Mystery: Big Alarm Clock Ghroth Path

Chapter 190 Newly Acquired Abilities
Seeing Klein make his choice, Roger nodded and then asked:
"Do you want this Beyonder attribute directly, or do you want me to make it into an Beyonder item for you?"

Klein thought for a moment:

"If you can help, that would be great."

He knew that Roger already had experience in making demigod-level seals, so he was quite confident about this aspect.

"Okay, but you have to give me three days. I'll come and help you do it after three days. During this time, you can carry this Beyonder characteristic with you. If you change your mind temporarily, just let me know."

Roger agreed because he had just used the power of "The One of All Things" to sever the mystical connection between "Desperate Nightingale" Panatia and Evelyn, so he had to wait until his power was restored before he could help Klein create that magical item.

"By the way, did you manage to capture Adeline's soul?"

Klein suddenly asked. He knew that Roger's main purpose in coming here was to find a soul at least at Sequence 6 that could be "grazed," and Adeline's appearance undoubtedly gave Roger a rare opportunity.

"Well, it worked."

Roger nodded, then he crossed his hands under his chin, leaned forward, and began to feel his newfound abilities in the bumpy carriage.

Theoretically, he could use all the Sequence 5 "Witch of Pain" abilities, but due to the limitations of "Shepherd", he could only choose three of them.

In addition to the conventional abilities such as spider silk, curse, charm, black flame, and frost control, Roger also discovered that Adeline's soul contained methods of creating three different mystical pathogens.

The first type was the same pathogen that Roger had just endured, which caused allergic blotches all over the body, itching, swollen throat, and difficulty breathing. This pathogen was not too fatal to Beyonders above Sequence 6, but it could greatly hinder their combat and actions, and also very much restrained any Beyonder abilities or spells that required "singing" or chanting of spells to trigger.

The second type of pathogen is more lethal. The symptoms it causes are very similar to the flu. At the beginning, it only causes mild symptoms such as sneezing, runny nose and body fever. However, as the infection time prolongs, the disease will progress to fatal symptoms such as high fever, pneumonia and dehydration. If the infection lasts for more than 3 minutes, it is very likely to lead to death.

The third pathogen is also a lethal pathogen. Once released, it will cause the opponent's muscles throughout the body to become weak, atrophy, or even dissolve, eventually leading to death.

In contrast, the third pathogen takes effect more slowly than the second, but kills the enemy from a different angle.

Roger could even imagine the miserable appearance of those infected with the third virus, waiting to die alone, watching themselves gradually lose their ability to move, and finally dying in great pain.

In addition, there is one thing that makes Roger feel a little strange, that is, he can use the witch's "wand substitute technique", but cannot use the "mirror substitute technique".

As for the "Mirror Maze", it was not too affected. The only problem was that Roger could not use many mirrors to construct sophisticated and complex scene illusions like a real witch. He could only use the more direct mirrors to reflect light paths to create illusions and hallucinations for his opponents. The overall strength was inferior to the maze that Evelyn had previously arranged.

In this regard, Roger speculated that this might be related to the mystical connection between the "witch" and the mirror. Because of Adeline's death and transformation into a spirit, this mystical connection became very fragile, so it was difficult for Roger to obtain the corresponding power from the mirror.

But even so, he was already very satisfied.

In the end, he chose the three abilities of "Occult Pathogen", "Frost" and "Spider Silk".

Other abilities either overlap with his existing abilities or are of little significance.

For the "shepherd", there is no need to pursue the most comprehensive abilities in one soul. Instead, the souls of extraordinary people from different paths are needed to complement each other and organically integrate. The more souls that can be driven, the stronger the ability.

And this is the correct way to open "Shepherd".

After Roger figured out Adeline's soul ability, he took the "Blood Gem of Pantax" in his hand and started playing with it.

The existence of this gem confirmed that there was a certain degree of cooperation between "Mr. A" and even "Dark Saint" Xesma and "Desperate Nightingale" Panatia, but Roger did not intend to take any special action at this stage and only wanted to concentrate on solving the problem of human trafficking by the Witch Cult.

This is because, in the original novel, the Aurora Society once intended to exploit the resentment of Backlund's lower classes to create a divine descent of the "True Creator." However, this Sequence 0 True God of the "Hanged Man" pathway has clearly changed his plans and turned his attention to Roger, the owner of the Ghroth Essence.

