5 - Lord of the Mysteries: :From Apprentice to High-Dimensional Overlooker

Chapter 21 Extra 1: The Lucky UnfortunatesTitle of the Book:Mystery: From Apprentice to High-Dimensional OverlookerAuthor's name: BambooChapter word count: 8180 wordsUpdate time: 2022-09-21 15:30:10

When Zhang Wenheng opened his eyes, he saw a beautiful woman looking at him calmly.

The beauty has a nice figure, but her outfit is a bit weird. The Intis-style women's shirt is nice, but what the hell is it with the yellow cake skirt and high boots?

Hey, what is Intis style? What is Intis?

No, who is this beauty? !

He was panicked and confused, and for a moment he used his back and waist to try to sit up.

Zhang Wenheng was even more surprised when he failed to get up. He could feel that there was nothing restraining him, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not make any movement.

"Don't struggle in vain." said the beautiful woman.

Zhang Wenheng's face darkened. What kind of villain line is this? Is the next line "No one will hear you even if you scream your throat out"?

Clearing his throat, he tried to speak: "Ma'am, I..."

Halfway through his speech, Zhang Wenheng's expression became strange again.

What the hell am I talking about? Why am I talking about this? Also, I think I'm supposed to call her "Captain"?

The other party didn't seem surprised by his state. There was only a scrutinizing look in her ocean-like blue eyes: "You can call me Bernadette now."

"...Okay, Ms. Bernadette." Zhang Wenheng readily agreed. "Excuse me, where is this? Why are you, me, and me here?"

Bernadette replied calmly, "On my ship. More specifically, the captain's cabin of the 'White Maple', the main ship of the 'Elemental Dawn'."

After a pause, she added: "We are sailing on the Sonia Sea."

Zhang Wenheng understood, but not completely. He felt that it would be better not to listen to what Zhang Wenheng said.

You didn't answer the following question at all!

As if she could see his confusion, Bernadette reached out and took something from the side.

It was an ordinary round mirror, set in an intricately decorated silver frame.

Bernadette placed the mirror in front of him. After seeing the reflection in the mirror, Zhang Wenheng slowly opened his eyes.

When the hell did I become a foreigner with thick hair and green eyes! My ancestors have never left the Central Plains! Even if it was a mutation, it was too sudden!

Completely unfamiliar faces, strange language, a mysterious woman who suddenly appeared... Zhang Wenheng gradually had some guesses.

He traveled through time.

He was a marginalized youth who stayed at home every day, making a living by playing games and making videos as an up-host. Just like that, he suddenly traveled through time.

Zhang Wenheng couldn't figure it out. To travel through time and space, there must be a trigger, at least one must die once.

But in his memory, he logged off to catch up on sleep after playing an old horror game provided by a fan on the live broadcast that day.

It can't be a sudden death! There were no signs before going to bed!

Feeling that he was definitely not dead, Zhang Wenheng began to think about other possibilities and soon suspected the horror game.

This kind of setting does exist, similar to Sword Art Online, where you can accidentally travel into it after playing the game.

The problem is that it is a Chinese horror game, why do I see so many foreigners when I come through it?

Thinking of foreigners, he shuddered and woke up from his memories, realizing that he had ignored the beautiful woman next to him.

Fortunately, the beauty had no intention of pursuing the matter. She just took back the mirror and asked, "You seem to have remembered something."

Zhang Wenheng hesitated for a few seconds.

This girl is so good-looking, she must be a friendly force... At least I am in her territory now, so I must gain her trust first.

"...I, I don't think I'm from this world." He swallowed and tried to organize his words. "Maybe because of some accident, my soul entered this body... By the way, who was the original owner of this body?"

"My crew member, Vetona Cid." Bernadette frowned slightly. "He died in an accident, and I was preparing to comfort his soul."

Well, that means "I" suddenly pretended to be dead... Zhang Wenheng initially understood the other party's vigilance, and then he heard Bernadette continue to ask: "Why do you feel that you don't belong to this world?"

"My world is very different from here. My identity, uh, also determines that it is impossible for me to appear on a ship. Especially before I woke up, I was still at home. My home is in the interior of the continent, far away from the ocean."

He wanted to say directly that I was from a certain city in a certain province of the Dazhong ethnic group, but it was difficult to find corresponding words for these words in the current language, so he had to settle for the next best thing and express it simply.

Bernadette didn't seem to have too many doubts, and asked questions one after another: "What did you do before coming here? Did you perform any ritual magic, or pray to some gods?"

What ritual magic, what god... I don't even believe in Buddha! Zhang Wenheng was surprised for a second, but then he quickly realized that this was probably the setting of this world, that is, this world has gods, faith, and magic.

As a person who has been playing games for many years, he was quite accepting of these situations. Just when he was about to give a negative answer, he remembered the horror game.

I really don't know where the fans found this on the Internet. The game style is extremely simple and the pixels are extremely low, but the plot is pretty good. Although the synopsis is a common mountain village cult, the plot settings are full of twists and turns, the plot performance is also very scary, and the atmosphere is very strong.

The main body of the game is a village that retains traditional beliefs. The protagonist, as the "son of God" who has received "revelation", helps the elders hold sacrifices and entertains students from outside the village who come for field research. He develops feelings for one of the tall, rich and handsome men.

After all the plots, it is finally revealed that there is no one alive in the village except the protagonist, and they are all monsters controlled by black threads. Outsiders have met with misfortunes one after another, and only Gao Fushuai is left. The protagonist is willing to disobey the gods for love, and finally recites a spell in the temple to sacrifice himself in exchange for the safety of his lover.

The last step was to sacrifice oneself. The steps were so detailed that it was frightening. From bleeding to chanting, each step required the player to make corresponding operations. Therefore, Zhang Wenheng remembered the process very clearly. He even remembered the name of the evil god.

He opened his mouth, wanting to tell the other party all this, but he didn't know how to translate words like live broadcast, computer, and internet, so he could only simplify and simplify: "I didn't do it myself, but I might have... been a bystander. Sacrifice? The object of their sacrifice has a name, called..."

This can't be translated either. Zhang Wenheng was about to read out the words "Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianzun" in Chinese when he saw Bernadette's face suddenly change and she spoke before him:

"Don't say it!"

He was startled, stopped talking abruptly, and then felt very confused.

You asked, why don't you want to listen?

Bernadette looked as if she was facing a great enemy, her brows knitted tightly, and sweat even trickled down her forehead. Zhang Wenheng wanted to ask, but he didn't know where to start, so he had to make a promise first: "I won't say it, I won't say it, I won't say it, you, you, calm down first!"

He always felt that the look in this beautiful woman's eyes when she looked at him was becoming more and more sinister, and he was afraid that she had some bad intentions.

Fortunately, Bernadette finally just said, "Don't say that name under any circumstances."

She warned in a heavy tone: "If you tell it, death might be the best outcome."

...How can this result be good! Zhang Wenheng's eyes twitched, and he suppressed the urge to complain, and said politely: "Excuse me...can I sit up first?"

This request was not rejected. Bernadette glanced at him and nodded casually, and Zhang Wenheng felt that some resistance disappeared, and he turned over and sat up easily, but he could not walk around freely.

Before he could take a closer look at his surroundings, his attention was drawn to an automatic writing pen on the table next to him.

There really is magic! Zhang Wenheng was inexplicably excited.

As a gamer, it makes sense to like sword and magic settings.

It's just that this style doesn't look like the most popular Harry Potter, nor does it look like the games he is familiar with, such as Dungeons & Dragons and Diablo.

The pen seemed to have finished writing something and jumped back into the ink bottle. Bernadette picked up the paper and handed it to him, saying, "Read this."

Zhang Wenheng took the paper and saw the following words written on it:

"A fool who does not belong to this era

The mysterious ruler above the gray fog

The yellow and black king who controls good luck

..."

A shrill bell rang. Clark Baillison immediately stopped writing and waited in a daze for the clergy in white robes in front of him to collect the papers.

There's no way this can pass.

I don't know if it's because of the time travel, but her memory is particularly messy, and the knowledge that the original owner had memorized with great effort is now fragmented.

Yes, that's right, she is Clarke Baillison, but not entirely.

She traveled through time.

Her real name is Liu Wen, a poor high school student. For some unknown reason, she suddenly traveled into this wonderful world.

This world clearly has supernatural beings and gods, but you still have to take exams to continue studying!!!

Clark Baillison's family are devout believers of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom. Since she was a child, her family sent her to the preparatory grade inside the church to study diligently.

Now the original owner is 15 years old and is ready to pass this exam to officially become an insider of the church.

But Liu Wen can do nothing.

Why don't you test me on something that's within the scope of compulsory education!!!

She was calm and waited quietly for the papers to be collected, then she got up and left without any regrets.

