Mystery: Big Alarm Clock Ghroth Path

Chapter 345 Less Sun Exposure
Elliott couldn't remember the last time he had written this many words.

The task Roger assigned was both difficult and easy.

It was simple, but only for Andreid—after all, even the proclamation with over 400 words of Giant's language took the old man less than two hours to write.

The difficulty lies with Elliot, who needs to copy the proclamation nearly 2000 times and complete it within 200 lightning strikes.

Not to mention that Roger also made a new requirement for Elliott's copying work: he had to carry a table and chair to the open space on the ridge in the very center of the "Underground Midnight City" to copy.

For a time, even though the elders of the "Underground Midnight City" had issued a curfew in advance, some children and younger residents still secretly peeked through the cracks in the door and watched with curiosity as the seemingly sickly elder wrote furiously under the scorching sun.

"How could we possibly finish copying all of this?"

When one-tenth of the agreed-upon lightning time had passed, Elliot had only copied less than twenty copies.

He realized that the messenger of the gods named Roger Abraham seemed to hold a great grudge, but he dared not abandon his post.

After all, it was Elliot who made the statement, and the other party was indeed a divine messenger who had passed the "Eye of Glory" test.

From any perspective, Leot has to keep his promise.

However, just then, Roger, who had just finished talking with Ikamia and had a general understanding of the current situation of the "Underground Midnight City", walked over with a smile and his hands behind his back.

"Lord Elliot, is the copying work going smoothly?"

The latter spoke with concern, glancing at the thin stack of papers beside Elliott.

It's clear that Elliott was working very hard and was in a hurry to copy it; his handwriting became somewhat messy towards the end.

"To be honest, it's quite difficult."

Elliott paused for a moment, then finally revealed his true thoughts.

"You should have said so earlier if it was difficult."

Roger smiled slightly:
“I’ve done this kind of copying work before, and it’s really not easy. But I’ve come up with a set of tips to speed things up. Would you like to hear them?”

"Appreciate further details?"

When Elliott spoke, there was a clear hesitation in his tone. This elder of the "Underground Midnight City" was unsure of Roger's intentions, so for a couple of seconds he didn't even know if he should ask the question.

In fact, he had previously considered whether to summon the extraordinary souls he was "herding" to help him copy the text, but he was unsure whether this shortcut would violate Roger's rule of "handwritten copying," so he did not dare to do it.

"It's very simple. You just need to separate your flesh and blood from various parts of your body, mimicking the shape of a hand, and then copy it together with you."

Roger smiled and said:

“This shouldn’t be difficult for you as the ‘Black Knight’… I was able to do something similar when I was just the ‘Rose Bishop,’ so it should be no problem for you.”

"It might be a little hard to get used to at first, but you'll get used to it after a while."

In fact, Roger did do something similar when he was still the "Rose Bishop," but at that time he still relied on the "Little Duck" seal artifact for help.

Considering that Elliot was a demigod and belonged to a sequence level two tiers higher than Roger himself, he guessed that this shouldn't be too difficult.

"what?"

Elliott was struck dumb; he never imagined that the "Rose Bishop's" flesh and blood abilities could be used in this way.

After all, he had never been punished by copying homework since becoming an extraordinary person, so he never considered this kind of peculiar thought process.

"By the way, there's one more thing."

Roger thought for a moment, then his eyes lit up, and he held up his right index finger, saying:

"You can also summon your 'Shadow of Corruption' to help you transcribe it—this is also considered handwritten, but considering the existence of the 'Eye of Glory,' you may have to re-condense it every now and then."

"Of course, if you find it too difficult to control, I have ways to make it obedient."

"..."

Elliott was now completely certain that Roger was just trying to mess with his mentality, but on the other hand, the method Roger proposed was indeed highly feasible.

So, after a moment's hesitation, he could only accept Roger's suggestion.

As Elliott put Roger's advice into practice, he was soon surprised to find that the method was indeed effective.

As the "Black Knight," he can generate more than six fleshy tentacles, and with his dominant hand, he has seven hands at the same time.

This undoubtedly greatly increased his copying efficiency. As for the "Shadow of Corruption," Elliot did not let it copy; he merely separated some viscous shadows to fix the paper on the table and the ground, preventing the paper from shifting while the seven hands were copying.

But just as he had predicted, this bizarre scene once again attracted a crowd.

Although the residents of the "Underground Midnight City" were familiar with the "Rose Bishop's" abilities, they had never seen such a bizarre use of her before.

