blueteamnovel Chapter 214 Mr. A's Wool, Azik's Revenge
Chapter 214 Mr. A's Wool, Azik's Revenge
Chapter 214 Mr. A's Wool, Azik's Revenge
After putting away the three extraordinary properties, Evan looked around and then suggested:
"The environment here is too harsh and not very safe. You are still injured, so it is not advisable to change safe houses frequently!"
I have a safe house in the West End, provided by MI9. You can go there and hide for a while!
"MI9 would never think of investigating their own safe house, and the three major churches wouldn't overstep their bounds to investigate the property of other official entities. Besides, it's very close to MI9 headquarters, so we can easily cover it up. What do you think?"
Mr. A thought about it and felt that what Evan said made a lot of sense, so he nodded in agreement.
When Evan was reading Lord of Mysteries, he discovered that Mr. A's offer for the assassination of Ambassador Intis included various high-sequence formulas from adjacent pathways.
Evan had always wondered why Mr. A, as the number one person below the demigod in the Aurora Society, didn't think about ascending to Sequence 4 'Black Knight' through the same path, but instead focused on other adjacent paths.
No matter how you look at it, Mr. A is the top candidate for the next demigod of the Aurora Society.
It wasn't until recently, when he became Mr. Z of the Aurora Society, that he realized it wasn't that Mr. A didn't want to become the "Black Knight," but rather that the Aurora Society simply didn't have any extra "Black Knight" extraordinary characteristics.
The extraordinary characteristics of the Mystic Path are arguably the fewest among the 22 Divine Paths.
The Solomon Empire of the Fourth Age disintegrated, and the forces of the True Creator Demon suffered a crushing defeat and fled the Northern Continent. This resulted in the severe loss of their extraordinary characteristics, from which they have yet to recover.
There weren't many believers who followed Ullolius to flee the northern continent, but the fact that they still formed the Ironblood Cross Society, which was parallel to the Aurora Society and mainly composed of hunters, in the Fifth Age already speaks volumes.
This fact made Evan see the possibility of taking advantage of Mr. A.
Mr. A not only possesses the extraordinary trait of "Pain Witch" that he needs, but also a variety of other rare traits such as "Wind Favorite," "Soul Soother," "Apostle of Desire," "Healer," and "Recorder."
Furthermore, Mr. A felt extremely guilty and angry about Lanluus's death, and his desire to become a demigod reached its peak. Therefore, Evan quickly came up with a way to lure him into handing over his extraordinary characteristics using the "Darkless One" formula.
Evan knew that Mr. A had gone through a great battle, with his men almost all killed or wounded, and he had little wealth left. So he deliberately revealed that someone was selling the recipe for the "Darkness-Free" potion, and set a price that seemed reasonable but was definitely too high for Mr. A to afford.
However, precisely because the price is so high, Mr. A absolutely cannot afford it unless he sells his "Shepherd" ability as well, so he definitely will not consider selling extraordinary abilities.
At this point, Evan mentions that he has a sum of money, about 4 to 5 gold pounds. If Mr. A can raise the remaining 2 to 3 gold pounds, he can bring home the coveted "Darkness-Free" potion recipe. Mr. A will definitely be tempted and make an impulsive purchase.
Everything was going according to Evan's plan. What he couldn't get even if he bet his entire fortune, he could now get with just 30% or 40%. Mr. A fell into Evan's trap without any resistance and was unable to extricate himself. He obediently brought out the extraordinary characteristics he had carefully selected.
As for the so-called "Darkness-Free" recipe, it is detailed in Lord of Mysteries, so it is not difficult for Evan at all.
The incomplete Sequence 4 potion recipe was already difficult to sell, and Klein's efforts to promote it to Alger were unsuccessful.
By making use of waste and exchanging this incomplete formula for high-quality resources from Mr. A, Evan felt it was a win-win situation.
Moreover, once this deal is completed, Evan will not only obtain these three extraordinary traits, but will also become Mr. A's creditor.
Evan had plenty of ways to exploit these debts to fleece Mr. A until Mr. A sold himself to Evan.
In short, Mr. A is a treasure trove in Evan's eyes, and he needs to be diligently explored.
After handing the key to the safe room in the West District to Mr. A, Evan left the East District and went to the Brave Ones Bar.
It wasn't yet time for the factory to close, and there weren't many pedestrians, but two burly men stood outside, watching all the passersby, diligently protecting the bar and searching for any potential troublemakers.
Seeing this, Evan simply nodded silently, and then entered the bar under the watchful eyes of the two burly men.
Upon entering the bar, I found that some gambling games had already started, and there was a lot of noise. Although the number of people was not at its peak, it was still quite good.
