LOTM: Paradox Pathway

Time passed in a flash, and it was already mid-August. However, the atmosphere in Tingen remained tense, as the official Beyonders in this city discovered that strange Beyonders were increasing in number once again.

Presumably having heard about the changes here, Aurora Order members from East Tucker County, East Chester County, and even Southville County began flooding in one after another. Although no more divine emissary of mid-sequence level appeared, their fanaticism was quite troublesome.

This was not 0-08's arrangement, but rather the inevitable consequence of the news about the evil god's offspring being born. The Aurora Order members were all fanatics. Having heard that the Child of God was about to descend and that heretical organizations were obstructing this, they would naturally come to provide protection. divine emissary-level mid-sequence Beyonders might still retain some rationality, but those Secret Supplicants and Listeners were all mentally twisted lunatics.

Even though the authorities, sensing that something was amiss, began transferring Beyonders from other regions for deployment, under the Aurora Order members' suicidal attacks, they still presented a situation of being vastly outnumbered—like trying to put out a cartload of burning firewood with a cup of water.

Actually, according to the configuration of official Beyonders, there hadn't been too many casualties, but the Aurora Order lunatics always carried the pollution of evil gods around them. A Sequence 7 mid-sequence powerhouse would be contaminated just by glancing at the dream of a Sequence 9, let alone the evil aura actively released during battle.

This led to a situation where even after successfully defeating Aurora Order members, the participating official Beyonders had to enter a period of rest to avoid losing control. Not to mention, lurking in the shadows was a clumsy playwright wielding a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact, continuously writing scripts.

The more lower-level Aurora Order members died, the more this situation was something the Aurora Order completely didn't need to care about. With a true god watching over them, they hardly lacked Sequence 9 Beyonder characteristics. What? Manpower? Don't be ridiculous. In this era, what they lacked least was people. Just pick any city, take a stroll through the slums, and as long as you're willing to provide a meal, there would be plenty of guys willing to risk their lives. As for loyalty? Whether they were loyal or not before drinking the potion, they would definitely be loyal afterward!

(A single Sequence 1's aura could directly contaminate ordinary people into werewolves or living corpses. Even without Beyonder characteristics, relying on a true god's aura to produce low-sequence potions wasn't impossible—at most, the risk of losing control would be a bit higher.)

Fortunately, among these strange Beyonders, there weren't only Aurora Order lunatics. For example, there was that female Beyonder who first appeared in early August.

Her activities were quite frequent. Every two or three days, she would suddenly enter some official Beyonder's field of vision, leave behind some inexplicable words, then quietly disappear. Her behavior was so baffling that it was almost like she was playing tricks on the official Beyonders. But paradoxically, every incident she revealed was quite dangerous—from Mr. A's hiding place to evil god sacrifices in the slums. Even if it were fake, the official Beyonders didn't dare to gamble, and what was even more terrifying was that these things were often true.

Although in a certain sense, this lady had made outstanding contributions to Tingen City's public security, from the conclusion alone, Tingen's official Beyonders had undoubtedly become much busier.

And this lady, who made the official Beyonders both love and hate her, was currently sitting in front of a vanity mirror, slowly adjusting her makeup.

Although the official Beyonders had basically recognized her, she still needed to slightly modify her appearance each time she went out. Being careful and cautious was the most important quality an assassin should maintain, and a qualified instigator also needed to learn to keep themselves out of the picture.

However, just as Trissy was deepening her eyeliner to change the shape of her eyes, the mirror in front of her suddenly brightened slightly, and then the image of a cat appeared in the mirror.

Only at this moment did Trissy's extraordinary ability finally trigger, but this not only failed to relax her, but instead made her increasingly shocked—

"How is this possible! This is my ability! How did you do this?"

Yes, from the extraordinary ability being triggered, it could be seen that this damned cat had finally used the hair she had given to the other party to cast the spell. But why was it that despite clearly being a communication spell cast using the witch's ability as a medium, it was instead dominated by the other party?

