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The next morning, Leyton rubbed his head and murmured, "Is this Sasrir? Is he the one Mr. Hughes glimpsed in the threads of fate?"
Getting out of bed, Leyton prepared to check on the mass of flesh and blood, sealed in transparent amber, which contained a small portion of the True Creator's will and divinity.
On the coffee table by the window, the transparent amber was empty. Leyton froze for a moment.
He then looked at the tightly closed window, took a golden pound coin from his pocket, tossed it into the air, and performed a simple divination.
After receiving the answer that the mass of flesh and blood was still in the room, Leyton's eyes were covered with a faint purple glow, and he scanned the bedroom twice.
"It's not there?" Frowning slightly, Leyton uncertainly turned his gaze to himself.
A deep crimson, almost black, spiritual light flickered on his left forearm.
The purple halo in his eyes faded, and Leyton pulled up the sleeve of his left arm.
What was revealed on his forearm was a deep red Hanged Man figure, as if it had merged with the surrounding flesh and blood. If not for the Eyes of Mystery Prying, Leyton himself wouldn't have noticed anything unusual.
Leyton's eyebrows twitched, and he muttered softly, "It really got on me. This is a bit inconvenient, whether it's going to the Library or to the Gray Fog."
Leyton decided to test if the other party would react if his spirit body left.
Putting down his sleeve, Leyton closed his eyes directly and meditated, outlining the pattern in his mind.
As the spirituality on his body rippled like water, a broken ring composed of gears and chains emerged behind him.
Leyton's consciousness then arrived in the Library located in the Spirit World through the inherent connection.
Mr. Hughes was still sitting in the armchair in front of the Library, with steaming black tea on the desk beside him, holding a book without a cover.
Leyton quickly walked over: "Good morning, Mr. Hughes~"
He originally wanted to extend his left hand to show the pattern to Mr. Hughes, but after pulling up his sleeve, Leyton found that the deep crimson Hanged Man figure was gone.
"He can't cross over, and he won't come over," Mr. Hughes said in a calm tone, his eyes filled with undisguised surprise.
"Did you make a deal with him? I can see that you have something extra on you; this is your contract with him."
Leyton nodded slightly and recounted his transaction with the blurry figure who claimed to be Sasrir, then asked, "Is he really Sasrir?"
Mr. Hughes was silent for a moment, seemingly thinking or recalling, and after a while, he slowly began to speak: "Some of the True's authority and characteristics come from Sasrir. If he strips a part of it and molds it into a new avatar, it can indeed be considered Sasrir."
"As for whether he is still the former Dark Angel, I cannot be sure."
Leyton looked at Mr. Hughes, who showed a hint of emotion in his expression, and suppressed his guess about the other party's identity.
"Before you go to complete your transaction with him, come here. I will give you a Prophet characteristic and make certain adjustments so that you can directly use some of its abilities."
"Hmm?" Leyton was a bit confused; he couldn't understand Mr. Hughes's reason for offering help.
Mr. Hughes smiled and said, "If the True's state can improve, then the Storm and the Sun might have a chance to cooperate under pressure. At the same time, I am also very curious about what Adam, who has always been hostile to the True, will choose."
"Regarding the Ancient Sun God, even the Omniscient One doesn't see him very clearly."
"Okay." Leyton replied quickly and did not linger in the Library. His spirit body returned to his body in the bedroom.
Leyton glanced at the pattern on his left forearm; there was no change. The blurry figure who claimed to be Sasrir seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep.
Walking down to the dining room, Leyton ate the breakfast Bugs Bunny had prepared while recalling the words of Mr. Hughes and the blurry figure who claimed to be Sasrir.
"Mr. Hughes is most likely a disguise of the God of Knowledge. Did he split off a clone from the God's past, who was once the Wisdom Angel?" Leyton murmured softly. He felt that Mr. Hughes had some doubts about Amon's brother's identity. Should he say, as expected of the Omniscient One?
He then tried to infuse some spirituality into his left forearm and explore it with his mind, but he gained nothing, as if the blurry figure from last night's dream had never existed.
