Chapter 219: Contracted Creature

Chapter 219: Contracted Creature

Dorian Gray’s question did not surprise Fors. The letters exchanged over the past month or so had already prepared her mentally. For this, she had even consulted the experienced Mr. Hanged Man at the Tarot Gathering, grasping what sort of expression and reaction would be considered normal.

“Such Beyonders truly exist?” Fors asked back in “astonishment.”

Dorian nodded gently.

“They do.”

He looked around once and, seeing no one nearby, walked to a tree that had shed all its leaves and placed his hand on it.

Dorian’s figure suddenly blurred, as though he had become an image reflected in water.

When it cleared again, he was already behind the tree, his posture unchanged.

“God! This is—this is truly miraculous!” Remembering Mr. Hanged Man’s and Miss Justice’s teachings, Fors opened her mouth into a semicircle and cried out in amazement.

Dorian walked back and asked again with a smile, “Do you wish to become such a Beyonder?”

“…I do!” After a slight silence, Fors answered “excitedly.”

I’m finally going to become a peripheral member of the Abraham family. Many things will become much easier in the future! Her heart was filled with genuine joy.

Dorian laughed softly, then his expression grew serious as he asked solemnly once more, “Are you willing to become my student?”

Fors nodded repeatedly.

“I am!”

Dorian exhaled in relief, then said self-mockingly, “I am not a good teacher. I even taught—heh, there is no need to mention what happened in the past. In any case, do not set your expectations too high.”

After careful consideration during this period, he had decided to absorb the experience and lessons of the past. He would not tell Fors about the Abraham family, instead keeping their relationship as one purely between teacher and student. That way, there would be no need to worry that she might covet the family’s few remaining extremely powerful mystical items.

“No. Your explanations of mysticism are truly excellent. Really, Mr. Gray—no, Teacher.” Fors hurriedly confirmed the relationship between them.

Dorian looked toward the tombstone, shook his head, and sighed.

“I originally did not intend to teach another student, but your noble character moved me.

“If nothing unexpected happens, I can give you the corresponding potion today.”

“Today?” Fors asked back, rather surprised.

When she had gone to Backlund Station to meet Dorian Gray, she had noticed that he carried only a very small suitcase, barely large enough to hold a change of clothes. There had been no evidence suggesting he had brought Beyonder materials with him.

Could he have his own resource channels in Backlund—resource channels belonging to the Abraham family? Fors vaguely guessed.

Her original plan had been to take advantage of the inconvenience caused by the two of them living in different places, sell the Beyonder ingredients for the Apprentice potion after obtaining them, then tell him that she had successfully advanced into a Beyonder. In that way, she would receive a considerable supplement in cash while avoiding the tragic result of having to consume the Apprentice potion a second time and spend another period digesting it.

“Yes.” Dorian did not explain. He pointed in another direction. “Let us first visit Laubero and Anlisa.”

After a round of mourning, the two left Green Cemetery and returned to the house Fors and Xio rented in Cherwood Borough.

Over the past month or so, Xio, who had already advanced to Sheriff, had been leaving early and returning late each day in order to repay the heavy debt she carried, working hard to obtain every bounty she could. Therefore, near noon, she was without question not at home.

“Is there a quiet room?” Dorian asked in a relaxed manner, glancing around.

“Many.” Fors led her newly appointed teacher into the sitting room on the first floor.

Dorian walked around the room once, confirming the environment. Then he instructed Fors to light a candle mixed with deep-red sandalwood.

He closed the door and drew the curtains.

Amid the dim yellow flicker, he walked in front of the candle and took out two bottles of essential oil the color of water, as well as some common herbal powders.

A ritual? Shouldn’t there be three candles? Fors watched curiously from the side but did not speak rashly, as though she had been awed by the atmosphere.

After completing the initial part of the ritual, Dorian took a step back and, with a serious expression, switched to ancient Hermes.

“I!

“I summon in my own name:

“The strange spirit that wanders the upper world, the void creature that loves music, the contracted partner of Dorian Gray Abraham.”

Whoosh!

A wind suddenly blew inside the sitting room, carrying a sobbing tremor. The swaying candle flame turned a幽蓝 shade.

Rings of radiance rapidly spread out, as though forming a door beyond normal concepts.

A semi-illusory, semi-real spherical object flew out from the “bottom” of the halo.

Its entire body was milky white. It had no eyes, nose, arms, legs, or similar parts; only a crack on its surface that resembled a mouth.

Dorian showed an obvious smile. Opening his mouth, he hummed a lullaby with a folkloric flavor.

The “round ball” immediately swayed left and right, appearing extremely pleased.

When the song ended, Dorian reached out his hand.

“Malmoth, give me the items I stored with you the day before yesterday.”

The “round ball” bounced up and down. Its body suddenly swelled, and its “mouth” opened extremely wide.

Then it spat out two Beyonder ingredients that glowed with strange colors.

