Mystery: Big Alarm Clock Ghroth Path

Chapter 130: The Shrewd Alger (Two Chapters in One)

Since Roger had obtained the "Shepherd" potion formula and promotion ritual for free from the reverse secret ritual of the "Death Descendant Skull", he felt very happy that he could now exchange it for a rare potion auxiliary material of Sequence 5.

Afterwards, Roger did not forget to ask "Sun" for his personal compensation. This was what he had promised before, that is, Roger would cover Derrick's expenses in exchange for the one-eye of the Shadow of Stealing Luck, and Derrick's "running errands" would also be covered by Roger.

Derrick thought for a moment and said that he had already obtained a handy weapon from Mr. World, so the only thing he needed at the moment was the main ingredient for the potion he would need for his subsequent promotion to Sequence 7, 'Sun Priest'.

But he also said that he was willing to try to obtain these materials on his own first, and if he failed, he would come to Roger again - which was equivalent to saying that Roger owed him a favor and he could postpone repaying it later.

Roger certainly had no objection to this. Now he just had to wait for Mr. Fool to hand over the "One-Eyed Shadow of Luck" to him, and then he could be promoted to "Composer".

After the transaction was completed, Klein the Fool removed the Silent Barrier, and Miss Justice and Mr. Hanged Man once again heard the voices of Mr. Wheel of Fortune and Mr. Sun.

"Mr. World."

Derrick, the Sun, looked towards the end of the long bronze table and said:
"I am very satisfied with the extraordinary weapon you delivered to me through Mr. Fool. I will also provide you with the 'true root of the misty tree man' and the corresponding juice as I promised earlier.

"Now my merits are sufficient. When the time comes, I just need to hire some helpers to complete the mission successfully."

He was speaking from the heart. Initially, Derrick was somewhat disappointed with the axe that Mr. Fool had handed over to him. He had originally envisioned a flashy weapon like a broadsword or a heavy sword, but the plain axe did not meet his expectations at all.

However, as Derrick was carrying out his mission, he discovered that the axe only needed to be swung two or three times to create a very lethal lightning bolt. Coupled with the physical enhancement inherent in the Beyonders of the "Sun" Path and the spells that restrained dark creatures, it was like adding wings to a tiger. In a short period of time, he gained considerable fame in the mercenary circle.

In a dangerous place like Silver City, strength was the most respected thing. Derrick didn't need to worry too much about appearance.

After reaching a consensus with Derrick, Mr. World once again turned to look at Miss Justice and Mr. Hanged Man:
"Hey, I wonder if you could help me get some information about the Evil-Striped Black Panther's cerebrospinal fluid?"

Justice Audrey shook her head, while The Hanged Man Alger thought for a moment and replied:
“There will be a grand pirate gathering on the Sonia Sea soon, and there will definitely be a lot of extraordinary materials appearing at that time.

"I have the opportunity to participate in this gathering, but I don't think you have any clues about the auxiliary ingredients of the 'Wind-loving' potion... So what are you going to give in exchange?"

Alger had always been somewhat repulsive towards this new member who always spoke in a hoarse voice, and his attitude towards the latter was relatively cold.

"I don't have any information on the other auxiliary materials for the Wind-Favored One yet, but I have something else I can exchange for.

"This is an incomplete recipe for a Sequence 4 potion... But for those powerful Beyonders who need the opportunity to advance to Sequence 4, as long as they have this recipe, they can prepare the ingredients in advance.

"This first-mover advantage is crucial. It's precisely because of this that even an incomplete Sequence 4 potion formula can be sold for at least 1 gold pounds, or even more.

"After all, this is a crucial step in attaining divinity. I think you should understand its significance."

"In addition to the Evil-Striped Black Panther's cerebrospinal fluid, I also need a portion of the Elf Spring's medullary crystal... The combined value of these two items will definitely not exceed 1000 pounds, so you will need to prepare 9000 gold pounds or items of equivalent value.

"How about it, are you interested?"

Mr. World said in his hoarse voice, with a smile between his words.

Before Mr. Hanged Man could reply, Audrey, who was standing beside him, could no longer contain her excitement and said:

"Mr. World, could you please tell me which path that Sequence 4 potion recipe is? If not, please pretend I didn't say anything."

"It's the potion formula for the Sun Path, Sequence 4, 'No Darkness'."

Mr. World seemed to have known that Miss Justice would ask the question, and he spoke without any reservation.

Upon hearing this, the eyes of "The Hanged Man" Alger, "Justice" Audrey, and "The Sun" Derrick all gleamed with anticipation!
Because Mr. "The Hanged Man" and Miss "Justice" already knew that the "Sun" pathway was adjacent to their own pathway, the value of the "No Darkness" potion formula was self-evident to them.

Mr. "Sun" is even better than the other two.

After all, for him, the path of "the sun" is the only correct path, and the demigod-level "one without darkness" sounds very desirable to him.

"'No Darkness'... This must mean it can dispel the darkness of the City of Silver and bring light back to us."

