In front of a majestic gray-white palace over 200 meters tall, Ebner and Klein steadily landed atop a thick stone pillar.

Beneath them was a vast space large enough for multiple dragons to roll about freely.

"This is the ’safe place’ you were talking about?" Klein looked down at the "Hall of Honesty" below, unable to stop himself from muttering inwardly.

He had a very deep impression of this place.

"Discussing that ’Heavenly Venerable,’ it’s naturally better to do so near the entrance to the ’Chaos Sea,’" Ebner glanced at him and replied casually. "And this place can also block the gaze of Outer Deities."

"Heavenly Venerable... Outer Deities... are they essentially all ’Above the Sequence’?" Klein asked.

Although after advancing to demigod, "Old Liu" had explained some knowledge to him, it had always been vague. He didn’t understand why he was suddenly willing to explain things now.

As if seeing through Klein’s thoughts, Ebner said helplessly, "Because of me, the knowledge you currently possess is... well, a bit too much!

"Based on that, it won’t be long before you come into contact with some deadly things...

"Rather than letting you go ’court death,’ it’s better that I tell you first, and then use ’suggestion’ to make you forget the dangerous parts."

Klein felt a bit embarrassed upon hearing that. After all, his curiosity was indeed quite strong—but when it came to the secrets of the Beyonder path, any Beyonder would want to explore them.

"According to my understanding, your speculation about ’angels’ is correct...

"In pathways where a Sequence 0 exists, Sequence 2 are indeed angels of the true god and can obtain ’authority’ empowered by the true god.

"For example, ’Servant of Concealment’ in relation to the Evernight Goddess, ’Wisdom Angel’ in relation to the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, ’Glory’ in relation to the God of Combat, ’Desolate Matriarch’ in relation to the Earth Mother, and so on.

"And angels who receive empowerment of divine authority are not weaker than ordinary Sequence 1."

At this point, Ebner paused, then asked Klein, "Do you know what Sequence 1 of the Seer pathway is called?"

"You mentioned it before—it should be ’Attendant of Mysteries,’" Klein nodded.

"That’s right, ’Attendant of Mysteries’... from that name, doesn’t it make you think of something?" Ebner emphasized the word "Mysteries."

"You mean that Sequence 1 are indeed an angel of existences Above the Sequence? And that ’Mystery’ is one of the names of such an existence?" As Klein spoke, he suddenly recalled the "pathway domain" concept Ebner had mentioned before, as well as the relationship between "sefirot" and "domains," and came to a realization. "No wonder when you summarized the ’Seer,’ ’Apprentice,’ and ’Marauder’ domain, you named it ’Mystery’...

"At the time, I thought your reasoning was a bit forced. I didn’t expect it to be the ’name’ of an Above-the-Sequence existence?

"Oh right, when I divined the ’Cross Without Darkness’ earlier, the ’Ancient Sun God’ also called me ’Mystery’ from afar..."

Ebner sighed and said:

"Above-the-Sequence existences are generally referred to as ’Great Old Ones’...

"And to be precise, the complete honorific name of the ’Great Old One’ known as ’Mystery’ is ’King of Space-Time,’ ’Beacon of Destiny,’ ’Embodiment of Sefirah Castle,’ ’Dominator of the Spirit World,’ ’Lord of the Mysteries.’"

"King of Space-Time," "Beacon of Destiny," "Embodiment of Sefirah Castle," "Dominator of the Spirit World," "Lord of the Mysteries"... So the "Mystery" that Old Liu and the Ancient Sun God mentioned refers to the "Lord of the Mysteries"... As Klein silently recited the titles, he suddenly felt his mind becoming somewhat unstable.

"Don’t repeatedly recite that honorific name. Otherwise, even near the ’Chaos Sea,’ and even with the arrangements I’ve made using the power of ’Unknown,’ it will still cause negative effects on you," Ebner warned seriously, then added, "Before leaving here, I’ll make you forget most of what you’ve heard, leaving only some ’hints’ so you understand that the forgotten knowledge is extremely dangerous."

"Where does the danger come from?" Klein asked seriously after thinking for a moment.

