Mystery: Big Alarm Clock Ghroth Path

Chapter 356 The boss applies for an intern position; he goes home to wait for news.

"This is?"

Roger looked at Natalie with some curiosity, as if seeking her advice.

"Based on Backlund's location and the current time, please draw the current celestial chart and mark the four aspects of conjunction, square, trine, and opposition. You have 20 minutes to complete this task."

Natalie wrote the current time in the upper left corner of the astrological chart, paused, and then added:

"Although you are a beginner, this should be a basic skill for an astrologer... especially if you have been paying attention to the astrological calendar for a long time, you should know that this is not difficult."

"So what I just asked was only the first part of the assessment, accounting for only 30% of the total score, and there were three questions in total."

“Understood, I can give it a try, Ms. Natalie.”

Roger nodded, took the astrological chart and the pen Natalie handed him, and began to ponder over the chart.

"You can start by looking at the current relationship between the horizon and the sun."

Natalie noticed Roger seemed to be lost in thought and kindly offered a reminder.

"I see."

Roger's brow relaxed, and he drew two intersecting straight lines from the center of the astrological chart.

This is the axis representing the horizon and the zenith, but the next second, Roger did not mark the position of the sun. Instead, he drew a strange, barb-like mark.

"what is this?"

Natalie paused for a moment, the symbol looked familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had seen it before.

Roger smiled and shook his head, then drew another strange triangular symbol on the astrolabe.

Compared to the previous symbol, this one felt even more unfamiliar to Natalie.

Soon, she watched as Roger scribbled on the astrological chart, creating nearly 20 different strange symbols.

Natalie stared blankly at the symbols. She wanted to interrupt Roger, but seeing his focused and absorbed expression, she hesitated to speak.

Then, after quite a while, Roger finally drew the first symbol that Natalie could understand.

It was a symbol shaped like an arrow; although its structure was simple, it looked very powerful.

This is a symbol representing "Mars," the celestial body that Roger made a cryptic pact with when he was promoted to "Living Star Chart."

Natalie breathed a slight sigh of relief. At this moment, she was finally certain that Roger was not acting recklessly, because the position of Mars did indeed match the current astronomical calendar.

However, as if to surprise her again, Roger did not continue drawing other celestial bodies, but instead began to draw various lines from Mars, connecting them to the strange symbols around it.

Meanwhile, Roger began making some very intricate numerical markings, which Natalie found overwhelming.

About a minute later, Roger began to draw the other major celestial bodies and their phase relationships in the solar system.

Fifteen minutes later, Roger finally finished drawing the astrological chart and presented it to Natalie.

Natalie stared blankly at the incredibly complex astrological chart in front of her. As the examiner, she was momentarily at a loss as to whether she should ask the young man in front of her what those strange symbols he had drawn were.

However, she knew she couldn't let the "He Xing School" down at this moment. She simply looked at the stars she was familiar with and it took her a long time to confirm the accuracy of the markings.

"very good."

Natalie took a deep breath and then asked:
"I didn't ask you before, what's your name?"

"Jack Carbin"

Roger smiled slightly and then named a stitched-together, old-fashioned clothing brand.

"Mr. Carbin."

Natalie nodded:
"Aside from some slightly incorrect aspect relationships, there are no major problems with the astrological chart you drew, and it can be considered to pass the test."

"Next is the second question."

"Please tell me."

Roger smiled and looked at Natalie, waiting for the lady's second question.

"You should know that in actual astronomical observation, some celestial bodies will exhibit the peculiar phenomenon of retrograde motion due to the relative relationship between the observer and the celestial body."

"Please mark the retrograde relationships of these planets on this astrological chart."

After hearing Natalie's words, Roger shrugged as if he had expected it:

"I've finished marking them."

"Finished marking?"

Natalie was taken aback again. She looked at the astrological chart, examining it several times, but couldn't find where Roger had marked retrograde.

"Okay, all marked."

Roger nodded earnestly:

"The bidding is really finished."

"..."

Natalie was momentarily speechless. Even though she couldn't understand some of the symbols and numbers on the astrological chart, she was quite certain that there were no signs of retrograde planets on the chart.

Natalie shook her head slightly. At this moment, the slight curiosity she had about the young man in front of her had been dispelled. She had initially thought Roger was a genius astrologer after seeing those symbols he drew, but now it seemed that not only were his markings of the phase relationships wrong, but he also didn't seem to be taking this assessment very seriously.

