[Host?!]
It wasn't just the paper used to cut the Spirit Worms.
The objects contaminated by the substance inside the worms—the table, high-backed chair, even the floor and some small items around them—disappeared one after another from the theater, vanishing completely without a trace.
As if their existence had been erased, with nothing left to prove they had ever existed in the first place.
Don stepped back several paces, preventing the liquid from inside the Spirit Worms from splashing onto him.
When the table disappeared, the other Spirit Worms fell to the ground with a thud, and then because they were contaminated by the liquid that burst forth from within the Spirit Worms, they fell through the floor that had also disappeared, dropping to the next level of the building.
The liquid from inside the Spirit Worms continued to drip downward. Corroding these things it touched didn't consume much of this strange liquid. Everything it touched was disappearing, creating a layer-by-layer penetration effect. If not stopped, it would have the momentum to drip outside the theater.
Don saw the Marionette below looking completely bewildered, and the Theater Core came running over at this moment to see what was happening.
Seeing this scene, the Theater Core immediately crashed.
What kind of cursed mess is this?! Seriously, wasn't it hard enough doing this renovation?! Wrecking things like this, has anyone considered its feelings?!
Don's figure flickered for a moment, disappearing briefly before reappearing again.
Immediately after, the towering War Bishop appeared below, catching the falling Spirit Worms. At the same time, Don's figure swapped places with the War Bishop, and he stuffed all that liquid into the system inventory.
Whatever it was, he'd just store it in the system first and figure it out later.
"What happened?" asked a nearby Marionette.
This was the Theater Core controlling the Marionette—it too was completely confused by this situation.
"My Spirit Worms had a small problem."
Don shrugged, then handed the two Spirit Worms that had grown white shells to the nearby Marionette, smiling. "Could you help me make some charms?"
Theater Core: ...
"But you just said your Spirit Worms have problems..." Why give them to it? Did it think its life was too long and wanted to give it some life-threatening work to do?
"It's fine, not a big problem."
Silence was tonight's Cambridge.
The Theater Core cursed under its breath as it took the Spirit Worms and left.
The disappeared floors and ceilings were refilled, and the tables, chairs, and benches in the room appeared once again. Several modern artistic table lamps were placed on the table surface, emitting orange-yellow, warm light under the illumination of the red moon outside the window.
[Host, what exactly happened?]
The system was also completely bewildered, and moreover, it seemed to have just seen something added to that strange space.
"They were upgraded to higher dimensions." Don turned and entered the Euclidean space again, looking at the additional items inside.
Just like the previous old grandpa's Worm of Time, all the objects contaminated by the liquid inside the Spirit Worms had been moved to the Euclidean space and presented in a strange state.
He could touch them, but the tactile sensation was very strange.
Texture, changes, the alterations these items underwent in each time period—from past to present, from present extending to future, from raw materials to finished products, and from finished products rotting and withering, returning to nature.
This was an indescribable feeling, as if these things had been broken down into their appearances across different time periods, and the state they presented had become this kind of superposition of countless temporal segments.
This was similar to the situation when he had previously stolen part of the Euclidean space, causing Pallez Zoroast to lose a Worm of Time!
Don extended his spirituality and downgraded these items.
His inspiration suddenly trembled, and these disappeared objects appeared again in the real world, but they were already dismantled and unrecognizable in their original form.
Was this a dismantled table?
The previously orderly room was messed up again.
Theater Core: Ahhhhh, completely going insane!
But immediately after, these things disappeared again.
Don ended the downgrading, and these things returned to the Euclidean space, once again presenting that strange state.
"They've been assimilated by the Euclidean space."
Don pondered and quickly understood the problem. "It's my spirit body that has issues. Ordinary Marionettists can't do this kind of thing."
So the Spirit Worms he split off, which were essentially part of the Marionettist's spirit body, also carried this characteristic.
"This is the change in my own spirit body after advancing to Sequence 4."
Not only was it the Marionettist's transformation of the spirit body, but his own uniqueness was also further awakening, and his control over this space was beginning to deepen.