Elliot, an elder of the council, transformed into a tentacle-like being. Numerous fleshy tentacles spread from his body, forming the shape of hands as he wrote furiously. Even the native inhabitants who grew up in the "Forsaken Land" felt a strange sense of abstraction and grotesqueness.

Ultimately, through this seven-pronged approach, Elliot managed to copy all the proclamations before the 200 lightning strikes occurred.

He let out a long breath and slumped down, his body going limp.

"Have you finished copying?"

At this moment, Roger walked over again with his hands behind his back, looking at Elliott with a gratified expression.

"I'm done copying."

At this moment, Elliott's expression was very complicated. On the one hand, he felt helpless, on the other hand, he felt relieved, and on the other hand, he had a complex mix of gratitude and hatred towards Roger.

"Thanks for your hard work."

Roger nodded, and as if by magic, he produced a bottle of bright yellow beer from his person and placed it in front of Elliott.

"Drink it, it's delicious."

Elliott was slightly taken aback, and then he saw Roger take out a bottle of the same liquid, open the cap with the bottle opener that his right hand had transformed into, and sit on the ground to drink it.

"liquor?"

Elliott sniffed and recognized the true nature of the smell.

"Yes, this is a premium beer produced by Bright World."

Roger smiled, raised the bottle to Elliott, and began to speak.

Elliott hesitated for a moment, then followed Roger's example, opened the bottle cap, and drank.

"...delicious."

After taking his first sip of beer, Elliott was stunned for a long time before he uttered those words.

Although the beer label was written in a language he didn't recognize, that didn't stop Elliott from appreciating its deliciousness.

Even though the "Underground Midnight City" can produce its own food, considering that it has to feed thousands of people, there is basically not much surplus food left over each season to brew wine.

Only when the harvest is plentiful can the "Underground Midnight City" brew some wine, and because of the limited quota, only the garrison troops have the opportunity to drink it.

In this regard, the elders have always been very restrained. They are committed to allocating more resources to the garrison troops. Even though Elliot has been a demigod for quite some time, he has only drunk alcohol less than ten times, which is even less frequent than when he was the garrison platoon leader.

On the other hand, the wines produced in the "Underground Midnight City" are generally not pure, so they basically have to be distilled to ensure the purity and safety of the flavor. However, distilled wines are still much worse than brewed wines, and they are completely incomparable to the systematic winery brewing industry in the North Continent.

Over time, Elliott had hardly ever drunk any good wine, and now, drinking the high-end beer Roger brought, his eyes suddenly welled up with tears.

Alcohol can be a medium for communication between men. Even if two people have a lot of distrust and unfamiliarity with each other, they can quickly break the ice and bring each other closer together once they have a good time drinking.

That's how Elliott was doing right now. After he finished his beer in small sips, Roger handed him another bottle.

But this time, Elliott didn't open the bottle. Instead, he remained silent for a long time before finally speaking:

"Sir Roger, is this kind of... beer widely available outside?"

"There are many, but this is one of the more upscale types."

Roger nodded and answered with a smile.

In fact, Elliott's reaction was very familiar to him, because Jack Burton had the same reaction when he first drank the beer Roger brought him.

So he then added:
"For ordinary people... I mean not the extraordinary ones, nor the high-status ones, they can manage to have a drink two or three times a month if they try their best."

Roger downed the remaining half-bottle of beer in one gulp:

"In fact, this is not the only type of liquor in the world of light; we have many other types... such as wine, gin, rum, and so on."

"Each type of wine has its own unique characteristics. If you're interested, I'll get you a few more bottles to try next time."

"..."

Elliott fell silent again; in fact, Roger's words had greatly shaken some of his previously held beliefs.

Just as Roger had anticipated, Elliott was initially quite satisfied with the conditions of the "Underground Midnight City".

An impregnable defense, a sun that can regulate temperature and light, a stable output of grain and vegetable crops, a stable water source, and a self-contained culture and extraordinary ways of inheritance.

Although Elliot did not know the state of existence of other "forsaken lands" city-states, he guessed that the unique conditions of the "Underground Midnight City" must be among the best—even if it was not as good as the former "Midnight City," it was probably still the best.

After all, the "Eye of Glory" is an angel-level sealed artifact, and after he came into contact with Elder Alexis of "New Fog City" today, he finally confirmed his previous guess.

However, even such an "underground midnight city" paled in comparison to a small bottle of beer.

The "Underground Midnight City" can only be described as a self-sufficient agricultural civilization. The industrial civilization of the Northern Continent has a completely inferior level of civilization compared to this place.

The qualitative change in living conditions brought about by industrialization is absolutely incomparable to that of a city-state with a near-primitive civilization.

