Mystery: Big Alarm Clock Ghroth Path

Chapter 375 Amon's Conditions

Upon hearing Roger's words, York Weeks' first reaction was that the saint in front of him was exaggerating.

In fact, the main energy source in the mysterious world is still coal, which has a relatively limited use and is not very energy efficient. However, even so, it is still sufficient for the industrial and military development of various countries and colonies.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that the black, oily substance brought by Roger is indeed a highly efficient energy source. However, at most, it could boost the production capacity of various industries, or allow the Steam Church to develop new facilities and equipment to utilize this new energy, thereby improving humanity's ability to use energy.

On the other hand, the current resources, whether steel, rubber, or various synthetic chemical products, are extremely abundant. Even the Steam Church does not believe that it has truly completed the development of the uses and potential of many of these products.

Against this backdrop, Roger's claim that his new fuel could greatly impact materials science and engineering, and even bring about a new technological revolution, seems somewhat exaggerated. Weeks even suspected that Roger might have been misled by some amateur scientist into investing in this oil of unknown origin, or that he made such a claim based on fragmented information due to his lack of understanding of industrial and energy science.

However, out of politeness, he still nodded and said:

“No problem, Your Excellency Abraham. We will carefully study the substance you brought to see if we can master its proper use.”

To be honest, if Roger weren't a saint who currently holds a very important position in the Kingdom of Rune, Weeks would most likely have put this matter on a lower priority. On the other hand, considering that the two sides are currently cooperating, he still felt that the necessary procedures should be followed.

"Then, I'll wait for your good news."

Roger nodded slightly, then stood up, gave a slight bow, and turned to leave the workshop.

With a flash of blue light, Roger disappeared into the corridor.

"..."

York Weeks glanced at the bucket of oil on the ground, then bent down and put the lid on.

"This stuff doesn't smell very good... but it does have an industrial smell to it."

……

After leaving Stohn, Roger returned to Backlund.

However, he did not return to Worston Gardens. Instead, he bought some bread and vegetables on the way and went back to 15 Minsk Street to sleep under the cover of night.

Around seven o'clock the next morning, Roger got up, washed up, ate breakfast, made himself a stew, ate it with bread, and then put the new year's rent into the mailroom at the landlady's door. Only then did he flag down a horse-drawn carriage and head towards Alice's house.

Unlike before, Alice, now in charge of the music agency co-founded by Roger and Mr. Edmund, has moved to a large house in Queens at the arrangement of Baron Dvorak—a more convenient place to receive celebrities and government officials, and also to facilitate Alice's business operations.

"jingle."

Not long after Roger rang the doorbell, a middle-aged female housekeeper in formal attire opened the door of the stone house and walked towards the iron gate.

Good morning, sir. Who are you looking for?

"Good morning, madam. I'm looking for Miss Alice Iman."

Roger nodded slightly and began to speak.

"To be honest, Miss Iman is preparing for a banquet at noon. Did you make a reservation in advance?"

"Uh, no, not that."

Roger scratched his head:

"But please just tell her that Jones has come to see her."

The housekeeper couldn't help but take a second look. She figured the person didn't seem like a crazy fan who had secretly come to visit their idol, so she nodded slightly and then turned and went back into the house.

At the same time, Roger began counting down the seconds in his mind.

At the 26th second, the door opened with a "bang," and Alice, wearing a white dress and halfway through her makeup, rushed out.

Seeing that no one was around, she walked straight through the iron gate and bumped headfirst into Roger's face.

"Teacher!!! You...you...how did you get here?!"

Alice was quite excited, and her appearance was rather comical. It seemed that she hadn't seen Roger for so long, and at this moment she was speaking incoherently and stammering.

"I came to see you and also to tell you something."

Roger smiled and looked up at Alice's house:
"Not bad, the new house is quite impressive, it must have cost a lot of money."

"It's all thanks to you, it's nothing to mention."

Alice was very humble, and then she slapped her forehead:
"Come in and sit down, come in and sit down. We have freshly made breakfast."

"It's okay, I've already eaten, but I can sit down for a bit."

Roger smiled and nodded, then he and Alice walked through the iron gate one after the other toward the stone house.

"Teacher, I'm sorry, could you please wait five minutes? I need to take care of my makeup, otherwise it's too inappropriate."

Alice said somewhat awkwardly, and after receiving Roger's nod of agreement, she lifted her skirt and returned to the dressing room with a sigh of relief.

