Chapter 566: Another Monday

Lei Kedun drew his gaze around, hurried to the round table where Juguang were seated, lowered his voice and greeted:

"Good evening, Mr. Xilaliang." "Good evening, Ms. Ge Lan."

"And two cute kittens, good evening to you."

Juguang Xilaliang gave Lei Kedun a deep, probing look, his face keeping a gentle smile as he said:

"Good evening, sir."

He paused for two seconds, then added:

"Congratulations, you've taken another step on the path to reclaiming authority."

"It may be impolite to say so, but I feel that in the near future I may witness the birth of a true God of Knowledge."

"Hm!" A cold, emotionless snort sounded, and Mr. Huang, dressed in a simple robe, appeared silently beside them.

"Haha, sorry, that was a slip of the tongue." Juguang Xilaliang chuckled lightly, bowed to Mr. Huang and apologized.

Mr. Huang's expression revealed no emotion, as if he hadn't taken the incident to heart; his gaze fell on the square iron box Lei Kedun held, and he calmly said:

"You've already found a 'Weaver of Dreams' trait so quickly?"

Lei Kedun nodded, handed over the iron box containing the trait, and recounted how he obtained it.

After hearing his account, Mr. Huang gave a slight nod, said nothing, his gaze turning slightly deep as if entering contemplation.

After a moment of silence, he leisurely spoke:

"There is a certain fateful coincidence, but it seems only to bring you and Adam together."

"As the one closest to the 'Utopian', he is also the best psychologist in this world; if he is willing to help you weave a genuine and reasonable humanity, it will greatly aid you."

Lei Kedun shook his head lightly, his tone calm: "I cannot have him weave humanity for me, just as he refuses to let me touch the first defiling stone tablet; we lack the necessary trust."

Mr. Huang gave a slight nod and fell silent; he opened the metal box containing the extraordinary 'Weaver of Dreams' trait, glanced inside, then returned it to Lei Kedun, saying:

"Deliver this to Luka Bruster; his contributions to the Church have long warranted promotion, but he has lacked the corresponding trait, and he refuses to switch to the 'Hanged Man' or 'Storm' paths."

As he spoke, specks of silvery light shimmered on his body, darting around, sketching one All-Seeing Eye after another.

The silvery points rushed toward his outstretched right hand, gradually coalescing; as the light faded, a pair of cold, indifferent silvery pupils were revealed inside.

While Lei Kedun received the two traits, Mr. Huang explained in an even tone:

"The 'Insight' trait is my personal item; the Church truly has no surplus Insight traits, and even if there were, they'd quickly be assigned to those who need them."

Lei Kedun shrugged, smiled lightly without much emotion, and said:

"Alright, I hope that when Bishop Luka discovers his promotion to 'Weaver of Dreams', his colleague becoming an 'Insight' doesn't surprise or distress him too much."

"He can revert to 'Archangel' in the next sequence," Mr. Huang replied calmly.

Lei Kedun gave a silent smile, bowed to him, then his body fragmented into countless tangled strands of knowledge as he left the library.

After Lei Kedun departed, Mr. Huang turned to the round table beside him, where the two people and two cats continued flipping through their books unchanged.

Mr. Huang shook his head slightly and said calmly:

"Your reading frequency changes are too obvious; for someone who has passed the 'Guardian of Knowledge' stage, this is a clear sign."

He paused a second, then continued: "I've arranged for a technical university in Lunburg to send a cooperation invitation to Trill's Steam University; in mechanical knowledge, the Steam Church is at the forefront."

Ge Lan closed the book in his hands and spoke in a deep voice:

"Given the Steam Church's zeal for technology, they'll certainly agree, but this will expose too much information to them, and they might actually develop it."

"All we need is a time lag." As the words finished, Mr. Huang's figure vanished silently in the library hall.

The next day, Beckerland Empress District.

Aodairi followed her psychology teacher Isilante Oxisleika to an empty café, where she met Herwen Lambis, who claimed to be a council member of the Psychological Alchemy Society. He was a middle‑aged man of gentle, refined demeanor, with blue eyes that seemed to hold boundless wisdom and knowledge.