After breakfast, Leyton was about to go out to buy the supplementary ingredients for the Spirit Medium potion when he suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to ask Mr. Hughes if he could tell Isengard Stanton the Polymath potion formula.
He had no choice but to return to his room, summon his Book Messenger, and ask it to inquire about the matter for him.
Then he went out again, preparing to buy the supplementary ingredients for the Spirit Medium.
"Thankfully, my material reserves are sufficient, only lacking some common materials, otherwise I would have to ask Klein to purchase them for me."
It didn't take long for Leyton to gather all the materials needed for the Spirit Medium potion.
Upon returning home, Leyton began to concoct the potion for Crow Anu.
He put the materials one by one into a glass bottle, poured in 100 milliliters of pure water, and the materials in the glass bottle quickly dissolved into a dark green mass that blended into the water.
After shaking the glass bottle slightly, Leyton also put in the Spirit Medium characteristic. The potion in the glass bottle began to continuously produce bubbles, which quickly burst, leaving behind mysterious symbols shaped like skulls.
He casually picked up a gold coin and tossed it, performing a simple divination. After receiving an affirmative answer, Leyton handed the potion to Crow Anu, who was gazing at the scene from the side.
Crow Anu eagerly plunged its beak into the mouth of the glass bottle. Leyton tilted the glass bottle, pouring the potion into Crow Anu's mouth.
Soon, the potion was completely drunk by Anu, and then the entire crow, like a drunkard who had too much to drink, fell straight onto the table.
Leyton frowned slightly; this crow's reaction after drinking the potion was always a bit different.
A faint purple light flashed in his eyes, and the changes in Anu's body were completely visible to Leyton.
"The potion is transforming its spirit body." Leyton's vision extended continuously; he seemed to see that this crow had developed some mystical connection with the Underworld.
"Is this a prerequisite for the Gatekeeper ability?" Leyton whispered softly, then took a few steps back and sat on a chair, waiting for Crow Anu's advancement to finish.
His spiritual intuition was touched, and Leyton, somewhat puzzled, raised his hand to catch a pale yellow paper falling from the Spirit World:
I found the Spirit Medium potion formula you wanted. This time it's free, as a reward for the information you told me about the Primordial Moon.
Remember to write to me and tell me about the changes in your crow after its advancement and what it saw during its advancement.
A letter without a beginning or an end, Leyton was slightly speechless. He had forgotten that he had written to Sia asking for the Spirit Medium formula.
"Good thing Sia didn't ask me for money, otherwise I would have spent money to buy a potion formula I already had."
Sighing, Leyton flipped the paper in his hand. There was another passage on the back:
"Mr. Hughes said you can tell that detective the Polymath potion formula."
He raised his hand and sent the letter back to the Spirit World, Leyton sighed, "They even wrote the message directly on the back of the letter, even a book has learned to be lazy!"
Crow Anu had already stood up on the table, but it was still a bit wobbly. Its feathers were stained with some oily red spots, but they were slowly fading.
Crow Anu shook its head up and down and said, "Boss, I saw that very large bird again. Its tail feathers are so long, so long, and red, so beautiful! I think I can grow up to be like that too!"
"Is this your intuition? What else did you see?" Leyton immediately walked over and asked. At the same time, a faint purple light reappeared in his eyes as he looked up and down at Anu, checking the changes on its body.
Anu made a thoughtful expression and said, "I think I saw the Underworld. I don't know if it's real, but when I saw that place, my mind just assumed it was the Underworld."
"I also learned an ability to open Doors, I can directly pass through walls. This isn't an ability that came with the potion; it's an ability I learned on my own after seeing that giant red bird."
Upon hearing this, Leyton frowned slightly. The Phoenix Ancestor, Gregrace, had mastered some of the Door Pathway's authority.
He suspected that this was an effect of a bloodline regression in the crow, but he didn't see any discordant factors in the crow, and it hadn't consumed any Apprentice Pathway potions either.