Roger, sitting on the sofa, accepted the teacup from the maid, thanked her, and began to slowly sip his black tea while curiously looking around.

It must be said that although Alice's house is not very big, the interior decoration and furniture selection are very tasteful. There is a Roger portable phonograph placed at the entrance of the living room, with the "Aurora Love Letter" record, which Roger and she collaborated on, on it.

Five minutes later, Alice finally finished touching up her makeup. She apologized, then dismissed all the servants and sat down opposite Roger.

How's business at the company lately?

Roger put down his teacup and asked.

"Thanks to you, we've recently discovered several new pop singers, and we're going to hold two meet-and-greets this week. Luckily, Cecilia helped me refine the event plan, otherwise I probably wouldn't be able to handle it."

Cecilia answered with a smile, then gave Roger a detailed report on the company's recent situation and listened to his opinions before blinking and asking:
"Teacher, you came to see me today, surely it wasn't just to talk about work?"

"That's not it."

Roger smiled and shook his head, then magically produced a black wooden musical instrument from his person.

The instrument looked somewhat like the five-stringed banjo Roger had seen in his previous life; it appeared quite ancient, and the back of the instrument was engraved with many giant words.

"Teacher, what is this?"

Alice curiously took the violin, examined it carefully for a while, and then tried to pluck the strings to make a sound.

“This is a gift for you. It’s a native musical instrument that I found in a human survivor city-state in the ‘Forsaken Land’ that has a history of thousands of years. This instrument alone should be at least seventy or eighty years old.”

"The Forsaken Land? A city-state of human survivors?"

Upon hearing this, Alice began fiddling with the lyre while Roger recounted stories about "Midnight City" and "The Forsaken Land."

Before long, she had basically figured out how to play the instrument and even casually plucked out a short, rather melancholic note.

"It's a heartbreaking story."

Alice sighed as she spoke of the inhabitants of the “Forsaken Land” and their plight, feeling particularly sympathetic and shocked when she heard of the tragic fate of the “New Fog City.”

"Who says it isn't?"

Roger sighed, then asked:

"So, do you like this gift?"

"I really like it. It has great artistic value and its own story."

After Alice finished speaking, she turned to Roger and said:
"Thank you, teacher."

"You are welcome."

Roger smiled and shook his head, then asked:

“I heard from Miss Wall that you and she became ‘Recorders’ around the same time… So, how’s your potion digestion going?”

"is acceptable."

Alice nodded: "To be honest, the 'Recorder' potion is much easier to digest than the 'Astrologer' potion... To tell you the truth, I even worked at the circus at night to digest the 'Astrologer' potion—good heavens, you have no idea how terrifying those lions are."

"Thanks a lot."

Roger laughed upon hearing this:

"Oh, right, there's one more thing I need your help with."

"I'm leaving Backlund soon. When you see Miss Wall tonight, please give her this letter for me."

As he spoke, he took a white envelope from his pocket. Alice took it, and said with some curiosity:

“Miss Wall? We don’t have any plans to meet today, but I can visit her after work if you need.”

"No need, you will have a chance to meet."

Roger smiled and shook his head, revealing a mysterious smile.

"Since you put it that way, then alright."

Although Alice was a little confused as to why Roger was so sure, she still nodded with great trust.

"By the way, teacher, if it would be convenient for you to tell me... what sequence are you at now?"

After agreeing to Roger's request, Alice hesitated for a moment before asking curiously.

"Sequence 4 is currently preparing for promotion to Sequence 3."

Roger didn't hide anything; he answered very naturally.

"Sequence 4... As expected, you are a demigod!"

Because Cecilia and Fors had done a good job of keeping it a secret, they did not tell Alice his current sequence level without Roger's confirmation and permission. However, Alice still had her own guesses.

Now that Roger had finally confirmed it, Alice was excited once again.

It's no wonder Alice was excited. After all, not everyone can have a demigod-level teacher. Most extraordinary individuals are only low-sequence extraordinary individuals. Those few who can become mid-sequence extraordinary individuals either have the backing of some large organizations or have extraordinary intelligence or abilities.

However, these people almost never get to see a demigod in their entire lives, let alone receive their personal guidance. And these impossible things actually happened to Alice. How could she not feel proud and fortunate?
"Keep going, try your best to digest the potion, you can do it too."

Roger patted Alice on the shoulder, then glanced at the brightly lit east before saying:

"I have to go now, I have a lot of things to do. I'll come see you again when I have time next time."

"it is good."

