"Is that you?" Pallez's voice was filled with doubt and astonishment, but he quickly reined in his emotions and spoke with great respect: "Thank you for your help. I apologize, but my current state is not good, so I cannot appear in person to meet you."
"Hmm." The woman in the hooded black classical robe nodded expressionlessly. Then, her voice, devoid of any fluctuation or emotion, said: "Amon's appearance here was to test me."
She did not explain what Amon wanted to test, directly ending the topic and turning to say: "His purpose has been achieved, and he will not come looking for you again. Diverting that 'Sage' was the limit of what the True Creator could do. If they continued, their alliance would break."
"You can find someone to cooperate with and try to clear out the clones he left in Backlund."
As her words fell, the figure of this beautiful but soulless lady disappeared as if being erased by an eraser, little by little. The dim light around them returned to normal, and the noisy sounds once again filled their ears.
Leonard looked at the white dove that landed at his feet and instinctively took a step back. He cautiously surveyed his surroundings for a moment before asking: "Old man, was that… was that a expert from the Church who suddenly appeared just now? Looking at her, I couldn't feel any emotion, as if I was facing the deepest, most terrifying darkness."
"A expert? Heh, he is indeed a expert from your Church." Pallez chuckled twice, not explaining too much.
"He?" Leonard was slightly surprised for a moment, then found it very reasonable. To be able to clear out Amon's clones so easily, it must be an Angel.
After a pause, he pressed on: "Which Highness from the Holy Scripture is he?"
"If he is willing for you to know, you will naturally know. If he is not, I cannot say it, and even if I did, you would not hear it."
"Alright, don't disturb me anymore. I am too heavily injured this time and must fall into a deep sleep, otherwise, I might lose control at any moment."
After saying a few words, Pallez fell silent. No matter how Leonard called out, there was no response.
In Leston Province, Layak Port, Leyton held a freshly bought drink and pie, leaning against the stone railing along the coastline, gazing at the crowd moving through the distant streets.
The next second, a silvery-white light flashed in his eyes, instantly becoming extremely profound, clearly losing focus, a vast expanse.
In this state, images spontaneously appeared in his mind, very blurry, only barely visible as a tangle of light and shadow, as if a mottled, ancient stone wall clock was faintly visible, and as if countless wriggling worms were constantly gnawing at a pure white light screen, creating one hole after another filled with shadows.
After a moment of silence, Leyton murmured in a dreamlike voice: "The carousel of fate… the Worm of Time… the loophole in the rules… the embodiment of all Errors…"
This state did not last too long. Leyton quickly regained his senses, and pure, clear light overflowed from his eyes, as if countless streams of information flowed, calculating one possibility after another.
A moment later, his eyes became clear again, and he let out a long breath, muttering to himself: "Amon got the 'Worm of Time' characteristic from Pallez?"
As thoughts drifted, he noticed a gaze that had been fixed on him, or more accurately, on the drink and pie in his hand.
He followed his spiritual intuition and saw a small boy, about ten years old, with light blue eyes and sharp features that made him striking, but his body was thin, and his exposed arms, calves, and face had some fresh scars.
The little boy kept swallowing saliva as he looked at the pie in his hand, appearing as if he hadn't eaten for a long time.
Leyton placed the drink he was holding on the railing behind him and beckoned to the little boy. The boy pressed his lips together, did not approach, but instead took a step back, his eyes filled with deep vigilance.
Leyton withdrew his hand, smiled at him, then placed the pie in his other hand on the railing behind him as well, and then turned to leave in the other direction along the coastal street.
The other party was just an ordinary little boy; a simple glance was enough for him to take in all of the boy's information.
"A homeless child, who has almost forgotten his own name. However, his fate is somewhat interesting. It seems very ordinary, at most he might have some dealings with the Iron and Blood Cross Order, but my intuition tells me it's not that simple. Will he encounter some high-level beings that even I find hard to predict in the future, thereby changing his destiny?"
Behind him, the homeless child had already taken the drink and pie he left behind, but he didn't eat them directly. Instead, he cautiously tore off a small piece of the pie and fed it to the ants under a nearby tree.
Withdrawing his attention, Leyton, concealed by an illusion, silently transformed into a pure information stream creature and surged into the Spirit World.