Evan pulled down his work hat, squeezed through the crowd, opened a rest room, walked over to a gambler, snatched his cards, pulled him aside, sat in his seat, and started playing cards.
Maric, sitting opposite him, seemed unfazed and said to the pale-faced dealer beside him, "Please continue dealing the cards!"
After playing two rounds and winning a few pounds from Marich, Evan turned to Miss Sharon, who had appeared out of nowhere and was floating in mid-air watching Evan and Marich play a two-player multiplayer game, and said:
"Want to play together?"
Miss Sharon quietly shook her head, declining Evan's invitation. Evan didn't seem to mind, and while signaling the dealer to continue dealing the cards, he asked:
"How's your business going lately? How's your collaboration with Ian Wright and Ronnie O'Sullivan going?"
Maric, who was manipulating the sexy dealer and continuing to deal cards, explained to Evan the work situation during this period.
"The collaboration went very well; Mr. O'Sullivan developed his beliefs, and we expanded our influence!"
He encouraged believers to join the gang we created and guaranteed the loyalty of those who joined, and in return, we protected and supported them in spreading their faith.
We now have a certain influence in the Backlund Bridge area, the East End, and even the Docklands, and we are still expanding.
Thanks to the low-sequence potion recipes you brought before, we've trained several extraordinary individuals, effectively consolidating our expanded territory, but—"
"Just what?"
Evan guessed what Marich was going to say, but his eyes didn't waver at all; he kept his eyes glued to the cards in his hand, thinking about how to play them.
"But is it really a good idea for us to cooperate with the Aurora Society like this? You're a high-ranking officer in MI9, you should know that these people are a bunch of lunatics. Nobody knows what they'll do. If we let them develop like this, they'll get burned sooner or later!"
"Did they use this opportunity to carry out terrorist activities?"
"No!
"Did they use this opportunity to overthrow the monarchy?"
"No!"
"Have they conducted counter-infiltration against us and interfered with our operations?"
"No!"
"Then what are you worried about? I'm not worried at all, so why are you so concerned?"
Evan bluntly rebuked Marich for worrying about things he shouldn't be worrying about.
"Aren't you worried about facing scrutiny from within MI9 if you just sit idly by and watch the Aurora Borealis grow stronger?"
Miss Sharon, who had been quietly listening to Evan and Marich's argument, suddenly spoke up.
"I'm not worried at all. It's you who are cooperating with the Aurora Club, not me. What do I have to worry about?"
Evan played a big card, speaking casually without looking up, which startled Sharon and Marich, who then glared at him.
Although they knew that what Evan said was true, and they were well aware of their role as front men, they still couldn't help but feel angry when Evan said it directly.
But Evan remained calm and comforted them:
"From the perspective of the three major churches, the fewer evil god organizations the better, and it would be best if all the people believed in the true god."
However, from the perspective of the royal family and MI9, as long as the ruling system does not extend to the grassroots level and lacks control over the lower levels, the spread of the belief in evil gods is inevitable.
Therefore, the royal family's focus is on maintaining the overall stability of the kingdom's order, rather than actually helping the church spread and consolidate its faith. The Aurora Society has now changed its name, using the rebuilding of labor unions as a starting point to fight for workers' rights, cease terrorist activities, and strive to maintain order at the grassroots level. This perfectly aligns with the royal family's vision and the kingdom's need for stability.
"You mean the royal family and government of the Kingdom of Rune will turn a blind eye to the spread of the Aurora in the Eastern District, and even secretly protect it?"
Miss Sharon and Marich stared at Evan in disbelief, feeling as if their worldviews had been turned upside down. When did an evil god organization spreading its faith start to be protected by an official organization? Isn't this like a cat acting as a bodyguard for a mouse?
"It's not about providing covert protection; it's about openly opposing the three major churches!"
"How is this possible?" Sharon and Marich exclaimed in unison.
"The seven major churches all possess deities and their power is clearly greater than that of the royal family. So why is the management model of the people in the real world still mainly based on feudal monarchy, rather than religious management and rule of the world?"
It's not because of conflicts between orthodox churches, but because religious rule dominating people's lives is detrimental to social stability and can even hinder the spread of faith. (Religious conflict, the liberation of productive forces, population growth)
Only when religion withdraws from dominating people's lives can it, in turn, spread the belief in God.
Therefore, after the Fifth Age, the major churches signed a sacred covenant, and the royal families of various countries took the lead in carrying out secular rule.
The royal family itself possesses the legal authority to maintain order and combat extremist ideologies, so it's not unusual for them to confront the three major churches in order to maintain stability at the grassroots level.
