Mystery: Big Alarm Clock Ghroth Path

Chapter 353 Mouse...looks like it?
For the next two days, Roger was busy promoting astronomical and calendar knowledge in the "Underground Midnight City" and developing the "Hell Star" faith.

Similar to what happened in "New Fog City," this knowledge has had a significant impact on "Underground Midnight City." Since the betrayal of "Pure White Angels" has become a semi-public secret in "Underground Midnight City," the faith of "He Xing," as a follower of "True Creator," has become the first-in-line replacement for "True Creator," and its sacred status is almost equal to that of "Time Angels" and "Fate Angels."

After all, compared to the two angel kings who saved the people of Midnight City a thousand years ago, the knowledge conveyed by "Hessing Star" was more intuitive and had a greater subversion of contemporary people's understanding, which made Roger's work of promoting faith very smooth.

Roger also took the opportunity to deal with some prayers from the "Hertz School," with Yale Nicholson praying the most.

The chairman of the "Hexing School" highly praised the feedback on the key knowledge of "acting" that "Hexing" had previously provided him. While expressing his gratitude, he also told Roger that, based on the current progress of digesting the potion, he would be able to achieve advancement in about three weeks at most.

Roger was naturally quite pleased with this news. Since the establishment of the "Hercules School," he had devoted a lot of energy and brainpower to maintaining this secret organization that believed in an evil god, and even went so far as to place Fors Wall, a Sequence 6 "recorder," into it.

Hard work pays off, and now another intermediate-sequence extraordinary individual, besides Fors, is expected to emerge within the "Hessing School".

While this advancement might be insignificant to Roger, a demigod, it was a landmark event for the still-infant "Hercules School" to possess its own mid-series Beyonder.

Roger then played the role of "Hestar" and praised Nicholson in a pretentious manner, which immediately moved the chairman of the "Hestar School" to tears, and he once again expressed his willingness to pledge allegiance to "Hestar".

Shortly after he had appeased his followers, the appointed day finally arrived for Roger and the "De La Hoya Giant Rat".

He used the "Traveler's Dice" to teleport to the territory of the "De La Hoya Giant Rat," where he encountered the demigod-like, half-rat, half-rabbit creature.

Upon seeing Roger appear, the De La Hoya Giant Rat remained remarkably calm. It pointed to the empty space next to its rear end, gesturing for Roger to come over, and then began to shake its white silk cloth bag.

A moment later, a phantom-like, somewhat ferocious-looking spirit creature was shaken off and fell to the ground.

The creature tried to escape as soon as it landed, but was slapped to the ground by the "De La Hoya Giant Rat".

Seemingly sensing the oppressive aura emanating from the enormous half-rat, half-rabbit creature, the spirit creature dared not move an inch.

"Spirit Realm Raiders?"

Roger was immediately amazed by this scene. Although they were both extraordinary beings at the demigod level, the "Rat of Dela Hoya" was clearly more powerful in this territory that belonged to it alone.

"Seriously, exchanging 5 alien nuts for the main and auxiliary ingredients of a demigod-level potion is such a good deal."

Just as Roger was inwardly praising the generosity of the "Rat of Dela Hoya," the enormous creature, half-rat and half-rabbit, spoke:
"This guy is annoying, you should get rid of him or kill him right away."

"well."

Roger then realized what was happening, but he asked with some curiosity:

"Can you help me kill it?"

The De La Hoya giant rat immediately glanced at Roger with its menacing, blood-red eyes:
"You think you're browsing a fish market? Trying to order and have the fish killed on the spot?"

Despite the complaints, the "De La Hoya Giant Rat" still gave Roger face and sat directly on the "Spirit Raider's" backside with its round, chubby buttocks and a small, spherical tail.

With a loud bang, the earth shook violently, and white dust billowed up across the desert of bones.

Before the dust had even settled, the "De La Hoya Giant Rat" reminded them again:
"come over."

As soon as it finished speaking, Roger heard many indescribable sobs, as if many spirits were rushing past him.

"Ignore them."

As if sensing Roger's thoughts, the "De La Hoya Giant Rat" spoke again to remind him.

Roger strode forward, activating "Secret Insight" at the same time.

As blackness appeared in his eyes, Roger saw the white "De La Hoya Giant Rat" pressing against a grayish-white void.

Around that grayish-white void, there seemed to be something like dust.

"The true soul and dust of the 'Spirit Realm Raiders'?"

Roger realized what was happening and quickly used the Traveler's telekinesis to collect the spirit along with the dust.

Watching Roger finish doing all this, the "De La Hoya Giant Rat" nodded in satisfaction, and then said:
"I've also taken care of something else for you. If you'd like, you can start from here and I'll send you to that planet."