It's weird that the exam is scheduled on the first day of the New Year. How can people have a good New Year?

Although there is no concept of Spring Festival in this world.

The war had just ended, and the streets still bore traces of the flames of war. Clark Baillison stood at the door of the church, which was shaped like a tower and spiraled upwards, looking out over the railing with a worried heart.

Although he was able to travel through time because the original owner had been seriously injured in an accident, he behaved like a fool with a broken head at first when he was not used to it, causing the original owner's family to have no hope for this exam.

But what he meant was that it doesn't matter. Our family has the conditions, so we can just repeat a year and continue to take the exam.

When she heard her family's caring words, she was about to cry.

But what else could she do if she didn't take the exam? The original owner was underage, and she was also underage. In this turbulent era, she really didn't dare to run around by herself.

In fact, Kara himself really hopes to pass the exam and become an extraordinary person.

This was secretly told to her by an uncle who worked in the church. As for whether it was considered a leak, since all the family members were believers of the God of Wisdom, it didn't matter whether it was leaked or not. In fact, many of the questions posed by the church contained some extraordinary knowledge.

Kara's plan is to become an extraordinary person in the church and keep being promoted so that he can get more permissions to read internal information and find a way back.

Of course, she was also trying a simpler method, which was to pray devoutly to the God of Knowledge and Wisdom every day, praying that He would open his eyes and allow her to pass through, or to study how to pass through.

The technological level of the Earth is two centuries ahead of yours, so why are you so excited? Physics, chemistry, history, geography, and biology are all knowledge, my Lord!

But so far, she has shown no signs of divine revelation.

Kra even began to consider changing the object of prayer, such as the God of Steam and Machinery. After all, the time traveler Senior Roselle was the favored one of the God of Steam, and maybe the God of Steam knew more about this?

When she was standing at the door of the Church of Knowledge and still yearning for the God of Steam, someone patted her hard from behind and said, "Aren't you going back?"

Kara was so scared that she almost flew off the ground. When she looked back and saw the person's face clearly, she was so angry that she stretched out her hand and pinched the other person's face directly: "Don't scare me suddenly, Zognis!"

The girl was a whole head taller than her, so this was not an easy move. Zognis, who was pinched on the face by the little girl, was a tall boy with wheat-colored hair. Because of his poor academic performance, he was always ignored by others.

Yes, the Knowledge Church never engages in gender or age discrimination in the workplace, they only engage in IQ discrimination.

But Kara prides herself on possessing the fine virtue of the 21st century, that is, open-mindedness and tolerance, and she also shows love and care to her backward classmates.

What I mean is, when someone in the class ranks last and sacrifices himself to save you from the fate of being hit on the head by the teacher, as a person with a conscience, you naturally have to show some appreciation.

And it was she who picked up Zognis.

Oh no, it's the original "Kara Baillison".

The little girl ran to the suburbs for some unknown reason and accidentally fell into a ravine. When she was found, there was Zognis, who was also stunned and could only remember his own name, next to her.

As a young man of appropriate age, in accordance with local laws in Mashik, Zognis passed a basic exam and successfully enrolled in the Church of Knowledge on the premise that he was willing to become a believer.

So Kara always felt that this person was not stupid, but for some reason, his learning ideas always went astray and he always thought about the stars and the sea.

Zognis said himself that he wanted to see the starry sky.

A small step for you, a giant leap for mankind? Kela thought that considering the technological level of this world, it would take at least a hundred years to achieve space flight. By then, even if you were not a corpse, you would not meet the standards of an astronaut.

So she told him: "Then join me in taking the internal exam of the Church of Knowledge and become a Beyonder! Beyonders are omnipotent!"

She made it up. She didn't know what Beyonders could do specifically, and she certainly didn't say that just to join the church and find someone to back her up, absolutely not.

But Zognis believed it. So the two of them studied together very closely and took the exam in less than ten days. The most important thing is to participate. It would be a waste if you don't do the free real test papers.

It doesn't matter. From now on, there are still 380 days until the exam next year. Haha, much longer than the countdown to my college entrance examination.

Zognis let her stand on tiptoe and knead him flat and round without any resistance. He just repeated the question: "Aren't you going back?"

"I'll be right back. Zognis, do you want to come to my house for dinner?"

Although Ma Xi is located in the south where it doesn't snow much, it is still cold in winter. After pinching enough, Kara put her hands back into her sleeves and asked casually.

"No," Zognis answered slowly, "The Archbishop asked me to go and pray."

How come this guy is getting more and more pious...Kara, who was extremely pious only when it came to returning to Earth, just waved his hand and turned away. After the exam, of course I have to go home and eat delicious food!

Zognis, who was watching Kra Baillison jumping away, suddenly tilted his head, then raised his head to look at the high sky.

It was almost noon, but the winter weather was bad, with layers of cumulus clouds piled up overhead, and the blue sky was nowhere to be seen. Zognis, however, looked attentively as if he was listening to something, and looked very seriously at a certain point in the infinite distance.

In Trier, the capital of Intis, the triangular church of the god of steam and machinery.

The entire church looks very magnificent from the outside, however, only when you walk inside can you appreciate the true charm of this building.

Different from other churches with neat and dignified decoration styles, the interior decoration of the Steam Church is simple and rough, yet harmonious. The exposed parts of many mechanical equipment perform their respective functions, stably maintaining the operation of many equipment such as heating equipment, lighting equipment and the clock on the top floor, and the slight sound of gears meshing never stops.

Every believer who enters the church feels very peaceful and comfortable. Many people even spend an entire afternoon sitting there and watching every mechanical detail moving in a trance.

Of course, being able to do it doesn't mean they will do it. Many of them became believers precisely because they like machinery, manufacturing, and invention, and thus developed a deeper interest in hand-made manufacturing. If they have a free afternoon, most of them will invest their time in studying Russell's manuscripts or doing their own research.

Burroughs Landseer, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and well-dressed, walked into the church, found a seat and sat down, took off his hat, put away his cane, and began to pray devoutly.

Since returning from his inspection in the southern continent, the businessman has come to pray more often and has made many donations. He once confessed to the bishop in the confessional that his faith was not firm before, but since he escaped death in the southern continent, he felt the mercy of God and his mentality began to change.

The bishop certainly would not turn away such a lost lamb, so Burroughs gradually became a frequent visitor to the church and even to the library where the Russell manuscript was kept.

He finished his prayer, bowed his head and made a triangular holy symbol on his chest, then walked up to the collection box as usual and put some money in. The bishop nodded warmly at him, and after a brief conversation between the two, Burroughs walked towards the library.

The bishop would never know that this seemingly devout believer actually just repeated one sentence every time he prayed: "Great God of Steam and Machinery, I am a visitor from another world like Roselle Gustav. I pray for your attention and your favor!"

The real Burroughs Landsiel had died of illness while inspecting the yield of rubber plantations in the southern continent. The person now inside this body is Katsuhiro Kamishima, a real citizen of an island country on Earth.

He didn't know why he suddenly came to another world. Although there are many descriptions of time travel in light novels and anime works in his country, the problem is that Shangshan is no longer a second-year junior high school student with a head full of fantasies, but a middle-aged man in his forties who has already established a family and a career.

Kagetora Uesugi thought about it again and again, and could only pin the reason for his time travel to the party at the department that night. There were many young employees in the foreign trade company where he worked, and when they were drinking for the second round, they started to organize everyone to play some small games to liven up the atmosphere. He also lamented to the department manager that the entertainment of young people nowadays is really different from that of their time.

The young people didn't dare to go to the minister, so they pestered him, the more friendly vice minister. Kamishiro Kagetora also drank a lot, and reluctantly cooperated with a fortune-changing ritual that was said to be popular in someone's hometown.

Then when he opened his eyes the next day, Kamishiro Jingtora found himself lying under an open-air shed, surrounded by a group of foreigners with dark skin, high eyebrows and deep eyes.

There was a pit next to him that was as long as his height. It looked like they were preparing to bury him alive.

Fortunately, he traveled through time and space to become a person from the Northern Continent with a relatively high social status, otherwise he might have been chopped to pieces by the natives of the Southern Continent as soon as he was resurrected.

After absorbing the original owner's memories, Kagetora Uesugi immediately returned to Intis and prepared for a long-term battle to infiltrate the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery.

The Russell Gustav from more than 200 years ago was undoubtedly a time traveler. The only question is, why didn't this senior write his diary in an internationally accepted language such as English!!!

Kagetora Uesugi stared at Roselle's manuscript treasured by the Church of Steam, and silently converted the simplified Chinese characters into traditional Chinese characters in his mind.

Although he could tell that these were definitely simplified Chinese characters from a certain big country next door, he couldn't read or write them.

If the entire text was in traditional Chinese, Kagetora Uesugi, who had good grades in Chinese and was good at learning foreign languages, would have the confidence to recognize certain content by comparing it with Russell's life.

