671 Good Afternoon, Miss Destiny
Klein was speechless at this title. He gritted his teeth and asked as calmly as possible,
"Rather than this, why don't you tell me first, what is the relationship between the Goddess of Light and your authority???"
"Dispelling bad luck and bringing good fortune, how can that not be a kind of light?" Alice asked in return, "Prophecy and divination can also be related to light...pointing out the direction and guiding the way forward, how can that not be light? And look at the goddess, she has been the goddess of bad luck, and her hidden authority can also be used for anti-divination, which is exactly the opposite of light."
"...?" Klein took a deep breath and didn't know how to respond for a moment.
Alice muttered again:
"And my old name was 'Key of Light'... How great, I don't have to change it at all, just keep it in one go.
"What's that expression on your face? Don't you think what I said makes sense?"
"It does seem to make sense…" Klein murmured, "I just want to know, if your followers knew that the 'Goddess of Light' had such a personality, would their faith be shattered…"
"After all, the 'Key of Light' is also known as 'Endless Chaos'." Alice reminded coldly.
"So," Klein asked at last, "can you glow? Like the 'Light Prayer' - I remember you don't have a similar ability?"
"No," Ellie said without hesitation, "but I can let the believers stay where there is light."
"…Forget it." Klein gave up arguing with her. "If you call yourself this, do you have to change your name to a more honorific one?"
"I think the name of the true god should be changed..." Alice muttered, "I want a goddess-like one, the one that lasts longer than eternity... It sounds so powerful."
"…I won't help you write it this time," Klein reminded him, "I still can't accept the Goddess of Light…"
"I'll do it myself!" Alice was very excited. "At worst, I can let the believers think about it... No, I'll think about it myself first. I really think the Goddess of Light is pretty good..."
"Then how do you explain why the Goddess of Light doesn't shine?" Klein reminded him, "There's no way around this, right?"
"There will be a way," said Alice confidently. "I'm sure I can think of a way—just write a story in the Bible."
Klein no longer commented on this. He started to promote his fully automatic wishing machine. This scene was very boring. Although some people's wishes might be interesting, the waiting time was too long. Secondly, most people's wishes were just that. After all, typical cases were a minority.
Alice stayed with Klein for a few days until the next Tarot Club meeting was about to begin. Klein asked her,
"Are you going to show up at the Tarot Club? I think they'll want to see you."
"Are you sure?" Alice asked self-awarely.
Klein smiled and shook his head. "The Tarot Club without you is sometimes a little too quiet."
"Forget it," Alice refused. "I always feel that it would be a bit strange for a true God to be a participant, but if I were to be the host… I mean, if I were to sit side by side with you, I would have some bad associations."
"What?" Klein was stunned. "If you mean the gossip, I think this is normal. After all, it's not the first time..."
"Oh no," Alice denied Klein's words, "What if it's incest? Father and daughter… uh, mother and daughter rice bowl or something like that?"
"Mother and daughter…" Klein opened his mouth, as if he wanted to argue something. "I'm not… No, we are not related by blood at all—you and I both know that it's just a formality!"
Alice didn't say anything. After a few seconds of silence, she said in a slightly strange tone,
"Mr. Fool, if you focus on the fact that we are not related by blood, it will make the topic very strange... That is, I have a feeling that you hope the rumor will come true..."
Klein took a breath, and half-unable to hold back and half-foreshadowing, he spoke: "Compared to you, I would rather be Amon."
"?" Alice stopped talking.
Klein thought for a moment, then suggested to Alice, "Although it does feel strange to sit at the head table together... do you want to host the Tarot Club?"
"What do you mean?" Alice asked in confusion.
"I don't have to attend. Or rather, The Fool doesn't have to attend," Klein chuckled. "While you were away, I studied Sefirah Castle carefully. Do you want some authority?"
"What kind of permissions?" Alice asked.
"A lot," Klein smiled. "I can come and go freely, summon others, use extraordinary abilities, and even use part of the power of Sefirah Castle..."
"…Mr. Fool," Alice interrupted him with mixed feelings, "For the last one, you trust me a little too much—that's the Essence, Mr. Fool! Aren't you afraid that I might do something? What if I snatch it away?"
Klein seemed to be stuck. He hesitated and said:
"No, I don't plan to give you real permissions. Just some simple ones, such as projection, answering prayers... I only plan to let you try these basic functions..."
"…Isn't that enough?" Alice hesitated.
