think you have a lot of questions to ask me."
The gray fog seemed to have lost its former mystery; the ethereal state between liquid and gas was no longer an untouchable illusion. The viscous, flocculent substance caressed Klein's skin intimately, and the sudden feeling of suffocation seemed to turn the ancient, dilapidated hall into a real ruin.
"Zhou Mingrui" was wearing a plaid shirt of a common style, the same one Klein remembered. This indifferent, composed figure, seemingly a disguised "god of mystery," beckoned to the down-on-their-luck young people on the steps, and the space beneath their feet instantly shifted.
The two returned to the vicinity of the mottled conference table, but this time, the "God of Mystery" did not choose His favorite "Magician," but instead occupied the head seat engraved with the symbol of "Fool," gazing at Klein, who stood blankly in front of his chair.
"Sit down, this is going to be a long and boring conversation."
Your body also needs rest.
"Even at our level, resurrection is not an easy task, let alone for you who have just grasped divinity and are only at the beginning of the extraordinary path."
"getting Started?"
Klein shook his head.
I don't know what standards you use to define me.
"As far as I know, for the vast human population, and indeed for all intelligent beings capable of possessing extraordinary abilities, the number of truly fortunate individuals who acquire extraordinary powers is but a drop in the ocean, while demigods..."
The poor woman who nearly destroyed all of Tingen, the sun rising from the underground of the Blackthorn Security Company, Gostars, poisoned by colonialism, the smog that buried countless faceless ordinary people, the witch who killed the prince with a kind heart...
The words of rebuttal stuck in Klein's throat. The bitter experience he had personally witnessed had made his voice much hoarse. He had to grit his teeth and read each word fluently.
"...And the demigods, they...may be us now."
"A single action or thought of ours can determine the life or death of many people, destroy their otherwise wonderful lives, or save them."
"So, in your view, ordinary people don't have the ability to decide their own destiny... right?"
The tone of the "God of Mysteries" was quite harsh.
Unwittingly, He used a trick of language to reverse the positions of the two, pushing Klein, who was more like a mortal, to the side of the arrogant and high-ranking god.
"Of course not!"
"But that's exactly what you mean."
The "God of Mysteries" easily refuted Klein's denial, and a slow smile appeared on Zhou Mingrui's face, which was only thinner and more indifferent.
"I can understand. After going through so much, you have many questions. You may doubt the rules of this world, be dissatisfied with the divine beings who arbitrarily wield power and manipulate the fate of others, and despise yourself for becoming a divine being and almost turning the Rosed Islands into a barren wasteland. I can understand all of that."
He clasped his hands together, his fingers covering his lips, and his deep brown East Asian eyes gradually turned black.
"You have seen my past, though only a small part, just some fragmented pieces."
Klein nodded. Just as the "God of Mysteries" had said, his thoughts were completely in disarray. All his explanations and questions were based solely on emotion and feelings buried deep in his heart, and it was hard to say that they had any logic to them.
Moreover, the dark blue door, and the sudden, heavy blow, made it even harder for him, already in a state of confusion, to accept the reality he had pieced together with the limited rationality he had used to deduce it.
Perhaps listening to the story of the "God of Mysteries" and shifting his focus would help him regain his composure.
"I am different from you."
Denial became the opening line of the "God of Mystery".
"When I came into this world, I was already a Sequence One angel."
"Ha, in their words, I am worthy of being called one of the most powerful below the true gods, because of this gray fog, because of the Source Castle."
He looked around, his fingers unconsciously tapping the armrest of the chair, making a soft, muffled sound.
"Source Castle, the name of this gray fog."
"Just as you discovered through your small explorations, we can unleash power beyond our original limits, both in terms of rank and ability, simply by being here."
"It's like an amplifier, a cheat code, like the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow you used to love playing single-player games."
"This thing is unfair. We, whose fates are tied to it, are unfair to the vast majority of the world, including the self-proclaimed gods of Sequence Zero, because we have gone further on the extraordinary path than they have from the very beginning."
Source Castle… Klein frowned. He couldn't find a suitable description to understand this new concept just proposed by the "God of Mystery," the so-called true name of the gray fog.
