Lord of the Mysteries

After setting up the candles, Colin Iliad found a piece of pure silver and picked up a carving knife beside it. With steady strokes, he carved out a palm-sized charm vessel.

Then, he followed Derrick Berg’s description, drawing the secret symbol of The Fool on both sides of the silver piece.

The entire process was completed quickly. If an observer was watching, they wouldn’t have been able to discern his actions. Yet, the final product didn’t show any flaws. It looked like a piece of art that had been slowly carved out.

Right on the heels of that, Colin Iliad found another bottle of mercury. Directly using his powerful spirituality, he guided the liquid inside to trickle into the charm and fill all the patterns. He prevented the mercury on the side facing down from dripping due to gravity.

Repeating the process, he made a second charm. Colin Iliad placed them in front of the candles and placed a translucent ringed worm on each of them.

Compared to him standing up silently, the present Colin’s every move was stable, calm, and firm. He didn’t show any signs of hesitation, just like how he faced powerful monsters that came out of the darkness.

After finishing the ritual, he took two steps back and removed the crossed swords that were hanging from the wall. He stabbed them into the crevices of the floor tiles at the door.

He then closed his eyes and muttered. Pure and thick beams of light emerged out of the void as they enveloped the two swords with a holy and glorious feeling.

The light beams increased in quantity, slowly transforming into liquid water that flowed across the cracks in the floor tiles and the walls, forming a “cage” that isolated him from the outside.

As a senior Demon Hunter, Colin Iliad didn’t wish to take such precautionary measures when holding a ritual. This was because there was a tiny chance of angering the target, bringing about dangerous developments. However, he had no choice but to do so because he needed to be certain that even if the ritual failed, even if The Fool was an existence filled with malice, and even if he were to die at the altar, he would not bring too much harm to the City of Silver.

In regards to the defensive power of the “cage,” Colin was rather confident because this directly stemmed from a god-like Sealed Artifact—a crown which the Giant King Aurmir wore: “Proof of Glory!”

This was one of the main reasons why the City of Silver could survive wave after wave of monster assaults in the Dark Ages.

With all his preparations completed, solely using his spirituality, Colin Iliad used his desk as an altar and created a sacred and clean environment that no one could disturb. He then lit the three candles.

The pale yellow light flickered as they reflected in his eyes. He bowed his head and scattered the plant powder, monster hide, and fur into the candle flame or lit them and threw them into a cauldron so as to please the secret existence he was about to pray to.

Such acts weren’t rare in the City of Silver. Known to all, there were rituals held that targeted the Creator, but from time to time, certain residents would be enticed by unknown existences during their patrols or exploration, tempted to hold all kinds of rituals.

Most of the latter was a passive act, but there were a few that were done proactively. On the one hand, the cumulative despair of not receiving any response from the Creator had made them eager to grab onto any other existence to rely on, and on the other hand, many generations of the six-member council had come to a common consensus that the Creator who had abandoned the land might very well not return again. Seeking out other alternatives was something that had to be expedited, but unfortunately, such attempts only led to nothing or death, nothing else.

cities

Afternoon Town and the prophecies of the Kings of Angel’s ploy and the ecclesiastic had made him feel a more pressing sense of

with Lovia’s and Derrick’s abnormality, as well as the prophecy of the apocalypse, as Chief of the six-member council, senior demigod and powerful Demon Hunter, Colin Iliad had no choice but to attempt to dance on the edge of a knife. He

exhaling, Colin took a step back and chanted with a weather-worn tone, “The Fool that doesn’t

ruler above

King of Yellow and Black who wields good

you, praying for the strength that stems from mystery, and praying for the bestowment that stems from good luck.

cadence of mystery, he saw the altar in front of him immediately turn dark. It was as though

to light the surroundings. Instead, it made everything turn illusory, making countless shapes produce seemingly nonexistence transparent shadows as they covered every

figures, there were seven lustrous brilliances

an endless grayish-white fog,

altar. It was as though something that only existed in books or ancient tomes had taken a step through the illusory and entered reality,

he recalled correctly, this was likely the projection of

abandoned this land, it was easy to observe and enter the

spirit world now only existed in the City of Silver’s textbooks and various records,

sound sounded. The ancient palace that overlooked the gray fog and spirit world seemed to open its

the heels of that, Colin saw the unformed charms in front of the candle produce a grayish luster. Their patterns were then “lit up,” as they intercrossed with each other, suddenly bursting into a blinding radiance, enveloping the pure silver foils and the ringed

above the entire altar also instantly

quickly restored to normal as two strange black crystalline charms appeared on the altar. They

retracted his gaze and bowed his head. With a deep voice,

“Praise you.”

didn’t delay as he immediately ended the ritual and

six-member council returned to

still fixated on the scene he had previously

to be close to that of deities, but none of the records indicated what was

was praying to was staid, mysterious, and almighty, nothing like the evil beings who

had a close parallel in the records

his condition, the grizzled Demon Hunter Colin suddenly closed his eyes as

oldest son, youngest son, daughter, and oldest grandson whose

remained silent for a very long time