"I think that my invitation to you to enter Sefirah Castle after you were promoted to a True God is defenseless enough..." Klein reminded him tactfully, "Obviously I wouldn't invite the goddess like this, and I wouldn't ask her if she wanted to host a Tarot Club - let alone that I can still host a Tarot Club now, even if I did for some reason..."
"...Shut up," Alice interrupted him, "There's no such thing."
Klein obediently stopped talking about this matter and just asked, "Well, do you want to give it a try?"
Alice finally agreed to the proposal, and Klein immediately asked curiously:
"I remember you said that the Essence corresponds to the Sequence Pathway. Could it be that we can accommodate Essence that does not correspond to this Pathway?"
"You can write this question down," Alice suggested, "and ask Adam about Amon's situation when you go to ask him about it."
Klein knew that Alice would not get an answer here, so he did not continue, but only brought up the issue of the authority of "Source Castle" again.
After Klein's explanation, Alice finally understood that the so-called granted permissions were not exactly what she thought.
Essentially, Klein still hadn't given her the authority. After he was promoted to an angel, he left some spirit worms on Sefirah Castle to automatically respond to prayers. Alice was alerted by this. After all, angels were fully capable of receiving prayers, and they were not as restricted to certain areas as saints. However, the honorific title of The Fool did not refer to Klein, but to Sefirah Castle.
Klein simply pointed out to Alice the origin of his honorable name. Firstly, it answered Alice's doubts, and secondly, it pointed out his own dilemma. If he wanted the honorable name to refer to himself, it meant that he had to expose the lie of the "Fool".
"Not to mention how socially disastrous this would be…" Klein sighed, "The scope of this news will definitely be limited. After all, you have read the Holy Book of the Seven Gods…"
"I haven't read it," Alice interrupted him. "I haven't even finished reading the Goddess."
"…In short," Klein pretended not to hear, "All holy books will brag about the origins of the gods at the beginning. The more ancient and greater the better, and basically they are all related to the original creator…If there will be problems like this, then none of the Seven Gods will be unaware of it, right?"
"Perhaps those who have noticed it are no longer able to speak up?" Alice laughed meaningfully.
Klein shuddered and said nervously, "Don't scare me!"
Alice sighed and stopped trying to persuade him. She just whispered:
"Well... Actually, if you tell the truth, no one will believe you, right? An ordinary person pretends to be a god and actually becomes a god... Tsk, forget about writing it into a novel, but if there really is such a church, this god doesn't sound serious, right?
"However, this novel is indeed worth spreading. Book fans can probably be considered your believers... If you have this plan, remember not to use the real-name system."
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
"…Okay." Klein agreed.
They didn't talk any more. Klein arrived at Sefirah Castle. After being promoted to an angel, he no longer needed to rely on the prayers of Tarot Club members or the four-step reverse ritual to enter Sefirah Castle. However, he still couldn't bring his body up there.
Along with the crimson light, Alice sat back on the familiar chair. She tried to stretch her limbs, and then she realized something was wrong.
Not to mention the bronze table that seemed to be above her head, Alice spoke in a hesitant tone:
"Klein...?"
The voice was childish and clear, and it was impossible to tell the gender.
She suddenly remembered her current situation and continued,
"I remember now... the image above is actually based on the image of a spirit, right?"
"Right…" Klein also realized something. He stood up from his seat and walked closer to Alice's chair. His tone became strange, "What are you doing…?"
"I haven't decided on my appearance or gender yet..." Alice stammered, "To be honest, I've only decided that I'm a human being... So, what you see is a silvery unknown object that can only be identified as a human baby..."
"…Can you decide now?" Klein asked sincerely.
"It's a bit difficult," Alice answered with equal sincerity, "You know, I have difficulty making choices."
After a few seconds of silence, Klein bent down and picked up Alice. He walked to the high-back chair that belonged to The Fool and transformed it into a baby carriage that was obviously taller than the bronze table. He then placed a ball of silver Alice inside.
"Then ask them later," Klein said calmly, "Ask them what suggestions they have."
After a pause, he couldn't help but ask curiously, "What if you haven't even decided on the species?"
"It will be a silver ball of light," Ellie answered without hesitation, "You want to see it... Oh, you can't see it now. Once you have made a decision, you can't withdraw it."
"Then I'm a little curious," Klein straightened up and said thoughtfully, "What if you gave birth prematurely without making a decision..."