"Sun," Derrick clenched his fists secretly and said in his heart.

However, after hesitating for a moment, Alger, the Hanged Man, finally spoke:

"Mr. World, although the reward you offer is very tempting, I don't need it at this stage."

Alger's thoughts were clear. After all, he was only a Sequence 7 and already had some solid relationships within the Church of Storms. Jumping to the "No Dark One" was not his top priority right now.

After all, one thousand gold pounds was not a small amount of money for an ordinary captain like him. He had already spent a lot of gold pounds to help Mr. "Wheel of Fortune" buy the "Tears of the Mermaid Singer", and now he didn't have much money left.

If he were to take on a debt of 4 gold pounds for an incomplete Sequence 9000 potion formula, it would be almost like asking Alger for his life.

Not only that, he also has his own little plan.

That is, as the overall strength of the Tarot Club members increases, if he eventually has to face the decision of switching to other paths, it will not be too late to buy the potion formula from Mr. "World".

After all, if Alger purchased an incomplete Sequence 4 formula now, he would definitely spend a lot of time trying to complete it. This would result in missing out on many opportunities and would be a choice that would lead to him going down this path to the end.

Therefore, the incomplete Sequence 4 potion formula was not a positive asset for Alger at the moment, but a negative asset. If he really chose to trade it, he would inevitably incur immeasurable sunk costs.

After all, the fact that Mr. World was able to obtain an incomplete potion formula meant that he had a better chance of completing it than he did... Perhaps Miss Justice would also obtain the Sequence 4 formula from the Audience pathway, which would make his options more flexible.

At worst, Alger could still obtain the Sequence 4 formula of the "Secret Prayer" path from Mr. "Wheel of Fortune", not to mention the dangers inherent in that path.

Therefore, it is definitely not a wise behavior for him to make advance consumption of 9000 pounds and take on such a large debt in advance.

"Hmm? No need?"

The World… or Mr. Fool was slightly stunned. He had never expected that Mr. The Hanged Man would reject him.

I have obviously laid so much groundwork...and Mr. "The Hanged Man" just says no?
Klein couldn't help but feel a little pained by Mr. Hanged Man's rationality and restraint. After considering it for a while, he once again proposed through the mouth of "The World" that he could exchange some secrets at the top of the sequence for the two extraordinary materials.

Alger, the "Hanged Man," wasn't too impressed at first, as he himself knew some of the secrets of the top of the sequence.

After all, he was the one who knew about the existence of the "blasphemous slate", so ordinary knowledge could not make him excited.

In the end, with the help of Mr. Fool's guarantee, the two compared the two pieces of intelligence and confirmed that they had no overlap and were even complementary. Then, Alger, the Hanged Man, finally agreed.

He then obtained some secrets about Sequence 0 from Mr. World, which helped Alger understand many things.

Satisfied with this, Alger agreed to provide the Evil-Striped Black Panther's spinal fluid and the medullary crystals of the Elf Spring as soon as possible.

Afterwards, "Justice" Audrey and "Sun" Derrick reached a deal on the formula for the "Psychoanalyst" potion of the "Dragon" pathway, Sequence 7, and the formula for the "Sun" pathway, Sequence 7, "Sun Priest" potion. The meeting then moved on to the intelligence exchange stage.

"The Hanged Man" Alger first talked about how his fleet was incorporated after the death of "Vice Admiral Hurricane", and also said that the person who incorporated his fleet was a lady named Tracy, nicknamed "The Sick Girl".

Alger then went on to talk about Tracy's various magical abilities, including her proficiency in using curses, black fire, and frost, and her ability to cause her enemies to suddenly become ill.

No one knows which sequence she belongs to, only that she belongs to the Sequence 5 level.

At this moment, "Wheel of Fortune" Roger laughed out loud.

This laughter made Alger, the Hanged Man, immediately turn his head and look over. He spoke respectfully:
"Mr. Wheel of Fortune, if there's anything wrong with what I just said, please feel free to correct me."

In the gray fog, the Wheel of Fortune shook its head and spoke:
"There's nothing wrong with that. What you just said are all abilities of Sequence 5 Witch, the Witch of Pain." As expected...

When Klein the Fool heard Alger describe the abilities of the "Sick Girl" Tracy, he had already thought of Madam Sharon's abilities.

But there are some differences between the two. At least Mrs. Sharon did not show any ability related to disease.

"Is this a new ability acquired by Sequence 5?" Klein thought to himself.

"Witch? Is it the witch path that you mentioned last time, the one that changes gender?"

Miss Justice blurted out when she heard this.

"Yes."

Roger, the Wheel of Fortune, nodded and continued:

"So the 'sick girl' that Mr. 'The Hanged Man' mentioned just now was most likely a man in the past.

"Well, does it sound a bit scary?"

At the end of his speech, he couldn't help laughing.

"Could Tracy be a man?"

Alger, the "Hanged Man," was shocked.

