Mystery: Survival from the Secret Doll

Chapter 287, Principal 286
"Your Lord sent you here? What do you want? Are you really just here to take the test?"

"Why be so vigilant?"

Mr. B revealed his handsome features, an unnatural beauty that seemed to draw one's soul in, leaving Klein and Cohen somewhat dazed at first glance.

Mr. B's smile seemed to have the power to penetrate the soul. Klein's spiritual intuition told him that this smile was most likely due to some extraordinary ability that could charm others.

Having received formal occult education and serving as one of the Night Watchers of Tingen City, Klein possesses a certain understanding of the names and general abilities of potions from various pathways and sequences below the demigod level.

For example, the Aurora Society, a secret organization, possesses the "Listener" pathway and worships an evil god called the "True Creator." The fifth sequence of the "Listener" pathway is a potion called Shepherd...

Sequence 5, The Shepherd.

As the name suggests, the extraordinary individuals in this sequence are like shepherds tending lambs for the gods. Each shepherd can accommodate extraordinary traits from other pathways and even briefly use the victim's abilities.

By herding these contained extraordinary characteristics and souls, each shepherd becomes not only a master of flesh and blood magic, but also possesses a variety of bizarre, indestructible, and terrifying abilities hybridized from the incorporation of extraordinary characteristics and souls from other sources.

This is a qualitative change, meaning that Mr. B is at least a shepherd, and has at least herded Sequence 6 of the Witch Path, namely the Pleasure Witch.

Cohen's breathing quickened slightly as he whispered, "The Aurora Society's 'Shepherds' typically herd five to six souls..."

They are quite difficult to deal with, and quite difficult to kill.

Klein's heart sank slightly. He and Cohen stood silently behind Pedigru.

Seeing that Pedigris's hostility showed no signs of abating, the shepherd said slowly, "Don't worry, there's nothing I can do here. The presence of that being allows me to return to the Lord's embrace at any time."

He smiled slightly. "So you don't need to look at me like that, or be so wary of me. Like I just said, I really just came here, well, to take the exam. The silence rule in Tingen City also prevents me from cruelly killing any guilty person here."

Pedigris was silent for a moment. After Mr. B finished speaking, it seemed as if he was just greeting them. He left after saying his greeting, and no one stopped him.

"Let's go too, the auditorium is over there."

Pedigris watched Mr. B's departing figure for a long time before speaking.

"it is good."

They lifted their feet, moving in the same direction as Mr. B.

Pedigre walked quickly, and Klein could sense that Pedigre's mood was a little off.

He and Cohen Lee stepped back slightly, and seeing Pedigru's expressionless steps forward, Klein lagged slightly behind, keeping pace with Cohen Lee, and then asked Cohen Lee in a low voice:
“Cohen Lee, Pedigru seems to hate the Aurora Society. What are they up to?”

Compared to the Witch Cult and the Morse Order, this wizard seemed to have an inexplicable and intense hatred for the Aurora Society from the moment they met.

“Pedigris’ father died at the hands of a messenger from the Aurora Society. He wasn’t a Night Watcher in Tingen City. During a secret mission for the church, Pedigris’ father encountered a messenger from the Aurora Society… The entire Night Watcher team was almost wiped out, and Pedigris’ father died at the hands of that messenger from the Aurora Society.”

Cohen said in a low voice, his eyes constantly glancing at Pedigru's retreating figure not far away:

“At that time, Pedigris was only six years old. Later, his mother, unable to bear the shock, hanged herself after Pedigris’ father’s funeral… Pedigris was raised by Mr. Neil, and after he became a Sequence 9 Seer, he joined the Night Watch.”

Klein opened his mouth, but then closed it again, unsure what to say.

It's no wonder that Pedigree's hostility towards the Aurora Society is much greater than that towards other clandestine organizations.

If it were him, he probably wouldn't be rational at all when he saw the murderer who killed his father and indirectly caused his mother's death.
“But Tingen has rules, its own set of laws, which govern the extraordinary individuals here.”

Klein recalled what Old Neil had explained to him before.

“For those who violate the rules and are on night duty, the substitutes and investigators can punish them, even kill them, but we cannot easily take action against those who have not committed a crime within the city of Tingen that warrants death.”

Old Neil sounded somewhat wistful when he talked about this:

"Little Klein, you must be wondering why such a rule exists, right?"

Old Neil stirred the glass rod in his hand; he was concocting a true magical potion capable of restoring both spirit and body.

"Tinggen is a city of miracles. Here, whether it's the Church of the Night, the Church of the Storm, or the Church of the Craftsmen, whether you're a member of a secret organization or a wild extraordinary individual, you can enter. The trading rules and various laws here are contrary to the laws of the Kingdom of Rune. Even the influence of the churches and the royal family is difficult to give them a decisive voice in Tinggen."

"For those wild extraordinary individuals and clandestine organizations, Tingen City is not a particularly dangerous place. As long as they abide by the rules within Tingen City, we cannot take vigilante justice against them, nor can we imprison or execute them until they are proven guilty, or have committed an unforgivable crime, or violated the law and the rules..."

“Especially during the exam period,” Cohen said in a low voice. “At this time, as candidates for the professional ritual magic level test, candidates cannot attack each other without reason unless they have violated the rules. If things get out of hand, they may even be disqualified from the exam and permanently banned from taking it.”

Pedigris's reaction proved that although he knew Mr. B, Mr. B had not committed any crimes deserving of hanging or burning under the noses of Rune or the Church.

Pedigris could not and was unable to make a move.

Klein nodded without saying anything.

Cohen also kept quiet, and the two followed Pediglou in silence to the auditorium of the University of Tingen.

