"Before I answer your question, don't you think you could put me down first?"
Lex said with a hint of helplessness. Every time the girl picked him up, his feet would leave the ground. How could he, a 'Duke', maintain his Face?
"Ah."
"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."
Nafi quickly let go, and Lex's feet landed without changing his posture.
He sized up Nafi, then said, "I always feel like you've grown a bit taller."
Nafi immediately nodded, saying proudly, "Boss, I'm already a Gladiator."
"I heard that Beyonder of the Warrior Pathway continuously grow taller as their Sequence increases." Kaven, who had walked into the private room, closed the door behind him and said to Lex, "It's good to see you again, Duke."
Lex then shifted his gaze from Nafi and looked at Kaven: "You look well recently."
The Seer showed a gentle smile: "That's probably because I've also been promoted. Yes, I'm already a Sequence 8 'Clown'."
"How strange. For this Pathway, I also heard the next Sequence is called Magician. Does the Seer Pathway require one person to play the entire circus?"
Lex smiled, motioned for them to sit, and then said, "Actually, this time, I'm just passing through Tingen, and I have something I need Kaven's help with."
"What about me, boss? I feel like my strength has grown again, so I should be able to help you." Nafi looked at Lex with anticipation.
Lex resisted the urge to pat her head. Thinking about how Nafi would continue to grow taller in the future, he found it a bit difficult to look directly at the beautiful girl in front of him.
"It's not time yet, Nafi. Trust me, we'll have a chance to adventure together in the future."
Then, Lex took out an iron box. Kaven felt as if there were invisible walls within the box.
"Spiritual Wall?"
Kaven glanced at Lex: "It seems there's something important inside."
Lex didn't respond, opening the box to reveal the jelly-like dark red item to Kaven and Nafi.
"This is a beyonder characteristics of the Hunter Pathway, Sequence 6 'Conspirer'. Kaven, I hope to use your power to help me divine the potion formula for this Sequence."
This was Lex's main purpose for coming to Tingen!
He wanted to ask Kaven to use divination to obtain the corresponding potion formula!
"I'll try."
As a professional Seer, even when dressed in formal attire, the most common items in Kaven's pockets weren't pounds, but various materials.
Kaven used these materials to set up a simple altar, then used Dream Divination techniques to attempt to divine the corresponding potion formula.
"The potion formula of the 'Hunter' Pathway."
Lex nervously awaited the result. After a moment, Kaven shook his head: "I'm sorry, I didn't receive any revelations. After all, this is a beyonder characteristics; although it gathered a tiny bit of the deceased's spirituality, it's too little."
"If it were the deceased's body, and the death time was no more than an hour, you should be able to get what you want."
"Is that so?"
Lex was a bit disappointed. He had originally thought he could obtain the corresponding potion formula from Bakerland's beyonder characteristics, but it still didn't work.
Kaven apologized: "The Briber formula last time, I think that was an accident. However, that Corrupted Baron had only recently died then, and there was more residual spirituality on his beyonder characteristics, so the conditions for successful divination were met. This time..."
"It's alright."
Lex quickly adjusted: "Things can't always go as one wishes. If we didn't get it this time, we'll find another way next time."
He put away the beyonder characteristics, smiled, and looked at the two: "Come on, tell me about your experiences during this time."
After the performance, Lex bid farewell to the two, but he secretly used the 'Thousand-Faced Traveler' ability to transform into different people, secretly trailing Kaven and Nafi to ensure they returned safely to their respective residences without being followed. Only then did Lex leave with peace of mind.
He casually found an empty alley and used the 'Traveler's Wind and Cloud Records' to Teleport back to Enki Town, then left the town and stayed in another town. It wasn't until Saturday morning that he returned to the town in his original appearance, back to the Baron's Mansion.
After a short rest, Lex summoned the 'mystical book', intending to appraise the magical item he had obtained from Bakerland.
As the room's colors deepened and the wind-blown curtains froze in mid-air, Lex saw a thick, ethereal tome resting in his hands. He flipped it to the 'Artisan of Mysteries' page and saw that the dimensional crystal had increased again.
Currently, the number of crystals was 935.
Record.
'Osmanthus Wine thinks your performance is very much to his liking, and has once again rewarded 11500 dimensional coins, which have been automatically converted into 115 dimensional crystals.'
'Cold Silence Shadow really enjoyed your adventure biography and rewarded 1000 dimensional coins.'
There were also rewards from Watchers like 'Draw Blade Immediately', 'Nebula', 'Ting', and others.
After silently thanking the Observers for their generosity, Lex began to appraise the finger-sized Puppet head with completely black eyes.
After spending 24 dimensional crystals, Lex once again entered that trance-like, dreamwalking state.
Scene after scene flashed before his eyes, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes clear, sometimes blurry.
In these scenes, he saw a very blurry figure. The person always seemed to hide in shadows or behind various objects, never appearing in sunlight, never letting Lex see his appearance clearly. He could only confirm that the person was likely a man through his clothes and movements.
This man always hid in various concealed places, yet he manipulated other people to fight in his stead. In the fleeting scenes, Lex saw him manipulating a Pyromaniac, manipulating a Zombie, manipulating a demon—
His battles were always victorious.
But in the final scene, Lex saw his flesh and blood wither, turning into wood. His two eyes sank deep, and blackness spread.
He turned into a Puppet.
Withdrawing from that dazed sensation, Lex saw lines of appraisal information appear on the book page.
'string puppet: It allows you to see the 'Spiritual Body Threads' on living beings within a 100-meter radius. By manipulating the 'Spiritual Body Threads', you can make the target's mind slow, body stiff, and movements sluggish. This is forced control, very difficult to resist, and can basically only be broken free from by relying on the strength of one's own Spiritual Body.'
'At this stage, it's preliminary control. The duration of its effect depends on the target's Spiritual Body. Admirally, ordinary people require about 7 to 10 seconds, while Beyonder below demigod level require about 15 to 20 seconds.'
'Once preliminary control is achieved, with the passage of time and deepening of control, the target can be completely turned into your Marionette. Within a certain distance, hiding behind the scenes, you can manipulate the target to fight. In this way, the Marionette can use its original Beyonder abilities!'
'It should be noted that control cannot be achieved completely at once; it needs to be deepened step by step until fully accomplished. This takes about 5 minutes, and the process cannot be interrupted by external forces.'
'To control a Marionette, a distance of 10 meters must be maintained. Beyond this distance, the Marionette cannot be controlled.'
'Only one Marionette can be controlled. When the battle ends and the item is no longer used, the Marionette will die on the spot, irreversibly.'
'Its negative effects are...'