Now... he rarely felt the pain of not being able to solve problems in school again.

After all, he was no longer at the age of having a head full of fantasies. Uesugi Kagetora was neither excited nor interested in this world that resembled the Western medieval structure. Although Burroughs Landseer was richer and had a higher social status than himself, Uesugi Kagetora would rather return to his two-bedroom apartment that he was still paying off the mortgage on, and to his first wife and daughter who was still in elementary school.

Fortunately, Burroughs was still unmarried and could move freely. Uesugi Kagetora was not very interested in exploring this world and just wanted to grab the Steam Church and Roselle as a straw to find a way to go back as soon as possible.

Like every devout believer of the God of Steam, Burrus Landsier silently flipped through and examined the precious manuscript.

Irwin Thompson was excited.

If you have spent 12 years in prison like he did, you will understand this excitement. What Ivan wants most is freedom, and the second is killing. For others, waking up in a completely unfamiliar world with nothing would definitely not be a good experience, but Ivan Thompson likes it.

He stood in front of the dressing mirror and tied his bow tie leisurely, admiring his new look with satisfaction. Gray hair, green eyes, not like him. But so what? Ivan was originally very satisfied with his face, but unfortunately a street conflict left him with seven or eight scratches on his face, and he had to get nearly a hundred stitches in the hospital.

From then on, his face changed from handsome to terrifying, becoming his living sign. Newcomers to the prison knew everything as soon as they saw his face. The stories passed down by word of mouth were exaggerated. Ivan sometimes heard them discussing how many people he had killed, and the numbers were more outrageous than the last. Thirty-two, this was the most accurate answer.

It's not the 1930s or 1940s anymore, killing someone is not as easy as cutting a watermelon. He muttered as he smoothed the hem of his cheap suit, where a dark blood stain had seeped in, which was not easy to wipe off.

I'll go back and buy a new one. Ivan made up his mind immediately, turned to the thief tied to the chair in a good mood, and said, "Now we can talk."

The poor thief was shaking so much that he was about to fall apart. Ivan thought it was understandable: you are a thief, you sneaked into the room in the middle of the night to steal and were caught by the owner, and in the fight you accidentally killed the other person, so you had to pack up your belongings and prepare to run away. Before you finished stealing, the dead owner sat up again, greeted you, and broke your hands and feet and tied them here...

He tolerantly gave the other party some time to organize his words, and then he leaned over to sit next to the thief, put his arm around the thief's shoulders and sincerely advised him: "The dead don't have any use for their hands and feet, so don't be sad."

The thief turned stiffly to look at him, his face drained of all color. He struggled for a long time before squeezing out fragmented words from his blue lips: "No, don't... You can't, you can't kill me! Rose School! You must know! I am a member of the Rose School! You can't kill me!"

"I don't know." Ivan nodded affirmatively. He looked through the extra memories in his mind. It was a very boring life. There was no rose or school in it. "What is that?"

His captive spoke at a rapid pace and with disorganized logic. Irwin listened attentively for a long time and came to the conclusion that this was a notorious underground organization that loved to commit bloody crimes.

"Wow... I never thought I would have the opportunity to help the people." Ivan smiled with his eyes narrowed, he was very happy, "If my father knew about this, he would definitely be proud of me. Thanks, brother."

He grasped the severed hands and squeezed them. They were an extremely nimble pair of hands, and Irwin was sure he had tied them properly the first time—he was very experienced in this area—but the thief had actually untied the ropes in reverse. Not cutting them, but untying them. Irwin had met many skilled thieves before, but none of them had fingers as flexible as this one.

So the second time, he directly twisted off the hands and tied the rope directly around the prisoner's neck. This time the prisoner was much more obedient.

The pain made the thief's facial features shrink into a ball, and he answered the next few questions very vaguely and with difficulty, but he finally managed to find out the meeting place of the Rose School in this city, and also asked for information related to extraordinary abilities.

The thief's "thief" sequence was obviously not to Alvin's liking, but the thief's description of the abilities of other people in the organization attracted him. This world was obviously more wonderful than he had imagined. Extraordinary abilities! It was interesting to think about it. Alvin hummed a little tune, removed the other's shoulder joint, tied him up again, and prepared to go out to buy some food.

Of course, there were weapons. He needed some time to think about how to peacefully join the organization after beating up other members, but anyway, he couldn't go empty-handed.

After Ivan Thompson left, the panic on the face of the thief, who was unable to move but had temporarily saved his life, was gradually replaced by a strange frenzy. He listened attentively to Ivan Thompson leaving the house, and immediately closed his eyes and chanted a name devoutly:

"The great Mother Tree of Desire, the Eternal Howler, the Lost God... I, I found the man who came back to life for you! He is in East Balam Palenque! Your loyal servant begs for your mercy, begs you..."

Before he finished speaking, his spiritual intuition suddenly trembled. The thief opened his eyes and saw that Ivan Thompson had returned at some point, holding an ordinary kitchen knife in his hand, leaning against the door frame and looking at him with interest, and explained frankly.

"I'm sorry, I went out and saw that it was still dark, so I had to come back."

The thief didn't know what to say for a moment, but as Ivan walked into the room, his spirit began to frantically roar, and extreme panic once again clung to that face. The thief began to struggle desperately, knocking over the chair with a clang, and squirming on the ground like a maggot. Ivan sighed, picked up the chair, walked around behind the man, and with the knife in his hand, he easily cut the man's throat.

As the thief's throat squeezed out a heavy "ho ho" sound like a leaky bellows, Ivan took a step back to avoid the blood that might splash on his body, raised his foot to hold down the chair to prevent it from tipping over, and shook his head regretfully: "Although I don't know what you are mumbling, it's not possible that you are introducing me. There is no other way. Well, what a pity. Do you have any rewards for eliminating evil for the people?"

After he finished speaking, he left the man's side, wrapped his sleeves around his fingers, and roughly flipped through all the drawers, creating a scene of "burglary and murder" - after all, isn't this a burglary and murder? It's just that I killed him. As he thought, he took some necessary items, then collected the lamp oil from other rooms, poured half on the flammable clothes, and prepared to pour the other half on the thief, setting fire to it and destroying all evidence.

This preparation took him some time, and when Alvin returned to the thief, a strange thing attracted his attention.

It was a small mass, a chaotic gray-black color, and it looked soft and sticky. The weirdest thing was that it seemed to be slowly precipitating from the corpse, floating in the forehead of the corpse in an unreasonable way.

Ivan poked the thing with the tip of his knife. The mass flowed slowly along the metal, forming a whole that seemed impossible to separate.

He stared at the thing and thought for a few seconds, then finally took out a tin wine bottle, drained it all in with the tip of a knife, and then stepped outside the door and lit a match.

——————————————————

Some key fellow countrymen from all over the world will appear one by one in the future XDChapter 22 Respective WorkTitle of the Book:Mystery: From Apprentice to High-Dimensional OverlookerAuthor's name: BambooChapter word count: 4048 wordsUpdate time: 2022-09-21 15:30:10

After completing his routine morning prayers, studying doctrine and Hermetic language at the Harvest Church, Douglas finally got some copies of Russell's diary as he wished.

Last night, when he came to Antonia for a meal and tried to see if he could copy some of Roselle's diary, the young vampire generously agreed to bring him the old copy from home.

"By the way, where is your home? In the suburbs of the South District?" Douglas continued to get close to him while lamenting the sincerity of the young vampire.

Anthony gave an address that sounded far away: "You can come over anytime."

"Okay." Douglas agreed casually, "I'll go when I have time."

He was very curious about things like the Vampire Castle, but his schedule was quite full recently, so even if he wanted to go, he would probably have to wait until after the New Year.

The Northern Continent still attaches great importance to the arrival of the new year. And because of the widespread belief in the Goddess of Night in Loen, there is also a day off on Winter Festival, which is said to be the birthday of the goddess.

They chatted casually about this topic for a while. Hearing that he was looking for a house, Anthony thought for a while: "I remember that some vampires have vacant properties near the South District."

"I'm sorry, I have to prioritize Verity's distance from school. I'm worried about the long distance."

"Viriti..." The vampire repeated the name, "Your little girl has a nice name."

Douglas almost choked on his tea. He felt that this nickname sounded strange, but he couldn't find a more appropriate term for the moment, so he had to accept it and forcefully changed the subject: "Besides, she is a believer of the Goddess of Night. If there is a suitable house in the North District, can you recommend it to me? An ordinary house! An ordinary townhouse! For sharing!"

He emphasized the following conditions in a strong tone to prevent the wealthy vampires from overestimating their financial strength.

"Some properties in the North District are owned by the Church of Darkness." I don't know if Anthony heard the second half of the sentence. "If you really need it, you can go and ask."