Sharon and Marich, who were from the Southern Continent and didn't know much about the situation in the Northern Continent, were dumbfounded, but instinctively felt that what Evan said made a lot of sense.
Evan had once probed Prince Grove about the expansion of the Aurora Society, and Prince Grove was very interested in how gangs could stabilize the order at the bottom of society.
Considering that the Black Emperor's ascension ceremony required the creation of an order different from common sense, Evan knew that Aurora's plan to go public through a reverse takeover would receive the strong support of George III.
King George III must be feeling uneasy, unsure of the attitudes of the three great gods towards his ascension, so he will definitely try to use the Aurora Society as a bargaining chip.
Indeed, Evan had already figured it out. If it were possible that the church, perhaps because of Adam's help, was unaware that George III was plotting to ascend to godhood, then it would be understandable.
If the three true gods, or rather the seven righteous gods, didn't know this, then they would be doing a disservice to their illustrious reputation.
After all, the Fourth Epoch they experienced gave rise to more than one "Black Emperor," so they should be quite familiar with these things.
Perhaps for some reason, the true God did not inform the church, and Evan has not yet figured out the reason.
So Sharon and Maritch's cooperation with the Aurora Society to expand their influence may seem dangerous, but it is actually as solid as a rock, with George III and even the Twilight Hermits protecting them from behind.
For a moment, the only sound in the card room was Evan's cheers of winning.
"By the way, it's been over a month since we last used MI9's resources to wipe out the Rose School's influence."
What was their reaction?
Seeing that Miss Sharon and Maritch remained silent, and that the sexy dealer was always giving him big cards, Evan could only continue to ask himself, "The Rose School may know that the last East District raid was the result of our cooperation with MI9, and may think that we have completely surrendered to MI9, so they have not sent people to hunt us down for a long time."
Of course, they won't let up on their pursuit of us. After all, once we are strangled, the Mother Tree of Desire, which they believe in, will completely occupy the entire "Prisoner" path, which has a very great symbolic meaning!
So next time they send people to hunt us down, it won't be so easy to avoid them!
After listening, Evan nodded to himself, agreeing with their judgment, because he had also made the same judgment.
After becoming a high-ranking member of MI9, Evan had access to more information that was difficult for ordinary people to obtain.
Among the documents he saw was a report on the internal strife within the Rose School.
The report suggests that the Rose School will focus on purging the "Temperance Faction" in the coming years, rather than escalating the conflict with the Rune in the southern continental colonies.
"You don't need to worry. Even if the Rose School were to clench its fists and gather its full strength to strike you, it would still take some time."
At that time, the roles of hunter and prey might even be reversed! When one comes, kill one; if two come, kill both.
'
In Evan's view, the Rose School is like an experience pack; the longer you play, the more delicious the prey you hunt.
Miss Sharon and Marich were both somewhat surprised by Evan's confidence, after all, if the Rose School were to hunt them down, there was a high probability that there would be demigods among them, or even more than one.
I don't know where he got his confidence to consider a demigod as a prey.
But Evan's confidence also inspired the two of them, giving them a long-lost sense of security after they had been hiding all this time.
Evan talked with them for nearly half an hour, during which they told him about the problems they encountered in expanding their power.
These are problems that outsiders without connections usually encounter, and they are nothing to Evan. On the contrary, the funding problem that he had previously thought about was not mentioned by them.
Come to think of it, their teacher is an "angel," the leader of the world's most powerful and extraordinary organization. How could they not have experience in managing large organizations?
All of this was second nature to them; they controlled at least a tenth of Backlund's smuggling business and were in excellent financial shape.
After winning at least ten pounds, Evan left the Brave Ones bar, feeling extremely pleased with himself as he thought about Maric's toothy expression.
Every time the sexy dealer was being controlled, she would give Evan big cards and Maric small cards, which was driving him crazy.
The reason his dealer "betrayed" him was because Evan had a communication token given to him by Mr. Azik.
I wonder if Marich will be affected by Klein's whistle again after Klein arrives in Backlund. He probably will, right? In the original story, Marich was a Sequence 6 "living" individual, and being influenced by Klein caused his subordinates considerable trouble.
Evan knew that Klein would act according to his plan today, but he didn't care about the outcome at all.
Because the outcome had already been predetermined by Adam—Ince Zangwill received Saint Selena's ashes and was elevated to demigod status.
Evan's plan for Klein was not to stop Ince Zangwill's plan, but simply to get rid of Megaoth's child with minimal cost and cause Ince Zangwill as much trouble as possible.
Moreover, he wasn't worried about Klein at all, because he would eventually be resurrected. Evan was even itching to find an opportunity to go back to Tingen, either to pull him out of his coffin or to hammer a couple more nails into it.
