Chapter 128: Mysteries

Chapter 128: Mysteries

Mo Fei stared at the stranger ahead as he called out the name of his council. Well, he actually decided on the name Lenormand Club from the cards, which he had seen through the memories of Murphy Law, who seemed to use these cards when he was alive back in 1926.

As the three members looked at the mysterious figure sitting on an ancient throne. Their eyes widened at the name of the council echoed. There must be a reason behind it.

The cold voice of the ancient figure froze their expression in an unrecognizable fear.

Silas looked at the man with a mixture of terror and respect for the God sitting before him as he whispered in a deep but low tone. "Why are we called here? And may we know who you are?" His voice sounded almost deliberate, avoiding making the deity mad.

Upon hearing that, Mo Fei remained still for a few seconds. ’I can’t tell them who I am... what should I do?’ Behind the thick pale mist, his expression tensed up.

Forgetting the momentary hesitation, finally he spoke. "You may call me... the Mysteries."

Silas took a few steps back, thinking if he heard it right, but then another thought came into his mind. ’The Mysteries... that sounds ridiculous, but why would He say that? Could there be a meaning behind it? Yes, there must be; my mortal brain can’t comprehend it.’

Avrill stared at the figure and blinked rapidly. ’Mr. Mysteries?’

"As for my nature, I am a Cosmic Jester." Mo Fei closed his eyes. ’What the f**k am I doing? These names are so bad.’

Silas glanced at his hand where the mist curled around him. The word rang in his mind, The Cosmic Jester... ’Could it be that the Mysteries was a sealed deity who happened to get unsealed if that so... I must not pry into Him.’

Zhuo, however, gazed upon Mo Fei’s eyes, which were covered by the thick mist, but a moonlit glow was peeking through it. ’The Mysteries...’

He finally sat down and swallowed softly as he appeared suddenly.

Mo Fei who watched three of them sit down on the chair quietly, he exhaled a long sigh, calculating what to say next.

Just then, a loud hiss echoed throughout the realm. All of their expressions turned alarming as they looked behind the throne where a massive Serpent curled around it and raised its head toward the endless sky. Its golden eyes stared down at the seats beneath.

Mo Fei leaned slightly forward and continued. "Rest assured, my followers, the Divine Serpent is under my gaze; it’ll not harm anyone here." A grin crossed over his face as he realized that he had the Divine Serpent to make his disguise even more convincing.

Zhuo’s eyes widened at the Divine Serpent’s endless length, which curled around the throne tightly as it hissed and looked at them. ’A mythical creature of that scale is nothing but a pet or a guardian to this entity...’

Mo Fei raised his hand, and the realm shook before the table ahead. The members shifted, and the stone split open before a pack of cards came out from the crack. "These are your archetypes. There are some rules you must follow as you have been called out here, and if you don’t do it, then you may have to face extreme consequences."

All of them cocked their heads and listened attentively as if fearing that missing it would result in their immediate erasure.

"Rule one: Secrecy. Whatever you see, whatever you hear, whatever you do in this club must never be spoken about in the outside world."

"Rule two: Equivalent Exchange. Every piece of information, or item you share, must be met with an equal value of exchange. None of you shall receive or give charity here unless it’s an everyday routine thing, like money or food items to help each other out."

"Rule three: Anonymity: All of you must keep your true identity hidden; no one here shall know who you are in the walking world."

With that, he slid his hand in the air as the twelve cards moved across the table toward the first table where Silas sat, and he continued. "Choose your star card. You may address yourself with that name to keep secrecy."

Silas’ heart hammered against his ribs as he slowly lifted his head and pulled a card from the table before flipping it over.

It was a warrior card, which he had never seen before. It wasn’t the tarot card but a Jungian archetype mixed with Lenormand cards. It ha a literal fork in a stone road, where the path abruptly splited into two directions before vanishing into thick mist.

In the center, a large, two-handed executioner’s sword was planted vertically straight down into the exact center point where the roads divided, fracturing the stone beneath it.

