LotM: Surviving as a Marionette

This witch, if not controlled further and guided properly, was already not far from losing control, not far from madness.

Long-term mental oppression, holding a strong negative attitude toward herself, combined with her advancement to Sequence 7 where the residual effects of incompletely digested potions from earlier sequences continued to deepen their influence, along with the various beyonder powers, mental shocks, and abnormal self-perception carried by the Sequence 7 potion itself—

A wild Beyonder who didn't know the acting method and didn't understand proper acting, in this state, would find it very difficult to advance further. Being on the verge of losing control and becoming a monster was only a matter of time.

Don looked at Lilianna, who was still muttering to herself, and ultimately decided not to continue questioning her through the Sun Scepter.

He lifted the hypnotic state, allowing everything to return to calm, while also suggesting to Liliana that she would forget all the content from just now.

He had already learned what he needed to know, and he also knew what clues to investigate next. What he needed to do now was to deal with that scumbag, dig out his secrets, and then hang him up as a marionette.

Putting away the Sun Scepter, Don took a step back without hesitation. The scene presented within the Euclidean space began to change, completely different from the previous dark and cold basement.

This space had similar properties to the spirit world. Distance had no meaning here—it only moved, presented, and magnified different scenes according to the observer's will.

Here, before him, no matter how deeply Hewesley Bernstein was hiding, as long as he was in Saga Fort City, within the range Don could observe, he would be found.

Feeling his spirituality about to be exhausted, Don frowned but still suppressed the idea of using the Yesterday Once More charm to borrow spirituality from the future and then using the Sun Scepter to beat that scum to death with one strike. He returned to the real world to recover his spirituality first.

Back at the small inn, Don communicated with the system.

"From the intelligence I've gathered, this witch is not a Beyonder from the Demoness Sect. Hewesley Bernstein provided the potion for her individually."

Colonel Bernstein was from the military. Where did he get the potion formula for the Demoness pathway?

Was this situation allowed by the military, or was the military unaware, and this was Hewesley Bernstein's own unauthorized action?

[There are many possibilities. The information the host currently has is insufficient to make a judgment.]

The system's big data calculations could naturally calculate all the possibilities, but with too few prerequisites, just like divination, there was no way to accurately determine which possibility it was.

[However, if it's not a nail planted by the Demoness Sect in the Loen military, and not a spy cultivated by the Loen military, then the greatest possibility is that scumbag took a fancy to the power of the Demoness pathway itself, host.]

This speculation was consistent with Don's thoughts.

All three possibilities existed, but Don was more inclined to believe that the scumbag was secretly cultivating Liliana Bernstein behind everyone's backs. After all, Sequence 9 of the Demoness pathway was called Assassin, and Sequence 8 was called Instigator.

Win over those he favored, assassinate and instigate against those he opposed, paving the way for himself.

A Beyonder of the Calamity pathways, tsk.

While waiting for his spirituality to recover, Don informed Owen of the general situation through the Traveler marionette placed beside him.

Owen, upon hearing all this, gritted his teeth so hard they made grinding sounds.

"I really didn't see that Colonel Bernstein was such a thing!"

He said through gritted teeth, "To do such a thing to a child, he actually could do it."

Any person with normal values would feel disgusted upon hearing such things, followed by discomfort, anger, and the desire to grind this human-faced, dog-hearted Loen military colonel to dust.

But the underlying values of this world were disturbingly twisted, with numbness dominating. This couldn't be blamed on them. Not having enough to eat, not having warm clothes, the lower classes struggling bitterly, the upper classes scheming against each other—whether it was Loen, Intis, Feynapotter, Feysac, or Balam, it was all the same.

People, in this world, were anchors for the Deities—important, yet also cheap.

Owen could have this reaction, and Don was already very satisfied.

At least it proved that their family's traditions were still upright and hadn't been led astray.

The marionette lady with soft long hair casually falling on her shoulders, wearing a black robe and appearing somewhat mysterious, said lazily, "In our era, it was the same."

She came from the Tudor Empire and naturally understood these matters very well.

"Without corresponding power, people are nothing more than sacrificial offerings and cannon fodder in the hands of the gods."

"And Beyonders, hmph, are just more powerful cannon fodder. Without entering Sequence 4, without touching the demigod realm, crossing the shackles of class and wanting to live with human dignity—this is quite difficult."

The Traveler marionette, Angele, lightly tapped the void before her, and an illusory book appeared in her hand.

"I come, I see, I record."

As the illusory pages turned, stopping on one of them, Angele's figure gradually disappeared from the spot, as if entering others' blind spots, no longer visible to others.

"Rest assured, he will handle these problems properly."

"And I, in the coming period, will also assist you in making some achievements here, little boy."

Leaving behind meaningful words, she completely disappeared, entering a state of psychological invisibility.

Owen: ...

If he didn't know this was Don's marionette, he would have thought he'd really encountered some Sequence 5 Traveler from the Tudor Empire.

Don, who had quietly given his Traveler marionette the 'Bionic Marionette' module and maxed out the intelligence attribute after coming here and seeing Owen's dumbfounded expression: :)

A smile was the best interpretation.

Nothing else to say—smiling more was always good.

Putting down the spirit body threads controlling the marionette on the other side, Don threw himself onto the soft bed he had moved from the theater, wriggled around like a maggot twice before sitting up from the bed full of 'sunshine scent.'

"This time's objective is very clear. First, wait for the Dark Side of the Universe to appear."

"Second, seek opportunities for advancement."

[Mission status updated.]

[Mission: 'Acting of the Marionettist']

[Having advanced to 'Marionettist,' you have already summarized certain Acting Rules. Please follow the Acting Rules and gradually improve the Acting Method to increase the degree of potion digestion.]

[Mission completion: 53%.]

The potion digestion was over half. If it were conventional, one active performance might still not be enough.

Then, it would be good to raise the level of the audience during the performance.

"Dark Side of Universe, an existence at the divine level."

If he murdered a Sequence 4 divine descender with divine status, his potion digestion should also skyrocket.

However, this was extremely dangerous.

Speaking from the heart, he didn't want to participate in battles of this level at all. Using the special nature of the Euclidean space to notify the Church of the Lord of Storm, the Church of the God of Craftmanship, and the Church of Evernight Goddess without triggering the Demon's danger intuition was already the greatest effort he could make.

(End of Chapter)