Mystery: Lucky One

Roy King didn't respond. Alice felt that if he bent down further, his head would almost touch the ground. She praised him:
“As expected of a Beyonder, your body is so flexible.

"I wish I had this much flexibility when I took the sit-and-reach test."

Roy King didn't understand, but he roughly realized that he could stand up, so he stood up and asked:

"Sit...what?"

"Not important," Alice waved her hand, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Please ask." Roy King asked casually.

"I don't know many Beyonders of the Destiny Path," Alice rambled, "I think you know more than me, especially those in the middle and low series. Can you tell me if they are all like you... um, able to see the situation clearly?"

Roy King did not hesitate. He drew the “∞” symbol on his chest again and started talking:

"As followers of destiny, it is essential for us to be able to see clearly the future direction of destiny. If we cannot do this, it means we are not worthy of walking on this path."

...Does it mean that those who can't see clearly are dead?
Alice held her forehead and decided to do something else to disrupt Roy King's state:
“You know what? I once made a suggestion to The Fool… Oh, you know The Fool, right? He was quite famous for a while, and everyone was looking for Him… Even my other follower, Kuroyoru, pretended to look for Him.”

Roy King nodded subconsciously, but got stuck when he heard the last sentence. A trace of confusion flashed in his eyes, and then he carefully restrained himself.

Alice ignored him, smiled and continued:

"I once suggested to the Fool... well, the code of the telegraph machine. I suggested using the middle finger of the left hand to represent long waves and the middle finger of the right hand to represent short waves. When his followers meet, they can use this gesture to 'Praise the Fool'..."

Roy King swallowed with a gulp.

Alice blinked her eyes and continued as if she hadn’t seen anything:

“I suggested that The Fool use this as a prayer gesture, but The Fool and his followers firmly rejected me. I was very sad at the time.

"Tell me, can my followers use this to make a prayer gesture in the future? Just change the prayer to 'Praise the Fate'..."

"..." Roy King took a deep breath and gave a stiff smile.

Alice raised her chin, squinted her eyes and asked, "Why? Do you have any objections?"

Roy King's smile seemed to be frozen on his face. He smiled motionlessly and said:

"No, of course not, I think your idea is brilliant!
"But such a unique gesture should probably be used in large prayer ceremonies involving our members, while regular prayers should be more concise.

"Perhaps you would like to think of a more concise gesture?"

Alice was shocked. She stared at Roy King in amazement and murmured, "You really are... You can even brag about this?"

This time, Roy King managed to choke.

His expression made Alice burst out laughing on the spot. Alice, with her eyes bent with laughter, suddenly said to Roy King:
"Guess... Well, guess what the Fool's Follower thought of my suggestion at that time?"

Roy King hesitated, frowned, and seemed to be thinking, but he didn't give an answer for a long time, so Alice said:

"He didn't actually say anything, but judging by his usual attitude towards me, if he had opened his mouth, he would have definitely called me sick."

Roy Jin's expression successfully became confused. He seemed unable to understand this kind of relationship. Finally, he just said dryly:
"You are so kind-hearted. I mean, you are such a kind prince."

'No,' retorted Alice, 'I cursed back, every time.'

Roy King shut up.

As early as when he was gathering information, he had heard some rumors about Miss Destiny and learned that the being he called Her Majesty might have a rather unusual behavior.

But no matter what, Miss Fate's behavior did not deviate from the scope of an angel. It's not that She has never lost her temper. Roy King once heard that She choked a Sequence 5 warrior to death, which was consistent with his few impressions of angels.

——Like a mortal, but if you really treat Him as a mortal, you will probably be dead.

But scolding back... ?
Not to mention the angels, Roy King believed that even if he pointed at a Sequence 4 Saint and called him insane, it would not be as simple as just being scolded back.

Maybe it’s because I never cursed?

Roy King began to wonder if he had done something wrong in the past.

Alice, who hadn't received an answer for a long time, blinked and said:

"Why don't you speak?"

Roy King was silent for a moment, then told the truth: "I wonder how my teacher would handle it if I called him sick in the past."

"Your teacher?" Alice blinked.

"Member Rejord of the School of Life," Roy King introduced. "I heard that he has returned to the embrace of destiny."

Alice was silent for a moment and then said frankly:
"Yes, that's right.

"I brought it back myself."

Roy King was clearly stunned for a moment. He seemed to have something to say. Many emotions flashed in his eyes, but in the end he just gave a calm reply:

"It was his honor."

Alice groaned and said in disappointment, "That's it?"

Roy King shook his head and said:

"I think you are probably wondering why I don't avenge my teacher? I must admit that my teacher is at least more important to me than Charlie and my student.

“However, since the teacher is dead, it means that our fate probably ends here.

"And like before, when you mentioned my student to my face, if you had bad intentions, I would try to redeem myself for the sake of our relationship..."

When he said this, he paused, then chuckled and said:
"But no matter what, when I embarked on this road, I realized that this is a lonely journey. No one will always be with me. I can only go on alone."

Alice was stunned for a moment. She did not speak. She just thought of Ouroboros' attitude towards the "True Creator" and thought that Will Auceptin might have tried his best to stop Amon from bestowing a Time Worm. She lowered her eyes and smiled, "How long have you stayed at Sequence 5?"

"... a long time." Roy King was stunned for a moment. "Decades... Why do you ask?"

Alice didn't say anything. She recalled the Sequence 4 promotion ceremony and sighed:
“Maybe this is indeed a lonely road...but if you have no worries at all, when bad luck comes, you may lose the motivation to get promoted.”