"So I've said many times, don'ttrust to much in beyonder power." The black cat in the mirror narrowed its amber eyes, and as dangerous cold light flickered, it made Trissy's scalp tingle.

Although she had always felt that behind this black cat was probably a powerhouse of no low sequence, it wasn't until today that Trissy truly felt the other party's strength and eeriness.

"What is it this time? Kill whom? Save whom?" Trissy wasn't foolish enough to ask about the other party's true sequence, and directly inquired about the specific task.

The black cat was obviously very satisfied with her sensibility, revealing a somewhat terrifying smile, extending its claw to tap the mirror and said:

"Find a girl named Elizabeth. She's a student at khoy University. Her family has a manor in Lamud Town. I believe this intelligence is sufficient for you to lock onto the target."

"Indeed, it's enough." Trissy nodded. With such intelligence, even commissioning an ordinary private detective could yield results within a few days. However, she was very clear that this task wouldn't be so simple. To avoid this cat in front of her showing off his disgusting "linguistic artistry," she directly asked:

"What happens after I find her?"

"After finding her, confirm whether she's being haunted by vengeful spirits or phantoms. If so, then inform Mr. Klein Moretti, who lives at No. 2 Daffodil Street, about this matter. He's an official Beyonder. Hmm, you can also tell him in passing that the vengeful soul is related to a certain amnesiac with a mole on their earlobe." The black cat's smile became increasingly eerie, and Trissy nodded, taking note of this, then asked:

"What if there isn't?"

"If there isn't, then you go directly to find that seer gentleman and tell him that in the ancient castle of lamud Town, there are some clues related to his altered fate. Hmm, and also about the amnesiac person with a mole on their ear." The black cat extended its tongue to lick its front paw, methodically finishing its requirements, then lightly tapped the mirror surface:

"That's all for this time. The difficulty isn't great—the entire process only involves one Sequence 9. I'm giving you a 500-pound consultation quota. If you have any questions, you can speak up now."

"First, I want to know why the acting method can digest potions." Trissy immediately asked the question she had long wanted to ask. These days, her life consisted of relying on her invisibility ability and Sequence 7 position to track those Aurora Order Listeners, then leak their evil plans to the authorities. Although it couldn't match the feedback she received when she previously exposed the Hidden Sage's contamination of a Sequence 9, it was still much more efficient than killing civilians.

"Oh ho, that question. Although I indeed know the answer, this is a key question pointing to the core of the acting method. The quota you currently have seems to be only around 1,300 pounds, which is completely insufficient!"

(End of Chapter)

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Author's Note:

Regarding the influence on the sequence after reaching Sequence 0, this needs to be discussed separately.

First, mental influence is inevitable. Even without reaching the top, accommodating Uniqueness will influence that sequence. For example, Amon's alteration of inherited knowledge is utilizing this influence. Cheek's ascension resulted in males being more suitable for the Witch pathway than females, and the Hidden Sage instills knowledge into the Hermit sequence, etc.

Second, whether it will affect the sequence's inherent characteristics—this probably won't be affected. Whether it's Spider Demoness or Serpent Demoness (the Witch sequence has both spider and serpent characteristics), or even Cat Demoness, becoming female is inevitable because this sequence itself corresponds to the concept of "femininity." Lilith becoming a god would at most give witches cat ears, just like how current witches can use spider silk.

Third, whether it will change the mythical creature form—this isn't explicitly stated in the original work, but one thing is certain: even if it doesn't change, there will be a shift. The most direct example here is the Death pathway. The Death pathway's original mythical creature form was the undead bird, but in modern times, it has become a feathered serpent.

As for why this changed, there are two conjectures:

The Southern Continent's faith in Death caused the change in mythical creature form. The influence brought by the Death Emperor's ascension to the second-generation Death God.

However, considering that Susie has already gained dragon scales and other dragon characteristics during her advancement, the final change should also be a combination of dragon and dog...

Wait! If we follow this logic, then the feathered serpent is a combination of snake and bird? This means Salinger was originally a snake? Come on, you're Salinger, not Salazar!