"Then I shall look just as I did before," answered Alice. "Well, what shall I do? Send the little Sun up here? Well, if you are here, you are no different from the other Spirit-worms that are left behind. Why don't you come yourself?"
"That's true, but I thought…" Klein walked towards the World's seat and said slowly, "I thought you would prefer to do it yourself, rather than being placed on a chair as a puppet?"
Alice shook her head and replied, "I'm not a puppet, Mr. Fool… If you say that again, be careful that I might say something wrong in your Tarot Club, okay?"
Klein gave in. While notifying "Sun" Derrick to prepare for the party, he echoed Alice:
"Indeed, after all, only the secret puppet sitting here can be called a puppet."
Alice paused for a moment, then fell strangely silent. Klein also stopped talking and just sat quietly in the seat of The World.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, Klein coughed lightly to remind Alice, and then pulled the others up. Everyone looked around habitually, and then noticed the baby carriage at the head of the long bronze table, and the ball of silver light lying on the baby carriage.
The blurry silver mass could only make out the shape of a human baby. After a brief pause, Audrey, the "Justice", stood up and greeted as usual:
"Good afternoon, Miss Destiny~"
"Hey," Alice responded, "Good afternoon, Miss Justice~"
The young and clear voice was not the one Audrey was familiar with, but she still confirmed from the tone that she had recognized the right person. Just as she was about to continue greeting, she heard the voice add,
"But I still prefer you to call me the Goddess of Light."
"...Goddess of Light?" Audrey was a little confused.
"Dispel the fog, light up the future, dispel bad luck, bring luck..." Alice repeated what she said to Klein. "Isn't it reasonable for me to be called the Goddess of Light?"
"...?" Audrey was stunned for a moment. She subconsciously thought about what Alice said. She wanted to speak but didn't know what to say.
She was not the only one who was stunned. Alger, the Hanged Man, lowered his head calmly and sighed in his heart: You are worthy of being me, Miss Destiny... Mr. Fool asked Him to sit here, maybe he hoped that we could persuade Him to change his mind...?
- He was still thinking about the reason why someone else had taken the main seat.
"Hermit" Cattleya didn't say anything. She suddenly remembered the light she had seen before, the light that stung her eyes. It seemed... It was not wrong to call her the Goddess of Light?
"Sun" Derrick lowered his head blankly. He was the most confused among all the people because he came from a path that was most qualified to call himself "light". (End of this chapterChapter 64 Suggestions
If one only looked at the name of Sequence 0, the "Moon" pathway seemed to be related to light, but "Moon" Emlyn himself knew that was not the case. His first association with the concept of light was holy light, and he shuddered.
As for Judge Xio and Magician Fors, they did not have much psychological activity, only a familiar sense of security.
The first thing that "Star" Leonard thought of was the goddess. "Light" and "night" are opposing concepts to a certain extent. He really wanted to ask the goddess if she knew about this, but in his eyes, there was a big difference between a true God and an angel, especially after seeing Arianna frequently for a period of time.
Alice looked around and found that no one had any comments on the name. After Audrey didn't even continue to greet her, she asked unsatisfiedly,
"Why aren't you talking?"
"Because they all think this idea is not good or outrageous, but they can't directly question you like I do." Klein, who was sitting in the "World" position, spoke lightly with his hoarse voice.
This statement immediately earned several veiled glances of admiration. Of course, they were not too obvious, just peripheral glances. Alice couldn't help but retort:
"How can this be outrageous? It's obvious——"
She suddenly paused and asked hesitantly, "Should I let the meeting continue?"
No one responded to her, even Klein just sat there, so Alice thought for a moment and said:
"Forget it, just continue."
Continue...how to continue?
Audrey thought for two seconds and decided to finish the greeting first.
Only after she greeted everyone and sat down did Alice sigh and imitate Klein and say,
"Let's get started."
The next step is naturally the Tarot Club's transaction phase. As everyone's ranking gradually improves, this phase will often only take effect once in several rounds.
Naturally, the transaction process did not play a role this time. After a brief silence, the free communication session began. "The Sun" Derrick spoke first and talked about the new things around him.
Ever since they left the "God-Forsaken Land", Derrick had spoken the most during this session, because there were too many new things around him. Alice chose to listen and not speak for the time being.
But apart from Alice, not many people were listening to Derrick's speech. Most people focused their attention on Alice, wondering why she was sitting here today and the Fool's intentions. Miss Destiny might just be here to have fun, but Mr. Fool would not agree to this just because she thought it was fun. He must have his own considerations.
