LOTM: Paradox Pathway

July 24th, 1349, Night.

Snow sat before a rather decent dinner, his hands clasped against his forehead as he softly recited in ancient Hermes: "Thank The Fool for granting me this dinner."

Although such meaningless prayers had to be performed several times each day, Snow didn't find them tedious in the slightest, because the sensation of the hard shell of that potion continuously cracking was simply too wonderful!

Crack, crack—it was as if each prayer could make the fissures spread further across its surface. That feeling of being able to completely shatter it with just a bit more effort not only brought him the euphoria of increasing strength, but also satisfied humanity's deepest destructive desires.

"I hope Mr. Fool has grown accustomed to the discomfort brought by these brief prayers," Snow "blessed" without a trace of guilt in his heart, then picked up his knife and fork, preparing to enjoy today's dinner. But just then, Lily, who had been lying on the table in meditation, suddenly stood up. Her back arched high, and her amber eyes were filled with wariness.

Snow almost instinctively reached out to grasp the charm in his pocket, but immediately after, a pleasant voice suddenly rang out from the corner of the room—

"Your pet is quite impressive."

Hearing this voice, Snow instead relaxed his vigilance and withdrew his hand from his pocket. He faced the direction from which the voice came and bowed slightly, then tapped four times on his chest, drawing the inverted cross symbol with a long top and short bottom.

"Welcome, respected Mr. A."

Following his greeting, the shadows in the room suddenly came alive, slowly transforming into a mature male with a beautiful appearance.

"The Lord is very satisfied with your devotion." Mr. A revealed a beautiful smile, likewise extending his hand to draw the inverted cross pattern on his chest, then glanced at Lily who still maintained her vigilant posture.

"Don't be afraid, he's one of us." Snow reached out to stroke Lily's head, signaling her to relax, while beginning to release his spirituality.

Thanks to the special nature of the Secrets Supplicant (who gains different powers according to divine bestowal), Mr. A didn't harbor any doubts about his activated beyonder ability. He casually sat on the edge of the bed, smiling as he said:

"I've read your letter. What exactly is the situation?"

In that instant, Snow felt everything in the room freeze, even the sounds of summer night insects vanished without a trace. Although no ritual had been performed, the moment Mr. A spoke, he had already completed the sealing of the surrounding spirituality. In other words, this room had now become a chamber where one could speak "freely."

"Have you gone to see that woman carrying the divine child?" Snow didn't immediately answer Mr. A's question, but instead asked in return.

Mr. A wasn't offended by his question, but instead regarded this kind of "devotion" favorably. He gently shook his head:

"Although Tingen City has no high-sequence Beyonders, using mid-sequence abilities would be particularly likely to attract attention, and the information in your letter was too suspicious, so I came to find you first to understand the situation."

It must be said that Mr. A's current performance was truly perfect—handsome appearance, elegant manner of speaking, peaceful temperament, and that completely unpretentious speaking style gave Snow a feeling like a spring breeze.

If he didn't understand the pitfall-ridden nature of the Secrets Supplicant pathway, Snow would be completely unable to connect such an exemplary boss with the mad beauty from the original work.

After repeating "this is a madman" several times in his mind, Snow finally nodded:

"Although I don't know how they accomplished it, I indeed saw a mortal woman carrying the Lord's offspring. What's unforgivable is that the woman actually thinks the child belongs to that fraud!"

Snow timely preset two choices in his mind, allowing himself to actively enter a slightly out-of-control state. Watching the fur that grew on Snow due to anger, Mr. A's heart grew increasingly satisfied—

"Calm down, don't punish yourself for others' mistakes."

"I apologize, I lost my composure." Mr. A's comfort triggered Snow's pre-designed option, causing the scales in his heart to immediately tip. After completing his choice, the fur on his body slowly receded, and his pointed ears gradually became smooth again.

Watching Snow quickly return to normal, Mr. A gained a new understanding of this member's qualifications, inevitably developing thoughts of cultivating him well.

However, now wasn't the time to think about such things. He waited for a moment until Snow had completely restrained his spirituality and made the abnormalities on his body disappear entirely before continuing:

"Regarding that fraud, how much do you know? Also, how did you encounter the woman carrying the divine child?"

"I learned about the fraud from that idiot Hanass Vincent, and I never had direct contact with him. I only know that Hanassen Vincent taught him the ritual for the Lord's descent. As for exactly what he did and how he managed to make a mortal woman conceive the Lord's offspring, I don't understand either. As for how I discovered it..."

Snow gently shook his head, looking somewhat bewildered:

"It's quite a coincidence. Originally, to facilitate contact with Hanass Vincent, I disguised myself as someone superstitious about divination. Today I also went to the divination club for divination, and unexpectedly that woman also happened to go there for divination to find that fraud. This must be our Lord's arrangement!"

"..." Mr. A was slightly stunned upon hearing this. The speaker was "unintentional," but the listener was attentive. He pondered for a moment before speaking:

"Generally speaking, mortals—no, even low-sequence Beyonders—are incapable of bearing the Lord's offspring! There must be other issues involved. By the way, you mentioned coincidence? Tell me about everything that's happened in Tingen over the past half month, regardless of whether it involves beyonder events. As long as you know about it, tell me everything!"

"Ah, please wait a moment." Upon hearing this, Snow immediately turned around and retrieved a stack of Tingen City Honest Paper newspapers from his portable suitcase. Seeing the many marked traces on them, Mr. A secretly nodded in approval. Then he watched as Snow spread out the newspapers and recounted in chronological order:

"Two days before I arrived in Tingen, the ordinary person who purchased that Antigonus family notebook died from a black divination, and the notebook was also lost. But a survivor who shouldn't have existed appeared, which directly led to official Beyonders beginning to investigate clues about the notebook. Under these circumstances, that idiot Sirius still went to the library to borrow related books, then was discovered by the Nighthawks heretics, which is why I killed him.

After that, numerous events occurred around this notebook. They all looked like coincidences, but somehow always allowed the Nighthawks heretics to inexplicably find us. Hanass was also targeted this way.

Besides that, there are these, these..."

Snow continuously reconstructed the marginal news from the newspapers into beyonder events. Mr. A's expression grew increasingly serious. Although Snow appeared to know nothing, he had already realized that there was likely the shadow of some mid-to-high sequence Beyonder behind all this.

(End of Chapter)

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PS1: Seers attract Spectators—this is actually specifically said for Klein, that newcomer. The "Spectators" here specifically refers to high-sequence Spectators, because high-sequence Spectators have the characteristic of "if you know me, then I know you." When a Seer performs divination, Spectators immediately know about it.

PS2: Regarding Mr. A not using mid-to-high sequence abilities in Tingen, although I feel this needs no explanation, considering that some people previously thought it was a loss to use pure intelligence to buy Trissy's life, I'll explain it here—

Using exams as an example, places like Backlund have many top students (mid-to-high sequences), where perfect scores are common, so getting a high score won't attract anyone's attention.

But Tingen is full of poor students (Sequence 7 and below), where passing is already good. If you get an eighty in such a place, you immediately become the focus of attention.

If Mr. A casually used his abilities, the officials would immediately know that a mid-to-high sequence Beyonder had come to Tingen. Even if they couldn't find him immediately, they might seek aid from Backlund. And Backlund is only half a day's journey from Tingen—using beyonder abilities would be even faster. By then, forget about a group coming, even if each church sent one Sequence 5, he would lose his advantage as "Tingen's strongest Beyonder."

Mr. A is mad, not stupid, so naturally he wouldn't simply throw away his advantage like that.