Lord of Mysteries:The Good Witch

The "Fool" Klein Moretti quietly listened to the mystical knowledge lecture given by "Justice" Audrey and "The Hanged Man" Alger. He silently memorized and learned these abstruse yet intriguing contents.

Since the first gathering in the gray fog, Klein had been contemplating how to conduct fair "transactions" among the participants. The potion formula exchange between Justice and The Hanged Man was a good start. However, with four people present, excluding himself as the trusted organizer, any transaction between two of the remaining three could be freely overheard by the third, compromising the fairness of the exchange.

Over time, this could lead to fewer people willing to share or sell knowledge, as everyone would prefer to freeload rather than contribute.

Transactions lacking incentives cannot be sustained long-term.

During this Tarot gathering, Klein devised a solution to address the fairness issue. Upon entering the gray fog early, he successfully summoned parchment and a pen on the bronze long table, just as easily as he had first summoned the table and high-backed chairs.

In this gray fog space governed by his mind, the writing tools he created didn't even require manual writing. With a strong mental intention to write, the pen would automatically imprint the content onto the parchment.

Klein nodded with satisfaction as he watched Miss Justice using the tools he provided to record key points of the potion configuration. The gray fog in the space obscured others' vision, but he could clearly see the contents on the parchment. The formula for the "Spectator" potion was now firmly etched in his mind, perhaps a fair "platform fee" for his role as organizer.

Klein glanced at Miss "empress," who had failed to freeload information. She was looking around boredly, seemingly uninterested in the knowledge The Hanged Man was sharing.

This further confirmed Klein's suspicions about her—she appeared to be a Non-Beyonder with considerable experience in the mystical world, but maintained a certain wariness towards others. She often lingered on the fringes of the Tarot gatherings, only engaging in conversations when she had specific needs.

MISS EMPRESS's attitude contrasted sharply with that of Miss Justice, who was curious but lacked sufficient caution. The latter seemed like a wealthy noble descendant lacking in social experience. Although she had initially shown panic and worry upon first entering the gray fog space, she was now the most relaxed among the group.

Along with The Hanged Man, who seemed to have extensive resources and connections in the supernatural world and possessed unfathomable strength, and himself as the mysterious initiator, these were the members of the entire Tarot gathering.

Though small, the circle comprised individuals from various parts of the country with diverse occupations and social connections. If utilized wisely, it could certainly aid in enhancing his own strength.

Refocusing his scattered thoughts, Klein heard The Hanged Man discussing the "mastery" and "excavation" of potions. Suddenly inspired, he recalled the contents he had previously read in Emperor Roselle's diary.

An idea formed in his mind.

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"Knock knock—"

The sound of tapping on the table interrupted The Hanged Man's monotonous explanation.

The three turned towards the source of the sound to see the previously silent "Fool" raising his right hand, which had just knocked on the table to stop The Hanged Man's lecture.

"Not mastery, but digestion. Not excavation, but acting. The names of potions are not just symbols, but also imagery, and more importantly, the key to digestion," came the Fool's deep, steady voice.

Angel carefully pondered these words. She recalled The Hanged Man's "classroom" lecture, which she had initially let go in one ear and out the other, and realized that this was the Fool's supplement to The Hanged Man's explanation on how to master the power of potions.

This also aligned with the memories of COLE Granger in her mind, even more concise and precise, directly pointing to the essence of potions as a path to power.

After all, COLE had entered the supernatural world under the guidance of his "senior," Madam Sherron. Despite her ill intentions, she was at least a competent mentor, and he had learned a considerable amount of knowledge about potions from her.

This included how to master the power of potions and utilize their names.

During his Assassin stage, COLE Granger had embodied his potion name, becoming the mysterious "Assassin" of Tingen City who came and went without a trace, his hands stained with countless lives. This "acting" was done at Madam Sherron's request.

After wholeheartedly acting as an "Assassin," it took him less than half a year to successfully master the power of the Sequence 9 potion and consume the Sequence 8 potion, advancing to become an "Instigator."

He then used his newly acquired supernatural abilities to "instigate" many originally ill-intentioned villains to commit major crimes, even causing the sensational Tingen University student disappearance case. His actions coincidentally aligned with the symbolism of the potion name, leading to a progress in mastering the potion that surprised even Madam Sherron.

