Lord of Mysteries: Return of the Stars!

Professor Wayne's story ended here.

"This story is only just beginning," Hastur whispered in his heart. He had already foreseen how the story would continue.

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Ten more years passed after the village chief passed his position down to his son.

The village finally found a road leading to the outside world and even encountered another village.

That village was rich in resources and had plenty of food. Every villager there could eat their fill, but the village had one fatal flaw: they had very few people, fewer than two hundred.

The new village chief received the news and considered two possible options: one was to coexist peacefully with this newly discovered village and engage in barter trade;

The other was to declare war on the new village and seize their wealth and abundant food.

After some deliberation, he chose the second path, reasoning that no matter how peacefully they coexisted, the food owned by the new village would never be given away for free, and since food was limited, it could only support a certain number of villagers.

After decades of population decline and the pent-up anger in their hearts, their village needed an outlet for release.

Thus, under the leadership of the young village chief, they relied on their absolute numerical advantage to defeat the new village and occupy all its wealth.

Most of the young and able-bodied in the new village were killed, leaving only the elderly, children, and women.

The young village chief, after some thought, decided to treat these people as captured slaves and issued a new village rule: any villager who defeated an enemy could keep the captives as slaves to work for them.

With the announcement of this rule, those villagers who originally had no wealth or status and felt discontent instantly cheered and wholeheartedly supported the new rule.

In the following decades, they successively discovered several more villages. With the young village chief's wisdom and the enforcement of the slavery-based rule, they successfully annexed those villages.

By this time, the village population had grown to tens of thousands. With a mix of people and a large number of captured slaves, it became increasingly difficult to manage.

The young village chief once again demonstrated his intelligence. He declared the construction of a large city that would accommodate everyone.

He also established many new city rules to maintain the city's stability and solidify his rule.

For example:

Only descendants from the line of village chiefs could succeed as the city lord. Others were forbidden from usurping the position, or they would be sentenced to death.

Any villager who owned more than five slaves would automatically become a slave master, holding full power of life and death over their slaves.

Those close to the young village chief were appointed as city administrators, ranking above the slave masters but below the city lord.

Thus, the new city had only five social classes.

At the top was the city lord, followed by administrators who assisted in governing the city, then the slave masters with many slaves, then the ordinary villagers without enough slaves, and at the bottom were the slaves.

With the new city rules, the once faltering community was united once more.

The citizens of the new city were eager for more wars, hoping to gain enough slaves to become new slave masters.

The slave masters also wished to plunder enough wealth through war to become administrators.

The city lord's lineage and the administrators, the smallest groups, initiated wars based on the desires of the majority.

Decades passed.

They conquered many cities, and these individual cities united to form a city-state.

The city lord's son became the leader of the new city-state. He established many new rules and orders and devised the concept of divine right of kings, claiming to be the chosen one favored by the gods to legitimize and elevate his rule.

Those who followed and were close to the new leader gained a status just below the gods through these fabricated myths and legends.

After the city-state stabilized, they began another round of conquests, fearing that if they didn't attack others, those others might grow strong and attack them first.

They were fortunate.

After more than a hundred years of war and two or three changes in leadership, by the time the fourth generation city-state leader came to power, they had defeated all rival city-states.

At this point, a kingdom surpassing the city-states emerged, and new rules and order began to take shape.

They gained a new name: Law.

...

Hastur filled in the parts of the story Professor Wayne hadn't spoken aloud in his mind. Meanwhile, the potion had mostly digested, with only a small part remaining.

He estimated that in another half month, his lawyer potion would be fully digested.

By now, the sky had darkened, and the number of onlookers had not decreased, if anything, it had grown.

Workers from the docks, having heard something was happening, had come over with cheap beer in hand to join the commotion.

Professor Wayne had paused his lecture, allowing Lecturer Fron to answer questions and explain the recent changes in Loen's laws for the working class.

Some people left midway, unable to understand. Some listened with puzzled looks. Some frowned as if they had gained insight. Only one or two had eyes that sparkled like stars rising in the night.

"Do you want to go up and speak?"

Professor Wayne approached Hastur, holding a beer someone had handed him.

"I still have a lot to learn. I'd rather not embarrass myself," Hastur declined.

Professor Wayne took a sip of beer and said, "Since you're determined to study the law, then sooner or later you'll have to step onto the stage, face a group of strangers, and present your views."

