Knowing the Truth

Knowing the Truth

The "Gate of the God Kingdom" was far more magnificent and imposing than Elliot had imagined, or than the books had described.

Elliot was completely dumbfounded.

The two Bronze Gates opened a crack, and a tremendous suction force swallowed the necklace on the altar.

Then the Bronze Gates closed, the vortex vanished, and everything returned to calm.

Only after a long while did Elliot hurriedly lower his head. "Praise the Creator!"

At that moment, he felt that he had gained a new understanding of the Creator. There truly was hope of breaking the family curse! Then he repented inwardly, regretting that he had actually doubted the Creator's abilities before.

Unfortunately, he still could not report the Creator's existence to the family elders. Perhaps one of the family's Sealed Artifacts contained something that could please the Creator.

In the Country of Disorder, Hobart played with the necklace in his hand atop the Iron Throne.

The necklace was silver, its main body an inverted triangle. At the center of the triangle was a sapphire-like crystal, within which a force seemed to swirl endlessly.

Using the authority of the Country of Disorder, he had already understood the necklace's abilities and negative effects. Its first ability was to use the necklace for Spirit Communication, even with living creatures.

Its second ability was highly sensitive Spirit Vision. As long as one wore the necklace, one could see all Undead creatures, easily find their weaknesses, and effectively communicate with Natural Spirits.

Its negative effect was that prolonged wear would gradually turn the holder into a Living Corpse with no emotions, no thoughts, and no signs of life. Therefore, it had to be removed for three hours after every twelve hours of use.

Hobart placed the necklace on the armrest of the Iron Throne. The negative effect was fairly easy to avoid, and it was quite a practical Extraordinary Item. He would no longer need to pray to the Goddess of the Night for help whenever he wanted to communicate with spirits.

However, if he used this necklace with the spirituality of a Sequence 9, it would probably only be enough for one Spirit Communication.

Wait.

Hobart suddenly realized that he could place the necklace in the Country of Disorder, then pray to himself for his own power. Afterward, he could sit upon the Iron Throne and mobilize the spirituality of the Country of Disorder to use the necklace, transmitting its Spirit Communication ability into reality!

In theory, it was possible. He would have to find an opportunity to test it.

Next came naming this Extraordinary Item. Hobart guessed that the Extraordinary Characteristic used to create it had likely come from a Sequence 7 Spirit Medium of the Corpse Collector pathway. However, during its creation, the necklace had retained only the Spirit Medium's primary abilities. The Rituals and knowledge related to spirits granted by the Potion had not been preserved.

Hobart muttered, "Since it came from a Spirit Medium, I might as well call it the Spirit Medium Necklace."

After finishing all this, he felt his spirituality was nearly depleted. Grasping the sacrifice just now had consumed far too much of it.

Hobart glanced once more at the Spirit Medium Necklace, then left the Country of Disorder.

Hobart was exhausted again that night. Ever since I became able to freely enter and leave the Country of Disorder, my sleep quality has actually improved quite a bit.

Not long after lying down on the bed, Hobart fell into a deep sleep.

The next day, to prevent himself from being unable to find a Rental Carriage in the countryside, Hobart simply applied to use one of the Law Firm's two-wheeled carriages.

It took an hour and a half by carriage to reach the village where Penny lived. Seeing the rural scenery on both sides of the road, Hobart joked to himself, Did not expect I'd become a country lawyer.

After getting out and asking for directions twice, Hobart successfully found Penny's home.

It was a very ordinary farmhouse, low and cramped in appearance.

Only Penny's father was home. His beard and hair were gray, and he looked very old.

When he learned that Hobart was a lawyer and had come to see his daughter, the old man hurriedly shouted Penny's name several times.

Then, somewhat awkwardly, the old man explained to Hobart, "Penny went to the riverside. She should be back soon."

Hobart nodded. "That's all right. I can wait."

Sure enough, a few minutes later, a somewhat attractive woman in her twenties returned, carrying a very cute little boy.

Upon seeing the child, Penny's father nearly jumped up. "Why did you bring him back too?"

This woman must have been Penny. Ignoring her father, she looked at Hobart. "May I ask who you are?"

Hobart stepped forward. "Hello, ma'am. I'm the lawyer Mr. Barton hired!"

Penny gave a bitter smile, though she also seemed relieved. "So he did find out after all."

The old man nearly collapsed to the ground. "I told you long ago that we should throw this child away! He'll ruin your entire life!"

The child was playing with a flower wreath in his hands and paid no attention to the adults' conversation.

When Penny looked at the child, her eyes were filled with tenderness. "But he's my son. Who could bear to abandon such a little angel?"

Hobart seemed to see a patch of green grass sprouting atop Mr. Barton's head. That made things easier. Just as he was about to speak, he noticed something was off. "How old is this child?"

Penny replied, "A little over four."

"In other words, he wasn't born during your marriage to Mr. Barton?"

"Yes. When Benny was born, Baron and I weren't married yet."

Thinking about it, Hobart realized that made sense. Otherwise, with ten months of pregnancy, she should not have been able to hide it from the man sharing her bed.

But a new question arose. Why had Penny not become pregnant with Mr. Barton's child during the past three years? Hobart fell into thought, then pulled out the documents from his bag and checked them. Sure enough, Mr. Barton had been married to his former wife for five years, and they had not had any children either.

He asked Penny, "If it's convenient, could you tell me about this child's background?"

Penny was silent for a few seconds before saying, "All right. There are some things he needs to know eventually."

Thus, Penny told her story. Five years ago, a young man had come to the farm. Mr. Barton had hired him to prune the fruit trees.

The young man was sunny and handsome, and he and the young, beautiful Penny quickly fell in love. Then, on a dark and windy night, the two tasted the forbidden fruit.

Not long afterward, Penny became pregnant. When the young man learned the news, he solemnly swore that he would marry Penny and take her home. Yet by the next day, he had vanished without a trace.

Penny asked around and searched for a long time, but she never found him.

As her belly grew day by day, she had no choice but to return home and give birth to the child.

At first, she had felt that working while raising her child was a pretty good life. But Mr. Barton insisted on marrying her.

Penny feared that if Mr. Barton learned she had a child, he would fly into a rage and do something to hurt the boy. So she did not dare tell Baron the truth. To make their marriage happen, Penny's parents had done everything they could to conceal the matter as well.

Because of all the concealment, Penny had always felt indebted to Mr. Barton, and the smile on her face had grown rarer and rarer.

Hobart smiled. "That greatly lessens my sense of guilt."

In the blink of an eye, there were already three hundred recommendation votes. Thank you all for voting, so here is an extra chapter to show my appreciation. o(￣▽￣)d