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*****
At night, after his parents had fallen into a deep sleep, George quietly slipped out of his small bed and ascended into the skies above the city of Backlund.
"Mr. A's location."
Closing his eyes, George began to perform a divination.
With a specific name, the rough information provided by Audrey, and his own life level—which far surpassed that of his target—the success rate of this divination was a guaranteed one hundred percent.
Soon, an image of Mr. A surfaced in his mind, accompanied by the precise coordinates of his current location.
With a sudden flash of fire, George utilized a "Flaming Jump" to reappear in the air above an unremarkable house situated within the Empress Borough.
"Eye of Inquiry!"
An ethereal, illusory eye slowly manifested, allowing everything inside the house to be laid bare before George's gaze.
"So, a Beyonder gathering and trade is taking place."
As the capital of the Loen Kingdom and the most prosperous city in the world, Backlund naturally drew in a vast number of wild Beyonders. Consequently, many underground Beyonder gatherings had emerged to meet their needs.
These types of gatherings were typically initiated and organized by a Beyonder who was publicly recognized as powerful and authoritative. To join such a circle, one usually required an introduction from an established acquaintance. They were held at specific times and locations, usually on a weekly basis.
The primary items traded at these events included potion formulas, Beyonder ingredients, mystical items, and various pieces of information. Under normal circumstances, the official Beyonders of the Churches and the Kingdom turned a blind eye to these activities, as long as they didn't cause significant trouble.
Mr. A was the convener and organizer of this particular secret gathering in the Empress Borough. The reason Audrey knew of his existence was that the two wild Beyonders she had hired to investigate Qilangos were regular participants here. They had even brought Audrey along to attend a session once. Furthermore, those two wild Beyonders were also candidates Audrey had recommended for observation to join the Tarot Club.
"The Hanged Man pathway, Sequence 5: Shepherd. It seems the probability is quite high."
By "shearing the wool" of the True Creator, George had acquired all the knowledge of the Hanged Man pathway from Sequence 9 to Sequence 0. Therefore, he could tell at a single glance that Mr. A, who was presiding over the trade below, was indeed a Sequence 5 Shepherd.
In this world, Beyonders of the Hanged Man pathway were almost exclusively members of the Aurora Order—essentially, hidden madmen. Even if a wild Beyonder accidentally stepped onto this pathway, they might be fine at Sequence 9, but by the time they reached Sequence 8, they would inevitably suffer the corruption of the True Creator and be forced to join the Aurora Order.
This was precisely why the Aurora Order remained a top-tier cult that gave the seven major Churches their biggest headaches, even though the True Creator was trapped in the Land Forsaken by God, lacked much of his sanity, and frequently killed his own believers.
Other cults, such as the ancient Secret Order, functioned differently. If the Beyonder characteristics of the Seer pathway were lost and someone else became a Beyonder of that pathway, they wouldn't necessarily join the Secret Order.
However, due to the Law of Beyonder Characteristics Conservation, no matter how many members of the Aurora Order were killed, their numbers would never truly dwindle. As long as someone obtained the characteristics of this pathway and advanced to Sequence 8, the influence of the True Creator would draw them in.
To completely eradicate the Aurora Order, one would either have to deal with the True Creator Himself or collect every single Beyonder characteristic of the Hanged Man pathway so that no one could ever walk that path again. Thus, for someone to reach the level of a Sequence 5 Shepherd like Mr. A, there was a ninety-nine percent chance he was one of the Oracles of the Aurora Order.
"Just to be safe, let's confirm it one more time."
George did not strike immediately. Instead, a flash of fire erupted, and he manifested directly inside the main hall of the house below.
At that moment, Mr. A and the group of wild Beyonders were in the middle of a transaction. When they saw an infant suddenly appear in the center of the hall out of thin air, they were all instantly frozen in shock.
"Are you Mr. A?"
Ignoring the stunned crowd, George looked directly at the masked Mr. A and spoke.
Mr. A narrowed his eyes, his voice turning cold. "I am. Do you have business with me?"
"I suspect you are an Oracle of the Aurora Order. Come with me to the Church for a little walk."
George raised his tiny hand, pointing it at Mr. A with an expression devoid of any emotion.
"What? Mr. A is an Oracle of the Aurora Order?!"
The wild Beyonders at the gathering instantly erupted into a chaotic clamor. If the sudden appearance of a talking baby had merely left them dazed, the revelation that Mr. A belonged to the Aurora Order made their hearts leap into their throats.
The former was merely eerie; the latter was potentially fatal. Even a Beyonder with only a modicum of knowledge knew just how deranged the Aurora Order was. The Oracles within the organization were all madmen and psychopaths who frequently orchestrated horrific massacres. If Mr. A truly was an Oracle, there was a very real possibility he might go insane and slaughter them all on a whim.
"Someone from the Church? It seems I've been discovered. In that case, I'm sorry, but I'll have to Graze your soul!"
Seeing his identity exposed, Mr. A didn't bother to argue. A look of pure madness instantly flooded his face as he launched an attack toward George.
George immediately felt a surge of spiritual power enveloping his body, attempting to drag him into a dream. This was the ability of a "Nightmare," a Sequence 7 of the Darkness pathway. However, this level of power clearly had no effect on him whatsoever.
Seeing that the Nightmare ability was useless, Mr. A's hand moved rapidly, condensing a blazing spear of blue flames. He hurled it with explosive force directly at George.
A Sequence 5 Shepherd of the Hanged Man pathway possessed the ability to transform into shadows to bind enemies and turn into flesh and blood to erode them. They possessed powerful physical bodies, could use potent flesh-and-blood magic, and could freely control their own regeneration, giving them extreme survivability. They could even tear off a portion of their own flesh to create devastating flesh-bombs.
But their greatest strength lay in "Grazing." A Shepherd could graze up to seven souls of deceased Beyonders. At any time, they could switch to one of those souls and utilize the Beyonder abilities that person possessed in life.
The first ability Mr. A had used was that of a "Nightmare." This flaming spear, however, belonged to the Abyss pathway—specifically, one of the abilities of a Sequence 6 "Devil."
"Fire?"
Facing the oncoming projectile, George neither dodged nor hid. Instead, he opened his mouth and, to the horror of everyone present, actually sucked the flaming spear directly into his stomach.
"He... he ate it!"
The wild Beyonders who hadn't yet managed to flee and Mr. A himself widened their eyes in disbelief.
"Here, let me give you back a bigger one."
George opened his mouth again. A flaming spear ten times larger than the previous one took shape, shooting toward Mr. A at an even higher velocity. As a Magician who also possessed fire-related abilities, George had spent a significant amount of time researching and converting fire magic.
"Distortion!"
Seeing the massive pillar of flame roaring toward him, cold sweat instantly broke out on Mr. A's face. Even with his mastery of flesh-and-blood magic, being hit by a flame of this magnitude would leave nothing of him behind.
He immediately switched to the soul of a Sequence 6 "Baron of Corruption" from the Black Emperor pathway. Using the "Distortion" ability, he forcibly skewed the trajectory of the massive flaming spear, sending it off its mark.
(End of Chapter)