All members of the Tarot Club perked up their ears, listening intently to the intelligence The Hermit was about to share.
For Klein, any information about Amon was highly valuable, and being able to hear it without spending a single penny was certainly welcome. He was more than happy for such transactions among the members.
For Derrick, this was extremely important. After all, Amon's true form seemed to be somewhere in the Forsaken Land of the Gods, and the City of Silver could face a threat from Amon at any moment. So he listened carefully, hoping to gain some useful leads.
As for the other members, including Audrey who was paying for this transaction, they were all extremely curious about Amon and eager to obtain corresponding intelligence.
Seeing everyone's attention focused on him, Odis organized his thoughts before speaking, "While gathering information for little Sun, I learned that when a Beyonder of the Marauder Pathway reaches Sequence 2, that is, the level we call Angel, Beyonders of this Pathway can Steal fate!"
Without waiting for anyone to react, he continued explaining, "For example, if such an Angel uses the ability to Steal fate on a certain target, that target will lose their own fate, becoming someone no one recognizes, someone the entire world rejects. Meanwhile, the Angel can assume that person's fate. The victim's friends, family, and children will all treat the Angel as their friend, spouse, or parent. The one whose fate was Stolen can only watch helplessly as all this happens, unable to do anything, because everyone treats them as a stranger. As time passes, eventually no one can even hear their voice anymore, and they would ultimately vanish into obscurity."
Finally, Odis commented, "This is an extremely terrifying and bizarre ability."
Behind the gray fog at the head of the mottled bronze table, Klein thought to himself: 'This ability is bizarre to an excessive degree, but it sounds incredibly powerful.'
When Alger heard The Hermit speak of 'vanishing into obscurity', he suddenly let out a long breath: 'Actually, some people don't even need to have their fates stolen for them to vanish into obscurity...'
Then he thought: 'The most terrifying aspect of this ability is that within a certain group, if others don't know their mate's fate has been stolen, they won't take any precautions against that person. When that person suddenly launches an attack... the consequences are unimaginable.'
Audrey felt the target described by Mr. Hermit was truly pitiful. At the same time, she realized that Beyonder powers at the Angel level were far too powerful, capable even of Stealing fate.
Derrick felt somewhat despondent. During the last gathering, they had already discussed that Amon was at least at the Angel level, meaning he certainly possessed the ability to Steal fate!
'How could such an ability be guarded against? Can it even be defended against?' he lamented inwardly.
Only Fors felt detached from the matter, as if listening to a horror story.
Odis continued, "Another piece of intelligence concerns Amon's history. Earlier, we mentioned that during the Fourth Epoch, the Amon family was a great noble house of the Tudor Empire." He paused, then added, "I can't guarantee that the following information is one hundred percent accurate, but based on some later changes in the Beyonder world, it should be correct..."
"...The five great noble families of the Tudor Empire were Abraham, Antigonus, Amon, Jacob, and Tamara. The ancestor of the Jacob family was also an Angel of the Marauder Pathway. At some point during the Fourth Epoch, Amon stole the fate of that Jacob family ancestor and killed him. So for a long period, Jacob was actually Amon! Some even speculate that Jacob had already been killed by Amon at the very founding of the Tudor Empire. Otherwise, Jacob would have definitely fled far away like Zoroast, and would never have stood in the same camp as Amon. Before the fall of the Tudor Empire, no one discovered this. Of course, it's also possible that some High-Sequence existences did discover it but chose not to reveal it for various reasons. It was only after the empire's collapse, when the Jacob family was being hunted by the Orthodox Churches, that the Churches discovered Jacob had long been replaced by Amon."
Odis was careful not to state this intelligence too definitively. After all, if even the great figures of the Fourth Epoch hadn't noticed at the time, how could a Fifth Epoch herbal shop owner know Amon's secrets?
The hall fell silent once more, because this was simply too terrifying to hear!
On the surface, the Tudor Empire had five Angel families, but in reality, there were only four!
If the Tudor Empire had not fallen, Amon might very well have continued impersonating Jacob...
This revelation gave all members of the Tarot Club a profound understanding of the ability of a Marauder Pathway Angel to Steal fate.
Alger suddenly thought of a somewhat inappropriate analogy: 'One person collecting two salaries...'
Behind the gray fog, Klein, however, noticed an important point... The Hermit had used Zoroast as a contrast to Jacob. Having read the contents of the Card of Blasphemy, he vaguely understood why Amon had replaced and killed Jacob.
