newbobooks Chapter 213 Deceiving Mr. A, Obtaining Extraordinary Characteristics
Chapter 213 Deceiving Mr. A, Obtaining Extraordinary Characteristics
Chapter 213 Deceiving Mr. A, Obtaining Extraordinary Characteristics
Knowing Bernadette's logic and purpose, Robert felt much more at ease, while at the same time, he sensed the unrest in the world through his own intuition.
Whether it was the great battle between "Tail Eater" Urolius and the Council of Life, the Storm God's intervention from afar, Bernadette's attempt to ascend to the angelic realm, or King George III's unusual behavior, all of these gave him a feeling that something big might be about to happen.
In addition, the knowledge he gained about the Horn family's history gave Robert a rare sense of crisis.
Whether it's historical background or his current position, it's already determined that if something major happens in the Extraordinary World,
Both he and Evan were caught in the eye of the storm.
Moreover, the way he looked at his younger brother Evan became increasingly complicated. Although Evan did not confess directly to him, he indirectly admitted that he was involved in Bernadette's affairs.
It's a tacit admission, not an admission, but the meaning is quite clear.
Evan told him about Bernadette's possible ascension to angelhood, so that he could be mentally prepared.
On the other hand, it also subtly expresses that he does not want to continue investigating how he embarked on the path of the extraordinary.
He did have connections with the secret organization, but he did not become a follower of the evil god. Hopefully, Robert will not investigate further.
Robert guessed that Evan was doing this because his deputy, Mr. Hope, had made substantial progress in his investigation of the Gnostic witch Helen.
Two days ago, he reported to me that he had discovered that Evan had placed the witch named Helen inside MI9 as his secretary and was planning to secretly kidnap her for interrogation.
Thinking about Evan's behavior over this period, it really doesn't seem like something a cultist would do. In addition, if Evan really was involved in Bernadette's affairs, his secrets won't be simple either, and you can't find out the real thing from the outside.
Therefore, Robert made a decision in his heart: he would no longer investigate how Evan embarked on the extraordinary path, but his observation of the future would not stop.
"By the way, Deputy Director Jonas has already told me that he has informed Petrov Andrei about the change of contact person. Here is the contact information. I don't have anyone in the Fussac Empire, so you can send someone to make the contact!"
After Evan finished explaining his speculations about Bernadette, he took a note out of his pocket and handed it to Robert.
Robert took the note, glanced at it, then flicked his wrist, turning it into powder as punishment, and said:
"I understand. In a few days, I will arrange for Mr. Hope to go to the Fursac Empire in person. This person is very important and is very likely to become a powerful tool for us to deal with the Fursac Empire in the future. Of course, we must also prevent him from turning around and using us as a tool for the Fursac Empire to deal with Rune and Intis."
Using someone of Petrov Andrei's caliber carries significant risk because you don't know if he's genuinely surrendering, or if he's a decoy set up by the opponent. You also have to guard against him turning the tables and killing you. Therefore, careful screening is crucial.
In fact, no one is sure whether he betrayed Zerrell to gain Intis's trust in the eighth inning.
Deputy Director Jonas must have screened the rat beforehand and concluded that he was fine.
But no one can guarantee 100% certainty in this kind of thing, and Robert needs to do another check, which Evan absolutely agrees with.
What Evan didn't know was that Robert sent Hope to the Fursac Empire not just to conduct a second screening of this high-ranking rat, but also for other purposes. However, there was no need to explain his intentions to Evan in detail.
Robert and Evan chatted for a while, mostly about the impending dismantling of MI9.
When they had finished their conversation, the butler came to announce that a distinguished guest had arrived in person, and that he was not in a position to handle the situation; only Robert could deal with it. Meanwhile, Evan left the Earl of Ahova's mansion.
After leaving Count Akhova's mansion, Evan, as usual, had the coachman drive the carriage around to various places to check if his intelligence channels had made any contact.
After wandering around, when he arrived at the municipal park in the western district, he discovered a long-lost communication code in a corner.
Evan calmly withdrew his self-illumination, showing no unusual expression. He had the coachman take him to all the contact points, then let him go home on his own. He went to his apartment in the Joewood district to change his clothes, and then secretly went to the East District.
Inside a safe house in the East District, Evan saw a creature covered in wounds, its body covered in wriggling, viscous growths.
Seeing the disgusting tumor and Mr. A's eyes filled with madness and regret, even though Evan was mentally prepared, his heart skipped a beat. He quickly made the sign of the cross on his chest and asked urgently:
"Mr. A, what's wrong with you? Weren't you protecting Lanluus, protecting the divine body that the Lord descended to earth? How did it turn out like this? How is Lanluus?"