"...No, not to that extent. Speaking of which, why is the relationship between our church and the Church of Darkness so close?"

Douglas had been holding this question in for a long time and finally had the chance to ask it.

Antonia unconsciously stroked the spine of the ancient book in her hand and replied, "It is said that we cooperated during the war."

Douglas admired Zhang's handsome face and complained: "Why is it said?"

"Because my sister and I were not in Backlund at the time, we learned some news from various channels after the war ended."

"Really? Where did you live before, Feynaport?" Douglas asked casually, and suddenly felt something was wrong. According to the original owner's memory, at the beginning of the war, the Feynaport Kingdom, where the headquarters of the Earth Mother Church was located, seemed to have attacked Loen's ally, Lunburg? It was clearly standing on the opposite side of Loen, right?

Under such circumstances, how could the two churches, which were officially recognized by each country, be on good terms? Even if Feysac was defeated and Loen and Feynaporter reached a reconciliation, the relationship between the two churches should not be so close.

He directly put this question to Anthony, thinking that the vampires who seemed to have considerable say in the church probably knew the reason.

"...My sister and I are indeed from Feynaport. However, the vampires do not have an advantage within the church. Backlund's situation is due to the special circumstances of this place."

Faced with this question, Anthony rarely put away her usual attitude of being happy to answer his questions. Her expression was a little hesitant, but she still gave a certain response: "Our relationship with the Church of Evernight... was influenced by some high-level forces at the end of the war. This is no secret within the vampire race, but I'm not sure if you can understand it."

Douglas immediately stated: "It's okay, I just asked casually, and I have no intention of probing your blood clan's internal intelligence! As long as we make sure that our cooperation with the Church of Darkness is long-term and stable, that's enough."

It is better not to get in touch with such insider information! Ignorance is bliss!

"You can rest assured that our cooperation with the Church of Night is very reliable." Antonia seemed relieved.

He really didn't know how to explain the change in the ancestor's identity to outsiders. After all, except for the blood clan and several major official churches, the name of the ancestor Lilith had long been unknown, and it was even more troublesome to explain.

Thinking of this, Anthony suddenly remembered another thing and hurriedly added: "By the way, if you have a dream about the red moon in the future, you must tell us."

Considering that Douglas is still in the probation period and is not on the "Moon" and "Mother" paths and is relatively safe, Father Schultz did not mention the church's unique system of charismatics and favored ones.

Antonia did not elaborate at this time, but only mentioned the "Original Moon", the evil god hated by the church and the blood clan, and the existence of "artificial vampires".

Combined with the experience of the previous question, Douglas felt that this was probably some kind of intelligence within the blood clan. He wrote down all the key points without asking any further questions. At the same time, he lamented that his knowledge of mysticism was too scarce - he had never heard of such a thing as the "original moon" before.

So Douglas happily decided to stay in the reference room to cram and get a reimbursable lunch. He would wait until Anthony went to Backlund University to give a lecture in the afternoon and then slowly read Russell's diary.

In the west district of Backlund, on Bellotto Street, in an inconspicuous three-story building.

Hugh Dilcher sat upright in an armchair that was raised several levels behind his desk, carefully reading a piece of intelligence passed on by an informant.

Already a Sequence 4 "Law Master", she used the "script" written by her good friend Fors and many "hints" from Miss Audrey to obtain an appropriate position in MI9 without any suspicion. She had the power to mobilize personnel and the authority to manage internal information, which made it easier for her to complete the tasks assigned by Mr. Fool.

Of course, work still needs to be done on weekdays, especially right after the war, many spies from other countries will sneak in quietly while the situation has not yet stabilized.

What she has in her hand now is just such suspected espionage intelligence.

"Winkle Agassiz, his real name is Winkle Einhorn..." She glanced at the photo attached to the information, and as expected, she saw a heroic woman with distinctive red hair and a rather neutral face.

According to the intelligence sent by the affiliated institutions, this member of the Einhorn branch of the Feysac Empire and from the secret organization "Iron Cross" has most likely arrived in Backlund. It seems that he has a mission and is pursuing a member of the "Witch Sect".

The two were missing after a secret fight broke out in the suburbs of the northwest district of Backlund, but recently, MI9's informant in the East District reported that someone had issued a reward for Winkle.

This information came at the right time. No matter how convenient the position was, it was still within the MI9 and was subject to rules and regulations. Such a Beyonder from Feysac, involved in the "Iron Blood Cross" and the "Witch Cult", and himself a "Hunter" path, provided Xio with a suitable excuse to access relevant internal information.

After a brief thought, she rang the bell to call a few subordinates, and assigned more detailed investigation tasks with a serious face. The opponent has reached the Sequence 6 level, so don't expect the subordinates to catch him. They can only keep pressure on the hunter and prevent the opponent's possible actions.

From a selfish point of view, Xio even hoped that the other party would be more difficult to deal with and delay the mission time limit so that she could investigate secretly. However, from the perspective of duty and conscience, she did not want the other party to endanger ordinary people in the process of continuous actions, so she did not let him go too much.

After arranging the relevant matters, Xio applied to her boss for the relevant information. Looking at the thick stack of papers filled with words, she rubbed her forehead and said to herself, "It would be great if Fors was here. She is best at extracting the key points from long paragraphs of text. The ability of the 'secret mage' can also allow her to sneak into my office undetected..."

Unfortunately, her good friend, with whom she had shared life and death many times, was currently far away in the Abraham family fiefdom in Intis, handling his own mission. Although the two of them often communicated through messengers from the spiritual world, they dared not let such important information leak out.

She scratched her messy blonde hair and resigned herself to looking through the information.

In a manor on the outskirts of Trier, the capital of Intis.

This estate, which belonged to the Abraham family, has finally regained some of its former glory after hundreds of years of depression.

With the "Full Moon Curse" completely resolved, the Abrahams, who had been separated as a family for many years, contacted all the family members who were scattered outside and resumed their collective form.

On the one hand, this was to give an explanation to The Fool. As a reward for solving the "Full Moon Curse", the Abraham family decided to convert collectively, provide enough "anchors" for this newborn, dormant god, and accept Fors Wall into the Council of Elders.

At the same time, this is also a new beginning for the revitalization of the Abraham family. After solving the problem of difficulty in promotion, the rich knowledge and characteristics accumulated by the family over the generations finally came into play. A group of young and lucky Abrahams will collectively take magic potions and be promoted under the care of Fors and Audrey.

——Yes, after realizing the scale of this grand ceremony, Fors quickly invited Audrey, a senior "audience member", to assist him.

"I'm not ready yet…" Fors, with her brown hair and blue eyes, leaned against the carved railing of the balcony, looking at the outline of Trier in the distance with a bit of melancholy, and complained to her friend, "The background of the nobles of the Fourth Epoch is indeed extraordinary… Even if the teacher said that I don't need to worry about the arrangements, when I think about being treated respectfully by so many Abrahams in the future, I…"

She didn't finish her words, but it was enough for Audrey to read her helplessness, nervousness, and a bit of retreat. This writer, who was known for her laziness, must have never had the ambition and expectation to be in charge of the entire family, and for a moment she didn't know how to face the current situation.

"I don't think you need to worry too much." Audrey, who had taken off her noble clothes and was only wearing ordinary clothes and robes, smiled and pushed a cup of black tea to her friend. She gently persuaded, "Your teacher and other members of the Elders Council should have considered this situation. First of all, you are not a member of the tribe, and you are responsible for the task of Mr. Fool. Naturally, they will not bother you with daily trivial matters. They just want you to show the future 'hope' to the tribe members at this celebration."

Hearing this, Fors retracted his gaze and turned to look at the lively courtyard. The "magic masters" were always good at creating a lively atmosphere. At this moment, white doves and fireworks were flying together in the courtyard, flowers of various colors were blooming on the temples of young girls, and young children were chasing the crystal clear soap bubbles and laughing and playing.

The elderly who had experienced the painful times before kept recognizing their long-lost relatives and old friends, or reminiscing about the past together, or remembering the deceased together, or just standing under the eaves and gazing deeply at the joyous scenes of the younger generations, with tears quietly sliding down their faces.

But the eyes of every Abraham are filled with the light of "hope".

Faced with this scene, Fors's frown relaxed slightly. Although she was still a little nervous, she gradually became more anxious to protect this beautiful scene.

This might be what Emperor Roselle said, "With great power comes great responsibility"... She sighed silently, then sat down opposite Audrey and took a sip of her tea.

...As expected of Abraham, the taste of this black tea is not inferior to the one I tasted at Audrey's house. Fors picked up a macaron and put it in her mouth, and said vaguely, "There is another problem. The Church of Steam and the Church of the Eternal Sun will send people to participate in Abraham's celebration. Intis officials will also come. I think that members of the Soran family and the Secret Society must be among them."

