Chapter 74: On the Matter of Overhearing the Inner Voice of the Academy's Number One Beauty
「『Fate』 · Grey」
Staring at the shining azure text in the spiritual world, Rast fell into deep thought.
In other words…
The sequence ladder Grey possessed was called "Fate"?
Rast had previously looked up the sequence data in the Archive Tower of the Relic Institute and morized it all.
So he was certain.
"Fate."
This was a completely new sequence ladder—one that had never appeared in the current world, not even ntioned in ancient texts, not even a na recorded.
It was very likely a unique sequence, just like his own "Tower" and the Dean Silver’s "Moon".
One of a kind in the world; it would be impossible to find a second transcendent with the sa sequence.
Of course, as a transmigrator with mories of a past life—
Rast naturally knew that the Fate card was also one of the twenty-two Major Arcana in the tarot deck.
"Fate, huh?"
"Considering how Grey exhibited the ability to rewind ti and twist the course of destiny in the Nightworld, the na is indeed fitting."
In that case, no wonder the sequence was so rare that even the Relic Institute had no records of it.
At her age, Grey likely wasn’t even at the first tier yet, but the power she had displayed could only be described as beyond balance.
If it had been another sequence, even a fourth- or fifth-tier one might have easily perished in Frostwater Town with just a single misstep.
If "Fate" sequence transcendents could be mass-produced, the consequences would be unimaginable.
It could only be said that the stats team of Snow Moon Emblem had at least made so effort toward balancing the ga—at the very least, they didn’t forget the gacha ga's cardinal rule: "Strength must correlate with rarity."
Still, rather than praising the developers—
What caught Rast’s attention more was the deeper ssage within that line of azure text.
Forming bonds with transcendents in the Nightworld could also unlock tarot cards and their corresponding sequence ladders in the "The Fool’s Library"?
That implication was anything but simple.
According to Shiltina’s explanation, as well as the information Rast had found in the Archive Tower, the mainstream academic opinion in the present world held that—
The worlds experienced by Black Night Travelers in the Nightworld only appeared real, but in fact, were nothing more than illusions once recorded and projected by the Nightworld.
Reflections of the past, echoes of history, remnants of civilization.
Things long gone—no matter how real they felt or seed, they were still just mories, shadows, not true alternate worlds.
But could such illusory things… actually form bonds, and even unlock new cards in the "The Fool’s Library"?
Or was it that—
The Nightworld was not as simple as "resonance" and "echoes" as the Travelers had thought.
Perhaps even Canaan, and Xiao Ai…
Rast forcibly interrupted the spiraling thoughts in his mind.
He understood well that no matter how much he speculated internally, without reliable, tangible verification, it was all empty talk.
aningless and only distracting.
Rast refocused his attention on the information displayed in the spiritual world.
First, the rewards for clearing this instance of the Nightworld.
This ti, his mission rating was "A ".
According to data from the Archive Tower, Nightworld ratings ranged from "F" to "A" in normal tiers, with plus signs representing extra rit beyond the baseline.
"EX" signified sothing that could not be asured nurically.
He had previously scored "EX" after clearing Deep Blue Port, whereas this ti it was "A ", which by rating alone was sowhat lower.
That was expected—after all, in Deep Blue Port, he had faced the entire Iron Cross of a city, along with a high likelihood of a full-blown Descent of the Evil God.
Had it not been for the three hundred loops, where he had painstakingly accumulated near-impossible knowledge through countless retries, stopping the Descent with imnse effort…
Even fifth- or sixth-tier Black Night Travelers would likely have lost when facing a fully descended evil god in Deep Blue Port. Survival itself would have been a luxury.
In contrast, the true mastermind behind Frostwater Town did not possess such terrifying stature—rely an active pollutant borrowing part of the god "Scarlet Moon"’s power.
The real challenge in conquering the Calamity Remnant of Frostwater Town lay in breaking the ti loop caused by Grey… and confronting the teammates who had lost themselves first in the echo and beco hostile puppets.
As long as those two issues could be resolved, even a third-tier transcendent—limited by the echo’s constraints—had a shot at clearing it.
Naturally, Rast clearing it while only being at second-tier, even with Shiltina’s assistance, made the "A " rating fairly objective.
At Starfall University, most strategy team mbers got ratings between C and D for Nightworld entries, and even that included "F"-for-life legends like Rodri.
"According to Shiltina, anything rated A or higher has a good chance of yielding innate skills or Emblem Armant."
"And my rating was so high this ti, yet I didn’t receive any new Emblem Armant…"
"Which ans, the skill I did obtain should be quite good."
With that thought, a hint of anticipation rose in Rast’s heart.
Nightworld rewards had always been extrely stingy.
