Chapter 130: Dorian’s Request

Chapter 130: Dorian’s Request

Jowood Borough, 22 Hope Road. Outside Room 2016 of the Hat Trick Inn.

Forsi came directly through the wall without attracting anyone’s attention. Then, following the agreed rhythm, she curled her finger and knocked on the door.

Before long, Dorian Gray Abraham, broad-shouldered, thick-armed, and dressed in a black formal suit, undid the lock and turned the handle.

The gentleman very quickly looked left and right, then stepped aside and let Forsi enter.

“I truly didn’t expect you to become a Recordkeeper so quickly…” After closing the door, Dorian carefully checked the lock. Only then did he turn back and sigh with emotion.

By the standards of this era, he could already be considered a middle-aged-to-elderly man, yet he remained a Sequence 7 Astrologer, with basically no hope of advancement.

By contrast, his student, Forsi Wall, had gone from Sequence 9 to Sequence 6 in only about a year.

Placed side by side, it was impossible for Dorian not to feel deeply moved—and silently sorrowful.

The bloodline of the Abraham family should have been noble and enviable, but now it had become a heavy curse, one that filled him with despondence.

“It’s all because you taught me well, Teacher.” Although Forsi disliked going out and loved staying at home, she was still a bestselling novelist who was occasionally invited by nobles to attend upper-class literary and artistic salons. She was not so ignorant as to not know how to speak properly. Besides, she truly had received a great deal of help from her teacher—from knowledge and money to formulas and ingredients.

Dorian looked at her, shook his head, and smiled.

“You are not the only student I have taught. In my memory, there is only one person whose speed of advancement could compare with yours.”

He paused, then continued, “Next, your goal is Sequence 5, Traveler. And I have even higher expectations for you. I hope you can obtain divinity and become a Sequence 4 Secrets Sorcerer.

“Of course, I also have a request. When you truly become a demigod, try praying to a certain hidden existence. Listen to His answer, and figure out what He is saying.

“This does indeed involve a certain amount of danger, but for a Sequence 4 demigod, you should have enough ability to endure it. Without other factors involved, there shouldn’t be any serious problem.”

“Teacher, is this answer very important to you?” Forsi knew perfectly well what this was about, yet still put on a curious and puzzled expression.

Dorian fell silent for several seconds, then gave a long sigh.

“Extremely important. My parents, my brothers, my sisters, my children—too many people have paid with their lives in pursuit of this answer, and yet obtained nothing…

“Don’t worry. The reason we paid such a heavy price is because an ancient curse is hidden within our family bloodline. You are not related to us by blood.

“I do not expect my generation to use that answer to find a way to lift the curse. But I hope to know where it originated, and to understand what the true cause of my death will be…”

At this point, Dorian took a breath and did not continue.

For some reason, at that moment, Forsi felt, in the most direct way, the immense weight accumulated by generation after generation over more than a thousand years.

It was truly hard for her to imagine what kind of pain it would be for a person’s ancestors, parents, siblings, and children to all die, directly or indirectly, because of the same curse.

Thinking of her teacher’s care for her, and of how, in the past few years, this was the only concern and affection she had received from an elder, Forsi blinked, lowered her head slightly, and nodded with force.

“I’ll do my best.”

Dorian put away his earlier sentimentality and nodded gently.

“Your kindness has always been your most admirable quality.”

Forsi felt somewhat embarrassed, so she turned to a word her teacher had just mentioned.

“Family?”

She remembered that her teacher had never told her about the Abraham family. He had falsely claimed that he, Lawrence, Anlisa, and the others were members of a secret organization.

In order to distinguish what her teacher had told her from what she had learned at the Tarot Club, Forsi had carefully sorted through everything before leaving, lest she accidentally say something she should not know.

Dorian gave a simple answer.

“In order to resolve the curse, the people of my family all joined that organization.”

He then quickly changed the subject.

“Why did you move in such a hurry this time?”

“I was targeted by official Beyonders.” Forsi first told a half-truth, then complained a few times about the postman.

Dorian did not say anything more. Avoiding Forsi, he set up a ritual and summoned Marmos, the void creature that loved music, making it spit out three items.

The first was a crystal so transparent it was almost illusory. The second was an old piece of parchment. The third was a small hunter’s backpack.

“This is a Beyonder characteristic left behind by a Traveler. With it, you won’t need to gather additional main ingredients. This is the Traveler potion formula. The backpack contains the corresponding supplementary ingredients. If you don’t have a good way to preserve them, then try to digest the Recordkeeper potion within half a year. Otherwise, their spirituality will be completely lost…” Dorian handed all the items in his possession to Forsi.

“Thank you, Teacher,” Forsi said with genuine sincerity.

Then she unfurled the parchment and quickly skimmed the potion formula, focusing mainly on the ritual:

“Establish special coordinates in four completely different places deep within the spirit world, each extremely far apart from the others.”

“What is the purpose of this ritual?” After thinking for a few seconds, Forsi asked her teacher for guidance.

