The Deceitful One



Saturday, 1st November 1582.

An hour before sunrise, inside the meditation room in Bryan's mansion, he could be seen meticulously drawing a mysterious runic formation on the ground. If one were to look at this formation for a long period of time, they'd be under the impression that their destiny and fate had been unveiled to them.

This was the runic formation array that Lady Fate had given to Bryan. This array would directly transport his spiritual body to her divine kingdom. In the blink of an eye, a month had already passed and it was once again the time for the gathering.

It had been almost two weeks since he had met Nicholas. After their 'fight' last time, Nicholas was yet to return with an offer. But considering his personality, Bryan doubted that the eccentric genius would come up with something good. Hence, he had to take matters into his own hands.

Luckily, Nicholas hadn't come back before today. This gave Bryan room for maneuver because now he could ask for a helping hand from Emperor Solomon at the gathering. Naturally, he wouldn't do it for free.

Bryan's plan was to either use the result of his dream divination—the information regarding the possibility of the Belize royal family having ties with the Holy Blood Sect—to get his help. Or he could simply do something for the emperor in return.

He really hoped that he could use his divination results but highly doubted it. After all, if something was indeed brewing in the Belize Kingdom, how could the emperor not know about it? There's no way that he wouldn't.

Of course, Bryan knew that the chances of the emperor not knowing very extremely minuscule, but it didn't hurt to hope a little. Bryan finally finished carving the runes on the ground and took a deep breath.

He then walked toward the center of the formation and sat down in a lotus position. He took out the pyramid artifact from his pocket watch and held it in his hands. Seeing the time on his pocket watch, he mumbled, "There's still almost forty-five minutes left…."

Bryan decided to just meditate until then. When the time was right, the formation as well as the artifact in his hand would automatically transport his spiritual body, he wouldn't need to do anything; everything was already prepared.

And unlike last time, he wasn't that anxious now. Well, the only thing he was a little worried about was those pair of eyes in the void. He couldn't help but think, 'I wonder if that being would still be there…'

Last time at the gathering, Victoria Beaumont, the lady who was sitting beside him had told him that the pair of eyes in the void belonged to the mount of Lady Fate. At the time, he was completely flabbergasted.

He couldn't believe that the menacing creature was actually a mere mount. It was at that time that he decided to completely give up on comprehending the actions and decisions of deities.

Throwing out such useless thoughts from his mind, he closed his eyes and began meditating. And before long, he felt the warm rays of the early morning sun shining on his face. He then felt the pyramid in his hands vibrate ever so slightly, and before he knew it, he felt extremely light-weight.

When he opened his eyes, he was already in the stratosphere! He looked below and saw the Western Continent slowly getting smaller and smaller in his vision. His gaze then fell further up north, on the Dark Continent.

He suddenly realized that this mysterious continent was actually only visible as a blur even from high up above. It was almost as if it was covered by a curtain of obscurity, almost as if it was deliberately being hidden from the rest of the world.

Before he could think further about it, he found himself floating in the void. Thinking of the creature in the void, he looked around trying to find it but was unable to. Suddenly, he felt something strange and turned around.

And there it was!

The being with a pair of yellow eyes was right behind him. Just the size of his one eye was five times bigger than Bryan! Currently, the creature was staring at Bryan with curiosity and intrigue.

Bryan was so scared that he even forgot how to breathe—even though one didn't need to breathe in their spiritual body state. The next moment, the large creature sniffed at Bryan. Following that, the creature's eyes lit up in surprise.

However, before anything else could happen, Bryan was teleported to the divine kingdom of Lady Fate. He now found himself sitting in his usual chair at the large round table. His breathing grew ragged and he felt as if his heart might explode.

He took deep breaths and confirmed that he wasn't in the void anymore. Right at that moment, Solomon's laughter rang in his ears. "Hahaha, did Mathew scare you again?"

Bryan turned his head and looked at the middle-aged man with a regal appearance sitting next to him. "Mathew?"

