"A Beyonder?" The youth with the broken arm looked with a trace of longing. He asked somewhat incredulously, "You can make me a Beyonder? I've heard that it's no small expense."
"Oh? It seems you have some understanding of Beyonders?" Snow's eyes narrowed slightly. The youth looked at his expression and couldn't help but feel a bit fearful, but he still nodded.
"My father once recruited two Beyonders and intended for me to become one as well. So, I generally know the market rate. Even when the Manswell Gang was still around, gathering enough for a single bottle of potion was enough to exhaust several years of my father's savings..."
'A gang leader's entire net worth was only seven hundred pounds?' Snow grumbled inwardly, but then realized he was taking things for granted. This Manswell Gang was just a small criminal group operating in a slum area, not a true multinational syndicate. Their biggest assets were probably just a few low-end bars. Plus, people of this era generally had no savings; having seven hundred pounds in the bank was already considered quite good.
However, he had no intention of delving deeper into that issue. He simply tapped the edge of the table and spoke in a flat tone, "There is more than one way to obtain supernatural power. Furthermore, the value a Beyonder can provide far exceeds the price tag of a formula and potion. Therefore, you don't need to consider how much I have to pay for it. You only need to consider whether you are willing to wager your life on this. Oh, and by the way, allow me to remind you,since I can make you a Beyonder, I also have the means to ensure you cannot defect. Please include that in your considerations."
The youth frowned, re-evaluating the man before him. He didn't understand why the man had chosen him. If the man went into the streets and pulled someone out,whether a hobo, a thief, a beggar, or even a streetwalker,not to mention becoming a Beyonder, just this table of food alone would be enough for them to give their lives.
But why him?
The youth didn't think he possessed any extraordinary talent. His late father hadn't left him some secret treasure for staging a comeback, nor did he have a loyal crew under his command.
It could be said that at this moment, he was no different from those beggars and hobos.
But he wasn't foolish enough to ask, or perhaps he knew asking would be meaningless anyway.
He remained silent for a moment before nodding, "I wish to become a Beyonder. In exchange, I am willing to offer up my faith."
"Very good!" Snow snapped his fingers, his expression becoming friendlier.
"Now, you can make a choice. I have two paths to Beyonder power. One is the potion advancement that you're familiar with. The other is through receiving a 'Bestowal' through prayer."
"Bestowal?" The youth frowned slightly. He had some understanding of potion advancement and knew the path carried risks like madness and losing control, though he had never actually seen an out-of-control Beyonder. But Bestowal was something he had never heard of.
"It's a supernatural path where the Lord's power is bestowed upon you through a specific ritual. This path doesn't require digesting potions, searching for formulas, or risk of losing control. You only need to continuously purify your spirit through meditation and follow the Lord's teachings to improve your strength."
Snow became excited as he spoke and began to sell the idea fervently.
The youth frowned as he listened. This unheard-of "Bestowal" sounded far superior to the potion system, but that was exactly why it felt so fake.
It was like someone suddenly telling you about an investment project you'd never heard of that could make money, settling every month with a minimum fifty-percent return. Even if you had zero financial knowledge, you'd feel there was something wrong with it, right?
Noticing the youth's expression, Snow Stopped his flattery and spoke with a somewhat somber smile, "The only problem with this path is that once you betray your faith in the Lord, the Lord can reclaim everything from you. Because essentially, this Bestowal is the Lord lending His power to you; naturally, He can take it back at any time."
"I am willing to take the path of Bestowal." Hearing this, the youth immediately made his choice. In all fairness, he would have preferred a potion, but since the other party had put it that way, choosing a potion would have been equivalent to saying "I plan to defect in the future."
"A wise choice," Snow said as he stood up. Before the youth could react, Snow grabbed his swollen, purple-bruised right arm. As his spirituality flowed out, his Beyonder ability activated simultaneously,
'When a person is injured, they slowly recover. This person's injury has been there for some time, so it's about time it healed...'
A massive amount of spirituality poured out frantically. Along with this immense consumption, the youth's arm slowly began to lose its swelling within a few seconds. With a light click, his arm bone returned to its original position. The injury he had endured for three days was actually healed just like that.
In reality, if he had chosen ritual magic, the healing would have consumed far less. However, Snow didn't lack that bit of spirituality, and he wanted to let the youth quickly understand the benefits of Beyonder power.
"This... this is truly miraculous!" The youth's eyes widened. He moved his right arm, his expression a mix of awe and wonder. His impression of Beyonders had stopped at the level of being better fighters. Though those people could use some bizarre abilities, they still bled when injured; his father had arranged for black-market doctors to treat Beyonders on more than one occasion.
"Alright, let's go. I'll teach you some basic knowledge." Snow pulled out his wallet to settle the bill and led the youth toward a safe house he had rented in the East District. As they walked, he asked as if he had just remembered, "By the way, I haven't asked your name yet?"
"My name is Kana. Kana Manswell." The youth gave his name. Snow nodded. "You can call me 'Metatron', 'Crown' of the Sephirot. And from today on, you are 'Gabriel', 'Foundation' of the Sephirot."
"I understand, Mr. Metatron." Kana didn't ask about the specific meaning of the code names; he simply nodded, marking down his new name. To his surprise, however, the Mr. Metatron before him didn't impart any profound knowledge or explain the Lord's teachings and classics. Instead, he handed him a slip of paper with transliterated notes in Loen, written in a language Kana couldn't recognize.
After he followed the instructions and recited the words on the paper, knowledge flooded into his brain.
And he finally understood that what he had just recited was actually the honorable name of a great existence,
"Traveler from a distant space-time; You are the contradictory spiral of logic and wisdom; You are the reflection of knowledge, the reverse side of truth."
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika Kagura]
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A/N: Bestowal (赐予) - A mechanic in LotM where a god grants power directly to a believer, bypassing the need for potions but creating a state of absolute dependence.
A/N: Snow's honorary name - Reflects his unique 'Paradox' pathway and his status as a transmigrator.
T/N: "Metatron" (梅丹佐) and "Gabriel" (加百列) - Snow uses these angelic names as code names for his organization, following the Tree of Life theme. 'Crown' (Kether) and 'Foundation' (Yesod) are the corresponding Sephirot.
T/N: "Black-market doctors" (黑医) - Unlicensed doctors common in the slums.