Chapter 316: Gathering Strength

This is because you communicated with that godson of yours and came to find me to confirm my attitude? Lu Mian maintained the smile from just now:

"What you believe in has nothing to do with me, as long as you don't believe in evil gods. Besides, believers of the 'God of Knowledge and Wisdom' aren't wanted criminals in Trier."

He was saying, "I'm still a wanted criminal, believe in whatever you want."

Baron Brignais had always been a smart person and didn't continue this topic, saying again:

"I'm very grateful that you helped me find Ludwig. I don't know how to thank you."

He didn't take the initiative to propose a specific gift, wanting to see Lu Mian's attitude and thoughts.

Lu Mian pondered for a moment and picked up the idea he had just abandoned:

Letting Baron Brignais help read the data and write a "briefing" didn't mean he had to be arranged in the same room as Franca, Jenna, and Anthony Reid. He could totally give him a portion of the data, explain the precautions, and let him read and extract it at home.

Similarly, before Anthony Reid agreed to participate in the operation to surround and capture the parish priest Guillaume Bénet, he couldn't let him directly contact Jenna and Franca. He would arrange a separate "office" for him later.

Lu Mian looked at Baron Brignais and asked deliberately:

"Are you good at reading and taking notes?"

Aurore's witchcraft notes mentioned that the pathway mastered by the "God of Knowledge and Wisdom" church is called "Reader," which is also the name of the Sequence 9 potion, while Sequence 8 is "Reader's Apprentice," and Sequence 7 is "Detective."

Combining the fact that Baron Brignais rarely showed special abilities and relied more on his excellent brain, decent fighting level, and excellent shooting skills to become the leader of the Savages, as well as his current faith, Lu Mian initially suspected that he was a Beyonder of the "Reader" pathway.

And just looking at the potion name, one could conclude that such a person is very good at reading.

Baron Brignais puffed on his pipe and said:

"Compared to those illiterates, my reading and learning ability are not bad."

He didn't quite understand the purpose of Charles asking this and could only suspect that he was probing which pathway of Beyonder he was.

And this wasn't a secret; Gardner Martin had known it long ago.

Lu Mian revealed a sincere smile:

"I recently obtained a batch of data introducing Spirit World creatures, but as you know—you should know, right? —reading similar knowledge for a long time will bring a great burden to the spirit. And I am only a Beyonder of the 'Hunter' pathway and won't be able to use this data for a long time. But I hope to find corresponding knowledge quickly when I need it, without wasting precious time. So, I want to give you a portion of the data and ask you to help read it and extract keywords."

"This is very similar to establishing an index for a library." Baron Brignais understood as soon as he heard it.

He smiled and said:

"This is actually me taking advantage; that knowledge itself has great value."

Library index... as expected of a follower of the "God of Knowledge and Wisdom," truly professional... Lu Mian was very pleased, thinking that Baron Brignier could probably count as one Anthony Reid plus one "Knowledge Rabbit."

At the same time, he felt it was necessary to guard against Baron Brignais. For example, he would pull out ten sheets from the portion of data given to this believer of the "God of Knowledge and Wisdom," make a record himself, and then compare it with the index table submitted by Baron Brignais later to see if he deliberately omitted or tampered with it.

Of course, this was Lu Mian's stupid method. He could also ask Franca to use divination to determine it, but that also existed the possibility of being interfered with.

Lu Mian put his hands in his pockets, looked at Baron Brignais with the eyes of looking at a coolie, and said with a smile:

"I don't care who takes advantage, as long as my goal is achieved."

Baron Brignais nodded slightly and didn't say much more, just telling Lu Mian where he would be in the morning and asking him to send the data over.

Auberge du Coq Doré, Room 305.

Facing Anthony Reid, Lu Mian repeated the words he had just said to Baron Brignais in a relaxed state, and finally said:

"That knowledge is the reward. In addition, I will teach you a ritual magic that can summon a special Spirit World creature to browse the data with you and extract key points. How about it, do you want to take this commission?"

Anthony Reid's dark brown eyes reflected Lu Mian's figure, and he pondered:

"You are very anxious. This matter has extra significance for you and is very important."

Lu Mian hadn't thought about hiding this point and followed up:

"Later, I will deal with a powerful enemy and want to have a suitable contract creature. When the time comes, I might ask you to participate, mainly for assistance. You can consider whether to agree now and what kind of reward you want. Hehe, no need to rush to reply, wait a couple of days."

"You are laying a linguistic foundation so that I have enough psychological preparation and produce corresponding expectations." Anthony Reid saw through Lu Mian's thoughts.

Lu Mian felt a bit embarrassed, but his skin had always been thick. He smiled without being affected on the surface:

"Don't you see that being this honest will put you in danger?"

Anthony Reid nodded lightly, confirming some things, and then agreed to help browse the data and write the "briefing."

