40 Antigonus
The next Monday, at the afternoon.
In a magnicifent castle, in a world filled with grey fog, 4 people sat on an ancient bronze table.
Klein activated his Spirit Vision and looked at his guests.
'Judging by their auras, Miss Justice has already become a Beyonder, while Mr. Hanged Man has just been promoted.', he thought.
This time, he didn't make the mistake of examining Mr. Emperor, as the experience of last time still remained fresh on his mind.
Looking at the symbols behind their seats, he noticed a Giant Dragon behind Miss Justice and a Windstorm behind Mr. Hanged Man.
Taking this opportunity, he checked to see what the symbol behind Mr. Emperor's seat was.
He was surprised to find that it was not a single symbol, but a symbol made out of multiple dark distorted symbols.
He couldn't guess which pathway it was, but he was pleased to get some possible clues.
Suddenly, a voice interrupted his thinking.
"Congratulations, Mrs. Justice, you've become a Beyonder.", Alexander congratulated Audrey with a smile on his face.
Alexander knew that although the current Audrey was naive and new to the extraordinary world, she was still as important as Klein was.
Her contribution to the Tarot Club was self evident, and by the end of the original book, she had even managed to become a Sequence 3 Saint.
The crazy idea of supporting her to fight against Adam popped up in his mind, but he quickly felt that it would be impossible.
"Thank you Mr. Emperor, thank you Mr. Fool, thank you Mr. Hanged Man", Audrey replied cheekily.
"Sirs, Lady, has either of you collected any pages of Roselle's diary?", Klein asked everyone, but focused his attention on Audrey and Alger.
He didn't believe that Mr. Emperor would attempt to collect them as long as Mr. Fool didn't show any value.
Audrey and Alger 'expressed' the contents of the pages and three pages of Roselle's diary appeared in front of Klein.
He was both happy and a little disappointed, as 3 pages were not too many.
Taking them in his hands, he started reading.
"8th April. I stood at the bow of Black King..."
"April 11th. I discovered a nameless island that was not on a safe sea route..."
...
"October 2nd. They actually wanted me to marry Matilda.."
...
"October 9th. They actually called me the Son of the Steam. I like that very much."
"May 21st. The Church of the God of Craftsmanship gave me two choices..."
"May 22nd. My choice was easy: Savant..!"
"May 23rd. I have become a Savant..."
"May 24th. I told *** about my promotion. He created 4 walls around me, and said that if knowledge is power, I should be able to get out. Does he think that I can't become stronger than him? One day I will beat him up."
...
Reading the diary, Klein had to admit that the life of his senior transmigrator was more eventful than his.
Something that caught his attention was that the name of one person in the diary had been erased by either Roselle himself or a person that collected the diary.
He didn't understand why, but he didn't spend too much time thinking about it.
"My apologies, I was too absorbed in reading.", he said as he put the pages down.
Seeing that Mr. Fool had finished reading, Audrey spoke up.
"Mr. Fool, Mr. Hanged man, Mr. Emperor, I have some questions I want to ask."
"First of all, what does 'acting' mean?", she asked.
Alexander didn't respond, but let Klein answer her question.
Klein patiently explained what acting was, by making the analogy of a castle and a visitor.
"Mr. Fool, this information is very valueable, what do you need in exchange?", Audrey paused for a moment before asking.
"You can pay in more pages of Roselle's diary, or, any information regarding the Antigonus family.", Klein answered and turned his focus to Mr. Emperor.
He didn't fully trust him, but he believed that he should be the one with the most knowledge regarding the extraordinary world.
Seeing that Klein was anticipating for his answer, Alexander took this opportunity to speak up.
"Antigonus was an ancient noble family, mostly known for supporting the Tudor Empire during its establishment."
"Of course, similar to today, you had to have extraordinary power to become nobles in that era."
"Antigonus family's ancestor had the blood of Ancient Gods in his body and he was once known as a person very close to becoming a god."
"At their peak, the family had several Demigods and Angels."
"The pathway that the Antigonus family controlled was what the people of the current era refer to as the 'Seer' pathway."
"As for their downfall,"
"It was the Evernight Goddess that personally took action against their ancestor, greviously wounding him.", he paused for a moment and emphasized the Evernight Goddess portion.
