"Just a note: the main character was originally named Lu Yan , but I've changed it to Lucian for the English version."
When Lucian walked out of Backlund's Church of the Evernight Goddess , he finally believed the unbelievable thing that had happened to him.
His current state was very much like transmigrating, but he did not have memories from before transmigrating. He only knew his name was Lucian Sotos, and at the same time remembered he had read a book called The Biography of Zhou Mingrui, knowing some about Zhou Mingrui, or rather Klein, the Fool, and the Lord of Mysteries' life experiences.
Strictly speaking, it should be the deeds of the future. He asked the nun inside the church; this year was December 1348.
The Biography of Zhou Mingrui started next year's June, when the one called Zhou Mingrui, the Lord of Mysteries, would descend into this world. This meant the apocalypse foretold in the book was about to arrive.
He was not a person who abandoned himself to despair, so naturally he wanted to survive through the apocalypse, and to live freely, not spending every day in fear.
According to the record in the biography, if he now schemed for Klein's friendship, there was a high probability he could obtain the Lord of Mysteries' protection during the apocalypse.
But for him, this was unnecessary. Klein would eventually become the Lord of Mysteries, and by then, this impure and ulterior friendship could not possibly deceive the Lord of Mysteries, who was known as the King of Space and Time.
Besides, passively expecting others' charity was inferior to grasping power by himself. Moreover, he occupied many opportunities ahead of time — not gambling on them would simply disgrace such chances.
Based on information from The Biography of Zhou Mingrui, some pathways still had a chance to ascend to godhood. For example, Red Priest, Black Emperor, Arbiter, Wheel of Fortune.
If there was a way to block Outer Gods' influence, or one did not mind gender and source quality impacts, Sealed, Moon, Abyss, and Hermit were also considerable.
Although these pathways all held hopes of godhood, Lucian knew that the water inside was very deep. Without enough background and backing, it was extremely difficult for one person alone to become a god.
Take the Wheel of Fortune pathway for instance — the Sequence 1 characteristics were already taken, and the two owners occupied all the necessary items for ascending to Sequence 0: one was an angel king backed by a true god, and the other an antique with uniqueness. Simply put, even though this pathway had no Sequence 0, he could not even reach Sequence 1!
...
The current time was the third day since he had transmigrated to this world. Three days ago, he had suddenly appeared beside Backlund's Church of the Evernight Goddess . At that time, he had no signs of life, looking exactly like a corpse.
The Nightwatcher, to prevent any occult changes from happening to his corpse, very properly buried him in the cemetery beside the Church of the Evernight Goddess .
When he "revived," he found himself trapped in a small sealed space, and only with great effort did he crawl out from the soil that had not yet stiffened.
Unlike Klein, he had no such luck. Within less than ten minutes after climbing out of the cemetery, he was caught by a group of Nightwatcher.
Although this might be related to the fact that he was buried in the cemetery beside Backlund's Church of the Evernight Goddess , Lucian still attributed it to his own bad luck.
The moment he was discovered, he realized he was unsuitable for the Wheel of Fortune pathway — his luck was at an ordinary human level, completely unfit for competing in luck.
For reasons unknown, the Church of the Evernight Goddess did not make things difficult for this suspicious figure of mysterious origin who had resurrected from death.
Instead, when he left, the bishop of the church even gave him about two thousand pounds in cash, in the name of "spiritual compensation."
He still remembered the bishop speaking to him very kindly: "Honorable Mr. Lucian Sotos, we are deeply sorry for mistakenly burying you in the earth, and we offer you a small amount of compensation."
In the end, Lucian happily accepted this sum — he indeed badly needed money; frankly speaking, he did not want to live as frugally as a certain Poor God.
After walking out of the Church of the Evernight Goddess , Lucian truly felt the reality of this world. A faint smog already filled the air, and the sound of unknown machines' gears turning was as maddening as brainwashing music.
Unfortunately, today's Backlund was cloudy. The whole city, although lively, appeared lacking vitality, both developed and backward. Lucian could not describe what he saw before him — he could only silently feel the unique features of this era.
After a long time, he walked aimlessly to the side of a pool and saw his own reflection.
Short silver hair, deep black eyes, delicate and refined facial features. Even after lying in the cemetery for three days, his silk-like clothes remained spotless.