…………

Breeze Ballroom second floor, in the room next to Lu Mian's bedroom.

Lu Mian looked at Anthony Reid and the "Knowledge Rabbit" sitting side by side, flipping through data while filling in the table, and nodded with satisfaction, imperceptibly.

He emphasized again that they must not read the Spirit World creature knowledge marked with words like "powerful" and "dangerous" in detail, then left here and turned into the office at the end of the corridor.

Franca sat comfortably on Lu Mian's back chair, putting her feet wearing red boots on the edge of the office desk.

She asked both suspiciously and curiously:

"What exactly do you want us to help with? So mysterious."

Jenna sat on the opposite chair, also twisted her body and looked toward the door.

Lu Mian closed the office door casually and told the story roughly, the reason being that he needed to obtain a contract creature before dealing with the parish priest.

"Such a simple matter, wouldn't it be fine to just divine it?" Franca muttered while agreeing to Lu Mian's request, while Jenna was full of curiosity about Spirit World creatures.

Not long after, Franca raised her head, looked at the three "Knowledge Rabbits" and Jenna and Lu Mian who each occupied a position, flipping through papers and writing quickly, and said with amusement:

"Why is there a feeling that this is a small workshop and we are copying coolies?"

Congratulations, your feeling is right... Lu Mian answered casually:

"Aren't I also reading data and filling in the table?"

Franca thought it was the same and continued her "work."

Just like this, they were busy until after 10 PM, resting many times in between, including meals, naps, short breaks, relieving bad states, and re-summoning "Knowledge Rabbits."

Lu Mian also observed the state of Franca, Jenna, Anthony Reid, and the four "Knowledge Rabbits" from time to time during his short breaks, to avoid them being too invested and not noticing their own abnormalities in time.

The first to reach the limit was Jenna. She had just been promoted to "Instigator" and hadn't truly adapted to the potion or converged the overflowing power, so her state wasn't too good.

The second was Anthony Reid. He had a relatively heavy psychological shadow and a weak tolerance for certain abnormalities.

Lu Mian, Franca, and the "Knowledge Rabbit" who had been changed to the seventh batch persisted until the end.

And Baron Brignais finished his work after 6 PM and sent the data and table to the cafe.

Ending the summoning and sending away the "helpers" with obvious fatigue, Lu Mian returned to the safe house on White Coat Street and stacked all the tables together.

He flipped through them casually, confirmed the general situation, and threw those tables on the table with a sense of accomplishment.

He didn't intend to start screening now, preparing to become a "Contractee" and figure out the contract requirements before reading the index, to avoid finding a Spirit World creature that was suitable for him in all aspects, only to find that it didn't meet the contract conditions.

Lu Mian rested for a while, summoned another "Knowledge Rabbit," and let it copy all the tables twice more.

After storing the three indexes separately, Lu Mian was so tired that he didn't want to wash up, fell directly on the bed, and fell into a deep sleep.

…………

At 6 AM, the energetic Lu Mian didn't rush to go underground, set up an altar, and pray for gifts, but like usual, jogged, practiced boxing, and relaxed his psychological state.

By almost 8 o'clock, he brought the corresponding materials and walked toward the entrance of Room 207 of the Auberge du Coq Doré.

After hesitating for a while, Lu Mian finally brought the calcium carbide lamp, although he no longer needed to specially prepare lighting tools, as he himself was the best kind.

He hoped to let the enemies he might encounter have the first reaction that he didn't have dark vision and wasn't good at creating light.

Underground Trier, inside the quarry hollow where the fate-related rituals had been held several times before.

Lu Mian simply cleaned up the damp and dark environment and placed the candle infused with his own blood on the stone that served as an altar.

Just as he finished sanctifying the ritual silver dagger and was about to create a "Wall of Spirituality," he suddenly heard slight footsteps.

Those footsteps echoed in the empty tunnel hidden deep underground, seemingly not far from the current mine cave.

Someone passing by? Lu Mian's heart tightened, intending to quickly clean up the scene and hide.

He had just approached the "altar" in front and hadn't had time to extinguish the calcium carbide lamp when the slight footsteps suddenly approached and appeared at the entrance of this hollow.

Seeing that he couldn't avoid it, Lu Mian turned around instantly, tucked one hand into his pocket, and looked toward where the sound came from.

Standing there was a thin man with brown-black skin. He was carrying a calcium carbide lamp, had slightly curly black hair, deep-colored eyes, and was wearing a diviner-style black robe from a circus.

Monit... Lu Mian recognized who this person was.

He was the archipelago swindler who had tricked Charlie and then been tricked by those swindlers in the "Different" cabaret.

Monit also saw Lu Mian.

The corners of his mouth curled up bit by bit, and he greeted with a pleasant expression:

"What a coincidence."

This swindler spoke while taking out a monocle that looked like it was made of crystal and wearing it in his right eye socket.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 317 =====