13 Mink Street

Karon smiled. “In the end, it’s still going to be erased and refined away anyway, so why go to all this trouble?”

Although it was not going to become a fried egg, the way Kevin intended to handle the purple egg would erase it even more thoroughly. What Alfred was currently doing really held no practical purpose.

Alfred solemnly replied, “Preaching to the living always carries some measure of utility. On the other hand, preaching to the dead is done entirely by faith.”

Hearing this, Karon dropped his smile and nodded to Alfred very somberly. “What a pity that the registration for this upcoming selection is rather difficult to arrange. Richard only managed to join because his grandfather used his connections. Otherwise, if you could participate in the selection, you might have also been able to compete for a spot.”

“Your servant has no such intentions. In my view, walking the same road as you, Young Master, would be a great waste. Your servant can develop in other directions to assist you.”

“Thank you, Alfred.”

“Young Master, you don’t need to be so polite.”

“I often say thank you to Eunice too.”

“You’re welcome, Young Master!”

Karon searched the kitchen and found quite a bit of leftover rice. Ciri had prepared dinner, but he had been asleep at the time, and so had not eaten. With time, the dietary habits of the entire funeral home had completely shifted to align with Karon. Even the household’s staples had become rice or noodles. Leftover rice was always the best choice for egg fried rice.

Karon prepared a large bowl from which he served two plates; one for himself and one for Alfred.

Alfred set down the egg and washed his hands. He then took two bits of pickled ginger from the jar, sliced them, and arranged them on a plate before adding some pickled mustard stems. Finally, he brought out two salted duck eggs. Lightly tapping the hollow end of one against the table, Alfred peeled away the small circle of the shell and placed it before Karon.

Karon pulled out an Arts manual from a compartment beneath the dining table and, as usual, proceeded to study Arts while eating. Alfred placed the purple egg on the table and continued to silently communicate with it while he ate. After finishing the late-night meal, Alfred handled the dishes while Karon returned to the study to continue reading there.

When dawn was about to break, Karon slept for a bit in the chair in the study. By the time he awoke, it was already eight o’clock, and he was still full of energy. After washing up again, he returned to the study and dialed the Gorman residence.

“Hello, this is the Gorman residence.” Richard answered the phone.

“How are your injuries?” Karon asked.

“Hmm? Are you showing concern for me? I’m pretty much recovered.”

In truth, as long as Richard did not go on missions together with Eisen, the chances of him being beaten dropped significantly. After all, education with proper justification was far more satisfying than pure venting.

“I’ll come find you. Let’s get some coffee.”

Richard asked expectantly, “Proper coffee?”

“Mhmm. Proper.”

Richard disappointedly replied, “Oh, alright...”

After hanging up, the door to the study was pushed open, and Pu’er entered, sitting on Kevin’s back. “Hmm? Karon, you woke up so early.”

“You slept for a very long time,” Karon replied. “You must have been exhausted.”

“No, I wasn’t!” Pu’er was instantly startled wide awake. “This was nothing!”

“Heh. I’m going out for a bit.”

“I heard. Coffee?”

“Mhmm. I asked Richard out for coffee. Oh, get me a blank scroll suitable for imprinting, and also prepare some energy potions.”

“Hmm? What Arts do you want Richard to imprint for you?”

Karon spread the fingers of one hand and lightly flexed them. “The Gorman family’s array cube. I’ve seen Master Derron and Mr. Eisen use it before, and it seems to be quite useful. Coincidentally, my main focus starting now will be studying and researching ritual arrays. I can’t let Mr. Hoffen’s thoughtful gift go to waste.”

“Will Richard share that with you? That’s his family’s secret technique. It’s practically the foundation of the Gorman family’s status in the Church of Order.”

“He will. In any case, it’s an Art with a bloodline restriction. Even if it’s given to outsiders, no one can use it, right?”

“Just like the Darkmoon Blade?” Pu’er asked.

“You could say that.”

“Fine. Richard really is a prodigal young master.” After a pause, Pu’er added, “Still, being able to squander things so casually really is good fortune.”

“Help me get things ready. I’ll be leaving shortly.”