The worst thing about everything is comparison. When a person begins to know that there is a world that is brighter, freer, safer, and more materially abundant than their own, they will inevitably start to have all sorts of wild thoughts.

After a while, he spoke:

"Then, Lord Roger, is it true that you said you could lead the people of Midnight City out of this darkness and into the world of light?"

"of course."

Roger smiled and then extended his hand:

"This has been certified by your 'Eye of Glory'."

"Get up, it's time to get to work."

Elio nodded, reached out, and stood up as Roger pulled him up.

For the next period of time, Roger and Elliott went door to door distributing the proclamations that the latter had copied.

Whenever someone opened the door, Roger would give them an equal amount of candy based on the number of children in the family. If the family had no children, Roger would give them some tobacco or biscuits.

This was a way to pique the curiosity of the residents of "Midnight City," because some of the content in Andreid's proclamation was indeed too fantastical for the residents of "Underground Midnight City," so it would be more convincing if Roger could provide some food evidence.

Taking this opportunity, Roger also learned about the population of the "Underground Midnight City".

Most of the residents here have a very noticeable bronze complexion, which comes from sun exposure, and this applies to both children and adults.

When we reached about the 103rd house, a middle-aged man opened the door.

Roger immediately noticed the oddity of the man's appearance—there was a very obvious black tumor on his arm, and based on Roger's "secret insight" and knowledge of flesh and blood, he suspected that the tumor was a serious problem.

"...Lord Elliot, are these kinds of tumors common in 'Midnight City'?"

Elliott was slightly taken aback by Roger's abrupt question, then replied:

"Yes, how did you know?"

"These tumors are very strange; they grow rapidly and have a high mortality rate. Of course, this is only the most severe case; there are also many milder skin conditions in 'Midnight City'."

"At first we thought this type of problem was some kind of infectious disease, but we couldn't observe that these people were carrying any pathogens."

"Sometimes we use the flesh magic of the 'Rose Bishop' to help remove the tumor and replace it with new flesh, but usually this only works for a period of time and the tumor will recur soon afterward."

"Many times, this relapse will spread to other parts of the body... Unless one becomes extraordinary, this disease often takes the patient's life."

Roger nodded slightly; at this moment, he had already made a judgment about the properties of this thing.

This is very likely skin cancer that evolved from melanoma, and it is more common in people who are exposed to sunlight and ultraviolet radiation for a long time.

Although the intensity and temperature of the sunlight emitted by the "Eye of Glory" can be adjusted, as far as Roger knows, it cannot go into an off state.

For the people of "Midnight City," they originally worshipped the sun that brought life and food, so they not only had no intention of extinguishing it, but would even go to the sun to worship from time to time.

Thinking of this, Roger had the middle-aged man close the door, gave him some biscuits, and then led Elliott to a quiet place.

When he told Elliott his guess, the latter's expression became more serious than ever before.

"You mean, these people's illnesses are caused by the 'Eye of Glory'?"

"Correct."

Roger nodded, and looked up at the sun in the sky:
I really like a quote from a certain writer:

"Every gift of fate has a price already marked in secret."

"The Eye of Glory is the foundation upon which Midnight City survives, but it is also the source of suffering for some."

"The most crucial point is that this problem is very difficult to fix... In fact, it's quite simple to solve this problem: just reduce the duration and intensity of sunlight and design shade canopies in certain key walkway locations. But I guess it would be difficult to implement such a thing in 'Midnight City,' right?"

"You're right, that's exactly how it is."

"Because the establishment of 'Midnight City' can be traced back to the guidance of 'Pure White Angels,' and to this day, this King of Angels beside our Lord is still the mainstream belief of 'Midnight City.'"

Elliott nodded slightly. At this point, he no longer doubted Roger's words, but was simply horrified by his analysis.

Elliott's grandfather and father both died from this strange melanoma, so he naturally became more sensitive to related matters.

In fact, some people in "Midnight City" had previously speculated that their skin disease was related to sunlight, but these voices were quickly suppressed in the atmosphere of "Midnight City" that worshipped "pure white angels".

After all, those who hold the power of discourse here are the extraordinary individuals whose physical abilities far surpass those of ordinary people, and their stance is significantly different from that of the latter.

On the other hand, the reason he was able to accept these things relatively quickly was that within the "Underground Midnight City," the extraordinary beings of the "Mystic People" faction were more inclined to believe in the "True Creator" and less focused on the dominant position of the "Pure White Angels."

This trait is somewhat different from that of the extraordinary individuals who follow the "Singer" path.