Alice was reluctant to part ways with Roger, whom she had finally managed to see, but she didn't want to interfere with her teacher's important business.

After leaving Alice's house, Roger went to Pulitzer Port to confirm with Ethan the office and warehouse he had chosen for the trading company. Once he confirmed that everything was in order, he summoned "The Rat of De La Hoya" and asked Philip and his crew to make some minor modifications to the ship and sail it to Pulitzer Port to prepare for the first shipment of goods.

For Roger, who already owned a fleet, there was no need to purchase or lease specialized cargo ships in the early stages of engaging in international trade; his existing fleet of ships could handle the task.

This serves two purposes: firstly, to give Philip and his crew something to do, and secondly, to save costs. They can wait until the volume of cargo transport increases before considering hiring dedicated merchant ships.

Roger's plans consist of two main business areas: first, transnational maritime trade, and second, oil extraction and transportation.

In today's mysterious world, any business, regardless of its type, is incredibly profitable, especially the oil trade, which is a veritable money-printing machine.

The only problem is that Roger needs to find out the oil reserves on Butak—but according to the divination and astrological calculations he made on Butak, the oil reserves on that planet should be enormous, enough to support the development of both Earth and Butak civilizations and supply them with the lifeblood of industrialization.

If Roger succeeds in these two businesses, he is confident that he can not only revive the Abraham family, but also bring it back to its historical peak.

"Next... is to go find Amon."

Roger thought for a moment, then returned to "Fog City" and headed towards the underground space where the "Servants of God" resided.

After searching for quite some time, Roger finally found Amon deep inside the tunnel.

The "Angel of Time" was standing in a very spacious underground space, looking up with great interest at the written records and murals.

"Yo, here we come."

When Amon saw Roger appear, he seemed completely unconcerned, merely adjusting his monocle and nodding slightly.

"Ah."

Roger stood beside Amon and looked up at the records of the giants' language.

Through his interactions with the inhabitants of the Forsaken Lands and Roger's deliberate efforts to improve his Giant's Tongue, his Giant's Tongue skills are now much better than when he first arrived. He can not only conduct basic conversations, but also has almost no difficulty reading.

"Does this record the activities of a tributary of the 'Chaos Sea'?"

Roger quickly grasped the gist of the text after a brief reading.

This should be a record made by the early "Fog City" people when they explored this underground space. However, according to Roger's perception, this place is still not far from the stone wall that Yalixis and the others discovered that was connected to the "Chaos Sea" and could devour people. However, the downward passage next to it has collapsed to some extent, and it will be difficult to go down any further unless it takes a long time to excavate.

Of course, this was not a problem for Roger and Amon. What really interested Roger was why Amon would stop here to read information that He should have already possessed.

As expected, Amon replied upon hearing this:

"Yes, this reminds me of a lot of things."

"Many things?"

Roger raised an eyebrow:

"Is it related to the Tertiary period? But if I remember correctly, the 'Fog City' wasn't here back then."

“I’m not talking about ‘Fog City,’ but these records of the people of ‘Fog City’ remind me of many details and behaviors of that person during the Tertiary period.”

Amon shook his head:

“Especially when He was trying to cut the ‘Chaos Sea’ in half and create tributaries, to be honest, even most of the angel kings didn’t know about these things, but for some reason I did know some of the inside story.”

What was His state of mind at that time? Anxious? Or curious?

Roger asked with great interest, after all, he knew that the true identity of the "Ancient Sun God" was originally a researcher, and he felt that when He was conducting experiments on the source matter, He would most likely feel excited or curious.

"...You're being too talkative."

Amon shook his head, then looked at Roger and said:
"Are you looking for me?"

"Two things. First, I want to express my gratitude." Roger was referring to Amon's clone helping him eliminate the backup plan left by "Angel of Fate" Ullolius in Backlund. If it weren't for His help, he probably wouldn't have been able to kill Arexos and Vignella.

"What about the second thing?"

Amon nodded, seemingly not taking the matter to heart.

"The second thing is, I'd like to ask you for a 'Time Worm,' I wonder if that's possible?"

"'The Worm of Time'?"

Amon raised an eyebrow, and after a moment, he actually burst out laughing:
"When we first met, I wanted to give it to you, but you wouldn't accept it."

Damn it...

Roger immediately realized that Amon was making fun of him, and the scene of their first meeting flashed through his mind.

Out of curiosity, Amon considered using the "Time Worm" to parasitize Roger, but it was blocked by Roger's extraordinary ability to repel non-obvious pathways.