“Got it, got it. Come on, stupid dog!”

The scroll and potions were packed in a briefcase, and Pike helped Karon hail a taxi. The household hearse and Pons would probably only be delivered later in the day.

By the time the taxi reached the street where they had bought ice cream cones yesterday, it was already nine o’clock. Karon found a proper cafe, and went inside to ask for a private booth. He then took out a piece of Arts paper, folded it into a black crow, and let it fly out the window. Before long, Richard walked into the cafe, holding the black crow as he stepped into the booth.

“I can’t live like this anymore, Karon!” As soon as he arrived, Richard started complaining. “Every day at home, all I do now is read Arts manuals and notes of people’s personal experiences. At night, my grandfather even personally tests me. Ahhh, even when I was in school, I never worked this hard.”

“That’s good. Since you have the right conditions, make good use of them.”

Richard took two notebooks from his pocket and pushed them over to Karon. “These are cheat sheets my family prepared for me. Take them and have a look.”

Karon reached out, accepting the two notebooks with a nod. “Thank you.”

For great families, the most precious legacy was not industry, but knowledge and experience. It was impossible for these two notebooks to have been copied quickly. Richard had probably been preparing them for Karon for quite some time.

“Come on, what kind of relationship do we have? Don’t be so stiff and polite. If you need anything in the future and I can help, just tell me directly.”

“Alright.” Karon placed a blank scroll in front of Richard, along with two energy potions. “Help me by imprinting your family’s Cube Key.”

“...” After hesitating for quite a while and confirming that Karon was not joking, Richard asked in confusion, “Seriously?”

“Mhmm, seriously. If you want to refuse indirectly, you can just tell me that you haven’t learned it yet.”

“My level of mastery is relatively low, but I can still be considered to have learned it.”

“Then imprint it.”

“But even if you take an impression of the Cube Key, you won’t be able to learn it. It requires a bloodline trigger to activate. If you just want to examine and study it, that’s fine, but don’t spread it about. I’m worried someone with ulterior motives might study ways to counter it.”

“I’ll only look at it myself. It won’t be leaked.”

“Alright.” Richard agreed. He placed his palm on the scroll and began the imprinting. Karon took out The Rogart Manor from his briefcase that he had not yet finished, and continued reading. He knew that Richard would definitely need quite a bit of time to finish.

The book was very thick. The protagonist was a wealthy man, and the first half of the story described his life in the manor. It was written like an autobiography. Logically speaking, such an account could easily become dull and tedious enough that readers would struggle to continue, especially with a book that was so thick. The author clearly understood this point as well, so in the first half, he added many of the protagonist’s romantic experiences from childhood and adulthood.

For example, when he was young, he secretly watched his father and maternal grandmother commit incest. A little later, there was an incident between himself and his aunt. After marrying, the book further described his extramarital affairs, including with the maid at home, with other people’s wives, and so on. The first half was filled with such content.

But once the second half began, the entire tone of the book abruptly shifted. Every person the protagonist had encountered throughout the first half turned out to possess another identity. His birth, his background, his growth, even his future, all were parts of a conspiracy and arrangement.

Karon felt the author was probably someone from the ecclesiastical world. Many of the horror elements in the book clearly carried traces of real-world inspiration, but the author’s standing in that circle was likely not very high. Or rather, it was extremely low. It was obvious from the author’s perspective and the things he imagined. Most likely, he was a Divine Servant in some church, and wrote stories in his spare time outside of work.

What could not be denied was that although the book had all sorts of flaws, the tone and arrangement of the reversal that began from the middle of the book truly made the reader experience a sense of exhilaration. If one read it with full immersion, there was a sense of shock. Even the individual stories and characters from the early stage, which had seemed to exist merely to use erotic elements to entice the reader to continue, were later interpreted with another layer of meaning.

Without Karon realizing it, the sun moved to the other side of the sky. It was afternoon when he finally finished the book. The ending was that the protagonist went mad.

Thud! Richard’s head struck the tabletop. He then unsteadily lifted it again. He had already finished both of the energy potions, yet he still looked extremely exhausted. “The imprinting’s finished, Karon.”

