Secrets: Priestess

Chapter 203 Production
"My role as the 'Mechanic Expert' seems to be on the right track. Next, I'll need to digest the potion step by step and think about the Ascension Ceremony... However, this will cause me to fall far behind in my progress on the 'Secrets Peeper' path. This imbalance will jeopardize the stability I've finally achieved."

Claire temporarily placed the modified "Master Key" in Tessa's magical locker. She glanced at the Beyonder traits Tessa had left behind, those she had previously hunted, and those she had just purchased from Klein, and sighed.

"Currently, absorbing the power of the 'Wizard' from the pollution is already the limit. If I attempt to dabble in the power of the Sequence 6 'Scroll Professor', the pollution will get out of control if I'm not careful. If I could get a copy of the 'Scroll Professor's' Beyonder characteristics or potion, I would be able to analyze it."

"Forget about Beyonder characteristics and potions. I don't even have the formula..."

As far as Claire knew, the large organizations involved in the Secret Peepers' Path were the Morse Ascetic Order and the Church of Steam and Mechanics. The former had degenerated into a crazy cult that believed in the Hidden Sage, and the latter was a place that Claire was so afraid of that she dared not set foot in.

It's not an easy place to get the recipe.

However, after her authority was upgraded, Claire also found out from the classics and files that there was a new organization called "Elemental Dawn" that gathered many "wizards".

The founder of this organization is one of the four kings that "The Hanged Man" Alger once mentioned at a Tarot gathering, the owner of the "Dawn", and the "Mysterious Queen".

A powerful woman who has entered the realm of demigods and demigods.

"But this demigod of the Mysterious Prying Man path is active on the sea, and I have difficulty contacting this organization. On the other hand, the Hanged Man will go out to sea again in the future. Perhaps he can help me obtain the potion formula from the Scroll Professor?"

Thinking about this possibility, Claire took out a pair of dark red, crystal-clear eyeballs of pain from the locker. These were the extraordinary characteristics of the "Secret Peeper" and were left behind by the guy who attacked her before.

The original owner of this pair of dark red eyeballs was a peripheral member of the Moss Ascetic Order. Claire confirmed through psychic means that no information about other members of the Moss Ascetic Order could be obtained from this person's relics.

"But... if we make this pair of eyeballs into a magical item, and focus on amplifying the aggregation effect of the characteristic itself, then I might be able to use this 'Mystery Peeper' characteristic to lure out Beyonders who are on the Mystery Peeper path."

"If we want to amplify the aggregation effect, perhaps we can try increasing the activity of magical items..." After her promotion, Claire gained knowledge of "enhancing activity" from potions. "If we increase activity, then we can make puppets or something. At this rate, I'm almost a puppet maker."

Claire grumbled to herself as she expertly crafted a puppet's torso out of various spiritual materials. She then embedded the "Mystery Peeper" traits into the puppet's core. Perhaps due to her familiarity with the "Mystery Peeper" sequence, this process was much faster than modifying the "Master Key."

Claire examined the finished product in front of her. On a whim, she made the doll into a realistic-looking figure, about 1.6 meters tall. If it was carefully dressed up, ordinary people, even low-sequence Beyonders, would have difficulty distinguishing the real thing.

Especially those dark red eyes, which are very spiritual, just like a living person.

To Claire's delight, she also realized that she could remotely control the puppet's body through the "Heart of the Goddess"!

Claire carefully studied and explored the mysterious connection between herself and the doll, and discovered that the hidden sage contamination in the core of the "Goddess's Heart" was echoing the "Mystery Peeper" characteristics integrated into the doll.

"This way, I can make better use of this doll for fishing..."

Since it was impossible to constantly use one body to control the puppet, Claire created an analysis machine and added it to the puppet's body. Although the puppet's behavior under the control of the current version of the analysis machine became sluggish, as long as it was properly trained in the future, it could still simulate simple human speech and behavior.

"The realistic treatment of the body parts..." Claire touched the stiff and rough body of the doll, thinking about how to animate it.

The simplest way is to kill and replace. To help the puppet create a body that is not much different from a real person, at least five living people are needed as materials. Claire cannot do such a thing as killing people for no reason, and it is unrealistic to ask her to find five enemies immediately.

Another troublesome way is to use livestock as a substitute, but this may cause the doll's body to retain some of the characteristics of the livestock.