Although it is gradually declining in the Extraordinary aspect, from the time of Roselle, one of the four knights closest to the Emperor is Benjamin Abraham, which shows that this ancient family has never given up competing in the political situation of Intis.

Now that Abraham is about to set sail again in the extraordinary world, it is inevitable that all parties in Intis will pay attention to him.

Among them, the Steam Church and the Eternal Blazing Sun Church were not the biggest problems. Mr. Fool was already a recognized righteous god, and had enough tacit understanding with the two. Well, except that Fors, who was a shallow believer of Steam before, would be a little embarrassed.

The really tricky thing is the attitude of the Intis officials, that is, the Soran family and the secret society in the military.

It was because Fors remembered that Mr. Fool had targeted the leader of the Secret Order, Zaratul, many times before returning to the throne of God and directly caused his death that he seriously considered inviting Miss Audrey as a precaution.

Apart from anything else, it can be seen from Mr. World that the "Fortune Teller" is definitely not an easy one to deal with, and among them, the Sequence 5 "Master of Puppetry" is known as the most difficult Extraordinary person to guard against below Demigod.

She didn't want a few more "spies" from the secret society to appear quietly in the Abraham family after the celebration.Chapter 23 What I Gained from Reading Roselle's DiaryTitle of the Book:Mystery: From Apprentice to High-Dimensional OverlookerAuthor's name: BambooChapter word count: 3562 wordsUpdate time: 2022-09-22 15:30:01

Audrey was more optimistic about this matter. "The most important part of the celebration is to pray to Mr. Fool. I think, with Mr. Fool's blessing and the checks and balances of Steam and the Church of the Blazing Sun, the secret sects will not do anything out of line."

As a noble lady, Audrey had seen too much about the art of mutual restraint. The Church of Fools had not yet developed, and was not qualified to preach in Intis. It only had a considerable group of believers like Abraham.

The strength of the secret order declined after losing its leader, and the "fortune teller" they mainly controlled was adjacent to Abraham's "apprentice". Both of them needed a certain amount of time to recover or develop, and a delicate balance would inevitably be established between the gains and losses.

Although the Church of Steam and the Church of the Eternal Sun recognized the Fool as a true god, they would not share the people's anchor with him. Letting Abraham contain the Secret Order and taking the opportunity to expand their influence among the officials and people of Intis is what the two churches want to do most.

At least, at this celebration, Audrey, as a Sequence 3 of the Audience pathway, was confident that she could promptly identify the Marionettes in the crowd and keep an eye on the other people. She could even consider directly hinting at those with ill intentions.

In terms of psychological warfare, Fors naturally followed Audrey's opinion. Hearing this, he felt relieved and said with a wry smile, "Well, then it's no big deal. The rest is just my personal request."

The matters concerning the Abraham family could be considered the official business of the Tarot Club. The next thing Fors was going to entrust was something related to herself.

"As you know, Mr. Fool asked me to collect data from the Fourth Epoch and explore some of the problems that Mr. Men had at that time. The Abraham family provided me with some of Mr. Men's original notes and reminded me that some content, even if read in transcribed form, would have an impact on the spirituality and the mind.

"I have some experience in this regard. I once copied the book 'Experiences in the Spiritual World' which was also from the Abraham family. 'Mr. Men' was polluted and exiled at the end of the Fourth Epoch. His handwritten notes may also bring hidden pollution and stimulation to the spirit.

"So I would like to make an agreement with you to conduct an in-depth examination of my mental state every two weeks to ensure that I will not repeat the mistakes of Mr. Door. Well, plus I need to enter Mr. Fool's kingdom of God to participate in the Tarot Club at the beginning of each month, I think this frequency is safe enough.

"We can communicate through the spiritual world messenger. The reward is the history of the Fourth Epoch that I have interpreted, or the use of some of the Abraham family seals when necessary."

Since it was about her friend's safety, Audrey certainly didn't refuse: "Okay, you can also 'record' my abilities in advance to deal with unexpected situations."

Miss Audrey, you are truly an angel! Uh, not in the mystical sense... Fors was deeply moved, and then picked up another piece of puff pastry.

Loen's desserts were the best in the Northern Continent, but Intis had a slight advantage in the number of desserts due to the presence of Emperor Roselle, which allowed Fors to feast on his food these past few days.

The two of them enjoyed afternoon tea while admiring the scenery. Fors asked casually, "If you plan to collect folk songs here for two weeks, what will happen to your charity foundation and the Antiquities Protection Association?"

"The former has the support of the Church of Evernight, and there are professionals inside. The 'virtual personality' I created is enough to handle it." The blonde girl thought of the 'self' who was accompanying her family, and raised her lips slightly. "As for the latter, Susie is on duty in my place, so she can help it digest the 'Dream Walker' potion."

Susie... Forsyth thought of the big golden retriever who had given him and Xio tasks on behalf of Miss Audrey many times, and couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

Fors, Fors, you have been struggling for so many years, and you have just caught up with Miss Audrey's dog...

Audrey, who had grasped the other person's wonderful thoughts, couldn't help but recall the days a few years ago when she was "secretly observed" by Susie every day.

The two looked at each other and laughed out loud.

[January 6th, new year, new beginning.]

After being promoted to "Craftsman", I am finally able to do that thing!

That was the making of the mysterious silver medal in my memory, and it was most likely the cause of my time travel!

In fact, after becoming a "generalist", I have completely recalled its appearance, and the strange symbols and patterns on its surface, but at that time I could clearly feel that I could not imitate a similar item. ]

"A silver medal with strange symbols and patterns..."

He continued to read the next paragraph. The diary entry for January 9th stated that after Russell made the silver medal, no matter how hard he tried, he could only see a gray mist, and nothing else happened.

The next paragraph does not connect with the previous one, but is a longer paragraph about contact with a certain Mr. "Men".

Douglas put down the papers for the moment and began to recall whether he had come into contact with any objects similar to the mysterious silver medal mentioned by Russell before he traveled through time.

Soon, he remembered that not long before he traveled through time, he went back to his hometown in the countryside with his parents to visit his sick grandmother and stayed there for a few days. While rummaging around in the old house, he accidentally found a jade pendant that was also carved with many wonderful patterns.

He took this thing to ask his grandmother, and the old lady just said that it was passed down from their ancestors and was not valuable, so if you like it, you can take it away. So he really changed it into a red rope and wore it around his neck.

...Who would have thought that it wasn't me who took it away, but it took me away! Grandma, you betrayed your own granddaughter...

Complaints aside, he was not a "universalist". Russell had also proved that replicas of items could not travel back in time, so Douglas stopped dwelling on this point. He took out a piece of white paper and imitated the crooked Chinese characters that had been copied many times, pretending that he was counting the high-frequency symbols.

This was a cover-up he made to avoid exposing his ability to read Rosel's language. After all, no matter how much a shadow bat sounds like a pet, it is actually a surveillance tool. He couldn't be sure what Baron Bathory would see, so he had to act out the whole thing.

However, this made it easier for him to organize his diary. Anthony had tried to sort the diary by date, but Roselle only wrote the specific year at the beginning of the new year, and the rest of the entries only had the month and day, which resulted in many entries that seemed to have continuous dates, but were actually several years apart and the content was inconsistent.

Apart from Russell's history of love affairs and the complaints about food and environment when he first crossed over, Douglas' biggest gain from reading this was most of the sequence names of the "Universalist" path, as well as some information about the "Fortune Teller" path and Zaratul, the leader of the so-called "Secret Society".

The second is the name of the "Angel Family" of the Fourth Epoch mentioned in the article about Mr. "Gate". "Angel" is not a false name in the world of mysticism, but actually refers to the strong ones of Sequence 2 and Sequence 1.

However, Douglas felt that this information was too far away from him. He was now far from even Sequence 8. In particular, the article by Mr. Door openly discussed the authority of the Goddess of Night. Douglas, who frequently visited St. Samuel's Church, said that the specifications were too high and he dared not read it. He turned the page over and put it on the table with a guilty conscience.

The most useful thing to him now is only one paragraph: [The key to potion is not mastery, but digestion! Not digging, but acting! And the name of the potion is not only a core symbol, but also a specific image, which is the "key" to digestion! ]

The experience that Russell summarized when teaching his children just confirmed Douglas's previous guesses about the digestion of potions, making him dare to try the so-called "acting" with confidence.

In addition, there was another diary entry that made Douglas a little curious.

[…Now it seems that whether it is an "apprentice", a "fortune teller" or a "thief", they are all better…]

This seemed to be Russell's late-stage lament about his wrong choice of path. But as a fellow traverser and an "apprentice", Douglas could not yet understand Russell's lament and the reason why he put these three paths side by side.