"Well, we can put this issue aside for now."

Roger put his hands in his pockets, looked up, closed his eyes, and said leisurely.

At this moment, he understood some things, namely why Amon said that Adam's leading him to "New Fog City" and "Midnight City" was to give him a good opportunity to grow again.

Regardless, the belief of the "Underground Midnight City" in the "True Creator" will not change, because it is the ideological cornerstone and foundation of the entire "Midnight City's" worldview.

However, for the "Pure White Angels," there are actually two factions in the "Midnight City," because the extraordinary ones who follow the "Mystic" path are more influenced by the "True Creator," so their fervor for the "Pure White Angels" is definitely relatively lower.

Although Beyonders of the "Singer" pathway dominate the "Underground Midnight City," the difference in numbers among Beyonders of the "Mystic" pathway is not significant.

If Roger wants to promote the "Hellstar" faith, he must start with the extraordinary individuals through the "Secret Prayer" path and win them over first.

As for those extraordinary individuals on the "Singer" path, Roger also had a powerful weapon.

That is, to find a way to expose them to information related to the "Banquet of Betrayal"!

Undoubtedly, once they learn this information, the divine construct that the "pure white angels" are the loyal angel kings under the command of the "true creator" will be significantly shaken.

This is not just about a mural; more importantly, a series of questions have long lingered in the minds of the people of Midnight City.

That is:
Why did the "Pure White Angel" leave without saying goodbye? Why did He abandon us and never answer our prayers again? Where did He go?

Once the seeds of doubt are nurtured by rain, even if that rain is murky and unclear, it is enough to cultivate subversive ideas.

On the other hand, Roger believed that Ouroboros must have also played a crucial role in this phenomenon.

As a faithful believer of the "true creator," His attitude toward the "eternal sun" Ocycus is itself intriguing.

There is even a possibility that the high incidence of skin diseases and skin cancer in "Midnight City" is related to this attitude.

Roger's previous support for the "Hercules School" and his promotion of astronomy and calendar systems in "New Fog City" had already led to a noticeable improvement in his "Living Star Chart" potion. If the two largest city-states in the "Forsaken Lands," "Silver City" and "Midnight City," were to come into contact with this knowledge and begin to worship "Hercules," Roger's potion would undoubtedly be improved even more drastically.

After all, the total population of these three city-states is more than 10,000. The worship of Roger's "Living Star Chart" identity by such a large population, combined with the special nature of the "Original Core," can provide a significant impetus to the role-playing process.

Not to mention, Roger has a potential trump card that could eventually help him digest the "Living Star Chart" potion, but this still needs to be verified and the conditions are very demanding, so it cannot be ruled out at this time.

Soon, after all the proclamations had been distributed, and another hour had passed, the "Eye of Glory" began to flicker rhythmically, sometimes bright and sometimes dim.

As this phenomenon occurred, all the residents of Midnight City opened their doors and began to gather in the central area of ​​Midnight City.

Roger, Alexis, Ikamia, and the elders of Midnight City were already waiting there.

Because Roger had personally accompanied Elliott to distribute the proclamation earlier, the residents were not unfamiliar with him, and they did not show any unusual expression at the fact that he was standing next to Saint Andreid.

Once everyone had arrived, Saint Andreid briefly introduced Roger and Alexis's identities and then recounted Roger's purpose according to the script they had discussed beforehand. As expected, the residents of Midnight City began to discuss among themselves.

Although the proclamation had given them some hints beforehand, hearing St. Andreas say these words in person was still quite shocking.

In particular, the "world of light" that Saint Andreid mentioned, which was completely different from the "forsaken land," with its abundant resources, sunshine, and sea, and without the darkness, distortion, and evil that permeated the land, made them even more suspicious.

However, these people had already tried the candy, cookies, and tobacco that Roger had given them earlier, so when the two sets of information were combined, the information naturally became much more credible.

After Saint Andreid finished speaking, Roger switched places with him and moved to the head of the crowd.

Then he parted his lips slightly and said in a loud voice:
"Fellow believers of 'Midnight City,' it is our first meeting. My name is Roger Abraham, a follower and messenger of the 'First Creator.'"

"I have come here mainly to do three things."

"The first thing is to help everyone improve their lives and access information about the bright world."

"It is a place with the sea, sunshine, and no ubiquitous darkness, evil, or twisted monsters; it is a rich land flowing with milk and honey."

"The second thing is that I will pass on knowledge related to astronomy and calendar to everyone and help everyone establish a correct concept of time, which is a basic prerequisite for everyone to return to the 'world of light' later."