Roy King was stunned. Alice recalled every subsequent ceremony and said thoughtfully:
“Maybe you will become someone else’s concern…?
“When our fate intersects with the fate of others, the connected destinies will be woven into a web, which will hold us back but also prevent us from being drowned by the long river of fate.

"Even though we are the only ones who keep going, maybe we shouldn't avoid interactions with others...?"

When saying the last sentence, Alice recalled the promotion ceremony of the "prophet", which undoubtedly represented an intersection with others, and out of her understanding of occult knowledge, Alice had a deeper guess about this intersection.

--"anchor".

The role of the promotion ceremony, in the final analysis, is to stabilize the spirit, this is beyond doubt, and the "anchor" is used to stabilize the existence of the spirit.

In most cases, although when Alice first learned about the "anchor", the answer she got was that believers are the "anchors" used by true gods to stabilize their spirits, after experiencing three promotion ceremonies, she no longer believes that believers are the only "anchors".

For example, the “restart” that is unique to the “Destiny” path is also a means of stabilizing the mind. How can rounding off not be considered a kind of “anchor”?
Of course, this is still relatively far-fetched, but Klein mentioned Mr. Azik to Alice. The reincarnation of the "undead" every sixty years should be an "anchor" - this mainly refers to the memory of existing as an ordinary person.

Alice had similar experiences, such as the ice cream that had become her obsession in a certain sense, Captain Dunn, and the other "night watchers" in Tingen City, and Klein...

Perhaps even Evelyn, who had already distanced herself from her, could be included. Alice thought that these past experiences could perhaps be called her "anchor."

——Those experiences of caring and being cared for.

Or, to use the word Alice heard most often in her memory - "bond".

Bonds are a kind of "anchor".

Of course, there is a more crucial guess supporting all of this - since the core of the promotion ceremony is to stabilize the spirit, and since angels begin to need an "anchor" to stabilize their spirits, then the angels' promotion ceremony should provide enough "anchors", right?

Well, the ritual of the "prophet" is to take the potion at the place where the torrents of fate converge. The attitude of "Cassandra" shows that becoming an existence followed by everyone is undoubtedly also a kind of intersection. The current situation of the "fate" path makes Alice doubt that this is not even a ritual prepared for her.

Alice finally left herself some leeway with a less certain statement:

"Well... I just said it randomly, it may not be correct, just listen to it casually."

Roy King didn't just listen casually. He seriously thought about the feasibility of this statement. Just as he said, he had been stuck at Sequence 5 for decades. You want to know why...

For ordinary Beyonders, there are only two reasons - either the materials are not prepared, or the ritual is not completed.

But unfortunately, Roy King is a "winner", and what traps him is the third possibility - he completed the ceremony and collected all the materials, but he just felt that it was not the time for him to be promoted.

So he never dared to get promoted until today, when his intuition told him that perhaps this was the answer.

He thanked sincerely, "Thank you for your teaching, Your Majesty."

Alice had an inexplicable urge to straighten her chest and raise her head. She held back her breath and asked the question she wanted to ask just now:
"You just said that you stayed in Sequence 5 for decades... but you look, uh, you look younger than your students.

"Can I ask how old you are?"

Roy King was stunned for a moment, and said in a daze: "In fact, I am almost seventy years old..." Note ①

Alice opened her mouth in surprise, gave him a thumbs-up, and praised him enthusiastically:

"You really have a way to keep your youthful appearance!
"Have you ever thought about opening a shop to teach? I think it would be very popular with noble ladies and could help you make a lot of money... Oh, why don't you just become a mistress... No, sorry, that's not very ethical."

"?" Roy King looked at Alice with an indescribable expression, "...Can I ask you a question?"

"You ask." Alice nodded.

Roy King asked carefully, "How old are you?"

Alice blinked and told the truth:
"That depends on what you're asking...

"If you ask the body, this body was born on February 1334, 2.

"If you're asking about my actual age... To be honest, I'm not sure. I slept for a long time, at least a few thousand years...

"But I think what you really want to ask is... when did I become a god?"

Roy King nodded.

Alice laughed and said in a light tone, "About six or seven years old? In short, not too old, within ten years old."

Roy Jin opened and closed his mouth several times before he said with a complicated look, "...It's really surprising."

"So," Alice blinked, "why do you look so young?"

"The effect of the potion..." Roy King shook his head. "The 'Pharmacist' path always has some strange potions. It is not difficult to maintain a young appearance. In fact, this does not prevent my body from aging."

After a pause, he added: "Of course, it still has a certain conditioning and relief effect."

"Oh!" Alice opened her eyes wide. "It seems that you can't teach me this secret recipe for keeping youth. You can only... No, if your body functions are not preserved, then it shouldn't be possible... Uh, maybe your 'pharmacist' student can provide you with some help?"

Roy King felt that he had never been so tired before. He was angry but dared not speak out:

"Perhaps... But Your Majesty, Darkwill's choice to become a 'pharmacist' was his own. I did not interfere with him."

"I understand," Alice nodded. "It's just like when I volunteered to take extra classes at school. I volunteered."

"?" Roy King looked confused.

Alice blinked and tried to explain:
"Hmm... You don't seem to have much feelings about this kind of thing? Just...

"Maybe, I mean maybe, it's just like you are now voluntarily following me and voluntarily believing in me."

Roy King fell silent. He was not sure whether he should respond, so he chose to change the subject:
"...I hope you still remember that I came to ask for the name and teachings of my Lord." (End of this chapter)