"Excuse me."

Roger spoke politely, his eyes also filled with anticipation, as he wanted to see what the "De La Hoya Giant Rat" would do.

"……correct."

Before leaving, Roger spoke again:
"Besides nuts, what else do you like?"

"Fruits, preferably sour ones; the sourer they are, the more I like them."

The "De La Hoya Giant Rat" tilted its head and looked at Roger, then added:
"But that's just my preference. Fruits and nuts have different mystical properties, and obtaining fruits doesn't help me much in expanding my territory."

"What should I do if I want to come back?"

Roger then asked again.

"It's very simple, just pray to me."

The "De La Hoya giant rat" then added:
"However, you need to change your prayer... Listen carefully."

"A symbiotic being of the spirit world, a rabbit-shaped rat chasing its territory, a beacon of the material and symbolic world, the great 'Lord of Dela Hoya'."

"Lord Dela Hoya...is that the real name of the 'Giant Rat Dela Hoya'?"

Roger pondered this in his mind, while also feeling surprised by the impressive-sounding name of this adorable creature that was half-mouse and half-rabbit.

But he didn't ask any further questions. Instead, he silently recited the name "De La Hoya Giant Rat" to make sure he remembered it before speaking:

"Understood, thank you."

Then he took a deep breath and nodded at the "De La Hoya Giant Rat".

Upon seeing this, the "De La Hoya Giant Rat" grabbed Roger and threw him into its white silk bag.

"Fuck."

Roger didn't understand what this meant for a moment, but he immediately felt the mountain of nuts in the silk bag rushing towards him.

The immense pressure nearly suffocated Roger, and he instinctively activated the "Black Knight" armor, which allowed him to withstand the impact of the nuts.

When Roger came to his senses again, he found himself on a strange stone platform.

Feeling the wind, which was slightly warmer than on Earth, and looking at the two golden suns in the sky, Roger realized that he had once again arrived on "Planet Butak".

"Where am I?"

Roger looked around at the surrounding stone buildings, stood up, stretched his limbs, and looked down.

It wouldn't have mattered if I hadn't looked, but as soon as I did, I met the gazes of hundreds of stunned "blue-skinned people."

Two seconds later, the "blue-skinned" people finally came to their senses and bowed down to Roger in unison.

Excitement and praise in ancient Hermetic for "Hestar" resounded through the sky.

Roger then realized what was happening. He instinctively took flight and gently landed in front of the leading middle-aged "blue-skinned" priest.

"Welcome, great protector."

The "Blue-skinned" priest sensed Roger landing in front of him, but instead of looking up, he lowered his head even further.

"Get up and talk."

After Roger issued the command in the same ancient Hermes language, the "Blue-skinned" priest stood up.

"What are you doing?"

Roger looked curiously at the group of his followers below and asked.

"Reporting to the great protector, this is a ceremony of praise we prepared to perform to you in celebration of the harvest, but we did not expect that you would descend before it even officially began."

The middle-aged "blue-skinned" priest was very excited. Although he had only met Roger once, he recognized the protector of Butak's life immediately.

"I see, thank you for your hard work."

Roger nodded, then gestured for all his followers to stand up.

"By the way, you just mentioned a bumper harvest, what kind of bumper harvest?"

Roger looked curiously at the crowd surrounding the stone cup below and asked.

"In all aspects, grains, vegetables, fruits, and your favorite nuts."

"My favorite nuts?"

Roger chuckled to himself, realizing that his previous "oracle" instructing the "blue-skinned" people to offer him nuts had been misinterpreted.

However, he did not correct their statement, but instead continued to add:
"Lately, I've been enjoying not only nuts, but also fruits and berries."

Roger thought for a moment and added:

"The best ones are sour fruits, the sourer the better."

"The more sour, the better?"

The blue-skinned priest was taken aback upon hearing this:
“We do have a very sour berry here called Barnett’s berry. Would you like to try it?”

"This fruit is not usually eaten, but used to make wine. Adding a small amount of this fruit to fruit wine can increase its acidity."

"OK?"

Roger nodded, looking expectant.

After confirmation by the great guardian himself, the "blue-skinned ones" handed Roger a berry about half the size of a plum a moment later.

The latter sniffed it, but didn't notice anything unusual. Then he put the barnett berry in his mouth and bit it open.

"Well!"

Roger immediately felt a strong sour taste explode in his mouth.

In an instant, a mask of pain appeared on his face, the shadow beneath his feet writhed wildly, and his eyes turned bloodshot.

Roger almost couldn't resist entering his mythical creature form, but fortunately he swallowed the fruit in time, which relieved the pain considerably.

