Seeing Xio's reply, Snow revealed a smile. However, just then, Lily suddenly let out a somewhat listless cry, causing his nerves to tighten instantly.
Sure enough, a few seconds later, Mr. A slowly emerged from the shadows, gradually transitioning from a phantom to a solid form.
This wasn't to say that Lily's perception was sharp enough to detect Mr. A's presence; it was simply that this gentleman had no intention of hiding.
"Lord Oracle, you've returned." Snow drew the sign of the inverted cross on his chest and gave a respectful greeting. Mr. A nodded and said, "You've done well. These impoverished workers will be the easiest lambs to recruit. However, you must control the scale; otherwise, it would be bad if you attracted the attention of official Beyonders."
"Please rest assured, Lord Oracle. Although the heretics won't care about the paupers of the East District and Factory District, they certainly won't help those capitalists exploit them either. Based on employment alone, I believe a strike of this magnitude isn't enough to make those greedy capitalists hire mid-sequence Beyonders." Snow's clear reasoning made Mr. A somewhat emotional,not because he were easily moved, but simply because of his previous team of "pig-like" teammates... forget it, better not mentioned.
"Since you have your own plan, I won't say more. Today I noticed many police and Beyonders conducting searches on the streets. Do you know what's going on?"
Mr. A had originally asked casually, but he didn't expect Snow to actually nod and answer, "It likely originates from Qilangos."
"Vice Admiral Hurricane?" Mr. A pondered for a moment and immediately recalled where he had heard the name. Snow nodded, "Correct. I only recently received the news as well. He has recently landed in Backlund. Because he possesses a suspected Shepherd pathway mystical item that allows him to change his appearance at will, the Three Great Churches are being cautious."
"I see." Mr. A felt a bit of a headache. He also understood that under these circumstances, the official Beyonders' investigation into missing persons would become very strict. Thus, it would become extremely dangerous for him to recover from his injuries by hunting for "flesh and blood."
Thinking of the Red Gloves who might still be searching for him, as well as his subordinates who all had their own schemes, Mr. A fell into silence for quite a while.
After some time,just as Lily began to grow restless and Snow felt his neck becoming stiff,he finally made a decision, "I need to find a place to rest and recover for a period. Before that, I will hand down the task of finding Lanevus to the others. during this time, you can focus on developing more lambs with peace of mind. Additionally, I will hand over my Beyonder gathering to you; you can use it to absorb some useful Beyonders."
"Ah, this..." Snow completely hadn't expected Mr. A to choose to leave Backlund. This severely disrupted his original plans, but in terms of both reason and feeling, he had no grounds to persuade Mr. A to stay. He could only lower his posture and say, "Lord Oracle, my strength is low. I'm afraid I cannot sustain a Beyonder gathering."
"Do not worry." Mr. A revealed a stunning smile, then pulled a mass of shadow "yarn",resembling a tangle of tentacles,from his own shadow and said, "This will allow you to obtain the shadow abilities of an [Ascetic] in advance, and it has no side effects. Once you have digested the Secret Supplicant formula, you can use this as the main ingredient for the [Ascetic] potion. I'll write down the supplementary ingredients for you in a bit. With these two items, it's enough for you to sustain the gathering."
'A mystical item with no side effects?' Snow's first reaction was disbelief. How could such a thing exist?
But the moment he caught the "yarn," he believed it.
Because this thing... was effectively a 24/7 rap player!
For a believer of the True Creator, how was this lacking side effects? This was practically the Lord's gospel!
Listening to the bizarre rap,a mixture of Ancient Dragons, Elfish, Giant, and a strange trilling language that sounded like Russian,the "White Horse is Not a Horse" filter effect hummed to life in his mind:
'The Fool's whispers are the whispers of a hidden existence, and the True Creator's whispers are also the whispers of a hidden existence. I won't be polluted by listening to Mr. Fool's whispers; therefore, I won't be polluted by listening to the True Creator's whispers either!'
The True Creator's voice was continuously filtered and purified by this layer composed of Snow's own voice, eventually turning into long strings of nonsensical words that reconstructed into various sentences in his mind.
Although this didn't grant him any new supernatural abilities, it boosted his [Secret Supplicant] digestion progress by another significant step.
Seeing that after an initial moment of spiritual turbulence, Snow hadn't lost control but had instead significantly increased his spirituality, the last trace of suspicion in Mr. A's heart vanished. He could finally confirm that this Snow was undoubtedly the Lord's most pious believer!
Waiting quietly for Snow to regain clarity, Mr. A once again reached into his breast pocket and as he held the lens, he continued, "This is a mystical item of the [Reader] pathway. It allows you to possess appraisal abilities on a mystical level. When seeing another's Beyonder powers in battle, there is a very low probability of copying them, though their power is far inferior to the original. Its side effect is that it forces your brain to operate at high speeds while worn; if worn for more than five minutes, there's a risk of frying your brain."
Hearing Mr. A's explanation, Snow,whose entire body had gone stiff,finally let out a sigh of relief. Good lord, for a second there, he had thought Mr. A was being parasitic by Amon!
However, Snow clearly realized his previous lapse as well. Instead of immediately relaxing, he said with feigned dread, "Lord Oracle, such a precious item, I..."
"Take it. Your loyalty to the Lord deserves to be entrusted with more burdens. I will return in three months at most. During this time, I leave Backlund to you."
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika Kagura]
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A/N: "Ascetic" (隐修士) - Sequence 7 of the Secrets Supplicant pathway, known for its shadow manipulation and self-discipline abilities.
A/N: "Reader" (阅读者) - Sequence 9 of the White Tower pathway, which grants enhanced memory, deduction, and appraisal skills.
T/N: "Rap Player" - Snow's internal metaphor for the mental pollution (ravings) of the True Creator, which often sounds like a chaotic, rhythmic barrage of languages.
T/N: "Monocle" (单片眼镜) - Snow's extreme reaction is a reference to Amon, a terrifying High-Sequence Beyonder from the Marauder pathway whose signature look is a crystal monocle.