Above the Gray Fog, Klein listened to Leonard's prayer describing his previous encounter to The Fool, learning that Amon's main body had appeared in Backlund for a period of time.
After a brief silence, he let out a leisurely sigh: "I understand."
The Fool's leisurely tone reached Leonard's ears, easing his tense nerves. Mr. Fool's demeanor seemed not to take the matter too seriously, showing more of a sigh of sympathy for the old man's encounter. Next time, no, there won't be a next time. I never want to encounter Amon again in my life.
Reining in his wandering thoughts, Leonard looked at Mr. Fool, who was surrounded by endless Gray Fog in his vision, seemingly overlooking the entire world. He took a deep breath and continued: "Respected Mr. Fool, please tell 'The World' that I took two mystical items from the mechanical hall beneath the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery's cathedral. He can choose one as his remuneration."
After a slight pause, he roughly described the two mystical items, not giving overly clear effects or negative impacts, because he himself didn't know them. Pallez was in a deep sleep, and he wasn't good at divination, so he could only let Klein divine and choose, and then tell him the result.
After ending his prayer, Leonard's empty room felt as if Amon's clones could be everywhere—in the shadows of the corners, on the dust floating in the air, or among the birds passing outside.
"I feel like I need some psychological treatment..." Leonard murmured softly.
After two seconds of silence, he still couldn't adapt, always feeling like there were eyes everywhere, staring at him with malice.
"I need to move. I can't stay in this place at all. If I stay too long, even if there's no problem, I'll scare myself into one."
As he made a move, a burst of "light" suddenly surged into the room—a "light" formed by a terrifying, chaotic torrent of information. As this "light" appeared, it rapidly collapsed inward, restructuring into Leyton's figure.
Leonard tensed for a moment, but relaxed upon seeing who it was. He weighed his words, and in the end, only sighed softly: "Amon has already been here."
Leyton nodded, not surprised by this, and calmly replied: "I guessed so. A suitable opportunity for his advancement will appear soon. Without other targets, it's a very wise choice to retrieve the last characteristic from Pallez at this time."
Pallez awoke from his deep sleep and coldly snorted with a rather displeased tone: "Hmph, why didn't you tell me about this beforehand?"
"Clearly, I only recently became aware of this. I've been in contact with the spiritual world too frequently recently and was unconsciously affected, briefly forgetting some things, and even the precognition of my spiritual intuition was somewhat interfered with."
Leyton spread his hands, looking somewhat helpless.
"Alas~" Pallez sighed deeply, his tone returning to calm: "Help me find a descendant of the Jacob Family. I need to find some things in the secret treasure left by the Jacob Family in Flora Jacob's memory to compensate myself."
Leyton did not immediately agree to Pallez's request, hesitatingly saying: "A treasure left by a family of thieves and swindlers, how much of it is real?"
After a pause, he added: "In the late Fourth Epoch, for a long time, Jacob was impersonated by Amon."
Pallez was silent for a long while before sighing helplessly: "Even if it's a trap left by Amon, the bait inside is at least real. Moreover, he has already taken the 'Worm of Time' characteristic from me. If I don't take the bait while he's preparing his ritual, should I wait for him to have free time and retrieve the items inside?"
After a moment of thought, Leyton nodded gently: "Alright, I will find a descendant of the Jacob Family for you to help you open the treasure and brave the traps inside. As compensation, you need to separate a 'Parasite' characteristic for him after the matter is concluded."
"If Amon or the bait inside Jacob can help me recover, then if it's just an empty treasure, he can only blame his bad luck."
"Alright, I need to sleep for a while. Don't disturb this old man unless it's important."
As his words fell, Pallez fell silent once again.
"Old man? Old man?" Leonard called out a few times. Seeing that Pallez was truly not speaking anymore, he gave up and mumbled softly: "Waking up and falling asleep so suddenly, one would think he's gone into seclusion."
Leyton calmly explained: "He should have left one or two Worm of Times awake to deal with unexpected external situations, which is why he was able to quickly wake from his deep sleep after I arrived."
Leonard nodded in agreement, then looked at Leyton and asked: "Where do you plan to find a descendant of the Jacob Family?"
Leyton calmly replied: "I know the second mate of the Golden Dream. He is a descendant of Jacob and is currently in the Southern Continent, helping me with some matters."
Leonard nodded thoughtfully: "No wonder you demanded a 'Parasite' characteristic."