"One source is the status of the ’Great Old Ones.’ Even understanding them brings contamination..."

Just understanding them leads to ’contamination’... that description is just like ’Liu Bo’... so the essence of ’Liu Bo’ is also a ’Great Old One,’ an existence Above the Sequence!

As Klein’s thoughts turned, he heard Ebner continue:

"The other reason is that the former owner of ’Sefirah Castle,’ the previous ’Lord of the Mysteries,’ has not completely died...

"Or rather, such an existence cannot be completely extinguished!

"And his name is probably not unfamiliar to you."

At this point, even though Ebner hadn’t said it outright, Klein had already guessed who he was referring to:

"Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings!"

...

Berdan City. While Ebner’s main body was explaining various "secrets" to Klein, Alvin brought "Sun" Derrick—who had purchased several large bags of goods—back from Backlund to this "City of Films."

By now, night had fully fallen. Although the city remained brightly lit, this did not prevent the giant Groselle from coming out to move about from the depths of the abandoned mine.

After all, even if someone saw him at night, it could be explained away as a "film prop" or a Feysac person in makeup.

It was Derrick’s first time seeing a real giant. He raised his head and cautiously examined this nearly four-meter-tall behemoth. For some reason, he suddenly felt that the other party’s expression was somewhat similar to his own...

"I heard from Viscount Ebner that you need a guide for exploring the Court?" Groselle looked down at Derrick with his signature vertical single eye and asked in a booming voice.

Hearing the question, Derrick glanced at Mr. "Tower" beside him. Only after seeing him nod did he answer sincerely, "Yes, Mr. Groselle... our Silver City is preparing to explore the ’Giant King’s Court.’ If we could have your participation, that would be even better."

At this point, he added with some concern, "However, I heard that you were once a guard of the Court. Wouldn’t you be opposed to our exploration?"

Groselle grinned widely and said with a laugh:

"If it were the Court as it used to be, then of course I would oppose it...

"But it has long since become the domain of that ’Ancient Sun God,’ hasn’t it? In that case, I’ve already lost my mission to guard it.

"My only wish now is to return to the Court... that is the home of us giants."

Derrick thought for a moment and, somewhat reluctantly, reminded him, "But the Giant King’s Court is in the Land Forsaken by the Gods. The environment is extremely harsh—almost uninhabitable..."

Groselle looked down at him and laughed heartily. "Haha, my friend, no need to worry about me... and although this place is nice, it is ultimately not my home..."

With that, he stopped pursuing the topic and instead asked, "How far has your exploration reached?"

Derrick pursed his lips and didn’t continue persuading him, only replying, "We’ve just established a camp at Afternoon Town."

"Afternoon Town... there used to be a human-run tavern there that was quite good..." Groselle seemed to fall into reminiscence. After quite a while, he asked again, "When do you need me to go?"

"I’ll need to consult our Chief... it will probably take a few more days..." Derrick had already discussed this with Mr. "Tower" and decided to stay one more night in the world of light before returning to Silver City the next morning.

"A few days... then I still have time to say goodbye to my friends!" Groselle scratched the back of his head and smiled honestly.

After chatting for a while longer, Derrick bid farewell to Groselle and followed Ebner back to the Viscount’s residence.

During this time, he couldn’t help but sigh, "Mr. Groselle doesn’t have the savagery and brutality that giants are said to possess."

"In fact, the ancestors of giants were also humans. Their savagery and irritability were merely the result of mental contamination from indiscriminately consuming Beyonder characteristics. By Groselle’s generation, since the characteristics have already become singular, the contamination is minimal, so their temperament is naturally no different from humans," Ebner casually explained.

Although Derrick was surprised by the claim that "giants" evolved from humans, he didn’t think too deeply about it, since what Mr. "Tower" said aligned perfectly with his understanding of the Beyonder world.

...

Meanwhile, in the "City of Miracles," Liveseyd, the conversation between Ebner and Klein was also drawing to a close.

Before Ebner used "hypnosis" on him, Klein asked his final question:

"What exactly is ’Liu Bo’? And is your relationship with ’Liu Bo’ the same as my relationship with the ’Heavenly Venerable’?"

(End of Chapter)