Although it's unclear whether Amon deliberately scared him or genuinely considered parasitizing him, he was certainly terrified at the time.

"...Boss, stop joking."

Roger shook his head:

"Of course, I won't take your money for nothing. Just tell me what you need in return."

"Go ahead and say it?"

Amon chuckled:
"I need you to help me deliver that old bastard Pales's Sequence 1 Extraordinary Ability over here. Can you do that?"

"This……"

Roger's embarrassing moment again:

"Can you tell me something I can do within my capabilities? Besides, can't you handle this kind of small matter yourself?"

"Not yet, we have to wait a little longer."

Amon seemed quite pleased with Roger's awkward reaction. After thinking for a moment, he said:
"Here's what we'll do: once you become an angel, find a way to get me an extraordinary property that's at least Sequence 2 level from one of those guys outside the barrier's subordinate pathways and bring it back to me."

"Is any approach acceptable?"

Roger asked curiously upon hearing this.

"No."

Amon shook his head:

“‘Primal hunger’ is no longer needed.”

Does it not require the extraordinary characteristic of "Primal Hunger"?
Roger immediately gleaned a lot from those words. He suddenly realized that Amon and Adam seemed to want to use this extraordinary property to do something that he did not yet understand, in order to target those Outer Gods.

He had originally thought that exchanging the extraordinary properties of Sequence 2 for a "Time Worm" was not a fair exchange, but now it seems that it is a win-win situation.

Roger then pressed on, asking:
"It's possible, but why are you excluding 'Primal Hunger'?"

"Because it can be basically confirmed that although this guy can still pose a certain threat to this planet, this threat is almost negligible compared to other beings."

Amon shook his head:

"In the end, it's all thanks to you. The two kinds of pollution you released on him were too powerful. Even the pillar that holds the power of 'reality' didn't dare to help Him recover easily."

"I see."

Roger's brow immediately relaxed. In any case, this was good news. If what Amon said was true, then Earth would most likely have one less powerful opponent at the end of the world.

Afterwards, Amon voluntarily handed Roger a transparent, illusory worm with 12 segments. Roger thanked him and then solemnly put it away.

"Oh, right, there's one more question."

Amon paused, then spoke again:

"Do you know that many primal substances are sealed away on the Western Continent?"

"of course."

Roger nodded. He had almost nothing to hide from Amon, given the extent of their alliance and the fact that Amon was asking him this question at this time, indicating that he must have something on his mind.

Sure enough, Amon spoke up:

"Do you have any ideas?"

"What do you mean by 'idea'?"

"It refers to how to extract those source materials before the barrier expires."

Amon smiled and spoke.

"This……"

Roger was immediately caught in a dilemma. In fact, this was indeed a crucial issue. If it could be resolved, it would inevitably give the Earth's few true gods with the strength to reach the higher ranks more opportunities to prepare and strengthen their own power.

"I think this issue needs to be viewed from two perspectives. The barrier is only one aspect, because as far as I know, there are other extraordinary individuals on the Western Continent."

To everyone's surprise, after hearing Roger's words, Amon shook his head:
"That's not what I meant. What I meant was, do you have your own ideas about opening up the Western Continent?"

"my thoughts?"

Roger was momentarily confused by Amon's meaning, but then he realized that Adam was probably reminding Amon to communicate with him about this matter, so he took the initiative to ask:

"What do you recommend?"

As expected, Amon replied:
"I believe that your ability to 'leak secrets,' combined with the effects of your source matter after you become a Sequence 0 deity, could hopefully open a passage to the Western Continent."

"what……"

Roger immediately realized:

"Is this your guess based on my uncovering of the secrets of the 'Forsaken Land'?"

"Yes."

Amon nodded slightly:

"Adam and I both believe that this possibility is very high."

"That's it..."

Roger paused for a moment before saying:

"Sure, I can consider it if it doesn't compromise overall security."

"Ah."

Amon nodded:

"It seems you have your own plans regarding the selection of the person to be the 'disaster'?"

"It can't be called an arrangement, it can only be called an investment."

Roger shrugged:

"Anyway, I won't let that crazy woman Chick become a 'disaster'."

Upon hearing this, Amon also laughed:
"It's good that you think that way. The guy you chose has a lot of problems, but he's still much better than Chik."

"Hmm, let's see how far that one can go."

Roger nodded slightly, then asked:

"What did Urolius say?"

