During the previous chaos caused by George III in Backlund, the Mentor of Disorder potion within him had already been digested considerably. Although the current chaotic situation was not primarily orchestrated by him, he had still played a part in it, which was enough to completely digest the potion within him.
Advancing to Sequence 4 wasn't difficult. The difficult part was choosing a suitable Beyonder pathway. Should he continue down the Black Emperor pathway, switch to the neighboring Justiciar pathway, or switch to the King in Yellow pathway or the Stars pathway?
Deep down, he was more inclined toward the Stars pathway. Ever since his birth, the Hall of Stars had been deeply bound to him. Walking the Stars pathway would allow him to make the greatest use of the Hall of Stars' authority and abilities.
However, he was also deeply afraid that he might progress too quickly along the Stars pathway in the later stages. Just like Klein, who was bound to Sefirah Castle, he might ultimately end up preparing everything for someone else.
"Unfortunately, even peering into fate can't help me see the road ahead clearly."
Hastur recalled how he had once tried to peer into fate to see which Beyonder pathway suited him best. In the end, every single pathway suited him perfectly. No matter which one he chose, his future would develop in a favorable direction.
Judging from this result, the title of Fate's Favored was indeed well deserved.
Hastur pondered for a while longer before focusing on sensing Trier's chaos tonight, using it to digest the Mentor of Disorder potion within him.
It wasn't until the following afternoon that Hastur woke from his sleep. By then, the Mentor of Disorder potion within him had been completely digested.
After getting up, Hastur first took a bath, then went downstairs to eat something. He returned to his room and waited for an hour before Sharron and Cattleya finally returned from their outing.
Cattleya appeared to be in a good mood. Bernadette had probably contacted her.
Sharron only needed to glance at Hastur to know that he had completely digested the Mentor of Disorder potion and was about to catch up with her.
"Let's head back tomorrow," Hastur suggested.
"Alright." Sharron nodded.
"We're leaving so soon?" Cattleya's tone carried a hint of regret.
"If we stay any longer, the Eternal Blazing Sun might deliberately cast His gaze down here to search for the person who fed His eye to a dog."
Hastur's teasing remark made Cattleya's expression turn unnatural.
If the Eternal Blazing Sun truly intended to pursue this matter, she definitely wouldn't be able to escape involvement.
That night, before Hastur and Sharron had even left Trier, they once again encountered the young man who called himself Ross Hurley.
He had come to find them himself.
His purpose was the same as last time. He still wanted to invite Hastur to join the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun, but Hastur gave him the same refusal.
Although he did have designs on the authority of the Sun, he was only Sequence 5 right now. It was still far too early.
"I believe we'll meet again in the future. I hope that when the time comes, you'll give me a different answer."
Ross Hurley didn't press the matter. As he stood up to leave, he glanced at Cattleya.
"Feeding a deity's eye to a dog is a blasphemy that requires atonement. When you have the time, you should visit the church."
Those words left Cattleya stunned. Why had the conversation suddenly shifted to this topic? Moreover, Hastur had clearly been the one who pushed the matter forward, so why was this person so certain that she was responsible?
"What does this have to do with me?" Cattleya deliberately replied with a cold expression.
"Fate always leaves behind traces without one realizing it, and the traces you left behind weren't completely erased."
"…"
Speechless, Cattleya watched Ross Hurley leave before looking at Hastur with a strange expression.
Hastur smiled. "I told you not to stay here. You had to be careful not to attract someone's gaze. See? It's already come true."
"Why didn't he see you?"
"People are different from one another," Hastur replied meaningfully.
Naturally, he knew what was going on. Seeing him while peering into fate was no simple matter.
"…"
"You'd better find an opportunity to visit the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun soon."
While Cattleya was still pondering the matter, a voice came from outside. Bernadette had returned.
"Who was that person?"
"The Pope of the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun."
Cattleya fell silent once again. In the end, she nodded, indicating that she would visit the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun in the coming days.
Disaster truly came from the mouth. Emperor Roselle had indeed been right about that saying.
The words of the Pope of the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun still carried considerable weight.
She simply couldn't understand why Hastur was able to remain completely uninvolved in this matter.
Could it really be simply because she had been the one to start it?
The next day, Hastur brought Sharron back to Southville County through the spirit world.
Cattleya obediently paid a visit to the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun. She needed to help the church accomplish something in order to make amends for the disrespect she had once shown toward the Eternal Blazing Sun.
Bernadette didn't help her with this matter. Instead, while the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun was embroiled in internal turmoil, she killed two more high-ranking members of the Sauron family.
Through her investigations over the years, she had learned that these people had all participated in the massacre of the Gustav family. Now, she was merely taking revenge.
…
Southville County.
During the more than half a month that Hastur had been away, Prince Leonard, who had come from Backlund, had remained bedridden for various reasons. Many matters had been handed over to Alfred to handle.
