If it weren't for Frank's extraordinary imagination and execution, his talent on the Planter pathway would truly be excellent. Fortunately, he currently has no intention of advancing further, otherwise I would have to consider whether to let him continue to stay on the Future, for the safety of the crew and the ship.
If one day he became a Classical Alchemist, perhaps then the Star Pirates's crew vote would have more than one mushroom casting a solemn vote.
Reining in the constantly diverging thoughts in her mind, Cattleya chatted with Frank for a while longer before turning to return to her captain's cabin.
In the City of Silver, in the enclosed space at the Round Tower Bottom, Chief Colin Iliad of the Council of Six stood before the already prepared altar.
On the altar, six powerful creature remains he had hunted were placed in the correct positions and order, including artificial Vampires and demons at the demigod level.
These were all the monsters from the darkness he had hunted over the years. The special environment of the City of Silver made the first half of this ritual unusually simple. He didn't even need to hunt several monsters separately; he just needed to select six types from the monster remains he had hunted before.
Behind him, half of the members of the Council of Six gathered here, staying a hundred meters away, suppressing their aura, and watching Chief Colin Iliad, who was about to perform the ritual, with focused and tense eyes.
Standing before the complex altar he had personally arranged, Chief Colin Iliad exhaled a long breath and softly chanted The Fool's honorific name in Jotun:
"The Fool that doesn't belong to this era; the Mysterious Ruler above the Gray Fog; the King of Yellow and Black Who Holds Good Luck."
As the words of prayer fell, above the Gray Fog, Klein, who was already prepared, extended his spirituality and touched the newly appeared crimson star.
He held The Fool card in his right hand, reached out, and summoned a crudely cut paper figure from the pile of sundries in the corner of the hall, leveraging the power of Sefirah Castle above the Gray Fog, pouring it into the paper figure, and then flicking it out.
The paper figure rapidly expanded and distorted in mid-air, transforming into a Angel of Concealment with twelve pairs of grayish-white wings and a black hooded robe, then merged into the crimson star representing Chief Colin Iliad.
After doing all this, he reached out and picked up the sea god scepter on the table, using this mystical item to make the surrounding Gray Fog surge violently, displaying an extremely high level of authority and hierarchy, and connecting to the star that was radiating crimson light, thus presenting The Fool's image to the chief of the City of Silver's Council of Six.
After doing all this, Klein let out a long breath, leaned back in The Fool's high-backed chair, and sighed:
"This is more tiring than a fight. It's all to maintain Mr. Fool's image."
At the Round Tower Bottom, Chief Colin Iliad, who was performing the ritual, suddenly saw endless Gray Fog surge out from the void.
A tall figure, difficult to describe precisely, as if looking down on all beings and the world, stood amidst the dense Gray Fog, making it impossible to see him clearly, yet allowing one to feel the vast aura emanating from him, like the darkness outside the City of Silver, forever boundless.
He could feel a gaze cast upon him from an indescribably high distance, vaguely seeing himself seemingly surrounded, embraced, and blessed by the Gray Fog.
"Praise be to you, benevolent Mr. Fool!"
Chief Colin Iliad quickly came to his senses, reined in his thoughts, bowed with a solemn and grave expression, then took out the already prepared materials to concoct a bottle of silver-white potion, and after taking a deep breath, drank it in one gulp.
At this moment, behind Chief Colin Iliad, the elders of the City of Silver's Council of Six, serving as security, collectively held their breath.
If the chief's advancement succeeded, they would also have the opportunity to become Silver Knights in the Future, and the City of Silver would have a greater chance of finding a way to leave this dark land.
Time passed by minute by minute. After an unknown amount of time, Chief Colin Iliad, standing on the altar, moved.
The next second, he melted entirely, turning into a pool of flowing silver metallic liquid, rapidly moving to the side of the Council of Six elders. The viscous, heavy mercury quickly surged, reassembling Chief Colin Iliad's body.
He looked at the wary and hesitant crowd before him, smiled lightly, and nodded, "I am already a Silver Knight."
The elders of the Council of Six were silent for a second, then simultaneously revealed genuine, heartfelt smiles.
Above the Gray Fog, Klein, who had been observing this scene, also nodded and cut off the image formed by the crimson light.
He let out a long breath, leaned back against the chair, and muttered to himself:
"With a Silver Knight, the City of Silver should soon begin its exploration of the Giant King's Court."
"At that time, I'll have Sun Derrick pray to me in advance so I can observe the entire live broadcast. If necessary, I can also help them, well, if I have time."
