*Crack!*
The thunderclap startled Odis. He took a drag from his pipe and thought to himself: 'My discoveries really do touch on the fundamental secrets of this world. I wonder if some kind of heavenly tribulation will descend and strike me down?'
After his self-deprecating jest, he smiled and returned to contemplating his research on spirituality and Beyonder characteristics...
In his view, the essence of a Beyonder ability was the effect produced when a Beyonder characteristic altered spirituality. Such alterations took many forms.
For example, normal spiritual energy circulated clockwise, but a Beyonder power could change it to circulate counterclockwise, and that change alone would cause the spirituality itself to release enormous energy.
Another example: if a Beyonder characteristic suddenly injects a unique signature specific to that characteristic between two ordinary spiritual energy signatures floating quietly in the air; the result would be an entirely new energy source, one capable of generating bizarre powers...
{T/N: I'm not gonna lie, I'm completely lost. Here's the source text;
"For example, normal spiritual particles rotate clockwise, but extraordinary power could change them to rotate counter-clockwise, causing the spirituality itself to release enormous energy.
Another example: two normal spiritual particles, quietly floating in the air, could suddenly have a new particle, the kind that only a corresponding extraordinary characteristic could emit, injected between them by an extraordinary characteristic. They would then become a completely new energy source capable of creating strange powers."
For one, I don't know what 'spiritual particles' are, and I couldn't find anything regarding the subject on the Wiki either; so I changed it to 'spiritual energy signatures' instead. Secondly, that whole example is a bit too convoluted for me to make sense of.
I tried my best, but even my attempt is just too lacking for my taste. If anyone has a better alternative, I'm open to suggestions...}
Such changes could act not only upon natural forces, but also upon living organisms. A Psychiatrist's Telepathy, for instance, could be viewed as a Beyonder ability, or as the Spectator's Beyonder characteristic causing corresponding mutations in the Beyonder's eyes and brain, granting them the ability to penetrate a target's mental defenses.
Despite extensive research, Odis ultimately found that the alterations Beyonder characteristics made to spirituality were uncontrollable and unpredictable. In other words, even though he grasped many theories, that did not mean the world's underlying logic was controllable or predictable.
On the contrary, the more he studied, the more he discovered that this world's underlying logic was deeply chaotic and difficult to summarize with fixed laws. He could only make broad generalizations, like the three Laws of Beyonder Characteristics.
However, this research was not useless. Since he understood the interactions between Beyonder characteristics and spirituality, Odis could use spirituality in reverse to influence the world's supernatural.
His mystical/extraordinary weapons and arrays were all based on these theories. They were creations he had successfully developed into practical applications.
The process of Spellcasting had once again indirectly confirmed his research findings. When the corresponding mysticism symbol appeared in his mind, it activated the Beyonder characteristic to produce a corresponding response and make a corresponding alteration to spirituality.
This alteration process was entirely a 'black-box operation'. Odis had not managed to deduce the rules governing it.
Using his own spirituality as a medium, the changes produced by the Beyonder characteristic would be transmitted into the scattered spiritual materials. These materials acted as catalysts and guides, ultimately mobilizing the corresponding forces to complete the casting of a spell.
A Warlock could cast many categories of spells. There was the Flame spell Odis had just tested, and also a Frost spell. Beyond that, there was a Spirit Attraction spell capable of attracting wraiths, and a Radiance spell capable of attacking the undead.
This did not mean a Warlock's Beyonder characteristic was omnipotent. It simply meant that after Odis issued a 'command' through a mysticism symbol, the Warlock's characteristic could cause spirituality to undergo different changes, thus forming different spells.
In this respect, the Mystery Pryer Pathway differed somewhat from other Pathways. Both the Flame spell and a Sequence 7 Pyromaniac's Fireball from Hunter Pathway summoned flames, but the underlying mechanisms behind the two were completely different.
Flame was a spell formed when the Beyonder characteristic produced a corresponding reaction under the catalysis and guidance of spiritual materials. A Pyromaniac's Fireball, on the other hand, was the Beyonder characteristic driven by the Beyonder themselves, directly twisting or altering ordinary spirituality into burning flames.
Essentially, Flame had an extra step, so whether in terms of power or controllability, it fell short of Fireball...
After Odis had thought through all the principles, he felt his potion loosen slightly.
Unlike the Melee Scholar potion, the Warlock potion had shown no signs of pre-digestion after advancement. The loosening he had just felt made Odis realize that the Warlock potion also required conducting research and acquiring corresponding knowledge in order to be digested.
His research direction should be in the areas of Spellcasting, Witchcraft, and mysticism. But if he were to 'act', he could not simply present himself as a researcher.
Just as when he had acted as a Melee Scholar, spirited combat had only enlivened his spirituality and provided a precondition for potion digestion. The Melee Scholar potion had been fully digested by writing the Outline of Combat.
Since ancient times, Warlocks had also been half-researchers, so digesting this Sequence's potion still had to begin from the aspect of Knowledge.
