Chapter Twenty-Three: Akivili, the Aeon of Trailblaze

Klein’s thoughts stirred, and the five sheets of parchment flashed into his hands.

Scanning them, he browsed through the diary. He noticed the sequence of the language was scrambled, with missing characters and typos. However, his experiments had proven that minor errors in character order did not hinder his reading of Chinese. Having long been tortured by asterisks, he was completely unfazed by missing or incorrect characters.

In fact, many people possess a magical talent for reading. For instance, while many might not recognize the character for "age," they can easily understand the phrase "I guarantee I am 18 years old."

Since Seres was sitting the furthest away, Klein prioritized the diaries submitted by Audrey and Alger.

The diary entries submitted earlier mainly spoke of the following: Emperor Roselle discovering a primitive island; Roselle becoming a Son of Steam; Roselle choosing to become a Savant; Roselle having his own views on "acting"; Roselle refusing an arranged marriage and declining to wed Miss Matilda; Roselle deciding to run away from home to oppose the arranged marriage; how beautiful Miss Matilda was; and Roselle beginning to look forward to his wedding with Miss Matilda...

Klein turned the page, his gaze falling upon the diary provided by Seres.

"August 21st, I am almost at Sequence 6. Following the advice Roselle wrote in his diary, I chose the Seer pathway. But I haven't felt anything special yet."

Another transmigrator!

Klein’s eyes widened abruptly. Had it not been for the obstruction of the gray fog, Audrey would surely have noticed something amiss. He quietly took a deep breath, calmed his emotions, and continued reading.

"August 30th, I became a Sequence 6 Faceless, but I still haven't felt anything special about being a Seer. Roselle is truly a menace."

"September 1st, I met a god. He calls himself the Haitu Star God, Hahigivili. He is a rather merciful god who allows us to address him by his true name. I want to specifically criticize the Lord of Storms here."

Klein flipped the page; the back was blank. His gaze shifted to the second sheet of the diary.

"June 9th, Hahigivili asked if I wanted to go on an adventure with him. He told us this is called practicing the will of Haitu."

"June 10th, I decided to go on an adventure with him. I'm really looking forward to it."

"June 11th, by Hahigivili, this is too absurd! This god’s vehicle is actually a high-speed train! It’s called the Astral Express!"

The diary ended there, and Klein once again fell into deep thought.

A high-speed train... Could this Haitu Star God also be a transmigrator? No, it’s normal for things like high-speed trains to be invented once a civilization reaches a certain level of development. The Astral Express... Could this Haitu Star God be a god from another civilization?

Seres knew what Klein was thinking without even looking; he felt extremely delighted. As expected, the Tarot Club was a giant cat teaser.

[Non-Gong +1+1+1]

"Stop adding them, they can't be cashed out anyway," Seres muttered inwardly.

[Morality -1-1-1]

"Forget about all that useless stuff," Seres discarded the trivial matters quite decisively.

Putting down the diary, Klein looked up and smiled, "Apologies, I got lost in the reading."

Audrey smoothed out the envy in her heart and said with a light laugh, "We understand. I look forward to the day I can exchange for the contents of Emperor Roselle’s diary from you."

[That might be a bit difficult to see in the original version; you'll likely only see the censored version edited and reviewed by The Fool.]

"That requires a price to be paid." Klein smiled and glanced at Justice, then swept his gaze over the silent Hanged Man and the cheerful Demon.

[But, Gul'dan, what is the cost?]

Audrey clasped her hands in front of her and said, "Mr. Fool, Mr. Hanged Man, and Mr. Demon. I have two questions I would like to ask. Of course, if you believe the answers hold high value, tell me what you want, and I will try my best to find it later."

"No problem," Alger answered simply and steadily.

"OK," Seres made a gesture invented by Roselle.

Klein nodded gently, leaning back more comfortably.

Audrey thought for a few seconds and said, "The first question is, what does 'acting' actually mean? I’ve noticed that the residual spirit in the potion has a very minor effect on me. Is it because I have been acting as a Spectator during this time?"

Alger did not speak. After exchanging a glance with Seres, he cast his gaze toward The Fool, seemingly waiting for an explanation as well.

Klein tapped the edge of the long table with his fingers, his tone relaxed. He used the analogy of a castle and its guards to explain the content related to "acting."

Audrey realized suddenly, feeling that she had fully grasped the meaning of "acting."

[Amazing, I have gradually understood everything.]

As payment, Klein suggested that she could use more of Emperor Roselle’s diaries or information regarding the Antigonus family to settle the debt.

Klein had originally wanted to add content related to the Haitu Star God, but thinking about how his group of three or two people investigating a true god would be far too foolish, he refrained from proposing such a commission for the sake of the Tarot Club members' safety.

Eager to perform, Alger indicated that he could provide payment now. He told everyone that the Antigonus family could be traced back to the Fourth Epoch and was related to the second Blasphemy Slate.

"The second 'Blasphemy Slate'?" At this moment, Miss Audrey, the Tarot Club's primary straight man, could no longer hide her confusion.

She had not yet calmed her emotions or fully returned to the "Spectator" state.

Well asked! Klein secretly cheered for Miss Justice. This was a question that was inconvenient for "The Fool" to ask.

"I know this," Seres answered Audrey’s question before Alger could speak.

"According to the internal records of our Masked Fool, the second Blasphemy Slate was born from the corpse of that Ancient Sun God. He was an omniscient and omnipotent existence; his knowledge transformed into the second Blasphemy Slate after his death."

[It's the Blasphemy Corpse Slate.]

Omniscient and omnipotent? Ancient Sun God? Who? The Eternal Blazing Sun?

Audrey smiled slightly awkwardly, "Sorry, I might not be very clear on who the Ancient Sun God is."

"You should have heard the legend of the Creator, right? The Creator awoke from chaos, broke the darkness, created the first ray of light, and then completely merged into the universe, transforming into all things. His body became the earth and the stars, one of his eyes became the sun, the other turned into the red moon, and parts of his blood surged into oceans and rivers, nourishing and nurturing life..."

"I know this," Audrey replied in a light tone. "Both the 'Book of Wisdom' and the 'Letters of the Saints' in the *Book of Night* mention this creation myth."

Audrey seemed to realize something: "Do you mean that this Creator is the Ancient Sun God?"

"Correct," Seres nodded. "That is him."

Audrey nodded, indicating she had no further questions.

Seeing that Audrey was satisfied, Alger concluded his account, stating that the pathway mastered by the Antigonus family was unknown, but it was a bizarre and terrifying path.

Klein spoke in a low voice, "Very good, I am satisfied with this payment."

"It is my honor," Alger said with a humble attitude, having completely shed his temperament as a grumpy old pigeon.

When asking the second question, Audrey was clearly embarrassed: "The second question is, if—and I mean if—an ordinary animal drank a Sequence 9 potion, what would happen?"