1195 Grade 0

In the region that had been concealed, the Saint of Secrets, Botis, narrowed his eyes slightly as he recognized Leymano's Travels.

This made him no longer have any doubts about the intel provided by Saint Tenebrous Kisma.

He recognized this notebook and knew that it was a mystical item that the Abraham family placed great importance on. It was one of the most powerful items below the High-Sequences, and the negative effects were negligible.

Heh, back when I was a Mid-Sequence Beyonder, I had yearned for this notebook so much. In the end, the Abraham family was wary of me and didn't place any importance on my needs at all… Now, have they learned their lesson? This woman shouldn't be a descendant of the Abraham family. Otherwise, she wouldn't have gone around searching for the cursed item of an ancient wraith… Botis muttered inwardly as his expression gradually turned grim, showing hints of a cruel fervor.

After observing his surroundings for a while, he carefully reached into his black robe's pocket.

The pocket seemed to contain a vast space as Saint of Secrets Botis dragged out a three-layered jewelry box from within.

This jewelry box wasn't tiny, making it difficult to hold it with one hand. It was mainly silver-black in color, and its surface was covered with exquisite decorations. There were rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds embedded in it, making it look rather luxurious.

As he held the "jewelry box" in his hands, there was a hint of panic and fear in his expression. It was as if he was facing the Abyss or listening to an evil god's ravings.

…

The gathering continued as usual. Fors put away Leymano's Travels and focused on listening to the participants, as though she was seeking some answers.

During this process, she would occasionally ask questions, using gold pounds and spiritual materials as payment. However, she didn't receive any effective answers.

Gradually, the Beyonder gathering came to an end. The host arranged for the different participants to leave from different exits.

Soon, only Fors and a few other Beyonders were left in the room.

After receiving the signal of the host, Fors stood up and resisted the urge to stretch herself as she walked towards the side door.

At this moment, she realized that her body had stiffened. Her head could barely turn, but it felt like she was a toy that had its torsion spring wound up.

From the corner of her eye, she saw that the grayish-white walls had turned silvery-black in an instant. They were covered in granules, as though they were made of metal. The remaining participants and the host had their skin lose the luster that it should've possessed. Their eyes were dull, their movements mechanical, as though they were large dolls.

In the concealed area, Botis had opened the "jewelry box" at some point in time. The interior of its top layer wasn't exquisite enough, but it had completely restored the scene of the room.

In the room, there were chairs and long tables scattered haphazardly. There were a few palm-sized puppets sitting or standing, as though they were trying to simulate reality.

Among these people, the person standing was wearing a hooded robe. The shape of her chin was beautiful and her lips were plump and red. It was none other than Fors.

She and the remaining Beyonders, together with the gathering's host, had silently become toys. They had been taken into the highest layer of the "jewelry box"!

The room that connected in the external world was only left with grayish-white walls—nothing else.

The corners of Botis's lips curled up bit by bit. With his right hand, he closed the lid of the jewelry box.

In just a single breath, he had magically controlled his target!

This silver-black, three-layered "jewelry box" was the Grade 0 Sealed Artifact that he had snatched from the Abraham family.

As it had never been obtained by the orthodox Churches, nor was it ever deeply understood, it didn't have a corresponding number.

According to what Botis knew, this "jewelry box" originated from an Abraham family angel from the Fourth Epoch. "He" enjoyed roaming the cosmos and heading to different places in the vast universe. However, once, when "He" returned to "His" family to rest, he died silently in his palace. His face was filled with fear, and his expression was twisted as if he had seen something extremely terrifying.

A true Mythical Creature, one that could be considered a subsidiary god in the Second Epoch had actually died silently without causing a stir. The death was extremely bizarre.

The Beyonder characteristic "He" left behind combined with "His" corpse, forming the "jewelry box" that was quite different from the other kind of Sealed Artifacts. And back then, Mr. Door, Bethel Abraham, not only didn't attempt to shatter it and restore it to a pure Beyonder characteristic, "He" had even given it a rather strange name: "Box of the Great Old Ones."

The first level of the Box of the Great Old Ones could turn the target's location into toys and switch locations with its interior. Botis had used this trait to easily achieve his goal.

The second level of the Box of the Great Old Ones recorded different locations. Once it was released, the holder and the living beings within its effective range would head directly to the corresponding region. They would then wander around the cosmos like the angel from the Abraham family back then, exploring the universe.

As for what was on the third level of the Box of the Great Old Ones, Botis knew about it but didn't dare to think about it. It was just like how he usually didn't dare come into contact with this Grade 0 Sealed Artifact.

