The inn was some distance from Iron Cross Street—Roger walked about twenty minutes before arriving. During this time, the tabby kitten remained quietly on his shoulder, neither making noise nor causing trouble, responding to the strange looks from passing pedestrians with a pleased expression.
A gentleman-dressed Roger paired with a dirty little stray cat made for quite an eye-catching sight.
The "Attention Seeker" potion digested a little bit more...
Roger quietly felt the internal changes as he pushed open the inn's door. While the front desk reception wasn't paying attention, he quickly went up to the second floor and returned to his room.
Most inns in Tingen City prohibited bringing animals to stay. Although he had acting needs for the "Attention Seeker" potion, this was different from deliberate provocation.
Click.
After closing the room door, Roger breathed a long sigh of relief. He grabbed the kitten that was looking around curiously and brought it to the washroom for a thorough bath, then dried it with a towel and placed it by the fireplace to dry its fur.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Roger went downstairs to the inn restaurant and ordered half a garlic bread, a portion of thick vegetable soup, several slices of pickled meat, and a bottle of fresh milk. He carried everything back to the room on a tray.
He poured the milk for the kitten and watched it eat heartily. Finally relaxed, he ate his lunch while flipping through notes he'd brought from the Abraham family residence.
"'Apprentice' potion formula... after consumption, one can borrow connection with the spirit world to freely traverse walls, tightly locked doors, and other solid media."
As a great family that completely mastered one divine pathway, the Abraham family's research on "Apprentice" could be said to be extremely comprehensive. The notes contained many details Roger had never understood before, making for dazzling reading.
The notes even included discussions about "Door" pathway symbols and essence, as well as explanations of the "acting method"—knowledge treasures that wild Beyonders could never access.
If it weren't for 'Mr. Door' causing descendants to be unable to produce demigods, the Abraham family would probably have already developed into a powerful house not inferior to the Tudor family.
Roger felt somewhat emotional, but considering that the forces mastering the three families' pathways all carried some abnormalities, he didn't dwell on these thoughts.
After wiping his mouth, Roger took out the "Apprentice" potion auxiliary materials and beaker he'd prepared from the family, using the oil lamp provided by the inn to begin heating.
He added the auxiliary materials to the beaker in order according to proportions, then took out the Sequence 9 "Apprentice" Beyonder characteristic he'd previously separated from his body and added it in.
The potion quickly stabilized. He moved the beaker from the oil lamp, poured out the potion, then made enticing sounds toward the tabby cat that had just finished licking up its milk but still seemed unsatisfied.
The cat had been hungry for too long. Finally getting a good meal but still feeling unfull, it saw Roger offering what appeared to be a gelatinous, jelly-like substance and ate it in two or three bites without thinking.
"Burp..."
Roger clearly heard the cat, now lying on the ground with narrowed eyes and a satisfied expression, burp.
He didn't dare be careless and sat nearby to observe. In the original work, when Susie ate the "Audience" potion, she was already a large dog, but this tabby cat was still too small. Who knew if it would show any out-of-control symptoms and become a monster?
Sure enough, the tabby cat that had been lying comfortably on the ground suddenly made a strange cry and turned over to stand up. As if startled, it arched its back with fur standing on end and began making sharp hissing sounds toward the corner.
Roger hurried forward to comfort it, but unexpectedly, the tabby cat charged forward and entered the wall directly, disappearing without a trace.
"Apprentice" wall-phasing?
Roger was dumbfounded. The next moment, he heard a woman's exclamation from the adjacent room, along with stomping sounds and the sound of heavy objects falling. Someone was pressing the service bell while calling the front desk and cursing loudly.
Damn it, this is big trouble.
Animal-related Beyonder events occurring in busy districts would likely alarm the Nighthawks squad to investigate. By then, he would definitely get into trouble. Although he wanted to make further contact with Klein, it wasn't through this method that he wanted Klein to understand him again.
Thinking of this, Roger hurriedly opened his room door and ran toward the room making horrified cries, then knocked on the door.
A young lady with disheveled clothes and a somewhat flushed face came to open the door. Roger looked over her shoulder and saw a bare-chested, obese middle-aged man holding a book while chasing the tabby cat around the room.
"You are?" the lady asked questioningly.
Roger falsely claimed he was front desk staff, bowed slightly, stepped forward and grabbed the tabby cat.
Seeing this, the middle-aged man also stopped pursuing. He looked at Roger rather angrily, obviously resenting the cat for spoiling his good time.
"I want to complain to the Tingen City Hotel Management Association! Revoke your license!"
The man roared loudly with a red neck. When he was about to scold a few more sentences, he suddenly felt his neck tighten. The next moment, a great force dragged him backward.
The middle-aged man looked up to see the young woman who had been with him. Although she displayed beautiful curves, she had burst out with power incompatible with her physique in a short time. At the same time, her reddened eyes seemed to contain uncontainable restlessness and impulse.
The man was about to speak but felt his mind go blank as blind eagerness surged up. Without thinking, he grabbed the woman back, and the two rolled onto the floor together.
Roger wrapped the now somewhat calmed tabby cat in clothes, politely bowed, closed the door, and walked toward his room.
On the way, he encountered the front desk receptionist lady head-on, still with some oil stains at the corners of her mouth, hurrying over.
She looked at him suspiciously. "Was it you who pressed the bell just now?"
"No, it seems the gentleman and lady next door had some conflict. I went to look, but it's fine now."
Roger used his thumb to point at the room behind him, which was now transmitting indescribable sounds, and smiled.
The front desk lady's face reddened, and she nodded somewhat embarrassedly, no longer asking questions, and directly left the second floor.
Only then did Roger breathe a sigh of relief. He returned to his room and locked the door.
I didn't expect this "troublemaker" ability could be used like this.
Using his pathway's active ability for the first time, Roger had some new insights. He'd originally thought he could only make people emotionally out of control, but didn't realize that "restlessness" and "getting heated" were also forms of emotional loss of control.
Fortunately, this kitten didn't undergo mutation.
The kitten had now calmed down. Compared to its earlier confusion, its eyes now held more clarity as it looked around the room and at Roger.
"When I was small, my parents' nickname for me was 'Bandit,' which is Ruen slang meaning bandit. You inherited my Beyonder characteristic and also caused a bandit-like farce, so let's use this name. From now on, we're partners."
Roger knew the cat had already developed self-consciousness like Susie initially had. He gently stroked its back and extended his right hand toward it.
Hearing this, Bandit suddenly stopped moving. It sat down with a thump, pondered slightly, and actually extended its right paw to lightly touch Roger's right hand once.