With trust in the Fool, Alger, the Hanged Man, thought carefully, and after Derrick, the Sun, stopped talking, he spoke directly to Alice, who seemed to be in a good mood:
"Goddess of Light..."
His original intention was to ask directly, but as soon as he said this title, he had a strange feeling and his voice stopped abruptly. Alice also realized something and responded:
"Well...if you're planning on talking to me, just call me as you did before."
Alger asked readily:
"Ms. Fate, how did you convince Mr. Fool to let you sit here?"
Alice blinked and said as a matter of course: "He proposed it himself~"
It was an unexpected answer, but it made sense after careful consideration. Alger, the "Hanged Man", realized that just asking this question would not work. He had to ask what happened before and after that. But this question was too offensive...
While he was thinking and choosing his words, Audrey, the Justice, realized his intention and thought of the answer first:
"Ms. Destiny, have you just woken up?"
"Hmm." Alice looked at them thoughtfully and didn't speak for a while.
She was aware of the not-so-subtle probing of her by these people; they seemed to have mastered the trick of talking to her and had made their goals clear.
Alice didn't mind. She was always tolerant of similar thoughts, unless the other party was hesitant and unwilling to speak out. But now everything was obvious, so she was happy to respond:
"More or less. Anyway, he hadn't been awake for long... I saw... I saw Mr. World doing handicrafts, but he was doing it very ugly. When Mr. Fool invited me, I had just convinced Mr. World to hand the matter over to professionals."
Handicraft...?
This was unexpected news. Everyone looked at the World in surprise. After two seconds of silence, Klein responded to everyone's gaze:
"I was making a machine at the time, and because I left the internal structure of the machine exposed, Miss Fate asked me to put some clothes on the machine."
What a wonderful metaphor...
A flash of surprise passed through everyone's mind, and then they heard the voice of the first lady of destiny:
"To be honest, even the internal structure of a machine, I've seen good-looking ones... The thing you made has absolutely no mechanical beauty!"
She paused, then continued,
"Oh, by the way, Mr. Fool didn't directly invite me to host the Tarot Club—I told Him that I thought it was strange for the True God to appear as a participant, but it was even stranger for two gods to sit side by side, that is, uh…
"In my impression, at least in my impression of ordinary people's culture, the scene of two kings ruling is not common. Instead, it is more common to see the king and queen sitting side by side...
"It's actually nothing, but I can be considered Mr. Fool's child, so… I think this ethical relationship is a bit too confusing."
Klein took a look at the "endless chaos" and fell into a strange silence.
Of course, the people here don't know the "Key of Light", let alone "Endless Chaos", so Audrey asked curiously:
"Do gods care about ethics? Judging from your previous attitude, I thought these ethics were meaningless to mythical creatures..."
"It would be weirder if it made sense," Alice said bluntly, "if you were to explore the ethics of mythical creatures, some scenes would be very subtle, like Amon... You all know the Amon family from the Fourth Epoch, right?"
The Tarot Club members nodded one after another, and Alice continued:
"But the Amon family in the Fourth Epoch has always had only one Amon... not only family members, but even the pet dog at home, and I even suspect that flies, mosquitoes, and those invisible microorganisms in the air are all Amon..."
The Tarot Club members came to their senses. Alice glanced at the "Hermit" Cattleya again and shifted the focus to her:
"Moreover, this phenomenon did not start with the angels. To say that the most... the most daring to break the secular shackles that I have seen so far is the 'cultivator' path of the Church of Mother Earth.
"There is a druid from this path on Ms. Hermit's ship. He is also the inventor of the mushrooms mentioned above... Mr. Sun, do you know where those mushrooms came from?"
Derrick shook his head honestly.
Alice then answered:
"Well... although there are many influencing factors, I think the most important part may come from a 'Rose Bishop' and a believer of the 'Original Moon Shell'... In other words, those mushrooms can be called their 'offspring'."
It was difficult for Derrick to describe his current mood. His expression was distorted and a strange feeling of nausea emerged on his face.
The expressions of the other Tarot Club members who had never eaten mushrooms were not very good either. Klein said directly:
"Let's discuss this, Miss Destiny.
"Since you haven't decided what you're going to look like when you're born, do you mind being mute?"
Alice was choked and retorted, "Even if I choose to be mute, it won't affect my ability to speak, okay?"
