After sailing for nearly an hour on the ocean that had evolved from the Sea of Ruins, the Future began to hear fragmented, ethereal singing, seemingly drifting from a great distance with the waves.
Mermaid? Finally found them. A thought flashed through Klein's mind. Although he hadn't had time to perform a divination, his intuition told him this was the singing of mermaids.
He quickly returned to his room, took out the azik copper whistle and Will Auceptin's paper crane according to the pre-arranged procedure, then entered the washroom, took four counter-clockwise steps into the Gray Fog, and made the final confirmation.
On the deck of the Future, the magical symbols and sigils carved into the ship's hull had all lit up with distinct layers, emitting a hazy starlight, forming a sea of stars that weakened the influence of the mermaid's singing to the greatest extent.
Anderson leaned in the shadows beside the cabin, on one hand, vigilantly guarding against any accidents that might arise from his own bad luck, and on the other hand, agonizing over whether he should pray to an unknown existence.
Whether it was to ask for help or a hint, once a revered name was recited, it meant that a connection had been established between the two parties, and those high-level existences could exert influence on me at any time.
If it's a relatively friendly existence like the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, it's fine, but if it's as irritable as the Lord of Storms, I might explode or lose control on the spot… But if I don't resolve this bad luck soon, I might not even live to reach shore.
Sighing inwardly, Anderson held his head in his hands, looking like he didn't want to think any further.
Thump, thump, thump!
Klein walked past quickly, heading straight for the starboard side of the ship, where a small boat was secured to the hull by ropes.
Anderson looked at Klein, who was moving quickly and seemed a bit eager, with some curiosity, and his thoughts couldn't help but wander:
Looking like this, he doesn't seem to be preparing to hunt mermaids. So what does he want with mermaids? Some necessary ritual? Is there anything on mermaids that can be part of a ritual, their singing?
This doesn't quite match a demigod; at most, it's a ritual for advancing to Sequence 5… In other words, this crazy adventurer was, and still is, only a Sequence 6 Beyonder?
"As expected of the crazy Gehrman Sparrow, a Sequence 6 dared to attempt an assassination on a Pirate Admiral's flagship, and almost succeeded at that."
Anderson twitched his lips, saying with a mix of sarcasm and admiration.
Klein, piloting the small boat away from the Future, endured the tingling sensation brought by the mermaid's singing and used a charm.
A sudden gust of wind pushed the small boat closer to the direction of the mermaid's singing.
As the singing in his ears grew louder, it was as if the mermaid was now murmuring and singing softly right beside him; every melody made one intoxicated and yearning.
Relying on the charm that made sea creatures feel kinship with the user, Klein successfully approached several mermaids leaning on the reef, singing melodiously.
He quickly took out the completely black bottle from his pocket, which seemed to contain countless tiny, almost invisible insects rapidly swimming inside: the Marionettist potion.
Amidst the mermaids' melodious singing, he drank the slightly bitter, stale-smelling Marionettist potion.
His thoughts began to slow, and his body gradually became stiff and numb—
After an unknown amount of time, Klein reopened his eyes, his body having completely returned to normal.
"Finally… Sequence 5!"
Forsaken Land of the Gods.
Leyton had been walking along the abandoned road east of the Giant Kings Court for an unknown duration when clusters of architectural ruins finally appeared in his sight.
"Little Sun and the others are preparing to explore Afternoon Town. If I keep going, I should be able to meet them. Should I meet them?"
Leyton gazed at the silver-white lightning that occasionally flashed across the sky, muttering to himself thoughtfully for a few moments, then continued walking forward.
After walking for some distance, he suddenly stopped, his eyes deep as he stared ahead, his gaze clearly unfocused, appearing blank.
After using divination to determine which way to go next and how to avoid potential dangers, his body instantly became transparent and shattered, transforming into shimmering points of brilliant starlight, surging forward.
He only slowed his pace when the frequency of lightning in the sky gradually increased.
Using the lightning that illuminated the Darkness, he finally saw the town ahead clearly. It was built against the mountain, not small in scale, fully comparable to a small city on the Northern Continent.
The houses here were constructed from gray stones from the nearby mountains; some were carved out of a single block, nearly ten meters high, while others were similar to normal houses.
These buildings were compactly arranged, appearing very orderly; some had already collapsed, while others remained sturdy, though all bore traces of decay and dilapidation.
Leyton walked unhurriedly along the street, surrounded by traces of rotten flesh and dried pus. It was utterly silent, with no sound other than his footsteps.
Someone has already cleared this place… As the thought surfaced, his spiritual intuition was triggered.
His body instantly became transparent, and a hurricane composed of countless dawn-like lights suddenly burst forth from his side and rear, with dense light resembling sharp arrows.
The dawn light shattered the already transparent Leyton, turning him into a pile of silver-white bubbles that rapidly burst and dissipated.
The next moment, his figure reappeared on the other side of the street. His gaze fell upon the surface of the ten-meter-high megalithic house nearby, where a transparent face had grown out.
This face was covered in cracks and spiraled regularly towards the center, forming a vortex-like mouth, from which the dawn storm had just erupted.
Leyton raised his hand, condensing an ancient-styled long spear, from tip to hilt, burning with clusters and specks of blood-red and dark-red flames.
The moment the long spear materialized, it flew from his hand, trailing a dark-red streak of light through the air, and in an instant, it plunged into the face on the surface of the megalithic house.