“Thank you for the trouble.” Karon carefully put away the scroll and asked, “Should I send you home so you can lie down and rest?”

“So blunt and to the point?”

“But even if I wanted to take you to a pastry shop now, you wouldn’t have the energy to eat pastries.”

“That’s true. If someone stripped naked in front of me and offered service, only for me to fall asleep, it would be too disrespectful to her.”

Karon stood and helped Richard up. After leaving the cafe, he escorted the young man to the street in front of his house. From a distance, they could see a figure in a floral yellow dress by a window on the second floor. It appeared that Richard’s grandmother was drinking tea there.

“Grandma’s home.” Richard asked, “Are you going to come in and sit a bit?”

“No. Next time.”

“Alright.”

“Thank you for the trouble, Richard.”

“Why be polite? It’s only right, brother.” Richard pushed open the courtyard gate and walked in. He took out his keys and opened the front door, and Karon turned around to walk back to the main road so that he could hail a taxi. He wanted to study the Cube Key at home, yet up ahead, he saw an old woman in a floral yellow dress walking towards him with an empty vegetable basket in her hand.

“This—”

Ms. Tansley commented in pleasant surprise, “Look who is? If it isn’t Mr. Karon. I’m just coming back from grocery shopping, and here you are. Come, come, come inside and sit.”

The old woman reached out and grabbed Karon’s arm. There was an impression that she was trying to gently yet forcibly drag Karon into the house. “Ma’am, I still have something to do this afternoon...”

“Sigh, I’m already so old. My children are all busy, and there really aren’t many people I can have a proper heart-to-heart with these days. Fortunately, there’s you. I get along with you, and you can even cook, which is so nice. I don’t have many days left to live anyway.”

Alright... Karon was certain that Ms. Tansley knew who he was, and at the same time, she also seemed to understand that he knew as well. Aside from not explicitly saying anything outright, this was already practically a plea from his maternal grandmother.

“Alright, Ma’am.” He could only agree.

Upon entering the house, Ms. Tansley continued to press Karon, saying, “I’ll go prepare dinner in the kitchen. I’ll follow your recipes from the other day, and after you taste them, you can give me some suggestions.”

“Alright, Ma’am.”

“Richard should be up on the second floor. Go chat with him. That child is rather lazy, so I hope he can learn more from you.”

“Alright, Ma’am.”

Karon went upstairs and pushed open the door to Richard’s room, finding the occupant lying on his bed.

“Hmm? Karon? Am I so tired that I’m hallucinating?”

“No. I decided to come in and stay a bit after all, as well as freeload some dinner. Sleep for a while.”

“Mm, alright.” Richard had a carefree nature, and he simply pulled the blanket over his stomach and went to sleep.

Karon sat down at Richard’s desk and took out the scroll. He placed his hand on it, and began studying the Cube Key that Richard had just imprinted for him.

About three hours later, footsteps were heard outside the room. Karon clenched his hand, causing the Cube Key that had been hovering above his palm to vanish. He casually picked a book up from the desk and pretended that he had been reading.

Casey pushed the bedroom door open. The first thing she saw was her own son lying on the bed, snoring. She then saw Karon sitting at the desk, reading studiously. Her son’s sleeping posture was terrible; His mouth was hanging open and his limbs were sprawled everywhere. Karon, meanwhile, was bathed in the fading glow of the sunset that streamed through the window. No matter how one looked at him, he appeared quite elegant.

Casey pursed her lips. She very much wanted to call her husband over and have him beat their son again right now. Furthermore, ever since her husband had begun intermittently beating their son, his own condition had markedly improved. This child has to be beaten.

“Karon?”

“Ma’am.” Karon stood and greeted Casey.

“Richard’s grandfather is back. He wants you two to go downstairs, to the basement.”

“Alright. I’ll wake Richard.”

Karon did just that. After sleeping for several hours, Richard had recovered quite a bit of energy, yet the moment he heard that his grandfather wanted him to go to the basement, his brow furrowed.

Karon accompanied Richard downstairs, then gestured for Richard to continue to the basement while he walked over to the sofa in the living room.