Mr. A's slightly crazed eyes swept over Evan, then, suppressing the resentment in his voice, he said painfully:
"Someone betrayed Lanruus's location, drawing all three major churches to the area, and Lanruus was ultimately killed!"
"Who, who destroyed the vessel through which the Lord descended to earth? Mr. A, tell me, I will not let him get away with this!"
Evan was filled with righteous indignation and intense emotions, showing unusual anger over the murder of Lanius, which made Mr. A, who had been observing him, lower his guard.
Mr. A knew perfectly well why Lanius's hiding place was discovered by the three major churches—it was Lanius's own doing.
But the fact that the Mysterious Queen was able to find Lanius so accurately was clearly not a coincidence or luck. After all, the Angel King of their own destiny path was present, and Mr. A did not believe that they would be unlucky.
It was clear that the mysterious queen had long been eyeing Lanius and was ready to make her move at any time.
So the question is, who leaked Lanius's location? Mr. A is now trying to identify the person he believes might have leaked the information.
Evan wasn't high on Mr. A's list of suspects because after handing over the Aurora Society's influence in Backlund City to Evan, he had already severed all ties with everyone in Evan's group.
All Evan knew was that he was focused on protecting Lanluus, but he had no idea where he was hiding Lanluus!
Evan's current behavior further confirms Mr. A's suspicions. In addition, since Evan is a chosen one blessed by the true Creator, he silently removed Evan from the list of suspects.
"It was the leader of the 'Dawn of Elements'—the Mysterious Queen. She had been watching us for a long time. This time, while His Highness the 'Tail Eater' was confronting the angels of the Augustus family, and while I was confronting the three major churches, she struck and killed Lanluus!"
Mr. A gritted his teeth and said to Evan, his hatred for Bernadette reaching its peak, to the point that the tumor on his body ruptured due to his emotional fluctuations, and yellowish-green pus flowed onto the ground, filling the whole room with a pungent stench.
But Evan showed no disgust whatsoever. He quickly stepped forward and helped Mr. A to a chair in the room, and said urgently:
"How are you feeling? The Horn family has a deep partnership with the vampires, jointly operating a hospital; they have a very good relationship. I'll take you there for treatment!"
The prerequisite for vampires is "healer," and like the extraordinary individuals of the cultivator path, they are very skilled at healing.
Mr. A waved his hand and rejected Evan's suggestion. A faint green light appeared on his body. Wherever the green light passed, the ruptured tumors on his body began to show signs of knotting. The stench in the air also faded a lot, but it could not be completely cured, and new tumors continued to be born.
"I'm herding 'doctors' with the cultivator's path, so they can heal themselves. No need for that; having vampires heal you might expose your identity!"
After offering a few words of persuasion, seeing Mr. A's resolute attitude, Evan could only sigh and give up trying to persuade him. Instead, he continued the previous topic and asserted:
"There's a mole among us! Lanluus possesses the divinity of the Lord, so even if he uses a '0' level sealed artifact, no one will be able to detect it. This has been verified by MI9!"
And since you, Mr. A, are personally in charge of security at Lanluus, the possibility of unreliable people seeing Lanluus has been virtually eliminated.
Aside from an inside leak, I can't think of any other reason why the mysterious queen would be able to find Lanius!
I propose a thorough internal investigation to find this mole, avenge our master, and prevent similar incidents from happening again. I personally am willing to accept the investigation!
Evan's words were righteous and his sincere heart was evident, which greatly impressed Mr. A. Mr. A felt he had made the right choice in selecting a successor and said to Evan:
"That's what I think too. Right now, in the whole of Backlund, apart from you being a chosen one of the Lord and someone I can trust, I don't trust anyone else."
"Uh, isn't there also the Dark Saint? Shouldn't he be trustworthy too?" Evan immediately understood the implication in Mr. A's words and was taken aback.
He never expected that Mr. A would no longer trust anyone, not even the Dark Saint, the highest-ranking person in charge of the Aurora Society in the Kingdom of Rune.
"Hmph! That's not necessarily true! Their family is deeply favored by the Lord. Back then, under the leadership of the 'Tail Swallower,' they climbed mountains and crossed seas to pay homage to the Lord's Kingdom!"
Unexpectedly, his brother turned out to be an unfaithful believer, exposed in the ruins of the divine war at the end of the Sunia Sea, and still trapped there. Although God has not punished him, who can guarantee that he, like his brother, is not a faithless individual?
Mr. A's words immediately reminded Evan of the murals Klein saw when he entered the ruins of the God War in the third volume of the original novel "Lord of Mysteries"—and the demigod he encountered on the Sequence 4 of the Mysterious Prayer Path—the Black Saint Leomaster.
