After Snow placed his hand on the golden document and established the notarized contract, a slight ripple appeared at the edges of Bernadette's exquisite lips, hidden behind her fine grid veil. Snow waited for her to complete her part of the notarization before narrowing his eyes and speaking.
"To advance to the Black Emperor, one must first possess their own kingdom, linking their name to the title of Emperor until it becomes common knowledge among the populace."
"Second, one must establish a strict, complex set of rules that deviate from the norm, encompassing the political system, architectural style, civil structure, and more."
"Finally, one must drive the populace to secretly construct nine pyramid-like mausoleums."
"Is that all?" Bernadette compared the items from her memories with the Black Emperor's ritual, feeling as though something was missing.
"Indeed. I have hidden the final step. After all, the ingredients for a Sequence 0 potion are common knowledge. Knowing the ritual is equivalent to knowing the complete formula. Since it's the price for an incomplete formula, I must naturally hide a portion. I've only hidden the final step, and the parts I've shared are already enough for you to understand a great deal, wouldn't you say?"
Snow made no attempt to hide his intentional omission of the critical step. Bernadette's attitude toward his behavior was noncommittal as she continued, "Then, what about the intelligence regarding the disaster in Backlund?"
"In truth, there are more than three major disasters occurring in Backlund within a year, all involving high-level existences. So, I must ask: can your defenses withstand the gaze of an existence beyond Sequence 1?" Snow asked with a playful expression, his tone calm.
Bernadette's eyes twitched slightly. She hesitated before answering in a significantly softened tone, "As long as you do not mention the true names or honorific names of certain existences, it won't be a problem."
"So confident?" Snow gave a slight smile and extended a finger.
"First, the Demoness Sect is planning the descent of the Primordial Demoness."
"Second, the True Creator has infused His consciousness into the body of a certain Beyonder and is gradually replacing that person's consciousness."
"Third, because the Black Emperor needs to mobilize a massive workforce to construct the mausoleums, a large-scale massacre will be orchestrated in Backlund to cover up the massive disappearances."
"By the way, the reason that Prince of Disorder has gone unnoticed is mainly due to the concealment provided by another existence who is second only to a True God. That individual is planning a global war, which is part of another pathway's apotheosis ritual."
As Snow extended each finger, Bernadette's eyelids twitched. Although her mastery as a Prophet had told her that Backlund would suffer a massive casualty event, she hadn't expected it to involve the descent of two True Gods and two apotheosis rituals. She composed herself, quickly identifying the one she could most easily influence, and asked solemnly, "Do you know the specific location of the True Creator's vessel?"
"I cannot say." Snow shook his head with an enigmatic smile. "However, you can try following me. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I am the temporary head of the Backlund parish of the Aurora Order. You can call me... Mr. V."
"..." Bernadette's facial muscles twitched. At the same time, she realized that the man before her likely wasn't a devout believer of the True Creator, or he had simply "replaced" the original Mr. V. In a world with "Faceless" existences, killing someone and impersonating them was hardly unheard of.
"By the way, the True Creator's vessel still has the ability to resist. I've intentionally left some loopholes for him. In seven days at the most, or three at the least, he should attempt to escape. After that, I will report it to the official churches through a special channel. You'll have to figure out how to complete your ritual during that chaos yourself, but please don't involve me. I am but a poor believer whose Lord went missing due to a moment of negligence."
Snow wore a pathetic expression that matched his words perfectly. But when Bernadette looked at him, she only felt a strong urge to punch him. She gave a "calm" nod and asked, "When do you want the extraordinary characteristics?"
"There's no rush," Snow shook his head gently. "For now, aside from the Judge or Baron of Corruption characteristics, you can just keep them for me. Of course, if you can produce them now, I don't mind holding onto them myself."
"These are my honorific name and the summoning ritual for my messenger, as well as the contact method for the Element Dawn." Bernadette nodded slightly. She didn't specify any limits, trusting that the man before her understood what demands fell within the "scope of the trade."
...
When the pea vines slowly vanished, Snow found himself once again on the street not far from the Braveheart Bar. In his hand was a murky sphere that looked like a mixture of black and purple paint that hadn't been fully stirred, yet it held a strange, undeniable charm.
'To think she could actually produce a Sequence 6 characteristic on the spot...' Snow used his spirituality to seal the characteristic and tucked it into his cigarette case.
From the moment he had drunk the Secret Supplicant potion, he had been in this world for over three months. Only today did he finally feel a sense of security. It was the feeling of having a powerful ally to rely on. The feeling of "having someone up there."
For a moment, Snow even considered whether he should simply leave Backlund behind and board the Queen of Mystic's ship. But after some thought, he abandoned the tempting idea. As powerful as Bernadette was, she wouldn't treat him like her own son. On her ship, he would still have to climb the ladder bit by bit. By then, his connections in Backlund and his knowledge of the plot would lose their value. It was better to remain in Backlund, occasionally selling her intelligence in exchange for support.
With his mind set, Snow didn't hesitate and headed toward Mr. A's residence. This wasn't just to lead the way for the Queen of Mystic, but also to advance to Sequence 7. His Listener potion had been digested long ago when he became a Blessed of the True Creator, but a portion of the "Pavlov's Dog" imprint remained.
He had originally intended to wait until the digestion was more complete before advancing, but today's crisis had made him realize just how fatal the "reflex" side effect was. The reflex of calling out names was manageable,he could simply pre-set addresses for every named character in the original story. But the most fatal one was the third reflex that had yet to manifest.
Because it was unknown, he had no way to defend against it. The side effects of a potion wouldn't vanish until it was fully digested. The only thing he could do was advance to Sequence 7 as quickly as possible and use the new side effects of that sequence to suppress the existing ones.
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]
Hey, im back, as promised, 2 bonus chapter for you guys, im uploaded all these chapter rn js in case i dont forgot to do it tonight, last week and this week chapter already uploaded, as usual if u find any msitake, let me know, ill fix asap. if you want to leave review or two, please do so, dont be scared, write anything good or bad, but please make it makes sense, these review help a lot.