Chapter 569: A Straw Will Show Which Way the Wind Blows

After a brief moment of consideration, The Hermit Cattleya made the

choice that benefited her the most. She said without betraying her

emotions, "I'll make a decision after seeing what the commonly seen

monsters are around the City of Silver."

*Another person who gains something without risking anything of her

own... Are the people who spend too much time at sea good at fleecing

others? Or is Little Sun in such a state that makes it impossible to

resist fleecing him...* Klein instinctively excluded himself

from the group of seafarers.

"Alright." Under Justice and company's scrutiny, Derrick didn't hesitate

to agree to Ma'am Hermit's request.

He recalled the content and conjured it, recording the most commonly

seen monsters around the City of Silver into a list. However, it wasn't

as detailed as before, and there were quite a few missing. After all,

the Sun pathway's improvement in regards to his memory was rather

limited. A few days had passed.

Cattleya received the piece of information and read through it in a

serious manner.

The more she scanned through it, the more alarmed she became. This was

because the types of monsters had far exceeded her expectations by

nearly a hundred times!

Most of the names used were ancient names. If not for her being a Moses

Ascetic Order member who had been pursued by knowledge, and having

reached Sequence 5, making her experienced and knowledgeable, there was

no way she could've known what these names would really be referring to.

But even so, there were still a few monsters she had never heard of.

They were like shadows who would never reveal themselves in dreams or

imaginations, forever lurking in the depths of the darkness.

*Where exactly is the City of Silver? Why are there so many

monsters?* Ten seconds later, Cattleya raised her head without a

change in expression. She said with a staid tone, "Use the history of

your City of Silver in exchange."

"Alright." Derrick's eyes lit up as he seemed to see hope in advancing.

He soon conjured the historical materials of the City of Silver with the

help of Mr. Fool. Having had ample experience, he knew that even more

complete and detailed information was worth more than the fruit of a

Radiance Spirit Pact Tree; hence, he retained some of what he knew.

Cattleya knew that she wasn't Mr. Fool, so it was impossible for her to

let the members patiently wait for her to finish reading. Therefore, she

casually flipped through it. After confirming its value, she deliberated

and asked, "How should I hand over the fruit of the Radiance Spirit Pact

Tree to you?"

Just as she said that, she suddenly thought of something. With a guess,

she looked to the end of the long bronze table.

"Mr. Fool, is it done by a sacrificial ritual?"

This left Audrey, who had prepared the answer, to be clearly stunned.

She swallowed the words that she was about to say.

*Ma'am Hermit is very impressive and knowledgeable. She directly guessed

that it's done via a sacrificial and bestowment ritual!* Audrey

controlled her minute facial expressions as she clicked her tongue and

sighed inwardly.

"Yes." Klein gently nodded without going into detail.

He believed that it was impossible for a pirate admiral, a Sequence 5

powerhouse of the Mystery Pryer pathway, to not know how a sacrifice was

made. This was even something they were good at. Furthermore, she knew

The Fool's honorific name, so she didn't lack any of the necessary

conditions.

*Indeed, with a godlike existence bearing witness to a gathering, a

sacrificial and bestowment method is the safest and most convenient way

of trading... And a conversation through the Soul Body can result in

direct knowledge transfer...* Cattleya thanked him before saying

to The Sun, "I'll do it as soon as possible."

Although she didn't show any abnormalities, her heart was in no way

calm. From her casual flipping of the information provided by The Sun,

she discovered that the City of Silver was truly filled with oddities.

It included matters about being forsaken by the Lord, how it didn't have

a sun, resulting in a state of eternal darkness and high- and

low-frequency lightning. Matters like how strange and terrifying

monsters hid in the darkness when there was no light, and how they

survived thanks to Black-Faced Grass. It mentioned that they had

survived for more than two thousand years since the Dark Ages. All of

this exceeded Cattleya's expectations.

As a powerhouse at sea who was knowledgeable and had acquired many

secrets, she instantly connected the time and descriptions to a famous

concept in history---the Cataclysm!

Following that, she followed this line of thought and made a further

inference.

The Forsaken Land of God!

Suddenly, the figure she looked up to surfaced in Cattleya's mind once

again. A sentence filled with an emotive sigh surfaced.

*"He had always been searching for the Forsaken Land of God back when he

was alive. He said that the ultimate answer towards everything is hidden

there."*

*The Sun comes from the Forsaken Land of God which Emperor Roselle

couldn't find despite all his efforts? Mr. Fool can connect to that

place directly? No, perhaps, "He" awoke from that place...*

Cattleya thought in alarm and solemnity.

She had previously belittled the Tarot Club because The Moon, Justice,

and The Sun were of low Sequences. She believed that with Mr. Fool

having awoken only recently, he was obviously unable to pull members of

significant strength. However, she now had to reevaluate matters.

*It involves the Forsaken Land of God, the Church of Storms, the Church

of Earth Mother, the Loen aristocrats... Perhaps, it's precisely because

they're low Sequences that these members can be nurtured to be able to

reach higher ranks in their respective circles without being suspected.

