038: Within the Theater
Would the Cthulhu Mythos also be recognized as a segment of returning history?
Don looked up at the sky. The originally brilliant afternoon sunlight remained, but beneath the blue sky and white clouds, the tranquil and humorous colors were replaced by deep black, as if day had instantly transformed into night.
Beneath the enormous, seemingly infinitely high dome was boundless darkness formed by the complete fusion of various twisted knowledge and darkness. Countless star-like objects brilliantly adorned that silently unfolding enormous curtain, quiet and peaceful, yet revealing terror, distortion, and eeriness from within the shadows.
"It's like gazing into the abyss, and the abyss is gazing back in return," Don tugged at the corner of his mouth.
These countless 'stars' based on mysticism symbols represented higher-level powers, influencing the power possessed by this Sealed Artifact itself, enhancing 'concealment' and blocking the Spirit World and various extraordinary powers from any external worlds.
He sensed slightly, and under the shroud of the curtain, he could no longer seek answers from the Spirit World through divination.
The Spirit World was isolated, similar to the situation when entering the uncollected 'Theater With Curtains That Never Draw' before, severing the connection between inside and outside, similar to the simple divine kingdom that only a Sequence 1 Attendant of Mysteries could create.
However, the dome curtain mixed with various mysterious powers should have even stronger isolation. This should not compare to the Gray Fog and the Evernight Goddess, but would be stronger than other Beyonders who were relatively skilled at creating similar domains.
"It should be able to isolate Mr. Door's ravings... emm, tonight I'll pull Olsen in to try it and then I'll know."
Don withdrew his gaze. After being shrouded by the enormous curtain, all natural light around disappeared without a trace.
Along with this, he seemed to have been transported into a strange space.
The moment the black box in his hand was opened, the box transformed into dots of starlight and dissipated formlessly, merging into the surroundings.
The sensation beneath his feet was not the muddy unevenness of the mountain forest, but a soft touch. This seemed to be a blanket, or possibly some monster's skin.
Darkness—absolute darkness and silence surrounded him.
The theater opened, but it wasn't as Don had imagined, with cheers and applause surrounding him, but rather deathly silence.
It was as if all the marionettes had fallen into a standby state, with no one activated, naturally there would be no sounds of applause and cheers.
However, in this environment, Don felt his Diviner intuition was frantically triggered. Even without the marionettes' shouting, they should be hidden in the shadows. In that darkness, countless gazes were cast toward him, seemingly observing, seemingly contemplating.
The theater's core was 'alive.' Although it had been optimized by the system, this characteristic had obviously not been obliterated.
Don moved his hand, and the ring on his left pinky finger lit up with a faint glow, dispelling the surrounding gloom.
The light quickly illuminated Don's surroundings.
An exquisite cane appeared not far to his left front.
[Currently appraising, automatically consumed one appraisal attempt, remaining appraisal attempts: 33 times.]
[Host, this item is a Sealed Artifact composed of the Beyonder Characteristic of a Sequence 4 Bizarro Sorcerer from the 'Seer' pathway + the Beyonder Characteristic of a Sequence 5 Winner from the 'Monster' pathway.]
Don raised an eyebrow.
This should be the product formed after that Bizarro Sorcerer who was completely driven to madness and death by his 'Knowledge Pursues Man' combined with the cane called 'A Moment's Luck' in his hand.
What kind of Sealed Artifact was specifically formed—Don flipped through the appraisal report given by the system, then stepped forward to grasp the cane and threw it into the system inventory.
The light source shifted with Don's movements. Countless darkness shrouded the surroundings, with seemingly more terrifying monsters hidden beneath the darkness, but Don showed no fear whatsoever, following the guidance of his Diviner intuition as he walked forward.
The originally spacious stage seemed to have condensed. Don walked just a few steps before reaching the edge of the stage. The bright light illuminated marionettes sitting in the audience seats one by one.
The light couldn't illuminate all the marionettes. The reflected light made them appear even more eerie and terrifying. Those seemingly endless marionettes extending along the stairs leading to unknown realms were all exquisitely crafted without exception, wearing smiles on their faces, eyes looking straight ahead, possessing breath and body temperature, like the most expensive realistic dolls. But Don was very clear that these were genuinely real living people.
However, they wouldn't move by themselves, wouldn't speak by themselves, eat, or sleep. All physiological phenomena originated from the puppeteer behind the scenes.
After seeing these lifelike marionettes, the lights on the stage suddenly blazed.
On the enormous stage, a magician wearing a top hat and fitted red suit stood quietly there, silently gazing in Don's direction.
Don met his gaze. After a long while, the magician bowed toward Don.
The ring was heating up, with spirituality frantically pouring into it. At this moment, his will seemed to soar above the entire theater, overlooking the enormous toy 'house-playing game' before him.
"Cheer! Rejoice! Miracles happen here! The greatest miracle of this epoch—"
"The curtain rises!"
---
After roughly surveying the Theater With Curtains That Never Draw, Don looked again at the ordinary people here, preparing to release them from their marionette state.
After removing the historical projections, the number of ordinary marionettes in the theater had also reached an astonishing level, truly staggering.
"However, they don't have much use, they can only purely serve as atmosphere, shouting slogans."
The War of Four Emperors was more than two hundred years ago. During this period, the 'Theater With Curtains That Never Draw' might have devoured enough ordinary people, converting them into its own marionettes. Of course, this also included Beyonders, whether actively or passively—mid and low-sequence Beyonders were also quite numerous.
It was hard to imagine how much wealth he could accumulate by killing them all, extracting their Beyonder Characteristics, and then selling them.
"However, there's still another problem..."
The theater's core was hiding from him.
Through the ring's connection, he could clearly sense that there was another consciousness capable of 'thinking' within this theater, able to drift among countless marionettes and quietly observe him. But when Don looked over, that consciousness would quickly transfer its position.
"Looks like it was scared quite badly." Clearly suffering from PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder).
The theater's core now completely ignored him, with an attitude of 'whatever you want to do, do it, however you want to handle it, handle it,' completely refusing to communicate with him face to face.
However, this instead gave him sufficient authority.
As the theater's manager, it wasn't excessive for Don to take a few marionettes for himself, right?
Apart from the Beyonder Characteristics to be returned to Olsen and the Abraham family members who had wandered in or been caught up during the War of Four Emperors period, Don also found two Traveler marionettes.
Having the theater disconnect its manipulation of the Spirit Body Threads, then Don connected them, and the marionettes changed owners.
This was much more pleasant than the tedious work of going outside to find Beyonders to string up.
Don looked at the marionettes here, his face showing kindness.
This role-playing game—even if he used one and threw one away in the future, it wouldn't be... ah, it would still be somewhat wasteful.
(End of Chapter)