Now, the "God of Mysteries" has given him a shortcut.
Fenglingyueying, a name with a strong reputation in the single-player game community, can probably be understood as a game modifier.
"Modifier... Is this your view on the gray fog?" Klein asked. "Why? What exactly is the gray fog? Is it a higher-level extraordinary property, beyond uniqueness, used to connect adjacent pathways, or is it created by some being..."
"To deceive us time travelers, to numb our minds, and to serve as His playthings for His amusement?"
Klein paused briefly, because, combined with the explanation from the "God of Mysteries," the situation he was currently facing was far too similar to the clichés of those overused online novels on Earth.
The similarities filled him with despair.
"It's not as low-level as a plaything; the Source Castle was also very important to its original owner."
The answer from the "God of Mysteries" temporarily calmed the uneasy Klein.
He did not continue to explain the true meaning of "Source Castle," but picked up the past story that He had only begun before Klein interrupted him.
"In short, at that time I was both an archangel and the temporary master of the Source Castle. My angelic status was enough for me to use the Source Castle to achieve many miracles that ordinary people could not imagine and that, in their eyes, violated the rules."
"And just as you stole the rest of Klein Moretti's life and took over his place, accepting all his relationships, including those with his siblings, and everything else, I also stole everything from an elf named Solga."
"He is the younger brother of King Suniasolem, one of the more outstanding of the first generation of elves, and the scepter you took from the ruins."
Klein's chest heaved as he tried to argue that he had never intended to take over someone else's life, much less take on the responsibilities and burdens of a stranger.
Although they hadn't lived together for very long, he felt really guilty, believing he owed Benson and Melissa a debt for disrupting the lives of these kind siblings.
"With the combined power of the 'Mysterious Servant' and the 'Cataclysm,' as well as the help of the Source Castle, I have naturally become the most feared and terrifying monster in the Second Dark Ages, second only to the Ancient Gods, the moving Doomsday."
Unfortunately, the "God of Mysteries" seemed oblivious to Klein's inner turmoil and accumulating negative emotions, continuing to recount that ancient past.
"Later, in their mouths, I became the 'God of Miracles'."
"In the eyes of many, I have become the ninth god who is about to be born, a god who can represent humanity."
The "God of Mysteries" suddenly widened the curve of his lips, it was unclear whether he was mocking himself or those who had once had such thoughts.
"Actually, I was a complete madman back then. Haha, all I could think about every day was a soap opera of two old bastards fighting each other, and a dazed self-doubt. I had long forgotten who I was and what I was supposed to do."
"Those people... those people have such unrealistic hopes only because other extraordinary races have never looked at humans with a second glance."
"In the Second Era, the best treatment humans could get was to be kept by vampires and giants, becoming private slaves under some lord, at least they would live a little longer."
"Perhaps it was because my mind was too chaotic during that period, and only one person each day became the victim of my unconscious venting, turning into a 'secret puppet,' which gave them a misconception that I was compassionate."
This matched Klein's impression; he remembered that before obtaining the scepter, he had seen what "mystery" called "unconscious venting" from a first-person perspective.
But he does not intend to make any comments.
After forcibly absorbing the "Trickster" traits and wielding the "Cataclysmic Scepter," he was able to understand "mystery."
The arrogance that arises from being involuntarily corrupted by divinity, along with the mental madness and pain, is something that ordinary life can hardly bear.
"I remember, you later encountered the Phoenix Ancestor, who killed you, and the 'Calamity' within you was thus stripped away, helping you regain your senses?"
Klein suddenly said.
This addition caused the "God of Mysteries" to glance at him and slowly nod.
"Yes, so I took revenge and destroyed several city-states that were important to the Phoenix."
"Is it around this time that you adopted Roman Ambrose?"
Klein gradually became more active in the conversation, and began to subtly shed his role as a mere listener.
"No."
To Klein's surprise, the "God of Mysteries" decisively denied this story, which was known to almost all believers and could be considered one of the most important stories in the holy scriptures.
