The Fool’s response rolled through Tony’s ears like wave after wave crashing against the shore.
The world seemed to spin around him, and for a moment his head felt as though it might split apart.
‘His voice alone can have this much impact in the real world?’
Tony gritted his teeth.
‘That’s terrifying…’
Above the gray fog, Kez immediately noticed something was wrong.
Tony’s body had already begun trembling under the pressure.
He severed the crimson connection at once, no longer using the gray fog to communicate directly through Tony’s star.
At the same time, the gold bars on Tony’s altar disappeared.
They materialized in front of Kez above the gray fog, and he immediately sent the Savant potion toward the crimson star representing Tony.
Back in the workshop, just as Tony felt he was reaching the limit of what he could endure, the Fool’s overwhelming voice abruptly vanished.
Every gold bar on the altar had disappeared as well.
In their place stood a transparent crystal vial filled with an icy-blue liquid.
After sending the potion across, Kez touched Tony’s star again, but this time he deliberately avoided channeling the power of the gray fog.
He simply spoke in an ordinary voice.
“This is the Sequence 9 Savant potion. Consume it, and you will become a Beyonder.”
The voice now sounded normally beside Tony’s ear, carrying none of the crushing pressure from before.
Tony finally relaxed.
He looked at the potion on the altar and bowed.
“Thank you for your generosity and your gift.”
At that moment, the crimson star representing Wanda also lit up.
Kez immediately ended his connection with Tony.
…
Elsewhere, Wanda had completed every preparation inside her bedroom.
The Mystery Pryer Beyonder Characteristic rested at the center of the altar as she began reciting the honorific name.
“The Fool that doesn’t belong to this era;
“The Prime Merlinean who commands magic;
“The mysterious sovereign of Beyonder Characteristics…”
“I pray for your…”
Wanda could barely contain her anticipation.
If the ritual succeeded and she received the promised potion, she would finally become a Beyonder herself.
Above the gray fog, Kez touched the crimson star representing Wanda.
Her prayer and the scene surrounding the ritual immediately appeared before him.
“Your prayer is granted.”
Kez collected the Mystery Pryer Beyonder Characteristic from Wanda’s altar.
Before doing anything else, he sent her the hundred thousand dollars’ worth of gold Tony had offered in payment for the information she’d provided during the Tarot Club gathering.
Wanda stared as the strange eyeball vanished and was replaced by neatly arranged gold bars.
Her face lit up.
The Fool truly could receive offerings and bestow objects across an enormous distance.
It was incredible.
…
Above the gray fog, Kez immediately handed the newly acquired Mystery Pryer Characteristic over to the system.
[Sequence 9 Mystery Pryer Beyonder Characteristic recovered.]
[Hermit Pathway activated.]
[Reward obtained: Sequence 9 Mystery Pryer potion.]
Three system notifications appeared in rapid succession.
Unlike the Savant Characteristic, however, this one didn’t come with an additional package of mysticism knowledge.
Kez immediately extracted the Mystery Pryer potion.
Inside the crystal vial was a strange gradient liquid, its color growing progressively darker and more profound toward the center.
He sent it directly toward Wanda.
Back in Sokovia, Wanda had begun wondering why the promised potion hadn’t arrived yet when another object suddenly appeared on the altar.
A crystal vial.
Inside it swirled an otherworldly liquid.
Wanda immediately understood what she was looking at and bowed respectfully.
“Thank you for your generosity and your gift!”
With the exchange completed, Kez severed his connection to Wanda’s crimson star.
…
Tony picked up the Savant potion and studied the icy-blue liquid inside.
Then he pulled out the stopper and drank it without hesitation.
“Huh.”
Tony smacked his lips lightly.
“Actually tastes pretty good.”
The potion flowed through him.
There was no loss of control, no monstrous transformation, and no violent rejection.
Tony Stark successfully became a Sequence 9 Savant.
Almost immediately, he became aware of the changes.
“Recall…”
His eyebrows rose.
“This is practically perfect memory.”
His understanding of subjects such as chemistry, machinery, mechanical structures, gears, and related engineering disciplines had also been strengthened considerably.
Tony’s expression brightened.
“Okay. I need to test this.”
He searched through the workshop and picked out a technical manual for a piece of equipment he had never read before.
Tony rapidly flipped through it, scanning page after page at extraordinary speed.
Then he closed the book and shut his eyes.
Every page resurfaced in his mind.
Every line.
Every diagram.
Even tiny details he would normally have skimmed over could be recalled with remarkable clarity.
Tony knew exactly how good his memory had been before drinking the potion.
It had always been excellent, but nowhere near this absurd.
He absolutely couldn’t have skimmed an unfamiliar technical manual once and then reconstructed virtually the entire thing from memory.
His eyes opened.
“This is only Sequence 9…”
Tony stared at the book in his hand.
“That’s insane.”
There was also an enormous difference between actually consuming the potion and merely carrying the raw Savant Characteristic around.
The Characteristic had made his thoughts clearer and helped bring old knowledge to the surface.
Becoming a Savant made those abilities truly his.
His interest in the Paragon Pathway deepened immediately.
If Sequence 9 could already do this, what would the higher Sequences give him?
…
Sokovia.
Wanda picked up the Mystery Pryer potion and stared at the fantastical liquid swirling within the crystal vial.
She didn’t hesitate.
Wanda removed the stopper and drank the entire potion.
As it was absorbed into her body, she successfully became a Sequence 9 Mystery Pryer.
A flood of rudimentary mysticism knowledge poured directly into her mind.
Magic.
Witchcraft.
Astrology.
Simple ritual magic.
Principles and concepts she had never formally studied suddenly became understandable.
But as that knowledge settled into place, something else responded.
A crimson power that had already been sleeping within Wanda awakened.
Chaos Magic.
Wanda herself had no idea what it truly was.
At the same time, she became aware of one of the Mystery Pryer’s signature abilities.
Eyes of Mystery Prying.
With them, Wanda could observe a target’s Astral Body, Ether Body, and Mental Body, examine details of their spiritual condition, and perceive certain things in the surrounding world that ordinary people could neither see nor, in some cases, were ever meant to see.
Under normal circumstances, the ability couldn’t simply be switched off.
She had also acquired Rapid Ritual, allowing her to perform many forms of ritual magic without relying on most of the usual supplementary materials.
Wanda stood motionless as the newly acquired knowledge settled into her mind.
“This…”
She stared at her hands.
“This is incredible.”
“So this is what it means to be a Beyonder?”
“And this is only Sequence 9…”
Almost instinctively, Wanda raised one hand.
Crimson energy blossomed above her palm.
She could feel power responding to her thoughts with an ease she’d never experienced before.
“I feel like I could manipulate someone’s mind… even create illusions.”
Her breathing quickened with excitement.
“If Sequence 9 is already this powerful, what happens at the higher Sequences?”
“And Sequence 1…”
Wanda’s thoughts inevitably returned to the mysterious figure seated above the gray fog.
‘Then just how powerful is Mr. Fool?’
What Wanda didn’t realize was that the abilities she was experiencing weren’t coming solely from the Mystery Pryer potion.
The potion’s infusion of magical and mystical knowledge had given her the framework she needed to begin unconsciously drawing upon the Chaos Magic that had already awakened within her.
She simply assumed everything she could now do belonged to the Mystery Pryer Pathway.
Without anyone deliberately encouraging it, the Fool’s position in Wanda’s mind rose to an almost immeasurable height.
Meanwhile, the supposedly unfathomable Fool himself—Kez Merlin—was currently examining the new information the system had awarded him for recovering the Mystery Pryer Characteristic.