As for those strange markings and numbers, Natalie felt that the other person was deliberately showing off some obscure things they had learned, while their foundation in the basics was very weak.

However, out of a sense of duty, she decided to complete the assessment.

“Yes, Mr. Carbin.”

Natalie nodded:
"For the third question, please mark the offset angle between all these major planets and the houses they fall in. It doesn't have to be accurate to the second, just to the minute."

"The marking is complete."

Roger shrugged again and gestured towards the astrological chart in front of him.

"..."

Natalie felt she had wasted twenty precious minutes.

She sighed inwardly, not even glancing at the astrological chart. At that moment, Natalie just wanted to end this pointless interview as soon as possible.

She nodded to Roger:

"Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Carbin. You can go back and wait for news."

"You told me to wait for news, but you didn't ask for my contact address."

Roger blinked, speaking in an innocent tone.

Good heavens, does this guy really think he can pass the test...?

Natalie nodded: "Sorry, I forgot. Please write your name and contact address on the back of this astrological chart."

"Ok."

Roger nodded and then wrote down the name of the "Flame Dragon" bar in Pulitzer Harbor.

"Thank you for your hospitality. I look forward to hearing your good news."

After doing all this, Roger stood up, placed his top hat on his chest and gave a slight bow, then turned and left "Natalie's Astrology Hut".

Natalie didn't even get up; she watched Roger leave and sighed again.

She casually placed the paper astrological chart among a thin stack of exam papers, and then returned to her counter to stare blankly.

At 5:30 p.m., the door to "Natalie's Astrology Hut" was pushed open again.

The person who entered was a middle-aged man wearing a brown plaid suit jacket, a white shirt underneath, carrying a silver-tipped agarwood cane, and with a neat black bow tie around his neck.

The man had a resolute expression, and his slightly brownish skin seemed to hint at his mixed-race heritage.

Besides, his hair wasn't short, but it wasn't messy at all. Instead, it was neatly combed back and fixed with hair wax. Judging from his walking posture and subconscious movements, he was a well-mannered Ruen gentleman.

"Professor Madison, good afternoon."

Upon seeing the middle-aged man appear, Natalie quickly got up and went to greet him.

“Natalie, I think the Speaker should have made it clear before that when members of the organization meet in private, they should address each other by their rank.”

Madison's voice was very calm and composed, yet it carried an undeniable air of authority.

"Yes, I'm sorry, I forgot for a moment, Master Madison."

Natalie realized what was happening and immediately corrected her.

In fact, Natalie found the name very strange, but it is said to be a direct revelation from "Hellstar".

"He Xing" once directly issued a divine oracle to the three founding members of the "He Xing School" in its early days. The gist of the oracle was that "a person of talent and virtue should be a teacher, but rather than using the title 'teacher' within the organization, it is better to use the more intimate and ancient term 'master'."

He Xing also explained the extended meaning of the word "master": "Master" not only emphasizes respect, but also represents the secret transmission of knowledge. A person called "master" is, in a sense, equivalent to the elder of his disciple, and has the obligation to protect and care for his disciple.

At that time, the "Hexing School" had not yet formed its six-level management structure. Roger's original intention in saying these words was to establish a "sectarian consciousness" within the organization that transcended the inheritance of knowledge, so as to contribute to the long-term development of the organization.

However, after the six-level management structure was established, all level 1 and level 2 members had the opportunity to be selected as disciples by a level 3 or level 4 member. Once selected, the disciple would be addressed by the surname plus the title of master.

On the other hand, this title also applies to mentors who are not part of the disciple's own roster. For example, Natalie's mentor is not Madison, but another Level 3 member. However, when she faces Madison, who is a Level 4 mentor, she still respectfully addresses him as "Master Madison".

Madison himself was a law professor at Backlund University of Political Science and Economics, and the famous Madison Industries was founded by his family.

Few people know that beneath Madison's glamorous social aura lies a hidden identity: a Sequence 8 "Fighting Scholar" from the "Hidden Man" pathway.

Having long been interested in astrology, he joined the "Hercules School" early on thanks to his solid astrological knowledge and his classmate relationship with Yale Nicholson, and is currently in charge of middle management within the organization.

In fact, Madison could have easily been promoted to a Level 5 member if he wanted to, but that would have taken up a lot of his time, so after discussing it with Nicholson, he decided to remain a Level 4 member for the time being.

Upon hearing Natalie change her tune, Madison nodded slightly, then asked:
How did today's new member screening and assessment go?