"If I were to enter the realm of demigods, I'd likely possess the ability to imbue inanimate things with life, but that's too far away for me."

"If I were to use death row inmates as material... I wouldn't feel that much of a burden, but it would involve the police system, and it might cause unnecessary trouble."

"The best way...is to proactively collect fresh corpses and preserve them when you kill people next time."

"Why do my thoughts become more evil the more I think about them..."

Claire sighed slightly and manipulated the puppet in front of her to put on human clothes. After putting on a mask and a cloak, the puppet moved almost like a real person.

Through the magic engraved on the inside of the doll's eyes, Claire can share the doll's vision, just like placing the Eye of Prying Eyes on a "blank sheet of paper".

After getting familiar with it for a while, Claire temporarily placed the doll underground. She planned to fix the problem with the body and then give it an identity and release it, using it as a spare to lure the extraordinary people from the "Secret Peepers" path to come to her on their own initiative.

The improvement of the "Master Key" and the creation of the Peeping Man doll consumed a lot of Claire's energy. Claire put away the remaining materials and planned to return to St. Samuel's Church.

Without disturbing the already asleep Hugh, Claire returned to the church alone. Tessa, impersonating Alicia, was nowhere to be found, while Audrey, in disguise, was still consulting Daly about ritual magic.

"How is it going? Is there any progress or clues in the case?" Claire asked.

Daly shook her head and sighed, "No. The Mandated Punishers started their investigation with human trafficking, but aside from solving over a dozen kidnappings of young girls in Backlund, they've found nothing else... He's clearly a man who made his fortune through human trafficking. There's no way he could have amassed such a fortune solely through these individual cases, but neither I nor the Mandated Punishers could find any trace of human trafficking."

"The Mandated Punisher arrested the owner of the Golden Rose. Yes, just as you guessed... the Golden Rose is a brothel." Daly chuckled helplessly at Claire and said, "A legal brothel."

"In addition, there are clues about other similar places or streetwalkers, but these places involve the interests and privacy of many people, and the resistance is greater than expected."

"Since there are no further clues involving supernatural powers, the Mandated Punishers are reluctant to directly interfere with the operations of these places and the criminal activities involved."

"District police stations, vulnerable to interference from powerful figures, are also limited in their investigations."

Claire asked, "What about Capin's men? Have they all been investigated?" Daly replied, "A few are missing, and among the remaining gang members, there's no evidence of human trafficking. It's as if Capin's large-scale human trafficking never existed in the first place."

Claire pondered for a moment and said, "If there's a chance, guide the Mandated Punisher to connect the clues in the Capin case to Beth Lyonness. If the Mandated Punisher can find the connection between the two, perhaps they can uncover the facts of Capin's human trafficking and the clues to Capin's murder."

Daly nodded, understanding that Claire wanted to drag the powerful Storm Church into the picture, thereby putting pressure on the forces behind Beth, Capin, Alicia, and the others.

Under such heavy pressure, this evil force hiding in the dark is likely to be exposed.

Audrey, who was listening in, was surprised after hearing Claire's arrangement, "Is Capin related to Beth Lyonness?"

Claire didn't elaborate, explaining, "According to our informant, there might be a connection between these two people, but everything remains to be verified... If we can truly prove that Capin is connected to Beyonders like Beth Lyonness, the two major churches will have more freedom to investigate the Capin case."

Audrey was thoughtful.

After witnessing the evil nature of the people in that villa, Audrey's attitude towards the case has changed from initial curiosity to a desire to uncover the greater evil behind it...

At this time, I heard that Kapin was suspected to be related to Beth!

From her perspective, the Tarot Club had executed the deeply sinful Beth Lyonness. The fact that Capin was connected to Beth only intensified her desire to participate in the investigation...

After exchanging the information, Daly went home to rest. Claire was planning to look for Tessa's whereabouts, but Audrey showed no intention of leaving.

"Anything else?" Claire asked Audrey.

Audrey glanced at the clock on the wall. It was past midnight. She nodded imperceptibly and said, "I've contacted the Psychological Alchemist Society, and there will be a meeting today... I'm hoping to get information about the Psychological Alchemist Society from the church. Also, I'm afraid I won't be free to participate in the investigation this afternoon."

