All preparations for the promotion to Prophet were complete.

He had obtained the Secret Scroll back on October 6th.

He never expected a full five months to pass before he could finally complete the promotion.

The only regret was the Puppet Master’s Secret Scroll.

’There were too many Professions in the world, and each had its own immense uses. If he tried to take on every one he came across, he’d never be able to manage them all.’

Early the next morning, he went to find Kumironi.

He could have used Flying Light for the promotion, but there was no need. Activating it was simply too expensive, not to mention the coordination of time and manpower it would require.

"Sister Kumironi..."

"I’ve deciphered the promotion conditions for the Prophet’s Professional Secret Scroll. I believe I meet the requirements."

"Eh?" Kumironi asked.

"Another promotion already?"

’It had only been six months since she’d found Little Lu Cang.’

’But Lu Cang was already at 16 Levels, averaging a gain of nearly Level 3 each month.’

"Yes."

"The Prophet is a unique Profession, after all. I have to try for it."

"That’s true," Kumironi said.

’Unique Professions were indeed more powerful than common ones. Anyone who obtained a unique Profession would choose to undergo the promotion if they had the chance.’

"But... are you sure it’ll be alright? You’ve already taken on so many Professions."

’To simultaneously cultivate five Professions without neglecting a single one was practically unheard of.’

’After all, most people who multi-classed only took on two Professions at once, like Battle Technique, Phantom Assassin, or Defense War.’

"It should... be fine."

’I feel like I can still meet the criteria for each Profession.’

’After all, I’ve delved deep into each of my Professions. Using Decryption Scholar as a benchmark, it’s still within a manageable range for me.’

’But the main reason was greed.’

’Holding a unique Profession—a Prophet of the Destiny Element, no less—it was hard not to get a little greedy.’

"Alright."

"So, right now?"

"Yes, let’s do it today."

Lu Cang had come to find Kumironi early in the morning, and she happened to be on leave.

In fact, Kumironi usually didn’t have much to do; one could say she was in a near-permanent state of vacation.

But ever since she started looking after Lu Cang, it was always "a Cult discovered here" and "a crisis discovered there."

’It felt like wherever Lu Cang went, Cults just sprang up one after another...’

The good news, however, was that these Cults were indeed being eradicated, root and stem.

「Promotion Hall」

The rear hall of the Promotion Hall had been rebuilt.

This time, however, they wouldn’t be using the rear hall. A simple Level 1 promotion only required a small, private chamber.

Lu Cang and Kumironi entered the chamber.

Lu Cang manifested the Prophet’s Secret Scroll in front of him and tapped it lightly with his finger.

The characters on the Secret Scroll lifted off the paper.

They transformed into obscure, arcane runes, suspending themselves in the air.

Lu Cang gave them a single glance before swiping his finger again. This time, the arcane runes began to rearrange themselves, embedding themselves at different points in space.

VMMMM—

A golden field expanded from the Secret Scroll, perfectly enveloping the arcane runes.

With a single vibration, their arrangement shifted.

VMM!

With another vibration, the arrangement changed once more.

VMMMM—VMM VMM VMM VMM!

With each vibration, countless arcane runes flickered at various points in space.

Looking at the runes, they still appeared chaotic and indecipherable, no matter how one tried to interpret them.

But if one viewed their sequence across time, they would see the characters’ arrangement form complete sentences.

Once revealed, the characters on the arcane runes would transform in a specific sequence. Therefore, the first step was to decipher the future transformation corresponding to each character at different points in time.

The knowledge required for this was Prophetic Science and Divination.

Prophetic Science: Phenomenon Inference—Inferring the changes of impending events based on existing information.

Prophetic Science: Divinatory Prediction—Analyzing the meaning of Divination results within the Spirit Realm, combined with phenomenon inference to make a prediction.

And these arcane characters were, in themselves, the results of a Divination.

Lu Cang didn’t need to perform another Divination. He just needed to use these arcane runes—which were like the results of a Divination—and directly make inferences based on the theories of Prophetic Science.

Then, one had to extract the arcane runes from the Secret Scroll.

The instant they were extracted, the Secret Scroll created a Special Time field where Time fell into a patterned chaos.

He had to use specific calculation methods to decipher how the characters should be ordered.

A Divination Master of Level 5 or higher could directly divine the result.

But Lu Cang wasn’t a Divination Master; he could only brute-force the calculations using the principles of Chronology.

He mentally calculated the transformation of each character under different temporal flows, then inferred how each character would appear in normal Time.

He embedded these characters at different points in Space to complete the arrangement. With each vibration, the characters formed a jumbled, incoherent passage.

To the naked eye, they contained no information whatsoever.

But when viewed on the scale of Time, looking back from the Future toward the past, and interpreted using the Ancient An Su Secret Language...

...one could read the text, and it would form complete sentences in the mind.

Lu Cang had already foreseen every transformation of the arcane runes, from his initial inference to their final change in the Future.

He then observed them from the Future back to the past, to their initial state.

’I understand everything now.’

Now, all he had to do was begin the Chanting before the arcane runes completed their evolution and vanished.

Lu Cang began the incantation in a loud, clear voice: "I shall lift the veil that blinds mortal eyes, the thick curtain named ’Ignorance’ and ’The Present’ that drapes over reality."

"I know well that foresight is not a blessing, but a burden; that insight is not power, but a shackle."

"When the light of foresight reveals the Abyss of despair, the parting of loved ones, and unstoppable calamities, the seer’s path is destined for solitude. May I alter the course of the torrent, even slightly, to guide the lost for but a moment."

"I shall accept the rending sensation that foresight brings—the passage between the known and the unknown, the possible and the inevitable."

"With clarity, I embrace the chaos of the Future; with my own insignificance, I touch the grand tapestry of Destiny."

"—And so, my name is..."

WHOOSH~

As the last golden rune blazed like Fire, the meaning of the characters that should have appeared first was the last to manifest in Lu Cang’s mind.

This is because interpreting those two characters required the revealing of Destiny.

It was his own name.

’My name... was destined on the Secret Scroll from the very beginning.’

’This is the Prophet Profession.’

’To glimpse the fated and inevitable within Destiny.’

"My name is Lu Cang."

"This is my prayer, and this is my... stairway to the apex of prophecy."

VMMMM— As his final words fell, the countless golden runes began to merge into Lu Cang’s body, branding themselves upon him!

The faint golden Light on the Secret Scroll gradually dimmed!

At that moment, Lu Cang felt it.

He was now a Level 1 Prophet.