He finally whispered his name. "Mr. Courage."

Mo Fei gave him a nod as he leaned back again before the card pack slid toward and stopped near Avrill, who stared at it for longer before her hand grabbed one and flipped it over.

The Sage card.

A slender, robed figure sat cross-legged at the edge of a bottomless cliff. The person held an ancient tome open on their lap, but their head was turned upward, staring completely away from the book and toward the sky. Floating just millimeters above their open, upturned palms was an old-fashioned brass oil lamp. Instead of a normal fire, the lamp burnt with violet flame under the dark sky, brightening the cliff.

"Miss Sage." She said softly before examining the card with curiosity.

The remaining ten cards finally reached Zhuo, who moved his hand toward them but hesitated for a second, yet he still pulled one out from the middle.

He flipped it over as the card depicted the silhouette of an ordinary man standing amidst a massive, faceless crowd under a grey sky. It had a strange type of normalcy, yet looking at it next to a towering, golden-eyed serpent felt deeply unsettling. It was the everyperson archetype—the symbol of the collective, the mundane, and the desire to simply belong without standing out. At the bottom, sharp text read: The Orphan/Everyperson.

He suddenly felt a strange sensation in his chest, as if the card itself understood the restless ambition driving him in the waking world. He looked up, his voice steady despite the overwhelming pressure. "Mr. Commoner." Zhuo announced.

Mo Fei, hidden behind the thick pale mist, maintained his inscrutable posture, though internally he let out a massive sigh of relief. Courage, Sage, and Commoner... ’Thank god they chose cool-sounding names. If someone picked the Jester card, I would have died of embarrassment right here since I’m acting as it, oh wait, I only gave them twelve of the cards, hahah, that’s fine, sigh.’

With a wave of Mo Fei’s hand, the remaining ten cards flew backward, stacking themselves neatly before vanishing into the stone table. The Divine Serpent let out one final, low hiss, settling its massive golden eyes on the three newly christened members of the Lenormand Club.

"Very well." Mo Fei’s cold, echoing voice resonated through the realm, the cosmic Jester firmly holding the strings of the stage. "The seals are set now; let the first exchange begin."

Silas—now Mr. Courage—stared at the card in his palm. He squeezed his fingers around it, trying to mask the tremors in his hands. Equivalent Exchange... Secrecy... Anonymity. The rules echoed in his mind as he glanced sideways. To his right sat a woman whose features were hidden behind mist, looking like a shadow.

​’None of them seem ordinary.’ Silas pondered before swallowing. ’And the entity above us... the Cosmic Jester. The Mysteries. A deity from the epoch before the fog, holding the Divine Serpent as a mere pet... If He demands an exchange, I cannot offer trash. If I displease Him, my soul might never return to my body.’

​Bracing himself, Silas pushed himself from his chair and bowed his head toward the impenetrable cloud of mist resting upon the primary throne.

"Honorable... Mr. Mysteries." Silas began with a humble voice. "As this is our first gathering, allow this humble Courage to initiate the exchange. I possess information regarding a stolen formula—an awakening secret for mid-Ordinal artifacts, tied to the underground steam factions of the lower districts. This is related to a very dangerous place called Bloodborne Sea."

​Behind the thick veil of most, Mo Fei’s heart leaped into his throat after hearing the name of the location.

​’An awakening formula for mid-ordinal artifacts in Bloodborne Sea?!’ Mo Fei screamed internally, his eyes widening behind his stoic facade. ’That’s exactly what I needed! As I’m currently just an Apprentice at Ordinal Ten, I don’t even have a single decent magical item on me that I could use later. If he asks for something of equal value, what the hell do I give him? That’s a bit of an issue if I can’t give him something in return!’

"Ah, continue, Mr. Courage." He spoke, trying to buy something before he could think of anything. ’What can I offer? I have nothing; I don’t even have money to give, argh. That’s messed up. I’m just a fraud, and if I got caught for doing that...