After leaving the bar, Evan attended a gathering of extraordinary individuals hosted by Isengard Stanton, and found that the gathering was much larger, with nearly a hundred people, a far cry from the previous one.
But it makes sense when you think about it. Backlund was being purged one after another, and countless gatherings of extraordinary beings were raided.
However, Backlund is, after all, the largest city in the world, and every day countless extraordinary individuals enter Backlund to explore, exchange occult knowledge, and trade materials, and the demand remains very strong.
With his official MI9 background, Isengard Stanton had no worries about being investigated or having his property confiscated, which naturally attracted more and more extraordinary individuals to join him. To the point that Isengard Stanton even had to set up entry requirements for his gatherings.
After the party, Evan inquired about Isengard Stanton's recent situation and learned that he had learned many extraordinary abilities and that his potion digestion was steadily improving.
Eisinger Stanton also asked Evan many questions, including but not limited to the inside story of Duke Negan's assassination, and why Backlund had become tense again today.
Evan didn't feel there was anything to hide, so he told him about the angelic war that had taken place in Backlund that day, and how the entire city was teetering on the brink of destruction. Even the well-informed Isengard Stanton exclaimed, "I've never seen anything like this before!" He was also annoyed that he hadn't witnessed this rare angelic war firsthand, and his desire for a promotion was palpable.
This was the effect Evan wanted. Isengard Stanton went through countless hardships to finally advance in his old age, but even though he learned the method of acting from Evan, strictly acted, and digested the potion before advancing, he almost didn't make it due to his advanced age.
Evan was worried that the difficulty of this promotion would make him lose interest in future advancements and give up, so he deliberately said so much to provoke him.
As long as he still wants to advance, he will still need Evan, and Evan can use this to continue to drive him and use him for my purposes.
Afterwards, Evan went to check out the Aurora Society's mission site. Feeling that there were no problems, he returned to his apartment in the Joewood district to change his clothes and go back to the West End.
Unexpectedly, upon entering the apartment, he found a figure sitting on the sofa, but Evan's intuition gave him no warning whatsoever.
It almost scared Evan so much that he jumped up and threw a punch.
Fortunately, as a hunter, Evan was able to use the Sequence 5 "Reaper's" "Weakness Observation" in advance, which allowed him to observe many details of the target. This made him remember who the figure in front of him was, and he was able to stop in time.
"Mr. Azik, what brings you here? You didn't even turn on the lights! You almost scared me to death!"
Turning on the gas lamp, and using the dim blue light of the flame, Evan complained to Azik with some annoyance.
"Today, Klein faced the mastermind behind the scenes, but I was transferred and unable to help, which led to Klein's sacrifice!"
"You wrote to me, telling me the time and place of this showdown, so you should know the whole plan! And you should also know who's behind it all!"
Mr. Azik's tone was very somber. He could not forgive himself for his absence from the duel, not only for not avenging his son's lost skull, but also for the guilt he felt towards his student, Klein Moretti.
Evan frowned slightly, not answering Mr. Azik's question, but instead asking, "What was the outcome of that duel?"
Since Tingen's plot changed drastically due to Evan's intrusion, many gaps appeared in his mind regarding the content of the first volume of "Lord of Mysteries." In addition, since he knew the ending was already determined, he didn't pay much attention to it.
"The mastermind stole Saint Selena's ashes; apart from Klein's sacrifice, no one was injured!"
Evan nodded to himself. His plan to shift the battlefield was a complete success. Moreover, because he had given Klein a heads-up beforehand, Klein had gone crazy with Eternal Sun Wool during this period and produced a lot of "Sunfire" talismans, which had taken effect.
Even though the child in Megos's womb had grown considerably due to the plot changes, it was still ultimately dealt with by Klein using a high-level spell.
"I learned by some accident that the mastermind behind Tingen was the Archbishop Ince Zangwell, who had defected from the Church of the Night, and I also learned about the very troublesome '0' level sealed artifact in his possession."
Seeing that Evan had admitted to knowing about the Tingen incident, Azik nodded and, without delving into the secrets behind it, asked:
"Can you now use your special abilities to find out where Ince Zangwill has gone? I want revenge for Klein."
Would you be willing to help?
Seeing Mr. Azik's request, Evan thought for a moment, then leaned back on the sofa, adopted a meditative posture, and quickly flipped through the book "Lord of Mysteries" in his mind.
Having seen that Klein had used the gray fog to confirm that Ince Zangwill would be heading to Backlund, and that there had been no further plot twists, he said to Mr. Azik:
"Ince Zangwell is coming to Backlund. I will let you know if I have any news. Klein is my classmate, so I'll count him in for revenge."