“After consuming the Traveler potion, you will uncontrollably begin roaming the spirit world. Once you have gained preliminary control of your powers, you will discover that you have already lost your way. At that moment, you can use those four special coordinates to return to the real world. Otherwise, you will be trapped deep in the spirit world for a long time. That place is not only dangerous; it will also assimilate you, causing you to lose reason and become a creature attached to the spirit world.” Although Dorian himself had no hope of becoming a Traveler, he had previously seen students advance to Sequence 5.

“There should be other methods that can replace this…” Forsi murmured, as though deep in thought.

“Yes.” Dorian nodded. “Our organization once possessed an item that could let people directly return from the spirit world to the real world. Unfortunately, it was lost.”

Before Forsi could ask, Dorian changed the topic.

“If—and I mean if—you can truly become a demigod and complete this wish of mine, I will hand over an important item under my control to you. This is a teacher’s expectation for his student.”

One of the Abraham family’s powerful sealed artifacts? Forsi vaguely made a guess, but she did not dare promise anything. As before, she only said, “I’ll do my best.”

Following this topic, she then asked curiously, “Teacher, earlier you mentioned that Sequence 4 is Secrets Sorcerer. What about Sequence 3, Sequence 2, and Sequence 1?”

Dorian immediately gave a laugh.

“You’re only Sequence 6.

“Mm. Sequence 3 is Wanderer, Sequence 2 is Planeswalker, and the Sequence 1 potion is called Key of Stars.

“Heh. Fortunately, you brought up this matter. I actually forgot to prepare a copy of the precautions for exploring the spirit world. These are things one must firmly remember after becoming a Traveler.

“How about this? I’ll stay one more night. Come find me tomorrow to pick up the materials.”

While savoring the names of the high Sequences of the Apprentice pathway, Forsi agreed.

“All right, Teacher.”

After explaining these matters, Dorian paced back and forth a few times and pondered for a while. Then, once more, he warned her, “Beyonder characteristics of the same pathway will possess a certain degree of attraction to one another. At lower Sequences, it isn’t very obvious. The higher the Sequence, the stronger it becomes.

“Sometimes, this attraction will not allow you to sense it directly. Instead, it will cause you to unknowingly approach a certain high-Sequence Beyonder of your pathway. Once you become a Traveler, you must pay constant attention to such things.”

At this point, Dorian paused before saying, “There aren’t many surviving demigods of the Apprentice pathway. Among them, the one you need to be especially careful of is a man named Botis. He is the Aurora Order’s Saint of Secrets. Like Louis, he is a traitor to our organization. I’ll give you his portrait tomorrow.”

Botis… Forsi silently repeated the name her teacher had just mentioned.

At the same time, she gained a new understanding of her previous chance encounter with the Aurora Order’s Oracle, Louis Wien.

Perhaps that wasn’t a chance encounter at all, but the attraction between Beyonder characteristics. Teacher must be carrying a sufficiently powerful sealed artifact of the Apprentice pathway!

Forsi quickly suppressed the thought and began asking for advice on the various matters involved in acting as a Recordkeeper.

…

The City of Silver, the Berg household.

“So there is a route that bypasses the front area of the Giant King’s Court, entering its interior through the Decaying Forest and the Wasteland Tunnels…” Derrick Berg savored the intelligence Mr. World had just shared above the gray fog.

This was extremely important to the City of Silver, because the preliminary exploration from the Afternoon Town camp had shown that the closer one approached the Giant King’s Court from the front, the more numerous the various monsters originating from the darkness became, and the stronger they were as well.

I have to tell the Chief! Derrick abruptly stood, rushed out of his house, and ran straight to the round tower. As he wished, he met Colin Iliad, Chief of the six-member council.

Following Mr. Hanged Man’s advice, he said that he had remembered certain murals he had seen in Afternoon Town’s “shadow,” murals that described a secret passage into the Giant King’s Court.

Colin Iliad listened quietly without interrupting Derrick’s account. Only at the end did he gently nod.

“Very good. You’ve done very well.

“What do you wish to exchange this merit for?”

“The complete brain of an adult Mind Dragon.” Derrick had already prepared his answer.

Colin did not ask why. After some thought, he said, “If that secret passage is real, its value will certainly exceed a complete brain of an adult Mind Dragon. Mm… You may choose something else as well. Are you interested in higher-Sequence potion formulas of the Planter pathway?”

He’s asking Mr. Fool… While Derrick understood this, he also asked in surprise, “We have higher-Sequence potion formulas of the Planter pathway?”

He had no memory of such a thing at all.

“Of course we do. You should remember that the Giant King’s queen was the Goddess of Harvest. It’s just that the surrounding areas lack the corresponding Beyonder ingredients. There’s no hurry. You can think it over.” Colin Iliad calmly shifted the topic. “Can you already skillfully control the powers of a Priest of Light?”

“Yes,” Derrick replied succinctly.

Colin fell silent for a moment. Looking at the half-grown child before him, he said, “What kind of saint-level sealed artifact do you wish to choose?”