"The situation in Loen is getting worse and worse. On the Southern Continent battlefield, the Lord of Storms was unexpectedly injured, and Feysac will definitely intensify its invasion. The Goddess's pressure has suddenly increased, and She is currently inconvenient to intervene in reality. The battlefield might soon be compressed into Loen territory."
"Sometimes, what defeats you isn't necessarily your opponent, but a pig teammate. The Goddess now has such a teammate."
After sighing a few times in a low voice, just as he was about to leave the Gray Fog, the crimson star representing Leyton expanded and contracted, rippling out circles of crimson.
Klein's eyelids twitched. He felt he was about to receive some surprises.
Taking a deep breath, he extended his spirituality and touched the crimson star.
The next second, streams of complex information formed an illusory torrent, surging and flowing freely within the palace above the Gray Fog.
Klein's face darkened. He reached out and directly grasped the air. The intangible information was instantly held by him, unable to surge further. Then he leveraged the power of Sefirah Castle above the Gray Fog, skillfully restoring this information to its normal state.
In a short while, the mottled bronze long table was piled with a large stack of dark, shriveled mushrooms. The types of these mushrooms and their different effects were information he had just grasped.
"This kind of information-based ability is quite powerful. It can even forge normal information and spread along established or inherent connections. Spirit Body threads should also be a type of connection and can also be invaded."
"In the Future, I need to be vigilant about such Beyonder abilities. This kind of information attack is difficult to detect and stop."
After muttering to himself for a couple of sentences, he refocused his gaze on the pile of mushrooms on the table. Besides admiring Frank's execution, he didn't know what else to lament.
"At least, for the City of Silver in the Land of Miracles, these mushrooms are still very necessary."
"With the outbreak of war, commodities like food have also begun to be controlled and affected. If it weren't for the Church of the Earth Mother line, Mr. Tower and Hermit might have already cut off their food supply transactions with the City of Silver."
While lamenting, he transformed the information about these mushrooms into light and shadow and threw it into the crimson star representing Sun Derrick.
"Perhaps mushrooms will become one of the pillar industries of the Southern Continent in the Future."
After muttering in a strange tone, Klein's figure rapidly became transparent and disappeared within the ancient and magnificent palace above the Gray Fog.
In Oleston Port on the north bank of the Paz River Valley, inside the captain's cabin of the Dawn, which was still moored at the dock.
Crimson moonlight spilled down, covering the entire captain's cabin. Leyton and Roselle stood before a full-length mirror propped against the wall, their gazes calmly fixed on the mirror's surface.
After a moment of silence, Roselle said with some suspicion:
"Directly simulating the effect of a full moon, then contacting Mr. Door with a mirror—you're quite skilled at this set of actions. I remember I didn't describe the method of contacting Mr. Door in my diary, did I?"
"This part of knowledge doesn't belong to the Concealment; as long as I'm willing, finding them wouldn't be too difficult."
Leyton simply explained, but Roselle wasn't entirely convinced:
"Don't Fool me. I was once the Knowledge Emperor; I'm not unfamiliar with these things. The abilities you've displayed in some aspects have already surpassed the scope of the Knowledge Emperor."
Leyton didn't continue the topic. He reached out and grasped the air. Some information appeared out of thin air, quickly converging in his hand and transforming into a drop of fresh red blood.
Roselle clicked his tongue and said in a strange tone:
"For example, this ability to transform illusory knowledge into true, effective things. I couldn't do it when I was the Knowledge Emperor, unless it was originally a true existing thing that was transformed into an information flow."
"If you envy it, you can return to this pathway, and I can let you also possess this ability."
Leyton turned his head to look at Roselle beside him, proposing with a very sincere tone.
Roselle snorted disdainfully, "Do you think I would choose a sequence without a resurrection item?"
Leyton shrugged, no longer wasting words with Roselle. With his current sequence, this ability to materialize information was similar to the Scholar of Yore's historical projections and could not be maintained indefinitely.
He smeared the drop of fresh red blood, which was transformed from pure information, onto the mirror's surface, drawing a layered, illusory symbol of a door, while softly chanting Mr. Door's honorific name:
"Great Door of All Doors, Guide of the Endless Cosmos, Key to All Mysterious Worlds"
The mirror surface of the full-length mirror leaning against the wall suddenly became profound. Inside, it seemed as if countless dim and overlapping "doors" were superimposed, opening a passage to the depths of darkness and storms.
Ethereal blue light flowed out from within the full-length mirror, outlining door after door, as if countless invisible, indescribable dangerous things were breeding from within.