In the Forsaken Land of the Gods, after Leyton crossed the eerie forest and walked for about two kilometers, he encountered a city that was mostly collapsed, with almost three-quarters of it in ruins.
The city was very large, enough to rival three Afternoon Towns, and the buildings here were not as haphazard as those in Afternoon Town; they were built very regularly, and their size was closer to houses suitable for normal human habitation.
The houses here were predominantly red, each with a slanted pointed roof covered in dark red tiles. Irregularly distributed on the streets were clock tower-like structures, engraved with large crosses and Sun patterns, inlaid with dim crystals. The building materials of the surrounding houses were not uniform; there were black-stained stone slabs, rust-covered metal, and bricks made from fired clay.
"The people here seem to have developed a decent industry? I hope there are clues I need."
Muttering to himself, Leyton stepped into the city. The streets, paved with stone slabs and fired bricks, were full of potholes, as if they had endured more than one battle.
Almost none of the houses on both sides of the street were well-preserved; doors and windows were almost completely damaged, and the walls were covered with large and small holes, but there were also some signs of repair.
Although the houses built with giant stones around the Giant Kings Court were a bit simple and crude, they could indeed withstand the test of time better.
Leyton walked along the street, sighing as he went.
The deep blue light in his eyes slowly flowed, outlining one mysterious and strange symbol after another in his pupils.
In this state, he could see significantly more things and was no longer affected by the Darkness.
After observing his surroundings for a moment, he noticed that there were many pipes made of grayish-white stones and rusted, corroded metal between the houses here, connecting the entire city into a single entity.
Following the traces of these pipes, Leyton arrived at the center of the city, a massive building resembling both a temple and a palace.
Dozens of grayish-white stone pillars, each requiring two people to encircle, supported the high dome. The hall's layout and ceiling decorations emphasized dynamic curves, the walls had significant undulations, and the decorations were rich, even somewhat ostentatious. The hall's layout was roughly olive-shaped, surrounded by some irregular small prayer rooms, and there were also living courtyards distributed around it.
The material of this building seemed quite special; after enduring a long period of time, it had only experienced small-scale collapses, with most of it still well-preserved.
In the vision of Leyton's Eyes of Mystery Prying, this entire massive building emitted a bright spiritual radiance, with brilliant gold, deep red, and light blue interwoven, like the stars of the night and the Sun and Crimson Moon embedded within them.
This palace itself is a Mystical Item, integrating characteristics from so many different Pathways while maintaining a delicate balance. This indicates that the Artisan who built it was a Beyonder of no low Sequence at the time. Hmm… one can't rule out coincidence either.
Muttering to himself, Leyton pulled out a light yellow paper figure from his Arms and casually flicked it twice in mid-air.
The paper figure instantly left his hand, twisting and expanding in the air, emitting specks of dazzling starlight, and soon transformed into a figure identical to Leyton.
His eyes shimmered with pure light, giving off an exceptionally sacred and wise feeling, yet also appearing quite cold and devoid of warmth.
Then Leyton raised his hand and made a grasping motion in mid-air, then dragged it, and a thick shadow curtain instantly formed, completely covering his figure and making him disappear into the quiet Darkness.
The light in the paper figure's eyes flickered, and then, like a Robot receiving commands, it stiffly walked towards the hall ahead.
Upon entering, there was a spacious prayer hall. Directly in front of the hall was an unusually grotesque, inverted idol.
A tall, imposing but exceptionally hideous and terrifying figure was bound to a huge cross, which was inverted and plunged into the ground. Behind it was a black disc like a radiating Sun, engraved with many strange symbols and mysterious patterns, appearing exceptionally evil and distorted.
Below the idol was a group of neatly arranged puppets, still wearing clerical robes. Their exposed limbs were either wood or metal, and they knelt on the ground in a very devout posture, praying towards the evil idol in front of them.
The prayer hall was silent and had no light whatsoever. There were no wall lamps or places for candles on the side walls, as if no lighting was needed here. On the altar in front, the candles had long since burned out, leaving only a trace of burned wax.
Yet, the floor and walls here were surprisingly clean, as if someone cleaned them every day.
The paper figure, transformed into Leyton, stiffly wandered around the prayer hall twice. He did not touch the idol on the altar or the puppets that looked like they were devoutly praying. He only glanced at them from a few meters away before turning and walking towards the area behind the prayer hall.
Behind the prayer hall was a long corridor with three closed wooden doors on each side. The paper figure Leyton did not try to push the doors, but walked stiffly and slowly towards the other end of the hallway.
