Klein raised up the manifested pages of Roselle's diary and silently read them, but not before manifesting another copy which was placed at Casper's side.
The act immediately drew attention.
Alger and Audrey's gazes flickered to Casper or the "Blessed" of Mr. Emperor who took over his codename.
Their eyes held certain surprise and also some amount of acknowledgement of The Emperor's overreaching authority.
Derrick on the other hand was merely surprised, his thoughts were mainly focused on whether The Emperor — another deity knew more about the Forsaken Land of The Gods and how to free them.
Casper ignored their gazes and turned his attention to the diary pages at hand.
"29th October. The leader of the Secret Order, Zaratul, visited me once again. He didn't mention anything specific and just casually chatted with me. I wasn't able to guess his true intentions. It seems like he just wanted to strengthen the communication between us and understand each other better?
"I've already met the two High-Sequence Beyonders from the Church, but I felt that Zaratul was much more powerful and mysterious than them, so I asked him what Sequence number he was without much hope, and in the end, he actually answered me!
"He told me that he was a Sequence 2, Miracle Invoker!
"Sequence 2? In the Church's categorization, that's the position of an angel, close to that of a deity!
"He truly is more powerful than the Alchemist and Arcane Scholar that I met before!
"But my intuition tells me that Zaratul isn't telling the whole truth. Sequence 2 might just be his former position, or that he's about to advance.
"Miracle Invoker? A master at creating miracles? The name of this potion makes one's imagination run wild!
"This is the corresponding Sequence 2 of Seer, a Miracle Invoker who controls fate?
"I tried probing Zaratul if the word miracle refers to the miracle of fate? That the Seer pathway is one that slowly understands and grasps fate so as to control it?
"Zaratul ignored the first question. He told me that fate is just one of the parts of the Seer pathway, and it's not even its main focus. The pathway that truly represents fate is Monster!
"He raised a few examples which were all potion names of the Monster Sequence. Sequence 7 Lucky One, Sequence 5 Winner, Sequence 2 Soothsayer, and Sequence 1 Snake of Mercury! It's also known as the Snake of Fate.
"According to what I know, the Monster pathway should be controlled by the Life School of Thought. This school seems to also have parts of the Apothecary Sequence pathway. They propose three major divisions, the world of absolute rationality, the world of the spirit, and the material world. Yea, it's pretty cool.
"Zaratul told me that the Life School of Thought specializes in astromancy, seeking to use medicine, music, light, wine, and fragrance, to eliminate paths with unfavorable star readings and fate. They believe that disasters and diseases are caused by the loss of balance between man and nature, as well as the balance between man and his own mind.
"He added meaningfully that the Life School of Thought worships the moon.
"Why worship the moon and not go one step further, the Evernight Goddess?"
Casper's gaze did not flicker a single bit as he glanced over the pages, most of the knowledge was already privy to him.
Klein secretly sneaked a glance at him, curious about his thoughts.
Seeing that the diary pages brought no changes in his expression, Klein couldn't help but feel a certain awe.
Mr. Emperor either has a great poker face or he already knows this information…. He seemed to know more than he let on back in Tingen.
I wonder, despite being of a lower sequence than me, how he knows of such information. It's truly astonishing.
But nonetheless, Klein kept his curiosity hidden, respecting the man's wishes.
The third page was Roselle's recount of inventing a practical steam engine. At times, he was afraid of suffering crackdowns, and at other times, afraid that the fruits of his labor would be seized by powerful figures. His words displayed his fear of being persecuted.
Casper flipped to the fourth page.
"18th April. Matilda is pregnant.
"It's to be expected, and I can even tell you exactly which love-making session she conceived in, because I felt a decrease in my Beyonder characteristic.
"Once the conception is successful, my own Beyonder characteristic will follow a mysterious connection, and part of it will be transferred to my child.
"After that, I asked Archbishop Fan Esti worriedly. He told me that this is a normal phenomenon. For Sequence 7 and below, Beyonder characteristics will not be passed on to the next generation, but it isn't absolute, Sequence 6 and 5 will naturally pass down a portion, but it will not affect the parent's strength. As for the child, they would be born with certain Beyonder powers, close to that of Sequence 9. But as a result, their pathway is basically fixed.
"At high Sequences, the inheritance of Beyonder characteristics is something one can control. One can choose to pass down or not, or one can even choose to pass down just a little bit, a third, half, or all of them.
"In other words, the children born from High-Sequence Beyonders might be born as Beyonders. As for the Sequence number, it's up to either one of the parents to decide.
"I wonder if the descendants of the deities are like this as well…"
The fifth page was Roselle's criticisms about how no one could enjoy his pop music and thought that he was making noise, while at the same time, he mused how refreshing stories was a common pursuit of different people from different worlds, and that the popularity of the novels he plagiarized from The Count of Monte Cristo allowed the newspaper he founded to flourish.
The sixth page, on the other hand, drew much more of Casper's attention.
"10th November, I received the great pirate Savigny Solomon in secret at the White Maple Palace. Solomon. I hope that he will plunder my opponents on the new sea route and strike at the ships of Feysac, Loen, and Feynapotter.
"And I promised to help him advance to a High-Sequence Beyonder.
"The Beyonder pathway of the Black Emperor pathway has names that are as strange as the Demoness pathway—Corruption, Confusion, The Fallen, Disorder... However, in order to match the Black Emperor, they added on their own suffixes, Baron of Corruption, Mentor of Disorder, Earl of The Fallen, and Prince of Abolition.
"In order for Savigny to live up to his name, I decided to confer him the title of Count of the Court in secret.
"Savigny has a child named Nast Solomon, and my intuition tells me that he will dominate the Five Seas in the future."
Casper raised his eyebrow.
I vaguely remember Nast's father having relations with Roselle…. Did he use the Beyonder Characteristics from Savigny to advance to Black Emperor?
Does this means, Roselle betrayed one of his friends…. Well I might be wrong, this is pure speculation.
But Savigny would've been famous enough to be remembered until now if he had followed through with Roselle's plan and attacked the ships of Loen, Feysac and Feynapotter, becoming much of a headache to them.
Sadly, history doesn't remember such a man. Does this mean that the wanna Jesus destroyed evidence of his existence after killing him to help Roselle advance or am I just getting in over my head and this man died naturally either from advancing or to some pirate attack.
Hmm…. I should delve into this deeper. If Savigny died naturally and I'm able to find out where his resting place is, my ticket for Sequence 3 or Sequence 2 is confirmed.
Casper closed his eyes and leaned against his seat.
Damn! He has just discovered either a conspiracy or a lottery ticket.
The fact that Nast is still a Demigod and not a Sequence 3 means that Savigny's Beyonder Characteristics was still remaining.
Unless Savigny was a bum and died at Sequence 4 — and that's how Nast advanced — utilizing his father's Beyonder Characteristic as the main ingredient.
Nevertheless, this was a matter worth investigating.
At that moment, Klein seemed to finish gathering his thoughts. He raised his head, and spine nonchalantly.
"You are free to trade or communicate now."