know me?" The ultimate reversal of recognition. It acts as a Veil that reverses or distorts how the world "knows" or perceives Snow, providing powerful concealment and anti-divination.
Special thanks to Maestro4507 for suggesting these evocative new names for the Paradox abilities!