"To be honest, it's far from ideal."

Natalie shook her head, then handed the stack of astrological charts to Madison, muttering:
“Not a single one passed the assessment… Although the organization requires all exam papers to be reviewed, today’s exam was so bad that I don’t even think there’s any need to review it.”

Madison remained noncommittal upon hearing this, and instead began to quickly flip through the pages.

"This one is alright."

Madison quickly pulled out an astrological chart and began to speak.

That was a female test taker's answer sheet, which Natalie marked with 77 points. Although it was not a passing grade, the score was not low either.

"Indeed, she was the best player today."

Natalie nodded:
"However, she made a clear mistake in her answer during the assessment, which resulted in a deduction of 10 points, thus failing to meet the requirements."

"It's okay. I noticed the error you mentioned. It's an error in the Mars deviation label, right?"

Madison pointed to the symbol for Mars, and then said:

"This isn't a big problem, because Mars retrograde just started today, and she probably overlooked that factor."

After saying that, he added:
"She can be included in the Level 1 members for further evaluation. If any mentor selects her, that's her luck."

“Yes, Master Madison.”

Natalie took the female test subject's answer sheet and put it into a special document envelope.

"This is……"

Just as Madison was losing interest in the next few exams that didn't even reach 50 points, he suddenly saw an answer sheet that had no score and wasn't even signed.

More importantly, it was covered with a bunch of numbers and special symbols that even Madison found baffling, making it difficult for him to discern its origins for a while.

What's going on with this exam paper?

He pulled out the answer sheet and looked at Natalie.

"Oh, him."

Natalie slapped her forehead:
"Sorry, Mr. Madison, I forgot to write his name. Oh right... what was his name again?"

Natalie thought for a while before writing down the name Jack Cabin.

To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that he was very handsome, Natalie wouldn't even be sure if she could remember his name.

"The reason this exam paper wasn't graded is because he didn't answer the second and third questions at all, and arrogantly claimed that he had already answered them."

"The key issue is that when he answered the first question, he not only drew a bunch of inexplicable symbols, but also made mistakes on two key aspects of Mars. How can he make mistakes on such basic things? What kind of behavior is that?"

Upon hearing Natalie's words, Madison felt a strong sense of unease.

He glanced quickly at the time above the answer sheet, then asked Natalie for a piece of paper and began to calculate.

After a long while, Madison put down his pen and stared intently at Natalie.

"What's wrong, Master Madison?"

Natalie felt a little uneasy under Madison's gaze, and she asked hesitantly.

“Natalie, as we just said, Mars is retrograde today, right?”

Madison asked, his expression unchanged.

"Yes, and what next?"

At this moment, Natalie had a very bad feeling, but she still asked the question with a forced smile.

"Because of Mars' retrograde motion, the two aspects it originally formed with the Moon and the Sun have been broken!"

Madison slammed his pen on the table and said in an almost growling tone:

"At the time when the assessment took place, the phase release had only occurred less than half an hour earlier!"
"So, of course he has already answered the second question about celestial retrograde!"

His tone was clearly angry, and the loud "bang" startled Natalie.

"As for these symbols that you don't understand, some of them are unknown asteroids, and some I don't even recognize, but I suspect they are the Trensus points that appeared in Quaternary astrology!"

"Trensost Point?"

Natalie struggled to recall for a long time before finally opening her eyes wide:

"Is it the algorithm proposed by those ancient astrologers of the Terensust Empire? A virtual point with mystical significance calculated using a series of formulas?"

"Yes, most of this knowledge has been lost. Apart from a few large extraordinary families that have inherited from the Fourth Epoch, no one should know it."

Madison rubbed his face twice:

"As for what Mr. Carbin said about having already answered the third question, I still can't quite see it."

“Natalie, Natalie, although I don’t know what else Master Otto taught you besides having you repeatedly recite the astrological rules he wrote... but you should understand the most basic principle, which is that if someone displays abilities that you cannot understand at all, then in addition to considering that he is making things up, you should also consider another possibility, that is, the other party’s level of knowledge may have far exceeded your understanding.”

"If I hadn't taken a closer look today, we might have missed the opportunity to have a genius astrologer join us!"
"In short, this matter is beyond my comprehension and must be sent to the Level 5 council for review."

"Level 5 Parliament?"

Natalie was truly startled this time, and she finally felt a bit scared.

