While everyone else went home to reunite with their families, Lynn, the real transmigrator, decided to take advantage of the situation and explore the remnants of the Modern Era while searching for the traces of Sefirah Castle aka the Door of Light.
'Indeed, Beyonders existed even before the initial awakening. Some were even the handiwork of the Lord of Mysteries...' In the dimly lit room, Lynn held a slightly aged copper coin and couldn't help but smile. Behind him lay an unconscious young man.
The young man wasn't particularly special—just a Sequence 9 Seer. Though the potion formulas might change with the times, the Characteristics remained the same, just like those Gods from the Second Epoch. The young man had been lucky, inadvertently contacting a Beyonder Characteristic, and didn't lose control and turned into a monster, but rather becoming a fortunate Beyonder.
Lynn paid attention to the young man not only because of his status as a Beyonder but also because he sensed a faint aura of the Lord of Mysteries from him. The carrier of this aura was the copper coin Lynn was now holding.
Clearly, this man was one of the lucky individuals chosen by the Lord of Mysteries. When the initial awakening occurred, he would probably be pulled into the Door of Light, becoming part of the cocoon division, only to wake up countless years later when Klein relinquished Sefirah Castle.
"In a way, he's also a child of destiny..." Lynn mused as the copper coin in his hand was silently devoured and deconstructed by invisible bubbles, which then returned to him, making him smile brightly.
"I've found you."
The next moment, Lynn's figure faded away as if he had never been there. The copper coin reappeared in the unconscious young man's pocket, looking just as it had before.
Above the boundless gray fog, a new, unexpected guest arrived.
Having visited Sefirah Castle nearly every week, Lynn was first met by the familiar sense of rejection and danger from the castle itself.
As one of the Original Sefirots, The Door of Light was certainly no harmless entity. Klein only managed to accommodate this poisonous yet sweet existence due to his inherent advantage. It allowed the members of the Tarot Club to briefly remain in the castle under the Fool's protection.
But at this point in time, with Sefirah Castle not yet belonging to Klein, it was far less gentle. Upon detecting an intruder, a vast expanse of gray fog surged toward Lynn, carrying the unique Corruption of the castle.
"Ah, how enthusiastic!" Lynn chuckled. The next second, his body seemed to dissolve into countless layers of bubbles, only to return to normal in an instant.
The previously aggressive gray fog immediately quieted down, becoming as docile and safe as it had been when under Klein's control.
"Looks like the Lord of Mysteries hasn't fully awakened yet, or perhaps he hasn't been split off..." Lynn wasn't surprised by Sefirah Castle's reaction. Just as Amon and Klein could deceive the castle using the reviving will of the Lord of Mysteries within them to gain control, Lynn, sharing the same origin as the Lord of Mysteries, could achieve the same.
However, Lynn had no intention of using this deception to control the castle. "Trying to accommodate this would be akin to... heh... courting death."
So, he only borrowed the deception to ensure that when the Lord of Mysteries pulled people in, he could smuggle Klein's friends and family into the castle as well. After setting up precautions to guarantee their safety, he promptly left the dangerous hot potato, afraid he might accidentally "consume" Sefirah Castle himself.
"With that, the main goal of this trip is half-accomplished..." Lynn stretched lazily and pulled out his phone. As expected, the most popular notification was about the eerie live stream that had been causing a stir recently.
Lynn opened the stream and saw that the current live stream was of a supernatural host exploring an abandoned hospital.
By the way, the host's name was Dwayne.
Yes, this strange live stream was orchestrated by Klein to help digest the Bizarro Sorcerer potion.
As a demigod with the assistance of Roselle, the once-Emperor of Knowledge, setting up a live stream that modern technology couldn't crack wasn't difficult. It wasn't that Roselle's technological prowess surpassed modern technology—it was just that combining it with Beyonder abilities amounted to a dimension-reducing blow to the Modern Era.
Klein donned the alias of Dwayne to host the eerie live streams while using Marionettes to stage various supernatural events. The two identities worked in tandem, and the mysterious nature of the stream room attracted significant attention in the Modern Era.
Lynn had noticed that both Klein and Roselle seemed to be using these streams to prepare people psychologically, helping them adapt more quickly to the harsh post-apocalyptic world. Although the initial awakening led to the destruction of the Modern Era, a considerable number of people survived.
Many of these survivors, influenced by Beyonder Characteristics, transformed into supernatural beings like giants, elves, and Sanguine. Some absorbed Characteristics without losing control, turning into Gods, while the rest, who neither became Beyonder creatures nor absorbed Characteristics, were the ancestors of the humans oppressed by the supernatural races in the Second Epoch.
From that perspective, Klein and Roselle's efforts weren't entirely in vain. Preparing people for the existence of monsters and understanding their Characteristics could indeed help some survive in the cruel future world.
"But no matter what you change, you can't alter the outcome!" Lynn muttered as he watched the live stream for a few minutes. Casually, he sent a "Next time, for sure" comment before excitedly calling Dwayne Dante, the host of the stream.
"Ring, ring... hello?"
Unsurprisingly, the call connected, and in the stream Dwayne pulled out his other phone. Of course, the audience was intrigued, and a flood of comments filled the screen.
"Someone's calling the host now? Could it be a friend of his?"
"I bet it's another scammer."
"A scammer capable of pulling off this kind of production? I believe the host is a real Beyonder."
"Am I the only one who thinks this is all special effects?"
(End of Chapter)