Finally, Dorian stopped beside the letter.
He bent down and reached out his right hand. His fingers trembled as he grabbed the edge of the paper and picked it up.
This time, Dorian was very careful. He began reading each word, one after another from the very beginning. Sometimes he was enlightened, sometimes confused, sometimes puzzled, and sometimes in pain.
The letter Fors had sent wasn't long. He only used three minutes to read it twice before he fell into a long silence.
The sunlight shined through the window and landed on the toppled table.
Dorian Gray Abraham's lips suddenly quivered, but he ultimately didn't make a sound.
Separated by a piece of paper, his right thumb and index finger quickly rubbed against each other and ignited the letter with a scarlet flame.
After doing all of this, Dorian packed his belongings, put on his disguise, changed his clothes, and left the rented apartment. Using the identity he had previously prepared, he went to another place.
After settling down, he sat beside the desk and stared at the brass ornament, seemingly deep in thought.
The area became darker and darker as the sunlight weakened. Dorian's eyelids twitched as he slowly sighed.
He then unfolded the piece of paper and picked up the fountain pen. As he pondered, he wrote:
"...I'm very happy to see you digesting the Scribe potion in a few months. This means that you might really become a demigod...
"...These are the key points to take note of while acting as a Traveler, at least the ones that I know of. However, you have to remember that everyone's personality is different. There will always be some differences in acting in real life, so you can't copy blindly... This doesn't mean that the acting principles of others are wrong, but that it might lead to a huge conflict in your heart, affecting your mental state... Sometimes, you can make appropriate adjustments to slow down the speed at which the potion is being digested, but it will only be beneficial to you. You have to remember: acting is a tool, not something to lord over you...
"I look forward to the day you completely digest the Traveler potion, I will prepare the corresponding ingredients and a present for you.
"...I'm very interested in the matter of the Abraham family's curse mentioned by that gentleman... I think you should have noticed long ago that I have done a certain degree of research on such matters. Otherwise, you wouldn't always ask me about such matters...
"I hope you can continue to learn about this matter at a deeper level..."
After writing the reply, Dorian Gray Abraham closed his eyes and quickly folded the paper.
...
January 1351, Backlund's new year was much bleaker than before.
In a basement in West Borough, there were a few candles flickering with yellow flames, illuminating the surrounding altars, chairs, and round tables.
At the edge of the light, in a place that was extremely dark, a figure appeared indistinct. At times, it would sway, sometimes stretching into a thin entity that didn't have any thickness. It was like a shadow that came alive.
Suddenly, the figure said in a deep voice, "You arrived earlier than I expected."
Beside the candle, a figure quickly appeared in the spot illuminated the greatest by the light.
It was a man dressed in a mysterious black robe. His brown hair was slightly curled, and his dark, deep eyes seemed to contain countless objects.
He was none other than one of the five saints of the Aurora Order, the Saint of Secrets, Botis.
Botis smiled and said, "To me, distance is not a problem."
He pulled a chair and sat down before saying to the long and narrow shadow, "Have you investigated thoroughly? Did you find anything unusual?"
The shadow that nearly slinked into the shadows answered in a low voice, "There aren't any problems."
"Really?" At the confirmation of the question, Botis instinctively had doubts. "Kisma, could this be a trap?"
The Aurora Order's Saint Tenebrous, Kisma, slowly shook his head and said, "The target is very careful. It's definitely not a case of deliberate exposure.
"If she wasn't seeking to purchase an ancient wraith's cursed item, we wouldn't have been able to sense that she might be related to the Abraham family."
Saint of Secrets Botis seemed to be in thought as he said, "An ancient wraith's cursed item. This is one of the main ingredients of Scribe. I remember that the Abraham family does have a spare Asmann's brain... Heh, they aren't willing to directly provide a Scribe Beyonder characteristic, hoping to carry out some tests. It's indeed the style of the Abraham family. To put it simply, they don't have enough trust in others."
Saint Tenebrous Kisma didn't echo Botis's words as he continued, "Even if she was seeking to purchase the main ingredients of the Scribe potion, we wouldn't have noticed any problems. After all, not every believer knows the corresponding mysticism knowledge, but she even mentioned some questions related to Apprentice and the Abrahams.
"She was really cautious in this aspect. The circle of Beyonders from which she sought to purchase materials from and the one she asked questions weren't the same. Different matters were left to different circles. Furthermore, at times, she would hire other participants to help her make requests.
"If it weren't for the fact that we have our people in those few circles and were able to combine the intelligence, we wouldn't have noticed her."
