The vertigo did not last long; after roughly half a minute, Ebner's consciousness returned.
Yet with the Wisdom Eyes still on strike, he remained slightly overloaded—his mind hazy, his thoughts sluggish.
Perhaps the faint fragrance lingering in Xio's embrace was simply too pleasant, making him subconsciously unwilling to move…
But as a Disciplinary Paladin operating within her own jurisdiction, Xio Derecha noticed everything. She immediately realized Ebner had awakened.
She started to pull away, but the moment she caught sight of his dazed expression, she paused in surprise.
Ebner always wore an air of confidence and erudition—seeing him look foolish was a rarity.
"A pity I don't have a camera on hand…"
She muttered regretfully, then promptly lifted him with ease and carried him into the bedroom.
—For someone with a Disciplinary Paladin's physique, Ebner's weight was nothing at all.
By the time a minute passed, the Wisdom Eyes crept back online and resumed their assigned tasks. The overload faded at last.
Rubbing his temples to soothe the lingering ache, Ebner recalled the hard sensation he had felt earlier.
He glanced at Xio and asked, "Were you wearing a breastplate?"
The words left his mouth before his foggy brain caught up. He hurriedly added, "I mean—was today's operation dangerous? Why the under-armor?"
Xio shot him a glare, too used to his bouts of unseriousness to bother reprimanding him. She nodded.
"There was some danger. I was tracking Sherman… and had a brief clash with that Demoness Trissy."
"Trissy?" Ebner wasn't surprised. Before he spoke, he had already perceived the answer. "Your objectives aligned, so you cooperated temporarily?"
Xio rolled her eyes yet again.
"Pretending you don't already know is pointless."
She still didn't know he had advanced to Cognizer, but his uncanny information-gathering had long astonished her.
She paused, then asked, "By the way—what exactly did you do at home this afternoon? Why did you suddenly faint?"
At that question, the mural he had seen on the primordial island flashed across Ebner's mind. His expression turned grave—then relaxed.
"Nothing serious," he said lightly. "I helped The World and The Hanged Man with something and overexerted myself. That's all."
Xio knew him too well. She heard the truth—but also heard everything he wasn't saying.
Still, she understood: if it concerned her, Ebner wouldn't hide it. So she let the unanswered part lie.
After studying him for a moment, she took a small bottle from her pocket and handed it over.
"For you."
"What is it?" Ebner, too lazy to perceive, accepted it without thinking.
"A salve brewed from mummy powder," Xio said, barely suppressing amusement.
"Mummy powder…" Ebner felt deeply insulted. He glared at her.
"My dear Miss Xio Derecha, what exactly possessed you to buy this for me?"
"I didn't buy it!" she retorted, covering her smile with a hand. "One of your friends ran into me and asked me to pass it along…"
She glanced toward the sitting room before continuing:
"I wasn't planning to give it to you, but when I heard you'd spent the whole day alone with a visiting lady… I thought you might need it."
Ebner's eyes flickered. The next second, he understood—and chose the safer part of the truth.
"So Darkwill is back in Backlund…
That 'Hunter' really has improved—he can mock me without even showing his face."
He crushed the ointment before her eyes to prove his "innocence."
They bickered habitually until Fors returned; only then did the teasing cease. They separated briefly to wash up, then gathered again for dinner.
Once Xio left his room, Ebner's playful smile faded.
He turned on the bath, washed off the exhaustion of combat, and let his mind circle back to the mural he had witnessed.
"There's no doubt—that was the birth of the 'Unknown.'
So the symbol of 'Unknown' comes from the Initial…
Of course. In this mystical cosmos, the Initial is the source of all things.
If 'Unknown' holds a symbol vast enough to satisfy the rules of the Mystery universe, then it must also originate from the Initial."
Only, 'Unknown' is the exact opposite of 'Omniscient.' Its symbolic weight is enormous—great enough to fill a 'Pillar.'
But it is ultimately just an emotion of the Initial, a psychic imprint. It possesses symbol and rank, but lacks corresponding sefirot and characteristics—a powerless, hollow Old One."
"If this deduction is correct, then the motive behind 'Unknown' repeatedly casting me into reality becomes obvious:
It wants me to gather Beyonder characteristics, Uniquenesses, perhaps even sefirot—and bring them back upon death, filling 'Unknown' and completing it."
"The so-called Land of the Unknown must have formed around that time…
No wonder the first time I deduced the honorific name of the Pure White Eye, I learned the Land of the Unknown lay in neither Spirit World nor Astral World nor reality, but a mysterious region within the universe…"
"Which pathway's 'Unknown'-isation produced it? The earliest castings of 'me' must have been random—maybe not even on Earth."
"But back then, I would leave no imprint, no memory fusion. Everything remained 'unknown.'"
"The plan only went off the rails during the era of the God of Luck."
"After obtaining the Box of the Gods, that 'me' had his own ideas. He diverted the casting method, and using the strange state of the souls inside the box, ensured every subsequent godhood-attaining 'me' would become a 'soul stone' at death."
"A soul stone isn't fully dead, so the characteristics never return to the Land of the Unknown."
"Except the Seal of Calamity!
It alone brought the 'Conqueror' characteristic back after death—though the illusory Sun formed by the White Angel blocked it from fusing."
"And the difference lies in this: the Seal of Calamity is a Sequence 1 sealed artifact."
"Probably not the sealed-artifact part—Sequence 1 is the key."
"Most likely, Sequence 1 is the danger line that 'Unknown' imposes on us cast souls."
"Once crossed… assimilation begins."
"I do the same to Owen—syncing him constantly. Naturally 'Unknown' would impose limits."
"Sequence 3 is only an early-warning threshold—enough to make 'Unknown' open its eyes briefly."
Ebner massaged his brow.
"No further—any more and the Wisdom Eyes will go on strike again."
"They aren't acting on their own…
So is the God of Knowledge imposing this limit through pathway authority?"
He sighed, rose, dressed, and went downstairs.
On the way, another question surfaced:
"Adam deliberately let me see that mural… what is He after?"
…
Adam, of course, was showing goodwill—or rather, making amends for the meddling He did during your Machinery Emperor lifetime.
This incarnation of you is in perfect condition: you passed the Sequence 3 threshold flawlessly and have a real chance of breaking the Sequence 1 shackle.
Therefore, certain truths must be shown to you while Unknown's vigilance remains low.
And the untainted Adam is the ideal candidate.
He hardly needed to do anything—simply place the mural there and let you perceive the rest yourself."
Hidden within No. 28 Kinstrel Street, Lilith pondered quietly.
…
A little after seven on Friday evening, Klein, impeccably dressed, arrived at Member of Parliament Macht's home with his "wife" Sharon and his manservant Ludwell to attend the ball.
After the opening dance, Klein walked arm-in-arm with Sharon, sampling the buffet while politely declining invitations.
Then a familiar face entered his view:
Alan Kreis—renowned surgeon—his wife heavily pregnant, likewise searching for food.
A pregnant woman… Klein's eyes lit up.
Smiling, he stepped forward to greet them.
(End of chapter)