He was "spectator" in the ruins of the God War.
The power of the path caused him to split into two people, and unexpectedly, he turned out to be the brother of the Dark Saint.
At the same time, Mr. A's words also revealed the history of how, after the disintegration of the Solomon Empire in the Fourth Age, the members of the Aurora Society, led by Ullolius, entered the true kingdom of the Creator God.
In that sense, the Aurora Society, or perhaps the Ironblood Cross Society as well, was founded by these true believers of the Creator who descended from the Quaternary Age.
Um, the Black Saint's mental breakdown due to the power of the audience pathway is a sign of impiety. Isn't Mr. A being a bit too extreme?
Judging from the original description, Leomaster was just somewhat kind and still maintained his faith in the true Creator.
But at this moment, Evan will not speak his mind.
"No way? The Dark Saint has been leading the Aurora Society's operations in the Kingdom of Rune, they wouldn't do something like that, would they?"
"Of course it is. This time, I guarded Lanluus and achieved absolute information isolation. I didn't tell anyone else except him. I personally developed and managed all the guards."
Mr. A grew angrier the more he analyzed the situation. He was already wary of the Dark Saint because of Leomaster's affair, and this incident only deepened his suspicions.
"The three major churches must be desperately searching for you. Your first priority should be to hide and heal your injuries before thinking about the future. By the way, whatever your future plans are, I'm happy to cooperate!"
Regardless, Evan always played the role of a loyal follower and a good subordinate in front of Mr. A.
"I plan to try and collect demigod recipes through other means, hoping to ascend to demigod status myself. Then I'll figure out how to investigate this leak, and finally seek revenge on the mysterious queen!"
Mr. A was still the same Mr. A, just as simple and direct as ever. His plan was just like Evan's previous life's "putting an elephant in a refrigerator"—it could be broken down into several steps. This made Evan laugh, and he could only ask helplessly:
"What recipes are you planning to collect? I recently attended a gathering with high-ranking experts; perhaps I can help."
"I need the potion recipes for 'The Dark One,' 'The High Priest of Calamity,' 'The Prophet,' and 'The Manipulator.' Just keep an eye out for them for me; there's no need to specifically search for them and arouse unnecessary suspicion."
Mr. A smiled at Evan's desire to help, but did not refuse. He casually stated his needs, though he had no expectations. He had been collecting these formulas for a long time, but had not received any news.
To his surprise, Evan's face lit up with delight before he even finished listening, and he excitedly exclaimed:
"At the last gathering I attended, someone was selling the recipe for the potion 'The Dark One,' but it was only an incomplete recipe; it seemed to only contain the main ingredients. I wonder if you still need it?"
Mr. A was extremely excited to find out that he had been searching for a formula for years, and he was thrilled to receive the information from Ivan.
For him, there's no need to consider things like rituals or auxiliary materials.
Whether it's the ritual or the auxiliary materials, they are essentially meant to neutralize the main material. However, the followers of the Aurora Society do not need to do this; they never prepare these things and usually just swallow them whole.
This stems from the unique nature of the authority of the Mystic Path, one of the higher-order authority of the Mystic Path is "sacrifice".
It's somewhat similar to the Hunter pathway "Gathering" authority, which can distribute damage to others, but the underlying principle is completely different.
When Mr. A was promoted to "Shepherd", there was no preparation ceremony. He simply prayed to the true Creator, and the impact of taking the extraordinary properties was transferred to the true Creator.
That experience further solidified Mr. A's faith in the true Creator. If he didn't believe in a Creator who could bear suffering for believers, then who would he believe in?
Moreover, unlike the Hunter Path, high-sequence strongmen can only distribute damage to the armies under their command.
The true Creator can transfer all things with the meaning of "suffering" to Himself and bear them Himself. This is the true meaning of "God loves the world" in the Aurora Society's doctrine.
However, how much "suffering" the true Creator can transfer depends on the believer's level of devotion to their faith.
Therefore, to some extent, the higher the sequence of believers, the more devout they are in their faith in the true Creator; those with shallow faith would have already lost control and died during their ascension.
The Aurora Society wouldn't feel sorry for a believer who died despite consuming extraordinary traits, because it would show that his faith wasn't devout enough and that he deserved to die.
Mr. A never doubted his faith; he believed that as long as he had the materials, he could be directly promoted to angel.
If it weren't for the fact that high-sequence demigods are far more powerful than sequence 5, and the threshold for divinity is far too high, he would have already hunted down the corresponding demigods and devoured their extraordinary characteristics to advance. Why would he need to painstakingly collect the formula?
Therefore, for him, all he needs to do is know the main ingredients in the corresponding recipe; he himself is the strongest below the demigod level.