"Obviously, this is a good phenomenon, isn't it?" It proved that the Spirit Worms had great potential. Maybe the charms made using them would have the ability to borrow power from the future!
Don went to look at the old grandpa's Worm of Time again.
He had planned to experiment with this thing later to see what exactly was going on. Now it seemed it should be the same as these upgraded objects.
He just didn't know if it could survive after being downgraded. After all, there were still remnants of the Worm of Time's Beyonder characteristics inside. If it were allowed to appear in the outside world, it would probably directly become the old grandfather's avatar.
Don thought about it and decided to leave this thing here for future research.
Next, Don conducted several more experiments to determine whether the Marionettist's Beyonder abilities related to Spirit Worms had any special changes, and based on this, he expanded his thinking to find parts that were beneficial and could be utilized.
During this brainstorming session, several Marionettes had quietly appeared in the small town, searching for targets.
In Baron Lamud's territory, the small town that depended on this baron was, as always, like a marketplace, gathering people from surrounding villages, forming a stable flow of people who sold animals and plants from the mountains, livestock they raised, and engaged in other trades.
The population naturally couldn't compare with Tingen. The church here only had the Evernight Goddess, along with a priest who believed in the Goddess.
This was because the baron's wife was a believer of the Goddess. Otherwise, the Church would never waste resources sending a priest here, even if he was just an ordinary person who believed in the Goddess without any Beyonder powers.
He was one of the few people in this small town who could hold mass for believers, where the homeless could stay, and who could provide free elementary education for children whose parents had insufficient money and connections and were completely left to fend for themselves.
This education was originally meant for literacy, but slightly older children had to struggle for survival, so those who stayed in the church for long periods were mostly abandoned vagrant children.
Lady Lamud donated a certain amount of pounds every year, and believers of the Evernight Goddess would also make efforts within their means for these children in their daily lives.
One of the Marionettes' targets was there.
At the same time, other Marionettes mixed into the crowd, observing the conditions of everyone in the entire town.
They carefully observed these people's daily behaviors, judging their education level, religious beliefs, family relationships. Item by item, matter by matter, information was being rapidly collected. Pallez Zoroast, who was parasitizing the doll-faced knight, turned a blind eye to this.
Through the spirit body threads of these Marionettes, he could naturally try to find the one behind them, or the corresponding Sealed Artifact, but since they had already reached a preliminary cooperative agreement, he didn't plan to interfere with others' business.
Especially at a time when both sides didn't really trust each other that much.
"Marionettist's acting? Doesn't seem like it. The one behind him, hmm, instructions from a Great Being?"
Soon, Pallez saw one of the Marionettes carrying a child through the crowd, leaving under those people's unsurprised gazes.
This Angel shook his head, making his own preparations.
——
[Side Mission: Establish a Secret Organization (Third Phase)]
[Miskatonic University – an organization of pivotal importance in the Cthulhu Mythos. Choosing it as the name for your secret organization equally proves you possess extraordinary ambition!]
[But right now, you don't seem to have any proper students?]
[Please recruit excellent sources with the above characteristics! And conduct preliminary mysticism cultivation!]
[Mission Progress: 0/100]
[Mission Reward: Surprise Gift Pack*1, Copy of Black Magic Book "Necronomicon".]
"Is it really not possible?" Don persistently continued asking.
[Really not possible! Absolutely not!]
The system frantically shook its head.
How could Marionettes be students?! Isn't this exploiting a bug?!
Host, you really should transfer to the neighboring Parasite! The neighboring Error is more suitable for you!
"That's truly regrettable."
Don's tone showed no disappointment. He knew the possibility wasn't great, but still wanted to fight for it. "I thought Marionettes equipped with Bionic Marionette modules could serve as these sources."
If it were possible, he could just keep splitting Spirit Worms to make modules. He could have as many Marionettes as he wanted. Even if the number of Marionettes he could control wasn't enough, the Marionettes controlled by the Theater Core could definitely be fitted with several 'Bionic Marionette' modules.
