Chapter 92: Newspaper

, The Mysterious Calamity

"A beautiful day begins with the morning!"

Aaron, dressed in casual loungewear, sat before the dining table, gazing at the breakfast Sylvia had meticulously prepared on the pristine white tablecloth:

Two eggs fried to a slight golden brown on both sides, a piece of buttered bread, grilled bacon, and a jam-filled tart.

Because Aaron did not particularly like coffee, the beverage was milk.

Sometimes, it would be changed to lemon tea with floating lemon slices.

'With Sylvia's cooking, she is worth a weekly wage of 5 Shillings or even more... That Benjamin family is very suspicious; I should investigate when I have the chance...'

This was not because Aaron was some sort of justice warrior, but because he was running out of money again...

Aside from the knowledge trades with Clark Das, he still had to cover rent, carriage fees, water and gas bills, and the maid's expenses every day...

The little money robbed from the gangs was simply not enough to make ends meet.

Furthermore, he could not keep doing that forever.

'Although the police officers do not pay much attention to gang members, and are not even very willing to open case files for corpses left behind by gang feuds... Conversely, even if a low-status dock worker or a prostitute dies, it will quickly enter the investigation process... It is full of a kind of invisible discrimination. But there is still a possibility of exposure...'

Aaron stuffed the grilled bacon into his mouth, his tongue savoring the fragrance of the fat: 'Besides, those gangs are actually quite poor... Robbing them ten times doesn't compare to looting a decent gentleman, and it's very easy to get exposed...'

'And the Benjamin family is clearly involved with the Mysterious; perhaps I could obtain some Mysterious materials?'

As for Clark Das, once he became more familiar and trusted, he should be able to ask the other party to introduce him into the local circle of the Mysterious. By then, he would need more capital for trading.

At the same time, Aaron was also rushing to study grammar and history courses. After all, his knowledge was too bizarre; he knew everything about things from a thousand years ago like the back of his hand, but knew nothing about the last thousand years. He had nearly been seen through by Clark several times before.

And all of this required money, required resources!

'Beyond that, there is my own advancement.'

Aaron took a final sip of milk.

'From "Light Bearer" to "Light Shepherd", one must first have their Spirituality accumulation reach the limit again, and only then can they attempt advancement...'

'Among these, accumulating slowly every day via the "Radiance Method" is the slowest path.'

In fact, in the Secret Mystery of 'Yao', there is also a method of plundering the Spirituality of other 'Yao' Extraordinaries to benefit oneself; the ritual process is quite bloody and cruel.

'Besides that, there is a relatively gentler method, which is to establish a cult, letting the 'Yao' Extraordinaries—at the very least Spirit Awakeners—worship oneself madly... If so, one can also slowly absorb their 'Yao' Spirituality through rituals! To achieve this step, establishing my own Cult, developing believers, and teaching the Meditation Method is very necessary... I seem to understand why so many secret sects and Secret Teachings groups are always impossible to wipe out completely...'

'Of course, there is also the fastest method, which is to please the gods!'

'As long as the Age Keeper of this path casts down their attention and is willing to promote a believer, then jumping several levels in Essence is not a dream... But this is also the most dangerous. Not to mention the terrifying sacrifices required to please the Age Keeper beforehand, even after the promotion, one's own will and rationality would likely be finished...'

'For me, this is the most impossible path... Before mastering a certain level of strength, I'd rather hide from those Age Keepers...'

'As for me now, I can only continue to grind slowly every day using the "Radiance Method"...'

This was not because Aaron had any particular fastidiousness; he simply could not find a suitable target to plunder, and at the same time, he did not want to establish a cult and attract the attention of the Investigation Bureau.

While thinking, Aaron used the napkin Sylvia handed him to wipe his hands and flipped through the newspaper that had just been delivered today.

The most famous newspapers in Invis were the "Daily Mail", the "Plymouth Commercial News"... These were all national newspapers, transported daily by train to all parts of the country via the railway.

The one Aaron was reading was the "Green Forest Morning News", published by a local newspaper office. After registering and paying at the newspaper company, a dedicated newsboy would deliver it to his door every day. The price was 30 Pence a month, with a discount if one was willing to subscribe for a year.

The content of the newspaper was more focused on local news, along with some commercial bulletins, price fluctuations in various places, and so on... The margins at the end were filled with various advertisements from companies, detectives, and trading firms.

Overall, it was a general-interest newspaper with low professionalism.

At this moment, a glance revealed a lot of information:

【Warmly celebrate the opening of Green Forest City's first subway line; Mayor Andre and the city councilors arrived at the scene to celebrate...】

Below it, there was also a very blurry black-and-white photograph.

Aaron had to admit that even if he encountered the people in it in reality, he might not necessarily be able to recognize them.

He curled his lips and continued flipping through.

【Saint Avalon Cathedral construction halted; Archbishop Roberts John Schaller embroiled in a funding embezzlement scandal!】

【Dr. Hannibal will perform a public surgery at his clinic today; admission fee 1 Shilling!】

【Witch's House restaurant August 30% off coupon, first come, first served!】

Besides this, Aaron even saw advertisements for detectives and prostitutes. He had to admit that the current social atmosphere was indeed quite open, almost to the point of decadence.

"The church's Archbishop embezzling, prostitutes openly posting in the newspaper... truly interesting."

He put down the newspaper and chuckled softly.

Sylvia, beside him, moved her lips, seemingly wanting to speak, but not daring to.

Seeing this, Aaron asked: "Sylvia, are you also a believer of the Holy Spirit?"

"Yes, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, I was allowed to be born into this world, and in times of poverty, I also received help from the church's poorhouse..."

Sylvia said sincerely.

Aaron nodded. He had recently been cramming ordinary historical knowledge and knew that the Holy Spirit Church was a church that gradually sprouted during the Dark Ages, and was eventually established as the state religion by the founding monarch of Invis—Sun King Arthur, achieving great development.

The Holy Spirit Church was a monotheistic religion, believing that there was only one true god in the world, which was the 'Holy Spirit', and everything else was a False God, or an incarnation of Him, or the Angels under His throne.

Since becoming the state religion, it had occupied the mainstream faith of the Invis people and was committed to incorporating the False Gods of various places.

For example, the 'Green Banyan Tree Grandmother' still circulated in Green Forest City; in the descriptions of the Holy Spirit Church's scriptures, she was an Angel under the throne of the Holy Spirit, who could be called the 'Spring Angel' or the 'Green Angel'...

In any case, when Aaron first saw this description, he was very speechless inside.

However, he also expressed understanding of this.

'The high ground of faith—if you don't occupy it, someone else will... Using a fake, powerless 'Holy Spirit' to first fill the hearts of ordinary people is better than a chaotic state, where they would be easily bewitched and corrupted by those true Evil Gods...'