The transparent face didn't even manage to utter a complete scream before it shattered into countless tiny stone fragments, which rapidly evaporated and vanished.
Having dealt with the suddenly appearing Monster, Leyton stepped towards the megalithic house where the transparent face had just appeared.
The house's main door should have been closed, but due to years of disrepair, the stone-cast door panel was already on the verge of collapse, with a gap in the middle large enough for two normal-sized humans to pass through.
Leyton used the faint blue starlight emitted by the crystal ball in his hand to illuminate the interior furnishings of the house.
There wasn't much furniture here, or rather, not much furniture had survived; most were stone-made seats, beds, and altars. They were all extremely tall, making Leyton feel for the first time like a small cat or dog looking up at humans and houses.
After a brief glance around, he walked to the right side, to the wall where the transparent face had just emerged. Points of brilliant, dawn-like light were slowly coalescing.
Leyton's free right hand condensed a chess piece as translucent as white jade from mid-air and slowly pressed it down in front of him.
The slowly coalescing light points in front suddenly seemed to accelerate, rapidly converging inward. In just a few seconds, they formed a fist-sized, constantly flashing vertical eye of dawn light.
"Dawn Paladin…"
He murmured softly, then picked up the already coalesced Beyonder characteristic from the ground.
For the next period, Leyton explored the entire Afternoon Town. Through the analysis of Eyes of Mystery Prying, he could almost reconstruct its former glorious appearance in his mind.
Walking slowly on the decayed gray stone ground, the crystal ball in Leyton's left hand emitted a bright but not dazzling light, illuminating a Cosmos that continuously spread outwards until it enveloped the entire Afternoon Town before stopping.
Under the illumination of the light, the surrounding dilapidation and decay quickly receded. Collapsed houses were restored to their original completeness, and indistinct tall figures walked on the surrounding streets. The shortest among them were nearly two meters tall, while the tallest were small giants around four to five meters.
The Darkness that enveloped everything was quickly replaced by the hazy yellow of the setting Sun. The sky was a frozen twilight, leaning towards evening, with golden light scattered on the town's buildings, making everything appear exceptionally harmonious.
Leyton walked slowly through the semi-True, semi-false illusion he had constructed, revising some details he hadn't noticed.
"Lacking information on food, clothing, language, and customs, the constructed illusion isn't True enough."
Murmuring softly, Leyton stopped in the central square of the town. In the center of the square stood a giant gray stone statue bearing a cross.
Leyton raised his hand forward and slightly rotated his wrist towards the giant gray stone statue.
The surrounding light seemed to twist, colors drained and flickered for a few breaths. When everything returned to calm, the giant gray stone statue that originally bore a cross was replaced by a figure wearing a hooded robe, obscuring its face, holding a lantern in its left hand and a staff in its right.
The lantern held high in its left hand seemed to still have a flickering flame, emitting a hazy yellow glow outwards. From a distance, it perfectly overlapped with the twilight frozen in the sky, like the setting Sun about to descend.
Leyton retreated to the edge of the square and carefully observed the giant gray stone statue he had modified for a moment, then chuckled softly, twitching the corner of his mouth:
"It seems I have quite the artistic talent."
His figure flickered, and the next moment, he appeared on top of the lantern held high in the giant gray stone statue's left hand, gazing down at this semi-True, semi-false illusion.
After observing the "Afternoon Town" in the illusion for a moment, he withdrew his gaze and couldn't help but exclaim:
"If you look closely, it's still too fake."
"Constructing a complete, True world through abstract, illusory knowledge, the Hermit's ritual for becoming a god is also quite outrageous."
[Actual Ritual: Gather all the information one has left in the world. Then, find a suitable place and way to completely hide them, leaving no traces behind.]
"To truly achieve True, one must interact with the real world, just like Klein's Utopia. But constructing a complete world is a much larger undertaking than Utopia."
"This is not only the Hermit's ritual for becoming a god, but also the Hermit's divine kingdom. This is a step I cannot skip even with my own unique abilities…"
Amidst his musings, his gaze noticed that someone had intruded into the illusion he had woven at the easternmost part of Afternoon Town.
Chief Colin Iliad of the city of Silver, carrying two swords, suddenly stopped, his gaze full of vigilance as he stared at his surroundings. One hand rested on his multi-compartment leather belt at his waist, and the other touched the straight sword on his back.
The members of the exploration team following chief Colin Iliad were somewhat bewildered. In their eyes, there was nothing unusual around them, but the chief had suddenly become vigilant. They did not ask the reason for his vigilance but immediately heightened their own vigilance and prepared for battle.
While maintaining his vigilance, Colin Iliad's peripheral vision swept behind him, but he did not see the members of the exploration team.
Did I get separated from the team? This is a situation the previous exploration team hasn't encountered. Is this an illusion created by a newly arrived Monster?
While thinking, chief Colin slightly retreated, wanting to test some mechanisms of this illusion.
As soon as he took one step back, the bustling town, originally enveloped in twilight, instantly transformed into a cluster of decayed, dilapidated buildings shrouded in Darkness.
"…Hmm?" Chief Colin's eyes deepened, and a complex dark-green symbol appeared in each eye. Using the frequent flashes of lightning, he re-examined the town ahead.
"Chief?" Derrick asked tentatively.
Chief Colin turned at the sound, his gaze sweeping over each member of the exploration team. He took a deep breath and said in a low voice:
"Pause and rest. Afternoon Town has undergone some changes."