Mister Misfortune had always maintained that capital punishment could exist in this world, but it should serve no purpose beyond punishment and deterrence.
Once a nation began using death-row inmates to construct Gates of Hell, the next step would be felons, then petty criminals, and ultimately, framing anyone at whim to serve as a criminal.
Moral baselines were breached step by step; once the threshold was crossed, there was no turning back.
Mister Misfortune could not stomach such conduct, which led him to sabotage several criminal sacrificial rites—slaughtering all those condemned prisoners before the sacrifices could occur.
Yet it was precisely this conduct that made him a wanted fugitive throughout the Kingdom of the Unholy Hymn.
Still, for a legendary divination wizard, if he did not wish to be caught, it was impossible for anyone to catch him.
He had shown himself in public this time solely on Harvey's account.
After hearing Mister Misfortune's explanation, Harvey too sighed at the cruelty of war.
Had Ryan not pressed them at every step, the tieflings would never have been driven to such lengths.
Understanding this, Harvey took the initiative to bid him farewell; he needed to relay Mister Misfortune's verbal message to his teacher as swiftly as possible.
Yet just as Harvey was about to leave, Mister Misfortune called out to stop him once more: "Wait, take this along."
Mister Misfortune handed a metal coin to Harvey. It was unclear what material it had been forged from; it didn't look like ordinary iron or steel, yet bore no magical enchantment. It seemed to be nothing more than an artisan's trinket, and a poorly crafted one at that—looking cheap by any measure.
Perplexed, Harvey asked, "May I ask what this coin is?"
Mister Misfortune sighed nostalgically. "A wager between me and your teacher back in the day. Take it back to him; he'll understand what I mean."
Harvey hurriedly put the coin away and took his leave once more.
This time, Mister Misfortune did not stop him.
Harvey left the little house and headed straight toward the teleportation array.
Though it was a heavily guarded military zone, Harvey walked straight inside without being spotted by a single soul.
Any eyes that turned in Harvey's direction were either blinded by windblown sand or smeared with bird droppings; all manner of bizarre coincidences occurred, keeping Harvey completely invisible to every observer.
Looking at those tieflings, Harvey could faintly discern traces of numerous transparent threads.
Harvey reached out to pluck at the threads, but felt nothing at all, as though they were merely an illusion.
"The power of fate is truly wondrous."
Harvey murmured with awe, stepped onto the teleportation array, adjusted the coordinates unseen by anyone, and returned to the desert.
Daring not delay for an instant, Harvey returned to the underground factory as fast as he could, finding Anbaixiu reviewing documents.
Catherine's recent logs on the drow elves' behavior were exceedingly detailed. As Anbaixiu browsed through them, he brainstormed numerous ways to "educate" the drow, though putting them into practice would take time.
Seeing Harvey return, Anbaixiu asked in surprise, "Back so soon? He was already waiting for you, wasn't he?"
Harvey chuckled. "Teacher guessed correctly. No sooner had I arrived in tiefling territory than Mister Misfortune was already waiting for me."
Anbaixiu couldn't resist scoffing. "Mister Misfortune... That old coot is quite young at heart, using such a childish name at his age."
"Childish?"
Harvey didn't find anything amiss about it. For a legendary divination wizard, what was wrong with calling himself Mister Misfortune?
Anbaixiu didn't explain, getting straight to the point. "What did he have you bring back? A verbal message, or an autograph letter?"
Harvey quickly said, "Mister Misfortune had me bring a verbal message: if you go find him in two months and three days, you will receive what you want, Teacher. Besides the message, there are also these two items."
Harvey took out the stone slate and the coin, presenting them before Anbaixiu.
Looking at the two objects before him, Anbaixiu seemed frozen, remaining motionless for a long time.
Harvey waited quietly by the side. A full ten minutes passed before Anbaixiu snapped out of his reminiscence.
Anbaixiu handed the stone slate back to Harvey and said, "Take the slate. It wasn't meant for me; it's a gift for you."
Puzzled, Harvey said, "Huh? What on earth is this slate?"
Anbaixiu replied calmly, "Back in the day, he and I stumbled upon this stone slate, and subsequently, we became divination wizards."
"Th-this is such an important artifact? But I can't discern anything from it."
"Of course you can't, because this slate is inherently ordinary." Anbaixiu sighed with emotion. "What truly turned the two of us into divination wizards wasn't the slate itself, but the exact moment the slate appeared.
"Encountering something at a specific crossroads in life that triggers a monumental turning point... what mattered wasn't the slate, but him and me at that time. This object is merely a token showing that the old coot wants to take you as his student. Sending it to me was just his way of asking for my consent."
Harvey was astonished and hurriedly said, "Teacher, I never even considered such a thing!"
"Don't panic. It's perfectly normal for a student to study under multiple masters. I've studied under more than a dozen teachers in my lifetime. There's no rule saying a person can only have one master."