So in a sense, the dynamics of the Aurora Society are closely related to Roger. As long as Roger does not take the initiative to contact Xesma, the Aurora Society should not do anything to ignite the situation in the short term.

If Roger alone could not guarantee such a result, he would undoubtedly be more confident now that he has formed an alliance with the "Angel of Fantasy" Adam.

With the help of this top-level "audience", dealing with an Aurora Club is just a piece of cake.

Perhaps because it was full, or perhaps because it was afraid of Roger's scent, the "Blood Gem of Pantax" no longer had the arrogance it had just had when it was gnawing on Evelyn's corpse. Instead, it was as obedient as a puppy.

In the past, when it was still in Tingen City, "Creeping Hunger" also showed the same state as this foodie gem when facing Roger.

In the past, Roger only thought that this was the result of the contamination of Yog-Sothoth, the "One of All Things", but after his last conversation with Adam, he realized that Ghroth's source material also played an important role as the source material of the "Judgment Star" path, which is adjacent to the "Hanged Man" path.

Sometimes Roger also thought that if the "True Creator" really succeeded in seizing the Ghroth essence and extraordinary characteristics from him, He would immediately become the "Above the Old One" with the dual-path True God and the Outer God essence.

Such strength is enough to ignore the blockade of the Church of the Seven Gods, and even those guys outside the barrier are not enough to match.

Of course... that is also impossible, because if the "True Creator" really did that, the little bit of power projection of "All Things Return to One" on Roger would be an insurmountable obstacle that He could not get around at all.

By then, the best case scenario for the "True Creator" is that he will be blown to pieces by the pollution of the "One of All Things", and the worst case scenario is that he will be directly replaced by Roger's consciousness and become a toilet seat.

Soon, the carriage carrying Roger and Klein arrived at 15 Minsk Street. They got off, paid the fare, and returned home.

Sam was already waiting in the first-floor living room, chatting with the twins.

Seeing that his master and cousin were safe and sound, the "fortune teller" breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sam, I've already paid Detective Moriarty's fee. Here's your reward."

Roger took a 20-pound note from his wallet and handed it to Sam, which made the young man flattered.

He refused repeatedly, but Roger smiled and patted his shoulder:

"Believe me, these 20 pounds are nothing compared to what I got."

After such persuasion, Sam finally had no choice but to accept the money.

This made him feel a little excited, because this was the biggest income he had ever earned since he became Klein's detective apprentice!
The three of them sat down and chatted for a while. Sam stood up to say goodbye, and Klein, who had just been infected with a mystical pathogen and was considered to have "recovered from a serious illness", yawned and went back to his room to sleep.

Just as Roger returned to the bathroom on the second floor and thoroughly washed off the smell of feces and urine on his body, he returned to his bed very contentedly.

However, not long after he fell asleep, the illusory layered sounds rang in his ears again.

The sound startled Roger awake. He sat up with sleepy eyes and quickly realized that this was a message from Mr. Fool.

"Is it the little 'sun'?"

Roger finally realized that Derrick Berg had contacted him through Mr. Fool and promised to deliver the music theory and rules of the City of Silver within a day.

And a rough calculation shows that it’s about time now.

Roger, who was extremely tired, originally wanted to continue sleeping and wait until he woke up to do anything.

However, considering that Mr. Fool, who was also yawning, had also gotten up to work, he, as his "follower", finally decided to respect his evil god roommate.

Roger, in his pajamas, quickly arrived at his workshop and, through his connection with Sefirah Castle, received several pages of paper made of some unknown leather sent by Derrick, the Sun.

It detailed the music theory rules that had been passed down in Silver City for many years using Giant language, and Derrick had thoughtfully included two pieces of music for reference.

The two pieces of music were both ditties that Derrick had previously sung at the Tarot Club. With his "Composer"'s precise memory for music and melody, Roger quickly deduced the correspondence and analogy between the musical principles of Silver City and the Northern Continent based on his own memory and the music scores in his hand.

This reminded Roger of a film he had watched before about a cryptographer in World War II who cracked the enemy's code: instead of making aimless inferences and guesses, it is better to determine the meaning of certain specific symbols and words, and use them as the basis and starting point to infer the rest.

What Roger was doing right now was very similar to that, except that the amount of calculation was much lower - at least for him who was good at extraordinary abilities related to music, there was no pressure at all.

Looking at the restored music theory correspondence between the Northern Continent and Silver City in his hand, Roger breathed a sigh of relief.