"Thirdly, I will help you cure the skin disease and black skin tumors that have appeared on your bodies."

"I believe this is a health issue that has been troubling everyone for a long time, but I want to tell you that there is a reason for this, and it is not caused by any crimes committed by you personally."

"I have the corresponding medicine, and I am now offering it to everyone free of charge."

"As long as you take this medicine and follow my instructions for recovery, you will definitely be able to fully recover."

Just as Elliott had said, during the earlier distribution of the proclamations, Roger encountered many more people suffering from skin diseases and even skin tumors.

Upon hearing Roger's words, the group was once again filled with astonishment.

The astonishment stemmed from a complex mix of factors. On one hand, most people in Midnight City had no concept of astronomy or calendar systems; they had never seen stars and had no means of timekeeping other than hourglasses and lightning.

In addition, Roger's information about the "world of light" and his ability to cure skin diseases greatly attracted them.

Before they could recover from their astonishment, Roger spoke again:
"By the divine decree of my Lord, from this day forward, I will select some outstanding young people in 'Midnight City,' help you become extraordinary, and endow you with the necessary abilities to learn about astronomy and calendar systems."

"In addition, all people suffering from skin diseases and tumors, please line up over there and take turns to receive your medicine from me."

In fact, among the batch of medicines Roger purchased from Emlyn the Moon when he met New Fog City earlier, there were quite a few types that were for skin problems.

Many of these medications can achieve the effects of removing necrotic tissue and promoting tissue regeneration, eliminating most of the diseased and infected body tissues, and improving physical condition.

Considering that most of the people suffering from skin diseases in "Midnight City" are ordinary people, these medications are appropriate for use here at present.

After Roger finished speaking, Elliot quickly realized what was happening and began to organize the people they knew who suffered from the skin disease, making them line up.

However, they made new discoveries during this process.

That is, there are still some people who have developed skin problems due to prolonged sun exposure, and due to a lack of medical knowledge, even Elliott did not have access to this information.

This is easy to understand, because in "Midnight City," there are quite a few people who consider this skin disease a sin. Many people are afraid of losing face, so unless obvious symptoms have already appeared, they dare not easily tell anyone outside their family about it.

However, when the problem was demystified and began to be discussed as a solvable issue, these people bravely stepped forward and prepared to accept treatment from Roger, their "messenger of God."

"It seems that the skin disease problem in 'Midnight City' is much more serious than you gentlemen imagined."

Seeing this, Roger turned around and smiled at Greer and Saint Andreid, who also looked puzzled and surprised.

"Yes, just as you said, Mr. Roger."

Saint-André frowned:
"You just said that this illness has a cause, what exactly is the cause?"

"This involves a core secret of my arrival in 'Midnight City,' but it's not the time to talk about it now."

Roger shook his head slightly. He paused his conversation with Saint Andreid as the first patient approached him.

He took out a bottle of red medicine and handed it to the young man in front of him, whose hand had a black, swollen patch.
"Drink it in front of me, and I will tell you the precautions once the tumor subsides."

"Yes, Your Excellency."

The young man nodded quickly, took the test tube tremblingly from Roger's hand, opened the cork, and drank it all in one gulp.

Less than a minute after he drank the medicine, the young man's lesions began to change.

He began to wriggle and squeeze the black lesion from the surrounding, unaffected muscles and skin towards the center.

Rather than squeezing, it was more like replacement. As more and more of the young man's normal skin color appeared, the black, bloody tumor was gradually squeezed out.

Although many people were mentally prepared, this scene still caused an uproar.

Many people started discussing it, but more people's faces began to show anticipation and excitement.

They all stared intently, holding their breath, at the young man's ever-protruding black tumor, observing its changes.

After a long while, the tumor actually fell to the ground.

The moment it hit the ground, it was as if its energy was cut off at the source, and it began to dry up and calcify rapidly, quickly becoming a shriveled black lump.

"How are you feeling? Have you noticed any changes in your body?"

Roger smiled and looked at the young man in front of him, then asked.

"I……"

The young man tried hard to calm himself down, then burst into tears and shouted:

"Reporting to Your Excellency, I am fine. I feel much better!"

With the personal verification of the person involved, all the bystanders, including the elders, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Many of them began to look forward to the opportunity to cure their terrible skin disease, or that of their family members.

"Next, I'm going to tell you about the precautions for follow-up health care."

With Alexis translating, Roger looked at the young man in front of him and smiled slightly.

Then he said something that deeply resonated with many people present:

"Get away from the sun!"

(End of this chapter)