Harvey remarked dubiously, "Doesn't that apply to different fields?"
One could apprentice under a carpenter to learn woodworking, or under a blacksmith to learn forging, taking masters in both; but having two masters in the exact same trade would be seen as a moral failing.
Anbaixiu and Mister Misfortune were both divination wizards. If Harvey took Mister Misfortune as his master as well, word would spread, and Harvey's reputation would be tarnished.
"Don't worry about that. Do you have any idea how rare divination wizards are? Counting my senior fellow apprentice and you, all the divination wizards I've met in my entire life don't even add up to ten."
Anbaixiu was someone of vast experience and had lived for hundreds of years, yet had met fewer than ten peers in his trade, showing just how scarce this class was.
This was hardly surprising; the difficulty of breaking into the ranks of a divination wizard was unimaginable.
Fate was something that if you didn't understand, you simply didn't understand; no amount of instruction could force an initiation. It was like how some people could never grasp that 0.999... equals 1; anything deeper than that was entirely out of the question.
Harvey's talent was extraordinary. In Anbaixiu's view, as long as he wasn't killed, Harvey's achievements as a divination wizard would far surpass his own. With peerless talent combined with the extreme rarity of divination wizards, it was only natural that the old coot would want to take him as a disciple.
"That old fellow must have taught you quite a bit, right?" Anbaixiu asked.
Harvey nodded. Having witnessed the threads of fate, he had faintly grasped this power... no, rather, he had understood another way to employ the power of fate.
Anbaixiu didn't probe further, merely cautioning Harvey, "Don't get greedy, and don't fool around. The power of fate can be used, but it must never be abused, or it really will get you killed. I won't be able to save you this time."
Harvey smiled faintly. "Rest assured, Teacher. I'm someone who has already died once; I won't be reckless."
"Anything else besides this?" Anbaixiu asked.
"Mister Misfortune didn't say anything else, though he did mention that the tiefling kingdom is currently sacrificing criminals to construct more Gates of Hell against Ryan's invasion."
"Has the situation grown that dire?"
Anbaixiu hadn't expected the tieflings to act so rashly. That was a door that could not be opened lightly; continuing down this path would lead to collapse before long.
Harvey possessed no detailed intelligence either and could only recount Mister Misfortune's words verbatim.
"All right, I understand. Go about your business. I'll seek out the old fellow in two months. Get ready, and come with me when the time comes," Anbaixiu said.
"Understood, Teacher." After assenting, Harvey hesitated before adding, "However, I still have one question."
"What question?"
"Back then... that bet between you two. I want to know what you wagered on."
Harvey was intensely curious. How did divination wizards place bets against each other? Predicting each other's future?
Hearing Harvey's question, Anbaixiu rubbed the metal coin with his fingers and said, "He and I each produced a special object and hid it from the other. Whoever found the other's hidden object first won. He gave me his family crest, and I gave him a special coin. I placed his family crest on a carriage that was leaving town. That fellow spent three days finally catching up to the carriage, then another two days traveling back to find me."
"Then how long did it take you, Teacher?" Harvey asked curiously.
"Me? I never found it," Anbaixiu admitted candidly.
"Huh?"
You can win without even finding it? Harvey's mind struggled to wrap around that.
"To win, that bastard threw the coin into the sea! I knew full well he threw it in, but how in the world was I supposed to dredge it up?" Anbaixiu said indignantly.
"Uh, that's..."
Mister Misfortune certainly seemed desperate to win, but that was a rather petty way to play.
"Wait, if you didn't find it, Teacher, how did you win?" Harvey asked.
"Because I had two identical coins. I simply took this coin out and claimed I fished it out of the sea, and he conceded defeat," Anbaixiu said.
Harvey was struck speechless.
From the sound of it, his teacher had planned to cheat from the very beginning. That was far too underhanded!
"Did it never occur to him that you might have had two coins?" Harvey asked.
Anbaixiu chuckled. "He figured it out later, but by then, the wager had long since concluded. In that respect, he's just like you—always half a beat slow, lacking quick wit. No wonder he wants to take you as his student; you two are quite alike in that regard."
Harvey had no words.
Why did that sound so thoroughly irritating?
"Then Teacher, what did you and Mister Misfortune wager over in the first place?"
Two divination wizards who had both comprehended the power of fate from the very same stone slate—what a wondrous twist of destiny. If the two of them had joined forces, two legendary divination wizards... the mere thought was staggering. Had they worked together, his teacher wouldn't have spent the greater part of his life wandering in exile, either.
Anbaixiu said with deep feeling, "He was born a noble, hailing from the very pinnacle of tiefling high society. Back then, he invited me to strive alongside him for the whole world, to wield this power for everyone and repay the gift of fate. But all I wanted was to live comfortably. We had an argument, and in order to get me to become a great man alongside him, he made that bet with me.
"And then, he lost."
Chapter 302