The gas streetlamps at both ends of the stone bridge quietly illuminate the road, yet they cannot dispel the darkness below—only the faint, dim crimson hanging from above manages to brighten the brown soil. The "Member of Fate" Ricord, sheltered within the arch of the bridge, has remained silent for a long time, prompting Caine to wonder whether he might have passed away from his injuries—his earlier failure in the luck check, he suspects, may also stem from this very condition. As Caine hesitates, testing whether to speak and inquire, Ricord clears his throat and speaks in a low, hoarse voice: "Indeed, you are a powerful adventurer capable of briefly sealing the dice—remarkable. The current situation has exceeded my expectations. I'm genuinely curious: what exactly has happened to cause my added luck to have failed completely? I'm deeply regretful that I cannot rise and face you directly; otherwise, I would have been able to perceive certain things that even other extraordinary beings, with their heightened clairvoyance, might not be able to see. "This is something unique to the 'Fate' path." So the issue must be with me, then? That's not the point—the point is you have to give me the 700 pounds, no, 730 pounds... While quietly muttering this to himself, Caine involuntarily recalled Ademissor, the orphan from Tingen known as the 'Monster.' The young man, who was nearly a full Sequence 9, had collapsed in a scream, bleeding from his eyes, trembling as if he had encountered a demon. Was it because he possessed a special from the 'Fate Wheel' path, thus perceiving the issue with me and the connection to the gray mist? Alas, this "Oracular Member" is seriously injured, carrying his own domain of misfortune, making it impossible for him to assist with his review... Go ask "Mercury's Serpent" Wil. Aunseit, he might know something—though this path is quite full of mysticism; he may not answer directly, but instead offer only vague, indistinct remarks. Caine remained expressionless. "Then what are your plans?" Ryjord sighed. "You go fetch Dacwel, and I'll bestow luck upon him so he can replace you at the casino and win money there." Based on the hotel name provided by Ryjord, Caine quickly located the stout pharmacist Dacwel. Then, holding his suitcase and cane, he watched in quiet detachment as Dacwel won steadily across several casinos, securing a total of 750 pounds by early morning. After receiving the final 730 pounds, Caine became fully aware of a crucial issue: the very reason the luck had previously failed was rooted in himself. "Why?" Klein tucked the swollen wallet into his coat, furrowed his brow, and murmured silently to himself. He quickly recalled the faint, pale gray mist that hovered around him, and began to grasp the reason. "After my promotion to 'Faceless,' the gray mist has begun to interweave with reality—not only helping me mute my less potent ramblings, but also disrupting certain fate-based influences exerted by others. That's why the luck granted by the senator failed to take effect. "According to this logic, a certain degree of misfortune should also be unable to reach me." "Hmph. What a situation! It keeps me from becoming a mere unlucky one, yet simultaneously extinguishes my hopes of becoming a lucky, successful figure." Klein shook his head, followed Dacwell and the owl back to the stone bridge, and informed the 'Fate Senator' Rijord of his method for summoning his messenger. He requested that Rijord immediately relay the news of the offensive magical items to the others. After all this, Caine found a hotel in the port city of Orlavi Island, checked into a standard room, and settled in. Bekland, morning hours. Emlyn White walked through the dim sky he favored, navigating the thicker fog than that of last November or December, and arrived once again at the exterior of No. 7 on Pinstreet in the North District. He rang the bell, stood straight, and held his chin slightly raised, patiently waiting. When Leonard opened the door, he glanced at the face—handsome, yet quite unappealing—and stepped aside, allowing Emlyn to enter. Leonard remained in his casual white shirt and black slacks, but now wore an unbuttoned dark jacket over his shoulders. “How did it go?” Leonard asked with a smile. “Perfect,” Emlyn replied. Since it wasn’t his money, he had no intention of haggling. In fact, he believed that haggling might actually drive the price up, given the manner in which the other party had acted previously. Leonard nodded gently, smiled: "Quite wealthy, isn't it?" I could tell you were fishing for words... Emlyn gave a soft sigh and replied: "This isn't something you need to worry about." Then he lifted his small leather case, opened it, and displayed the £7,000 in cash inside. Leonard carefully arranged the bills, examining them thoughtfully. Then, he removed his red gloves from his left hand and handed them to Emlyn. "This is the magical item you've been looking for—it can disguise itself in different colors. "It's called the 'Seed of Flame.' It enhances the user's charm, giving their words exceptional persuasiveness. Within a 50-meter range, it can steal a target's exceptional ability. The more familiar the user is with the target, the more likely it is to steal the desired ability; the less familiar, the more random the outcome, depending on luck. If the target's sequence rating is above six, a failure is possible—higher the sequence, the greater the chance of failure." "After successfully stealing success, the original target loses that exceptional ability and must wait at least 12 hours to recover, while the owner of the 'Seed' can use it proficiently for about 10 minutes. 