LRAB Chapter 91 The Invitation of the Eternal Oath
Chapter 91 The Invitation of the Eternal Oath
Bald Toby looked at Kayla with some surprise and blurted out, "You used to be a member of the 'Eternal Serenity Church'?"
Kayla did not answer directly, but simply sat back down quietly.
Suren thanked Kayla, but a question lingered in his mind: 'Even if she possesses similar abilities, Bald Toby can't be so sure she's a member of the Church.'
According to Suren's own theory, as long as the target of the spell is correct, ordinary people with abilities can also obtain the corresponding abilities. Besides, isn't Professor Derwent an ability user with the ability of "equivalent exchange"?
Seemingly sensing Suren's doubts, the white-haired girl gently leaned closer and whispered, "The 'Eternal Silence Church' has rather unique abilities, and there are currently no corresponding folk rituals."
Suren understood. Indeed, if it weren't for the existence of the Book of Secrets, he probably wouldn't have been able to determine that the source of his abilities was the so-called "Secrets".
Because she found the direction of her abilities so easily, Suren subconsciously overlooked the difficulty of designing the promotion ceremony.
Toby, unperturbed by the lack of response from Kayla, chuckled and rubbed his bald head, muttering to himself, "This is strange today. That Henry was from the 'Shield of Watchers' church, and now this member of the 'Eternal Silence Church' has shown up. When did the church become so approachable?"
Suren recalled Henry's ambiguous words, and also remembered that neither the "Eternal Silence Church" nor the "Shield of Watchers" had participated in the previous purge.
A strange conjecture arose in his mind: Did the Church of Eternal Silence, like the Shield of Watch, have different doctrines from the other two churches? If so, perhaps the four major churches were not a monolithic entity?
For the rest of the time, the group did not exchange any further words. The caravan's wagons traveled along the paths built by the church. According to the route map provided by Loft, the caravan's journey on the first day was along official routes, so there was not much danger.
Night fell quickly, and the caravan stopped at a relatively safe outpost.
Despite being called a sentry post, this place is actually just a solitary obelisk with intricate rune patterns covering its surface. It serves a similar purpose to a rune lamp, but with a larger range, ensuring that the area within a hundred meters is free from demonic interference.
Suren was sitting by the fire, munching on dry bread, pondering his future plans.
Suren has only two goals: to become stronger and to seek revenge.
However, both of these goals are too far away. He has just been promoted to "Awakener". Not only are the requirements not met, but he doesn't even know the materials needed for the ritual to be promoted to "Agent".
As for revenge, Suren's current strength is simply insufficient to achieve it.
At this stage, the more pressing issue is settling down in "Libraton." I need a place to live, a legitimate identity, and a stable source of income.
Suren's "Revelation" is a very strong ability, and she would be best suited to be a detective.
This was also Suren's original plan, but today his disguise was seen through by the white-haired girl, which was a real blow to Suren.
While theoretically, Suren's current level should be able to prevent "Agent" level superhumans from spying on him, there are various other mysterious forces in this world. The detective profession, which is too high-profile, would inevitably come into contact with church officials, making the probability of exposure too great.
Suren glanced at Charles, who was discussing something with Loft in the distance, and a vague idea formed in her mind.
Opening a secondhand shop in the community might be a good option, as it would allow one to come into contact with all sorts of unusual items and broaden one's horizons.
Just as Suren was pondering, the sound of footsteps reached his ears.
Suren turned her head and saw that it was the white-haired girl.
She took out a handkerchief and placed it on the ground to Suren's right, then gently sat down next to Suren.
Her purple eyes gazed silently at Suren as she slowly uttered a string of words: "Aiselin Lucia Sterling."
Suren nodded slightly, then looked up at the sky, where a raven was circling.
"Miss Sterling, I actually think you should train your raven to make as little noise as possible; it's too easy for it to give itself away," Suren said with a smile to Etherine.
Aiselin paused for a moment, then chuckled softly and nodded, saying, "You're much kinder than I imagined."
