The Raging Sea, a barren uninhabited island.
This place was not far from the Southern Continent, but geographically it did not belong there. Klein chose this island as his location to advance to "Ancient Scholar" for two reasons: first, to avoid
Moreover, it was extremely desolate here, with no living creatures, so he didn't need to worry about accidentally harming innocents... Klein looked around and began to set up the ritual, bringing the corresponding materials from above the
Next, he leafed through the thick ancient history materials and extracted the records he couldn't be sure of, the parts he couldn't verify even with divination.
Snap! He flicked his hand, and crimson flames shot up, devouring the stack of paper.
— The supplementary ingredients needed for the "Ancient Scholar" potion were a large amount of authentic ancient historical records, so Klein didn't want to risk using those he couldn't confirm; he preferred to have a smaller quantity.
After finishing the selection, he first poured the blood of the Fogen Dog into the cauldron, then added the several pre-weighed white frost crystals.
As soon as the two supplementary ingredients touched, a thin mist rose, enveloping the vessel to half a person's height and the width of an arm.
Klein glanced over and, following his spiritual intuition, temporarily abandoned adding the last supplementary ingredient and first had his puppet Enyuni grab the fuzzy heart of the Fog Demonic Wolf and drop this white mist condensation into the cauldron.
While Enyuni's arm condensed white frost, the mist emanating from the vessel became extremely dense and began to contract and expand, as if it had its own life, with a heart slowly beating.
Without hesitation, Klein manipulated his puppet Enyuni to take the pair of eyes of the Fogen Dog and stuff these two dark red flame-like objects into the almost tangible thick mist.
The color of the mist quickly deepened, and Klein could no longer see the cauldron at its core.
He did not panic. Very calmly, he had another puppet throw those authentic ancient history materials page by page into the dark thick mist.
The thick mist gradually collapsed inward. After "digesting" those historical records, it finally settled back into the cauldron like water vapor, turning into something that was both liquid and gas, dark red in color, about the size of a baby's head.
Seeing this, Klein removed the pendulum from his left wrist cuff and used the method of "divination" to confirm whether this potion had been successfully prepared.
This time, he received an indication that the thing was quite dangerous but barely bearable.
And that meant the potion was successfully prepared.
Even if prepared strictly according to the formula, a Sequence 3 potion was equivalent to poison: if you survive it, you advance; if not, you go mad, lose control, or even die suddenly... Klein stared at the quickly counterclockwise rotating citrine pendant for a few seconds, then lifted the silver chain and rewound it around his left wrist.
His gaze then turned to the potion floating in the cauldron, and thoughts flashed through his mind: "The 'Faceless,' in addition to key words like 'thriller,' 'horror,' 'director,' and 'incomprehensible abilities,' should also include elements such as mystery, unknown, complexity, and elusive fate. Only by combining these two aspects can one fully understand the 'Faceless'... The first is a behavioral style, the second is inherent nature...
"As for me, my origins are so mysterious that I haven't even figured out the truth myself; my experiences are so complex that I have already prevented a True God's descent, scared an Angel King, and my fate is so elusive that even the 'Mercury Snake' can't quite understand it. So, I can be considered to have already played the role in advance and naturally digested that part of the potion without needing to summarize rules...
"This truly embodies the word 'mysterious'...
"The 'Ancient Scholar' ritual requires a complete detachment from reality for at least 300 years. After becoming history and no longer belonging to the current era, one can drink the potion. My life sealed in a cocoon and suspended above the Gray Fog is sufficient and even exceeds that, but after becoming Klein, in this past year or so, I have experienced too many things and left a mark on the present. Will this affect the ritual's effect?
"It should... Fortunately, it's less than two years, and the mark is not too deep, barely acceptable. After all, I can't suspend myself for another 300 years before drinking the potion... There's only about a decade until the apocalypse!
"Moreover, my grasp of ancient history definitely far surpasses any 'Faceless,' and I have already done very effective acting in advance, which should avoid many risks..."
Amidst the whirlwind of thoughts, Klein took a deep breath and stopped pondering.
Wearing a silk top hat and a double-breasted tweed coat, his skin suddenly became transparent, and one after another, worms containing three-dimensional layered symbols drilled out.
Those transparent worms stirred restlessly, as if about to crawl into the condensed mist inside the cauldron, leaving only empty clothes and hat in place.
Barely controlling this state, Klein calmly extended his right hand and scooped up the potion formed from the mist.
The potion seemed weightless and floated lightly to his face.
Klein opened his mouth and suddenly inhaled.
The potion instantly deformed, elongated, and shot into Klein's mouth, as if he were swallowing dark red light.
Those transparent worms swarmed back into his body, each tearing off some potion and swallowing it.
Because his mythical creature form was special, being both a whole and divided into many tiny parts, Klein could only consume the potion in this way.
Of course, if he could control the incomplete mythical creature form, it would be much simpler.