While Lin Ruo was thinking about how to use his abilities to cause trouble, Klein arrived at the gray fog.
Just like in the original story, Klein met Audrey and Alger in the gray fog and quickly decided to disguise himself as a significant figure in the mysterious realm to gain the upper hand.
He successfully fooled Audrey and Alger, established his title as "The Fool," witnessed their transaction involving the Spectator potion formula, and, at their suggestion, founded the Tarot Club.
Audrey and Alger chose the codenames "Justice" and "The Hanged Man," respectively.
They then discussed topics related to Tarot cards and the Blasphemy Slate, but due to Klein's spiritual exhaustion and headache, the discussion ended quickly when Klein announced the end of the meeting.
After they left, Klein felt himself descending and saw the bright golden sunlight again in less than a second.
He was still standing in the middle of the apartment.
In the full-length mirror not far away, the reflection showed a young man with black hair and black eyes standing quietly, not far from him.
"It seems you failed."
Klein heard the young man say this, which made him smile bitterly. Thinking about the dream-like events in the gray fog, Klein was full of doubts and had an instinctive desire to confide, but he opened his mouth and said nothing.
He dragged his leaden legs to a chair by the table, sat down, and seemed to organize his thoughts. After a few seconds, he said, "After performing the ritual, I entered a mysterious place where I met a mysterious being who called himself 'The Fool.'"
As he said this, Klein's eyes almost instinctively avoided the reflection of Lin Ruo in the mirror.
He didn't plan to tell Lin Ruo about disguising himself as "The Fool" after entering the gray fog.
It was too mysterious, and after all, he had just met Lin Ruo.
Although Lin Ruo had not shown any malice so far, the cautious Klein decided to keep this matter a secret after thinking for a few seconds.
After all, one should not have the intention to harm others, but one must be vigilant. Any sensible adult wouldn't reveal all their secrets to someone they just met.
"I can always apologize later if he finds out," Klein muttered to himself.
Lin Ruo wasn't surprised to hear this. After all, he understood Klein well. Klein wasn't the type to reveal everything to someone he just met.
Understanding Klein's caution, Lin Ruo showed a stunned expression and said, "The Fool?"
"Yes, that's what he called himself," Klein nodded. Perhaps because he had already told the first lie, the second one came more smoothly. "He also holds regular meetings related to the extraordinary realm, and I joined."
Klein didn't plan to hide the regular meetings. After all, he and Lin Ruo didn't know how long they would be bound together, and during this time, the Tarot Club would definitely hold meetings. So instead of hiding it, he decided to pretend to be an ordinary participant, like Justice Audrey and The Hanged Man Alger.
Then he saw a worried expression on Lin Ruo's face.
"You joined?" Lin Ruo said, his worried expression showing no signs of pretense. "That's very dangerous. The extraordinary realm of this world isn't safe. And the one you met called himself 'The Fool'…"
Klein felt a bit guilty but couldn't help asking curiously, "Is there something wrong with the title 'The Fool'?"
He had just picked it randomly from the Tarot cards.
"I don't know how to explain it to you. Do you know about potions and the sequence of gods?" Lin Ruo's expression was slightly conflicted, and he was already thinking about what information to reveal to Klein.
He couldn't involve contamination… but just mentioning the knowledge of Sequence 0 should be fine.
"I've heard a bit, but I don't know much. If humans want to become extraordinary, they seem to have to rely on potions?" Klein recalled what Alger had said and replied.
"That's all you know?" Lin Ruo showed a helpless expression and then said, "Well, you did just cross over."
"Listen carefully, Klein." Lin Ruo, who had already prepared his explanation, said, "In this world, there are 22 pathways in the potion system. Each pathway goes from Sequence 9 to Sequence 0, from low to high, from weak to strong. Sequence 9 is the starting point of each pathway, and Sequence 0 is the endpoint."
He paused for a moment and then said with a slightly complex expression, "However, very few people know about the existence of Sequence 0. In the perception of most extraordinary beings, the starting point of the potion sequence is Sequence 9, and the endpoint is Sequence 1."
"Hmm? Why is that?" Although his head was aching, Klein forced himself to pay attention to Lin Ruo's explanation of potion knowledge.
"Because becoming Sequence 0 means becoming a god!" Lin Ruo said this slowly, with a serious and solemn expression.
Klein was shocked and instantly understood why.
If the endpoint of the potion sequence was becoming a god, the seven major churches wouldn't allow this information to spread widely.
As Klein had once heard, "When a god bleeds, they are no longer a god."
If all extraordinary beings knew that Sequence 0 was also achieved by humans taking potions, it would naturally reduce some of their reverence for the gods, and a small number might even think they could replace them.
Considering the absolute power of the gods and the major churches, this might not cause significant turmoil, but it would still have some negative impact.
Klein's thoughts here were somewhat influenced by his modern mindset. As someone who grew up under the red flag, Klein was an atheist. The first thought he had about the potion pathway helping people become gods was that they could replace the gods.
In reality, even if this information spread, the long-standing reverence and faith in the gods in this world wouldn't cause too severe consequences.
After all, ordinary people and low-sequence extraordinary beings were too far from the gods, and many high-sequence extraordinary beings already knew the secret of Sequence 0.
While understanding why few people knew about Sequence 0, Klein wasn't too surprised by its existence.
As someone who grew up reading web novels, Klein was familiar with the concept of mortals becoming gods through certain means.
He was more concerned about what Lin Ruo's knowledge of this matter implied—that Lin Ruo was not unfamiliar with the extraordinary realm and might even possess many secrets.
After thinking for a moment, Klein couldn't help but ask, "So what's the problem with the title 'The Fool'?"
Then he saw Lin Ruo look at him and heard him say:
"One of the Sequence 0 titles in the 22 pathways is—"
"The Fool!"