Chapter 3: The Lucky One Who Swallowed the Magic Pill Whole

"It's me! May I ask what business you two have? I don't recall knowing two gentlemen as distinctive as you." Rekton gave a slight nod in response to the middle-aged gentleman's words.

"Then we can consider ourselves acquainted now. I think we'll have many more opportunities to interact in the future." The middle-aged gentleman's voice was somewhat low.

He seemed to be trying to make his voice sound more affable, less stern, but he failed; instead, his low voice sounded even more imposing.

Rekton didn't respond but kept his gaze on the other, waiting for him to continue.

The middle-aged gentleman frowned slightly, turned his head, and gestured to the young gentleman beside him who had shifted half a body's width aside to take over speaking.

The young gentleman beside him gave a slight nod, apparently trying to suppress the smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, and immediately continued the middle-aged gentleman's words.

The other coughed twice and said: "Cough! We originally came here to deal with any possible loss of control and monsters."

Upon saying that, the young gentleman paused, his eyes unguardedly curious and puzzled as he stared intently at Rekton, scrutinizing him carefully.

Rekton returned the gaze, meeting the other's light blue eyes; feeling impolite, the young gentleman awkwardly averted his eyes.

After the other coughed twice to ease his embarrassment, he continued: "However, after arriving here we found no signs of loss of control. After observing for a while, we intend to make contact with you, because you appear completely normal, showing no trace of loss of control at all—perhaps you truly are that one-in-a-million lucky one."

The young gentleman's words left Rekton somewhat bewildered. Initially, hearing that the other had observed him for a period made his nerves tighten, but the latter's words made Rekton think the other hadn't discovered his transmigration secret; what the other said likely referred to a secret inherent to Rekton's original self.

Nevertheless, Rekton could now be certain that the two before him were extraordinary beings. Judging by their attire, they likely belonged to the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, though it's not impossible they were members of the Earth Mother God Church who favored such dress.

"What exactly do you mean by 'loss of control'?" Rekton asked after pondering.

"The madness contained within the magic potion itself—if the one who consumes it cannot withstand this madness, they will lose control and turn into a monster." The middle-aged gentleman explained simply.

"And you, having swallowed the extraordinary characteristic of Sequence Eight without taking the magic potion, this act is essentially suicide; the success rate is so low it can be ignored!" The middle-aged gentleman added solemnly, pointing out that Rekton had directly swallowed the extraordinary characteristic of Sequence Eight.

Rekton stood there dazed. He had considered that matters involving loss of control were not simple, perhaps he had unknowingly been contaminated by something or some unknown existence, but he never imagined it would be himself swallowing the extraordinary characteristic.

Moreover, it was the extraordinary characteristic of Sequence Eight—though only one sequence higher than Sequence Nine, the contamination within extraordinary characteristics is not as simple as one plus one. At this moment, Rekton felt the word "torturous fate" could hardly describe him anymore.

"In all my years of contact with extraordinary beings and various materials, you are the only one I have seen and known who swallowed the extraordinary characteristic of Sequence Eight and still lived; your luck can be called one-in-a-million." Seeing Rekton dazed and silent, the middle-aged gentleman assumed he had been frightened by his stern words and added another sentence.

"No! I also know a tough guy who swallowed the extraordinary characteristic of Sequence Six—that's the real lucky one." Rekton muttered in his heart, thinking of the Rose Bishop on the future ship in the original work who accidentally swallowed the Sequence Six characteristic and survived, the true lucky one.

"If we let them walk the path of fate, what's there to do with big snakes and little snakes!" Thinking of the lucky one, Rekton involuntarily thought of the two unfortunate angels of the fate path.

They both have been angels for thousands of years; former colleagues and friends, as well as latercomers, have all become true gods, while they two remain there playing cat-and-mouse.

"Extraordinary characteristic? Why do you know I swallowed the extraordinary characteristic of Sequence Eight?" Rekton asked doubtfully.

Rekton remembered that the existence of extraordinary characteristics was jointly concealed by the seven great churches; ordinary church members would not know of their existence, and moreover, how did these two people know about Rekton swallowing the extraordinary characteristic?