If Roselle's desire to become a "divine teller" was influenced by the High-Sequence Master Zaratul, then what were the reasons for becoming an "apprentice" and a "thief"? Would I be particularly strong when I reach the High-Sequence level?

With such a beautiful vision, Douglas collected the scattered papers and placed them on the small table in the reference room and pressed them down with books. The church was the safest place he knew. Father Schultz and the Sainz brothers and sisters did not need to come here to study as often as he did, so no one would touch these things.

Tonight he was going to the East End to attend an underground party, which was part of his job. Douglas got off the public carriage and walked into the East End, wrapping his coat and pressing his palm against the revolver at his waist, walking quickly through the dim alleys, preparing to go to the bar to eat something and show up.

If a bounty hunter never shows up at social events, everyone will assume he is dead. After all, this is a profession that requires connections, so Douglas had to pretend that he was busy with some commission to avoid exposing his identity as an informant.

He held his breath in vain and rushed into the bar that reeked of alcohol, cigarettes and sweat. As usual, he squeezed to the bar counter to check in with Fernando to prove that he was alive. However, at a glance, the seat that belonged to Fernando was rarely empty.

Douglas didn't think much about it and ordered a light meal and Southwell beer as usual. He casually asked the bartender: "Fernan finally can't pay for the drinks? Why isn't he here today?"

Before the bartender could answer, a gap-toothed man dressed as a bounty hunter turned around and looked at Douglas: "Fernando is not here today. Are you looking for him too?"

"I bought something from him." Douglas was a little wary, and at the same time, he patted the handle of the revolver on his waist to cover it up. It was not uncommon for intelligence dealers to occasionally resell guns and ammunition or provide corresponding channels.

Gap Tooth hummed, glanced at him a few times, and then smiled: "Remember to tell my brother if you have any news about him, I have something urgent to do."

Why don't you go find it then? Why are you just sitting here... Douglas agreed casually, and secretly touched the newly received obsidian pendulum wrapped around his wrist, feeling a little bit out of place, but not to the extent that his spiritual intuition gave him a warning.

In other words, it is most likely not related to him, but Fernando got into trouble.

If he really wanted to find someone, Douglas remembered that Fernando had a permanent room on the second floor of the bar. He could use the other party's personal belongings to do divination, and maybe he could find out where the old drunkard had gone.

But - he calmly took a sip of wine and thought to himself, I won't waste my energy. Who knows if the person who came to Fernando is a friend or an enemy? Douglas didn't want to scrap one of his sources of intelligence. Being an intelligence dealer is to have the ability to get others to cover up for you.

He ate as usual and left, heading to the designated location to attend the underground party.

At the same time, in the billiard room of the "Brave Bar" on Tiemen Street in the South District of the Bridge, Fernando handed three pounds in change to the red-eyed boy in a loose coat, watched him count the amount, and then neatly arranged and stacked the banknotes according to the denomination.

I didn't expect that the "old man" in the South District was a young boy... Who gave him this nickname? While Fernando was complaining, the "old man" Ian Wright collected the money, took out a half-covered iron mask from under the pool table and handed it to him: "I will introduce you once, but whether you can attend the party later depends on the host's opinion."

"Okay." Fernando didn't say much. He took the mask and put it on, then followed Ian from the kitchen into a hidden alley and came to a dark building.Chapter 24 ActingTitle of the Book:Mystery: From Apprentice to High-Dimensional OverlookerAuthor's name: BambooChapter word count: 4555 wordsUpdate time: 2022-09-22 15:30:02

"I'm going to issue a commission.

"This is a commission to collect intelligence. I will advance 10 pounds of investigation funds to each person who is willing to accept the task. This is a portrait of the target. I need to know her whereabouts, the people she has contacted, and what extraordinary weapons she carries. The target will generally be active in the East District and the Dock District. She is an extraordinary person who is good at fighting, around Sequence 8.

"The more detailed the intelligence, the greater the reward."

Fernando recited the above content step by step, took out a sketch and handed it to the waiter, asking everyone at the party to look at it. Then he turned to the old man sitting at the top, who was called "Eye of Wisdom" by everyone, and respectfully asked: "I hope you can witness this transaction and allow me to participate in the next party so that I can handle the follow-up matters of the commission."

After a brief thought, the "Eye of Wisdom" agreed to the request and told the other party the contact code of Ernst Company. After that, a lady who had just sold extraordinary weapons and two other men took over the commission. Fernando paid 30 pounds for the investigation as promised and did not participate in other transactions. He left the party according to the arrangement of the "Eye of Wisdom".

After seeing off the last participant, "Eye of Wisdom" sat alone in the living room, took off his mask and stroked his chin thoughtfully. The face under the mask was none other than Backlund's famous detective Isengard Stanton.

"Winkel Agassiz..." He muttered a name. That was exactly the woman Fernan was looking for. As a semi-official Beyonder who worked closely with the church and the police, Isengard had just received news from MI9 this afternoon about the intelligence of this Feysac spy infiltrating Backlund.

The great detective closed his eyes slightly and leaned back in his chair, sketching the image of the new person entrusted with the task in his mind. Unfamiliar, cautious, but prepared, without the temperament of a soldier, unlike the informant of MI9, who had some discrepancies between the target sequence and the actual situation, but did not show any guilt, and might have been deceived without knowing it...

It is reported that the spy is pursuing a member of the "Witch Cult"...

Isengard thought for two seconds, took out a pure crystal ball, and tried to do a divination on Fernan. After he touched the starry crystal ball with his palm, it seemed that mist rose from the inside, presenting a hazy light and shadow.

The middle-aged gentleman with gray hair narrowed his blue eyes and examined the vague image in the crystal ball. After a while, he shook his head slightly. There were too few preconditions, and the divination failed to give a result that could be interpreted. Isengard put away the crystal ball and decided to move the next meeting time forward by one day to observe the other party more.

"Three copies of Roselle's diary can be sold for 20 pounds... Praise Roselle! Praise Huang Tao!"

Douglas left the party feeling very happy, thinking that he was not far from becoming rich. Although he got rich by forging his fellow villager's diary of picking up girls...

Who told you, the Great Emperor, to block the way for those who come after you in all directions? This is called the law of nature… If I can't copy the book, isn't it easy to copy your diary? The Count of Champagne wants to fuck you, and the Count of Erguotou might want to fuck you too, right? He chuckled in a not-so-kind way, and then thought about how to forge Roselle's diary inconspicuously.

Actually, when it comes to getting rich, he has not thought of a way to bypass Shadowbat's surveillance and Antonia's attention. After all, Chinese is really incompatible with the alphabet system of this world. Even if researchers like Antonia don't know the meaning, they can still remember many characters. When he makes up a "Roselle diary" that he doesn't have on hand, it will be troublesome if Antonia finds that it doesn't match any of the diaries.

Of course, what he has on hand now are actually Anthony's private collection, and it is still unclear whether he is allowed to resell them.

Furthermore, if Antonia found a new diary of Russell and studied it in the future, and Douglas saw that it was the one he made up with Russell full of big men, it would be difficult for him to hold back his wicked laughter.

There is always a way. At worst, we can do it after the internship period. There is no need to rush to hook up with fellow villagers... Douglas walked to the hotel humming a song in a relaxed manner. He glanced casually and found that the light in Verity's room was still on. He was a little surprised. He came back late a few days ago and the girl had already gone to bed. The two of them only met at breakfast.

He glanced at the clock as he crossed the hall, then knocked on Verity's door and asked, "Why aren't you asleep yet?"

"It's still early." The girl's long blond hair was tied behind her head with a ribbon, revealing her smooth forehead and slender neck. She excitedly pulled his wrist and said, "I'm looking through the rental information in the newspaper. You can come and take a look."

Before he could figure out whether entering the girl's room was considered inappropriate, he had already followed her and arrived at the hotel desk. Many newspapers were spread out in a mess, and the rental information on them was cut out and pasted on a notebook.

Verity picked up the notebook and explained to him carefully: "These pages are for those who are willing to share the rent with the landlord, and the price is relatively suitable. The ones behind are for those who need to find tenants by themselves. And these are close to the subway and the public carriage station, which is convenient for you to go to the church to work..."

After that, she waited for feedback with some anticipation and nervousness: "Do you think there is anything suitable here?"

Douglas, who had no actual experience in renting a house, held the notebook in his hand and fell into deep thought.

"...How about this, we'll pick a few families to visit this Sunday." He tried to recall his experience living in the school dormitory and turned to the first few pages. "I think it is very necessary to understand the landlord's personality, living habits and beliefs, in order to avoid major friction in future life. Well, you definitely don't want to share a room with the followers of the Lord of Storms."

Verity agreed. The two screened through the information several times based on Douglas's annual income and rental level, and then eliminated those that required them to rent the entire property and find tenants themselves. It was close to the New Year, which was the off-season for renting a property, so why bother themselves?

