Eldritch Horror Theatre

Wasn’t Yesterday Once More special enough...?

In that instant, Professor Ah Kai wanted to fire that question right back at him.

Unfortunately, neither the man’s unemotional gaze nor the remarkably candid atmosphere they had maintained thus far encouraged such a retort. Ultimately, he chose not to.

This newly ascended demigod of Apocalypse possessed truly astonishing observational skills; the slightest slip-up would catch his eye.

”For one thing, I’m not entirely confident in the Miracle’s success rate. And for another...”

Ah Kai weighed his words.

”I can confirm the Miracle itself poses no danger, but it holds a rather unique status within the Benevolent Curse Institute. Its original discoverer went missing shortly afterward.”

Oh?

Fu Qian’s expression remained perfectly impassive, but his interest was genuinely piqued.

He happened to know of exactly one missing person from the Benevolent Curse Institute—Nepheli.The former Dean, a current Tier 2, a high-ranking executive in the Origin Council, and a supplier of top-tier schemes.

...

Making the Benevolent Curse Institute his first stop upon returning to the Academy was, of course, genuinely driven by academic discussion.

But beyond that, using this fascinating topic to observe a faction that could practically be described as ”withering away” was also part of his goal.

As a consummate professional with a vast network, Fu Qian never expected his numerous ”old friends” to simply forget their history together as time passed.

The Origin Council—a faction advocating for humanity to achieve true Sublimation—was easily one of his most deeply entrenched connections.

Past grievances aside, the Rebirth Club he now helmed operated as a peer organization, and ideological differences had led to frequent friction between them.

Given all that, he was almost guaranteed to cross paths with the highly active Excellency Nepheli again sooner or later.

Of course, that did not mean this trip to her former academic haunting ground was an attempt to sniff out flaws in her abilities. What truly intrigued him was the reason behind her departure.

Why would one of the Academy’s demigods, the highly respected former Dean of the Benevolent Curse Institute, quietly abandon everything to join an illicit organization?

Fu Qian had little interest in figuring out how to deal with that neat-freak Tier 2. He was far more curious about the catalyst for her transformation.

And from the looks of it, the matter was a closely guarded taboo within the Benevolent Curse Institute itself.

Every Miracle was inherently special, yet this one merely fell under the category of projecting illusions.

While he couldn’t be entirely certain, Professor Ah Kai’s subconscious word choice and hesitation strongly suggested an underlying reason, prompting Fu Qian to casually prod him a bit.

As it turned out, their carefully cultivated atmosphere of open exchange had finally coaxed a rather fascinating detail out of the professor.

”After she shared it with you?”

Yet even now, Fu Qian remained perfectly polite, refraining from asking who the Miracle’s discoverer actually was. Instead, he kept the conversation focused on academic research.

”Yes... though I hadn’t joined the Academy at the time. I learned it later, passed down second-hand by others.”

Seemingly relieved that his guest hadn’t relentlessly probed for details, Ah Kai elaborated with a minor correction.

”But please rest assured. I don’t believe anyone in the current Benevolent Curse Institute has a stronger grasp of this Miracle than I do.”

”Understood. Let’s begin, then.”

He absolutely had to witness this Miracle for himself; it was, in all likelihood, Nepheli’s final legacy before her departure.

...

The moment he finished boasting, the other man immediately accepted the proposal, giving Ah Kai a fleeting, surreal sense that things were going almost too smoothly.

”Please, follow me.”

However, knowing this was a rare opportunity, he didn’t waste time dwelling on such details and immediately led the way.

The massive building was strikingly deserted. Even after all their conversing, there was still not the slightest sign of anyone else around.

The upside, however, was that available workspaces were everywhere.

”Right here will do. Should anything happen, this should be enough to keep it under control.”

Ah Kai soon led him into a large hall, paying absolutely no mind to its exquisite decor.

”When you say ’anything happen,’ I assume you don’t just mean a failure to activate?”

Fu Qian naturally had no objections, merely expressing curiosity at this level of caution.

”Once the Miracle is successfully cast, the target is briefly able to touch their own past memories and selectively manifest projections.”

Ah Kai quickly elaborated on the specifics.

”Rumor has it that with perfect control, these manifested projections can even carry a trace of transcendent aura, allowing them to affect their surroundings. Of course, it is merely a rumor...”

Ah Kai scratched his head as he trailed off.

”To date, it is said that this phenomenon only occurred once—during the Miracle’s very first demonstration. And the person involved was the discoverer herself.”

”Even so, the Academy still mandates that we exercise greater caution whenever utilizing this Miracle.”

So the baseline for caution is just to avoid bringing the building down?

Looking at the considerably larger space before them, Fu Qian gave a slight nod and gestured for him to proceed without a word.

”Thank you for the trouble.”

Ah Kai had already been lightly preparing the surrounding area as he explained.

Now, facing Fu Qian’s decisive prompt, he moved to the final step. He cast a scatter of shimmering dust over Fu Qian and began to chant under his breath.

...

As it turned out, Professor Ah Kai had not been boasting.

Truly worthy of being the Benevolent Curse Institute’s practitioner with the highest success rate for this Miracle—the effect took hold after a single attempt.

There were no dazzling surges of transcendent power, nor did it restrict his movements in any way.

In that instant, Fu Qian simply felt his memories unfurling in a special manner, granting him the ability to survey and even interact with them from a higher-dimensional perspective.

It genuinely felt as though he could lock onto the various things appearing within them through willpower alone, briefly pulling them into physical manifestation.

If that was all there was to it, it wouldn’t be particularly extraordinary.

He had already experienced something similar back in the Pope’s special Nightmare within the Fallen Star Race’s Underground Base.

Yet the fascinating part was here: while the scope of this temporal recall wasn’t particularly long at a glance, his earlier experience in Loss was prominently displayed, directly linking his mission experiences to his time outside of it.

The timeline possessed a remarkably uninhibited feel.

If that were the only quirk, one could easily explain it away as the Miracle operating purely on the baseline of his own memory.

But beyond that, there was a stark disparity in ”clarity” between his experience in Loss and his later dream of helping Jiang En. Locking onto an image from the former was noticeably more troublesome.

Because that segment of history had been manipulated by the Warehouse?

That was undoubtedly a very easy explanation to arrive at.

But if so, a problem arose.

If the discoverer of this Miracle truly was Nepheli, what exactly did she see when she targeted herself and scoured her own memories?

And could her eventual departure be linked to that?

These musings did not delay Fu Qian’s actions. Under Ah Kai’s highly expectant gaze, he had already locked onto the fragmented, yet slightly purer entity Huo from the very end of his mission, manifesting an ethereal projection.