After a moment of consideration, he asked, "Did you directly master the Door ability, or did you gain the corresponding knowledge?"
The crow shook its head and said, "Not just knowledge, but also a lot of experience in using this ability."
From Crow Anu's words, Leyton roughly understood that it had gained Beyonder knowledge and experience in using the Door ability, rather than directly obtaining the corresponding partial characteristics.
After confirming that Crow Anu had no abnormalities, Leyton went to the study on the second floor, picked up a pen and paper, and wrote a letter to Mr. Pulak Eggers, describing in detail Crow Anu's experience during its advancement, including its acquisition of Door Pathway Beyonder knowledge.
After taking out the materials and setting up the ritual, Leyton stepped back and chanted Pulak's messenger summoning spell:
"Spirit that roams the upper realm, absolutely benevolent creature, Pulak Eggers' contractual partner."
As the incantation was completed, the temperature in the room instantly dropped, and the candlelight glowed with a faint green light, flickering in the windless room.
Leyton stood quietly in place, his eyes fixed on the opposite wall.
Burning bone fragments surged out of the wall, haphazardly gathering on the floor in front of Leyton, forming a tall humanoid figure covered in cracks and holes, with eerie green flames spewing from every fissure on its body.
Leyton handed the written letter to the other party, and seeing that the flames on its body did not burn the letter, he breathed a sigh of relief.
The tall humanoid body, spewing eerie green flames, once again disintegrated into fragments of bone, flowing like spring water into the Spirit World.
Looking at the direction Pulak's messenger departed, Leyton muttered to himself:
"This messenger doesn't seem like a normal undead, and its strength is not weak, possessing the power between Sequence 4 and Sequence 5."
After tidying up the ritual materials, Leyton returned to his desk, tore a page from his notebook, and wrote down the Polymath's potion formula.
Holding the written formula, he stepped into the Spirit World.
In Hillston Borough, in front of a slightly old building, Leyton's figure quickly materialized.
Leyton surveyed the house, which was not very well-lit and appeared somewhat dim, then walked forward a few steps and knocked on the Door.
"Dong! Dong!"
With a creaking sound of the Door opening, a young assistant wearing a long trench coat and glasses opened the Door. He subtly scrutinized Leyton, then said:
"Hello, this is Detective Isengard Stanton's residence. May I help you?"
Leyton handed the folded paper to the assistant and said:
"This is for Detective Stanton. It contains information he needs. Please give it to him."
After speaking, Leyton stuffed the paper into the assistant's hand and then turned and left directly.
The paper with the Polymath potion formula had traces of psychological cue on it, so Detective Stanton's assistant would not actively open it to see the contents.
After delivering the Polymath potion formula to Detective Stanton, Leyton turned and went to the Harvest Church in South of the Bridge. He planned to check on Bugs Bunny there.
Not long after Leyton left Isengard Stanton's residence, the great detective returned by carriage.
The assistant handed the paper Leyton had sent to Isengard Stanton:
"Sir, a strange young man just brought a piece of paper and said it was for you."
Isengard Stanton took the folded paper from the assistant, and it was clear that the paper was casually torn from a notebook.
A glimmer of anticipation appeared on Isengard's serious face. He immediately opened the folded paper, and as expected, it contained the Polymath potion formula.
In the Harvest Church on Rose Street in South of the Bridge, Leyton's figure quickly materialized.
Before he could greet Father Utravsky, who was sitting in front of the Holy Emblem of Life, his attention was drawn to Bugs Bunny and Emlyn arguing nearby.
Leyton looked at the basin of blood-red tomatoes between them, his brows slightly furrowed. He saw blood in those tomatoes.
"Are these tomatoes bloody?" Leyton approached, looking strangely at the rabbit and the Sanguine.
Emlyn nodded without raising his head:
"You should control this rabbit. It actually wants to cultivate tomatoes that can produce their own blood. It says that way, we Sanguine won't have to suck other people's blood anymore."
"Doesn't it know that we Sanguine don't directly bite people? Such a crude way of eating is only chosen by you humans who advance by consuming potions!"
