Chapter 57: Dorian’s Decision

Chapter 57: Dorian’s Decision

Backlund, Chorwood Borough, 22 Hope Road, the Hattrick Hotel.

Dorian Gray Abraham, broad-shouldered and thick-armed, unconsciously paced back and forth inside the room, waiting for his student Forsi to visit.

No matter how calmly he had accepted things, no matter how thoroughly he had prepared himself mentally, when the final moment to face the answer truly arrived, he still could not avoid feeling nervous and uneasy.

After an unknown amount of time, knocks sounded at the door.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Dorian listened carefully to the interval and rhythm for several seconds. Then he drew a deep breath, walked to the door, turned the handle, and pulled it open.

Outside stood Forsi, her brown hair slightly curled, wearing a dark long dress and tinted-glass spectacles.

Out of habit, Dorian looked behind Forsi first. After confirming that no one was paying attention to this place, he stepped aside and allowed his student to enter.

At the same time, he glanced at Forsi’s hands and discovered that she had not brought a suitcase.

Dorian immediately withdrew his gaze, walked to the center of the room, found a seat, and pointed toward the sofa opposite him.

“Sit.”

Forsi, seeming slightly restrained, lifted her skirt and sat down. She greeted him smoothly, “Good morning, Teacher.”

Dorian did not immediately enter the main topic. After some thought, he asked, “Did you truly kill Botis?”

“Mm.” Forsi took an exquisite, slender cigarette case from a hidden pocket in her clothing. She opened it and showed Dorian what lay inside.

They were two eyeballs with deep-black pupils. Within them was frozen indescribable terror, as though, before death, they had seen something horrifying to an extreme degree.

Dorian had originally braced himself to receive a nightmare-inducing head pieced together from bloodstained fragments, just like last time. Who knew his student would arrive without luggage and merely take out a lady’s cigarette case?

That made him assume it contained some relic that could prove Botis’s identity. Yet reality again exceeded his expectations.

This was still Botis’s remains, but even less of him was left than of Louis Wayne!

Only a pair of eyeballs remained… The spiritual intuition of an Astrologer made Dorian believe that these eyeballs truly belonged to Botis.

Seeing her teacher fall silent without speaking, Forsi subconsciously explained, “His body completely collapsed and scattered. Only this pair of eyeballs remained relatively intact.”

She paused, then added, “These eyeballs contain the terror Botis felt before death, and pollution from the Box of the Great Old Ones. They are powerful cursed objects. That’s why I didn’t send them to you directly. Otherwise, the postmen who handled them might have suffered misfortune, or even died without knowing why.”

Pollution from the Box of the Great Old Ones… Dorian nodded in sudden understanding, then smiled with a sigh.

“So in the end, he died because of the Box of the Great Old Ones?

“What fate…”

Back then, when Botis betrayed the family and brought the Aurora Order in, the first item he had stolen was the Box of the Great Old Ones.

At the private gathering where the spoils were distributed, Forsi had heard Miss Hermit and Miss Justice roughly describe what had happened. She understood how splendid and dangerous the battle she had missed had been. After thinking for a moment, she said, “In a sense…

“But before he was polluted by the Box of the Great Old Ones, he had already begun losing control.”

Dorian did not find that surprising. He said to his student, “Put them away. They are your spoils.”

After Forsi closed the cigarette case and returned it to the hidden pocket, Dorian leaned forward, clasped his hands together, and pressed them briefly against the bridge of his nose.

“Botis was one of the most talented Apprentices I had ever seen. Who could have known he would end up like this…”

At that point, Dorian gave a long sigh, as though mourning something, or repenting something.

Forsi did not know many details of what had happened back then. She did not dare speak rashly, and could only remain silent, waiting for her teacher to pull himself out of his emotions.

After about ten seconds, Dorian straightened his body and asked instead, “How did you digest the Scribe potion?”

This was not only concern for his student. He was also accumulating experience to help other family members guide their own students in the future.

Forsi’s expression instantly became rather complicated, as though she had recalled something she did not want to remember.

“Mainly because someone provided help. On one hand, he let me Record many strange or high-level abilities. On the other, he brought me to several places within a few months and had me Record different customs and beautiful scenery…”

Dorian fell silent for a moment, then nodded.

“That is not something easy to imitate…”

He then asked, “Gehrman Sparrow?”

“Mm.” Forsi confirmed it.

Dorian fell silent again. After several seconds, he said, “What kind of transaction does he wish to make?

“Or rather, what does he want?”

Forsi pulled herself together and answered somewhat awkwardly, “He wants the Planeswalker potion formula, and he wants to exchange the Box of the Great Old Ones for one of the two Grade 0 sealed artifacts in your hands.”

That price was absolutely generous. Forsi had originally thought Mr. World intended to use only his promise to directly obtain the Planeswalker potion formula and a Grade 0 sealed artifact. She had not expected him to add the Box of the Great Old Ones as well.

