Lord of Mysteries: Starting As A Reader

Ebner quickly looked up, his face filled with hesitation. "Miss Closfia… Are you serious?"

He hadn't even read through the actual script yet—just skimming over the secondary character settings was enough to make him cringe. The lines were so over-the-top and embarrassingly theatrical that they were painful to read.

"Exaggerating things a bit makes the 'character setting' easier to imprint in people's minds," Closfia said with a bright smile.

So you know these lines are over-the-top, huh?! Ebner groaned inwardly, but after flipping through the rest of the script, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

The plot was cliché and dramatic, but at least there was nothing that crossed his bottom line…

As for the character settings… well, the lines might be embarrassing, but they were still tolerable.

After all, if "Doctor Strange" ends up embarrassing himself, what does that have to do with me, Ebner?

Even if Klein figures out that "Doctor Strange" is actually me… well, I still have the identity of Liu Bo as a fallback!

After giving himself a mental pep talk, Ebner picked up the suitcase and infused it with spirituality.

He had already noticed that the suitcase wasn't an actual box—it was an Alchemical Lifeform in disguise.

Sure enough, as soon as his spirituality entered, the suitcase swiftly transformed into a red cloak.

It stretched out as if waking up from sleep, then circled around Ebner a few times before suddenly draping itself over his shoulders, adjusting its form to fit perfectly.

Immediately after, a blue robe materialized over Ebner's body. It was a deeper shade than his usual attire, yet it felt lighter and more comfortable—while also providing a decent level of defense.

Activating Pure White Eye, Ebner communicated with the spirit inside the cloak. It responded in a friendly manner before officially forming a contract with him.

Watching Ebner interact with the cloak so smoothly, Closfia raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You seem quite familiar with it… You didn't even need me to explain anything."

"I'm a Polymath. I have the abilities of an Appraiser," Ebner replied vaguely—though that wasn't entirely true.

"Since you've now formed a contract with it, that means you've agreed to our deal, correct?" Closfia asked with a smile.

"Yes, Miss Closfia… I'm willing to participate in your 'performance,'" Ebner nodded, secretly feeling like he had struck a great bargain.

Forget the Mysticism Magister advancement ritual—just acquiring this Alchemical Lifeform made the deal worth it, even if he ended up humiliating himself!

Although Closfia never explicitly stated that it was a gift, and it was possibly only a temporary loan, this cloak was a living entity. As long as it was willing to follow him, there wasn't much she could do to stop it—unless she used force, which was unlikely.

"Excellent." Closfia's eyes curved into a satisfied smile. For the sake of her "ritual," she didn't mind giving away a few of the Alchemical Lifeforms her husband had created.

After inspecting Ebner in his new attire, she nodded approvingly and instructed,

"You need to appear around Indo a few times, reinforcing the new 'image' I designed for you. This will help solidify it in people's subconscious.

"If you need any assistance, feel free to find me…

"Until next Thursday's full moon, Dunn and I will be staying here, so you can visit anytime.

"Oh, and if you have time… you should also practice your acting."

Hearing this, Ebner's mouth twitched. He hesitated for a moment before sighing, "Fine…" Then, after thinking for a bit, he asked, "Shouldn't we establish a contract for this?"

"Do you trust me?" Closfia countered with a smile.

"Of course I do," Ebner replied without hesitation. She was a demigod trusted by the Earth Mother—there was no way she'd actually screw over someone who was also under the Earth Mother's protection.

At least, not before the Earth Mother got a return on her investment…

Back in Backlund, through multiple tests involving Lilith, Ebner had already confirmed one thing: the Earth Mother was exceptionally tolerant of him.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he was one of Her most favored followers.

Perhaps… he was only slightly less favored than "The Fool" was toward "The World"…

"I also trust that you won't go back on your word… so there's no need for a contract," Closfia said with a composed smile.

However, she added silently in her heart: Besides, the Earth Mother doesn't hold authority over contract enforcement… You might be daring enough to pray to another god, but I'm not.

Since Miss "Sloth" truly didn't care about a contract, Ebner didn't push the matter. Instead, he turned to Closfia and Dunn and brought up the materials he hoped to acquire from the ruins.

