Chapter 698: Mystery Authority

Mei Diqi's scar on the right side of his face suddenly split open, sprouting illusory teeth and a crimson tongue, emitting a hoarse voice: "I have investigated, and the mastermind behind the Soren family's decline is Luo Sai Er and Cha La Tu. I'm not sure whether Luo Sai Er truly died, but you clearly know something, even that you belong to its allies."

As soon as Soren finished speaking, Mei Diqi's scar on the left cheek also cracked open, sprouting illusory teeth and a crimson tongue, and in Ai Yin Huo En's voice said: "We're not unable to negotiate, even to cooperate. If you can help us obtain the Knowledge Church seal 0-01, we can also help you deal with Steam."

"Discuss with me in Steam's domain how to deal with it?" Reckton sneered and retorted.

Mei Diqi nodded, his tone quite sincere, and said: "It and the Eternal Blazing Sun are confronting the True Creator, so they have no time for this side; otherwise they wouldn't need to have me restrain you."

"Them?" Reckton's voice paused slightly, "Then how long do the three of you intend to keep me here?"

Mei Diqi glanced at Reckton, chuckling: "It depends on your attitude. If you cooperate with me, we can leave right now and steal Salinger's blood flag from that old dragon's church."

"I need to think it over; after all, compared with He La Bo Gen, you're not a good partner, even if you somewhat represent the will of the City of Calamity."

As he spoke, Reckton snapped his fingers, and specks of starlight materialized around him, swiftly forming an ornate, dazzling high‑backed chair.

Reckton lounged back in the high‑backed chair, his eyes deep as if they contained a dark, vast starry sky.

In this state, his thoughts kept spreading, scanning every detail around, trying to locate the weak point of the illusory book that briefly sealed him.

After a long silence, Mei Diqi asked impatiently, "What have you decided?"

"I guess you're asking how my analysis of this place is going, right?"

Reckton leaned against the high‑backed chair and bluntly voiced Mei Diqi's true thoughts at that moment.

Mei Diqi smiled, didn't deny it, and added: "In this regard, you share many similarities with that old dragon, no wonder you chose each other as allies."

"It seems Steam truly has no time to pay attention here."

While speaking, Reckton gently rubbed his right hand, generating specks of starlight that quickly assembled in front of him into a round table and a high‑backed chair.

Mei Diqi sprang up from the ground, lazily leaning on the high‑backed chair, his feet resting on the round table.

"Zzz, what a convenient ability," Mei Diqi sighed, then said, "I guess you know the whereabouts of the final 'Conqueror' trait."

Reckton raised an eyebrow and asked back, "Why do you think I'd support you becoming a 'Red Priest'?"

"Why not support me? Do you like that pervert Chick?"

Mei Diqi mimicked Reckton's gesture, also raising an eyebrow and asking back.

Reckton was silent for a second, then chuckled lightly and said:

"You shouldn't have gone through the 'Provoker' stage; is that an innate racial trait of mythic beings? Or perhaps changes brought about after merging with Soren and Ai Yin Huo En?"

As the words fell, the three mouths on Mei Diqi's face twisted in no particular order, yet he restrained himself from making a sound, expressing contempt for the other two through his gestures.

"As for provocation, you also have the gift," Mei Diqi curled his lip, his aura turning dangerous.

Reckton nodded at Mei Diqi, his tone calm, and said:

"Thanks for the compliment. Let's keep chatting; I don't plan to leave for now."

"Of course." Mei Diqi replied casually.

After sitting for a while, it seemed unable to bear the loneliness and started chatting with the mouths on either side of its cheek.

Is this a deliberate performance for me? For what purpose? As thoughts fluttered, Reckton suddenly sensed some of his own information shifting—someone was summoning his historical projection, and Ke Lai En was already pulling against A Meng so quickly? Reckton's thoughts froze, then vanished entirely, leaving only one notion: the time here is problematic!

At that thought, his body instantly became ethereal, breaking into massive streams of pure information, stirring a terrifying information storm within the illusory book, attempting to overwhelm and burst the book with sheer data.

While communicating with Soren and Ai Yin Huo En, Mei Diqi paused, then, as if nothing happened, laughed and said:

"You discovered the problem this quickly? That's far earlier than that guy's predicted time."