At this time, the auditorium of the University of Tingen, which can hold tens of thousands of people, was already quite full, and there was still a steady stream of newcomers entering through the east and west doors of the auditorium.

Klein saw the extraordinary individuals from the various orthodox churches and secret organizations that Pedigris had mentioned before, including the Earth Mother Goddess and the Witch Cult. He also saw many people dressed in peculiar clothing, quite different from the style of the Northern Continent, but with features somewhat similar to Mr. Azik.

He looked somewhat different from the faces of those from the Northern Continent. Klein examined him closely before asking uncertainly:

"Are those people from the Southern Continent?"

"Well, it should be."

Having quickly composed himself, Pedigris glanced at several Southern Continent people whose attire seemed out of place among the others not far away. His gaze then fell upon a group of people standing not far from them. Seated there were several stiff, expressionless men and women; they lacked spirit, giving the impression of being lifeless, not truly alive.

"The Rose School from the Southern Continent has also sent people over."

"Rose School?"

Klein also looked in that direction, lost in thought: "A living corpse?"

"There should still be vengeful spirits... The temperance faction of the Rose School has been hunting down members of the hedonistic faction in recent years. It is said that most members of the hedonistic faction have fled into the countries of the Northern Continent. They took the exam, and after obtaining their qualification certificates, they probably planned to use certain rituals in ritual magic to help them hunt down those members of the hedonistic faction."

Indeed, traces of the Southern Continent can be found in various historical records and texts. The "Grim Reaper" of the Fourth Epoch once ruled over the Southern Continent.

However, there is very little information about it now, including information about the Rose School, which originally belonged to one of the secret organizations of the Southern Continent.

Even the official Extraordinary Organization's records on the Rose School are limited to the results of the conflict between their "Temperance Faction" and "Hedonism Faction" and some crimes committed by the "Hedonism Faction" in the Northern Continent, without mentioning the issues in the Southern Continent.

Klein recalled an entry from Emperor Roselle's diary that he had once seen, which stated that Emperor Roselle had attempted to travel to the Southern Continent but was stopped by the abnormal weather of the raging sea between the Northern and Southern Continents.

I wonder if the Emperor ever successfully landed on the Southern Continent. Perhaps he did, but I haven't seen any corresponding diaries yet. Klein pondered this, then shifted his gaze away from the zombies.

He saw Mr. B again, who had greeted them earlier, and next to him was a lady in a white robe.

Klein recognized the woman; it seemed he had seen her before at the entrance of St. Peter's Hospital.

Klein didn't dare to linger his gaze on the two obviously abnormal members of the secret organization. His eyes naturally darted past them, and he continued to observe his surroundings.

Inside the bustling and somewhat noisy auditorium of Tingen University, Klein also saw extraordinary individuals from other righteous churches, such as the Eternal Sun and the Church of the God of Craftsmen. Most of them were in their own circles, and some of them were young and inexperienced. They would occasionally glance at the people around them, and many of them had undisguised expressions of surprise and astonishment on their faces.

They look like newbies taking this kind of exam for the first time...

"You've arrived too."

Just then, Klein heard a somewhat familiar voice.

"Tang, you're here too?"

"Yes, I came to see what was going on... This is Irving, my brother."

Only then did Klein notice the tall figure standing next to Tang.

The man looked at Klein, his face expressionless, but he extended his hand in a friendly manner, "Hello, Owen Eggers."

"Hello, Klein Moretti."

The two shook hands in a friendly manner. The tall man named Owen greeted Tang again and then left.

"How come I've never heard Mr. Azik mention that you have an older brother?"

"Oh, this? He went to the Southern Continent to do business a few years ago. He couldn't work in the Northern Continent, so he went to the Southern Continent supposedly to do business, but he got swindled out of a lot of money by the natives there," Tang said with a pained expression. "Why bring up something that's such a misfortune for the family?"

Klein: ...

What a huge amount of resentment!

But thinking about it, it makes sense... Klein was about to say something more when the auditorium doors closed automatically from the outside in, without anyone pushing them.

The mineral lamps hanging on the ceiling inside the door suddenly went out. At that moment, it was as if something had taken away the sound in the auditorium. Everyone stopped talking and looked at the stage at the front of the auditorium.

There, on the platform slightly higher than where they were, a figure appeared rapidly from nothing, as if traversing the dimensions of time and space, under the gaze of everyone.

The lights automatically focused on the figure who appeared on the stage in the auditorium.

Klein first saw a black top hat emerge from the void, and then the black silk top hat was grasped in the hand of a slender finger wearing a white glove.

It was pinned to his slightly graying, black, wavy hair.

A young man appeared on the stage; under the lights, his face was clearly defined with soft features.

The young man had light brown eyes and a composed demeanor. He wore a well-fitting black tailcoat that matched the color of his top hat. He was like a masterpiece of art, and at a glance, one could see the unique aura of a person in a high position that had been accumulated over a long period of time.

Under the concentrated light of the mineral lamps, the man shone brightly, instantly becoming the center of everyone's attention.

Klein stared at the man, slightly lost in thought.

Klein guessed who this person was.

"good afternoon."

Wearing white gloves, Nicolas Flamel removed his top hat and bowed very politely to everyone in the hall.

The hat spun two or three times in mid-air until it pressed against his chest, and then the angel put the black silk hat back on his head.

Under everyone's gaze, Nicolas Flamel smiled and said:
"I saw many familiar faces in the crowd, and I believe many of you already know me. However, in order to accommodate some children who do not yet know me, please allow me to take a little time to introduce myself."

“I am Nikolai Flamel, the president of Miskatonic University, and the designer and witness of this professional ritual magic level test.”

Good afternoon, test takers.

(End of this chapter)