The sour smell was very abnormal. If I had to make an analogy, it would be like the smell of a bottle of grain and fruit that has existed since the Tertiary period, left to stand for thousands of years, fermented in a sealed environment for thousands of years, and then soaked in a hundred pairs of Fussac's stockings that he hadn't washed for a month for a hundred years.

It's sour, pungent, and has a lingering, unpleasant odor.

If Roger hadn't wanted to avoid upsetting his followers, he probably would have vomited up the lunch he had eaten the day before.

As for how he swallowed it, there are accounts—Roger directly created a piston with his own flesh and blood in his mouth, and then suppressed the Barnett berries and vomit that were about to gush out.

"Well, great protector, does this fruit suit your taste?"

The priest, "Blue-skinned One," asked with some anticipation.

"It's good, just a little sour."

Roger swallowed the saliva he was producing and began to speak.

"That's great."

The blue-skinned priest breathed a sigh of relief:
"If you like, we will offer you a batch of barnet berries every time we hold a sacrificial ceremony in the future."

I thank you!
Roger suppressed the urge to complain and forced a smile, nodding as he did so.

“You can also have some of the other less sour fruits.”

Roger then casually picked up some various fruits, and then, led by a high priest, met the "blue-skinned" chieftain Augur Gul at the highest point of this stone-built city-state, which was already quite large.

"...As I just said, Great Protector, there are now Sequence 6 superhumans among the 'Blue-skinned' race."

"All of this is thanks to the potion recipes and 'acting techniques' you taught us. Currently, those clansmen who were originally prone to losing control have become much more normal."

Augur Gul was also very happy to see Roger and chatted with him for a long time.

"So, among the 'blue-skinned' people, there are 'astrologers' who successfully digested the Sequence 7 potion?"

Roger astutely grasped this key point.

"Yes, Great Protector."

Augur Gul nodded.

"That's interesting."

Roger smiled and nodded, then he added:
"Next time you pray, could you please provide me with a copy of the astrological knowledge about Planet Butak that your 'astrologers' have compiled?"

"Of course, everything will be done according to your wishes."

Augur Gur immediately agreed. In fact, he also wanted Roger, this great being, to offer some advice on the astrology of the "Blue-skinned Ones".

For people on Earth, the coordinates and position of Planet Butak in the universe are completely different, resulting in a star system that differs greatly from Earth's. First and foremost, regardless of which great being has historically played the role of "sun," the fact that there is only one sun on Earth has never changed.

This tone laid the foundation for many local mysticisms and astrology. For example, in many horary astrologies, the Sun is regarded as a celestial body with a head-like status, and can be considered as the supreme celestial body in the entire chart.

However, if there are two suns in the birth chart, the meaning is different.

First, because of the interaction between the two stars in a binary system, even if one of them is larger and is the primary star in the binary system, the other star should not be regarded as a planet.

Moreover, this would double the workload of calculating the phase relationships between celestial bodies. Considering the possibility of three-body motion, even if there are not many planets in the star system where Butak is located, the workload would be far greater than that of astrologers and astronomers on Earth.

For Roger, playing the role of the "Living Star Chart" may require more than just knowledge of astrology on Earth. Considering that it is a prerequisite for the "Black Prophet" potion, understanding astrology on another planet and absorbing the corresponding culture and knowledge may also be very helpful.

"In any case, it makes me very gratified to see that you have built a city-state of a certain size and evolved your own 'apprentice' knowledge."

"I have limited time this time and many things to take care of, so I can't keep you company today."

Roger stood up and then said:
"As for the rituals, besides nuts and fruits, could you also give me some interesting things you discovered while exploring this continent?"

"Of course, remember to control your curiosity. You can avoid going to places you don't understand for now, and consider it again after your strength has improved."

"Yes, sir. Praise be to your loving-kindness, great protector."

Augur Gul nodded, then watched Roger's figure disappear with a look of reverence.

Because the spirit world where Planet Butak is located does not have a corresponding projection on the "Primal Core," Roger could only use "gravity" to fly quickly and leave the city-state of the "Blue-skinned Ones."

When he arrived at a quiet desert area, Roger began to softly recite the name "De La Hoya Rat".

With a flash of blue light, Roger's figure reappeared beside the "De La Hoya Giant Rat".

"nailed it?"

The "De La Hoya Giant Rat" twitched its nose and asked curiously.

"nailed it."

Roger nodded, then tried to speak:
"To be honest, I managed to get some fruit for you this time, including some particularly sour varieties, but I don't know if they'll suit your taste."

"Really?"