"Just because I'm not a member of the church anymore, right?"
Suren waved his hand, took a bite of the cold, hard bread, and mumbled, "It seems you have a great hatred for the church, but wasn't Kayla also once a member of the 'Eternal Silence Church'?"
"Can't you be a little more polite?" Etherine frowned as she listened to Suren's indistinct words.
Suren shrugged and did not respond.
He always felt that the "Eternal Oath Knights," as an underground organization, were too fixated on aristocratic etiquette.
She sighed and continued, "We're just more hostile towards the Libra Church, but all churches are the same. As for Kayla, it's not convenient to talk to you about that right now."
"You didn't come here so late at night just to talk about this, did you?" Suren stuffed the last piece of bread into her mouth and looked at Etherine.
Aiseline's gaze fell upon the burning fire, watching the leaping flames, and she slowly asked, "Are you interested in joining the 'Eternal Oath Knights'?"
Suren wasn't surprised by Aceline's suggestion, but he still had some questions. He asked, "You and Kayla temporarily joined the caravan just for this?"
"That's right." Etherine raised her head, her gaze falling on Suren's face, and nodded seriously.
Suren frowned; this answer was unexpected.
He had initially thought that Charles's caravan had something important that would warrant their attention, but he hadn't expected that they were simply trying to win him over.
In Suren's view, this was not a good thing, at least on the surface he did not have anything special about him.
With that thought in mind, Suren simply shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, but I don't really want to join any organization. I prefer freedom."
"Freedom..." Etherine paused, then repeated the word.
Suren looked at the girl in front of him with some curiosity, and he involuntarily tilted his head.
Seemingly realizing her lapse in composure, Eiselin turned to look at the sky and changed the subject: "Actually, it doesn't require you to fully join or sign a complete membership contract. It's more like a collaboration."
Etherine had regained her usual composure. She turned to look at Suren and said, "You can consider it. Becoming a peripheral member of the 'Eternal Oath Knights' has many benefits."
"Why choose me?" Suren was still a little confused; the other party was being too persistent.
Aiselin shook her head, exhaled softly, looked into the distance, and said slowly, "I'm not sure about that either. If you've thought it through, once we reach 'Libraton,' I'll take you to our base and introduce you to my mother—the leader of the Eternal Covenant. You'll get your answer then."
"The questions you had on the carriage will be answered after you join us. Think it over again." After saying that, she didn't wait for Suren's response, but stood up, put away her handkerchief, and turned to leave.
Suren sat there, listening to the girl's footsteps fade into the distance, her mind filled with a myriad of thoughts.
First it was the "Weavers of Fate", then the "Eternal Knights", and even the "Gate of Truth" all showed me goodwill. What is it about me that makes them so interested?
Suren had once suspected that the "Mirror Demon" had attracted the attention of others, but in all honesty, if he were one of these local organizations, and if he really knew of the existence of the "Mirror Demon," his first reaction would definitely be to eliminate Suren, and he would never think of trying to win him over.
Moreover, even the Church, which had ruled the Protectorate Continent for many years, had not been aware of the existence of the "Evil in the Mirror," so the probability of these unstable grassroots organizations knowing about it was even more extremely low.
In fact, Suren felt that only one person could possibly know about the "Evil in the Mirror," and that was the mysterious old elf, who might even know more than he did.
Aside from the possibility of the "evil spirit in the mirror," another possibility is the "Book of Secret Knowledge" controlled by Suren. After all, it was transformed from the "General Knowledge Manual" that already existed in this world, making it more likely to attract attention.
Suren stretched and decided to stop thinking about it. Perhaps the three organizations had different reasons for wanting to win him over, and there was no point in guessing.
……
Aiselin returned to her tent, where Kayla had just finished making the bed. Seeing Aiselin return, Kayla greeted her with a smile and asked curiously, "How did it go, Miss? Did he agree?"
Etherine shook her head, sighed, and said, "No, he's very cautious. He'll probably observe for a while before considering joining us."
