LotM: Surviving as a Marionette

Speaking of this, Azik frowned again, "Amon discovered you?"

What came to Tingen was most likely just Amon's avatar. If that was the case, while he still hadn't lost his memory again, he could still think of ways to drive it away.

"No, probably not." Don said.

He hadn't had close contact with Amon. All his observations of Amon were conducted through Euclidean Space.

The existence of Euclidean Space itself obviously transcended the dimension they were in. Although he couldn't determine what the essence of Euclid Space was—whether it was a Sefirot, or something like a Divine Kingdom—clearly Amon's avatar and the Sequence 1 Pallez Zoroast hadn't noticed.

Azik pondered for a while, then said: "Amon appearing in Tingen might be attracted by something... If possible, come to Backlund, Constant, and other major cities where church forces are stationed. In those places, Amon wouldn't dare act recklessly."

This was the Fourth Epoch when deities walked the earth. There was no reason for Amon's true body to go to these places and then be beaten up equally by all the deities.

After all, Amon and the Dark Side of Universe didn't have much difference in the eyes of the orthodox churches.

And avatars were much simpler to deal with than the true body.

It was just unknown whether this Amon avatar staying in Tingen was something Amon was using for fishing.

Don chuckled. Who could say it wasn't?

He had previously thought it was the Theater With Curtains That Never Draw.

But this Sequence 2 Sealed Artifact of the Seer pathway had the dual influence of the Evernight pathway's hidden powers and the system's maddening knowledge. This Miracle Invoker's Sealed Artifact might not necessarily attract Amon.

With Pallez Zoroast here, Amon most likely wouldn't give up the Sequence 1 potion that was within reach.

Unless the old man were driven away, Amon would sooner or later come looking for him, to clash with the old man and with him.

---

"I always feel that divine vessel didn't have good intentions. Coming to find Father this time probably also has some bad scheme in mind."

His consciousness returned, and Don asked the system, "System, do you think I should try to locate that demon's position through Euclid Space?"

[You can try, but there aren't many Yesterday Once More charms left, Host.]

Currently, the range Don could observe when Euclid Space was deployed was limited to Tingen. This might be related to his spirituality and divinity, and might change after advancing to Sequence 4 Bizarro Sorcerer.

Even though he had deceived the system's rules and opened Euclid Space early, he could also try to expand the observation range and look toward Backlund from Tingen.

But after entering Euclid Space, spirituality consumption was extremely rapid. Without reaching Sequence 4, and without a continuous supply of Yesterday Once More charms to borrow spirituality, he wasn't sure what he could find out.

Should he just go directly to Backlund? The observation points within Euclid Space seemed to vary depending on where he entered.

That meant standing in Tingen could only observe Tingen, while standing in Backlund could observe Backlund.

With the Traveler marionette available, distance wouldn't be a problem.

But the question was whether that divine vessel was in Backlund.

If not, going there would be a waste of time.

However, even if he didn't go to Backlund now and couldn't confirm the other party's location, aside from Euclid Space, Don had one other thing.

The 'Astronomical Telescope for Stargazing.'

This system-exclusive item obtained from the 'Mystery Gift Package' was equivalent to a weakened version of Euclid Space. Don had tested it—the range he could see through this thing was smaller than Euclidean Space itself, but the distance could be extended much farther, allowing him to see even when not in Tingen City.

However, the distance and consumed spirituality were directly proportional, which was also Don's current fatal weakness.

Helplessly, this could only be temporarily abandoned.

In the end, spirituality was the hard limitation.

"As for Amon's problem, emm, this guy is really difficult to handle."

Even cooperating with Grandpa Pallez might not necessarily make things develop according to their wishes. After all, Amon was skilled at fraud—who knew whether you were fishing for him or he was fishing for you?

If one wasn't careful, when clearing out Amon, his true body might suddenly descend. Then both he and the old man would probably be finished.

And the old man... this matter should be set aside first. To cooperate, he also needed to have confidence to dare cooperate. Without any trump cards to bring to the table, the other party would most likely just treat him as a joke.

At least he needed to advance to Sequence 4 first. By then, he would gain divinity, his spirituality would be enhanced, and he could also split off Spirit Worms to have the theater core create charms.

Sequence 4...

Melancholy.jpg

'Host, why not throw those few Abrahams in again?'

"Those Abrahams woke up?" Don was somewhat surprised.

'Their condition isn't too good.' The system said.

The Abrahams who had previously wanted to betray were thrown into the Crimson Campus. Each one was so frightened they showed signs of losing control, and were now being well cared for by psychiatrists in the infirmary.

They probably couldn't be put to use in the short term.

Don thought about it and decided against it.

Honestly, apart from playing something big, the speed of daily acting to digest potions wasn't too fast. These Sequence 5 Abrahams were an unexpected harvest, but ultimately, he had to consider the Abraham family's reputation and couldn't really kill them.

So, if he wanted to rapidly digest the potion, he could only actively act and digest it better.

"How about I recruit some students first?"

"But I can't make moves in Tingen for now." He was afraid Amon would silently follow those Beyonders right into the school.

Then it would become Miskatonic-Amon University.

"For now, I'll trial run it within my own territory, then make adjustments. But the focus should still be on digesting the potion."

Just then, the system suddenly said, 'Host, there's a messenger looking for you.'

"Messenger?"

Don was stunned, and a female Traveler marionette appeared beside him.

The marionette reached out to grab Don's shoulder, and the two entered the Spirit World, returning to the castle in the real world.

Unlike Olson's octopus messenger, the messenger before him was a horse-shaped skeleton with several half-rotten pieces of meat hanging all over its body. Its frame was large, with black flames flickering at its hooves. If the muscles and skin were still there, this should have been a very fine horse.

But in its current state, it looked like the kind that would frighten small children.

The skeleton horse held a letter in its mouth, placed it in Don's hand, then its entire body burst into flames and disappeared from the real world, returning to the Spirit World.

This was Owen's messenger.

"It's really hard on him, being able to find this kind of messenger." Don muttered as he opened the letter.

Omitting all the nonsense, those illegible scrawls that couldn't be made out, and removing the meaningless greetings, the central idea of Owen's letter was—

[How are you lately? I'm doing well. Don't disturb me, hahaha.]

The system's mechanical voice had intonation and cadence, especially in those last few words, with voice fluctuations like a great bell.

Clearly a master at extracting nonsense.

Don: ...

"Sharp knife to the butt."

Have you learned all your characters? Finished your studies? Got your head cracked open, Owen?

(End of Chapter)