Smack. After closing the lid of the Box of the Great Old Ones, he grabbed the mirror that was embedded in the transparent vortex that was suspended in midair with his right hand.

Once a certain area was concealed, a Secrets Sorcerer had to use the corresponding "door" or directly remove the "concealment" to exit.

Botis had chosen the latter method because it was the easiest and fastest method.

The shadows stirred, and the area that disappeared returned to the real world. The room was finally complete.

Botis didn't stay any longer. Without even looking at his surroundings, he made his body rapidly fade away.

He held the many gemmed, silver-black Box of the Great Old Ones as the colors saturated and overlapped with each other. He traversed the spirit world which was filled with strange creatures towards his designated location. In a few seconds, he walked out of the void, attempting to enter the ruins of the battle of the gods by crossing the huge chasm that split the seas.

At this moment, the Botis stopped in midair.

His eyes narrowed and his eyes instantly turned dark, dotted with countless points of resplendence.

It was like the cosmos had been reflected in his eyes.

The "gravel" formed by the stars spun rapidly, causing the cracks at the bottom of the sea to rapidly turn incorporeal, causing everything in front of him to shrink and condense into a wavering orange flame.

This flame extended from the tip of a matchstick as it was extinguished.

Everything that Botis had experienced after removing the "concealed space" was an illusion. He remained rooted to the ground!

And the source of this illusion was the burning matchstick.

The matchstick was held by a fair-skinned palm, and the owner of the hand was a woman wearing a purple-patterned black robe and a hood. She was sitting on a carriage that was half-way through the wall, formed from a gigantic pumpkin.

Pulling the carriage were a bunch of gray rats.

This was none other than Cattleya, but her appearance, image, and bearing had changed.

This was the power she gained from the magic of Cinderella!

The core Beyonder power of the Mystery Pryer pathway's Sequence 4 Mysticologist was called "Mystical Re-enactment," fully expressing the saying—"knowledge is power."

To put it simply, a Mysticologist could draw power from different mysticism knowledge they grasped, and create all sorts of magic or witchcraft. As for the corresponding "mysticism knowledge," the less that was known by others and the less it spread, the more powerful the spells became.

The contrary could also be established. Once some knowledge and legends were known to many and no longer mysterious, the magic or witchcraft created by drawing on its powers would become almost ineffective.

Cattleya had no idea why the Queen could create all kinds of magical powers that were rich in magical colors from the private fairy tales that Emperor Roselle had told her, but that didn't hinder her learning and usage of them. After all, she had heard of those fairy tales from Queen Mystic.

The magic she had used it to temporarily transform and disguise herself was called "Cinderella." The magic that threw Saint of Secrets Botis into an illusion was "The Little Match Girl." With that, she had used it to stop the other party from "Teleporting" away, creating an opportunity for the battle that would follow.

Just as Botis had extricated himself from the hallucination, the "Cinderella" who was sitting in the pumpkin carriage placed her foot on the ground and spread out her arms, causing a huge cross to appear behind her.

As for Cattleya, she seemed to be carrying an illusory object.

In the empty room, candlelights lit up, one after another, illuminating a long table covered with flesh and blood.

Around the long table were three extremely blurry figures holding the globs of flesh as they constantly devoured the food.

As if sensing something, the three figures turned their heads at the same time and looked at Botis. This Saint of Secrets's heart raced as he felt a chill rush out from deep within his soul.

He then heard illusory gnawing, chewing, and digesting sounds. He could feel the undisguised malice and hunger.

Botis's eyelid twitched. He hurriedly lowered his head and cast his gaze at the Box of the Great Old Ones in his hand.

The silver-black box had opened itself without him realizing it at some point in time!

The magic that Cattleya used was called the "Feast of Betrayal." It stemmed from the mysticism knowledge she learned of the ancient sun god's death from the Tarot Club. Its purpose was to temporarily awaken or imbue the target with intelligence, allowing them to commit a "betrayal!"

Without a doubt, the effects of encountering a Sealed Artifact that was filled with malice towards the owner would be excellent.

However, if not for the fact that she had obtained the protection of Mr. Fool at every gathering they monitored, Cattleya wouldn't have dared to use this magic.

Once the three main leads of the "betrayal feast" sensed it, she would definitely die for obscure reasons. She wouldn't be able to resist her death and would die an abnormally horrifying death.

Therefore, Mysticologists were definitely individuals with high-risk. Their strength came from walking the edge of the Abyss, coming from things they shouldn't have seen or heard.

In comparison, Queen Mystic who could create magic from her father's private fairy tales was much safer than other Mysticologists at the same tier.