After sealing the other half of his soul, Azik looked up at the Angel of Concealment who carried the will of the Evernight Goddess, preparing to thank her, but found that she had left at some unknown point.
Noticing Azik's gaze, Leyton chuckled and said, "She left after returning the other half of your soul to you. Even for her, the gains from this were substantial, and she needs to digest them quickly to convert them into tangible power, rather than a burden."
"Indeed."
After a simple sigh, Azik turned around, placing a hand on Klein's shoulder. Their figures rapidly faded and became transparent, disappearing from the mausoleum.
Leyton's gaze swept around, deep, pale purple light flickering in his eyes, taking in every detail of the mausoleum.
In the depths of the mausoleum, he saw a mixture of dark red bloodstains, greenish slime, and feathers stained with light yellow oil, emitting a strong aura of Death. They were connected to the entire mausoleum, maintaining the strangeness of the place.
"Is this to maintain the chaos of the Berserk Sea? To prevent the God of Combat from temporarily guessing that the Death Uniqueness has been taken?"
"And then, when she's ready, she'll deliberately expose a flaw for the God of Combat to discover, and then initiate a War of the Gods regardless of the consequences..."
After muttering to himself for a few moments, Leyton's body instantly dematerialized, breaking down into complex knowledge, transforming into a pure information stream creature that flowed like a torrent, leaving the area.
On Longtail Island, near the Berserk Sea in the Rorsted Sea, Azik and Klein's figures quickly materialized under a gas streetlamp.
Azik released his hand from Klein's shoulder, rubbed his forehead, and said with a tired expression, "This period of my life is coming to an end. I will soon enter a deep slumber. Before I wake up, if you have any questions, you can consult the Seven Lights of the Spirit World or that Sage from earlier."
"Of course, you can still write to me, but I won't be able to reply until I wake up."
"I understand." Klein nodded heavily, silent for two seconds, then continued, "Mr. Azik, without something to replace the other half of your soul, will your state be affected?"
Azik smiled and said, "It's not a big problem. I've already recovered the other half of my soul. As long as I cleanse its memories and emotions and re-integrate with it, all problems will be resolved."
"However, these things can only be done after I wake up next time. With you, a knowledgeable person, present, I should be able to recall these memories quickly when I wake up again."
As they spoke, an invisible light surged from the Spirit World, reconstructing Leyton's body with complex and pure knowledge.
He looked at Azik and Klein, who were conversing, and chuckled as he reminded them, "The water from the Samaritan Woman's Well is in the underground area of Trier. There's strong corruption there; the higher a Beyonder's level, the stronger the corruption they'll experience."
"Then I can go," Klein immediately said.
Leyton shook his head slightly, chuckling as he began, "That's not the only method. In the world of numbers, memories and emotions are merely precise, complex, and vast data. Deleting certain parts of them can also achieve the effect of cleansing memories and emotions."
"However, I need to become the Knowledge Emperor first. If I were to do something like this now, it would more or less carry some corruption."
Azik listened calmly, then nodded with a smile, "No problem, I'm not lacking that much time. By then, you can find me through my messenger."
He then turned to Klein, handing him the copper whistle used to summon the messenger, and said with a gentle smile, "Alright, it's time to say goodbye. I hope the next time we meet, you won't be asking me for help immediately."
The smile on Azik's lips deepened, as if he was amused by his own joke.
His figure quickly faded, disappearing from Klein's sight in less than a second.
Klein clutched the copper whistle in his hand, staring blankly for a moment, then suddenly sighed softly, "Every journey has an end..."
Leyton shrugged, interrupting his melancholy, "Stop sighing. Do you need me to take you back to the Southern Continent?"
Klein took a breath, resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and nodded gently, "Of course."
Leyton smiled and nodded, bringing his left hand to his mouth and whistling.
Soon, a pumpkin carriage pulled by two giant rats appeared before them. The carriage door opened downwards, transforming into a ramp.
Klein, who had already passed the Faceless stage, almost couldn't maintain his expression. He turned his head to Leyton and grinned, "Did you read pirated fairy tales before?"
"Antu Village Fairy Tales, haven't you heard of them?"
Leyton responded with a chuckle, then stepped directly into the pumpkin carriage.
Klein hesitated on the street for a moment, but eventually got into the pumpkin carriage.