Next, Odis turned to examine the enhancements to his other capabilities. He felt his combat ability had also improved somewhat. After all, his brain's reaction speed had increased, so his movements could naturally be faster.
Among the new knowledge Odis had acquired, aside from learning to concoct many spiritual materials used in Spellcasting, he had also gained knowledge of numerous medicinal recipes.
Compared to the recipes known to an Apothecary, these were more like folk remedies, their ingredients all strange and bizarre things.
His Eyes of Mystery Prying had also undergone a qualitative change. Beyond seeing a person's aura, it could now discern a person's short-term fortune. This 'short-term' was roughly three days, perhaps extending to five days once the potion was fully digested, and could only distinguish good luck from misfortune, without making specific predictions.
Odis recalled that his Pathway's Sequence 3 was called Clairvoyant, which seemed to brush against the domain of Fate. But he suspected that at the Warlock level, the ability to see a person's fortune did not stem from any Fate-related capability. Rather, it was that his further-enhanced spirituality allowed him to see information spilling over from the Spirit World or the River of Fate.
This was similar to how the Seer Pathway's Clown could glimpse what was about to happen one or two seconds in advance. It was an incidental ability that came with the strengthening of Beyonder powers.
For Odis, stronger spirituality was beneficial. He had previously invented many arrays that could not be used outside the Knowledge Moor because his spirituality had been too weak at the time.
Now that was no longer a problem. He could make further breakthroughs in array craft.
Moreover, with stronger spirituality, his inspiration and intuition had also grown sharper.
For example, as Odis looked at the folder containing the dossier on Viscount Verde, he recalled that the Viscount was a devout follower of the Lord of Storms. He often invited clergy to his home to perform exorcisms and give sermons, and for some major investments, he would even go to church and pray devoutly for an entire day.
On first reading, Odis had laughed at the man for worshiping the wrong deity. Praying to the Eternal Blazing Sun, the Guardian of Businesses, would have been more useful.
Now, however, Odis suddenly realized that this indicated the Viscount was an extremely superstitious person. He would likely be susceptible not only to the orthodox churches, but also to other things.
Soon, a bold plan took shape in Odis's mind. If it succeeded, it would be enough to tie up Viscount Verde for an entire week...
Odis began refining the plan's details step by step, then got up to concoct the corresponding spiritual powders. If the plan succeeded, it would not only help Mike resolve his crisis, but also allow Odis to attempt acting as a Warlock.
Once the necessary preparations were complete, he found himself rather excited by the plan. He used Cogitation once more and finally drifted into sleep.
However, the moment he entered sleep, Odis found himself appearing once more on the wilderness composed of illusory light. It was only Monday, yet he had returned to the Knowledge Moor.
Upon entering the spire formed of orbs of light, the knowledge of why this had happened immediately surfaced in his mind...
It turned out that from Sequence 7 onward, he could freely enter the Knowledge Moor. This time, as usual, he had arrived through sleep.
Under ordinary circumstances, Odis could now enter through Cogitation/Meditation. The method of entering had been acquired the moment he arrived within this spire.
What remained unchanged was that he still had to complete one research topic per week and submit it to the Knowledge Moor.
When he went to consult the archives again, Odis was pleasantly surprised to find that he could now access arrays once used by the Giant, Dragon, and Elf civilizations.
Array after array, each ancient and deceptively simple, yet each containing immense power. Odis immersed himself in the ocean of knowledge, nearly losing track of time.
Still, having just advanced today, he needed more rest. He could only give the arrays a brief glance for now and leave deeper research for his next visit.
Odis also took a quick look at the potion formulas he could now access. He discovered he could currently view formulas from four Pathways.
In addition to the previous Mystery Pryer, Savant, and Reader, he could now view the Marauder Pathway's potion formulas.
However, the formulas he could access only ranged from Sequence 9 to Sequence 7.
"Why the Marauder Pathway?" Odis was somewhat puzzled.
It was only when he saw that the Pathway's Sequence 7 was called Cryptologist that he began to understand. The Pathways he could access were all those with some connection to knowledge.
Reader went without saying; the core of the entire Pathway was learning and accumulating knowledge. And a Cryptologist required vast knowledge to perform Decryptions, so this Pathway had become the fourth Odis could access.
This phenomenon was somewhat similar to certain traits of Adam: the more one understood Adam, the more Adam understood that person...
The knowledge within the Knowledge Moor likely operated in the same way; the more a Beyonder of a given Pathway studied and researched knowledge, the more knowledge came to understand that Pathway's Beyonders.
Odis even felt a flicker of anticipation, looking forward to which studious Pathway would be next.
As he was about to leave the Knowledge Moor, he suddenly noticed that the light within the orbs forming the tower seemed to have become more substantial. But he quickly realized it was because his Soul Body's spirituality had grown stronger, allowing him to perceive more information.
The light seemed to contain infinite knowledge... knowledge that Odis, at his current level, had no means of parsing yet.
Returning to the real world, Odis used Cogitation to hasten his sleep...
...
The next morning, Odis was hazily roused by the sound of Max banging on the door outside.
"Open up, quickly! I have something important to discuss with you!"