Leyton was momentarily speechless. He picked Bugs Bunny up from the ground and said to it expressionlessly:
"Didn't I say that you need to write an application and get my permission before you can modify plants?"
Bugs Bunny distorted its body twice, jumped out of Leyton's hand, moved back a couple of steps, and only then, after creating some distance, said:
"This isn't home! And Father said that only by making others feel the joy of harvest can I become a qualified Harvest Priest."
"The joy of harvest?" Leyton glanced at Emlyn, whose face showed no joy at all.
Perhaps, this rabbit can only stay at Sequence 7.
Leyton felt that he could no longer let this rabbit interact with Frank in the future, otherwise, if it really turned into Frank the Rabbit, it would be troublesome.
Father Utravsky, who was praying in front of the Holy Emblem of Life, opened his eyes and looked at the basin of bright red tomatoes, reminding Leyton:
"Its ideas are very interesting, but sometimes too dangerous, and it also has strong executive ability."
"I understand. I'll keep an eye on it." Leyton nodded in response to the Father.
Then he turned his head to look at Bugs Bunny on the side. He didn't need to ask to know that this outrageous basin of tomatoes was secretly cultivated by it.
Randomly mixing the characteristics of animals and plants is forbidden in the Church of the Earth Mother. Frank was expelled from the Church of the Earth Mother precisely for doing so.
Leyton pulled Bugs Bunny, who was getting closer and closer to Frank, aside and gave it a good talking-to, until it hung its head and admitted its mistake.
In order to prevent this rabbit from coming up with any more outrageous experiments and angering Father Utravsky, the Blessed One, Leyton decided to take it back.
As for the acting of the Harvest Priest, that could wait. Anyway, it was still winter now, and it wasn't suitable for plant growth or planting crops.
Walking to Father Utravsky with Bugs Bunny, Leyton found a chair and sat down:
"Father, I plan to take this rabbit back."
"No problem." Father Utravsky nodded slightly, without asking the reason or trying to keep it.
Leyton extended his right hand, and a slowly rotating ball of stardust rapidly formed in his palm. Leyton gently tossed the stardust in his hand.
Beams of light sprinkled down from mid-air, engulfing the basin of bright red tomatoes cultivated by Bugs Bunny, and then they were dissolved by the starlight, collapsing and dissipating.
Emlyn, who was not far from the basin of bright red tomatoes, immediately retreated several meters. Emlyn vigilantly watched the spot where the tomatoes collapsed and dissipated, then looked at Leyton, who had withdrawn his hand.
"You..." Emlyn opened his mouth, but his words were swallowed back. He had never seen such a Beyonder ability that could directly make things collapse and dissipate. The glowing beams just now gave him an extremely dangerous feeling.
Ignoring Emlyn's gaze, Leyton asked Father Utravsky about the key confiscated from Emlyn.
"Father, can I buy this Mystical Item from you?"
"No, this is mine!"
Emlyn was the first to answer.
Leyton glanced at him, then smiled and said:
"You yourself are the Father's spoils of war. That Master Key has already been confiscated."
Emlyn's face flushed from white to red, and he said somewhat exasperatedly, "You guys are just robbing!"
"I know a Sanguine who is as young as you, but he has already become a Baron in the Church of the Earth Mother. Do you want to consider that Pathway?"
"I will never betray the Ancestor's faith like that guy!"
Emlyn said angrily, then turned and left the Harvest Church.
Looking at Emlyn's retreating back, Leyton curiously looked at Father Utravsky next to him and asked:
"Father, how long have you been implanting psychological suggestions in it?"
"Two months."
Father Utravsky replied softly, while handing Leyton a plain-looking key with completely contained spirituality.
Leyton took the Master Key with a slight sense of confusion, then Father Utravsky explained:
"I spend most of my time in this church and don't need this Mystical Item. You can just take it."
Leyton did not decline, only leaving a few ten-pound banknotes in the offering box when he left the Harvest Church.
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