Of course, to Dorian, the promise to free the Abraham family from their curse was certainly worth that much. But a promise was forever only a promise, and might not be fulfilled.

Dorian was not surprised that Gehrman Sparrow wanted a Grade 0 sealed artifact. He had already prepared himself mentally to a certain degree. Instead, he found the terms favorable beyond imagination. After all, by now, there were not many things the Abraham family still possessed that could make a demigod covet them.

He frowned slightly.

“What does he want the Planeswalker potion formula for?”

“I don’t know,” Forsi answered frankly.

Dorian stood and began pacing again.

Suddenly, he stopped, turned toward Forsi, and said, “I need to meet him and talk with him before I can make a decision.”

“All right.” Forsi agreed without making things difficult.

Dorian secretly sighed in relief. He prepared to send his student away, then quickly take out the medicine and consume it.

He had deliberately chosen this time to meet because he had calculated that his curse was about to erupt. If some accident truly occurred, the enemy would definitely not have time to spirit channel him.

But after Forsi stood, she did not walk toward the door. Instead, she remained where she was and grabbed forward into the void.

Her arm abruptly sank and swiftly pulled back, dragging out a figure wearing a black trench coat and a silk top hat.

This figure had black hair and brown eyes, deep contours, and cold, rigid lines. It was none other than Gehrman Sparrow.

Gehrman Sparrow’s eyes shifted. He quickly broke free of his dullness and became indistinguishable from a real person.

“Teacher, he is here,” Forsi introduced solemnly. “This is Gehrman Sparrow.”

Dorian Gray Abraham’s mouth opened slightly at the sight. He forgot to close it, and for a brief moment, could not respond at all.

Although he came from an ancient family and possessed many secrets, his own level was only Sequence 7. Even when he had seen certain descriptions, he had been unable to truly imagine them.

After Klein transferred his consciousness over, he reached into the inner side of his clothing and took out a gold-cased pocket watch.

Snap. He opened the watch, glanced at it, and said to Dorian without the slightest emotion, “You have three minutes.”

…Exactly like the rumors. Cold, arrogant, and insane… Dorian did not dare waste any time. He said directly, “Give me a reason to believe your promise.”

Klein closed the pocket watch and put it back inside his clothing while saying, “In truth, I have already grasped the ritual that allows Mr. Door to return.”

Dorian’s eyes lit up, and he was about to blurt out a question, but he heard Gehrman Sparrow calmly add:

“But I do not intend to do so.”

“Why?” Both Dorian and Forsi looked puzzled. The only difference was that one dared ask, while the other did not.

Klein glanced out the window.

“Do you know of pollution originating from the starry sky?”

Aside from true gods and angels, the Abraham family definitely ranked first in understanding the starry sky. Klein believed they must have left behind certain hints and obscure records.

Dorian nodded solemnly.

“I know.”

“I suspect Mr. Door has been polluted by the starry sky,” Klein explained briefly. “As for my promise, there is already a way to fulfill it now. It is merely that you may not be willing, and it does not completely resolve the curse.”

“What method?” Dorian endured the surging agitation in his heart and pressed further.

Klein’s expression suddenly turned solemn.

“You and the members of your family all convert to my Lord. In that way, during the full moon and blood moon, you will receive protection and no longer be troubled by the curse.”

After thoroughly digesting the Ancient Scholar potion, Klein no longer needed to pull others above the gray fog to avoid Mr. Door’s ravings. He could directly use the Angelic Embrace to resolve the issue. At present, the only concern was that the Abraham family might have many members, making him too busy or leaving him short on spirituality.

“…Who is your Lord?” Dorian fell silent briefly before asking.

Suppressing his sense of shame, Klein said with solemn dignity, “The great Mr. Fool.”

“The Fool… Are you people from the Antigonus family?” Dorian immediately formed an association.

Klein shook his head, denying the guess.

Dorian fell silent once more. But taking into account that there were only three minutes, he hurriedly asked, “As long as we believe in that existence, we can be spared the curse?”

As a member of an ancient family, he knew very well how dangerous believing in an unknown existence could be. He feared resolving Mr. Door’s ravings only to take on some other curse.

Klein answered frankly, “This is only a temporary solution. I will find a better method for you.”

Dorian nodded and hurried to say, “I will try believing in your Lord, and I will give you the Planeswalker potion formula. If this truly can temporarily resolve the curse, then we will complete the Grade 0 sealed artifact transaction afterward.”

He intended to use himself as the test subject and did not plan to tell the other family members. He would let them wait for the better method Gehrman Sparrow had mentioned, until they could wait no longer.

“Very well.” Klein took paper and pen from his pocket and swiftly wrote down The Fool’s honorific name.

Dorian, too, began using a crystal ball to assist his memory, recording the Planeswalker potion formula.

After the exchange, Klein directly cast his gaze toward the supplementary ingredients and the ritual section:

“Supplementary ingredients: one Star Worm, one Worm of Time, and one Worm of Spirit.

“Advancement ritual: leave legends in nine places beyond this planet.”