"Although He hates you, He probably won't bother you for a while."

Amon replied:

"After all, for Him, the significance of you killing those two saints from the 'Aurora Society' goes beyond that."

"How to say?"

Roger bit his lip and pressed for an answer.

"When it comes to matters of fate, He is far more perceptive than you or I."

After saying this, Amon laughed again:
"Of course, that's true, at least until you become an angel."

"Ah."

Roger nodded again, and then said:
"By the way, this tributary of the 'Chaos Sea' should be connected to 'Midnight City'. I have already obtained partial access to it, and if nothing unexpected happens, I will use it to digest my Sequence 4 potion."

Although Roger thought Adam probably already guessed that he would do this, it would be best to tell Amon in advance.

Amon didn't seem surprised by what he heard, but instead sighed softly:

"You beat me to it, but in the end, I have no use for this thing. There are more interesting things waiting for me."

Even more interesting things...

Roger had some suspicions, but he didn't ask further. After chatting for a while, Roger finally spoke:

"Then, I'll leave first."

"Bye-Bye."

After saying this, Amon added:
"Don't come looking for me in 'Fog City' next time."

"Where to go?"

"It's not confirmed yet. I'll tell you when I want to see you."

"it is good."

Roger nodded, then quickly disappeared into a blue light.

The next two days were rather dull, but on Saturday, Roger, who was in Midnight City, suddenly received a letter from the Rat of De La Hoya.

Roger knew from the envelope that it was from Stohn as soon as he saw it. He opened it with anticipation and found the following:

"Your Excellency Abraham:"

"Are you free today or tomorrow? If so, please let me know. I will be waiting for you at the Gear Church, where an archbishop from the Steam Church will also be visiting."

"thank you.

York Weeks

Upon seeing this, Roger immediately wrote a reply to York Weeks, indicating that he would be available at 3 p.m., and then had "The Rat of De La Hoya" deliver the letter.

"Come on, Bandit, wake up and come with me to Stohn for a bit."

Roger went outside, woke up Bandit who was sunbathing on his belly with the "Eye of Glory," and then took the sleepy tabby cat to Stohn.

Because Roger arrived very early, before 1 p.m. in Stohn, Roger took Bendit around to explore the local culture and scenery.

Around 3 p.m., he let the tabby cat roam freely and went alone to the "Gear Church," where he was led by the pastor to the workshop on the second floor.

Here, Roger met York Weeks, as well as another elderly man with a full head of white hair, short stature, but vigorous spirit.

"Let me introduce myself."

York Weeks greeted Roger warmly as soon as he saw him:

"This is His Excellency Abraham, and this is His Excellency Jennings, the Archbishop of East Chestershire of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery."

Upon hearing York's introduction, Roger extended his hand and shook hands with Jennings:
"It is an honor to meet you, Mr. Jennings."

"You're too kind, Your Excellency Abraham."

Jennings laughed:
"It's not convenient to talk here. Please come with me to the very back."

"no problem."

Roger glanced at the half-open door at the back of the workshop, then nodded and walked toward it with Jennings.

Upon opening the door, a conference room appeared before Roger. This room seemed to be used for receiving guests and for internal meetings of the Steam Church. Various drinks and fruits were already laid out on the table, clearly prepared to entertain Roger.

"Please take a seat."

At Jennings' invitation, Roger and Jennings sat opposite each other at the conference table, while York Weeks conscientiously closed the door and stood guard at the doorway.

"There are two main reasons why I invited you here today."

Jennings began by saying:

"The first thing is that the two items you commissioned the Steam Church to make have been completed and are ready for your inspection."

Roger's eyes lit up when he heard this. Then he watched as Jennings took out a hexagonal, palm-sized box with several layers of crystal lenses on top, and another thing that looked like a cloth bag.

"This box is used to collect starlight from over 50 billion years ago. It's very easy to use. Just point it at the direction of incoming light in the starry sky, and it will automatically select and temporarily freeze the corresponding light."

"Of course, I don't recommend pointing it at areas with dense starlight, because these areas will have a lot of interfering light sources... It's best to point it at a deep space area that at first glance seems to have fewer stars, which will greatly increase the probability of a successful capture."

"There is a knob at the bottom of this box. You just need to turn it in the opposite direction to release the frozen starlight back along its original path. This item can be used ten times in total."

Roger listened to Jennings' explanation, nodded, and then looked at the bag:
"Ok, I see.

"And what about this one?"

(End of this chapter)