"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool."
The other members of the
Once they had sat back down, The Fool Klein looked around and said in a low voice: "I will enter a slumber."
At these words, The Hanged Man Alger, Justice Audrey, The Hierophant Xio, and The Magician Fors all felt as if the second shoe had finally dropped. The Star Leonard, The Moon Emlyn, The Sun Derrick, and the other Tarot Club members felt their hearts sink, growing more anxious and bewildered.
Of course, they were not all that surprised; the unusual unscheduled gathering and the unusual absence of The World seemed to indicate that something important was going to happen today.
Klein, maintaining the last vestiges of his lucidity, continued in the same tone: "This involves a war beyond Sequences, related to the extent of the apocalypse."
So that's it... The Hanged Man Alger keenly caught the phrase "beyond Sequences."
He had long suspected that there was a rank above Sequence 0: the rank once occupied by the ancient Sun God, who possessed eight Angel Kings.
Now Mr. Fool had finally confirmed his suspicion and cleared up many of his doubts.
The Hermit
The Fool Klein continued: "Only when you become Angels will you be qualified to know the specifics. Otherwise, mere understanding itself will bring contamination."
This made the Tarot Club members think of "the underground" and "the starry sky," and their thoughts ran wild, hard to suppress.
Klein glanced at the lower end of the mottled long table and said: "My Blessed, The World, has entered slumber ahead of time. It is unknown when he will awaken."
What should we do? The Star Leonard almost blurted out, but he could clearly feel that Mr. Fool had not finished, so he forcibly restrained his impulse.
The Fool Klein's gaze swept over him: "Here is a long-term commission for all members:
"Spread my name more widely, but do not conflict with the churches of the true gods. When necessary, you may choose to preach in secret ways.
"This will help me awaken.
"Also, spread the deeds of The World as my Blessed, and record them in the Church's scriptures—of course, without involving his privacy.
"Remember one phrase: 'The World awakens, The Fool returns.'"
Klein was aiming to increase the number of his anchors, which might be quite useful in the dream fight against the
At the same time, he intended to shape The World into a saint of The Fool's Church, an angel beside the divine throne, so that this image could be shared among a wide range of believers and gain its own anchor.
In simple terms, Klein planned to have one believer contribute two anchors. After all, for him, both The Fool and The World were just identities, and the images formed by anchors would not be unified but would differ, thus not affecting his own self.
—At The Fool's level, the Church spreads the god's holy name, the sacred emblem of The Fool, and various doctrines, with no specific image. As for The World, he has many identities, such as Gehrman Sparrow, Dwayne Dantès, and Merlin
"The reward is the conveniences you have enjoyed in the past, the responses you have received, and corresponding help for future prayers," The Fool Klein said in the same tone. "After I slumber, I can still answer prayers to a certain degree, but not every time. If there is something truly important that needs help, then pray several times."
He knew from the fact that
The Tarot Club members present found this situation not at all difficult.
On one hand, most of them, to varying degrees, had already been spreading The Fool's faith, either openly or secretly. On the other hand, it was very common for prayers to gods to go unanswered; the fact that Mr. Fool had responded every time before was extremely rare, something they had hardly heard of elsewhere.
Being able to obtain responses on important matters through repeated prayers already surpassed the vast majority of clergy in the churches of the true gods!
"Yes, Mr. Fool." Without any hesitation, all the Tarot Club members accepted this long-term commission.
Among them, The Star Leonard was the most sincere and impatient.
For him, spreading Mr. Fool's faith and scriptures was the way to awaken Klein.
This gave him newfound motivation to do things beyond his daily work.
At this moment, The Fool Klein nodded slightly, then turned his gaze to The Hermit Cattleya:
"The previous commission—gathering information about the sudden awakening of the '
"If you are willing to take the risk, go further and investigate the current state of the Hidden Sage.
"It will be very dangerous. You may refuse, and the reward is one wish."
The Hermit Cattleya thought for a moment and said: "Respected Mr. Fool, is there a connection between this and your awakening? Is it related to how to survive the apocalypse?"
"Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. I can't give you a definite answer now; I have only seen some images," Klein replied. This time he did not deliberately craft a high-tier persona for The Fool, because he was already the true Fool. "Also, keep an eye on all the Beyonders of the 'Mother Earth' and 'Moon' pathways under your command."
Cattleya fell silent for a while, then spoke slowly: "I accept this commission."