Klein responded calmly, "I know, and I think you should know that I want you to shut up."
Alice froze for a moment. She seemed to want to say something, but in the end she just whispered back:
"At most I won't mention it... Um, by the way, can you give me some suggestions? I find it difficult to choose... What do I want to look like in the future? Boy or girl? And...
"Should I get a new name?"
She paused, then added, "Oh, and the hair and eyes must be silver. I've tried, and I can't change it."
These words made the Tarot Club members look at each other in bewilderment. "Star" Leonard said thoughtfully:
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
"You decide your appearance yourself?"
"Yes," Alice admitted.
"Have you ever considered referring to Mr. Fool?" Leonard suggested, "Mr. Fool... should have a human form, right?"
"Yes," Alice nodded seriously, "not only yes, but there are quite a few."
"Okay, so many?" Leonard was confused.
"Well, He is a..." Alice responded as a matter of course, "Um... A God with a Thousand Faces?"
It sounds better than "Faceless Man"... Klein glanced at Alice and said nothing.
Alice continued:
"Actually, I feel like I'm cosplaying myself as an OC…oh, you don't know what this means.
"Just like Amon plays a role as a family, Mr. Fool's authority can also do something similar. He can create something like an avatar for himself, and then give them different names, personalities, and characters…"
"Like a 'virtual personality'?" Audrey asked thoughtfully.
"Almost," Alice agreed, "but a 'virtual personality' only has a personality."
Audrey thought for a moment and asked, "That must be Mr. World's secret puppet?"
——Klein's ability to make puppets is no secret. Tarot Club members who have had real-life contact with him naturally know his habit of playing the role of puppets. They all think it is a role-playing requirement, and the name of that sequence is called "Master of Puppetry."
This time, Alice just hummed, turned around and said to Leonard:
"Which Mr. Fool should I refer to?"
Leonard was speechless, but Audrey spoke up:
"I think we should take this matter step by step... Appearance is a later matter, Miss Fate, maybe you should decide your gender first? You, what do you think of your gender...?"
"To be honest, I don't particularly care," Alice shook her head. "However, I have lived my entire life as a woman, especially my earliest life, so if I have to define myself by gender, I think I am a woman - but I don't have any obsession with my gender after the 'restart'. In fact, I am a little curious about the experience of being a man."
Audrey said thoughtfully:
"But you asked us to call you the Goddess of Light... I think maybe you should continue to exist as a woman? At least for now.
"After all, if the goddess was a man..."
"...That's not a big deal," Alice pressed her brows. "Disguising one's appearance and voice when facing believers is something every god can do, either in reality or in dreams... Well, there probably aren't many gods who would be free to contact their believers in reality."
You are the one who has nothing to do... Audrey glanced at Alice, but did not say this out loud. Instead, she said:
"But don't you find it strange yourself?"
This was judged from Alice's previous discussion on ethics. Combined with Alice's previous behaviors, Audrey felt that even if she became a god, Miss Fate seemed to be particularly concerned about certain things.
As expected, Alice did start to think deeply. The mercury-colored human baby could not show any emotion, but Audrey felt that she should be frowning. Just when Audrey thought her suggestion was accepted, Alice finally made a decision. She spoke thoughtfully:
"Well... that is to say...
"If the goddess of light is a man, it will be very strange. Why don't I just call her the goddess of light?
"In this way, I won't have this kind of trouble, right?"
Audrey gave up. She realized that it was not feasible to make suggestions from this perspective, because Miss Destiny's way of solving problems was completely different from what they thought!
Even if she failed, there were still others. Alger, the Hanged Man, said:
"I think according to your thinking, you will be born as a man sooner or later. In this case, why not experience it sooner?"
"Because if we delay it long enough, it's almost as if the thing didn't happen..." Alice muttered in annoyance, "Besides, what if I regret it after the experience... Should I commit suicide on the spot?"
"I can help," Klein suggested helpfully.
The members of the Tarot Club looked at "The World" one after another. They seemed to want to say something but did not dare to speak. Audrey looked at "The World" and then at Alice, with a trace of contemplation in her eyes.
Mr. World seems to have no change in his attitude towards Miss Fate's becoming a god...? Not only that, Miss Fate's attitude towards the World before and after becoming an angel has not changed... But to Miss Fate, angels and non-angels are obviously completely different.
At least, angels are "the same kind" to Him… (End of this chapter