Don returned to the castle and found Owen tinkering with his new mystical item.
"Owen, I need your help."
Owen set down the armored gauntlet he was examining, looking puzzled. "What's happened? This isn't like you, Don—so flustered."
"No time to explain. Take me through a spirit world traversal to Tingen." Walking or taking a carriage would be too slow. Don took a deep breath and said gravely, "There's likely a Sequence 2sealed artifact out of control there."
"Pfft—" Owen nearly choked, coughing several times before regaining his composure. His expression darkened immediately. "Sequence 2? You're sure?"
"Almost certainly. Hurry, Owen—that mystical item you're holding has spirit world traversal capabilities."
"If we don't move fast, countless ordinary people might become part of that sealed artifact."
Without further explanation, Don urged Owen on while pulling up precise coordinates from the System to display before him.
The System was monitoring the situation, but from what could be seen, things had already escalated dangerously.
"The audience keeps cheering for miracles—that's probably the final cry of a deceased Miracle Invoker's lingering Beyonder characteristic. It's an obsession, some kind of insane spiritual imprint within the potion itself, a form of ravings, or perhaps something even more profound."
When Olson described the scene, Don's intuition had been triggered.
Countless marionettes, deformed monsters, a towering dome, boundless space, and Beyonders constantly being selected to perform miracles on stage—it was like a performance that would never end.
Through dream divination, Don consulted his spirituality, and a term abruptly surfaced in his mind.
It was a sealed artifact that had only been mentioned by name in the original work—a Grade 0 sealed artifact controlled by the Church of the Lord of Storms: "0-32, Theater With Curtains That Never Draw"
It had emerged during the War of the Four Emperors, a terrifying sealed artifact formed from the Beyonder characteristics of a fallen Miracle Invoker.
[Specific description: Unknown.
Specific abilities: Unknown.
Specific sealing method: Unknown.]
The System's current energy reserves and sequence level made precise positioning and information verification extremely difficult. Any attempt would likely be completely negated by the Miracle Master-level suppression.
"The Churches of the Evernight Goddess, the Lord of Storms, and the God of Craftsmanship in Tingen don't have high-sequence Beyonders stationed there. If they have to transfer someone from Backlund, then most likely..."
Worst-case scenario: all of Tingen would be assimilated into the sealed artifact, becoming part of it... before being destroyed along with the entire city by the churches.
Of course, this wasn't absolutely certain. It might be a Miracle Invoker digesting their potion, or another Beyonder attempting an advancement ritual. But according to the System's calculations, the latter two possibilities were extremely unlikely.
Even if it were one of those scenarios, or something else entirely, any Miracle Invoker or advancing Beyonder who would drag so many ordinary people into becoming marionettes, killing so many as part of their ritual—Don didn't believe such a person would stop.
At that moment, Owen—now fully armored—suddenly reached out and grabbed Don.
Without another word, he pulled Don into the Spirit world.
Around them, red, white, and multicolored blocks of light appeared like randomly splashed oil paints, dense and chaotic to the extreme.
The mystical spirit world was a special space without direction or distance, composed entirely of various symbolic representations made tangible.
Above them stretched an infinite expanse where seven beams of pristine light in different colors shimmered, each containing boundless knowledge. And beyond that...
Owen moved somewhat unsteadily through the Spirit World with Don in tow.
When they reappeared, they were in Tingen—though still some distance from the circus tent Don had visited earlier.
Don said nothing. He blew on a brass whistle, and bones erupted from the ground, piling atop one another to form a skeleton with black flames burning in its eye sockets.
The skeletal messenger stared levelly at Don, who handed it a pre-written letter. Without waiting for the messenger to leave, Don immediately turned to Owen.
He had notified their father, but additional safeguards were needed.
"The situation inside is probably complicated, Owen. Stay out here—if things go badly, inform the churches immediately."
If he couldn't resolve this, he could only pray the orthodox churches could deal with the sealed artifact quickly.
"You don't have to go in," Owen said quietly. "Just notify the churches. Let them send high-sequence Beyonders. At worst, some people will die—it won't affect us. There's no need to take this risk."
Though the brothers often bickered, Owen genuinely worried for Don's safety.
"That's likely a Sequence 2 artifact from the Seer pathway," Don said solemnly, locking eyes with Owen. "This is a rare opportunity. I have to try."
From the moment he realized this might be a high-sequence Seer pathway artifact formed during the War of the Four Emperors, Don had already made up his mind.
With the System's help, he could separate out at least one set of potion ingredients from Sequence 2 down to Sequence 9 from those high-sequence characteristics. This meant that if he could obtain this sealed artifact—as long as his ritual was correct, he could digest the potion and identify the supplementary ingredients—he wouldn't need to worry about finding main ingredients.
Given enough time and no other dangers, he would inevitably become a Sequence 2 Miracle Invoker. This would save enormous effort in searching for potion ingredients.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
And in the future, he probably wouldn't encounter such serendipitous fortune again.
In this era, weakness meant his future would be fraught with peril.
Hearing this, Owen couldn't think of any words to dissuade him.
Sequence 2...
Don smiled slightly. "Don't think I'm going in unprepared. If this were truly impossible, I'd never take the risk. After all, a magician never performs without preparation."
He had the System—this thing likely originating from some... existence above even true deities. That was his ultimate trump card.
[Sniff... Host, I'm so touched.] The System pretended to weep.
'Can I trust you on this?' Don thought inwardly.
[Of course! Then... then will you choose Mysticologist/Alchemist?]
Don: "..."
We can still be friends if we don't talk about this.
The System: [Hehe.]
Don looked toward the domed structure in the distance. 'How about you go fight that sealed artifact head-on? If you win, I'll switch pathways.'
The System: [...No hehe.]
Just then, a figure came stumbling toward them from afar.
Olson looked utterly disheveled. His eyes lit up when he saw Don.
Not bothering with the bloodstains on his clothes, he ran over.
"Don! Don! Thank goodness I found you here!"
Tears streamed down Olson's face—until a certain armored individual grabbed him by the collar, holding him aloft before he could embrace Don and sob.
"Olson, what's the situation inside?"
(Chapter End)