Aside from the fixed sequence EXP based on rating—
Below A, ninety-nine percent of the ti, the reward would just be a one-ti-use consumable item—like the "Instant Healing Crystal" Shiltina used to save herself at the brink of death in Deep Blue Port.
But such items were only good for ergencies; they didn’t do much for a Black Night Traveler’s overall power.
So the most valuable Nightworld rewards were, without a doubt, the "Innate Skills" and "Emblem Armant" that permanently enhanced a transcendent.
The forr could be seen as passive abilities that existed permanently—so powerful innate skills could even rival sequence ladder abilities or Nightblades themselves, like Rast’s "Heart of Steel Forging".
This innate skill, paired with Rast’s extraordinary willpower, made him nearly immune to most ntal attacks unless the enemy vastly out-tiered him.
As for Emblem Armant, its power needed no further explanation.
As the only transcendent equipnt that could be brought into the Nightworld… the gap between six-god sets and bare-handed fighting at the sa level was self-evident.
Unlike innate skills, Emblem Armant wasn’t bound to the user and could be unbound, traded, or gifted.
But getting your hands on Emblem Armant was also the hardest—it only dropped at A-rank and above, and even then, the type might not suit you… Imagine if Shiltina, a rapier user, had to wield a spear Emblem. It’d be terribly awkward.
If not for all those barriers, Shiltina with her Nightblade "True Na Liberation" would’ve fard ten or more gears already, blasting every Nightworld instance open with light cannons from the get-go.
Of course, that was mainly because Shiltina refused to acknowledge her royal lineage, rejecting all resources from the imperial family.
Otherwise, as the First Princess of the Granwell Empire, preparing a few pieces of gear for herself would’ve been trivial.
In this Frostwater Town incident, she seed to have twice liberated her rapier’s true na, which resulted in the complete shattering of the Emblem Armant nad "Shimring Morning Star".
He wasn’t sure… if there was a way to forge it again.
With those thoughts, Rast looked toward the new innate skill he had just obtained.
【Desperate Plea】
【Category: Innate Skill】
【A fantasy atop the ruins, mottled fragnts… The girl, proclaiming herself a wicked monster, denied the past, denied everything, and trapped herself forever in a dream without light, desperately praying for salvation during long, starless nights.】
【So then, the hero who responded to the girl’s prayer and cries, shattered the false dream, and pulled her from despair to face the future again… did he co from illusion, or was he real?】
【Skill Effect: When the user is in a dying state, reject death once.】
【This skill has a cooldown of one complete Nightworld echo, or 30 days in real-world ti.】
【Current innate skill cooldown: 14 days 23 hours 11 minutes】
When in a dying state, completely reject death once…
In other words, it gave him an extra life.
Who needs Reaper’s Blade?
And… judging by the cooldown tir, had he already triggered the "death rejection" effect once?
Rast recalled the Silver Dean’s earlier explanation.
According to him, when Rast returned from the Nightworld, he was barely better than a dead man—half a foot already in the grave.
That must have been thanks to "Desperate Plea", clinging to the last breath of life, keeping him from becoming one of the stars on Starfall Obelisk.
With that in mind, Rast stirred his thoughts.
His consciousness sank once more into the "The Fool’s Library".
Rast felt himself once again in that lightless tower.
He stood at its base, facing endless darkness, with only distant star-like gleams twinkling faintly ahead.
In that deep shadow, twenty-one pale stairways stretched upward from where he stood, reaching the tower’s highest point, the ends of deep space.
Compared to when he first entered, when nineteen of those stairways were sealed with pale golden chains—
Now, the "The Fool’s Library" was much brighter.
Nearly half the stairways had been fully unlocked. At the base steps, phantom tarot cards slowly spun, gathering shimring motes of light around them.
Even higher steps were now lit by phantom fireworks of light.
Most stairways were only lit on the first tier, but a few had more… the highest was the "War Chariot" card’s stairway, which had four steps ignited with golden fire.
This symbolized the "bond level: 4" he had reached with Shiltina.
Rast looked up toward the higher reaches of the library.
Through the gloom, he could barely make out the dim steps stretching upward—seemingly all the way to the ends of the stars, to the end of everything.
"There are ten levels total…"
"In other words, the maximum bond level is ten?"
"Co to think of it, the Archive Tower's records ntion that transcendents reaching the tenth sequence ladder tier are briefly described as 'on the path to godhood.'"
"And a sequence ladder, according to ancient texts, is the 'ladder to ascend to divinity.'"
"Each of these stairways leads to the throne of a god?"
Rast tucked away these thoughts—it was all still too distant for him.
According to what he had gathered, in the current world, let alone godhood, even legends who had reached seventh tier were rarely confird, their existence still debatable.
He turned his gaze to the two newly unlocked pale stairways within the black tower.
「『Fate』 · Grey」 and 「『Moon』 · Dean Silver」.
