LotM: Surviving as a Marionette

Along with the departure of the two demigod-level Beyonder characteristics, several mid-sequence Beyonder characteristics also left together.

"Two Faceless characteristics, one Wind Blessed characteristics, and one Polymath characteristics."

The black curtain swayed like thin and elongated ghostly shadows in mid-air, with the 'stars' overhead flickering with faint light. Don found a place to sit down and opened the 'Artisan' module.

The upgrade of the Arbiter pathway's demigod-level mystical item had not yet ended, and the mutated version of [A Moment of Luck] also awaited enhancement.

Ever since the 'Artisan' module had consumed a demigod-level Beyonder characteristic, it could provide three 'furnaces' that could work simultaneously. There was still one slot remaining, and after some thought, Don decided to first test his idea.

"I'll make the remaining Faceless Beyonder characteristics into two mystical items similar to masks."

One for Owen, one for Father.

After making up his mind, Don looked toward the Black Knight Beyonder characteristic in the system storage.

"Black Knight, Lightseeker, Manipulator, and then the mid-sequence Wind Blessed and Polymath."

Three demigod-level Beyonder characteristics, two Sequence 6 Beyonder characteristics.

These respectively corresponded to the Hanged Man, Sun, Visionary, Tyrant, and White Tower pathways.

These were five completely adjacent pathways, also known as the five omniscient and omnipotent pathways.

Beyonder characteristics could fuse with each other, even if they weren't from adjacent pathways, just like [A Moment of Luck] - Monster and Seer weren't adjacent pathways, but the resulting sealed artifact was quite twisted.

"The Law of Beyonder Characteristic Convergence, hmm, actually at high sequences, even non-adjacent pathways should have certain convergence effects, after all they all originate from..."

As for the five omniscient and omnipotent pathways, what would happen if he fused the Beyonder characteristics of five adjacent pathways together - he wasn't quite sure either.

"Would it resurrect the Ancient Sun God? Or would it attract the attention of that audience lurking behind the scenes? Or perhaps the True Creator of the Land of Forsaken God? After all, this should be equivalent to a simplified version of the 'Ancient Sun God,' right?"

"However, regardless of which side it is, the Theater With Curtains That Never Draw has sealed off the Spirit World, and I'm separated by a layer of system protection. Even if the Ancient Sun God's will were to revive, it should just be some simple changes in the 'mental imprints' naturally carried within the Beyonder characteristics. The system should be able to block it... you can block it, right?"

System: '...'

The system didn't want to speak; the system just wanted to watch its host court to death.

[Do you wish to fuse the Beyonder characteristics of [Black Knight], [Lightless One], [Manipulator], [Wind-blessed], and [Polymath]?]

[Warning: Due to the mutual convergence of multiple pathway Beyonder characteristics, the resulting mystical item will undergo unpredictable mutations!]

[Beginning fusion...]

[Currently purifying the mental imprints remaining within the Beyonder characteristics...]

[Remaining time: 43:59:57.]

Several quiet days passed.

Tingen was peaceful. It seemed that the disappearance of so many people hadn't brought too much danger to this newborn city, but Don also noticed that there were quite a few more people in the nearby small town.

"They should be people from the Church."

They were investigating matters related to the "Grade 0" sealed artifact, and perhaps also investigating that mid-sequence Beyonder of the Abyss pathway on the side.

Father seemed to have already leaked information to the Church. Now both he and Owen were quietly staying in the castle with no intention of going out.

Of course, it wasn't that no Beyonders came to their door. As the master of this territory, it wasn't unusual for Baron Lamud's family to be investigated.

Such investigations weren't limited to just door-to-door inquiries about whether any strange people had been discovered recently - divination, Nightmare dream invasion, and various other methods were all being employed in secret.

However, divination results were interfered with by high sequences, and the dream invasion route was even more decisively blocked by the Death Consul, causing potential dream invaders who might reveal problems to either be given hints or maintain a certain level of consciousness, preventing them from spouting nonsense.

For an Angel of the Death pathway, he was equally familiar with various methods of adjacent pathways and could make corresponding countermeasures.

After sending away a Nightmare, the scene of the surrounding castle hall once again transformed into countless symbol-string-like objects that recombined into a new dreamscape. Regarding this, Don sighed and silently complained to the system in the dream, "If they had invaded the dream of a Beyonder with considerable hostility toward them, they probably wouldn't even know how they died."

Casual dream invasion wasn't a good habit. If it had been Father in the past, the moment that Nightmare invaded the dream, their body might have decayed and withered, dying instantly.

"Of course, it's also possible that the Church has already deployed certain high-sequence Beyonders nearby. If any accident occurs, the assumption that 'the Lamud family is highly suspicious' would become established."

The Theater With Curtains That Never Draw naturally carried the power of the Darkness pathway, and now that it had been strengthened by the system, it wouldn't be easily discovered without a Darkness pathway Angel coming over. Don wasn't too worried about this.

"After these few days of screening, the suspicion of this region should be able to be ruled out."

Supernatural methods weren't rare in the Fourth Epoch when gods walked the earth. Even many knights who obtained noble titles through war were Beyonders.

However, their family had deliberately hidden their identities, not exposing the fact that they were Beyonders - both the Death pathway and Seer pathway were on the Church of the Evernight Goddess's blacklist. Don didn't want to complicate matters, so he simply pretended to be ordinary people.

After the Nightmare had gone through the official route of a door visit once, one more dream invasion should be able to confirm that they had no problems.

Of course, such screening might not be limited to just once, and sealed artifacts might also participate in the investigation. However, they shouldn't be able to deploy too high-level sealed artifacts at this level, and Father would interfere in advance.

"Owen, if you're going to participate in Loen's military recruitment, you'd better make yourself seem less like a Beyonder."

"Although I know you mean well, I'm not an idiot." Owen glanced sideways at his younger brother. "I can disguise it as accidentally obtaining Beyonder power later and becoming a Beyonder."

This kind of thing wasn't uncommon. For Owen, it was at most a matter of drinking more potions. Sequence 9 potions wouldn't take too long to digest.

Who told you that you look like the type who doesn't use their brain... Don muttered quietly to himself, then looked up in a certain direction.

"Father has been locking himself in the study for longer and longer periods."

Was it because time was approaching, so he had to make preparations?

Don thought for a moment and opened the system to browse through it.

He remembered something he had obtained before but had never studied.

A new module - ['Bionic Marionnettes'.]

[till troubled by your Marionnettes's insufficient agility? Still worried about being unable to operate Marionnettes when they're too far away? Do you feel regret about having to abandon old secret puppets when you get new ones? The brand new Bionic Marionnettes satisfies all the needs of Marionettist's needs…]

This was like WiFi and mobile data. After a secret puppet was equipped with this module, it was equivalent to having its own antenna. As long as the spirit world serving as the base station for signal transmission and reception wasn't blocked, theoretically he could manipulate secret puppets even from the other side of the globe.

(End of Chapter)