Claire thought about Audrey's previous mention of contact with the Psychological Alchemist Society. It seemed like Audrey had a deeper connection with the Society now. She said, "The Psychological Alchemist Society... The Church doesn't have much intelligence on them because there are so few cases involving them. The members of the Psychological Alchemist Society are very low-key and don't easily get involved in trouble."

Audrey asked in confusion, "Then...why did the three major churches also designate the Psychological Alchemist Society as an illegal organization?"

Claire reminded him, "To the Church, wild Beyonders are inherently illegal. Every wild Beyonder is a potential danger. Even if they don't cause trouble, simply getting out of control is enough to cause a serious incident in the secular world... It seems you've become so accustomed to your identity as a Nighthawk that you've even forgotten and neglected this most basic concept."

Audrey coughed lightly to cover up the embarrassment of such a low-level mistake. She reflected on herself and realized that it was because she had recently relied on her identity as a night watchman and had lost her previous cautious mentality of not daring to expose herself that she had become so numb.

Claire continued, "Furthermore, the church believes that every person's soul belongs to the Lord... and the primary research of the Psychological Alchemy Society involves the exploration of the mind, consciousness, spirit, and spirituality. This kind of offense to the realm of God is something that the major churches cannot tolerate."

An exploration of mind, consciousness, spirit, spirituality...

Audrey silently chewed over these words in her heart. Combining her own understanding of the "audience" sequence and the "mind reader" sequence, she actually felt that this organization was quite suitable for her temperament.

Claire warned, "The biggest risk in contacting such a secretive organization is being unknowingly deeply influenced and becoming its victim. Audrey, don't take it lightly. I suggest you stop contacting such a dangerous organization. Even if you consider your future advancement, you can use the power of the church to collect formulas or Beyonder traits."

Audrey simply smiled at this. Having obtained the Beyonder characteristic of "Psychologist" from the "Queen" in a trade, she wasn't contacting the Psychological Alchemy Society for the purpose of Sequence advancement.

Her contact with the Psychological Alchemy Society, a secret organization with a long history, stems from her desire to explore the extraordinary world. She hopes to have a new perspective to understand the extraordinary world and have more channels to learn extraordinary knowledge.

Audrey said, "The members of the Psychological Alchemy Society I've come into contact with are very respectful of my family. The danger of contacting them isn't great. It's rare to come into contact with an organization like this that brings together Beyonders from the Audience Path, so it's worth the risk."

After a few seconds of silence, Claire took off the nightmare doll, threw it in front of Audrey, and said:
"This magical item has a deep connection with me. You can carry it with you. If you are truly in danger, I can use this doll to lend you a helping hand. The effect... is no less than the personal protection of a Sequence 6."

Protection? Or surveillance?

Audrey looked at the nightmare doll in front of her, and this thought flashed through her mind, but she finally chose to trust her Red Gloves Captain. Although this woman occasionally had a bad temper, most of the time, she was a trustworthy senior.

Seeing Audrey accept the nightmare doll, Claire said, "If you're really in danger, shout 'Yuffie' in ancient Hermetic language."

Claire didn't ask Audrey about the specific identity of the Psychological Alchemist she had contacted.

Audrey, who has just come into contact with this secret organization, must still be in the other party's investigation stage. Disclosing this information will bring danger to Audrey who is in the investigation period.

Claire even took the initiative to cut off the connection with the nightmare doll, causing it to fall into a dormant state. Unless Audrey actively used the spell she set to wake it up, others would not be able to detect the nightmare doll's spirituality.

Letting the nightmare doll leave her body had a great impact on Claire. At least during the time it was away, she could not use the abilities of "entering dreams" and "sleeping" from the "Insomniac" path. She could only maintain the abilities of "insomnia", "night vision" and "staying awake in dreams" that came from the goddess's gift.

If she gets into a fight with someone during this period, it might expose the fact that she is not an "Insomniac".

But the nightmare doll wouldn't be loaned out for long, and compared to this tiny risk, Claire cared more about Audrey's safety.

What if Psychological Alchemy is an evil organization with despicable means? The team members she recruited with great difficulty would have been sacrificed in vain!
Watching Audrey leave with the nightmare doll, Claire planned to change into "Viper" to look for Tessa's trace, so as to avoid the period when the nightmare doll could not be used.

This way you don't have to worry about being exposed.

(End of this chapter)