After selecting the last five or six houses, Douglas looked at the time and urged Verity to wash up and go to bed. He copied a rental document and planned to find an experienced person to ask about the relevant matters tomorrow. He was a college student living with his parents before he traveled through time, and he really knew nothing about this.

Well, the vampires who have their own villas definitely don't understand, and Father Schultz lives in the church. Do I have to ask Teacher Melos about this? This is too much of a waste of time to treat the Nighthawks as outsiders...

The next day, underground at St. Samuel's Cathedral.

"..." Melos looked at the stack of house information in his hand and rubbed his forehead. "This doesn't seem to fall within my job scope."

"So I asked after class." Douglas coughed lightly, not hiding his embarrassment from the bottom of his heart, "This is... a personal request."

The Nighthawk began to seriously consider whether giving this cheap apprentice a punch would help digest his "Combat Scholar" potion.

After discovering the problem with potion digestion after the last class, she went back and had an in-depth discussion with her teammates in the same team. Combining Daly's previous performance and the Secret Peepers' Code, she roughly summarized a set of methods that need to be verified.

That is, to summarize the rules that are consistent with the name of the potion and strictly follow them.

Of course, this method is still very crude. For example, Lorota, who is the "gravedigger", and Al Hassan, who is the "nightmare", both pointed out at the same time that if some sequences were to be carried out completely according to the name of the potion, it would definitely cause adverse effects to varying degrees.

They had not yet come to a conclusion on this point. Although Melos's reasoning was generally logical, there were too many uncertainties in the details.

Al and Lolota were familiar with Melos's character and knew that it would be difficult to dissuade her from trying in a short period of time; their years of friendship as colleagues also prevented them from reporting such an idea to the temple and leaving a stain on Melos' resume because of the investigation.

In addition to the promotions brought by promotion, the Night Watchmen have many other positions to choose from within the church, but the secular position review is even more rigorous and complicated than the promotion review.

In the end, both parties took a step back, and Meros would try to act according to the rules, while Lorota and Al would act as supervisors. Meros had been promoted to Sequence 8 for four years, so the risk of losing control was not great.

If the potion digested quickly, she would immediately report the method, apply for promotion, and be reviewed to prove the correctness of the code.

As his thoughts raced, Melos gave up the idea of beating anyone up and gave Douglas some advice on renting a house based on his own life experience.

Seeing that the other party was taking note of the suggestions seriously, she tentatively asked, "Is this also part of becoming an 'apprentice'?"

Douglas paused, raised his head and met the other person's eyes, not surprisingly, and deliberately made a thoughtful expression: "No, it's not. I am not 'playing' an apprentice every moment."

He deliberately emphasized the pronunciation of the word "play".

From Melos's more proactive attitude, Douglas felt that this teacher who had been immersed in the mysticism for longer than himself should have understood to a certain extent that potions were not about mastering but digesting. This gave him the confidence to describe Emperor Roselle's theory in a different way, without being judged as a heretic by the Night Watchman in front of him and thrown into prison.

Sure enough, Melos did not criticize his idea, but nodded and signaled him to continue.

Douglas first briefly explained his understanding of digesting potions, and then brought the topic to "acting": "Regarding 'acting', I got the inspiration from my... um, colleagues."

"…You mean the vampires?" Meros stroked his chin, looking very interested.

"Yes." Douglas admitted frankly, "In our, I mean human, legends, there are creatures called 'vampires'. In fact, 'vampires' are also a Sequence 7 of a path that can be promoted from humans. The power of the blood race is equivalent to this Sequence 7.

"As for the blood race, except for those who come into contact with evil beings that they should not come into contact with, there are almost no records of them getting out of control. This is because they are born to be so-called 'vampires'!"

Father Schultz had told him about Sequence 7. Yesterday morning, when Father Schultz asked him if his occult studies course was going well, Douglas naturally mentioned the loss of control and the question about the name of his own sequence, and curiously asked about the source of the blood race's power.

He was sure that these topics would not arouse the other party's vigilance. After all, his curiosity was genuine.

After Father Schultz told him about the two main pathways controlled by the Church of Mother Earth, he specifically mentioned the blood race's hatred of humans' "artificial vampires" for advancement, and let Douglas know the names of Sequence 9 to Sequence 7 along the "Moon" pathway, as well as the knowledge that blood races can also continue to advance along this sequence, but the way they advance is slightly more special than that of humans.

Father Schultz didn't say what was so special about it, but Douglas didn't really care. The previous piece of knowledge combined with the low rate of loss of control among vampires was enough to make his guess reasonable.

"Combined with my own feelings that day, I think that if the behavior can be consistent with the meaning of the potion's name, it will help the digestion of the potion. Just like a warrior's mission is to fight with others, he naturally needs to hone his combat skills to make himself consistent with the reality represented by the name."

As he spoke, he missed the simplicity of the four-character idiom system in Chinese. Something that could be summed up with a "true and worthy of the name" now had to be broken down and fully explained.

Meros nodded subconsciously. Even the Nighthawks didn't know much about the vampires, but the explanation from the Church of the Mother Earth was credible enough.

"So, your idea is to digest it by 'playing' the potion's name?"

"Besides that...'acting' is also a reminder to me not to forget who I am." Douglas said this with a somewhat uncertain tone. Russell did not mention the details of the acting in his diary, and the following is all his own summary.

"remind?"

"That's right. Because then I suddenly thought, how can humans play the role of 'vampires'? Blood races are born to feed on blood, but humans are not like that. If I were asked to drink blood every day, even if it was not human blood, I would find it difficult to accept. If I force myself to drink blood in order to digest the potion, then... it would be a torture."

This is also what Al and Lolota disagreed about... This kind of acting that goes against conscience is more likely to promote loss of control than promote digestion! Melos frowned slightly.

Douglas did not ignore the teacher's changing expression and continued, "At this time, I thought of the residual spirit in the potion you mentioned. Humans are not born extraordinary, but have absorbed the abilities of various extraordinary creatures and are affected by their residual spirits. I think the name of the potion must also reflect this point.

"So what I have to do is not to 'be' it, but to 'play' it, and bypass the influence of the residual spirit through 'playing'! It's like the difference between an actor and a role. As long as you show characteristics such as mystery, weirdness, fear of sunlight, and companionship with bats, even if you don't drink blood, you can let the audience know that your character is a vampire.

"The point is, it's not the potion that shapes me, it's me that digests the potion! Everything is just 'acting'!"

In short, you must not lose yourself and go astray!

The fact that Russell chose the word "acting" from among many other words also proved this point. Douglas believed that his fellow countryman would not be careless in guiding his own children. Moreover, Russell was already a High-Sequence Beyonder at that time. His experience itself proved that the "acting method" was correct in the general direction.

After explaining all this in a roundabout way, Douglas let out a long sigh and watched Melos's reaction with a little nervousness. He guessed, but he told Melos about it with the intention of letting the teacher check it for him.

After hearing what he said, Meros was silent for a while before he added, "You can also try to summarize some rules for 'acting'. The path of 'secret peeper' has a long-standing rule, 'Do whatever you want, but don't hurt.'"

"Okay!" Douglas responded with a smile on his face, thinking that the Nighthawks did have the corresponding information internally, and he had never thought about summarizing any rules.

Prior to this, because he could not reveal that he could understand Rosel's text, he did not dare to reveal to Father Schultz that he had just learned the basics of mysticism and began to make random summaries in order to obtain Melos's recognition and guidance first.

However, it is likely that the Church of Mother Earth would not be completely unaware of what the Church of Night knows. Moreover, the vampires can monitor through shadow bats. Douglas feels that he does not need to report such matters himself.

Having obtained the desired result, he was about to get up and say goodbye, but was unexpectedly stopped by Melos.

"How good are you in fighting?" she asked.Chapter 25 How to Digest the PotionTitle of the Book:Mystery: From Apprentice to High-Dimensional OverlookerAuthor's name: BambooChapter word count: 3298 wordsUpdate time: 2022-09-23 15:30:01

"…Why are you asking this?" Douglas' smile suddenly became stiff.

Although the "Apprentice" route does not provide any physical bonus, the original owner has been in the East District for many years and is very experienced in street fights.

The only problem is that this experience cannot be inherited by the current Douglas after the time travel. He is sure that his actual combat level is even worse than that of a weakling.

"An attempt." Meros folded his arms and looked at him seriously. "I can tell you that my current sequence name is 'Combat Scholar'. In order to better 'act', I now need a sparring partner."

From a "secret peeper" to a "combat scholar", your method is really outrageous... Douglas grinned as if he had a toothache and asked, "You are inside the Nighthawks..."

"They are all Beyonders with great physical advantages, which is not conducive to cooperating with my 'performance'."