Two cards, surrounded by illusory light particles, slowly rotated.
One had a card back engraved with a bright silver moon over a lake.
The other bore a rotating circle symbolizing the "Wheel of Fate", with a jackal, sword, lion, and serpent around its edge.
Unlike the other character panels Rast had seen before—
Neither Grey nor the Dean Silver displayed any Nightblade descriptions.
Only sequence abilities were visible.
【『Moon』 · Dean Silver】
【Bond Level: 1】
【Whispers Under the Moon: You can engage in telepathic conversations with others.】
…
【『Fate』 · Grey】
【Bond Level: 2】
【Origin of Fate: You are the source of all destinies. The flowing ti and years diverge before you, becoming two unrelated straight lines. You are both the creator and the ender of stories. Countless worldlines are born because of you and will end because of you.】
【As the origin of fate, you exist outside of ti. Your resistance to ti-based skills is significantly enhanced.】
…
Staring at the azure text before him, Rast couldn’t help but fall into deep contemplation.
What kind of cryptic description was this?
The Dean Silver’s ability was easy to understand—probably sothing like communicating directly with others' minds without using vocal cords.
Previously, when the Dean Silver bypassed the nearby Ishta to whisper to him, it must have been through this ability.
But Grey’s "Origin of Fate"—that was pure riddling.
Origin of fate? Creator of stories? Not a single concrete detail.
The only key point seed to be the last line—
【Your resistance to ti-based skills is significantly enhanced】
If the "rewind" that helped Black Night Travelers recover from injuries upon clearing a Nightworld counted as a ti-based skill—
Then the reason his injuries hadn’t healed after leaving the Nightworld was likely due to this.
In that case, the "Origin of Fate" effect was purely negative.
Not only did it reduce the effectiveness of the Nightworld’s injury rewind, but its benefits were vague and indiscernible.
However, when Rast instinctively tried to remove the "Origin of Fate" skill from the Fool’s Library to stop it from hindering him—
He discovered that neither the Dean Silver’s nor Grey’s card abilities could be unlocked or unequipped.
They didn’t occupy existing original slots but were forcibly fixed onto him like passive skills.
…
No need to occupy original slots… and no corresponding Nightblades.
Could this be the unique trait of the "Moon" and "Fate" sequence ladders, even excluding the existence of Nightblades?
Just as this thought arose—
In the next instant, Rast heard light footsteps approaching.
The footsteps were sowhat similar to Shiltina’s—steady and calm—but with subtle differences.
"Little Xia, you’re finally here."
The Dean Silver’s voice carried a hint of complaint: "Quickly end this guy’s curse. I’ve been guarding him here for half a month, and mushrooms are growing on my butt."
"Curse?"
A voice, cold and distant like the snow-covered mountains of the far north, echoed in Rast’s mind.
"Yes, this guy seems to have been entangled by so evil god’s pollutant in the Nightworld, suffering from a permanent burning curse before coming out. We’ve tried everything, but the black flas just won’t go away."
"But you don’t need to worry too much. Just kill him directly."
"Alright."
That icy voice responded again.
"Paynt?"
The Dean Silver’s voice sounded pained: "I’ll treat you to ten Big Mac combo als per al for half a month."
"Deal."
The cold voice uttered two words once more.
"Wait a minute, Dean Silver, are you handing over a hit on to an assassin? Since you can’t cure , you’re just going to eliminate to complete your performance review?"
"And even if you’re really plotting to kill , do you have to discuss it so loudly?"
Rast couldn’t help but retort: "In the end, my life is only worth half a month’s worth of Big Mac combo als?"
But as soon as he finished speaking, he noticed the surrounding air had fallen silent.
Neither the Dean Silver nor that icy voice responded again.
In this unusual silence, Rast’s thoughts raced, and he finally recalled a key detail.
"Angel of Death’s Decree" Akxia.
Her internal academy title matched her Nightblade’s na.
According to unverified rumors from the news club… this title and Nightblade na originated from her sequence ladder "Death", and her refusal to speak, appearing mute to outsiders.
Every ti she spoke, it signified the angel of death ringing the death knell in the ears of the living.
A word that stripped life—a deathly incantation.
But the cold, frosty voice that had just been chatting happily with the Dean Silver showed no signs of the mute described by the news club.
Recalling the Dean Silver’s sequence ability, "Whispers Under the Moon"—
Oh no.
"You…"
"Even though you’re blind, you can still use that 'Copy Eye' to replicate my ability, huh?"
The Dean Silver’s gritted voice rang in his ears.
《The Snow Ferret Dean Who Occasionally Whispers in My Ear About Mushrooms Growing on His Butt》
And also—
《On Accidentally Discovering That the Academy’s Top Beauty Is Actually a Glutton Who Can Eat Ten Big Mac als in One Sitting》
………………………
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