If it weren't for the gentleman named Jack Cabinet offering to leave his contact information, Natalie wouldn't have known how to contact him at all.

That would be a real disaster—if the Level 5 council judges believe that the other party is indeed a genius astrologer, then they are very likely to be punished or even dismissed.

"Yes, Level 5 Parliament."

Madison repeated himself, his tone filled with unwavering certainty.

……

At this moment, Roger was completely unaware of what was happening in "Natalie's Astrology Hut." He was sitting back in his studio at 15 Minsk Street, listening with his eyes closed to the prayers coming from "the land of God's forsaken."

Most of these prayers came from "New Fog City," while the remainder came from "Underground Midnight City," which had begun to gradually embrace "He Xing."

But none of these sounds were what Roger was looking for—after careful discernment, Roger finally heard a prayer that was different from the others.

It was a man's voice, and the content of his prayer at that moment was quite interesting:
"The intersection of the starry sky and the spirit world, the crimson descendant of the ancient creator, the living embodiment of the starry sky and the calendar, the master of the power of music."

"The great 'star track tuner'!"
"I pray for your attention, I pray for your protection, I pray for you to give my singing even greater power."

After repeated prayers, the man actually began humming the melody of the third movement of the Dawn Quartet!

"What kind of experiment is this?"

Roger was immediately at his wit's end. He hadn't expected the "Silver City" to be so cautious. After Elder Lovia, the "Shepherd," personally confirmed it through prayer, it seemed that they had arranged for the leader of an exploration team to test the relationship between the "Star Orbit Tuner" and the music that the "Silver City" had used before in actual combat.

Although Roger has already made it clear from his own name and the way the "True Star Map" is activated that he has a connection with that music, it seems that "Silver City" still wants to test whether praying to "Hestar" before the battle can enhance the mystical effects of that music.

Roger was somewhat helpless. To be honest, this bizarre move caught even a god like him off guard.

Having mastered the "Original Motion Core," he naturally had the ability to respond, but there were two major pitfalls involved.

The first major pitfall is that if Roger responds directly and significantly amplifies the effect of the "Heart Thunder" rule through the blessing of the "Original Core," it would seem too urgent and highly suspicious.

After all, Roger's series of actions to spread the "Hexing" faith to "Silver City" all took place within half a year. Although "Silver City" originally did not have a concept of time, they knew from experience that this was very unusual.

Although the "Star Orbit Tuner" appears to be a righteous god at present, its actions are far too eager for a deity to act in any case.

This was bound to make the "Council of Six," led by Colin Iliad, suspect that this was an invasion plan by some evil god, which was why they were praying in such an unexpected way in an attempt to obtain the blessing of power.

If Roger were to respond directly to this request, it would seem extremely undignified, even bordering on self-sacrifice, which would inevitably make Silver City more cautious once again.

The second major pitfall was that Roger couldn't remain silent either, because he wanted the "Silver City" to associate its reputation with its use of music, given that Roger's music already had a certain following in that human survivor city-state, as this would provide maximum support for his "Living Star Chart" belief.

If he doesn't respond this time, there's no guarantee they'll try again next time, and his actions might even be interpreted as playing hard to get, which would seem very strange either way.

So after thinking quickly, Roger came up with a good idea.

That is, responding to the other party's request to a limited extent and enhancing the other party's "singing" effect by about 15%. This will not seem abrupt, but rather more like a "passive response" from a deity.

After this, Roger can directly configure a passive response setting for "Original Motion Core". That is, when encountering similar situations in the future, "Original Motion Core" can directly provide the praying person with a 15% "Singing" effect bonus. As their faith deepens, this bonus can be increased further.

In this way, everything seems much more reasonable. Just like the famous lightning magic of the Northern Continent, "Leodro," it is more of a passive response mechanism than a result of the gods actually expending a lot of energy on the supplicant.

As expected, as Roger put his idea into practice, the other party's tense mood eased considerably—he clearly sensed the slight increase in power during the battle, which was not absent but not abrupt.

This undoubtedly aligns with the Silver City's earlier expectations, which is the attitude a rational deity who hopes to guide them away from darkness should have.

Instead of letting things drift or spending money on them, we provide substantial guidance and assistance step by step, like a steady stream.

Roger took a deep breath, and after dealing with some more crucial prayers, he left the "Original Core".

"It's been a long time since I've been back to 15 Minsk Street. We can go to the restaurant across the street for a meal and then visit Mrs. Summer."

