Chapter 1: The Fun Seeker Pathway
Looking at the crimson moon outside the window, Evah, who had spent three minutes processing information, confirmed a few things.
First, he had transmigrated. He had transmigrated to the world of "Lord of Mysteries" and was now named Evah Zoroast, seemingly a descendant of Old Man Pallez from the original work.
Second, a fragment of power belonging to the legendary Thousand-Faced God, Nyarlathotep, within his body had been cut and transformed by Yog-Sothoth, whom he had summoned. Using the special rules of the Lord of Mysteries world, it was reformed into something akin to a Beyonder Characteristic, creating a brand new divine pathway named the Chaos Pathway.
Although Evah didn't know why that entity helped him, the fact was that Evah now only needed to concoct these Beyonder Characteristics into potions according to the rules and consume them. Like the humans of this world, starting from Sequence 9, by normally acting, digesting, and advancing, he could completely master this power belonging to Nyarlathotep and make it his own.
Third, Evah's innate "Shadow of Time" ability could still be used. This was an ability related to time, similar to the Historical Projection of an Ancient Scholar in the Lord of Mysteries world. There were two ways to use it. The first was if Evah had a high favorability with an entity, he could summon their "Shadow of Time" to merge with himself, thereby borrowing their power. The higher the favorability, the more power he could borrow.
The second was to directly use an existence related to the target, or the target themselves as a medium, to summon their "Shadow of Time" and seek their help.
At first glance, the second method seemed simpler than the first, but there was actually a very frustrating aspect. The Shadow of Time summoned by the second method would genuinely project the past consciousness of the summoned individual into the Shadow of Time he pulled.
Because of this, a Shadow of Time pulled by the second method wouldn't necessarily help Evah. With a favorability bonus, it might be fine, but without one, although the Shadow of Time couldn't harm him, the summoner, it might not be willing to work for him.
It could be said to be a very powerful and also very frustrating ability.
Previously, Evah had frantically grinded favorability to be able to pull the Shadows of Time of powerful figures. Now, having changed worlds, it could be said that all his previous favorability grinding was for naught.
"Forget it, it's already good that the ability can still be used after changing worlds. What more could I ask for?" Evah comforted himself, then felt a bit puzzled. "But why did I transmigrate? Could it be that Yog-Sothoth sent me here too..."
To be honest, Evah wasn't actually familiar with the entity named Yog-Sothoth. He only knew about It from ancient texts, to the extent of knowing It was one of the few Outer Deities that harbored no malice towards humans, possibly even goodwill, and seemed to have a poor relationship with Nyarlathotep.
So, when their world encountered an avatar of Nyarlathotep, the "God of Mischief," (or "Fun God") and all resistance had failed, with the world on the brink of destruction, Evah, adopting a "desperate times call for desperate measures" and "if we die, we die together" attitude, utilized the connection between Nyarlathotep and Yog-Sothoth to summon the latter's Shadow of Time.
Then, with the appearance of myriad radiances, Evah almost lost consciousness, but he also witnessed the demise of Nyarlathotep's avatar and saw time in his homeland seemingly reverse, everything returning to how it was before the destruction.
Finally, Evah saw Yog-Sothoth look at him. Honestly, it was hard to say if such an indescribable deity, like radiance, like a fleeting bubble, even had things like eyes, but in that instant, Evah just felt that the entity was looking at him.
Seemingly curious, seemingly surprised, seemingly sighing.
The entity seemed to have said something to him, but Evah didn't hear clearly.
After that, Evah lost consciousness. When he opened his eyes, he was already in another world, and the power of Nyarlathotep's destroyed avatar was sealed within his body.
"So, what does this powerful being mean? Does It know me?" Evah was genuinely confused at this moment. He really couldn't recall when he had ever been associated with such a powerful figure. After much thought, he could only attribute it to the possibility that the powerful being found him somewhat agreeable.
Anyway, Evah felt that the entity probably had no intention of harming him; otherwise, he would already be dead.
Evah suppressed the doubts in his heart, then sighed and muttered to himself, "I wonder how my old home is doing. But at least, based on the situation before I transmigrated, it should be fine..."
"Anyway, I did my best. If the world still gets destroyed even after that, then there's nothing I can do." Evah gave a bitter smile. He wasn't exactly a good person in the conventional sense, but no matter what, he still had some affection for his homeland and naturally didn't want his world to be destroyed.
"Forget it. No matter what, I should take care of myself first. This world isn't peaceful either." Evah shook his head. Thinking about the state of the Lord of Mysteries world, he felt like complaining for a moment.
He had just solved the problems of his own homeland, only to arrive in a world on the verge of an apocalypse. What was the difference between this and having all your game progress wiped after an update?
"The only thing to be thankful for is that I finally don't have to be the savior of this world. Seriously, who would have thought that it was me, a fun-seeker, who stood up to save the world last time? Is that appropriate?"
As Evah said this, he made a sarcastic remark, then couldn't help but smile, "That's great. This way, I can just be a simple fun-seeker."
After grinning foolishly for two seconds, Evah began to plan his future goals.
First, naturally, was to find a way to advance to Sequence 9, embark on the Beyonder path, and convert the Nyarlathotep power within him into his own as soon as possible, lest this time bomb detonate someday.
Secondly, to meet more powerful figures, increase their favorability, in order to freeload combat power.
Finally, of course, was to find as much fun for himself as possible in the process.
"Hmm, let me see, Sequence 9 of the Chaos Pathway is... Mischief-maker?" Evah was stunned for a moment, but after recalling Nyarlathotep's personality, he understood. He then continued to read the other information Yog-Sothoth had left him about the Chaos Pathway.
"The main ingredient for the Mischief-maker potion can be directly used from the cut characteristic. As for supplementary materials, let me see... besides common spiritual materials, it also requires any one item related to a high Sequence of the the 'Elusive Three Pathways/Families' or the 'Five Overseeing Pathways/Families'..." Evah raised an eyebrow upon reading this and stroked his chin, pondering:
"It's best if it's a Worm of Spirit, Worm of Time, or Worm of Star... Hiss, this is a bit difficult to obtain."
Evah then searched the memories of his current identity and confirmed that the current timeline should be around the very beginning of the Lord of Mysteries plot. If nothing unexpected happened, Mr. Fool should be currently astonished by his own wild thoughts in the mirror.
(End of Chapter)
Translator's Note: "苟三家" (Gou San Jia) likely refers to pathways known for survival/stealth like Seer, Marauder, Door. "全五家" (Quan Wu Jia) likely refers to pathways with broad oversight like Visionary, White Tower, Hanged Man, Tyrant, Sun. I think these are fan-terms.