As soon as the words fell, the Soren and Ai Yin Huo En on the sides of the cheek began to mock:

"Foolish Mei Diqi, if it were truly so confident, it wouldn't have stalled until now without getting troops onto the Southern Continent." "You've always known that the side holding advantage in this war has never been Indis, nor the Eternal Blazing Sun or Steam."

Mei Diqi smiled, unconcerned, and said:

"Life always needs challenges; that's what makes it interesting, isn't it?"

"And isn't Soren always shouting about avenging his foolish descendants? Isn't that our shared choice?"

"Jumping out now to contradict me only highlights your stupidity and cowardice."

As it spoke, its body ignited, violet‑red flames rising and expanding, coalescing into a towering flame giant.

The flame giant's face bore three mouths, grotesquely twisted, and it clasped its hands together, dragging them briefly in midair.

A long sword wreathed in violet‑red flame materialized from thin air, and its aura spread outward, exuding connotations of conquest, calamity, and strife, causing a hint of chaos in the information storm's surge.

The flame giant's side mouths kept opening and closing, uttering a babbling voice: "Even if you discover the problem here, it's useless."

"The information structure here isn't so easily fully deciphered by you; to break the seal by force, you must first get past me."

Amid the constantly disturbed information storm, Reckton's figure reappeared, his eyes continuously forming complex, illusory symbols, pouring massive amounts of useless knowledge into the minds of Mei Diqi, Soren, and Ai Yin Huo En.

The influx of knowledge caused the now‑restored Angelic King‑form Mei Diqi to momentarily lose consciousness.

"You seem quite confident in Steam's creations," he murmured, and Reckton, appearing in good spirits, explained to the Red Angel Demon: "The knowledge of the Mystery side differs greatly from the reality‑side knowledge represented by Steam."

"Mystery worships the idea that all things are riddles, believing the universe is inexhaustibly unsolvable, truth is an illusion, and everything is possible."

As the words fell, his aura rose, like an endless starry sky overhead—seemingly within reach yet forever untouchable, its horizon unseen, stepping into the indescribable.

Although he has not yet reclaimed the Hermit's singularity, with the Knowledge Emperor as a foundation he can now leverage his own unique authority to wield higher‑tier power.

A thin black mist continuously surged, creating colors, layers, riddles, and phantoms around, as if revealing an indescribable truth to the world.

This is the "Mystery" authority belonging to the Hermit!

He cast "Thought Mist" and "Sensory Rain" around, using self‑and‑idealist power to warp reality, adding variables, turning everything into an indeterminate unknown.

In this state, the illusory book created by the God of Steam and Machinery is no longer stable or complete, riddled with mysteries.

A thin, fine black fog covered the book, adding a hint of mystery to the illusory tome.

Within the illusory book, the violet‑red flames coiling around the Red Angel Demon's enlarged form swayed constantly, as if about to extinguish yet also eager to ignite everything around, burning away all unreasonable appearances.

Ignoring the actions of Mei Diqi, Soren, and Ai Yin Huo En, Reckton began reconstructing the illusory book in the Mystery way, attempting to create a legitimate loophole.

Under the cover of "Mystery," established facts and truths are merely appearances; anything is possible! A single massive pale‑purple eye sprouted from the void, encircling and layering, forming a passage both illusory and real, leading beyond the illusory book.

The next second, an exaggerated giant sword wreathed in violet‑red flame slashed down, trying to sever Reckton's motion and split him in two.

Under the gaze of the spontaneously formed eyes, the surrounding space seemed to warp; the Red Angel Demon's thrusting sword twisted into a bizarre arc in midair, autonomously avoiding Reckton and the forming passage.

"This kind of messy ability is really annoying." Medici glanced at his mouth, his tone a bit impatient as he said: "When it comes to pretending to be mystical, you have more talent than that old dragon."

Rexton smiled, looking in a good mood, and explained to Medici:

"Under the cover of 'mystery', common sense will no longer be common sense; any action and thing will have variables, and I happen to be able to grasp every variable."

As his words fell, Medici, who had incarnated as a flame giant, his body strangely contracted and shrank, finally leaving less than two meters tall, and the flames originally entwined around his body were now only sputtering sparks.

Medici looked around in surprise, then laughed out and said:

"Interesting, I can feel that my size hasn't changed, so you are altering the surrounding environment, compressing the surrounding space, creating the illusion that I have been shrunk?"

(End of chapter)