They can hunt their prey and obtain materials on their own, and with the help of the true creator, they can ascend to a higher realm without preparing any rituals.
"Of course I need it. When can I get it? What's the price? Can I attend this party?"
Mr. A seemed to see the day he would become a demigod.
"Well, you need an introduction to join this party. I was only able to join because of my brother!"
The seller of the recipe seemed to be short of money; he asked for 7 gold pounds, but because the recipe was incomplete and the price was a bit high, not many people were interested!
Evan knew Mr. A's financial situation well and spoke to him cautiously.
Sure enough, Mr. A fell silent upon hearing the offer of 7 gold pounds.
He is now penniless, except for a few safe houses.
When Mr. A decided to focus on protecting Lanius, he handed over the Aurora Society's influence in Backlund to Evan, with only 2000 gold pounds in liquid funds.
This amount of money could only support the Aurora Club's operating expenses for two months. Asking him to come up with 7 gold pounds at once is practically asking for his life.
If you package and sell all the extraordinary traits he has in herding, you could probably make 4 to 5 gold pounds. But if you sell all these extraordinary traits, would he still be the strongest "shepherd" below the demigod level?
Moreover, without these extraordinary characteristics, would he still be able to hunt extraordinary creatures that can be used as materials for high-sequence potions?
These creatures are all incredibly difficult to deal with; they are definitely not something that ordinary Sequence 5s can hunt.
After a moment of contemplation, Mr. A realized that robbing a bank was his only option.
But Backlund is currently in a critical period, with Duke Negan having been assassinated twice and the Angel King openly forcing his way in.
This is the most sensitive time for MI9 and the three major churches, and given his current serious injuries, the risks are simply too great.
"Well, Count Ahova is about to pass away, and the Count's mansion is transferring various businesses to my brother."
He was too busy with too many things, so he handed this matter over to me to handle.
So I currently have 4 to 5 gold pounds in cash that I can temporarily use. If you need it, I can give you this money first, and you can make up for it later.
Just as he was struggling with his decision, Evan spoke up cautiously, much like someone who wanted to share the burden of their leader but was worried about hurting the leader's pride.
Upon hearing this, Mr. A was overjoyed and deeply moved. He was so excited that his tumor was about to rupture again. He held Evan's hands tightly, speechless.
Even a hero can be brought down by a penny, and so are cultists of evil gods.
Although he could borrow money from Evan, he was still at least 20,000 gold pounds short of the money needed to buy the formula.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. No one knows how long it will take to find the "Dark One" recipe again if we miss it this time.
At every extraordinary gathering where potion recipes are traded, the seller will require the buyer not to trade them again at the gathering.
If Evan attends the next party and doesn't find enough money, and the formula is bought by someone else, he will have essentially lost this opportunity forever.
Mr. A thought for a moment, gritted his teeth, and kicked, causing his flesh to writhe again, "spitting out" three extraordinary properties in succession, which he handed to Evan, saying:
"This has three extraordinary traits, corresponding to Sequence 6 'Wind Favorite' of the Storm Path, Sequence 6 'Soul Soother' of the Night Path, and Sequence 5 'Witch of Pain' of the Witch Path."
Please help me process these three extraordinary properties. Collect 2 gold coins, plus the 5 gold pounds you have, and we must obtain the recipe for the "Dark One" potion.
Oh, and make sure to have the formula verified; don't get scammed!
Backlund has experienced far too much in the past two months. It's been a battle between demigods, a clash between angels, and at the very least, the assassination of a political heavyweight. The activities of secret organizations have been reduced to a minimum. Various small gatherings of extraordinary individuals have all been thwarted.
If Mr. A doesn't get Evan's help in handling these extraordinary traits, he might be unable to find a buyer despite possessing them.
They might even be unable to fetch a good price due to changes in the market environment.
Moreover, he knew that Evan, because of the Lord's "gift," could simultaneously take witch-path potions for a general upgrade, so he specifically brought out this extraordinary "Pain Witch" potion to sell to Evan. He didn't believe Evan would dare to give him a low price.
Just as Mr. A had predicted, Evan accepted the three extraordinary attributes of different colors. He was extremely excited by Mr. A's trust in him and exclaimed excitedly:
"I will certainly not let you down. I will purchase this extraordinary property of the Witch of Pain! My offer is 15,000."
How about a thousand pounds?
"Fourteen thousand pounds! That thousand pounds is for your travel expenses! And sell the other two special items as soon as possible!"
3"
Mr. A was secretly pleased to find that the price offered by Evan exceeded his expectations, but he did not show it on his face. He even pretended to be generous and gave Evan a small commission.