Chapter 593: Information Gap

Hearing Lu Mi's question, the "Magician" lady's tone grew more reflective:

"'The Door' is the ancestor of the Abraham family, the top-ranked Duke among the five great nobles of the Tudor Empire—it was He who sealed this spaceship, while Amon was responsible for designing the ritual to periodically steal the energy ejected by the black hole, easing the pressure from the seal's natural decay and accelerating the black hole's demise."

Ahead of Amon's position… In the Tudor Empire, was 'The Door' second only to the 'Blood Emperor'? Lu Mi listened with intense focus.

At that moment, the "Magician" lady let out a soft sigh:

"In a certain sense, 'The Door' was also my mentor."

Mentor? Your mentor was an Angel-King of the Fourth Epoch, the top-ranked noble of the Tudor Empire? Those figures are from one or two thousand years ago… Lu Mi hadn't expected the "Magician" lady to have such deep connections.

No wonder she became the "Star Angel" beside the "Fool" Mr. 's throne, no wonder she's a holder of the Major Arcana in the Tarot Society!

The "Magician" lady glanced at Lu Mi and said with a teasing tone:

"Indeed, 'The Door' guided and 'pushed' me step by step along the Path of the God, but not in the way you imagine—it wasn't anything good."

Not anything good… Lu Mi froze for a moment, then suddenly understood.

He drew a guess based on his own experience:

The "Magician" lady had once suffered contamination from 'The Door,' been rescued by the "Fool" Mr., and thus joined the Tarot Society?

But from the "Magician" lady's tone, she later reconciled with 'The Door'? Otherwise she wouldn't call him her mentor… How strange, so unreal—just like if I someday told someone that the Angel of Fate, Thelmiopolis, was also my mentor… Lu Mi muttered inwardly, then cautiously asked:

"Is 'The Door' still active on the earth?"

Like his colleague Amon, still lively and moving about?

The "Magician" lady shook her head:

"He has perished."

Such… Lu Mi turned his gaze once more toward the deep, bottomless sea:

"Is the purpose of 'Fool's Day' to obtain that spaceship?"

"But they don't seem to know it contains a nascent black hole…"

That's a terrifying thing even a true god couldn't fully resolve; once freed from the seal and allowed to develop, it would compress and swallow everything around it—how could the core members of 'Fool's Day,' who lack even the rank of a demi-god, believe they could face it without fear?

By using the spaceship to suppress it? Probably not—only the evil god who created that black hole or a being on the level of the "Fool" Mr. could control it…

The "Mad Woman" even suspected the seal held a nascent god or a being of similar rank…

Thinking of this, Lu Mi's mind stirred, and he asked in a low voice:

"Were the core members of 'Fool's Day' all misled? Is the goal of that Celestial Lord to release the black hole and trigger an early apocalypse?"

"As long as any non-human who has been contaminated by Him enters the spaceship, He can achieve His aim?"

That's truly not caring about the lives of 'Eggman,' 'The Mad Woman,' 'The Bard,' or 'Loki'…

But then again, that's the way 'Fool's Day' operates—they don't care about any life outside themselves either!

Lu Mi suddenly felt like laughing; his mood, already satisfied from eliminating 'Eggman' and 'The Mad Woman,' grew even more cheerful.

The "Magician" lady nodded slightly:

"If you hadn't used all your resources to crush this matter with absolute power—if I had arrived ten or twenty seconds later, and the gray-white mist emerging from 'The Mad Woman' had fully seeped into the spaceship—the outcome might have been completely different. We wouldn't be sitting here, relaxed, discussing this."

Lu Mi recalled the events, and murmured to himself as if thinking aloud:

"If I hadn't temporarily acquired the authority of 'Sea Viceroy' to restrain 'The Mad Woman's' 'Teleport,' she might have reached the living 'nest' of the nascent black hole before you arrived—not just sent out a gray-white mist shaped like a human to try to infiltrate the spaceship. In that case, the situation would have been far worse, perhaps even unmanageable…"

He had acquired the temporary authority of 'Sea Viceroy' because he stole a portion of the sea's power using 'The Lie,' allowing resonance with this 'sea,' and because he himself possessed an extremely high false rank.

He had been able to steal that portion of the sea's power using 'The Lie' because the 'Seer' Path artifact, when placed on the ancestral altar in Miluo Village, had received the bestowed power of 'Theft' from a high rank.

The altar could bestow the high-rank 'Theft' power because it was built by Amon… built by Amon…

Lu Mi's thoughts suddenly cleared—he realized that not only were he and his allies disrupting 'Fool's Day's' plot, but unseen higher beings also didn't want that Celestial Lord to succeed!