"The pale blue object you once took from a colleague's corpse of ours—it has now been swallowed by you. As for more information, you'll have to wait until you join the church and obtain certain permissions before you can know." Saying this, the middle-aged gentleman paused,

then after observing Rekton's reaction continued: "As for why we know about this Sequence Eight extraordinary characteristic, the cultist who secretly lured you to pick up and swallow the extraordinary characteristic has been caught by us; more details cannot be told now unless you are willing to join the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom and become one of us."

"We are official extraordinary beings; all wild extraordinary beings who become extraordinary for various reasons will be under our control." The young gentleman beside him added.

"So actually I have no other choice, right?" Rekton said, not annoyed at least, as he didn't oppose becoming an official extraordinary being.

"No, you can also choose to join the Earth Mother God Church; you yourself are a Finnebort person, your father is a devout believer of the Earth Mother God, so joining the Earth Mother God Church is also reasonable." The middle-aged gentleman denied Rekton's statement.

He then added: "Similarly, your mother is a devout believer of my Lord, you yourself are also a believer of my Lord, and moreover, the extraordinary characteristic you swallowed originally belongs to the Knowledge Church, and only within the Knowledge Church can you better master the extraordinary characteristic you swallowed, avoiding subsequent loss of control issues, and even continue to advance upward—if, after learning the world of extraordinary beings, you still wish to continue advancing."

He gave two different choices, elaborating on the reasons and benefits of choosing the Earth Mother God Church and the Knowledge Church, and finally concluded that choosing the Knowledge Church is the best option.

"No wonder you're from the Knowledge Church; your way of speaking is just like my former university professor!" Rekton muttered in his heart.

Immediately he nodded and said: "That makes sense. Hmm, how can I join the Knowledge Church?"

"You can join right now, no other conditions needed; we've already done a background check on you. Of course, before that you need to go with us to the Knowledge Church's station in Ma Dan, the Nasos West Great Library, where we will also need to carefully check whether you have any residual contamination on you; if there is, we need to purify it, otherwise it will affect you, especially since you are not advancing by consuming magic potion; if there is no residual contamination, just register, and then you'll be considered one of us." The middle-aged gentleman replied, still thorough and solemn.

He added finally: "However, you are not joining us as an ordinary member, but as an executor, joining the official extraordinary being squad of the Knowledge Church; at that time you should be my subordinate teammate. Also, I haven't introduced myself yet—I am Ekanton Tes, and beside you is your future teammate, Josie Siegel."

"All right, Captain Ekanton. But why is our station the Nasos West Great Library instead of the Knowledge Church hall?" Rekton nodded.

"The church hall is for daily prayer and proclaiming my Lord's glory, not suitable as a place for frequent comings and goings of office work. The Nasos West Great Library is not far from the Knowledge Church hall, and it has plenty of books for church personnel's daily study; moreover, the houses in that district are all church property, and the great library has a back door leading directly to the Knowledge Church hall." Captain Ekanton explained in detail the reasons for choosing the Nasos West Great Library as the station in Ma Dan.

"Ah, that's how it is!" Rekton nodded, appearing thoughtful on the surface.

Actually, at this moment Rekton couldn't help wondering whether he would also develop this habit: whenever someone asks a question, he can't help but talk excessively and densely. After all, in the original work, the extraordinary beings of this path who appeared—Beklund's great detective Eisen Stanton and the ice mountain general Admiral Edwina Edwards—both had this preference.

For no reason, Rekton's mind conjured an image of a spectacled old dragon holding a book, and as soon as this image appeared, Rekton vigorously shook his head twice to drive it from his mind; although the God of Knowledge and Wisdom is not the spectator path, because of His omniscience and omnipotence, He might not be unable to do such a thing, but it's better to play it safe.

"What's wrong? Do you have any problems?" Ekanton asked solemnly, noticing Rekton's sudden head shake.

"Ah? No! Wait, there is a problem—are we going to the Nasos West Great Library now?" Rekton reflexively denied, then felt this answer was problematic, so he casually raised a question.

"Hmm, if you have no other problems, it's best to do so." Ekanton nodded and said.

(End of chapter)