October 10th, Monday, three o’clock in the afternoon, inside the ancient palace above the gray fog.

Another Tarot Club meeting was convened here. After the two segments of mutual greetings and reading from Roselle’s diary, the gathering moved into its trading phase.

Mr. "The Hanged Man" looked toward Ebner beside him and was the first to speak: "’Tower,’ have you made any headway on the matter of the ’Cataclysmic Interrer’ potion materials?"

Ebner gave a slight nod and relayed Cohinem’s conditions, then added at the end: "As for the Grade 1 Sealed Artifact of the mental domain that He requires, the Silver City should have one that is fairly suitable — you can find a way to arrange an exchange with ’The Sun.’"

"The Hanged Man" Alger had not actually held out much hope to begin with, since Demigod-level Beyonder materials were hard to come by — who could expect results within a single week? His proactive inquiry was more to express the urgency of his attitude and make "The Tower" take it more to heart.

He had never imagined that this "learned" gentleman of the Tarot Club would actually have made contact with a seller!

——In truth, had Ebner not been worried that replying too quickly would give "The Hanged Man" cause for suspicion, he could have told him as early as last Tuesday.

As for the conditions the other party had put forward, Alger did not find them the least bit surprising. If a "Cataclysmic Interrer" characteristic were easy to obtain, he would not have been without a single lead for the past several months.

But now, at least there was a clear goal... and on top of that, Mr. "Tower" had given me an important clue!

At that thought, "The Hanged Man" Alger did not rush to bring up the matter of the Grade 1 Sealed Artifact, and instead turned his head to look at "The Sun" beside him:

"Have you returned to the Silver City?"

"I have already returned... My ’quarantine’ is expected to end tomorrow." Derick gave an honest nod, then spoke up of his own accord: "The Sealed Artifact Mr. ’Tower’ mentioned is called the ’Flute of Depravity,’ but my current merit points are not sufficient to exchange for it..."

He then gave a detailed explanation of the "Flute of Depravity’s" functions and side effects, speaking very thoroughly, and made it clear that if Mr. "The Hanged Man" wished to know more, that would not be a problem.

Alger’s eyes stirred slightly, and after a brief moment of thought he said: "Help me inquire with the Silver City’s upper echelons — that is, the ’Council of Six’ — and find out what would be needed to exchange for that ’Flute of Depravity.’"

After "Justice" Audrey had advanced to "Dreamwalker," the Tarot Club members outside of the Demigods had all reached Sequence 5 across the board. "The Hanged Man" Alger felt as though something was lodged in his chest, impossible to dispel, and desperately wanted to exchange for a characteristic and advance to Demigod without delay.

He hungered for a higher position, hungered to hold power, hungered for recognition, respect, and obedience, and had no wish to keep falling behind within the Tarot Club.

"Understood." After "The Sun" gave a solemn nod, seeing that Mr. "The Hanged Man" had no intention of continuing the topic, he turned his gaze toward Ebner and said carefully: "Mr. ’Tower’... once my ’quarantine’ ends, the Chief will organize the exploration of the ’Giant King’s Court’... You can have Mr. Groselle come over."

"I’ll bring him over in the next day or two." Ebner replied with a smile.

In truth, had it not been for waiting for Siatas to return and attend the farewell banquet, Ebner would have brought Groselle to the "Land Forsaken by God" last week already.

Having answered "The Sun’s" question, Ebner turned his gaze toward Miss "The Hermit" across the table and asked with a smile: "Has your fleet reached its destination?"

Last Saturday evening, the undead under Jane’s command had loaded all those containers full of supplies onto the pirate ships in under half an hour, and had then departed from Rausse Port before the Feysac fleet could detect them.

"It should arrive tonight... provided your location marker is correct." "The Hermit" was actually somewhat puzzled, because she had been to the sea region marked on the nautical chart before, and there had been no island there whatsoever.

"Rest assured — you will certainly be in for quite a surprise when the time comes." Ebner curled the corner of his lips upward and continued: "Furthermore, there will be a familiar face waiting to receive you there."

A familiar face? Cattleya furrowed her brow and ran through all the "familiar faces" she and "The Tower" had in common, only to find that aside from Gehrman, there was only the "Queen Mystic"...