What caught Lucian's attention the most was the necklace hanging around his neck — strictly speaking, a pendant, with a small gemstone-like silver apple at the bottom.
The tiny apple was entirely silver-white, and at its base were two finely carved silver leaves, exquisitely gorgeous and soul-stirring.
At the instant Lucian lifted the necklace, he seemed to experience endless time and gaze into the boundless starry sky.
Turning around suddenly, he realized he was just standing alone by the pool in a daze — all caused by the information appearing in his mind.
Sequence 9: Passerby
You are an observer of fate, a passerby outside of predetermined destiny. You can see fate but remain indifferent to it; you are merely a fleeting figure within fate's events, and the only thing you can do is silently watch the destined fate descend.
Recipe: A pair of bronze hummingbird eyes + one air-dried adult black-eyed chameleon.
Auxiliary materials: 80 ml of pure water + 10 grams of swamp willow bark + 8 moonflowers.
At this moment, Lucian realized that he actually had no choice — just as the brief description said, he could only silently watch the arrival of predetermined fate.
This was a pathway called Tower of Destiny, and the uniqueness of this pathway was the "Causality" hanging at his chest.
Causality could let its holder see the future that must happen — such a future could not be rewritten, deceived, or avoided through trickery.
Yet the future he saw now was one he could hardly accept.
In that future, he was surrounded by several missionaries dressed in black church robes; the robes seemed embroidered with blood-red roses. Crimson liquid splattered all around him, and several lifeless corpses were piled haphazardly nearby. Even after death, these bodies still dutifully shielded him, but it was in vain.
At this moment, he seemed to have no way out!
The future displayed by Causality was extremely short but very clear, giving Lucian the illusion he was personally experiencing it. He could even feel the future anxiety inside himself — a heart-pounding fear when facing despair yet powerless.
"Could it be that this so-called Causality also likes to kill its bearer?"
In the hopeless future, he felt there was no way out. Perhaps at that time, he pinned all his hopes on an illusory miracle — only that could give his future self a slight sense of comfort.
No matter how desperate the future he saw was, he must first become a Beyonder — ordinary people faced with such a situation had no chance at all; only Beyonders had even a slim hope of turning the situation.
Lucian was unwilling to be bound by so-called fate. The unknown-origin Uniqueness in his possession was likely a huge pitfall. Maybe once he advanced to some Sequence, he would no longer even be himself.
The key issue was: all the information he knew came from what Causality showed him — was that so-called unchangeable future really unchangeable?
Perhaps, the "unchangeable" was only relative to beings of the same level.
Also, the Tower of Destiny pathway was very similar to the Wheel of Fortune pathway. Maybe he could first become a Sequence 9 of the Wheel of Fortune pathway; even if he was eventually forced to accept the Tower of Destiny pathway, he might still have a chance to switch back.
Tower of Destiny... probably had something to do with the Outer God Circle of Fate.
The Circle of Fate, although not a pillar-class Old One, was still a top existence among Old Ones. Right now, it was outside the barrier left by the Creator, greedily coveting the Light Key.
If it really succeeded, even if it could not become a pillar-class Old One, it would not be inferior to one.
Lucian vaguely recalled that the Lord of Mysteries seemed to have the title "Fate's Beacon." If the Circle of Fate devoured the Light Key and tore off a piece of the Source Castle, then becoming a pillar-class Old One would be inevitable.
Previously, the Circle of Fate had no such opportunity, but as the barrier left by the Creator gradually broke and the Lord of Mysteries lay dormant, it might truly seize this chance.
According to the developments in The Biography of Zhou Mingrui in his mind, the Circle of Fate's plan probably failed. Maybe that was the reason he appeared here?
It was hard for Lucian not to associate the Tower of Destiny pathway with the Circle of Fate — after all, both represented the inevitability of destiny.
Whereas the Light Key sealed in the Western Continent and the Wheel of Fortune pathway represented the uncertainty of fate.
Rather than believing he was some so-called Child of Destiny, he was more inclined to believe he was the method of the Circle of Fate — a puppet of fate, just like Zhou Mingrui had once been. If not for the interference of the Evernight Goddess , Zhou Mingrui should have become a Lord of Mysteries the moment he fell from the Source Castle.