The "Magician" lady laughed:

"You've figured it out, haven't you? When I saw 'The Lie' with the 'Theft' power, I immediately understood the situation."

"I recently peered into the altar beneath Miluo Village and confirmed its function: to collect the spiritual energy of worshippers, accumulating enough power to grant the 'Theft' ability. But with Miluo Village's population and the number of sea-blooded individuals, it can grant 'Theft' only once a year, lasting no more than half a month, usable only one or two times."

"The power attached to 'The Lie' is far more potent than that."

Lu Mi frowned slightly:

"Are you saying the 'Theft' power on 'The Lie' was given directly by Amon?"

This guess made him feel absurd, ridiculous, unreal.

For months, he had been terrified of Amon, nearly dying in the 'Samaritan Woman's Spring,' then later warned the Tarot Society to help the 'Time Angel' eliminate most of Amon's presence in Trill, and even forcibly reclaimed a large debt from one of Amon's parasitic vessels.

What kind of relationship is this? To both sides, it should be one of deep enmity.

And now you tell him Amon secretly helped him?

Though Lu Mi knew Amon wasn't insane—he was merely trying to sabotage the Celestial Lord's goal—he still couldn't help doubting whether the world was still sane.

The "Magician" lady chuckled:

"Perhaps, at that time, a hidden Amon was curled up inside the altar."

"Honestly, I never expected that those figures we once feared, dreaded, and kept wary of could now occasionally cooperate. But don't become careless because of this—when facing the gods beyond the barrier, we may be allies; in other matters, we might not be. Even when dealing with the followers of evil gods, it depends on the situation—they might think they can handle it alone and set a trap for you."

"Alright…" Lu Mi didn't want to believe it, but had to accept it—the facts were right before him.

With the missing information now filled in, he restructured his thoughts about the Sea Prayer Ritual, making his web-like mental map more complete, no longer missing key pieces.

Corresponding experience and lessons surfaced in Lu Mi's mind:

"The greatest failure of 'Fool's Day' was not knowing that I and Fulanka, besides being members of the 'Curly Baboon Research Society,' were also members of the Tarot Society—and the Tarot Society takes issues related to the Celestial Lord very seriously…"

"They, too, suffered from an information gap, and were deceived step by step toward death…"

"Didn't they ever consider that their goal might not align with the Celestial Lord's?"

"I, too, lacked information—but fortunately, I didn't become careless or underestimate visible or hidden enemies. Even a lion fights a rabbit with all its strength…"

"Of course, a crucial point is that those who held key information and concealed it sided with me in this operation. Next time, if they oppose me—how should I respond?"

In a flash of thought, thanks to the relative success of this hunt and the questions it raised, Lu Mi felt his "Conspirator" potion had digested significantly further, and he distilled his third acting rule:

"One key to conspiracy is information—a good conspirator must master the use of information gaps, even actively create them."

Closing his eyes to sense his body's condition, Lu Mi felt that with one more major, successful conspiracy and some routine accumulation, he could fully digest the "Conspirator" potion.

And that major conspiracy could be combined with the ritual to ascend to Sequence 5, the "Harvester"—no need for separate planning.

—The "Harvester" ritual requires planning a conspiracy to capture a target of higher Sequence than oneself.

When Lu Mi opened his eyes, the "Magician" lady passed him the dark shard in her palm:

"You handle the distribution of these. This is something every 'Hunter' must learn and master to ascend to demi-godhood."

"Understood." Lu Mi was already accustomed to distributing spoils.

He added quickly:

"But before that, I'd like to meet 'The Bard' first."

He, too, is spoils.

…………

In the Night Kingdom, within an ancient, ruined grand palace.

Lu Mi, Fu Lan Ka, "Hela," and "Gandalf" appeared one after another.

All were dressed as they normally were for gatherings—in other words, Lu Mi was now "Muggle" Aurora.

"Gandalf" tossed the "Bard" onto the ground, placing no restraints on him.

The "Bard" glanced around the familiar place, with no thought of escape or resistance.

This was the isolated Night Kingdom, the hidden Night Kingdom—what could he escape with?

And against two demi-gods, what could he resist with?

The "Bard" swallowed hard and spoke first:

"I was also deceived by 'Loki'!"

He now could only hope his experience in the "Deceiver" Path would let him successfully "persuade" the two demi-gods.

Seeing that "Hela" and "Gandalf" remained silent, the "Bard" added:

"I can take you to Loki's castle—I know some clues, really!"

At that moment, he heard Lu Mi, disguised as "Muggle," speak in a low voice:

"Kill the medium directly."

(End of Chapter)