Saint of Secrets Botis nodded slightly and asked, "Why didn't you just take action? You even came to me?"
In the shadows, the darkness stirred and replied slowly, "The situation in Backlund is getting more and more tense. The Nighthawks, the Mandated Punishers, and the Machinery Hivemind are carpet sweeping the area, one spot after another. We're being watched very closely.
"If I were to handle this matter, it would be fine if there weren't any accidents. However, if an accident were to happen, I might not be able to escape due to not having ‘Grazed' a Secrets Sorcerer.
"Besides, aren't you the one who is most interested in the Abraham family?"
Botis chuckled and said, "I'm not interested in them at all. I just want them to all die.
"To ensure my own safety, the most important thing is to nip revenge in the bud. This is the philosophy I abide by."
As he spoke, the Saint of Secrets took out a crystal ball from his black robe's pocket.
The crystal ball was neither clear nor translucent, as if it had been injected with the dark night.
As he touched it with his palm, his lips quivered. This strange crystal ball suffused a resplendent glow.
They were like stars that slowly spun, forming a complicated scene.
"It's still acceptable..." Botis looked at the crystal ball in his right hand and nodded gently.
He then looked at the "ghostly shadow."
"Give me the details."
When he learned that there would be a Beyonder gathering in a particular circle tonight, with the target possibly appearing, the Saint of Secrets Botis stood up and said to Saint Tenebrous Kisma, "I need to make some preparations."
As soon as he finished speaking, his right hand opened and with a gentle lift, his fingers closed.
The region he was in immediately warped and vanished.
The candles, flames, round table, and chairs that were originally located here vanished, leaving behind only the tiles and ceiling.
After a while, the shadows moved and everything returned to normal.
Nothing happened to Saint of Secrets Botis, but Saint Tenebrous's figure appeared out of the darkness.
He looked at Botis and said in a deep voice, "Your caution has exceeded the necessary limits."
"But this isn't a bad thing. I hope that I can resolve the problem without anyone noticing," Botis replied with a smile. "You can follow me. You can hide in the shadows as my support. You will not directly appear, and you will leave immediately once you discover anything amiss."
"...Alright." Saint Tenebrous Kisma slowly walked out of the shadows.
He looked young and handsome with outstanding facial features, but his face seemed to be covered with a faint curtain of darkness.
After coming close to Botis, there were a series of illusory chewing sounds that came from nowhere. The chewing sounds and the sound of digesting could be heard, as well as undisguised evil and hunger.
This made the demigod shudder involuntarily.
Saint Tenebrous's eyes froze for a second as he cast a shocked and surprised look at Botis's face.
The corners of Botis's mouth curled up as he revealed a rather cruel smile.
A few seconds later, one of them used "Teleportation," and the other merged into the shadows and left the house.
...
In an apartment that had been in disrepair for years, in the area intersecting Backlund's East Borough and the bridge area, there were a few rooms on the first floor of a cheap motel that had their rooms connected.
When Botis walked out from the spirit world, the Beyonder gathering was only to be held two to three hours later. No one had arrived yet.
He looked around and took in the long tables that were arranged messily.
After observing the environment, he walked to a corner with his right hand pulling the curtain.
The region was then enveloped by a shadow, distorting before vanishing.
This was because there wasn't anything there to begin with. There was no objective measure, so no one would have discovered that there was a space missing. They would only feel that the distance between the walls and themselves was a little closer, but upon closer inspection, everything was normal.
This was the "Space Concealment" power of a Secrets Sorcerer!
They could use this ability to split a place into two and conceal part of it. One had to use a specific "door" to enter.
At that moment, in the area that had been divided and hidden, the room existed normally. There were floor tiles, a ceiling, and a cockroach crawling across the ground.
The cockroach rushed to the boundary and was blocked by the endless darkness.
After Saint of Secrets Botis surveyed the area, his gaze paused at a transparent vortex in midair.
This was the "door."
Every hidden space would definitely have a "door."
After some thought, Botis reached into the black robe's pocket, took out a mirror, and inserted it into the "door."
The mirror twisted and quickly reflected the scene in the outside world.
There were chairs and long tables randomly strewn around. The place was empty.
In this way, Botis used this mirror to monitor the Beyonder gathering's venue.
Seconds changed to minutes as the Beyonders dressed in various disguises arrived.
One of the hooded figures habitually chose a corner near the window. She took out a palm-sized notebook and casually flipped through a few pages, as though she was revising the main points of her questions or checking if she was fully prepared.
And behind her to the side, there was an ordinary mirror embedded in the wall.