At the end of the hallway was a relatively spacious garden, arranged with rockeries, dry riverbeds and lakes, and filled with artificial flowers and trees made of colored paper, wooden sticks, and thin metal sheets. They were very well preserved, without any decay or damage, and not even stained with dust.
In the garden, paths paved with broken flagstones branched out in all directions, and at the intersections stood signs written in Jotun:
"Courtyard No. 1, Courtyard No. 3, Cultivation Room, Puppet Workshop..."
The paper figure Leyton read out the signs on the stand in front of him, word by word. His voice was hoarse like an old machine, as if it could fall apart at any moment.
Then, as if experiencing a bad signal, he paused in place. After a long while, he stiffly began to move his feet again, walking towards "Courtyard No. 1."
Before he had taken two steps, he suddenly bumped into a puppet holding large scissors, dressed as a gardener, but looking quite crude.
Its structure was very simple, as if it had been haphazardly pieced together from a few materials. Its face was a large bird skull with strange patterns drawn on it, its two arms were casually assembled from wood, iron blocks, and nails, and under its gray coarse cloth short robe were three limbs that looked like both claws and legs.
The paper figure Leyton and the puppet holding the large pruning shears in front of him exchanged glances, then he slowly and stiffly turned to avoid the puppet.
The large shears held by the gardener puppet suddenly opened wide and were placed on the paper figure Leyton's neck.
Click!
Bang!
The sound of the shears closing rang out, and the paper figure Leyton's head detached from his body, then thinned and became brittle in mid-air, turning into a paper figure cut horizontally.
Having done all this, the gardener puppet returned to its previous motionless stance, standing quietly in the garden full of artificial flowers and trees.
In the Darkness outside the hall building, in a hidden space, Leyton held a transparent crystal ball in his left hand, emitting a misty starlight that illuminated his surroundings.
"Once inside that building, my paper figure fell into a strange negative state, like a decayed, old machine. Even if it wasn't destroyed by that puppet, it would have disintegrated into a pile of fragments on its own within a few minutes."
"If only I had the historical void images of a Scholar of Yore, or a Parasite's avatar, it would be great. The paper figure can only carry a limited number of Beyonder Abilities, serving as a simple detection tool."
"Too bad... Klein has only just advanced to Marionettist, still a long way from Scholar of Yore."
Sighing, Leyton lifted the concealed state of the surrounding area. He looked up at the magnificent hall ahead, his gaze flickering for a moment, becoming extremely deep, clearly losing focus, his eyes a blank expanse.
This state lasted for about half a minute before his eyes became clear again.
There's danger, but the level of danger is constantly changing?...Frowning for a moment, he abandoned the idea of exploring this magnificent hall now, planning to have Klein help him from the Gray Fog during the next Tarot Club meeting.
After making up his mind, he turned and walked towards the eastern side of the city. Perhaps because more stones were used in the building materials, the houses there were better preserved.
Walking on the silent streets, Leyton did not encounter any attacks from Monsters hidden in the Darkness... It was so safe here that it didn't feel like the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
Suddenly, thick Gray Fog surged into his vision, and a deep red light rose from within the Gray Fog, finally condensing into a blurry female figure sitting at a desk and praying. At the same time, the voice of "Magician" Fors echoed in his ears:
"Esteemed Mr. Fool, I wish to seek some help from Mr. Tower. I need him to record some demigod-level Beyonder Abilities in Leymano's Travels. This concerns our assassination attempt on Mr. X of the Aurora Order tomorrow, and I will pay an equivalent reward for it."
Leyton looked up slightly, gazing at the figure seated above the Gray Fog, and nodded gently:
"Yes, just have her sacrifice that Leymano's Travels to the Gray Fog, and I will record suitable demigod-level Beyonder abilities on it."
"Hmm… record it above the Gray Fog."
"Alright." From deep within the thick Gray Fog, a leisurely, deep voice echoed in Leyton's ears.
Then the Gray Fog before his eyes quickly receded, and his vision returned to a Darkness illuminated by misty starlight.
"The grudges between Mr. X and the Abraham Family cannot expose my existence, otherwise it will be hard to explain to the Aurora Order."
Muttering to himself, Leyton continued to walk on the potholed street for about fifteen minutes before a relatively well-preserved house appeared ahead.
Leyton stood on the street, looking up for a while, the deep blue, almost purple, light in his eyes flowing, taking in all the disharmony and abnormalities around him.