Solomon nodded. "The Lady's mount's name is Mathew. He's a primordial tiger that's been around since the 3rd Era."

Bryan's eyes widened in disbelief. "The third era!! You mean that being is twenty thousand years old!?"

Solomon nodded. "Ehh, perhaps even older. Who knows?"

It took Bryan a long time to calm down. For someone to live for so long, he didn't even think that was possible. Suddenly, he asked Solomon, "And what's a primordial tiger?"

"It means he is one of the first ancestors of all felines to roam this world. He's also a High-String Transcendent of the Wind Path," Solomon patiently explained.

"High-String Transcendent…." Bryan was speechless. If the mount was already so powerful, he couldn't even begin to imagine just how powerful Lady Fate was. He was then snapped out of his reverie when he heard Lady Fate's voice. "You may all begin."

All thirteen people at the table—including the dumbstruck Bryan—got to their feet and bowed respectfully. "By your will."

After everybody sat down, they all began to talk about what was happening in the places they resided. Bryan found this very fascinating, it was almost as if he was in a tavern back in Damascus and the travelers were talking about their journey.

Just from the small conversation happening around him, Bryan was able to glean so much information that it significantly broadened his horizons. He was able to learn about things happening in various parts of the Southern Continent, the Central Continent, and even the thousands of islands located in the East.

But he never found out anything about the Dark Continent. And thinking of what he had just seen on his way here, he couldn't help but begin to speculate about its mysteries.

As he was thinking about the Northern Continent, everyone around him suddenly stopped talking and started to look at Bryan. Victoria chuckled and slightly patted Bryan's shoulder. "Do you have anything to say?"

"Huh?" He snapped out of his thoughts and then looked at her. Suddenly he realized that everyone else was also looking in his direction. At once, he was overcome by massive pressure and nervousness.

The last time when he arrived here, nobody had expected him to really participate because it was his first time. They wanted him to see how things worked here. But today, however, they were waiting for him to pitch in.

After all, he couldn't always be expected to just sit still at this eminent gathering, now, could he? And Bryan very well knew this point. Hence, he took a deep breath to calm down. But the nervousness in his eyes couldn't be hidden.

He then looked at the mysterious Tarek sitting across from him and spoke, "I've tracked some of the activities of the Holy Blood Sect in Nadir…."

Tarek, the black-haired and black-eyed man seemed to be completely uninterested. He closed his eyes and laid back in his chair.

Seeing him act indifferent, Bryan turned to look at Solomon and solemnly spoke, "I believe they're in cahoots with the Belize royal family."

Solomon was taken aback. "What did you say?"

Tarek, on the other hand, suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Bryan. "How did you find that out?"

Seeing such a reaction from everyone around him, Bryan was shocked. He didn't think for a single moment that what he'd offer at the gathering would come across as a surprise to the rest. But it seemed that he might have been wrong.

He looked at Tarek and gulped. "B-By divination…."

"That's impossible. I've attempted to divine this before but failed, and I'm a Rank 6 Transcendent of the Wisdom Path." Victoria who was sitting beside him, chimed in.

"I'm speaking the truth." He looked at her and solemnly spoke.

Seeing the seriousness in his eyes, Victoria suddenly thought of something and asked, "What is the Path you've embarked upon? Wisdom? Fate?"

Bryan remained silent. Although everyone at the gathering had been bound by an oath that prevented them from harming each other or disclosing anything about each other to people outside the gathering, he wasn't ready to tell them that he was in fact a Transcendent of the Theft Path.

After all, he had made a promise to his deceased mother and was not planning to break it. Hence, he replied, "Neither."

"Then how could you possibly perform divination?" This time it was Solomon who inquired. After all, this was a very crucial piece of information that Bryan had provided, and he wanted to make sure that it was authentic. "What exactly is your Path?"

Bryan stayed silent for a long time. In the end, he slightly raised his chin and proudly said, "I am the creator of a new Path, my own Path!"