After this matter was concluded, the scene fell briefly silent, as the other Tarot Club members currently had no particular needs:

"The Star" Leonard had only become a "Spirit Warlock" a little over three months ago, had not yet fully summarized his Acting Method guidelines, and still had the possibility of receiving advancement from the Church of the Evernight down the line. As for magical items, although that "Transformation Wand" was something of a trap, it was genuinely very powerful, and in special circumstances he could even apply to use the Church’s Sealed Artifacts... Of course, more importantly, he had only just finished his studies and had yet to leave the Serene Cathedral.

"The Moon" Emlyn was reading the vampire clan’s internal research materials on the Moon domain every day, trying to make "Scarlet Scholar" conform to practical reality. As for the potion formula and Beyonder materials for the Sequence 4 "Shaman King," he would not need them for a long time, nor could he afford them.

"The Sun" Derick had only recently mastered the abilities of "Priest of Light" — advancement was still a long way off — and the primary material for "Unshadowed" was already in his hands.

Similarly, both "Justice" Audrey and "Judgment" Xio had advanced not long ago. One was preparing to do work for Mr. "World" and accumulate the contributions needed to exchange for "Pride’s" "Manipulator" characteristic, while the other was carrying out tasks under the instructions of Ebner and Princess Vera, completing certain arrangements she did not yet fully understand.

"The Hanged Man" Alger was stationed within the Church of Storms and had to keep his secrets hidden — he was currently in a rather awkward position, and would need the right opportunity before he could "reasonably" reveal that he had already advanced to "Ocean Songster." As for the primary material for "Cataclysmic Interrer," there had only just been some sign of progress.

"The Hermit" Cattleya had likewise only become a Demigod a few months ago, but through deep study of various matters of the hidden and occult within the secret stories provided by Mr. "Tower," and of all manner of mysticism knowledge, she had been delighted to discover that the potion had already been digested by two-thirds! Of course, the various things she had heard at Tarot Club meetings had also contributed in no small part.

"Temperance" Sharon’s potion digestion was also proceeding considerably faster than she had anticipated — she even felt that there was hope of advancing to Sequence 3 before the end of the year... As for the required potion and formula, her teacher, Miss "Messenger," would naturally provide those.

Finally, "The Tower" Ebner had long since ceased to expect anything from the Tarot Club, since aside from Klein, who could still offer him assistance, the others had already somewhat fallen out of step with his level.

And so the trading phase came to a swift end, and the members began a period of free exchange.

"Justice" Audrey had originally wanted to share the full account of "Pride" Hvin’s defeat and death, but after thinking it over carefully, she felt that aside from the three gentlemen — "The Sun," "The Moon," and "The Star" — everyone else already knew about it. Would bringing it up now make them feel "excluded"?

——After Hvin’s defeat, those who had been involved in planning the affair had already held a small meeting two days prior and divided a portion of the spoils.

Hmm, "The Sun" definitely would not feel that way, and Mr. "The Moon" would not think that far into it... As for Mr. "The Star" — hard to say...

Just as "Justice" Audrey was feeling somewhat torn, "The Hanged Man" Alger spoke up first:

"Two new pirate admirals have emerged on the open seas, filling the vacancies left by the ’Admiral of Stars’ advancing to ’Queen of Stars’ and the death of the ’Admiral of Blood,’ bringing the number of pirate admirals back to seven."

"New pirate admirals?"

"Justice" Audrey’s interest was piqued, and she set the matter of Hvin aside for the moment and asked with curiosity:

"What are their titles? No similar news has circulated in Backlund yet."

After requesting that two wanted posters be materialized, "The Hanged Man" Alger introduced them: "One of them is the former ’Lady of Dragon’s Majesty.’ She relies on her flagship the ’Black Throne’ to transform into a powerful knight, and has a track record of escaping unscathed from a Demigod’s hands.

"She is now known as ’Vice Admiral Dragon Force.’

"As for the other one, there is still too little intelligence available at present... Though it is very likely that he is a newly put-forward representative of the ’Rose School of Thought.’ He calls himself ’Vice Admiral Specter’..."

Alger had barely gotten this far when he was cut off by "The Hermit" Cattleya:

"There is no longer any ’Vice Admiral Specter’!"

For after Jane became Sequence 5, the very first time she made her move, she had dealt with that newly risen pirate admiral, taking the second step on her path of revenge against the "Rose School of Thought"... though not many people were yet aware of this.

(End of Chapter)