[But these would still be your Marionettes, Host...]
The system was speechless, crying internally at the host's wild imagination.
"Mm-hmm, let me think again." Don sat in the high-backed chair in a comfortable position, thinking about the problem.
"Since they're excellent sources, then these sources don't necessarily have to be non-Beyonders..." Basic mysticism knowledge—Sequence 9s could also get corresponding knowledge from potions. He just didn't know what the system's judgment of 'preliminary mysticism cultivation' actually referred to.
If it required starting from zero, that would be somewhat troublesome and would require some time.
If Beyonders joining could directly complete it, then there were still loopholes to exploit. For example, using the Scepter of the Sun to corrupt some Beyonders, making them actively join, and after meeting the conditions, directly killing them would not only complete the mission but also harvest Beyonder characteristics as a bonus.
However, there weren't many Beyonders in his territory. Going to Tingen would be too difficult.
Hmm, traveling to other places to have a look?
The system was once again deeply shocked by its host's thinking.
Cheating! This was cheating! Wuu wuu, it would threaten the host with this. If the host ever hung it on the ceiling again, it would, it would tell the main system!
As for whether this was actually possible...
It didn't know, it knew nothing at all.
He sent Marionettes to his territory to gather some wool, and also to see if any blind Beyonders came to cause trouble.
Then, Don contacted his distant Marionettes.
"Angie." Don whispered to the other end of the spirit body thread. "Do you have any war orphans or the like over there? Hmm, ones with good brains would be best. It would be even better if they've received mysticism education."
Traveler Angie, who was far away in the Orkney Highlands, heard Don's words and stood up from the tower top, ladylike patting the dust off her body. "I'll pay attention. Do you need me to send them back when the time comes?"
"Observe first. Also, find time to bring that witch back."
"Understood."
Then, Don began contacting other Marionettes he had sent out.
He found the Marionettes on his father's side. During this period, he had been so busy that he was dizzy, and after eating another bitter lesson from the dark side of the universe at his father's place, basically if the Marionettes didn't actively contact him, he hadn't actively controlled the Marionettes over there.
Now, as a Marionettist, Don felt it was his duty to add some more security measures for his old dad.
"Looks like there's no danger."
Don flicked a gold coin and did a simple divination, then sent a Spirit Worm through the spirit body thread to the Sequence 5 Wraith Marionette.
He had the wraith turn the surrounding insects into Marionettes, and then swapped with the new insect Marionettes himself, completing ultra-long-distance teleportation.
"Indeed, once the 'Bionic Marionette' module reaches Sequence 4, the qualitative change produced can make me one of the most difficult Saints to deal with below the Angel level. Even Angels who aren't good at capture would find it very difficult to catch my tail, let alone find my true body."
Don looked around. This was a suburban area of Backlund, constructed entirely of black stone bricks, looking like a courtyard house.
"The old master can't remember many people anymore."
This Wraith dutifully carried out his acting, sighing. "Recently, the master has been forgetting more and more things. This morning, the master even forgot his own name."
Don looked toward the distance, at Azik Eggers sitting in a wicker rocking chair looking into the distance. The loss of memory hadn't revealed any weaknesses or fatigue in this Death Consul. He still looked powerful, cold, calm, as if nothing could defeat him.
Seeming to sense an unusual gaze, this bronze-skinned ancient one looked over, seeing Don. The corner of his mouth moved slightly, as if wanting to say something, but when the words reached his lips, he couldn't say anything.
He waved at Don, and Don walked over, crouching in front of his father.
"Father, how have you been recently?"
"Father..." Hearing this somewhat unfamiliar word, the man before him was silent for a long while before saying, "Not bad... There are many things I've forgotten. You... are my child? I feel familiar, but... sorry, I've forgotten."
This was the Death God Salinger's remaining trump card, and clearly as a Sequence 2 Death Consul, he had to suffer the curse of a Sequence 4 Undying one time after time.
Don lowered the expression in his eyes, his voice very calm. "Yes, I am your child."
"Until you recover your memory, I will help you."
(End of Chapter)