Just as Roger was thinking this, he suddenly looked into the depths of darkness.

Sure enough, a moment later a small yellow parrot flew out and landed on Roger's desk.

"Good afternoon, Shanshan, is there anything I can do for you today?"

Roger smiled and patted Shiny's head before asking a question.

"A letter from Miss Luna to you."

Flashy first retrieved the letter from some unknown subspace and handed it to Roger. Then, he looked around and said:

Where is the cat?

"I put it to sleep in the 'forsaken land'."

Roger smiled. He had originally intended to bring Bandit along, but considering it would be somewhat inappropriate for him to meet the Archbishop of the Church of the Goddess of Night with a body covered in cat fur, he left it in his own room in the Underground Midnight City.

After saying this, Roger opened the letter that smelled faintly of "Moonlight" perfume and began to read its contents.

"Roger, it's like we're meeting in person. Actually, it's nothing major, but tomorrow at 1 p.m., Jordan, Mikael, and Aria will be giving me their reports. You can come and sit in on them and see what they're really made of."

"After all, you were the one who proposed the 'Honest Demon' project, so you should check on their progress regularly."

"As for the location, it's still at the base where you last saw me. Please let me know if you can come."

After reading the letter, Roger looked up at Sparkle, the parrot who was waiting beside him to write a reply.

"It's alright, Shining, you go back first. I'll have my messenger deliver the letter to Luna. I happen to owe it something."

After hearing Roger's words, the parrot nodded and, without saying anything more, turned and flew straight into the darkness.

Roger picked up his pen and quickly wrote a reply to Luna, then summoned the "Rat of Dela Hoya".

Roger handed the letter to the "Rat of De La Hoya," and then gave it five nuts offered by the "Blue-skinned Ones," as well as a Barnett berry.

"This is the gift I promised you... You like sour things too, right?"

Roger cautiously asked, looking at the "Rat of De La Hoya" in front of him, whose eyes were fixed on the fruit with an expectant look.

"of course."

The "Rat of De La Hoya" nodded vigorously.

"These blue berries are extremely sour, more sour than you can imagine. You'd better eat them in small bites, otherwise..."

Before Roger could finish speaking, he saw the "Rat of De La Hoya" stuff the blue Barnett berry into its mouth.

He was about to stop it, but he saw that it had already chewed the fruit and swallowed it.

Roger slapped his forehead, and the next second, he heard the sound he had expected.

"Well!"

As expected, the "De La Hoya Rat" also began to tremble violently, just like the previous "De La Hoya Giant Rat," its upper and lower front teeth clashing together, making a "crunching" sound.

A moment later, the "Rat of De La Hoya" suddenly lay down in front of Roger.

Having already experienced this once, Roger remained remarkably calm. He simply sat to the side, sipping water from his cup, waiting for the half-rat, half-rabbit creature, who was in a state of blissful unconsciousness, to wake up.

Ten minutes later, the "Rat of De La Hoya" finally woke up slowly.

"Is there any left???"

The first thing the mouse did upon waking was to hug Roger's leg and look at him with a fawning expression.

"That's all, just this one."

Roger smiled as he said something against his will:

"Let's wait until next time. This thing is an alien product, and it's very difficult to deal with."

He dared not give the rat too many barnett berries at once; for the sake of his friend's health, this dangerous food supply chain should be maintained in a steady and sustainable manner.

"Okay, if you need my help in the future, just let me know."

The "Rat of De La Hoya" picked up the letter, turned around to leap into the darkness, but still somewhat bewildered, it bumped headfirst into Roger's desk cabinet.

"Be careful, don't go the wrong way."

Roger helped the half-rat, half-rabbit creature, who seemed to be drunk, to its feet, and then pushed it into the darkness.

"Go away!"

After seeing off the "Rat of De La Hoya," Roger finally breathed a sigh of relief. He went to have dinner as planned, visited Mrs. Summer, and then collapsed onto his bed in his bedroom at 15 Minsk Street and fell asleep.

The next day, Roger first went back to the "Underground Midnight City" to pick up the bored Bandit, and then took him to the fortification where he had met Luna earlier.

Upon seeing the man and cat, Luna scooped Bandit up in her arms and pointed to a military uniform lying nearby, along with a major general's insignia on it:

"Try it on and see if it fits. This was made especially for you."

"military uniform?"

Roger suddenly chuckled to himself:

"It's just a performance review, does it have to be so formal?"

(End of this chapter)