After exchanging pleasantries in Altair's room, Vivian left on her own, and they agreed that he would pick her up in the afternoon.
Altair went downstairs by himself and had breakfast.
Since he had added taking a Potion to his morning routine, it was already close to nine when Altair went downstairs to eat.
Hahn had gone out to the Servant Association to hire a housekeeper and some maids.
The reason was Madame Anna. Ever since she had become Altair's teacher, she had needed to speak with Hahn about every little thing.
That was how she discovered the shortcomings: there was no housekeeper, not enough maids, and not even a personal maid. The Earl had always taken care of dressing himself.
As a etiquette teacher, Madame Anna was strict by nature, and she also treated "rules" as the highest standard in daily life. This made her "snap" on the spot. She berated Hahn until he was utterly humiliated, and even Old Clayton got an earful.
Old Clayton was devastated. He had never expected, at nearly seventy, to suffer the greatest setback of his life: a woman had criticized his work, and what was more, she was an "outsider."
Altair did not see his butler again after that afternoon. When they met three days later, Hahn admitted that the mistake had been his.
Altair knew the truth, but explained things to Old Clayton and Madame Anna, taking all the blame upon himself.
Poor Hahn. He had never expected to get "beaten up" by his own father in his forties. He had wanted to hire a housekeeper and maids in Tingen City, but Altair turned him down, saying they would have to find new ones all over again when they returned to Bexland.
So the first thing Hahn did when he got back was go to the Servant Association. He went to interview people first thing that morning. Only after they passed Hahn's screening would Altair make the final choice.
He did not return until almost noon. He said they would have to wait, since none of the people introduced by the Servant Association that morning were suitable.
After lunch, Hahn led Altair into the Sheffield Family Treasury.
Altair knew where the family treasury was, of course, but he wanted to enter the "True Treasury."
Old Sheffield had left in such a hurry that he had not had time to tell Altair about it, so Hahn had to lead the way.
Looking at the layers of Wall of Spirituality around them, Altair asked, "Is this the Sheffield Family's treasury of Beyonder materials?"
"Not all of it," Hahn replied. "These are all Low Sequence materials, and the highest known ones only reach Sequence 6. Some materials are unidentified, so we sort them by their level of Spirituality. Those with low Spirituality are kept here, while those with high Spirituality are stored in the Core Treasury."
"The innermost area is the Sheffield Family's Core Treasury, but I don't know what's inside."
"The door we just entered through is the first one. It can only be opened with a special key. The door at the very back has a special formation, and only you can open it. You just have to truly want it open."
Following Hahn's directions, Altair looked toward the door and casually remarked, "Why is the Crimson Moon of the Evernight Goddess carved on it?"
At Altair's words, Hahn smiled. "Because the Crimson Moon is particularly effective at sealing and suppressing things. Although few family heads throughout the generations have worshipped the Evernight Goddess, and the Church has no reason to help us, we can pay them."
"Although we have to maintain it every year and donate a lot of Gold Pounds to the Church of the Evernight Goddess, it's worth every penny."
Hearing Hahn's answer, Altair wondered, Could this be a Chanis Gate? No, that can't be right! Those gates need the people's faith as energy to suppress things.
His family clearly didn't worship her, so there was no source of energy to maintain the suppression. It was probably something similar.
Putting the thought aside, Altair asked, "Hahn, do we have an inventory? I need to take out some materials."
Hahn immediately opened a cabinet nearby, took out a thick book, and handed it to Altair. "I compiled this two months ago. Take a look. If there's anything you need, I can open the Wall of Spirituality for you."
After flipping through a couple of pages, Altair spotted some of the materials he needed. "That's not necessary. I only need a few simple materials. I'm getting ready to start my mysticism lessons."
"Oh, and Hahn, arrange a carriage. I need to go out this afternoon."
After watching Hahn leave, Altair started looking for the materials he needed.
There were no ready-made Beyonder Characteristics for the Spectator, Apothecary, or Notification pathways. All three pathways were rather unusual. There were hardly ever any wild Beyonders from these pathways.
Spectator:
Main ingredients: the eyes of two adult Manhal Fish, 35 milliliters of Horned Blackfish blood
Supplementary ingredients: 80 milliliters of Pure Water + 5 drops of Autumn Water Lily extract, 13 grams of Ox-tooth Peony powder, 7 petals of Elf Flower
Apothecary:
Main ingredients: the horn of an adult Unicorn Pegasus, 3 grams of Crown Jellyfish venom crystals
Supplementary ingredients: 100 milliliters of adult Unicorn Pegasus blood, 7 Crown Jellyfish tentacles, 10 grams of arsenic powder, the roots of Black Henbane...
Using the numbers recorded in the ledger, Altair found the materials he needed, then used a silver dagger to open the Wall of Spirituality.
He took out the materials, packed them up, and brought them to his bedroom to prepare his Potions.
Following the formulas exactly, he finished preparing the Potions. The three cups looked just like the descriptions in the formulas, so he picked one at random and drank it.
It tasted good. The Spectator pathway Potion tasted like strawberries.
The Omniscient pathway Potion was like sparkling water.
Ugh! The Apothecary pathway Potions were all bitter!
The Spectator pathway granted him observational skills and the ability to analyze microexpressions.
The Notification pathway granted him the ability to make aqua regia and mechanical skills.
Some of the abilities from the two pathways overlapped, improving Altair's memory and ability to learn.
The Apothecary pathway granted him the ability to prepare medicines and a special kind of healthy Spirit Vision.
It looked like he wouldn't have to worry about all the lessons he had to take from now on. With this memory, even if he went back, Roselle's famous words would hold true: with this ability, he could at least become a provincial top scholar.
He was now well-rounded, with observational skills, the ability to build machines and prepare medicines, and powerful offensive abilities.
But he probably wouldn't be able to advance for a while. At least four months of acting as an Assassin would be needed to digest that Potion, and he didn't even know how to be an Assassin.
Surely no one could drink a Potion and immediately become an actual Assassin, could they?
Tap, tap, tap.
Altair opened the door and saw Hahn standing outside. "What's wrong, Hahn?"
"A lot of letters just arrived. They're from all your specialist teachers—painting, piano, dance, etiquette, clothing, jewelry, history, and so on. They all need you to read their letters and reply."
Looking at the stack of letters in Hahn's hands, Altair drew in a sharp breath and marveled at how many teachers he had.
After taking the letters, Altair said, "I'll read them first, then write my replies. Aren't you going out again in a bit?"
"I still need to go to the Servant Association for an interview at three this afternoon."
While Hahn was still speaking, Altair's curiosity got the better of him. He used Spirit Vision to see the purple color around Hahn's head fading, then said, "Hahn, there's no need to rush too much. Remember to get some rest."
Before you continue