Thinking this, Lucian turned back to glance at the Church of the Evernight Goddess , and a strange thought surfaced in his heart.
Could it be that his sudden appearance near the church was also the Evernight Goddess's handiwork? Only this could explain why the Church of the Evernight Goddess 's bishop did not make things difficult for him.
"Should I go back and ask?"
After this thought floated up, it became uncontrollable.
"Even if I die, I want to die understanding!"
Lucian made up his mind — the Tower of Destiny pathway was too deep; he seemed unable to handle it alone.
In this world where even knowledge was poisonous, he truly did not believe that the golden finger that suddenly appeared in his hand was a good thing. Plus, he knew much taboo information about Outer Gods but was not yet polluted — which already proved many of his guesses.
Compared to the Tower of Destiny pathway, which had seemingly laid a road for him, he would rather fight the Hotpot Angel for the Red Priest pathway!
Just as Lucian was about to turn back, the Church of the Evernight Goddess before him suddenly became gray and flickering. Everything around him seemed to become pixelated.
He could not see clearly, nor know what was happening — and then, the scene changed from the Church of the Evernight Goddess to the endless starry sky.
At this moment, he seemed to see the most perfect thing in the world — it ran through beginning to end and was everywhere.
It was the truth of all things; it was a flawless circle!
Before he could see clearly, darkness engulfed his sight — after that, even time and space seemed to lose all meaning.
The unnameable, unspeakable thing at this moment changed in a way unknown to him...
Before he even had time to see clearly, darkness followed closely and obscured his vision; after that, even space and time seemed to lose all meaning.
The unspeakable, unnamable thing underwent a change at this moment in its unknowable state; many things appeared around him, as if many lines tightly wrapped around him, strangling him until he couldn't breathe.
In this place without any sense of time and space, his thoughts gradually fell silent; he didn't know how much time had passed—it seemed like an eternity, yet also like a fleeting instant. A ray of light broke through all the darkness, omnipresent light squeezing out darkness's space for survival.
Light filled everything, darkness retreated, and after leaving behind some shadow, disappeared without a trace. Light and dark are born together, just like madness and reason coexist—such is the Creator, such were the Old Ones, and such was the ancient Sun God.
...
The hazy consciousness gradually cleared; the boy collapsed on the hospital bed had a slight tremble in his brows and eyes.
There was a slight scent of food drifting in the air, arousing Lucian's feeling of hunger.
A familiar room, broken fragments of memory—he actually couldn't remember what had happened earlier. He only remembered suddenly fainting without warning in front of the Church of the Evernight Goddess .
The deeply paranoid Lucian began to imagine all possible scenarios, until the heavy sound of knocking on the door pulled him back to reality.
"Mr. Lucian, this is the lunch the Church prepared for you. The bishop said your body hasn't recovered yet. You can rest in the Church for this period of time."
Before Lucian could respond, the nun left in a hurry after placing down the lunch, and he didn't even have the chance to ask her what had happened just now.
Only after a slight headache passed did he recall what had just happened. What came along with the memory was a sense of despair that covered his heart.
Even the Evernight Goddess might not be able to save him—reality was just as he had imagined.
At this moment, the small apple-shaped gem hanging on his neck refracted a silvery white light, carrying with it a faint burning sensation.
On the back side of the necklace, inside his clothes on his chest, silver-white circles overlapped one another, forming a bizarre yet aesthetically pleasing circle.
Lucian felt not the slightest joy from guessing the correct answer—he would rather all his suspicions had been wrong, that everything was just imagined by his own mind.
Unfortunately, he had no right to choose.
He no longer hoped for the help of the Evernight Goddess. After all, if she were willing to help, she would have done so already. The aura of the Ring of Fate had appeared outside the Church of the Evernight Goddess in Backlund—there was no way the Goddess wouldn't have noticed.
In this situation, the fact that the Goddess still didn't take action could only mean two things: one, she was unwilling to interfere; two, she was also powerless.
No matter which possibility it was, he no longer needed to communicate with the Evernight Goddess. Her attitude was already very clear. Since she was willing to let Lucian stay in the Church of the Evernight Goddess , it showed that, for now, her attitude toward him was friendly.
One can trust the divine power of a god, but cannot trust the mercy of a god. Fate has long since marked the price of all things—so, what do you want to take from me? And what can you take from me?