Tarnished Who Wants to Save His Wife: By the way, Mr. Otto, if I remember correctly, your world has weapons called Divine Keys, right?
Otto Apocalypse: That's correct, my friend. Do you require the assistance of a Divine Key? I could send you a few.
To Otto, not every Divine Key was particularly important.
Aside from the First Divine Key — Void Archives, the Second Divine Key — Cosmic Juggernaut, the Sixth Divine Key — Abyss Flower, and the Eleventh Divine Key — Oath of Judah, the rest could be given away without much concern.
Doing so would also earn him a useful favor.
Tarnished Who Wants to Save His Wife: No, that's not what I meant. What I meant was—if there were items conceptually similar to Divine Keys, would you be able to replicate them in large quantities?
He had actually thought about this long ago.
The moment he saw Divine Keys and Herrscher Cores listed in the shop, the idea had already occurred to him.
Because the descriptions and functions of those items felt somewhat similar to certain conceptual weapons or laws that existed in the Lands Between.
Unfortunately, he didn't have many such items on hand.
So he wanted Otto to try replicating some.
Take the Unalloyed Gold Needle, for example. He only had a few dozen of them in his backpack.
Whether that would even be enough for his plan was uncertain.
This request was also a form of probing.
Or perhaps an invitation toward deeper cooperation.
Otto Apocalypse: I'm sorry, my friend, but I'm afraid I cannot assist you with that. Replicating weapons on the level of Divine Keys is impossible to do perfectly—even if we were to mobilize all the resources of Schicksal.
On this point, Otto was not lying.
Even with Void Archives, a Divine Key capable of simulating other Divine Keys, he still couldn't reproduce them perfectly.
Take the Blank Key, for example.
Even now, the best he could do was create divine-killing armor based on its principles.
It was nowhere near the original.
Tarnished Who Wants to Save His Wife: I see. Then never mind.
Reading the message, he had no choice but to give up.
"Looks like I'll have to buy them from the shop…"
But the shop's prices were outrageous.
A single Unalloyed Gold Needle cost one hundred thousand points.
The advanced version—the Miquella's Needle—cost five hundred thousand.
Looks like he'd have to find a way to earn a huge amount of points.
Still…
Miquella's Needle?
Did something like that even exist in the Lands Between?
As someone who had already lived through more than six hundred cycles as Elden Lord, he had never seen such a thing.
Even inside the giant cocoon in the Mohgwyn Dynasty, he had never once seen the so-called Miquella's Needle.
According to the history of the Shattering War, the needle Malenia removed when unleashing the Scarlet Rot was the same one he currently possessed.
And when he defeated the Valkyrie, he hadn't found any additional needles on her body.
Just as he was wondering where in the Lands Between this mysterious needle might exist, the chat suddenly buzzed again.
Chika Fujiwara: @Tarnished Who Wants to Save His Wife Mr. Tarnished, is there anything I can help you with?
Her enthusiasm came partly from her kind personality.
But mostly because she was bored out of her mind.
Watching the ongoing romantic comedy between Kaguya and the Student Council President was entertaining enough.
But stories about other worlds were far more interesting.
Tarnished Who Wants to Save His Wife: Actually, there is something I'd like your help with, Miss Fujiwara.
Chika Fujiwara: Really?! That's great! Go ahead and ask—if I know the answer, I'll definitely tell you!
Tarnished Who Wants to Save His Wife: It's about that Book of the Dead. What exactly are the spells recorded near the end? I can't understand a single one of them.
Chika Fujiwara: Oh, that book… If I remember correctly, most of it talks about the Great Old Ones and Outer Gods. The spells at the end should be used to summon those deities.
Chika Fujiwara: For someone like you, Mr. Tarnished… they probably won't be very useful.
Not only useless.
Some of them might even cause trouble.
Yes—especially you, the king of mischief: Nyarlathotep.
Tarnished Who Wants to Save His Wife: I see. Understood.
Chika Fujiwara: Wait, wait! Actually, there's one that might be useful for you—if the spell is real.
Even Chika Fujiwara couldn't be completely certain.
Although the group contained many myths she recognized, there were still noticeable differences.
And the Cthulhu Mythos itself had never been definitively proven real.
Tarnished Who Wants to Save His Wife: Alright. Please tell me. I'll write it down.
Chika Fujiwara: This spell is a form of divine invocation. It summons one of the Three Pillar Gods—the All-in-One, Yog-Sothoth…
In the following messages, he carefully recorded every word of the spell that Chika recited.
Still…
"All-in-One…"
Why did that sound somewhat similar to the Crucible, the primordial form of the Erdtree where all life once blended together?
Standing before the staircase, the Tarnished tilted his head slightly before shaking it.
"Impossible. I'm probably overthinking it."
Chika Fujiwara: Oh, and remember—Yog-Sothoth will be summoned onto a specially constructed stone tower. The tower must be built in an open area, under a clear sky with no clouds. The tower itself must be at least ten yards tall. You'll also need a living sacrifice. After the summoning succeeds… do not look directly at it.
Tarnished Who Wants to Save His Wife: Got it. I've written it down. Thank you, Miss Fujiwara.
Whether it would actually be useful or not didn't matter.
Better to record it just in case.
As for sacrifices…
There were plenty of those.
The Siofra River.
Dominula, Windmill Village.
If those weren't enough…
He could always offer up a Godskin Noble.
Tarnished Who Wants to Save His Wife: As thanks, I'll start a livestream.
[Group Notice: Livestream has started.]
Chika Fujiwara: Yay!
Seeing the message appear, the Tarnished couldn't help smiling slightly.
Hopefully the appearance of the Two Fingers wouldn't traumatize the poor girl.
With that thought, he stepped forward.
One step at a time, he ascended the staircase.
Passing through the narrow opening of the door, he entered a chapel-like chamber.
The candles scattered across the floor were the only source of light in the dim room.
Beside the Two Fingers stood a strange platform—half table, half chair.
Sitting atop it was an old woman.
Her eye sockets were sunken so deeply that her eyes couldn't be seen at all—like dark, empty hollows.
Her wrinkled face was withered by age.
Her arms were thin and skeletal… no, more accurately, nothing but skin and bone.
Yet despite her frailty, she still held a ceremonial staff in her hands.
Her ragged clothing draped over her hunched body.
Just by looking at her, it was impossible to tell how many years she had lived.
Her age was likely greater than everyone in the Roundtable Hold combined.
This old woman was the interpreter of the Two Fingers—
Finger Reader Enia.
As if she had sensed his gaze, Enia slowly turned her head toward him.
Her bark-like face trembled slightly, almost as if she were excited.
"…Ah… ah… I never expected… that after so long, the Roundtable Hold would finally welcome such a powerful Tarnished…"
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