On December 13th, the sky in Roseburg was overcast.
A convoy slowly arrived at the main entrance.
Although the convoy wasn’t grand and the carriage’s decoration wasn’t luxurious, none of the guards at the city gate dared to hinder its path.
Just because of the golden lion head embossed on the pure black carriage.
That was the symbol of Noah’s royal family!
In the front carriage, there sat a middle-aged man with a serious and composed face.
He had black curly hair and dark red eyes. Also, he wore a pair of narrow-rim black square glasses.
The man opened the curtains and glanced outside.
“It’s about to snow, Kafni.” He asked softly with concern, “Are you cold?”
The girl Kafni, who was in the same carriage with him, didn’t respond.
Kafni ignored her father’s words and just painted intently.
She looked only fourteen years old. Her black curly hair had draped to her waist. She wore a beret on her head like a painter.
She only wore a black lace halter dress. Her barefoot was revealed from the hanging boots. She sat securely on the long and soft bench seat. As she put the drawing board on her knees, she concentrated on smearing her artwork.
“—Kafni?” The middle-aged man received no response.
He reached out and grabbed Kafni’s drawing board and pulled it away.
The man asked patiently again, “Are you cold? Do you need more clothes?”
“……”
“…” Kafni just shook her head silently.
Unlike the man, despite her having red pupils, those eyes were like fine translucent glass.
Sometimes, the alluring and mystifying eyes would even make people doubt whether she had a normal vision.
In response to her silence, the man also seemed distressed. It was like the common response parents get when they ask their children or a couple’s banter on “what to eat tonight” and receive the answer “whatever.”
“What do you mean when you shake your head? Is it cold, or you don’t want the extra clothes?” As the man said, he looked down at Kafni’s painting.
Then, he was taken aback.
In Kafni’s painting, it was a lifelike bird with a human face.
Its posture was weird and twisted; its wings seemed to be broken. Each feather had an eye. It opened its feet and ran on the fire, but its feathers showed no signs of being burnt.
The moment the man saw this bizarre painting, a well-disguised fear and disgust flashed in the man’s eyes.
He quickly asked softly, “What is this, Kafni?”
“…Deity.” She whispered, “He wakes me up.”
Her voice was so soft as if it was her muttering during a dream.
When the man heard this answer, he was shocked.
“Don’t say that!” He threw away the painting as if in response to being jolted by an electric shock, stood up, and hurriedly reprimanded.
But, he didn’t dare to teach Kafni a lesson.
Just staring at the clear and scarlet pupils would enshroud him in fear. A tingling sense of horror rose from behind. The man felt the skin peeling off his body without the slightest pain.
He tried his best to suppress the boiling fear in his heart, barely showed a gentle smile, adjusted his glasses, and said softly, “Kafni, we have arrived.
“This isn’t far from the Freezing Water Port. Don’t you want to see Amos Morrison’s paintings? Tomorrow I will take you to the ruins of Morrison’s gallery.”
“No need.” Kafni shook her head lightly without clearly indicating what she meant.
As she said, she silently picked up the painting that was thrown aside and went back to her seat.
She applied black paint vigorously on the picture, almost blacking out the painting entirely.
Although he knew that he shouldn’t talk to Kafni, who was painting, the man couldn’t help but ask after seeing this strange behavior, “Did you draw something wrong?”
“Yes, I made a mistake.” Kafni spoke tenderly like a princess and somehow added more description, “He should have four faces and four wings. I can’t see far enough.
“In front of him is the face of a man, on the right is the face of a lion, on the left is the face of an ox, and behind him is the face of an eagle…”
When she said this, she raised her head and took a serious look at the man, “‘Four’ can represent time in ritual, papa.”
“I don’t understand this. I’m not a Transcended, and I don’t understand what it means.”
The man smiled bitterly and said, “You don’t need to explain it to me. Just draw as you please.”
“En.” Kafni also seemed to lose interest in explaining.
She hummed softly and lowered her head again.
The man just leaned back in the back seat with a pale face. I saw it again.
Every time the man looked at Kafni, he seemed to see boundless darkness and shadowy tentacles under her skirt.
He was also a little confused whether this was some kind of illusion.
Because that might also be the illusion that Kafni’s black lace skirt gave him on the carriage since the skirt was constantly swaying gently.
Who knows? The man rubbed his temples tiredly.
It’s time to rest.
“—Wake up, wake up!” On the other side, Annan heard Salvatore’s calling him.
At the moment when his consciousness returned, system texts appeared in front of Annan.
[You have completed a ritual. Will attribute +1.]
[You see a divine item with your own eye. Your erosion rate has returned to zero.]
[You have acquired the new mark “Advanced Influence: Remnants of the Wheel of Divine Transporter.”]
[If it isn’t removed in time, you will fall into a random nightmare (Difficulty: Chaos) with the keyword “brilliance” after seven days.]
“Don Juan? Are you awake?”
It seemed that Annan’s eyelids were moving. Salvatore’s voice had a hint of pleasant surprise, “Don Juan?”
“…En.” Annan opened his eyes and found that he was lying on the bed, wrapped in two layers of quilt.
For some reason, he felt that his quilt was stuffed with many warm glass bottles.
Are these warm water bags?
Weird thoughts flashed through Annan’s mind.
Salvatore breathed a sigh of relief, stood up and drank a few sips of water, and complained, “I wanted to leave you some private space, but I didn’t expect you to fall asleep in front of the mirror. Did you take the mirror to see something else? How did you faint?
“Do you know how cold that place is? This winter suit itself doesn’t fit you well, and lying on the ground can’t protect you from the cold. The most terrible thing is that you have a peaceful face lying on the ground. When I saw you, it frightened me.”
Annan asked suddenly, “Senior, how long have I fainted?”
“More than an hour. Please don’t interrupt me! I never expected that the elixir I crafted would be used in such a situation.”
Salvatore felt bitter, “What did you see? How could you still pass out? Can this mirror hurt people? Here, drink some hot water. How are you now?”
“No, it’s not a problem with the mirror. I fainted for other reasons.” Annan shook his head, took the cup of hot water, and took a sip.
What Annan said wasn’t a lie.
It was true that he fainted not because of a problem with the mirror. It might be a problem with the Book of Divine Transporter.
“As for how I am feeling right now…” Annan’s expression was a little weird, “I think I’m in a great state. I think it should be because of the elixir.”
Annan found his mind clear with strong vigor in his body. It felt comfortable. After he came into this world, he had never felt so relaxed. To describe it, it was like a person who was in the rain for a long time finally put on warm and dry clothes after taking a shower.
But even Annan didn’t know if it was really because of the elixir.
Or perhaps it was because of seeing another Annan in the mirror.