Chapter 64: Chapter 064
A train pulled up into Backlund, and puffed to a stop. Thousands of passengers got off, overwhelming the platform briefly. Among the throes of people was Alvin, who was just returning from his excursion to Blue Cliff Cave, which he had named.
He didn't do too badly during this trip. Not considering the anti-ageing plants and the extraordinary characteristics seemingly scattered on the floor that you could pick up if you closed your eyes, he had a pretty decent gain other than that too.
The Apprentice characteristic was always in demand, as were the characteristics from their entire Pathway, as neat escape mystical items could be made from them. If he managed to get a hold of a decent artisan, he could probably make something similar to the Master Key once owned by Klien, minus the godly roar when it was destroyed of course.
The Lucky Necklace, though a mystical item of Sequence 7, was worth maybe more than 5,000 pounds according to Alvin, as its application was virtually limitless, and negative effects were not so severe that it could cause irreversible harm, as it could be resisted and mitigated. He could make a pretty penny selling it anywhere. He had to sell it, because he discovered that the luck changes wouldn't affect him. Just like Klien, he was probably immune to direct luck changes. He suspected that it was due to the Red Castle, because before he acquired it, he was affected by the luck suppression from the Ouroboros mark before.
Also, in the memory of Ennoru, he found multiple incidents or happenings related to Beyonders on the road to and from Backlund during each of his trips. He was unaware or unwilling to use the opportunity, so for those that still existed, he gladly tracked them down and benefited from them.
Now, in the Red Castle there were a bunch of Beyonder ingredients, extraordinary characterises, and mystical items which he had got along the way.
Alvin stretched, and decided to first visit the Saint Samuel's Cathedral. Gordon had approved when he asked for two weeks off, but had asked him to meet him as soon as he came back. Alvin decided to take it in a literal sense, and went to the Cathedral straight from the train station.
Alvin's digestion of the Provoker potion was almost complete. While he hadn't been completely focusing on it, he spared some time every now and then to practise it. Coupled with his grasp of psychology, he was getting decent at it too.
According to his own estimates, he needed to apply his Provocation powers successfully in an actual fight to completely digestion the potion. Another reason he was eager to meet the Nighthawks was wondering if they could point him towards a good fight. If not, he would have to find a Beyonder target to hunt, taking care not to piss off the official Beyonders due to collateral damage.
After informing Gordon of his arrival, Alvin sat down on the usual bench. And as usual, with the appearance of a flower pattern on his shoe, Gordon sat down next to him.
"How was your trip?" he asked first.
"Very good. It couldn't have gone better" said Alvin honestly.
Gordon nodded, and said, "It's good that you are here. We were just about to start without you, but since you are here, you can join the operation" said Gordon.
"What operation?" asked Alvin.
"Operation - Teach the Zmanger Gang their place" said Gordon with a harsh glint in his eyes.
Alvin stayed silent.
"How much do you know about the backing of the Zmanger Gang?" asked Gordon.
"They seem to be some underground forces cultivated by the Intis Republic for intelligence, resources, and dirty work" said Alvin honestly.
"Indeed. And the royal family and the military tolerate them, as they are okay with Intis' force in Backlund as they have their own forces in Trier. It was a compromise by both sides. They would inevitably want to establish a force in the other's territories, and having a force in the open, which is monitorable is much better than a force existing in the dark" said Gordon.
"However, they are just supposed to be a small force, who will be allowed to exist as long as they stay within their limits. But the Zmanger Gang seems to have forgotten that" said Gordon. "You remember the person who held off Hannah and Raleigh during the fight outside your bar? He is Rosago. Partly due to the Church of Evernight, it is very difficult for his Pathway to be promoted to Sequence 5. And it is rumoured that they are one of the toughest to deal with once they do reach Sequence 5. But in a stroke of luck, Rosago succeeded. But instead of laying low and assisting the ambassador as he was supposed to, he is stepping out of bounds. He is rapidly expanding the Zmanger Gang, which now now more than a dozen Beyonders in Backlund, far more than the allowed limit. Also, he now seems to have no qualms provoking the Nighthawks. Be it their involvement in that huge fire that caused such a big scene, the fact that he kept fighting even after realising that it was the Nighthawks outside your bar, or the fact that he nearly caused two deaths among the Nighthawks in the past few days, the Church of Evernight has had enough. We submitted an application to the higher-ups to take action, and they discussed it with the royal family and nobility of Loen. The application to take action was approved. We have permission to attack the Zmanger Gang. There are a few restrictions, but still, we can give them a painful lesson, and knock them back into being a small time gang. We could use your assistance during this operation" said Gordon.
"Well, we still have some stuff to hash out with the higher-ups. I will take care of that. Have a good rest today, so you can get up bright and early tomorrow. We will all gather at your bar at 9 in the evening tomorrow for the operation" said Gordon, as he got up and faded away.
Alvin was pleased that there was a fight tomorrow. It was the 27th of June tomorrow, the day of the blood moon, and the transmigration of the original protagonist. If he managed to digest the potion after this fight, and was willing to splurge, he could probably become a Pyromaniac before he hunted the Spectre in the Red Castle.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone