Lord of the Mysteries

“What’s so special about Qilangos’s magical item?” Audrey asked slightly confidently.

She considered it carefully and suddenly realized that she had a decent ability to locate people in Backlund.

Firstly, her father was one of the most wealthy, connected, and reputable nobles, while she was quite popular amongst the younger generation too. Hence, in the upper-middle class of the society, she had quite a few resources to take advantage of.

Secondly, the two Beyonders that she knew had their own circles as well. Apprentice Fors was originally a clinical doctor, and was now an author. She knew quite a number of people in the literary world and publishing industry, as well as among the middle-class doctors.

Arbiter Xio Derecha had helped many middle-lower class people to coordinate and mediate disputes over a long period of time. She was also quite famous in East Backlund borough among the working class and mafia. She had a lot of hidden channels.

Plus, considering the Beyonders that they knew and their circles of influence, their ability to look for a person wasn’t to be belittled.

Towards Justice’s question, Alger answered almost straightaway without hesitation or thought.

“No one knows the real name of the magical item, but the people who have come into contact with it call it the ‘Creeping Hunger.’ Qilangos uses a living person’s soul and flesh to satisfy it every other day. Otherwise, it would consume its owner as a replacement.”

“This could be one of the most important clues to seek out Qilangos,” Audrey said, creasing her eyebrows.

She felt utter discomfort and extreme hatred towards any evil item that desired a living human’s fresh blood and soul.

“Yes, but in a big city with at least five million people, a few vagrants going missing wouldn’t be noticed,” Alger reminded her. “Ever since he got his hands on the Creeping Hunger, Qilangos has been very difficult to deal with.”

“He was originally a Wind-blessed. He possesses great Beyonder power in domains related to water, wind, and the weather. But, later on, people realized that he could drive his targets crazy, enter the dreams of others, summon light to purify a dead soul, sing to strengthen himself, and change his appearance… There’s almost nothing that he can’t do,” Alger described in detail. “We suspect that those are all effects that came from the magical item, Creeping Hunger…”

Before he finished sharing, Derrick Berg, who had been listening quietly, suddenly blurted, “Shepherd!”

Shepherd? Sequence 5 of the Secrets Suppliant and Listener pathway? Hmm, among the six-member council in the City of Silver, there is a new elder who’s a Shepherd. Sun had mentioned that she’s strong enough to fight against a Sequence 4 expert, well—an evil spirit of the same grade… Klein’s expression changed slightly, but it was covered by the gray fog. Justice wasn’t paying any attention to him either.

“Shepherd?”

“Shepherd?”

and The Hanged Man asked in unison. One sounded completely confused while the other sounded shocked, as though they had heard the title of Shepherd

matter how

with a stammer, “What I meant was, the traits that The Hanged Man described were like the Beyonder power of the Sequence job, Shepherd. Every Shepherd can swallow another’s soul into their body, including wraiths and

one knows how many powers a Shepherd has. That depends on how many Beyonder souls they have swallowed, and that makes them very scary. They’re almost like

suspect that there’s a limit to the number of souls that a Shepherd can consume and let

has in its control is enigmatic… No wonder they worship the True Creator, no, the Fallen Creator… Klein was

boy after all. This is very important information, very important insight. You

item Creeping Hunger is similar to a Sequence 5 Shepherd… I wonder if other Sealed Artifacts have the

Sun’s explanation, Alger seemed to have sorted out the puzzle in his mind

pressed, “Which Sequence pathway is Shepherd

pathway, Sequence 5.” Klein seized the opportunity to

a suspected Oracle

seriously, thinking of what price she could pay in exchange for Mr. Fool to take action and rid off that disgusting fellow effortlessly. However, she couldn’t think of anything that

expected, a figure akin to a god wouldn’t be easily moved… There aren’t many things and

impulse aside, she nodded to The Sun gratefully, thanking him for giving them a new perspective on Creeping Hunger, so that

to accept the mission. But I can’t guarantee if I

secret information or intelligence. And if you succeed, maybe I could provide

Audrey pursed her lips and replied with a

Alger created Qilangos’ portrait with Klein’s permission and

distinctive broad chin, brown hair tied into a bun at the back of his head like

Gathering. He saw Justice and The Hanged Man

right hand and severed the connection, but he

…

household in the

his familiar surroundings and glanced outside at the dark sky that had flashes of lightning. He was momentarily

He searched for goatskin and a quill before

it several times and was finally certain that there was nothing

Beyonder would gain the suspicion of the upper echelons of the City of Silver. This was because in past exploratory expeditions, members of those elite troops would often collect

people kept some of the loot privately. As long as it didn’t involve anything too important, the captains and higher-ups would tacitly overlook

Some became the foundation of strong families from generation to generation. The Things of the Dark surrounding the