Chapter 27: Unexpected Turn of Events

After reaching a deal with the crow, Rekton said no more and hurried off in the direction the crow had indicated earlier, carrying his coat and pistol.

After walking straight ahead for about five minutes, Rekton spotted Captain Ikedon treating his wounds and a person wearing the robes of a clergy member of the Earth Church at an intersection. On the ground lay a clown's corpse and a person with severe wounds to the chest and abdomen. After getting closer, Rekton finally saw clearly that the one gravely wounded and collapsed on the ground was Mr. Coase.

Captain Ikedon and the Earth Church clergy member had long since noticed Rekton's approach and were watching this direction warily.

"Captain," Rekton called out, but just as he was about to approach, the other party stopped him.

"Stop." Captain Ikedon did not immediately trust Rekton.

Then Rekton saw his captain's eyes turn bright white, circled by pale blue fluorescence. Rekton felt as if he had been completely seen through, scanned from body to soul. This sensation made Rekton very uncomfortable.

After a while, the fluorescence and brightness faded from Captain Ikedon's eyes, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief, waving his hand at the Earth Church clergy member beside him.

Then he turned to Rekton and said, "Alright, you can come over now. Why are you coming here at a time like this?"

Rekton began to recount the explanation he had prepared before coming: "I was returning a black cat to its owner—that blood clan girl Eliza I met at the hospital before."

All the way until he encountered the clown and the Earth Church clergy member Usel, and ultimately the two of them joined forces to kill that Sequence Eight clown. After Rekton finished speaking, he had expected the captain to be suspicious—after all, his explanation had many problems, such as the fact that he clearly knew the clown was at the hospital, yet still dared to come this way to return the cat.

However, the captain's attention was entirely focused on the fact that he had encountered a Sequence Eight clown and had cooperated with an Earth Church clergy member to kill the clown.

"Very impressive. You're more outstanding than I imagined. It seems you've already mastered your own Beyonder abilities quite well. This progress is very fast." Captain Ikedon paid no mind to the holes in Rekton's words and instead praised Rekton's progress in mastering his Beyonder abilities.

"I don't know why either. These past two days I clearly haven't even had time to read any books, but my mastery of my own Beyonder abilities keeps improving, and I feel that my Beyonder abilities have also been somewhat strengthened," Rekton said, following along with the captain's words.

This was Rekton's genuine feeling over the past two days, though he could guess the reason: his behavior over these two days had, to some extent, conformed to the acting rules of a Reasoning Scholar. Rekton guessed it was likely due to his reasoning about the various circumstances and underlying causes of this incident.

"Mm, that's a good thing." Captain Ikedon smiled happily and did not dwell further on this topic.

The captain's reaction led Rekton to guess that the captain himself had not mastered the acting method. The captain's potion digestion progress was probably achieved through luck and accumulation. He could find an opportunity to subtly hint at the acting method, but it would be best to let the captain figure it out himself—otherwise, I would also have to swear before the God of Knowledge and Wisdom to keep the acting method a secret.

Rekton had no desire whatsoever to face this deity who most represented omniscience. He would have no secrets before the other party. A mere Sequence Two characteristic and the possible pollution of the Wilderness of Knowledge—Rekton did not think he could conceal these from this deity's gaze. Before knowing the other party's attitude, Rekton wanted absolutely no intersection with them.

"By the way, Captain, I still have a bottle of healing potion here. Should we give it to Mr. Coase?" Rekton used Mr. Coase, lying on the ground, to change the subject.

"No need. Wait one more minute and my Beyonder ability will return. I can heal everyone's injuries," the Earth Church clergy member standing nearby spoke up first.

"So that's how it is. No wonder Mr. Coase is just lying on the ground like that." Rekton nodded to indicate he understood.

Then he turned his gaze to the clown's corpse on the other side: "Captain, was this clown you encountered very strong?"

"Mm. The other party had multiple characteristics from different pathways: a Fire Thief of the Marauder pathway, Sequence Six; a Faceless of the Seer pathway, Sequence 6; and likely some Apprentice pathway characteristics as well, but of a lower sequence," Captain Ikedon answered in detail.

Hiss—Rekton drew a sharp breath in his mind. This was a super low-budget, despair-tier version of the Lord of the Mysteries, right? Though you could say it was even more bare-bones than a beggar's version, below the demigod level, this combination was indeed powerful and bizarre. He hoped no Shepherd who herded all five families would appear in the future.

A surge of vibrant life force brushed past like a spring breeze, and Rekton felt the pain all over his body lessen considerably.

"Ah—" Mr. Coase, lying on the ground nearby, also let out a pained groan, seemingly on the verge of waking from unconsciousness.

Rekton turned to look at the Earth Church clergy member standing to the side, but only saw the other party gazing into the distance with a solemn expression, seemingly sensing something. Rekton followed the other's gaze but, apart from sparse trees, houses, and farmland, saw nothing.

"His Excellency the Bishop and the others on their side—did they fail?" Captain Ikedon's voice sounded somewhat heavy.

"It looks that way. The worst-case scenario has still occurred. These blood clansmen do not understand gratitude for the Mother Goddess's mercy. They reject the Mother Goddess's faith, yet vainly attempt to steal the Mother Goddess's power. How ironic!" This Earth Church clergy member displayed tremendous anger.

