Holding a palette in one hand and a paintbrush in the other, Anabelle stepped back, still wearing an apron.
Seth stepped forward and saw a completed oil painting on the easel. The painting employed large swathes of black, setting a gloomy and ominous tone.
At the center of the canvas was an ugly face, wrinkled with black bristles on the lips and chin. Anabelle used some bright colors to emphasize the shadows on the face, giving the picture the effect of being illuminated by fire.
Her painting skills are superb. Based on Seth's description, she painted the monster's face so lifelike that it seemed to freeze the scene and preserve it forever.
'But, sister, I just wanted a sketch portrait. You didn't need to use oil paints.' Seth rubbed the center of his brows, thinking his sister took things too seriously.
"How is it? Does it look like the painting?" Anabelle put down her tools and removed her apron with the help of the maid Arya.
Seth gave a thumbs up. "It's almost as if a camera took it."
Anabelle scoffed. "Things captured by machines have no soul."
Seth laughed and ruffled her blond hair.
"If you say so."
Anabelle's face turned slightly red, and she swatted Seth's hand away.
"Don't touch my head; I'm not a child anymore!"
"Well, our Belle is already a young lady," Seth said, shaking the hand his sister had slapped away. He picked up the oil painting.
"I'm leaving now; I need to give this to Father. I hope he hasn't fallen asleep yet."
Since Anabelle's oil painting was an oil painting, it had taken much longer than a sketch and was already late.
Fortunately, Byson hadn't fallen asleep yet and was still working in the study, so energetic he seemed like an Extraordinary of some path.
After handing over the oil painting to his father, Seth finally returned to his room, changed his clothes, and lay on the bed, recalling the events of the day and the hunting experiences he heard from Leon.
In a daze, Seth fell asleep.
Outside the window, the red moon was becoming whole, and soon, it would be the night of the full moon.
The next day, after having breakfast, Seth, who was notified to 'go to class,' recalled the fear of being dominated by exams in his previous life as he arrived at his mother Anilu's mysterious room.
When he opened the door, he found the room's layout had changed slightly. Two desks were now occupied by notebooks and pens.
It looked almost like a small classroom. But there were two desks, so who else would attend the class?
"Move out of the way."
Anabelle's slightly complaining voice sounded from behind. Seth turned around to find his mother and sister arriving together.
"Belle, you?"
Seth looked at his sister in amazement, unable to believe how calmly she walked past him, entered the room, and sat at one of the desks.
Anilu closed the door, a warm smile on her face.
"Belle has been studying occultism with me for a while. By the way, she was born extraordinary."
"She inherited part of my Extraordinary characteristics. After training, she is already a 'Apprentice.'"
"Born Extraordinary? There's such a thing!"
'Well, not only is my mother an Extraordinary, but also my younger sister. My status as the eldest son is worrying,' Seth thought.
He tried to ask, "What about Christian?"
Anilu shook her head. "He's not. Only Belle inherited my Extraordinary characteristics."
"Mom, can we start the class now? I have things to do today."
The noble girl sitting at the desk urged impatiently.
Anilu said, without the slightest impatience, "Today, I will teach you 'Hermes.' You'll need to use this language frequently in the future. Belle has just learned it, so I will teach you both together."
"This is our first class today. After I'm done, I'll teach Seth about 'spiritual vision' alone."
Seth frowned and sat at the other desk as Anilu began her lesson.
Three days they were passed in the blink of an eye.
Seth interacted with Hermes daily during these three days or practiced the 'spiritual vision' technique. In this respect, the hunter path is far inferior to the 'Astrologer.'
Seth remembered that in the original book, Klein grasped it instantly, while it took him three days of practice to turn this special vision on and off barely.
People are indeed different.
One day, when he opened the closet to change, he suddenly saw the hidden compartment and remembered the 'Kraken Bar' flyer.
The original owner seemed to have visited that tavern, but Seth couldn't fathom what a noble young master would do there.
Would you like me to go there tonight?
Once this idea surfaced, Seth couldn't shake it off.
At night, he opened the secret compartment in the closet and put on the brown, double-breasted, high-necked trench coat.
He took out the black iron mask and the long-barreled golden revolver.
Seth placed the revolver in the underarm holster, replaced the snake-scale revolver, put on the mask again, and stood in front of the mirror, seeing an utterly unfamiliar figure.
He believed that even his father wouldn't recognize him as long as he didn't speak.
He rummaged around and found a felt hat he hadn't worn in a long time, pressed it onto his head, opened the window, quickly reached the ground with the skill of a hunter, and left the house by scaling the wall.
Seth kept his head down, walked in the shadows, hurried across the quiet and spacious Golden Champagne Avenue, passed the solemn Memorial Square, and arrived at Qingyu Road.
Although it was late, there were still pedestrians there. Under the gas street lamps covered with vapor were workers wearing peaked caps and blue work uniforms, homeless men with messy hair and patched clothes, children selling fruit from baskets, drunkards staggering around reeking of alcohol and passionate individuals—all filling the gravel-paved path.
This area was synonymous with chaos in Enqi Town: crowded, dirty, and full of hooligans and thieves. Nobles avoided it, and even the police were reluctant to appear there.
Seth kept his head down. His slightly raised underarm clothes and the black iron mask on his face made the hooligans in the alley merely glance at him, while the thieves hiding in the crowd dared not approach him, allowing him to reach the 'Kraken Bar' smoothly.
The tavern had both a timber structure and a brick-and-stone building.
When Seth opened the door and walked in, he almost turned around and left immediately. The tavern's ventilation was so poor that the air was filled with a strange mixture of ginger beer, fried meat, sweat, and bad perfume.
These smells were magnified several times by the hunter's keen sense of smell, making Seth nearly faint.
Behind the bar, not far from the door, a bartender wiping a wine glass saw Seth and greeted him, "Duke, when did you come back?"
Duke? Me?
Seth almost pointed to his nose in confusion.