Lord of Mysteries: The Color of the Stars

Upon hearing this, Julian reached out and took the stone, admiring it with a face full of curiosity.

The stone was about half the size of his palm and felt very cold to the touch.

Under the light of the gas lamp, it displays a dazzling array of colors inside, as if a rainbow has been frozen within it, making it look exceptionally dreamlike.

"This polar pyroxene is at least 2200 years old and originally cost 700 pounds, but I got it for you for 660 pounds."

After a pause, Vincent continued:

"Of course, you will need to pay me an additional 5% commission. You should know my rules... This is already the best price for us as fellow countrymen. After all, I usually charge outsiders 10%."

"You've already given me a £200 deposit, so give me another £493 now, and we'll be even."

"no problem."

Julian nodded and pulled out a 500-pound note from his pocket:

"Keep the change from the remaining 7 pounds. Buy some good food for Grace; she needs nutrition while taking care of the child."

As he finished speaking, he touched Ethan's head with his fingers and winked at Grace.

After all, it's not cheap to buy a snowy owl as a pet normally. Grace is basically giving her child to Julian for free, so he should at least show some appreciation.

"Alright, then we won't stand on ceremony."

Vincent put the money away and placed it in the drawer.

"I'll keep an eye on 'Pseudo-Language Disaster Beast' for you. Give me your contact address later, and I'll write to you when I hear anything."

"Okay, thank you."

Julian quickly wrote down his contact address in Tingen for Vincent, then asked:

"Before I came here yesterday, your shop should have served a customer... a young man, tall and thin, blond and blue-eyed. Do you know him?"

You mean Calvin?

Vincent nodded:

"That guy calls himself Calvin Walker, but nobody knows his real name. He's a 'hunter' from Intis and usually hangs out with the Zmanger Party."

"He would come to my place to sell stolen goods once or twice a month. Although we didn't talk much, we were still acquainted."

"What's wrong? Have you seen him anywhere else?"

Julian paused briefly upon hearing this before replying:

"When I was having coffee on the street today, I saw him sneakily following a young girl, and I stopped him out of a sense of justice."

"Then we had a fight, and he was no match for me and ran away."

"Hey, why are you meddling in this?"

Vincent chuckled:

"The Zmanger Party is a tough nut to crack. It's a good thing you don't live in Backlund, otherwise you would have faced retaliation sooner or later."

"Won't you be affected, since you and I know each other?"

Julian asked again.

"Don't worry, I encounter this kind of thing all the time... Many of my customers are enemies. There was even a time when a gang member killed another customer here, almost getting the police involved."

Vincent shook his head:

"Luckily, that bastard was somewhat law-abiding and dragged the body away himself, otherwise I would have been in big trouble. Tsk tsk."

"Not to mention I'm a Sequence 7 Beyonder, and I even have a Sequence 8 owl. What can a low-sequence rookie like him do to me?"

"Alright, just be careful... That guy named Calvin is no ordinary person; his strength might be more than just Sequence 9."

Julian added, but seeing that Vincent still didn't seem to care, he had no choice but to give up.

After saying goodbye to Vincent and Snowy Owl Grace, he took Ethan on the last steam train back to Tingen.

Julian wasn't very sleepy because he had rested for a while on the train.

So when he got home, he didn't rush to sleep, but instead started looking for something in his luggage.

"...Found it, this is it."

It was a glass bottle containing a string of short, white ropes that looked like tree roots.

This is the extraordinary characteristic of the "Reader"—the main ingredient of a potion that the original owner helped one of his students collect when he was in Lenburg. However, before he could hand it over to the student, he was corrupted and killed by the "Starry Night".

Julian was in a hurry to escape and didn't have time to hand it over, so he just took it with him to Tingen.

The extraordinary properties of this "Reader" are perfect for Ethan to take—yes, Julian has decided to make him a "Reader."

There are several reasons for making this choice.

First, Julian himself was very familiar with this path, and therefore knew that extraordinary individuals of the "Reader" path were not only highly proficient in knowledge and analysis, but also very skilled in ritual magic.

This means that if Ethan becomes a "reader," he can help Julian in many ways, including knowledge research, analysis and strategy, and combat, which will save Julian a lot of trouble.

In addition, as a former Knowledge Church Beyonder who had fully digested the Sequence 9 to Sequence 7 potions of the "Reader" pathway, Julian had a detailed summary of the rules for playing this pathway, which enabled him to help Ethan grow quickly.

The remaining two important reasons are that "The Reader" will not attract attacks from "Starry Night", and Julian does not need to pay extra for "The Reader" potions, thus achieving both safety and economy.

Seeing that Ethan seemed to have no objection to the choice, Julian set up a beaker and began to mix the potion.

"50 ml of blood from the Book-Eating Worm, 10 grams of the corrosive substance from the root of knowledge addiction, 50 ml of strong liquor..."

He added the supplementary materials one by one, and then took out a notebook he had previously used for studying and researching, which was filled with all kinds of knowledge, and threw it in.

The supplementary materials for the "Reader" potion require one of the Ascended's own study notebooks, which will help Ethan quickly adapt to and control the power of the "Reader" potion after taking it.

However, according to the Church of Knowledge, there are actually alternatives in some cases, although they are more complicated.

For example, while Julian uses certain ritual magic to limit the contamination of "Star Colors", he can directly use "Scholar's Legacy" to briefly share the knowledge he has acquired related to this notebook with Ethan. In this way, on a mystical level, the knowledge Julian possesses becomes Ethan's.

Although the shared knowledge of "Legacy of Scholars" doesn't last very long, it's sufficient if you only take a Sequence 9 potion.

With its extraordinary properties added to the beaker, the "Reader" potion was quickly prepared.

It was a glass of white liquid with obvious dust suspended in it, giving it a unique, hazy appearance.

After Julian finished setting up all the auxiliary magical rituals, he looked at Ethan, who had opened his eyes at some point and was looking at him with a nervous gaze.

He chuckled and stepped forward, gently calming the little owl.

After a while, he continued:

"Open your mouth, drink this potion, close your eyes and concentrate... Your mother should have told you about this."

"Waaah~"

Ethan let out a cry, then winked at his master, opened his beak, and tilted his head back slightly.

Julian nodded in satisfaction, then slowly poured the "Reader" potion into Ethan's mouth!