Basically, whether it's the two movements of the "Four Seasons" series, "The Sorrow of Love", or "October Piano Concerto", they can all be composed using the musical rules of the City of Silver without any obstacles!
While feeling relieved, Roger suddenly felt that some of his "Composer" potion had been digested!
He was slightly stunned, realizing that he had unconsciously summed up a set of acting rules of his own.

Composers should not only create within the framework of familiar musical theory, but also actively learn about the musical rules of other civilizations and explore the possibility of creating within these frameworks.

Roger repeated this rule several times in his mind and gradually understood its essence.

This actually has a lot to do with Ghros's "Voice of the Celestial Bodies" ability, which is an authority that is enough to affect the movement trajectories of countless planets in interstellar space and thus affect the fate of the civilizations on them.

Therefore, in Roger's future promotion, he will inevitably evolve from "the great composer of the Kingdom of Loen" and "the great composer of the Northern Continent" to "a composer across civilizations" or even "a composer across the stars"!
He suppressed the various speculations and excitement in his mind, turned off the gas lamp, and returned to his room to rest.

Although Roger has mastered the music theory of the City of Silver, it will take some time to convert his music into the corresponding expression of the music theory of the City of Silver. This is not an easy task and it is difficult to complete it in just a few hours.

So he planned to sleep and find another chance to finish it.

Anyway, there are still three days until the next "Tarot Meeting", so Roger is not in a hurry at all.

……

The next morning, Roger and Klein woke up at the same time around eight o'clock.

One of them cooked while the other, yawning, helped replenish the sweet iced tea that was almost gone.

With their cooperation, breakfast and a glass pot of crystal clear sweet iced tea were soon brought to the table.

Klein even put special chicken cat food in Bandit's cat food bowl.

"Alister, Perseus, come and eat!" Roger shouted, and the two hungry brothers immediately ran over, sat at the table and started eating.

"Let me tell you two something."

Watching the two brothers finish their bowls of beetroot soup, Roger spoke:
"I found an art appreciation teacher for you two. He should be here to teach you today."

When the two brothers heard this, their faces immediately fell.

Alister said with a sad face:

"Cousin, why are you looking for a tutor again?"

However, Roger smiled and waved his finger:
"This teacher is different from the previous one."

"What's the difference?"

Perseus asked curiously, intrigued by Roger's words.

Even Klein's attention was drawn to this. He had never heard of this matter from his roommate.

“She is my student.”

Roger replied.

"Your student... a Beyonder?"

Alister immediately grasped the meaning behind Roger's words: "Could it be 'apprentice'?"

"Yes."

Roger smiled and nodded. "She graduated from a legitimate art academy and is currently studying at the Royal Art Troupe. She's currently a Sequence 8 'Master of Magic' Beyonder.

"Her class shouldn't be boring. After all, it's art appreciation...it will be much easier and more enjoyable than other classes."

"Not only that, I also specifically explained to her the relationship between you and me. If nothing unexpected happens, she will become an assistant to our Abraham family in the future."

After hearing this, Alister and Perseus immediately showed strange expressions.

Although they were young, they had heard that the ancestors of the Abraham family had trained a large number of students, but were eventually betrayed and retaliated against by these students.

So when they heard that Roger had such a student, they all subconsciously felt something was strange.

It's no wonder, because this is a scar engraved in the hearts of several generations of Abraham's family and has almost become a family complex.

"Don't worry too much. This student is different from the others. She has been tested."

Roger shook his head: "And don't worry, with me here, all those traitors in the family will be punished."

After hearing Roger's words, the twins were still a little hesitant, but still nodded doubtfully.

However, at this moment, Klein suddenly smiled and added:
"Not only that, that teacher is also a great beauty."

After hearing Roger's description, Klein already knew that he was talking about Alice Yeman, a fellow countryman from Tingen City, Ahowa County, like him.

"What time exactly will she arrive?"

After hearing this, Alister and Perseus no longer hesitated, but asked with shining eyes.

"As expected, men like beautiful women no matter how old they are..."

Roger rubbed his forehead and sighed softly.

“It should be tonight, around 8:30, I’ll pick her up later.

"But I have to go out now. I have something to take care of."

He was referring to the agreement he had made with Thomas Doyle, the "Evangelist" from the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery, who would be waiting for him at the Lever Church to suggest improvements to his portable wind-up phonograph.