It was not only anger in words and expression, but also physical anger. His entire body visibly swelled, and brown short fur burst through his clothing. The fury in his heart caused this Sequence Five clergy member's body to uncontrollably transform into a giant bear.

Under Rekton's astonished gaze, this giant bear charged wildly in the direction Rekton had come from.

Leaving behind only Rekton and the captain, as well as Mr. Coase lying on the ground groaning.

"Captain? Should we follow?" Rekton asked after a moment of silence.

"You should go after him!" the crow on Rekton's shoulder spoke up at this point.

"You? You can talk?" Rekton looked at the other party in surprise. Because this time, the crow did not directly make the sound ring in Rekton's mind, but opened its own beak to speak. However, the voice was not much different from what had been directly transmitted into his mind before, just slightly harsher—probably due to the crow's throat.

"Of course I can talk," the crow said as a matter of course.

"Then why did you always directly transmit words into my mind before?" Rekton asked in confusion.

"To maintain my image as a crow. Alright, enough nonsense. My prophecy had a problem. There's a higher-level power at work in this event, and it interfered with my perception." The crow spread its wings and flapped against Rekton's head, urging him on.

Rekton glanced back at the captain. Seeing that the captain was not surprised by the fact that the crow on his shoulder could talk, and even nodded at him, he finally felt at ease.

Still, he asked the crow on his shoulder with confusion: "What am I going over there for? With my small frame, am I going to feed myself to them?"

"To snatch things, of course! With so many Beyonder characteristics, we go over to help—taking a little isn't excessive, right? Moreover, this incident clearly involves a very high level. If you can discover something, your Sequence Eight potion can be digested directly. Haven't you already noticed?" The crow kept flapping its wings, urging Rekton.

Rekton had to admit he had been manipulated by this crow again. Every point the crow made was something Rekton could not refuse. But this incident was also very deep waters, making Rekton quite hesitant.

Judging from the captain's attitude, this crow was likely a saint of the Church of Knowledge. The Reader pathway only begins to grasp higher-level mysticism knowledge in the domain of fate at Sequence Four, the Prophet, thereby gaining the "prophecy" ability. Being able to interfere with a saint's prophecy indicated that this incident involved at least one other saint, or even an angel's shadow.

"If you go late, you won't even get to drink the soup. Although that ancient alchemist of the Earth Church can't resolve this incident, suppressing it temporarily is no problem. This is Feneport, and the Earth Church could dispatch a saint here at any time. When that happens, we won't have the chance to fish in troubled waters anymore," the crow continued to tempt.

"We? I want to obtain some Beyonder characteristics or sealed artifacts, and learn more information so as to deduce the truth behind the matter and help me digest and master my potion. And you, sir—what do you want to obtain? Something planned at the saint level—is there any chance I can even get my hands in?" Rekton was not very keen on fishing in troubled waters with this crow.

Rekton couldn't help roasting internally: "Though I also quite want to have this and that and everything else, staying alive is more important right now. As for sealed artifacts, I've already obtained one. Wait... sealed artifacts—how do I remember that sealed artifacts require an angel's rank to seal them? Earlier this crow said it plucked a feather to give me..."

"I'm going now, but my safety is in your hands!" Rekton no longer hesitated and ran directly in the direction the Earth Church clergy member had left.

"You figured it out that fast? I thought you'd give up. Why aren't you afraid anymore?" the crow asked curiously from Rekton's shoulder.

"Isn't it because I have you? You want to use me to achieve certain goals, but the prerequisite is that I have to be alive!" Rekton said with a grin.

The crow nodded in a human-like manner: "Though that's not your complete thought, it's indeed not wrong. My identity cannot be exposed in this sensitive place, especially now that something has gone wrong here. So using your hands to achieve some goals is the most convenient. Of course, I will also give you a reward you'll be absolutely satisfied with—after all, you're taking a great risk too."

"More than a great risk! A mere Sequence Eight like me, dragged into a bunch of saints—keeping my body intact would be the greatest mercy!" Whenever Rekton got nervous, he couldn't help but use sarcastic commentary to relieve some of the pressure.

"Sequence Eight is indeed too weak." The crow nodded in agreement.

Rekton's face was covered in dark lines. If he could win a fight, he would absolutely pluck this crow down and give it a thorough beating.

The crow flapped its wings and slapped Rekton's forehead several times in succession.

"Ow! What are you doing?" Rekton was slapped until he was irritated and nearly tripped over a vine on the ground.

"Feel carefully." The crow on his shoulder casually said this and then went silent.

Hearing this, Rekton carefully felt the changes within his body. His mind now held some combat and weapon-handling abilities. His mobility and reasoning abilities had grown stronger, and a great deal of knowledge had appeared in his mind. Rekton felt that he had become a combat master and a weapons master at this moment.

"This is? Part of the abilities of a Sequence Seven Knowledge Keeper. So, apart from some knowledge and Beyonder abilities that come with the potion, it can pull me up to half a Sequence Seven level just by flapping its wings. Tsk tsk—this crow is definitely an angel of this pathway." Rekton was now deeply convinced of his earlier speculation about this crow's identity.

At the same time, Rekton felt that the Beyonder characteristic of Sequence Eight Reasoning Scholar within his body was more than half digested.

(End of this chapter)