Having inherited COLE's memories upon arriving in this world, Angel had initially thought this knowledge was common in the supernatural world. She hadn't expected the Fool to casually point it out...

She looked towards The Hanged Man, who had been eloquent just moments ago, and saw him sitting there stiffly, as if he had heard something incredible.

...Could this be highly secretive knowledge, shocking even to The Hanged Man, who seemed quite knowledgeable about potion powers?

However, Miss Justice beside her didn't seem to understand the significance of this knowledge. She didn't show the shock and excitement of encountering secret information, but instead tilted her head curiously as if hearing some new vocabulary.

In comparison, it seemed she still had some advantages in mystical knowledge... Angel thought to herself.

The Hanged Man took a while to recover, then expressed his gratitude hoarsely: "Thank you, Mr. Fool. Your hint is as precious as my life."

"This is just prepaid compensation," the Fool in the gray fog replied, seemingly indifferent.

"I need you to collect Roselle Gustav's secret diaries, even if it's just one page. More diary entries will earn more rewards."

Diary? Another diary of Emperor Roselle?

Recalling the three pages of Roselle's diary she had forcibly memorized this morning, Angel felt a tightness in her chest as if her inner secret had been exposed. She looked up at the Fool, but his gaze swept across all members of the Tarot gathering without lingering on her.

"Diary? So those symbols were a diary?" The Hanged Man muttered, as if discovering a new continent.

"Consider it a diary for now," the Fool answered vaguely.

But to Angel, this mysterious being must have already deciphered the text left by Emperor Roselle.

After all, it wasn't some self-created mystical symbol, but a mature script from Earth. Unlike impromptu creations, it was the crystallization of wisdom used and evolved over thousands of years, forming its own system, precise and concise in expression.

It also meant it could be deciphered.

"It's said to be written in symbols invented by Emperor Roselle himself?" Miss Justice asked.

Seeing that the Fool had no intention of answering, Angel combined Old Neil's interpretation with her own knowledge of cryptography and replied:

"That's right. Due to Emperor Roselle's legendary experiences, many believe it to be a set of mystical symbols he created, hiding the treasures and mystical knowledge he gained in his later years. Some scholars say they have ideographic characteristics like pictographs, and could be deciphered through frequency analysis if enough samples were collected. But after all these years, no one has truly been able to interpret the meaning of the text."

"We will certainly fulfill your request. But if it's text or symbols we can't decipher, how should we convey them to you? Do we need to mail them to a certain location?" The Hanged Man also raised his question.

Then he saw fresh parchment appear before everyone.

"Ah, I understand. We just need to memorize the appearance of those symbols and present them on paper like we just did with writing," Miss Justice said excitedly, picking up the paper and pen.

Angel also took the paper and pen in front of her, trying to follow the Fool's instructions. She visualized a passage of text in her mind, imagining that she must write it down, and then put pen to paper.

Swish swish swish, as if an invisible pen was writing rapidly, the text in her mind appeared almost instantly on the parchment.

"This is truly amazing," Angel exclaimed sincerely, even though she had just seen The Hanged Man and Justice use this method.

The Fool at the head of the long table seemed to chuckle lightly and explained, "A simple matter. I just simplified the process of you writing out the text, turning it into a transfer method for quick display."

"With this method, you can directly give me the Roselle diary entries you've memorized here. I'm someone who likes equivalent exchange. The prepaid compensation just now is only equivalent to two pages of diary per person. If you have more, I will provide additional rewards."

Wait, don't include me... Angel listened and suddenly realized she now owed two pages of diary, feeling uneasy.

But she didn't dare say this out loud.

Angel, unable to express her predicament, suddenly remembered the "Roselle diary" she had seen at Old Neil's. It seemed to be... three pages?

This way, she could not only clear her debt with Mr. Fool but also have one extra page. From what he said, if she could provide more of Roselle's diary, there would be additional rewards.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but feel grateful that she had memorized all three pages of the diary at Old Neil's, even though she couldn't understand the content at all. As long as she was in this mysterious gray fog, she could use Mr. Fool's power to write out those square characters and receive his reward.

However, Angel didn't plan to submit those diary entries now. Not only would it be difficult to explain why she had memorized so much diary content, but it could also draw excessive attention from the other two.

Watching The Hanged Man and Justice express their commitment to search for Roselle's diary, she decided to wait until the next Tarot gathering to determine how many pages of diary to submit based on the progress of the other two.