Did Daly make a mistake, does the church actually possess the subsequent potion formulas of the "Assassin" pathway?
But looking at her face full of smiles, there was no distress or regret from making a factual error...
Could it be that Daly, knowing I had already become an "Instigator," deliberately made me submit a special application, making me choose between exposing my true strength and taking the same sequence potion?
Drinking the same potion again, would I lose control on the spot? Or would I need to perform Acting again?
Angel's brain spun rapidly, her gaze glancing toward Klein beside her, but saw he too was looking at her with a worried face.
Daly sitting on the sofa smiled even more broadly, seeming to enjoy seeing Angel in a frantic, helpless state, until even Dunn noticed something wrong and cast puzzled looks toward Angel:
"What's wrong with you? Crests said to let you go down first for examination. If you're feeling unwell, we can let Klein go first."
"No... nothing, I..."
Angel didn't know what to say for a moment.
Could she only pretend to be unwell, making the examination unable to pass?
"She's fine, probably just too excited, after all, once the examination ends, she'll be a 'true Instigator.'"
Daly's somewhat lazy and smiling words came over.
True Instigator...
Why emphasize "true"?
Angel suddenly realized she had misunderstood Daly's meaning.
If she really wanted to harm me, there would be no need to say now what "the church possesses 'Instigator' potions." As long as I remained ignorant, passed "Sword of the Goddess" Crests's examination, and when he brought out the potion formula and materials, having me configure and consume it on the spot...
Could Daly's meaning be hinting that Crests Sesima already knew I had become Sequence 8, hinting that I shouldn't lie?
And as long as I passed the examination, in the eyes of Dunn and other Night Watchers, I would be someone who, under Crests's witness, only became a "true Instigator" after consuming the potion...
Just didn't know if this was Daly's own decision, or if she had communicated with the "Sword of the Goddess" Crests Sesima who came to conduct the examination?
After figuring this out, in her eyes, Daly's originally somewhat eerie, slightly mocking smile also became encouragement and blessing.
"Thank you, Ms. Daly."
Angel smiled again and responded.
"Good that you understand, hurry down, don't keep Crests waiting too long."
Daly nodded slightly, turned her head away, and picked up her coffee.
Klein, made somewhat confused by the two's conversation, first frowned, then relaxed, also understanding the hidden information in their dialogue. The worry on his face faded, and he quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Only Dunn remained in the dark, his gray eyes full of puzzlement, his gaze constantly moving back and forth among the several people.
Angel slowly walked through the underground passage of Blackthorn Security Company.
Turning left at the crossroads would lead to the alchemy room, but she stopped at the intersection.
Even believing in Daly's judgment, she still felt somewhat hesitant.
Should have let Klein come down for examination first, at least he didn't need to worry about problems from drinking "Clown" potion...
With heavy steps, Angel finally opened the hidden door to the alchemy room.
A space had already been cleared in the room. The usually neatly arranged long tables and chairs had all been moved to the wall corners, leaving only two high-backed chairs facing each other in the middle, separated by about one meter.
A man was already sitting in the chair facing the door, about thirty years old, wearing the black windbreaker that almost every Night Watcher had. The collar stood high, together with the white shirt collar under the windbreaker, covering his chin.
He had short golden-brown hair, dark green eyes that appeared as tranquil as a lake under night in the alchemy room's dim lighting.
"You must be Ms. Angel Granger, please sit."
Seeing Angel push the door and enter the room, he spoke first, his voice carrying some magnetism, like the voices of those popular singers Angel had heard in her previous life.
"Yes, Mr. Crests Sesima."
After nodding in reply, Angel sat in the high-backed chair opposite him, hands folded on her thighs, forcing a slight smile on her face, like a graduate attending a company interview.
"Dunn should have told you what I'm here to do, so I'll get straight to the point. First, I need to test your mastery of the potion, and judge whether you've been changed in character by the potion's residual mental influence, leaving hidden dangers."
"You have three minutes to adjust your condition."
After Crests finished speaking, he took out a pocket watch from his windbreaker's inner pocket, pressed open the cover, and focused his gaze on the dial.
Angel took a deep breath, closed her eyes, shut out visual interference, and began adjusting her mental and physical state through meditation.
"Tick, tick, tick."
Only the sound of Crests's pocket watch's second hand remained in her ears.
Soon, even these sounds were shut out by meditation.
The three-minute wait was very difficult to endure. Angel somewhat wanted to open her eyes and directly request to begin the examination, but was afraid this would leave a bad impression on the other party.
Might as well sleep for a while...
As soon as the thought appeared, it uncontrollably filled her entire brain. A strong drowsiness struck, like touching a soft pillow with her head after being tired for a day and night. She almost instantly wanted to give up thinking and sleep peacefully in this soundless, lightless environment.
...No, this isn't on the bedroom bed, this is at the examination site!
A weak warning from her suppressed spirituality made Angel wake up as if pricked by a needle. She exited the meditation that seemed to have stopped long ago, opened her eyes, but found the gas lamps on the alchemy room walls had become dim and lightless, only able to illuminate the lamp shades themselves, while Crests in front of her, the high-backed chair, even all the tables and chairs moved to the wall corners, had all disappeared from her darkvision.
The examination has already started? Didn't he say he'd give me three minutes to prepare?
She suppressed her rapidly beating heart, maintained her original sitting posture in the chair, her gaze constantly searching the surroundings, both ears listening for any sounds around.
Soon, Angel heard Crests's singer-like voice humming an unknown but very pleasant melody, as if constantly circling throughout the alchemy room, making it impossible to distinguish the direction the sound came from.
The melody gradually became high-pitched, became chaotic, the speed sometimes fast sometimes slow, but always off-beat, off-key. Various sounds like instruments, yet like different objects rubbing together creating sharp noise, also appeared around.
Various "instruments" accompanied the off-tune humming, getting closer and louder, making Angel feel an impulse to grab Crests by the neck and force him to match the tune and beat.
This is a test... this is a test...
Angel suppressed her impulse to draw her gun and shoot wildly, to grab her dagger and stab frantically, straightened her spine, limbs rigid, sitting upright in the high-backed chair.
Gradually, those noises decreased and disappeared. Crests's humming also returned to a fixed beat and tune, becoming elegant and pleasant.
The last beat lingered on a tail note an octave higher.
"Very good, you withstood the test, showing no tendency toward losing control. This shows your mastery of the potion is very perfect, and there are no hidden dangers."
Crests and his high-backed chair reappeared in the alchemy room, along with the disappeared lighting, stacked tables and chairs, and his magnetic voice.
Hearing this voice again, Angel had an impulse to beat him up.
Unfortunately, this was the "Sword of the Goddess," this was a Sequence 5 senior deacon, she didn't dare.
"Thank you, Mr. Sesima."
She smiled and replied.
Haha, how could Sister Daly harm you?