After dealing with the evil spirit that Owen had degenerated into as "Lust," Ebner held the strange Sealed Artifact, Proof of Lost Mind, glanced at the corpse on the ground, and felt slightly embarrassed.
After all, in this incident, the greatest contributors were "Pride," who had kept Owen trapped in the dream, and Vera, who had used a precious scroll…
On his side, he had basically just taken the final blow, yet he claimed almost all the spoils. To be honest, such a distribution was rather unreasonable.
But if he wanted to act under Owen's identity in the future, the Sealed Artifact Proof of Lost Mind was absolutely necessary. Without it, it would be easy to arouse suspicion.
Seeing Ebner hesitate, Vera immediately guessed what he was thinking and said with a smile, "We agreed beforehand — both the spoils and 'Lust' himself are yours."
"But when we made that plan, we didn't expect you to be so well-prepared… It's fair to say that without me, you wouldn't have been in any danger at all…" Ebner shook his head, reluctant to take advantage of this.
When he had made such excessive conditions earlier, one reason was to test Vera's attitude and background, and the other was that he thought his intervention could save her from a tragic fate…
But the facts proved that his contribution wasn't that significant, and his actions were more like stealing the credit.
Still, he didn't want to give up Owen's identity. Ebner began thinking about how to compensate Vera in another way.
At that moment, Vera pointed at "Greed," "Sloth," and "Black Knight" beside Ebner, and said sincerely, "Without you, they would all be my enemies… By then, I certainly wouldn't have been so composed!
"So everything I agreed to before is what you deserve."
It can be explained like that? This princess really is generous! After weighing her words, Ebner no longer dwelled on it.
He simply made a silent decision that if Vera ever needed something in the future, he would help her if he could.
I remember she once asked Xio to look for the Wishing Lamp… I know where it is, but that thing is not only dangerous, it's also entangled in many matters… I can't tell her for now… Besides, it's not mine yet…
While thinking, Ebner walked over to Owen's corpse and began arranging a ritual around it, experimenting with a mystical art that was still a "half-finished" product.
This mystical art had no name yet, but it was extremely important, because it might involve the continuous relay of "experiments" carried out by Transmigrators throughout history!
Ebner had discovered clues about this when he was controlling the body of that "Wanderer" senior in the Nation of the Evernight, and combined with the metaphors revealed by the first four questions in the Quiz Labyrinth, he roughly guessed what kind of mystical art his predecessors had been trying to develop.
It was an art that would allow him to control — or even turn the bodies of his predecessors into Avatars — or perhaps a method to resurrect them… The exact outcome would depend on what their essence truly was!
"The first four questions in the Quiz Labyrinth metaphorized 'Miracle,' the technology developed during the time of Vampire Duke Rhine and Death Consul Vicente, and finally integrating it into a mystical art…
"At first, I thought 'Miracle' meant controlling the body of Senior Wanderer Arvin to advance to Miracle Invoker…
"But later, after I bought a resurrection 'Miracle' on the first floor of the Dream Labyrinth Tower, that idea was overturned.
"The first question's real metaphor should be that this newly developed mystical art requires a resurrection 'Miracle'!
"Furthermore, the mystical art hypothesized during Senior Arvin's time was clearly incomplete, missing an important step… 'Contamination'… contamination from the Eye of Pure White!
"Later, Master Dannett apparently used the contamination of Sefirot to fill that gap in the experiment, and even created Baron Conva.
"Hmm… only with contamination can I turn their bodies into Avatars… or perhaps allow the Transmigrator seniors to resurrect through it?
"I'm not sure about the specifics. I'll only be certain after becoming a Demigod and gaining a preliminary understanding of the Unknown Land…
"But that doesn't stop me from experimenting with someone else's body first!"
While pondering, Ebner followed the "rehearsal" he had done in his Learning Space, drawing a series of complex symbols and magical patterns. He had Closfia channel the power of the Dream Weaver into one altar;
On the other altar, he infused the Black Knight's "Herding" ability through the Magic Mirror.