'It's expensive because its negative effects are minimal,' said Emlyn, who listened quietly as Leonard described the magical item, then asked, 'What are the negative effects?' Leonard casually brushed his hair back and smiled, 'First, there's a significant chance that items on the wearer will be lost while wearing it. Second, after using it, the user will lose one of their exceptional abilities for at least 12 hours—though only one such ability is lost during that period. In other words, even if used multiple times, only one ability is lost each time.' 'Compared to many of the seals I've encountered, its negative effects are indeed quite mild,' Emlyn cleared his throat and nodded slightly." He took the "Seed" gloves, carefully examined them, then removed the cash from the trunk one stack at a time and placed it on the coffee table. Next, he placed the gloves back into the trunk, choosing not to carry them directly. With the trunk in hand, Emlin returned along the same path to the Harvest Church, entering the priest's lounge and setting up the sacrificial ritual. The ethereal, hazy mysterious door opened, and the red gloves passed through the deep, shadowed void, approaching the gray mist. At that moment, as the surface of the gloves came into contact with the mist, a small, distorted, terrifying face suddenly appeared—constantly evaporating yet struggling to remain. Seeing this, Caine did not feel particularly surprised. After all, the old man within Leonard was an angel of the "Theft" path, and since the Amun duplicate could achieve such feats, so too could the Elder. For this, he was already well-prepared, confident that even if the other party truly reached Amun's level, he could eliminate the corresponding aura without allowing them to perceive the presence of the gray mist, thus enabling him to strike at "the Moon" Emlyn. Taking up the "Sea God's Staff" that had been placed before him, Caine raised himself above it, causing all the seashell-blue "gems" to glow simultaneously. At once, the silver-white light above the mist intensified dramatically, and streaks of lightning—like a downpour—carried a portion of the mist's strength and struck the small, ethereal figure on its face in succession. The figure failed to utter even a cry before completely dissipating, leaving behind a half-transparent corpse resembling a worm, adorned with twelve translucent rings. "An insect of time... though weaker than Amun," Caine murmured, then gestured, summoning both the red gloves and the familiar worm to him. After careful examination, he confirmed that this worm was essentially consistent with the one left behind by Amun's duplicate. "The elder of the poet classmate and Amun are in the same sequence—Sequence 1? Not necessarily. This might simply be a characteristic of an earlier sequence... 'If, indeed, it is Sequence 1, and considering that Amun is the son of the Creator, the King of Angels, perhaps He also embodies uniqueness, or another trait of Sequence 1...' Klein made this conjecture, yet could find no way to verify it. As for what to do with the deceased 'Chronos creature,' and when the spiritual essence will finally dissipate—he, lacking the relevant knowledge, merely tossed it into the pile of miscellaneous items. ........ Beckland, 7 Prestwick Street. Leonard Mitchell sat on the sofa, eyes closed, feet resting on the side table, as if compensating for the entire night of wakefulness with brief periods of sleep. After an indeterminate length of time, he suddenly opened his eyes and spoke softly: 'What's happened? Has there been a confirmed buyer for the true "seed"?'" A slightly elderly voice immediately echoed in his mind: "My presence has been erased—completely, thoroughly erased." "Have you noticed anything?" Leonard pulled his legs back and asked in a steady tone. The elderly voice sighed. "Not yet. Everything ended before I even realized it. If I were in my prime, I might have caught some clues. Unfortunately, I've been weak for many years now." Leonard remained silent for a few seconds, then shook his head. "Then let's just treat it as if it never happened." ........ Above the gray mist, while listening to Emlin's prayers and jotting down information about the magical items, Klein repeatedly examined the gloves known as the "Seed." "Heh," he murmured, smiling to himself, "now my right-hand gloves are also settled." After careful consideration, Caine decided to postpone his immediate attempt to steal the spiritual contamination of the "True Maker" within the "Eye of All Black." He wanted to ensure success and save the opportunity until he could properly administer the "Master of Secret Figures" potion—according to the records of Silver City, even without the gray mist, this approach would be sound, and with the mist, the outcome would be even more secure, regardless of the spiritual contamination left behind by the "True Maker." "The 'Seed' can be used regularly, yes. When needed, simply place money, the watch, and other magical items onto the gray mist, making sure nothing is lost. In fact, even without doing this, it wouldn't matter much—after all, I'm a seer; what could go wrong if something gets misplaced?" He chuckled, "During normal combat, having 'The Thirsty Hunger' in my left hand and 'The Flame' in my right—just thinking about it feels impressive." Kline gathered his thoughts and found that the sequence-5 "Master of Secret Figures" potion preparations were mostly complete, save for two commonly used auxiliary materials. He gave a barely perceptible nod, murmuring silently, "Now all we need is for the 'Faceless Man' potion to be fully absorbed. Then, I'll board the ship of 'The Star General' or 'The Hangman' and sail eastward to the easternmost part of the Sunia Sea to find the mermaids."