The next morning, Ren sat in the living room, fiddling with the tarot cards in his hand.
He looked at them in astonishment.
His divination had gone awry. The true revelation did not appear. Instead, something very dangerous emerged.
"It's actually corruption…"
The tarot cards, which were originally just ordinary stiff paper, had turned into a black, ink-like substance.
Corruption emerging from divination.
If someone accidentally divined Miyano Shiho's fate, the corruption hidden within would pour out, contaminating the diviner completely. This way, anyone attempting to pry into Shiho would be eliminated.
"Is this the protection method left by the Miyano couple for Shiho?"
In the original story, it seemed that all the scientists in the Crow Organization never made progress on the APTX research. That setting had always been absurd.
There are countless geniuses in this world, yet there were no results? Claiming that only specific scientists could make breakthroughs was clearly unscientific.
This world would not naturally enforce such a rule.
But there was something called power that could enforce it.
Ren was now very interested in the Miyano couple's research.
"That couple must have obtained something special and used it in their research, which is how they created APTX."
"Indeed, APTX is extraordinary."
This did not exceed Ren's expectations.
But what exactly was the source of that extraordinariness? That was what Ren wanted to know.
He glanced at the corruption on the table, a black sludge-like mass. He tapped the tabletop lightly with his finger, and the corruption sank in and disappeared without a trace.
The reason APTX could only be developed by Shiho was likely due to its link with extraordinary characteristics.
Recalling its ability to turn adults into children… could that be related to the Fate pathway?
Was it the Sequence 1 Snake of Mercury's extraordinary characteristic? That troublesome dice? Or was it tied to a Sefirot itself?
It was difficult to speculate, and even harder to conduct targeted divination.
Although both the Fool and Door pathways had interference with fate, the Fate pathway was unique. It specialized in fate. At his current level, it was not enough to confirm.
The Wheel of Fortune pathway, however, was different. It was about luck.
Luck that aligned with fate. In truth, the Wheel of Fortune was perhaps the easiest pathway to advance along in the world of mysteries, even to ascend to an Old One.
One didn't need to think of rituals, advancement, or requirements. Just luck.
Even advancement rituals could be bypassed, because luck itself was the ultimate ritual.
Ren once imagined a transmigrator who chose the Wheel of Fortune pathway and was favored by destiny.
This lucky transmigrator would fall unconscious after arriving in the world, and during that unconsciousness, a miraculous potion would accidentally pour into his mouth, advancing him into a monster. Then, his luck would attract the Key of Light, which would directly merge into his body, containing a Sefirot by itself. When he opened his eyes, he would already be an Old One.
If such a person truly existed, wouldn't all the True Gods be smashed against the wall in anger?
All their hard work would be less effective than sheer luck.
Of course, such thoughts were only fantasies. Ren had never seen such a story.
After all, if that were truly the case, no further stories could unfold smoothly.
Would that not only make all the True Gods jealous, but also hateful? Even a Celestial Worthy wouldn't create such a suicidal scenario.
In the end, it would probably result in the so-called God of Luck dying in the most unlucky way possible.
Ren sighed. He would not pursue this further.
No matter what it was, as long as it was an extraordinary characteristic tied strongly to fate, divination would be nearly impossible. Unless he reached higher levels, only then could both Fool and Door pathways pierce fate.
Ultimately, it was a matter of strength.
Ren stopped dwelling on Shiho's problem. Her issue would remain, but he was still growing. In time, he would reach it.
This situation also confirmed that involving the police and the Crow Organization yesterday had been the correct choice.
He pulled out a new deck of tarot cards and began another divination.
Wheel of Fortune upright. Magician upright. Temperance upright.
"Fate, huh…"
Ren sighed.
"Aside from me, there was no third-party involvement. If anything, fate leaned toward me."
He finally understood why things unfolded as they did yesterday.
It was fate protecting him.
Whether this was good or bad was difficult to say. Ren decided not to pry further.
Sometimes fate favored those it liked, but it also toyed with those who understood it too well.
Keeping a vague relationship with fate was not necessarily being reckless.
He tidied himself up and checked the time. 8:13. Not long until the specialty stores opened.
Ren put on thick clothes and left the house.
Meanwhile, in their room, Shiho and Akemi were having a rare sweet dream.
Since the Rye Whiskey incident, they had not had a peaceful sleep.
Nightmares haunted them, always caused by the same man.
But now, they found peace, and a rare dream filled with warmth, because of another man.
With their nerves finally relaxed, the sisters dropped their vigilance, allowing themselves to sleep longer.
At 9:04, the two slowly opened their eyes.
Sunlight streamed in. Today felt completely different from the past.
Waking up in hope was not the same as waking up in darkness. The atmosphere, the urgency, everything was different.
"It's morning again…"
Shiho sat on the bed, wearing an ill-fitting men's pajama, tilting her head back slightly as the drowsiness faded. Her eyes blinked softly as her mind cleared.
"Good morning, Miyano Shiho."
"Today is different."
(To be continued.)
***
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