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?”

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

a little. No matter how quiet, depressed, and

can swallow another’s soul into their body, including wraiths and evil spirits. They control these souls to do their bidding with a unique method, which allows them to make use of their abilities, just like a god letting his

on how many Beyonder souls they have swallowed, and that makes them very scary. They’re

people who suspect that there’s a limit to the number of souls that a Shepherd

Sequence pathway that the Aurora Order has in its control is enigmatic… No wonder they worship the True Creator, no, the Fallen Creator… Klein

you are a boy after all. This is very important information, very important insight. You could’ve exchanged it for valuable things, but you just revealed it all!

the magical item Creeping Hunger is similar to a Sequence 5 Shepherd… I wonder if other Sealed Artifacts have the same powers of Beyonders? I wonder

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

got even more curious and pressed, “Which Sequence pathway is Shepherd from? Which

5.” Klein seized the opportunity to answer so as to demonstrate

Suppliant… Aurora Order…” Audrey suddenly recalled Mr. A, who was a suspected Oracle of the Aurora

take action and rid off

easily moved… There aren’t many things and matters that would garner their

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

Hanged Man, I’m willing to accept the mission. But I can’t guarantee if I

with things like secret information or intelligence. And if you succeed, maybe I could provide you the Telepathist’s main ingredients directly.

pursed her lips and replied with a faint

created Qilangos’ portrait

seven major pirate admirals. He had a distinctive broad chin, brown hair tied into a bun at

their insights, Klein smiled as he announced the ending of the Gathering. He saw Justice and The Hanged Man get up swiftly from their seats and bow while The

his right hand and severed the connection, but he

…

Berg household in the City of

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

soon jolted to his senses. He searched for goatskin and a quill before writing down the Bard formula he

at it several times and was finally certain that there was nothing

different 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 some formulas,

of the loot privately. As long as it didn’t involve

around through non-official channels within the City of Silver. Some became the foundation of strong families from generation to generation. The Things of the Dark surrounding the City of Silver were relatively fixed. Some ingredients