Next, Ebner summoned the Bone Dragon and used another mystical art to merge it with Owen's corpse.
Owen was not a Transmigrator senior, and his spiritual characteristics were entirely different from Ebner's, so the Bone Dragon was needed to make them "compatible."
The Bone Dragon itself was the remains of a Dream Weaver, so it could merge with a Manipulator of the same sequence without obstruction.
Although this meant losing the Bone Dragon as a trump card, the value of a Demigod Avatar was clearly much greater if it succeeded.
In truth, the best way would be to use the spells recorded in the Book of the Dead to attune Owen's body's spirit, but that would take at least several months, and Ebner couldn't wait — hence the "sacrifice" of the Bone Dragon.
Once the fusion mystical art was completed, Ebner had the Magic Mirror release Owen's spirit and place it on the other altar.
At this point, preparations were complete. Ebner took a deep breath, solemnly prayed to the Unknown Land for power, and connected to the Quiz Labyrinth, releasing one of the two resurrection Miracles he had purchased from Zaratul.
Of course, Ebner only recited the prayer to the Unknown Land silently. Given his close connection to it, communication was easy and required no elaborate ritual.
Very soon, as the mystical art combining "Miracle," "Manipulation," "Herding," and high-level contamination from the Eye of Pure White was activated, the "Owen" in the center of the ritual opened his eyes in the next second.
He… had been resurrected! But he was both himself and no longer himself!
Or rather, in his current perception, he was Ebner's Avatar, with no barrier between him and the original body.
Ebner stayed silent for a few minutes, receiving all of Owen's memories. Yet, instead of feeling joy at his success, his heart was heavy.
Because he had felt this before… back when he first transmigrated and became Ebner Bryan!
The effect of this mystical art was almost identical to his transmigration, only cruder… For instance, Owen was truly just an Avatar now, unable to advance further in the Sequence; and Owen's Avatar couldn't activate the Eye of Pure White…
Even so, it made Ebner reflect deeply:
"It needs a multi-pathway ability fusion mystical art, requires mental multithreading operation… To perfect it, a 'Reader' will be essential…
"So they, and the deities related to them, had prepared Reader advancement materials long ago, waiting for me to fulfill the 'conditions' step by step?
"The transmigration brought by the Unknown Land is, in essence, contamination…
"Was my transmigration… also part of the so-called experiment?"
With a bitter smile, Ebner shook his head, discarding some baseless conjectures. He then took a set of clothes from the Labyrinth and had Owen — who was essentially himself — put them on.
He was now Owen, and under dual-thread operation, there was no conflict with his original self.
However, since Ebner was not yet a Reader Demigod, his current mental multithreading was entirely dependent on the Eye of Pure White. If he closed it, Owen would have to be managed by a virtual personality.
Fortunately, Ebner could now keep the Eye of Pure White open for up to eight hours a day, allowing him to maintain dual-thread operation most of the time.
At this moment, Vera sensed the change in the resurrected Owen. After he finished dressing, she asked first, "Did the mystical art succeed?"
Ebner returned to his senses and had both of himself speak in unison: "Very successful!"
Seeing this, Closfia clicked her tongue in amazement, trying hard to recall the steps of the mystical art, but feeling something was missing, making it impossible to replicate.
"We need to lift the blockade and leave here quickly… We've already wasted some time, and if we delay further, my brother will grow suspicious." Vera paused, glanced at Ebner, and added, "If there's anything, we can discuss it in detail after we get to the embassy."
"The embassy?" Ebner didn't react immediately.
"With 'Lust's' personality, since he's 'successfully' taken control of me, tonight I'll certainly have to stay at the embassy… Otherwise, it would arouse suspicion." Vera looked into Ebner's eyes and said with a smile.
"…" Ebner was at a loss for words, because having inherited Owen's memories, he — though like the original Ebner, with only the memories and no emotions — knew Vera was right…
Although Owen had ulterior motives toward Vera, he had indeed lusted after her body.
(The End of This Chapter)