Aodairi restrained how closely she examined him, silently thinking that she hadn't expected the royal advisor to also be a member of the Psychological Alchemy Society; no wonder Mr. White Tower said the Society's leadership has certain leanings in stance and belief.

Herwen Lambis gazed gently at the beautiful girl before him; in the mental realm, his virtual persona had silently infiltrated Aodairi's consciousness island.

After Isilante left, Herwen Lambis took a blank sheet from his briefcase and said calmly, "I apologize for the abrupt interruption, Miss Aodairi. According to our original plan, we still needed to assess you further, but recent events in the Psychological Alchemy Society have forced us to accelerate the training of newcomers."

"What happened?" Aodairi asked promptly.

Herwen Lambis did not rush to answer, but first handed over the white paper; Aodairi took it, glanced briefly, and saw a drawing of a cloaked humanoid monster covered entirely in eyes.

He called it a monster because she could find no human features on the portrait beyond its humanoid shape.

Herwen Lambis's tone grew heavy, tinged with a fear even he barely sensed, and he said:

"Our Society's president was assassinated, and the assassin succeeded, but thanks to certain peculiarities of the 'Audience' path, the president did not truly die."

Aodairi's eyes widened in unmistakable shock, which needed no concealment.

Jianhai County, Kongston City.

Lei Kedun spent only one morning with Shaoen touring all the remaining festivities of Kongston City.

Under Shaoen's earnest gaze, Lei Kedun performed a ritual that could summon his messenger, then vanished from his sight amid the surging crowd.

After grabbing lunch at a local specialty restaurant, he rested at the inn until the wall clock struck three in the afternoon.

As the clock chimed precisely, a dense gray mist surged before his eyes, with deep red light rolling like a tide, quickly engulfing his sight.

Lei Kedun restrained his instinct to resist, and, drawn by the deep red glow, his spirit detached from his body and arrived within a grand ancient palace above the gray mist.

Sitting in a high-backed chair belonging to the White Tower, Lei Kedun lowered his gaze, watching the mechanical gauntlet that had come with him to the gray mist, a faint, calm smile tugging at his mouth.

"Good afternoon, Mr Fool~"

As always, Justice Aodairi rose first to salute, but today she seemed less lively, as if troubled by something.

After everyone rose and exchanged bows according to protocol, Hermit Gardelia raised her hand first, presenting four pages of Roselle's diary.

She chose not to ask questions or exchange for items, but instead traded the accumulated diaries for assistance from Mr Fool, to be used when needed.

"The more diaries the Hermit contributes, the greater my pressure becomes; if it's for advanced occult knowledge it's manageable, but if it requires Mr Fool's intervention, even he can't help!"

Craine sighed while scanning the faces of those seated along the weathered long table.

Seeing that only Hanged Man A'erjie and Chariot Anderson had glanced at the extra card to his right, a flash of disappointment crossed his mind. If the Hermit had asked me about the card's content, I could have slipped through again, but as he sighed, his right hand curled a finger, tapped the table edge twice, producing a dull thud, and he said:

You all start.

Having received the hint from Fool Ke Lai En, Hermit Jia De Li Ya directly looked at Lei Ke Dun and spoke calmly:

"I want to exchange for a drop of your blood; what price must I pay?"

"You seem eager to increase your strength; what happened?" Lei Ke Dun asked curiously, then added:

Two conditions: first, I need the Future to help me transport some goods between the North and South Continents, which you can understand as smuggling trade.

Second, you need to regularly hold a class on the Future, teaching the crew some necessary knowledge, combining crew feedback, compile it into a book and send it to me.

"Only these? This isn't equivalent to an angel's blood." Jia De Li Ya asked doubtfully.

Moreover, she felt that the two conditions Lei Ke Dun proposed were somewhat strange; she could understand the first condition, but the second was hard to grasp. Besides Fu Lan Ke and Ao Tuo Luo Fu, the rest of the crew on the Future lacked enthusiasm for learning; if this were done, the Future would likely fall into a long-term shortage of personnel, just like the Golden Dream of Admiral Bing Shan.

Lei Ke Dun looked at Jia De Li Ya, whose face showed doubt, and calmly explained: 'Getting pirates to obsess over learning is not easy, and this involves a very important plan of mine later on, so this is equivalent to a drop of my blood.'

(End of chapter)