"Miss, what is so special about this Mr. Suren that makes the leader value him so much?" Kayla still couldn't understand.
Aiselin sat on the prepared mat and shook her head again. As she let her ponytail fall over her shoulders, she said, "Don't think too much about it. Mother has her reasons for doing this. We just need to follow her instructions strictly. Besides, this Suren Cheen is indeed different from ordinary 'Awakeners'."
She removed the brooch from her chest and placed it in her palm, her tone tinged with doubt: "You know, the 'Hidden Heart' is a high-level blasphemous creation that can see through the disguise of the 'Agent' level, but it can only barely see through a small part of his disguise."
"Miss, don't you have a powerful ability to see through illusions? Even with both of those abilities combined, you still couldn't see through his disguise?" Kayla was also somewhat surprised.
Etherine pinned the brooch back to her chest. She inexplicably recalled Suren's various bizarre methods that night. Just as Teacher Elisa had said, she had indeed not encountered such a strong opponent in a long time.
……
The night passed quickly, and the next morning arrived. After tidying up a bit, the group set off on their journey.
The journey on the second day was not as easy as the first. After traveling for about two hours, the superhumans in the group got off the carriage. The next part of the journey required them to cross the wilderness area, and the superhumans needed to clear out any potential threats in advance before they could continue.
Fortunately, Mr. Charles provided a fairly detailed map of the monster's distribution, which allowed everyone to accurately eliminate the threat and save a lot of time.
Suren couldn't help but marvel at Charles's wealth, knowing that maps like these are usually time-sensitive and quite expensive.
If it's simply about saving time, there's absolutely no need to expend so many resources.
More likely, Charles did it to avoid the official church checkpoints along the road.
It's unclear what exactly was in Charles's shipment that made him so afraid of church scrutiny.
However, Suren was too lazy to care about so many things. He was paid to do his job, so he just needed to do his duty.
Time quickly passed to afternoon. During this time, the mercenaries cleared out three Level I evil spirits. Suren did not participate, so he did not receive any spoils.
Compared to cleaning up those demons, Suren found observing the fighting styles of other superhumans more interesting and also broadened his horizons.
Although most superhumans still fight with firearms, some of them do use superhuman abilities.
What Suren found strange was that several people had exactly the same abilities, and even the special symbols that appeared when they released their abilities were identical.
Of the ten extraordinary individuals in the team, excluding Suren, who is an anomaly, three share the same ability—this ratio is far too high.
The group was resting in a shady spot when Suren approached Etherine and whispered, "Are there very few types of superhumans among the common people?"
"Yes, if you don't join an organization with mature rituals, becoming an Extraordinary is like gambling, which is why Extraordinary individuals in the general population have never amounted to much." Etherine didn't show any aversion to Suren's ignorance, after all, she knew that Suren was an official Extraordinary, so it was normal for him not to understand this kind of knowledge.
She glanced at Suren, gestured with her long, slender fingers, and said softly, "Including the church's superhumans, there are currently only about ten known relatively stable superhuman abilities."
"Only ten kinds?" Suren blurted out in surprise.
Suren couldn't help but think of Ellie, who had failed to advance. Although Suren had long deduced from Ellie's case that there were abilities that humans could not bear, he had not expected that the amount that could be borne was so small.
Aiselin nodded, looked at Suren seriously, and said meaningfully, "Of course, this is just a rough number. Occasionally, there will be special superhumans like you, but they usually don't live long."
Suren stroked his chin, ignoring the sarcasm in Etherine's words, and asked in return, "Is it because of the rules?"
"That's right." Aiselin was somewhat surprised; Suren's reaction was faster than she had expected. "After all, because of their small numbers, they need to summarize the rules themselves. If there is any misunderstanding, death is all that awaits them."
"That's really cruel." After hearing Etherine's words, Suren couldn't help but sigh.
Aiselin glanced at Suren in surprise, then chuckled, "I thought you were always so rational."
"How long have you known me?" Suren muttered to himself. He shrugged noncommittally and turned to walk towards Bald Toby, intending to gather some information.