It wasn't until several days after Hastur returned to Southville County that Leonard Augustus finally got out of bed and began moving around.
His legs trembled, and his face was still pale, but the fury in his eyes seemed ready to erupt into tangible flames!
"Have you found out what's going on?"
As the younger brother of the King of Loen, he naturally had powerful Beyonders protecting him.
The first few incidents had seemed accidental, so he hadn't paid them much attention. However, one accident and coincidence after another had left him bedridden every day, unable to accomplish anything important.
If he still failed to learn his lesson after all that, then he would truly be an idiot.
"Those who specialize in hiding in the shadows and manipulating fate are either members of the Life School of Thought or members of the Yellow-robed Monks."
"We believe the latter is more likely. It's an extremely mysterious organization. Even the major churches have very little information about them."
"If Count Campbell is indeed a member of the Yellow-robed Monks, then everything makes sense."
After listening to the report, Leonard Augustus gritted his teeth and clenched his fists before slamming them heavily onto the table. However, he soon began coughing violently.
His body had only just begun to recover. He couldn't afford to become angry or agitated.
After calming his anger slightly, he lowered his voice and asked, "Whether or not he's a member of the Yellow-robed Monks, as long as we know he's the one secretly targeting me, we can't let him off!"
"The Yellow-robed Monks are far too mysterious. We still need to be cautious, lest…"
"Lest what?!"
Leonard Augustus slammed the table again and roared, "This is the Kingdom of Loen! This is territory ruled by our Augustus family! He's nothing more than-"
Before he could finish speaking, he became so agitated that he suddenly lost his breath. His entire body collapsed into the chair, breathing out more than he breathed in, with foam nearly spilling from the corners of his mouth.
The people beside him, already experienced with such situations, helped him back onto the bed and called for a doctor to examine his condition.
During this period, they had already grown accustomed to Prince Leonard suddenly encountering problems from time to time. Whenever he prepared to do something significant, an accident would almost inevitably occur.
They had tried to prevent these incidents before, but these accidents and coincidences weren't curses. They were the result of fate being tampered with and manipulated.
There was a chance of choking to death while drinking water. He could trip and almost die while walking on flat ground. He could even become so angry that he almost died on the spot…
Those Beyonders hiding in the shadows and manipulating fate merely increased the probability of such things occurring, turning low-probability events into high-probability ones.
Only Fate pathway Beyonders possessed the ability to detect and alter such occurrences.
However, ever since the president of the Life School of Thought disappeared, its members had scattered and gone into hiding, with no one knowing which corners they had concealed themselves in.
Even the Loen royal family had no particularly effective solution to this matter.
According to the latest information from Backlund, the royal family planned to seek help from members of the Secret Order.
Although they weren't Beyonders of the Fate pathway, they could divine the corresponding fluctuations in fate. Perhaps, through this method, they could locate the members of the Yellow-robed Monks hiding in the shadows.
In Puning Harbor, Hastur, who had returned from Intis, was listening to Caius's report on what had happened during his absence.
Aside from the matter concerning Prince Leonard, nothing particularly significant had occurred.
As for the war between the Kingdom of Loen and the Feysac Empire, Loen continued to hold the upper hand and was steadily advancing into Feysac territory.
The Feysac Empire's defeat was only a matter of time. Having lost the protection of the God of Combat, they had naturally lost their dominance on the battlefield as well.
Furthermore, the Evernight Goddess had begun devouring the God of Combat's authorities. At present, the Church of the God of Combat had already split into two factions, and their internal struggle was even more intense than that within the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun.
As time passed, the more authorities the Evernight Goddess grasped, the greater Her influence became. The scales had long since tipped in Her favor.
After dealing with these trivial matters, Hastur returned to his room and began considering his advancement to Sequence 4.
After repeated deliberation, he ultimately decided to take the Stars pathway.
At present, the cosmos beyond the world was surrounded by a host of Outer Deities and Great Old Ones. Even if he could become a god in the future, he still wouldn't be able to change much.
Only by relying on the Hall of Stars could he truly accomplish something.
No matter how powerful he became by following the other pathways, it still wouldn't be enough to deter the Great Old Ones. Perhaps only the One Who Returns the Stars to Their Rightful Positions could effectively resist the arrival of the apocalypse.
He already possessed a Sequence 4 Earl of the Fallen Beyonder characteristic. He only needed to gather a few more Beyonder materials before he could use the Hall of Stars to perform the corresponding advancement ritual and switch to Sequence 4, Lost One.
With the Yellow-robed Monks' ability to gather resources, it wouldn't take long to collect all the necessary Beyonder materials. The only somewhat difficult part was the advancement ritual.
The advancement ritual for Sequence 4, Lost One, was:
Consume the potion and advance at the place where one's heart finds its spiritual home. Then, gradually forget everything from the past and become a rootless wanderer, with only the starry sky overhead illuminating the path forward.