Of course, this is just one of the reasons. Roger's other main purpose is to establish contact with Thomas Doyle through this incident and obtain information about Angelina Bartley.

"Okay cousin, no problem cousin."

The two brothers nodded rapidly, quickly finished the sandwiches on their plates, and began to look forward to the evening classes.

Roger smiled. After he finished his beet soup and his sandwich, he cleared the dishes, put on his clothes, picked up a suitcase he had prepared in advance, and went out to hail a cab.

Lever Church was not close to Minsk Street, and it took Roger more than an hour to reach his destination.

As soon as he got off the car, he saw a huge triangular holy emblem appear at the corner of the intersection on the left.

Unlike the stationary holy emblems Roger had seen before, there seemed to be a working structure composed of gears, levers and fluid mechanics devices underneath the triangular holy emblem at the entrance of the "Lever Church".

This mechanical structure is very simple, but it can make the three-dimensional triangular holy emblem above slowly deflect and move.

As the angle of rotation changes, this triangular holy emblem gradually changes into other sacred symbols of the "Church of Steam and Machinery" in the eyes of passers-by and believers.

Roger could see that there should be a huge steam device buried in the ground beneath this structure. This device not only provided the energy needed for the triangular holy emblem to do work, but also seemed to be related to certain mechanisms and research and development institutions inside the Lever Church.

"It's really a work of art."

Roger couldn't help but admire in his heart. Having learned a lot of physics in his previous life, he could see that this mechanical device was obviously using the redundant internal energy of steam power to drive it. In the current civilization dominated by steel, coal and steam, it can really be regarded as an early manifestation of the concept of energy conservation.

Today is Saturday, and there are many people coming to the church to pray and confess. Roger walked in with them, found a place to sit down and began to listen to the pastor's sermon.

It has to be said that compared to the Church of the Goddess of Evernight and the Church of the Lord of Storms that Roger had visited before, the sermons in the Church of Steam and Mechanics were clearly full of a strong sense of science and engineering, which reminded him of the time when he took physics classes in college.

From time to time, material technology or physics expressions such as "quenching", "crystallization", "conservation of energy", and "internal energy" appear in these doctrines, but these expressions are organically combined with myths related to the god of steam and machinery, strengthening the impression symbols related to him in the minds of believers, such as "the patron saint of craftsmen and industry", "the master of steam and machinery", etc.

Since many of the Steam Church's followers have backgrounds in industry or science and engineering, this method of preaching can be tailored to the individual and deeply rooted in people's hearts.

"Steam on top!"

After the sermon, Roger and the other people who came to listen to the sermon spoke out in praise at the same time.

Then, the believers began to line up for confession, and Roger also joined the team.

After about ten minutes, Roger finally entered the confessional.

When the old priest saw Roger, he tremblingly drew a triangular holy emblem on his chest, and then asked Roger about his request.

"Sorry, I'm a follower of the goddess."

Roger shrugged his shoulders, and before the priest angrily drove him out, he quickly added:
"Old sir, I'm a friend of Thomas Doyle. I have a question about a mechanical device that I'd like to consult him about. We agreed to meet here today."

Hearing that Roger had mechanical problems, the priest's expression improved a little.

He nodded and replied:

"You come with me."

As the believers behind him watched, the priest led him out of the confessional, came to a nearby locked door, took out the key and opened it.

As Roger stepped inside, two church members who were obviously Beyonders came up to him and asked him about his purpose, and then searched him.

After confirming that Roger had no dangerous items on him, only a phonograph and the corresponding design drawings, one of the two guards suddenly realized and blurted out:

"You are Mr. Baleno Jones!"

Roger smiled and nodded: "Do you know me?"

The guard was quite excited: "Of course, I have carefully studied the design of your portable wind-up phonograph - I have to say, it is indeed a groundbreaking invention.

"Not only me, but many people in the Steam Church know you."

"You flatter me."

Roger said modestly, and then, under the other party's active guidance, he stepped onto a staircase and came to a workshop on the second floor of the Lever Church.

Thomas Doyle, who was wearing a priest's robe, was fiddling with a complicated gear device with his head down. When Roger patted him on the shoulder from behind, Thomas finally reacted and turned around.

When Thomas saw Roger, he and Roger exchanged greetings, and then the young priest raised his hands and clapped them vigorously.

All of a sudden, more than a dozen young men and women of different ages, with engine oil or wrenches on their hands, gathered in front of Roger!

(End of this chapter)