The De La Hoya Giant Rat's eyes lit up. It immediately sat up straight excitedly, stretched out its hand to Roger, and then spoke:

"Give me."

"...However, I must warn you beforehand that the acidity of this fruit exceeds the tolerance limit of normal humans...no, even as a Sequence 4 Extraordinary, I cannot tolerate it."

Roger was so excited to see the "De La Hoya Giant Rat" that he pulled out the Barnett Berry while quickly issuing a disclaimer, as if to save his own life.

"I don't care about this or that, just give it to me and that's it."

The De La Hoya Giant Rat paid no attention and then threw the handful of Barnett berries that Roger handed it into its mouth.

"You can only eat one..."

Roger originally wanted to advise it to eat only one fruit to test its strength, but he did not expect that the "De La Hoya Giant Rat" would put the whole handful of fruit into its mouth.

"Well!"

In an instant, the De La Hoya giant rat's body stiffened.

It began to tremble all over and make a rustling sound, while Roger could clearly hear the loud clanging of its upper and lower front teeth colliding violently.

After this strange noise lasted for a few seconds, the "De La Hoya Giant Rat" suddenly rolled its eyes and then fell straight backward.

With a loud "boom," dust rose once again from the Bone Desert, causing Roger to lose his balance once more.

When the dust settled, Roger stared dumbfounded at the "De La Hoya Giant Rat" lying sprawled on the ground, its rear end facing him, its breath seemingly stopped, completely bewildered.

“Likely?”

He never expected that simply feeding this big rat a handful of fruit would cause it to turn into this mess.

"Brother, you're gone. What am I going to do now?"

Roger felt a chill run down his spine and quickly flew up to the "De La Hoya Giant Rat's" cheek.

He placed his hand near the nostrils of the enormous creature, which was half rat and half rabbit, and checked its breath.

"WTF, is he really dead?"

Roger was shocked. He could no longer support his anti-gravity field and tumbled and fell onto the neck of the "De La Hoya Giant Rat".

At the same time, Roger's eyes were red and tears welled up in his eyes.

A moment later, he hugged the "De La Hoya Giant Rat" around the neck and burst into tears.

Although he hadn't known the "De La Hoya Giant Rat" for very long, and they weren't even the same species, their relationship had always been very good.

Even when Roger was tricked by the Church of the God of Steam and Machines and thrown into that dangerous space of the spirit world, the "De La Hoya Giant Rat" came to his rescue and pulled him to the bone desert space where it was located.

Roger had experienced the deaths of those around him before arriving in the mysterious world, but this time, he was particularly grief-stricken and his emotions were extremely turbulent.

"Speaking of which, since you look so much like me, should I bury you?"

After a moment, Roger came to his senses. He began to wipe away his tears haphazardly, struggled to his feet, and looked around at the desert of bones, wondering where to bury his good friend, who was as big as a small mountain.

However, just as Roger was racking his brains about how to dig such a big hole, he suddenly felt a tremor coming from beneath his feet.

The ground shook violently, and for a moment Roger lost his footing and fell downwards.

Fortunately, he managed to use gravity to stabilize himself and float up.

Roger looked bewildered at the equally bewildered "De La Hoya Giant Rat" who had sat up, and the atmosphere froze as their eyes met.

What are you doing here? What happened to me just now?

After a long while, the "De La Hoya Giant Rat" spoke with a bewildered expression.

"Great, you're not dead."

Roger realized what was happening and rushed forward to hug the "De La Hoya Giant Rat's" ears, reaching inside to check and confirm that there was warmth inside.

"What are you talking about?"

The "De La Hoya Giant Rat" sat up, and only then did it gradually recall what had happened.

"Oh, right, that fruit."

It rubbed its furry cheeks and whiskers, then loudly praised:
"This is amazing! This is the taste I've been searching for!"

"what?"

Roger was stunned:
"So you are..."

"That felt great, that really felt great."

The "De La Hoya Giant Rat" sat up and shook its ears, which had been tickled by Roger.

That felt amazing... the legendary kind of amazing?

Roger slapped his forehead; at that moment, he finally relaxed.

In any case, this mysterious giant rat seems to have some strange tastes, as it actually likes something as unusual as Barnett berries.

"As a reward for pleasing me, I can grant you one request."

The De La Hoya Giant Rat spoke:

"You can make any requests you have regarding the spirit world, and I will do my best to fulfill them if I can."

"Ah... there doesn't seem to be any demand for it at the moment."

Roger scratched the back of his head; at this moment, he really didn't need to use the "De La Hoya Giant Rat".

"Then let's owe each other a favor for now."

The "De La Hoya Giant Rat" nodded, then looked at Roger with a puzzled expression and asked:

"why are you crying?"