The large door carved from pumpkin closed automatically, and the two rats pulling the carriage quickly began to run. The pumpkin carriage left a pale yellow afterimage on the silent street, then disappeared into the Spirit World.
In the Spirit World Depths, Klein looked out at the rapidly receding color blocks through the grid-patterned glass window, his voice filled with emotion, "When you use Mystical Reenactment, do you not need to follow the original story content?"
Leyton shook his head gently, "Its principle is to draw power from the mystical knowledge one possesses to create magic or witchcraft. The focus is on drawing power, not on reenacting fairy tales."
Klein nodded, half-understanding, then moved past the topic and asked about Azik:
"Why can you only cleanse the memories and emotions in Mr. Azik's other soul after becoming the Knowledge Emperor?"
Leyton sighed, speaking in the lecturing tone of a teacher, "Human memory and emotion are very complex things. They are not only related to the soul, but the physical body also retains some memories and instincts. If you merely cleanse the memories of Mr. Azik's other half of his soul, when he re-integrates, those memories will still return due to stimulation from his physical body."
"Furthermore, he is an Angel, with a very strong spiritual imprint. I can only rely on my own authority to suppress his spirit. Such precise operation requires at least becoming the Knowledge Emperor to ensure his safety."
"I understand." Klein nodded slightly, and then both fell silent.
The two enormous rats pulled the carriage, speeding through the Spirit World, and soon arrived at the Spirit World area corresponding to the Southern Continent.
After dropping Klein off in the capital of the Northern State, Leyton drove the pumpkin carriage away again. He didn't return directly to the Paz River Valley but instead went to Queen Mystic's Dawn first.
On the deck of the Dawn, the pumpkin carriage pulled by two rats burst out of the Spirit World and quickly came to a halt.
As Leyton stepped down from the pumpkin carriage, he heard a familiar, slightly mocking voice:
"Oh, what new breed of rats are these of yours? They can even pull a carriage now?"
Leyton looked up at the figure standing outside the captain's cabin. The person was wearing a dark red coat with rust-gold threads, had long, slightly curly chestnut hair, blue eyes, a high nose bridge, and two neatly trimmed small mustaches above his lips.
It was clearly Roselle, who had already switched to a mechanical body. He seemed very satisfied with this body, which was a one-to-one recreation of his living self, and even raised his hands high, turning around in front of Leyton.
Withdrawing his gaze from the other party, Leyton said softly, "This mechanical puppet is well-made."
"Of course, I personally supervised the Alchemist on the ship to build it."
"Although his skill is not even one percent of what mine once was, it's still pretty good to be able to create such a mechanical body."
Roselle grinned, not forgetting to praise himself. Before Leyton could speak, he reached out and tossed over a strangely styled coronet.
This coronet was formed by many irregular black crystals, with a dark red eye in the center, directly giving a sense of power and strangeness.
"This is the Earl of the Fallen characteristic for the gloves I promised you. The remaining adult Sun bird tail feathers and sacred light stones will take some more time."
Leyton nodded calmly, gripping the strange coronet with his right hand. With a rustling sound, the unique coronet made of black crystals slowly crumbled, turning into tiny specks of light that flowed into the mechanical glove.
A moment later, a dark red gem appeared on the back of the glove, adding a certain weight to the mechanical glove.
Seeing that Leyton had accepted the item, Roselle waved his hand, his tone suddenly becoming authoritative, "Alright, tell me, what do you want to do on the Dawn?"
"I wouldn't have known you were the captain of the Dawn," Leyton murmured, pausing for a second, then continued, "I'd like to invite you to the Paz River Valley in West Balam to serve as a technical expert, to guide the immature Artisans there."
Roselle looked at Leyton with an incredulous expression, "I haven't even revived yet, and you want me to work for you?"
"Not work, but to guide them technically," Leyton explained.
Roselle rolled his eyes, "What's the difference?"
"No salary," Leyton shrugged.
Roselle was speechless for a moment. Although he had a mechanical body, he felt as if his blood pressure was rising.
Silent for two seconds, he composed himself and said, "I'll give you a chance to rephrase."
Leyton thought for a second, then spoke again, "Your old flame is there..."
"Cough cough~, don't say things you shouldn't. Who doesn't know that I..."
Roselle quickly coughed twice, interrupting Leyton's words. Before he could finish, Leyton interrupted him again, "Which page of the diary do you want me to read to Bernadette?"