This will allow them to play a more important role... As for me, is it

because of the Moses Ascetic Order or Her Majesty?* Cattleya

seriously analyzed the motives of Mr. Fool.

At this moment, the transactions were nearly coming to an end. The Moon,

The Sun, and Justice had all confirmed their respective transactions. As

for The Hermit Cattleya, she was still observing. Out of caution, she

didn't rashly open her mouth to expose more information about herself.

Alger had originally planned on making a request to buy the Sequence 5

Ocean Songster's potion formula so that he could make the subsequent

preparations, but with the addition of The Hermit, he became especially

wary. He gave up on his decision at the last minute and prepared to push

it back until he had really advanced to Wind-blessed. Only with him

being stronger would he have the room to breathe.

As Fors would be able to obtain the Astrologer potion formula and a

certain amount of ingredients from her teacher soon, she hadn't

prioritized her purchases yet, so all she did was watch silently.

She actually curbed her desire to buy a mystical item to make up for her

relatively showy Trickmaster powers that were lacking in strength, as

well as how her Apprentice powers were only good for passing through

walls and opening doors. However, her real life circumstances restricted

her desires.

Up to this day, her savings had exceeded 400 pounds. For a member of the

middle-class, that was rather good, but she clearly remembered how Miss

Justice had bought a mystical item for 5,500 pounds previously.

*Even if it was a relatively average mystical item without significant

negative side effects, it will still require one to two thousand

pounds...* Fors languidly sat there, unable to open her mouth to

make a purchase.

Klein controlled The World to scan his surroundings before hoarsely

saying, "I need a pair of eyes from a six-winged gargoyle."

The supplementary ingredients of a Marionettist---drago bark and the

spring water from Sonia Island's Golden Spring---were commonly seen

items in the mysterious world. As long as he purchased them at different

occasions, he wouldn't garner suspicion from anyone. Therefore, Klein

only requested for the eyes of a six-winged gargoyle.

The Hermit glanced at The World and said without rushing, "300 pounds,

or the equivalent cost in gold coins."

She had noticed that the previous transactions were all made in Loen's

gold pound.

*As expected of the Admiral of Stars who has a pirate crew with an

ancient faction backing her. She is very resourceful, and her prices are

cheaper than usual... If not for Little Sun's imminent advancement, and

how he would soon obtain the method for removing the mental corruption

of a Beyonder characteristic, I would've even consulted her on this

problem...* Klein thought as he made The World smiled deeply.

"Okay."

With the transaction completed, the palace that resembled a giant's

residence fell silent for more than ten seconds.

Without Mr. Fool's reminder, Justice, The Sun, and company knew that

they had entered the free exchange segment.

The Hanged Man Alger deliberately looked at Miss Justice and Miss

Magician without looking at Ma'am Hermit.

"Something major recently happened in the Rorsted Archipelago."

He didn't plan on divulging The World's involvement since it was very

likely that Mr. Fool was in possession of the Sea God's identity. If he

were to rashly confirm this matter, it might spoil Mr. Fool's plans and

throw himself into danger.

He planned on using a normal tone to mention the happenings on the

surface while emphasizing the Moses Ascetic Order member---archaeologist

and adventurer, Leticia. He planned on using this to sound out The

Hermit to figure out if she was Admiral of Stars, Cattleya. This was

because this pirate admiral was rumored to also be a member of the Moses

Ascetic Order.

"What happened?" Justice asked with piqued interest.

Alger said calmly, "A disguised archaeologist, Leticia, discovered an

ancient elven ruin in Symeem Island and took out an item from it. This

pushed the deity the locals believed in, Sea God Kalvetua, to be on the

brink of collapse.

"This fake god wished to create tsunamis to drown the island so that

everyone could accompany it in its death, but it was stopped by the

Church of Storms's Sea King.

"Finally, Leticia was found and Kalvetua had died. The threat of the

tsunamis was leveled, but strangely, the devout believers of the Sea God

would still occasionally receive responses."

Leticia is dead? For an ancient elven ruin... Cattleya had

heard of this archaeologist, who was part of the same organization,

before, but she wasn't too familiar with her. This was because formal

members of the Moses Ascetic Order had to spend a certain amount of time

in silent ascetic training. When fully paying attention, she was able to

control her powers in a way that significantly exceeded the average

person. Therefore, she only seemed slightly stirred as she listened

seriously to The Hanged Man's description without showing any obvious

abnormalities.

When The Hanged Man said that Kalvetua was dead and how the "Sea God"

still responded to its believers, Cattleya first frowned in puzzlement

before using her spiritual intuition to recall a certain scene.

Yesterday, she had seen Mr. Fool hold a milky-white scepter when "He"

pulled her above the gray fog.

At the tip of the scepter were many tiny blue "gems" which were swirling

with countless points of holy light.

And more importantly, it emanated an aura of godhood, one that seemed

like the corporeal aura of the ocean and storm!

This... Cattleya instinctively turned her head to the end of

the long bronze table, where Mr. Fool was shrouded in the grayish-white

fog.