Neither of them had any objections, even promising to help him secure them if possible.

After wrapping up that topic, Ebner looked at Dunn and asked,

"Would you be willing to trade me the Astrologer Beyonder characteristic? What do you need in return?"

"I need the Spirit Warlock potion formula." Dunn's deep gray eyes locked onto Ebner as he made his request.

So Dunn really has become a "Soul Assurer"… Ebner silently nodded, confirming his earlier speculation. However, upon hearing the trade offer, he politely countered, "A Sequence 5 potion formula is worth at least 5,000 gold pounds."

Meanwhile, a Sequence 7 Beyonder characteristic, even at its most expensive, was barely worth over 2,000.

Dunn nodded, acknowledging the price difference. Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out another metal case. Opening it, he revealed a Rose Bishop Beyonder characteristic. "If you can find the Spirit Warlock formula, I'll trade you this along with the Astrologer characteristic."

Rose Bishop? Don't tell me this was that "Green Giant" from the Aurora Order—the one who was protecting Lanrous back then?

This thought flashed through Ebner's mind before he considered the deal seriously. After a moment, he replied, "I can help you ask around, but it won't be easy to find in a short time."

"That's fine. I only recently advanced to Soul Assurer—I'm still far from Sequence 5," Dunn said with a small smile.

Well, Fors is also still a ways from Sequence 7, and she probably doesn't have the money to buy a characteristic right now, so there's no rush.

With that thought, and realizing that most of their important discussions had concluded, Ebner bid farewell to Closfia and Dunn. Any remaining questions could wait until he had thoroughly reviewed the documents she had given him.

...

Closfia and Dunn didn't insist on keeping him. After a polite exchange of goodbyes, they simply watched as he flew out of the villa through the window.

Racing through the night sky, Ebner soon arrived back at the mountain hot spring inn outside Indo—though his face was a bit pale from the intense flight.

As he stroked the red cloak, which had proactively wrapped itself around him, he couldn't help but sigh in admiration.

I have to admit, this thing flies much faster than my simulated "Flight" ability! If I hadn't deliberately asked it to slow down, I probably would've broken the sound barrier…

And Flight was only one of this Alchemical Lifeform's abilities. As a living being, its greatest strength was actually learning.

It could study, cast, and store certain ritualistic magic, such as Wall of Spirituality, as well as illusion techniques commonly used by ghosts.

Recalling the analysis report from his Pure White Eye, Ebner had the cloak revert to its suitcase form before heading toward the underground wine cellar. He was about to use Teleportation to return to Bayam when—

A massive white-bone messenger suddenly materialized before him, extending a letter.

Xio replied? Ebner's spirits lifted as he eagerly unfolded the letter and began reading.

A few moments later, he lowered the paper, rubbed his chin, and murmured to himself,

"So that lion wants to find me again? Or rather, it was originally trying to follow me… but lost track?"

"I do still need its blood as an auxiliary material… but I can't let my guard down completely… even if it was Roselle's pet."

"Hmm, I might as well arrange the meeting here in Indo, next Thursday… It'll take time for it to sail from the Southern Continent anyway."

"When the time comes, I'll ask Mr. Azik to oversee things. That way, I won't have to worry about it pulling any tricks."

Having settled his plan, Ebner borrowed some paper and ink from the inn and quickly penned a reply.

Soon, the nearly four-meter-tall bone messenger clutched the letter in its skeletal hand and vanished into the night—without leaving a trace of supernatural disturbance in the hot spring inn.

After that, Ebner used the hidden altar in the wine cellar to cast Teleportation and returned to Bayam.

...

Tuesday Noon – Bayam, MI9 Headquarters

Xio sat in an office, watching as Princess Vera stepped off the ship that had just arrived in Bayam's harbor.

Once inside the secured base, Xio returned the transparent dagger, which shimmered with the glow of a dozen bright stars, to Vera.

She hesitated for a moment before deciding to share something personal. Taking a deep breath, she recounted the visions she had seen under the blood moon.

After listening quietly, Vera fell into deep thought. Then, after a long pause, she sighed and asked,

"Do you know why the Tamara family was divided?"

(End of Chapter)