He rejected the narrative written by believers for Him, which the "angel of proclamation" proudly regarded as the greatest blessing in life and personally proclaimed as an example of God's love for the world.
"In the end, I adopted Roman, took him in, and raised him."
"but."
A steadfast light flickered in the darkness of the "mysterious god".
"Subjectively, I never adopted him. It was this child who hugged me and begged me to take him away from that ruin. He followed me until I got used to his presence."
His stubbornness was almost perfect... Klein, who was feeling down, suddenly felt like complaining.
Perhaps the "God of Mysteries'" rebuttal was simply too weak, or perhaps the assertive wording struck a nerve with Klein.
In short, Klein did not choose to believe the "God of Mysteries'" answer.
As this deity himself said, in the Second Age, He was already a powerful being second only to the ancient gods, and no one could force Him to do anything if He did not wish to.
What if a child, a powerless slave child, clings to His leg and won't let go?
He could have chosen to turn the child into a secret doll, or to withdraw and disappear into the spirit world.
But He didn't, did he?
I'm really curious, I wonder if that "angel of declaration" would cry if she heard her teacher deny it like that...
Klein sighed helplessly.
"We seem to have gone off-topic."
"You need to answer my question, not about the difference between mortals and demigods, but whether ordinary people have the ability to determine their own destiny."
Although Klein was very curious about the past of the "God of Mysteries," he wanted to know the truth about the many questions that had been troubling him, and at least to get the "God of Mysteries" to explain why he was also Zhou Mingrui.
"We've gone off-topic, haven't we?"
Hearing the voice, Klein looked up and found the "God of Mysteries" facing him with an eerie smile.
"If ordinary people cannot decide their own lives, then Roman should have died thousands of years ago in the darkness and heat, becoming a skeleton that can be found anywhere in the wasteland, instead of my angel, my student."
"That's sophistry!" Klein's chest heaved.
These are two completely different issues; it's an attempt to cover up the truth.
The "mysterious god" twisted His tacit approval of Roman's spontaneous actions into the fact that it was achieved entirely through Roman's personal efforts.
Roman Ambrose was able to change his fate not because of his desire to change his life as a slave and his silent, meaningless death, but because of the mercy of the "mysterious god".
His teacher's momentary thought was the decisive factor.
Just as Klein currently believes, demigods can arbitrarily decide a person's fate. In the face of greater power, everything loses its meaning, and despair becomes the dominant color of the world.
All he could do was use his power to do what he could for the people around him and those he cared about.
Do good deeds that benefit the world and make it a better place as much as possible.
"I have never been sophistry; it is you who refuse to admit it."
"Of course, it's also possible that you lack the necessary knowledge, which is why you can't understand it."
The "God of Mysteries" still spoke softly, but compared to Klein, whose emotions were clearly fluctuating, his casual attire finally revealed his inhuman nature.
"Whether or not he met me was a turning point in Roman's life."
"But the appearance of my student, my first long-term follower, Roman, also changed me."
"Yes, a slave child changed me."
The "God of Mysteries" seemed tired and leaned back in his chair.
"Along the way, many things have left their mark on me, transforming me from an ordinary and timid Zhou Mingrui into the 'mysterious god' I am today."
"The Creator… Ha, for a while I liked to call Him 'Apocalypse.' He's one, Roman is one, Bethel is one, and Antigonus and Fran are two…"
"Medic, the Serpent, Suniasolem, those traitors, and my treacherous compatriots…"
"Perhaps Amon could be considered..."
He spoke many names, half of which were once mortals, not born mythical beings.
"The differences between people, besides their nature, are also determined by their life experiences."
"I don't believe in the idea that mortals are powerless, and I don't want you to believe it either."
"I can tell you clearly that you and I are both Zhou Mingrui, and we were both nobodys on this earth. What makes us different and divergent is our different experiences."
The "God of Mysteries" stared at Klein, whose slightly worn plaid shirt and jeans blended into the gray mist, replaced by a familiar black robe, and even his face had gained some elven features.
Have you heard the definition of an 'anchor'?
"That's why I firmly believe that mortals have the means to fight against divinity."