It can even be done like this… Fors stared, completely dumbfounded.

Dorian caught the main ingredients for the Apprentice potion, ended the summoning, and concluded the ritual.

Turning to Fors, he smiled and said, “Even in the spirit world, void creatures like Malmoth are extremely rare. Under normal circumstances, summons cannot point toward them. One must have an elder of sufficiently high Sequence enter the spirit world, search for a long time, and form a contract with one of them. Only then can descendants complete a summoning using the corresponding name.

“After a void creature comes over, one can also form a new contract with it, closely connecting it to oneself so that it can no longer be summoned by others.”

“So that’s how it is… It sounds very interesting!” Fors said from the heart.

She could not suppress her longing for the future.

If I don’t consider the full moon curse, and don’t consider ordinary Beyonders being suppressed and constantly facing danger, exploring this wondrous world truly is a very beautiful thing… I hope that one day, I can truly roam the spirit world as well…

Dorian replied with a soft laugh, “Malmoth’s greatest function is that it can swallow many items into its stomach without causing them any harm. That is equivalent to a mobile, hidden warehouse that almost no one can find.

“Of course, not too much can be stored. Its stomach is limited. Also, it dislikes people without musical talent and will refuse to sign contracts with such people.”

Good thing I can at least play the seven-stringed zither… Fors had just breathed out in relief when Dorian instructed her to find a black iron stew pot.

Watching the other party mix the potion, her expression seemed unchanged, but her heart was praying madly for an accident.

I don’t want to drink the Apprentice potion again! That would waste so much time! If I had known, I would have been a little more honest, a little more candid… It’s too late to say it now. Teacher Gray must have divined it, but the result was interfered with. Confessing would mean that some powerhouse definitely exists behind me, that someone instructed me… As thoughts surged, Fors saw Dorian turn and hand her a bottle of potion bubbling with gurgles.

“Drink it, and you will become a Beyonder.” Dorian spoke in a calm yet highly tempting tone.

Then he comforted Fors.

“Do not worry. With me here, there will be no problem.”

“Mm!” Fors gritted her teeth, took the Apprentice potion, and drank it in one gulp.

At the same time, a sentence flashed through her mind:

Honesty is the most precious virtue…

…

The carriage stopped outside the East Borough. Carrying his cane and wearing his top hat, Klein entered the vast slum from a district that was relatively less terrible.

After walking for a while, he saw two familiar figures come out of a fairly tidy apartment ahead.

They were both girls, one seventeen or eighteen, the other fifteen or sixteen. They were Freja and Daisy, daughters of the laundress Liv. The latter had once been abducted by Capim’s men and had been rescued because of the Black Emperor incident.

Daisy also noticed Klein. She immediately revealed a bright smile.

“Good afternoon, Detective Moriarty!”

Klein nodded with a smile, then asked in mild surprise, “Daisy, didn’t you go to a public elementary school?”

After the appeal by reporters such as Mike Joseph, together with the Church of the Evernight Goddess’s push, Backlund City Hall had established a charity fund using Capim’s properties, specifically to help women and families who had once suffered because of Capim.

Using this opportunity, Daisy’s family had moved from an old apartment with poor security to the edge of the East Borough, changing from one room to two rooms and separating the “laundry workshop” from the place where they slept and ate.

In addition, Daisy had also received compensation allowing her to enter a public elementary school. The three-pence weekly tuition and corresponding meal subsidy were handled by the charity fund, which had made her very happy.

Klein was puzzled precisely because public elementary schools only rested on Sundays. Daisy should not be here at this time.

“The school is very close. During the noon break, I come back to help Freja deliver the washed and dried clothes to customers’ homes. She and Mother can’t manage everything alone,” Daisy answered frankly.

The most direct effect of her going to school was that Liv and Freja could wash fewer clothes each day, causing the family income to drop noticeably. If Reporter Mike had not helped them apply for the charity fund’s subsidy, they would not have been able to maintain their current life at all.

For this reason, Freja naturally had no chance of entering a public elementary school. When Daisy and Klein spoke of school, her eyes revealed an envy and pain she could not hide.

At not yet eighteen, she could only quietly watch her younger sister go to school.

Klein noticed this detail and deliberately reminded Daisy, “You should indeed know that your mother and Freja work very hard. Treat them well.”

Daisy nodded seriously.

“I’ve thought about it. Once things settle down, I’ll teach Freja the things I learned during the day at night and on Sundays. I’ll be her personal pupil-teacher!”

Freja’s eyes suddenly blinked. She could not help lowering her head.

“Very good. That is very good.” Klein offered praise, said farewell to the two sisters in a decent mood, and turned onto another street.

After changing into worker’s clothes on Black Palm Street, he had just left the apartment where he rented a room when he saw a middle-aged man in old clothing approach him. With a kind, benevolent look, the man asked, “Sir, have you heard of the Primordial Creator?”