"What ticket?"
Jenkins breathed a sigh of relief. For a mont, he thought his identity had been completely exposed.
"You're a natural diviner, Williatte. The power of destiny has coalesced within you. Before I beca a demigod, I couldn't see it clearly, but now... that destiny, so potent it could almost take physical form, is practically bursting from your soul. And as for your family's history—do you understand now why I kept bringing it up?"
"Does she think The Unknown Path or Life Source is a Savior's Emblem? The emblem I acquired is now at the core of my soul, right alongside those two abilities. Could that have caused Miss Brolignans to misread the signs? Or perhaps... one of those two abilities truly is a Savior's Emblem..."
Jenkins mused internally, his eyelids drooping as he weighed his options. After a mont, he reached out and took the paper bag from Audrey's hands.
"What do you need to do?"
"Use your new power to defeat Skeru Pompey and fulfill Audrey's prophecy concerning the 'cetery,' the 'black cat,' and the 'elder tree'."
"Why should I do that?"
"For you, it is a necessary trial. For us, it is the pursuit and guidance of destiny itself. And right now, this city is truly in need of a savior, isn't it?"
Miss Brolignans reached for Jenkins's hand, but this ti, before he could object, Audrey intervened, intercepting her touch.
"He is my student. Please show so respect."
Audrey seed genuinely angry.
"I am well aware of that."
Miss Brolignans's voice was remarkably calm. The two won held each other's gaze for a long mont before simultaneously, and with a silent understanding, retracting their arms.
"Do what you can, Williatte. No one else will ever know of this conversation, and we will provide you with any assistance you require. With the help of his maze, Skeru Pompey has once again escaped the demigods' encirclent. Now, it's your turn."
"I can't find him either."
"No. You can."
The woman raised a finger. "The cetery, the black cat, the elder tree," she reminded him. "Do you understand?"
Of course Jenkins didn't understand. Including the towns under Nolan's jurisdiction, it would take more than three days just to search every cetery in the vicinity.
Besides, elder trees weren't rare, and stray black cats were known to haunt ceteries. If he followed these clues literally, the undead army would probably overrun Nolan long before he found any sign of Skeru Pompey.
Therefore, Jenkins needed a "miracle" to guide him. And the only way to create such a miracle was to construct a stage of his own.
"After all this, I'm still drawn back to it... no, wait. The Savior's Emblem is Destiny's Stage, not The Stage maze..."
The diviners departed after delivering their cryptic clue. Audrey told Jenkins to find ti to see her the following week. She likely wanted to explain the day's events, and Jenkins was certainly in need of an explanation.
Once he confird both won had left the church grounds, he returned to the room. The machine was still humming, and a verdant life spirit overflowed from the right-hand drawer, its dense green vapor visible to the naked eye.
Chocolate let out a soft ow in greeting, its amber eyes fixed intently on the machine. It gulped every so often.
He opened the paper bag. Inside were the papers detailing the learning ritual for the [Perforr] ability, along with the [Reader's Notebook], designated B-10-3-4093.
The notebook, B-10-3-4093, had a brown leather cover. Hundreds of copies were known to exist, and since ancient epochs, they had frequently appeared in the libraries of the Sage's Church across the continent.
Rumor had it that the Church of Knowledge and Books had mastered a thod for producing this Extraordinary item, but such claims were entirely unsubstantiated.
Its function was simple. The user transcribed the complete learning ritual for any ability onto its pages. Statistics showed a 67.2% chance of perfectly acquiring the ability, a 30.7% chance of gaining a similar ability, and a 2.1% chance of a fatal physical explosion.
An Enchanter could only use such an item three tis in their lifeti. After each use, for the next six months, their success rate for learning any ability through rituals would plumt. Their chances of comprehending new abilities through insight into the world would also be drastically reduced.
Rituals to alter one's luck or using it at specific, auspicious tis could lower the probability of a fatal explosion, but on the whole, the item remained quite dangerous.
"[Perforr], [Construct Stage], [Storyteller]... Exactly three."
His math wasn't bad; he knew that using it three tis in a row gave him roughly a thirty percent chance of successfully forming the chained ability, The Stage maze.
The odds weren't great, but at least Jenkins didn't have to worry about his body exploding. He was immortal.
"First ti."
He muttered, leaning over the windowsill to transcribe the ritual for [Construct Stage], the ability he'd gotten from Magic Miss. The mont he finished the last word and closed the notebook, a wave of dizziness washed over him. He had to grip the windowsill to keep from falling. When he summoned the motes of light representing his abilities, [Construct Stage] was now among them.
"Second ti."
He transcribed [Storyteller], the ability he'd taken from the serial killer. As the new ability materialized, the vertigo intensified.
"Are the side effects of this item really this severe?"
The cat watched him with concern, worried he might actually throw up.
He only had two empty ability slots, but he still needed to learn [Perforr]. Leveling up again anyti soon was out of the question. The only option was to use the River Styx Water to erase one of his existing abilities.
"So what should I discard?"
He scanned through all of his abilities, finally settling on [Fla's Favor]. It was an ability from a Mysterious Realm that granted him a bit of extra luck whenever he was surrounded by fire. This was incredibly useful, as he almost always summoned his Inexhaustible Fire during combat.
But Jenkins had gradually co to realize that his own fate was incredibly complex. [The Unknown Path] sumd it up perfectly: it was unknown. With that core ability in place, his good and bad luck seed to balance out evenly. All [Fla's Favor] really did was borrow good luck from his future.
"Such a critical choice... Chocolate, did I make the right decision?"
It was a montous decision. Once he discarded [Fla's Favor], it would be nearly impossible to get it back. The cat offered no advice, simply tilting its head to look up at him.
There was no one else to consult, and it wasn't worth the trouble of finding Alexia. All he could do was ask his cat. But the mont he t Chocolate's innocent gaze, Jenkins made his decision.
"Am I really less decisive than a cat?"
It was the right conclusion.
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