Seeing Melos's expression that clearly showed that he felt he was a good fit, Douglas suddenly felt torn between his conscience and his desires.

On the one hand, he was actually worried about his fighting ability. Without any self-defense skills, he didn't dare to stay in the East District for long, but he had to go because of work. Being Melos' sparring partner would give him the opportunity to learn secretly and solve this problem.

But on the other hand, he couldn't explain why a bounty hunter couldn't fight and was...very afraid of pain.

Seeing him fall silent, Melos thought for a moment and added, "…I'll treat you to dinner."

No, you don't understand. This is not about dinner... Douglas almost covered his face with his hands. After struggling for a while, he sighed and said, "Okay."

After all, running away won't solve the problem, and having many skills is always a plus… He saw Melos's relaxed expression, and hurriedly gave him a shot of defense: "But don't expect anything, I, I'm not good at fighting."

The Nighthawk raised an eyebrow in surprise: "Really?"

"Yes." Douglas insisted that he was powerless. "I am an investigator. That means I will never take action if I can report it, and I will never try to be brave if I can run away."

As an "apprentice", it makes sense that he is good at escaping.

"..." Melos looked speechless. "I heard that you were the one who tried to kill someone with a crowbar before."

"Ahem... that was, that was an extreme situation!"

Douglas pretended to be innocent and complained about why Red Gloves remembered such insignificant details so clearly. Fortunately, Melos didn't care about it and took him out of the church to the combat training institution that cooperated with the police department.

Then Douglas learned firsthand what it meant to be a "combat scholar."

Although not as significant as that of the Sleepless or the Corpse Collector, the physical enhancement of the Combat Scholar was enough to allow the petite Meros to match the strength and speed of an untrained adult man like him.

What he didn't know was that the Nighthawks' induction training had always included combat skills, and support personnel were no exception.

Melos, who was dressed in a neat knight's uniform, looked at him with a complicated expression and tried to choose the most tactful words: "You... have been a bounty hunter for so long, do you rely on luck?"

Douglas wanted to lie on the ground and act like a spoiled brat, but his character didn't allow him to do that. He forced a half smile, stood up with a grin, and rubbed his back. Fortunately, the original owner had a strong physique, so he didn't lose face and couldn't even get up.

Melos looked a little reluctant: "Are you okay?"

"I think," Douglas said, avoiding the question, "that beating me up won't help digest the potion. 'Scholar' might mean conducting in-depth research, dissemination, and innovation in combat techniques. In other words, it might be more efficient for you to teach me first and then use me as a research subject rather than using me as a punching bag."

"Research..." The Night Watcher frowned slightly. To be honest, she felt that the digestion of the "Secret Peer" stage mostly relied on the accumulation of mystical knowledge, that is, to understand a sufficient amount of secret knowledge without emphasizing practice.

It's easy to understand that the things on the mysterious side are not something that can be tried casually. So when it came to the "combat scholar" stage, Melos was struggling with combat while wondering about the scholar, and he hadn't summarized any role-playing rules in the past few days.

Now what this cheap student said does make some sense... Meros was about to speak when he suddenly glanced at Douglas and said, "Teach you... You are very skilled at digesting potions, right?"

Douglas smiled awkwardly when his little thought was pointed out: "Anyway, I think research and teaching are the general direction! If it's convenient for you, you can teach me."

Melos also smiled brightly, raised his hand and gave him an uppercut.

Douglas, who had been beaten twice, stepped back in time, crossed his arms in front of him to block, and immediately felt a tingling sensation in his forearms. After the two exchanged a few moves, as the tempo of the confrontation continued to rise, Douglas...began to lose sight of his eyes.

He was aware of every movement, but couldn't react. This was purely a manifestation of lack of corresponding training. After becoming proficient in many movements, he didn't need to think about them, but relied on body memory and conditioned reflexes to respond directly.

After noticing his dilemma, Meros stopped in time. The two discussed the issue and taught each other hard. While Meros was happily digesting the potion, Douglas was standing in a corner with dumbbells in his hands, looking doubtful about his life.

Who is so unlucky that he has to relive the pain of military training after traveling through time? Oh, it's me, that's all right.

Antina picked up his report with crooked handwriting and seemed to be trying hard to hold back her laughter: "I think Antonia will force you to rewrite it in words that can be interpreted."

Douglas, who had just obtained a medicine to relieve physical fatigue from the other party, unscrewed the cork, swallowed the liquid in the glass bottle, closed his eyes and said vaguely: "It's good enough that I can hold the pen."

He stretched out his hand to show her his fingertips, which were trembling slightly due to excessive exercise. However, under the effect of the potion, a warm current quickly spread throughout his limbs and bones, and his whole body seemed to be soaked in hot water, and the muscle soreness gradually eased. Douglas exhaled and snatched the report back from the vampire who laughed at his weak physique. He really felt that the handwriting was not like that of a human, so he decided to rewrite it.

Seeing that he seemed to have recovered, Antina returned to the crucible and stirred the sticky liquid inside, admonishing him: "Although the potion is very effective, you can't rely on these external things. Bring another five soles next time."

"..." Douglas, who was looking at the interior of the alchemy room, turned back in disbelief, "Is this what a noble vampire who owns a manor should say?"

Antina tutted her tongue in condemnation: "Look, why are you focusing on money? My point is that you can't rely on potions, understand?"

Douglas looked at her suspiciously and muttered, "I think Antonia should give you some rhetoric lessons, too."

"You've got it wrong. He should be learning from me." The young vampire snorted, reached out and grabbed a tin box and the scales on the table, deftly weighed out a few grams of gray powder and poured it into the crucible. "Rather than going to college to tease human children, it's the task that the Archbishop left for us to research a potion that can be mass-produced and stored stably."

"A stable medicine?" Douglas curiously moved closer to see how the liquid in the pot, which contained an unknown mixture of ingredients, gradually became transparent after being boiled for a long time. He watched Antina complete the final quantitative packaging process and asked casually.

Then he stared in amazement as Antina tasted the newly produced medicine. This was like Shennong tasting hundreds of herbs to test poison. It definitely didn't comply with laboratory regulations... Don't you have any pre-measures such as animal testing or double-blind experiments?

"Hmm. Ordinary materials cannot solidify the healing effect of the ritual for a long time, and extraordinary materials are very precious and rare." Antina seemed to be dissatisfied with the taste of the potion. She frowned and made two "Pooh" sounds before explaining, "Our sequence is good at making medicine. We can achieve quite good results without relying on ritual solidification, but we still cannot meet the requirements in terms of stability."

Douglas, who had watched the whole process, asked, "Given your production speed, there's no need to pursue a long shelf life, right? Just prepare it before the dangerous mission, right?"

"No, not for our own use. The Archbishop's request is to set up a pharmaceutical company for ordinary people."

"For ordinary people...won't there be a risk of the Extraordinary being leaked?"

"So I've been using ordinary materials. In addition to the shelf life, whether it can be mass-produced is also a problem."

As Antina said this, she removed the crucible from the fire and threw it into the sink, and naturally instructed him: "Wash it clean."

Douglas was so used to being ordered around these days that he obediently picked up the long-handled brush and started washing dishes halfway through when he realized something was wrong and turned to stare at Antina, who had already cleaned up the table and was smiling as she threw a bunch of dirty containers into the sink, her expression very calm.

He turned the crucible upside down to drain the water, and washed it resignedly: "If every potion needs to be made by you extraordinary people, it will be difficult to promote extraordinary products. Only by realizing a mechanical assembly line can mass production be possible, right?"

Douglas instinctively felt that this idea was a bit outrageous based on the knowledge of market economics he had learned in his previous life. He couldn't just distribute the "pharmacist" potion to train extraordinary workers!

"Assembly line?" Antina seemed very interested in the combination of these words. After Douglas explained, she asked curiously, "Can factories now implement such technology?"

"Uh..." Douglas suddenly realized that he subconsciously explained to Antina according to the mode of modern factory production. However, the real realization of full automation in the 21st century depends on computers, big data, advanced mechanical intelligence, and sufficient electrical energy... This... steam engine is probably...

He coughed a few times to cover up, and said, "No, no, no, it's not achievable. This is a beautiful vision... But, if machines can do it, it's not impossible to replace them with workers. It's just that it's more difficult to keep it confidential."

Antina stared at him thoughtfully for a while: "I prefer the mechanized idea. Hey, maybe we should discuss it with the Steam Church."

Douglas hummed noncommittally, determined to keep his mouth shut and not say anything beyond his time. He didn't know if the Steam Church had the ability to realize this. Considering that even the steam engine was invented by Russell after traveling through time, Douglas felt that there was little hope.

He cleaned and dried all the equipment quietly, then quickly slipped away from the alchemy room to recopy the report.

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Steam:? My true god-level spiritual intuition feels that someone insulted me, what's going on.jpg

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