Roger wiped away the tears that still clung to the corners of his eyes, and then spoke:

"I thought you were dead."

"joke."

The De La Hoya Giant Rat scoffed:
"You should know my true nature. As long as the one at the very top doesn't die, even if I die, it can't be considered a true death."

“There will always be another ‘Lord of Dela Hoya’ to replace me.”

"After all, we outnumber you more than you think."

"Do not."

Roger shook his head:

"To me, you and my messenger are the two most special 'De La Hoya Rats.' You are my friends. Even if other 'De La Hoya Rats' came, I wouldn't recognize them."

"After all, although your original selves are all the same, you each have your own experiences... right?"

These words were originally spoken by the "Rat of De La Hoya," and now Roger repeated them.

"……Correct."

After hearing Roger's words, the "De La Hoya Giant Rat" paused for a long time before speaking.

"Okay, next time you come, please bring me some of those sour fruits again."

"it is good."

Roger nodded, took off his wide-brimmed hat, bowed slightly to the "De La Hoya Giant Rat," and then his figure was once again swallowed by blue light and disappeared into the bone desert.

……

When Roger returned to reality, the first thing he did was send 30 grams of "Spirit Realm Raider" dust to Mr. "World" through the "Source Castle" communication system.

"In this way, Klein should be able to advance to Sequence 4 'Trickster'."

Roger lowered his head and thought for a moment:
"Speaking of which, the ascension ceremony for a sorcerer... requires, in front of a large audience, the careful planning and scheming to murder a demigod or a transcendent being of equivalent power?"

In fact, Roger had always been preoccupied with Klein's ascension ceremony, which is why he had been inducing Soren Einhorn Medici, who was corrupted by the "Key to the Gate," to hunt down Ince Zangwill, but had never managed to eliminate him.

In any case, Roger wanted Klein to personally eliminate the former archbishop who had betrayed the Church of the "Goddess of Night," which would also be a way of giving Tingen an explanation for his past.

"By the way, Klein probably won't come directly to ask me about Ince's whereabouts... If I were to tell Klein about Ince's movements now, it would seem a bit too deliberate."

After some thought, Roger decided that the safest approach would be to issue a kill order against Ince Zangwell at the "Tarot Club" afterwards.

The reason for the pursuit was very easy to fabricate, because Roger had a deep grudge against Ince no matter what, it was only natural for him to want to kill Ince.

Once Roger confirms that Ince Zangwell is a demigod, the other members of the "Tarot Club" will certainly not get involved, and Klein will definitely keep this in mind.

This was undoubtedly safer for Klein, since in his view, Roger was unaware of the potion recipes and advancement rituals for "tricksters," and this was not the first time Roger had issued kill orders against other hostile forces' extraordinary individuals at the "Tarot Gathering."

As for achieving the condition of "a large audience", there are two ways: one is to let Klein plan it himself, and the other is to pray directly to Adam and ask him to project a wisp of consciousness at that time to pay attention to Klein's movements.

"...Never mind, I'd better not tell Adam any of this."

Roger shook his head and ultimately decided to let Klein handle these issues himself.

He was well aware that becoming a demigod was a crucial turning point for Klein, because at that time, the conflict between him and Amon would gradually come to light. Without the medium of 0-08, Adam's attention to Klein was not part of his power.

Of course, Adam might support Klein in his promotion ceremony if he is motivated by a desire to invest in multiple areas, but this is not guaranteed.

On the other hand, unlike in the original story where Ince Zangwill was lurking in East Byron trying to assassinate Ilya, the "Eye of Goddess," the current Ince is not in the Southern Continent, but is lurking in some unknown corner of the Kingdom of Fennepot, seemingly seeking to complete the digestion of the "Night Watch" potion.

Thinking about this, Roger couldn't help but look forward to how Klein would kill Ince Zangwell.

"Speaking of which, should I also tell Dunn and the others about this? After all, if nothing unexpected happens, Dunn, who has now mastered the 'acting method,' should at least be a 'Soul Soother'... or even a 'Spirit Shaman.'"

In any case, Roger still wanted to create an opportunity for Klein and Dunn to meet and put the past behind them.

After all, the path to the throne of the "Lord of Mysteries" is destined to be a cruel one. Klein, who has become a demigod, will undoubtedly have to say goodbye to the past. Before that, it would be better to let Klein fulfill his wishes.

"Phew, I'll stop thinking about that now and wait for the next tarot session."

Roger stretched his limbs, then looked at the huge, arched blackout tarpaulin slowly being raised in the central square of the "Underground Midnight City" under the sunlight.

(End of this chapter)