At that moment, Ms. Tansley emerged from the kitchen, a spoon in her hand as she told Karon, “Karon, you go to the basement too. His grandfather is training him right now, and you should join in.”

“Ma’am, that wouldn’t be appropriate, would it?” Karon automatically refused. It was not that he was embarrassed or thin-skinned, but that he truly felt that there was no need for such a thing.

“What’s inappropriate about it? It’s only right!” Ms. Tansley pointed the spoon toward the basement and ordered, “Go!”

Casey stood beside her and said, “Go on, Karon. No need to be polite.”

I’m really not trying to be polite.

Seeing that Karon still did not move, Ms. Tansley began walking toward him. With no other choice, he could only stand up and head to the basement.

The basement door was still open. After all, the people in the house were all family, and all of them were from ecclesiastical circles. There was no need to conceal anything.

Reaching the doorway, Karon saw Derron was sitting on a sofa with a cup of tea in hand. Richard, meanwhile, was kneeling on the carpet, where a black circle had appeared.

A Cube Key was automatically rotating in front of Derron. Richard sat at the center of the black circle, his expression that of agony.

This was training, yet it was also torture. Oftentimes, torture truly was the fastest way to learn.

Karon knocked on the door. Derron looked up, put a finger to his lips, and then pointed next to Richard, indicating for Karon to go there. The old man naturally assumed that Karon was also there to receive his training. That was indeed the case, though Karon had been forced into it.

Karon walked in. Before stepping onto the black circle, he hesitated for a moment.

Derron silently smiled at Karon, offering reassurance. He was trying to tell the young man to not be afraid.

Karon nodded, stepped into the circle, and moved to Richard’s side. He copied Richard’s posture, kneeling down on the floor. Although Derron was sitting in front of them, no matter how Karon considered things, this old man was his body’s maternal grandfather. For the sake of his “mother,” Karon did not consider kneeling a short while to be too demeaning.

Karon sensed an invisible mental power gathering around him. It was like something was assembling, preparing to launch an attack against him. At that moment, Richard suddenly reached over and grabbed Karon’s arm. Richard was already within the illusion. His eyes were closed, yet he could sense that there was someone trustworthy and familiar beside him, and he instinctively sought their support.

Karon did not push him away. Instead, he closed his own eyes. In the unseen darkness, Karon seemed to see Richard kneeling pitifully and helplessly in the black depths below. Around Richard, all sorts of distorted ghostly shadows were howling and constantly tearing at him.

The same scene then appeared around Karon, yet when the figures approached him and tried to treat him in the same way they were Richard, a membrane with a faintly shining black luster appeared around Karon, completely isolating him from the figures.

This meant that this level of illusion and mental assault could not even break through his defenses. It was like fallen leaves landing on a person’s body; was there any need to raise a shield to block them?

Not only did Karon not need to actively handle the attacks, he even needed to restrain his instincts to counterattack.

Hmm, completely isolating them like this doesn’t seem good either. Should I let a few in to put on a show?

Just as Karon was considering this, Richard looked up. It was as if he was “seeing” Karon. He immediately stood and ran toward him. As he ran, tears streamed down his face. He looked like a bullied younger brother running to his older brother for shelter.

Very quickly, Richard charged straight through Karon’s membrane and arrived beside him. Because the membrane was broken, a large swarm of the distorted ghostly shadows shot at Karon. He frowned.

Self-defense counterattack, begin!

A Black chain surged from beneath Karon’s feet, instantly multiplying into dozens, and then hundreds. They bound the ghostly shadows and then almost immediately tore them apart.

Crack! The teacup in Derron’s hand shattered, splashing tea and tea leaves all over him.

At that moment, there were more than a hundred black chains in front of Karon. They began spreading from the carpet, and instantly covered the walls and ceiling of the entire basement. Every chain aimed at Derron, who was still sitting on the sofa. It looked like vicious beasts were targeting someone to devour them.

Karon opened his eyes and saw Derron covered with tea leaves and tea stains. Looking around, he realized what was happening. Instantly, all of the black chains withdrew into his body and vanished.

“You...”

“Sorry...”