Odis continued, "Although no one noticed at the time, people later realized that the vast majority of the Jacob family members died almost overnight. Combined with some discoveries by the Orthodox Churches, it became clear that the Jacob family members had been Parasitized by Amon without any warning, all turning into his avatars."
Just as Fors was about to ask whether the Jacob family members hadn't noticed Amon replacing their family's progenitor, she heard Mr. Hermit's explanation and reconsidered. She wondered if she should distance herself from members of Beyonder families. Being Parasitized by one's own ancestor without any warning was just... too insane!
Audrey also let her thoughts wander: 'This is much like if during a Tarot Club gathering, all the members were suddenly Parasitized by Mr. Fool... No, Mr. Fool is not Amon, He would never do such a thing.'
Derrick felt immense pressure. For a moment, he even suspected that the people of the City of Silver might all have been Parasitized by Amon, becoming his avatars, with only himself remaining normal. But he quickly dismissed the thought: 'If that were really the case, Mr. Fool would certainly have warned me...'
Alger, one of the most knowledgeable among the members, had already grasped the crux of the matter. He asked The Hermit, "Who is this Zoroast you mentioned earlier? And why did he have to hide from Amon?"
Odis did not answer directly, instead, he looked at Audrey and asked, "Do you have a similar question? If I answer this as well, our transaction will conclude here."
Prompted by The Hanged Man's question, Audrey also realized there might be more to the story of Amon killing Jacob. Mr. Hanged Man had framed the question very well, more precisely than she could have expressed it herself.
So she replied, "Yes, Mr. Hermit. Please answer this question as well."
Odis still did not answer immediately. Instead, he addressed the head of the bronze table, "Mr. Fool, please forgive my forthcoming speculation and blasphemy."
Klein smiled faintly, indicating it was nothing, but inwardly, he was already thinking: 'As expected, Amon killed Jacob to seize his Beyonder characteristic!'
Audrey and the others found it strange that The Hermit would ask for Mr. Fool's forgiveness, but then they got thrilled when they figured it was likely that Mr. Hermit's upcoming answer might touch on the level of the divine...
Odis continued, "I have inadvertently obtained some extremely advanced intelligence: for each Pathway, there are only three Sequence 1 characteristics. To become a god, one must collect all three Sequence 1 characteristics."
Alger's hands trembled slightly: 'This really is intelligence about the level of deities!'
He was extremely enthusiastic about collecting such high-level intelligence from the extraordinary world, but apart from the Tarot Club, he had never encountered any place where such information could be heard.
The other members felt as if they were on the verge of grasping something, but what exactly, they couldn't quite articulate.
Odis went on, "The ancestor of the Jacob family was a Sequence 1 Beyonder. Likewise, the ancestor and patriarch of the Zoroast family during the First Solomon Empire and the Second Solomon Empire was also a Sequence 1 Beyonder."
Audrey suddenly realized the answer to her question: 'Amon is also a Sequence 1. So by killing Jacob, he would have two Sequence 1 characteristics!'
Almost everyone present knew that Beyonders of the same Pathway were in competition with each other.
However, Sequence 1 was different from other sequences. For a Sequence 4 aiming to advance to Sequence 3, they need to obtain a Sequence 3 Beyonder characteristic. Their enemies were Sequence 3s.
So for other sequences, the competition was essentially between lower and higher sequences. Moreover, only one characteristic is needed for advancement, meaning a Sequence 4 is not necessarily mortal enemies with every Sequence 3.
At Sequence 1, however, the competition is on the same level. So Sequence 1 Beyonders were definitely mortal enemies!
Fors suddenly slapped her thigh, "Amon wants to become a god!"
The moment she finished speaking, she immediately covered her mouth with her hand: 'This thought is far too blasphemous. How could the deities... Oh my goodness, what am I thinking? When Beyonders reach a sufficiently high level, they become gods?'
Although no one said anything, Fors fell into a state of panic. It was a shattering of values she had held since childhood, or more specifically, her inner understanding of the divine had suddenly collapsed.
Among all the members, the calmest were probably only The World and The Sun. The World was calm because he was just a puppet, while little Sun, who had received a general education in the City of Silver, did not find this particularly surprising.
By now, Alger had also recovered his composure, "During the Fourth Epoch, Amon had already obtained two Sequence 1 characteristics. So in the modern Fifth Epoch, has he already obtained all the Sequence 1 characteristics and became become a god?"
Derrick was somewhat stunned: 'Could the Amon avatar we encountered earlier be the avatar of a god?'