"Then before that day comes, I need to learn as much as I can, so I won't get chased off the stage with stones."

Professor Wayne chuckled, glanced at the dockside residents who were listening intently, and sighed, "Do you think they understand?"

"You've already opened a window for them. As for what kind of scenery they see through it, that's no longer something you can interfere with."

"Heh, I can't open a window, at most, I can draw a window frame on the wall. If they want to open it, they have to make the effort themselves."

Professor Wayne said this as he finished off the large mug of beer, exhaled a breath filled with alcohol, and smiled, "Want one too?"

"Thanks for your kindness, but I'm not used to the taste of beer."

Professor Wayne's expression shifted slightly, his lips pursed, and Hastur didn't explain anything further.

He simply couldn't get used to the taste of beer, even the so-called best Southwell beer in Loen didn't suit him.

It wasn't because he was of noble birth and looked down on the cheap beer that dockside residents drank daily.

He just preferred fruit wine, the sweeter, the better.

After a while, Professor Wayne somehow brought over another beer and a plate of sausages, heavily smoked and rich in meat aroma.

"Want some?" This time, Hastur didn't refuse Professor Wayne's offer.

By the time Lecturer Fron finished his lecture and Q&A session, it was already past eight in the evening.

The three of them hadn't had dinner yet. Two administrators from the almshouse who had come along originally wanted to treat Hastur and the others to some local dockside specialties, but were turned down by Professor Wayne.

Because he was already full from drinking and eating.

Hastur had roughly counted, Professor Wayne had drunk three large mugs of beer in total, eaten four sausages, and two slices of toasted bread.

He himself had eaten a bit with Professor Wayne, so he wasn't too hungry. Only Lecturer Fron, who had lectured for two hours, was both thirsty and hungry.

Seeing that neither Professor Wayne nor Hastur had any intention of eating dinner outside, and thinking that a place like the dockside might not be too safe at night, he chose to return to the almshouse first to eat something there.

Back at the almshouse, Hastur checked his pocket watch, 9:18 pm.

The almshouse's work and classes were done for the day. The children had all returned to their dorms to rest. The adults who had worked during the day were queuing up at the washroom, wanting to take a bath before bed.

The return of the three didn't disturb anyone. Dean Darn didn't appear again either, but had already arranged three rooms for them to rest in overnight.

The three rooms were connected, located in the same area as the almshouse administrators.

Further in was the rest area for the children, and the outermost section was where the adults lived.

The rooms weren't very big , probably only a third the size of his study. Besides a neatly made, clean bed with bedding, there was also a small table with a kerosene lamp filled with oil on it, meant for late-night trips to the washroom.

Other than that, there was nothing else.

The walls were made of stone, rough to the touch and a bit cold.

If it rained, the walls would probably seep water, right?

Wouldn't it feel too cold at night like this?

Hastur walked around the room a few times, even reached out to knock on the walls.

Very solid, it would be hard to make any noise just using a fist. You'd need to hit it with a wooden board to make a sound loud enough to alert others.

It wasn't that he was paranoid, it was just that Professor Wayne's behavior today made him slightly uneasy.

After confirming there were no hidden doors or underground passages, Hastur walked to the bed, pulled up the blanket, and brought it to his nose.

It had the scent of freshly washed with soap. There was also a faint smell of rose essence sprayed on the quilt. No musty or foul odors.

He put the quilt down and folded it like tofu, placing it on the right side of the bed.

Hastur lay his head on it, laid down flat, and felt much more comfortable.

Being in a different place without his soft, warm bed at home, he really couldn't fall asleep right away.

After lying down for twenty minutes, Hastur got up from the bed. He wanted to take a shower before sleeping, but since Professor Wayne hadn't mentioned they'd be staying the night when they left earlier, he hadn't brought any clothes to change into.

It wasn't that he needed a shower to fall asleep, he just couldn't sleep, so he thought taking a shower might help.

"When you're away from home, you just have to endure a little." Hastur sighed, lay back down on the bed, and closed his eyes to try sleeping again.

About half an hour later, he vaguely heard someone knocking at the door.

It snapped him out of his drowsiness instantly!

His first reaction: something had happened!

His second reaction: reach for a suitable weapon.

In the end, he tightly gripped his hefty walking cane, eyes alert and locked on the door.