The members heard his words and were shocked by the information contained it in.
They had already guessed that there were strong Beyonders in the known noble families, but they didn't expect that there were Angels among them nor that they could possibly have the blood of Ancient Gods in them.
Moreover, this was the second time that Mr. Emperor was expressing his disatisfaction towards the orthodox gods.
Did he have a grudge with the Evernight Goddess?
On the other hand, Klein was thinking about his own situation.
He had transmigrated, chose the Seer pathway due to a "coincidence" and became part of the Nighthawks.
If it was as Mr. Emperor said, and the Evernight Goddess controlled the Seer pathway, wouldn't he have been manipulated by her?
Were the 'coincidences' really coincidences?
If Alexander heard his words, he would nod and say that they actually were coincidences.
In fact, Alexander knew that apart from him, no one had noticed Klein's existence so far.
Adam was in Tingen because he was paying attention to the Quill of Alzuhod and the Evernight Goddess didn't notice Klein until he became a Clown.
"This information is useful to me."
"What do you need in exchange?", Klein asked after he calmed himself down.
"There is nothing I need for the time being, but I believe that I may need some help some day.", Alexander shook his head and responded.
For now, Klein's combat power was as much as the incarnation he created with the Chaos' Pupil.
He might as well save this contribution for later.
"I shall ask my second question then."
"What are the names of the subsequent Sequences of the Spectator pathway?", Audrey asked, as she saw that they had finished speaking.
"I'll answer your question."
"The Sequence 8 of the Spectator Pathway is called Telepathic, while the ancient name of Sequence 7 is Physche Analyst, now called Phychiatrist."
"This is the information I learnt from a member of the Psychology Alchemists.", Alger replied quickly, afraid that Mr. Emperor would steal his answer.
Alexander didn't add the names for the higher Sequences, as he knew that it was useless information for the current Audrey.
"Then, my third and final question, what would happen if an animal drank a Sequence 9 potion? In a completely hypothetical scenario of course.", Audrey asked slightly embarrassed.
She was even more embarrassed when she realized that Mr. Fool and Mr. Hanged Man were looking at her as if looking at an idiot.
"If they survive the initial stage and don't turn into monsters, it should be okay."
"There are many Beyonders that train animals to become Beyonders, they are called extraordinary beings-creatures-animals."
"The potion will boost their intelligence and at the same time will give the abilities that a normal Beyonder would have to the animal."
"In many cases, animals may digest potions faster than humans, as they are more pure in character.", Alexander advised and thought about his kitten, Luna.
Why did she still have the intelligence of an ordinary cat?
Wasn't she an extraordinary creature?
"I have something that requires your cooperation.", Klein interrupted his thoughts.
"Previously, I mentioned that you would be able to ask for a leave of absence if you can't partictipate."
Following these words, Klein accurately explained every single step that one would take to set up an altar for prayers.
"Mr. Fool, what's the corresponding incarnation?", Audrey asked, with her interest piqued.
Klein leaned back on his chair and spoke calmly in Hermes.
"The Fool that doesn't belong to this era,"
"You are the mysterious ruler above the grey fog,"
"You are the King of Yellow and Black who wields good luck."
Some time later, Alexander had returned to his real body and was thinking about today's Tarot Club.
Just like in the original book, Klein finally thought about creating a honorific name.
Alexander however, had doubts about the honorific name he chose and wouldn't chant it with his real body no matter what.
While he was reading the book, this was also one of his biggest doubts.
He was certain that his honorific name wasn't exclusive to Klein, but could also point to another existence.
The Celestial Worthy of Heaven.
As the Lord of the Mysteries, the CWoH can of course also be considered as 'the Fool'.
At the same time, compared to Klein's temporary status as the owner of the Origin Castle, the CWoH was the true mysterious ruler above the grey fog.
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Author's Note [Somewhat relevant to the story]
I cut off the many of the dialogues and the entries in Roselle's diary that were the exact same as the original, as I felt bad about simply copy-pasting them in.
I doubt that there is anyone reading this fanfic that hasn't read LoTM, however, if you prefer that I to keep them in, feel free to let me know in the comments.
