"We can't leave by defeating the creatures here."
The white-haired old man in a flaxen robe sighed softly.
Beside him, a young woman pressed her lips together, her face as pale as paper. Prolonged mental strain had left her physically exhausted.
She was only a Sequence 7. If her name was called, death would be the best outcome she could hope for.
"Is there really… no way out?" she couldn't help but ask the old man beside her. "Is there truly no way?"
"You've seen it for yourself," the old man shook his head, his eyes reflecting the weariness of a life nearing its end. "That man earlier was a demigod of the Secret Suppliant pathway. Even he couldn't escape this place. For us, it'll be even harder."
"But…" the woman murmured, "someone has already left."
The first one—the man who said he needed to attend a 'magic performance.'
He was a member of the Abraham family.
"Perhaps there are other ways, but…" The old man trailed off, sighing helplessly once more.
---
The play continued.
Tang propped his chin on his hand, watching the stage as his charcoal pencil scribbled something.
"Next, let us welcome…"
After yet another Beyonder lost their life—only to revive moments later in the audience seats—the flamboyant magician reappeared, raising his top hat high.
"Mr. Christian Ferreira."
Don rolled up the parchment in his hand and stood.
[Corresponding knowledge fragments deducted. Remaining knowledge fragments: 8,915.]
Exchanging knowledge of the steam engine had cost him a thousand fragments, and masking his name through the system had taken another hundred.
After all, he wasn't keen on clashing with the Church immediately after reclaiming this Miracle Invoker's Beyonder characteristic. Spending some knowledge fragments to obscure his name from the spirit world's perspective was a necessary precaution.
With the combined interference of a Faceless's abilities and the system, even the most skilled diviners would struggle to uncover his true identity after he left this place.
Tang pretended to be under the control of the dangling spirit threads above, stepping forward.
His gaze remained fixed ahead until he reached the magician, where he lowered his voice and said, "I need to prepare for a magic performance."
It was like flipping a switch.
In truth, ever since Don had entered this place, many had tried using this method to buy time, hoping for a chance at salvation. But all of them had met even more gruesome deaths.
So, his actions didn't surprise anyone.
Given the experience of those present, this Beyonder attempting to challenge the 'magic performance' would likely die horribly on stage within ten minutes.
No one held high hopes for Don—except the magician, who beamed at him with a wide grin.
Then, the world shifted.
The surrounding applause vanished, replaced by the hollow silence of an empty magic stage. The magician bowed to him.
"You have thirty minutes to prepare."
Don tilted his head. "Can I have some magic props?"
"Of course," the magician replied. "But the structure can't be too intricate."
[Oh ho! It's learned its lesson!]
The System whooped in his mind.
'Probably scared stiff by Olsen's 'miracle,'' Tang mused.
Though that industrial marvel had also provided an unusual boost to the Miracle Invoker's power, the initial cost had been far from trivial.
The entire theater had nearly been weakened, its accumulated miracles almost entirely depleted.
If he were that sealed artifact, he wouldn't make the same mistake twice either.
"Of course… as long as the structure isn't too complex, right?" Don repeated.
The magician frowned slightly, his exaggerated mask flickering with something unreadable, but he nodded.
Don smiled in relief.
He handed over the notes he'd been scribbling to the magician, who took them and grinned widely upon seeing the contents.
"No problem."
A snap of his fingers.
A sealed, cube-shaped box appeared before Tang and the magician.
"Now, if you'd please—fill it with water," Don said coolly, standing to the side. "I'll show you the miracle I intend to create."
For Beyonders, there were many forms of performance—magic shows among them.
But for those not of the Seer pathway, tricks like 'deceiving the senses' or 'defying the impossible'—hallmarks of magic performances—were rarely something they could master in half an hour.
Especially when the audience they had to fool was a Sequence 2 Miracle Invoker.
Though the magician provided props, they were strictly non-mystical. For Beyonders long steeped in the supernatural, this was more of a hindrance than a help.
People had blind spots in their thinking. Those who lived on the edges of the extraordinary world rarely paid attention to the mundane. When faced with a problem, their first instinct was to solve it through mysticism, overlooking other angles.
Thus, for most who attempted the magic performance, failure was inevitable.
But Olsen was different.
The steam engine—a miracle ahead of its time—had directly fulfilled the essence of 'miracle' itself. It wasn't just a performance tailored to 'magic tricks.' Otherwise, even if Olsen had passed the magic show, he'd still be trapped here.
To leave this place unscathed, one had to fulfill the 'miracle' befitting a Miracle Invoker.
"Add water. Yes, raise the temperature. Now pump in air… That's right, a little more."
At some point, a hammer had appeared in Don's hand.
Dark gold in hue and the length of a forearm, the hammer exuded a solemn dignity. The magician tilted his head slightly upon seeing it, as if surprised.
[Item Information: Golden Hammer, Silver Hammer.]
[A mystical item provided by the System. Its power scales with the strength of the 'Artisan' module.]
[Abilities: The Golden Hammer can temporarily enhance a physical/mystical property of any object it strikes. The Silver Hammer can temporarily weaken a physical/mystical property of any object it strikes.]
[Side Effect: 100 knowledge fragments per hour.]
"Don't stop. More air."
Don stood before the airtight iron box, hammer poised.
The magician continued generating air inside the container. As the temperature rose and pressure mounted, the box began to bulge outward like an overinflated ball.
"A box that doesn't deform or break is a mystical concept. The magician wouldn't provide that."
Watching the iron box on the verge of bursting, Don swung the hammer down.
"Let's give you a buff."
The box instantly shrank back to its original form.
The Golden Hammer had bestowed upon it a mystical property—for the duration of the hammer's effect, it would remain 'indestructible and immune to deformation.'
"I wonder… can a Miracle Invoker handcraft a nuclear bomb?"
Don mused with amusement.
(End of Chapter)