In fact, after Mr. "Wheel of Fortune" and Miss "Justice" had discussed the "witch" issue many times before, Alger already knew that the "Witch Cult" had planted many witches in the upper echelons of the country to corrupt parliamentarians and even members of the royal family, and even to obtain intelligence.

Although there were other female pirate generals on the sea, Alger never expected that there would be a gender-transformed "witch" among them!

"Damn, I heard some stupid sailors and pirates were fantasizing about that 'sick girl'. I wonder what they would think if they knew the truth."

"The Hanged Man" Alger's mouth twitched as he complained in his heart.

After discussing topics related to Tracy, Alger, at Miss Justice's request, told some stories about the "Four Kings" and the six pirate generals.

Of course, the mother and daughter, "The Mysterious Queen" and "The Admiral of the Stars", are mentioned.

Roger naturally knew that these two would have a very close connection with Tarot in the future, but Klein and others didn't know them at this stage, so Roger didn't comment much.

After discussing the pirate generals, Audrey Hall, known as "Justice," brought up the recent serial murders in Backlund. Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Derrick Berg, the young man from Silver City, immediately pointed out that this was a promotion ceremony to Sequence 5 of the Abyss Path.

According to him, those who need to be promoted to "demons" need to kill at least 13 and at most 49 people, and there must be a gap of 3 to 9 days between each killing.

It cannot be too short, which increases the risk of losing control; nor can it be too long, which causes the ritual to reset.

These are all contents related to Silver City's demonology textbooks, and are compulsory courses for the vast majority of people in Silver City.

Everyone listened carefully and took it to heart, and then "Wheel of Fortune" Roger spoke:
"As far as I know, the Iron Cross is taking advantage of workers' and laborers' dissatisfaction with minimum wage and labor protection issues in the East District, trying to incite them to strike, organize marches and even riots.

"And it seems they have accomplices within the recently heated 'Kingdom Air Pollution Investigation Committee.' Certain powerful figures are attempting to exploit the connection between the air pollution issue and the strike to achieve their own ulterior motives."

He detailed the intelligence he and Klein had shared, then asked Miss Justice:
"Ms. Justice, I'd like to ask, from your perspective, do you have any information or experience worth sharing regarding the issue I just mentioned?"

"Kingdom Air Pollution Investigation Committee?"

Audrey was slightly taken aback when she heard this, because her own father, Earl Hall, had often mentioned this organization recently.

Not only that, Earl Hall seems to attach great importance to this organization. He also wants his eldest brother Herbert Hall to join it to demonstrate his abilities and social skills, so as to gain early ground for the family in the trend of the new era.

"Mr. Wheel of Fortune, I have indeed heard of the committee you just mentioned.

"As far as I know, many of the upper-class nobles in the Kingdom of Loen currently see this as a frontier in the struggle for power and interests. Many of them, sponsored by relevant interest groups, are trying to push for the implementation of the smoke-free law as soon as possible.

"That's all I know. Regarding the 'Iron Cross' you just mentioned... I don't know enough about this organization. Could you please tell me more?"

Audrey asked back while thinking.

"of course can."

Mr. Wheel of Fortune nodded in the gray mist and shared most of the information he knew about the Iron Cross, including their relationship with Intis and the fact that the organization controlled the Hunter path.

"The 'Hunter' path... is that the path you mentioned last time that will transform you into a man at a high sequence?"

Miss Justice immediately thought of what Roger had said earlier about the four pathways that could lead to gender change.

"Yes." Roger nodded firmly.

"I'd like to ask a question."

Alger, the Hanged Man, also spoke up: "You mentioned earlier that the Iron Cross and the Aurora Society both believe in the True Creator, but judging by your attitude, it seems there's a significant conflict between the two organizations."

Alger had already basically confirmed that Mr. Wheel of Fortune was one of the saints of the Aurora Society.

Logically speaking, as two organizations that both believe in the "True Creator", there should be a great possibility of cooperation, and Mr. "Wheel of Fortune" should have no reason to intervene in this regard.

"Do not."

Mr. Wheel of Fortune shook his head. "As I said before, I'm different from the other members of the Aurora Society."

After saying this, he looked respectfully at Mr. Fool, who was sitting at the head of the long bronze table, as if hinting at something.

"Yes, I see..."

Alger immediately understood.

From this perspective, Mr. "Wheel of Fortune" is very likely an undercover agent planted by Mr. "Fool" in the "Aurora Society"!
After all, the ruler of the Tarot Society, the existence suspected to be a true God, seems to have always been hostile to the "true creator". According to this line of thought, it is understandable that Mr. "Wheel of Fortune" is secretly disrupting and destroying the "Iron Cross".

Audrey took a deep breath.

"In any case, Mr. Wheel of Fortune, if what you just said is true, then this matter does need to be investigated.

"I will try to get more information from my own channels and inform you at the next gathering.

"Of course, due to the nature of this matter, this assistance is free of charge."

Upon hearing this, Roger nodded sincerely in thanks, while his mind was wandering:

"Could it be that Audrey's investigation channel is to ask Susie to eavesdrop on her father's conversations with others?"

　There's more to come.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)