July 15, 1346.
The summer "hunting" banquet had ended a week ago.
Since returning to the manor after the banquet, Altair had used some special channels to attend Conservative Faction "old noble" banquets and gather information. After each banquet, he only sent George III some relatively unimportant intelligence.
With Altair's guidance, Freya and the other two had also learned about the advantages and disadvantages of the twenty-two Pathways.
Vera's choice was easy enough to explain: the Monster Pathway. The reason was simple—it could bring her enough luck. A straightforward reason.
But Freya and Irene's choice of Pathway left Altair at a loss. Both wanted to become Assassins.
Even after he explained that this Pathway was rather unusual, neither of them was willing to change her mind.
The reason was nothing more than the fact that the Assassin Pathway was indeed a little too well-rounded.
Left with no choice, Altair began teaching the three of them some basic knowledge. Black Panther had also been dragged along to listen to the lessons, and in a month, she would be able to take her Potion.
Once they were ready, Altair went to the treasury to find the necessary materials.
After finding enough materials, Altair led the three of them into the "laboratory" and began preparing the Potions.
He had found the Monster Pathway Potion Recipe in the Library.
Luckily, he'd happened to look through it back then when he had nothing better to do. Otherwise, he really wouldn't have had a Recipe for this Pathway.
After all, he'd been born unlucky and hadn't been particularly interested in this Pathway.
If Vera hadn't chosen it, the Recipe might have stayed gathering dust in a corner of the Library forever. He truly hadn't expected that he would ever have a use for it.
As he prepared the Potion, Altair casually recited:
"Sequence 9: Monster. Main ingredients: the tail of a Colorful Carp, one Silver Clover."
"Auxiliary ingredients: 100 milliliters of Murky River Water, three Common Clovers, ten drops of Gou Suan Jiang distillate, and one Lucky Charm."
Once all the ingredients had been added, the Monster Pathway Potion became a cup of indescribable filth.
Looking at the half-finished Potion before her, Vera asked with a mix of disgust, anxiety, and curiosity, "Count Altair, is this Potion ready?"
Altair glanced at her and gave her a mischievous grin. "Vera, hold out your hand."
Vera held out her hand quite naturally, without even asking what Altair intended to do.
Looking at her small, fair hand, Altair pricked her index finger with a Silver Needle. Then he took the pricked finger and squeezed out nine drops of blood over the Potion, letting them all fall into the half-finished mixture.
As soon as the blood touched the Potion, it underwent a dramatic transformation. The unspeakable liquid became transparent, as if it held a rainbow-colored aurora within.
Only after seeing that the Potion looked just as it had been described in the book did Altair feel reassured. He turned to Vera.
She was blowing on her freshly pricked index finger, looking so pitiful that it tugged at the heartstrings. Altair patted her bowed head and said, "Your Potion is ready. You can drink it now."
"Remember what I told you. After drinking the Potion, start meditating as soon as possible, and keep your Spirituality and power under control."
Vera raised her head and looked at Altair, then nodded. Her eyes said, I understand. Don't worry.
She walked to the table, picked up the Potion, and drank it in one go. Then she set down the cup and closed her eyes to meditate.
After watching Vera take the Potion and seeing her Spirituality gradually settle from its initial turmoil, Altair finally relaxed.
Preparing the Assassin Potion was much simpler. Altair had seen Vivian make it before, and with the Recipe on hand, he quickly finished mixing it.
He handed a cup to each of Freya and Irene and gave them the same instructions: after drinking the Potion, they should meditate and control their Spirituality.
Once their Spirituality had settled, Altair found a place to sit and waited for the three of them to finish meditating.
Since Vera had taken her Potion first, she came out of her meditative state not long after Altair sat down.
When she woke, she looked around. Seeing that her sister and Freya were still meditating, she refrained from doing anything dramatic. She simply went over to Altair and waited in silence.
After Freya and Irene came out of their meditative states, Altair began explaining the Method of Acting.
Since he was on the Assassin Pathway himself, he taught Freya and Irene his own method, telling them they could simply follow it to "act."
He had little idea how to act as a Monster, so for now, he gave her the Paper Crane Little Snake had given him and left her to figure it out on her own.
Since the three of them had taken their Potions, Altair had gained another daily task: teaching them Occult Knowledge. His daily routine became getting up and eating breakfast, handling his businesses, eating lunch, teaching Occult Knowledge, having dinner, and going to bed.
Every few days, he also had to attend a banquet and report to George III. Of course, Vivian would come and stay for a few days whenever she had time.
This kind of schedule reminded Altair of the days when he'd had to take all those "noble" classes.
Fortunately, the three learned quickly. Once there was nothing more for him to teach them, Altair arranged for them to have a Combat Class instructor.
He asked Anastasia, his old Combat Class teacher, to train the three of them.
Since the end of June, Anastasia had been refusing to teach Altair, on the grounds that she had nothing left to teach him.
This time, when Altair wrote to invite her to come teach, she refused just as firmly. She only agreed after he explained that the students were new.
July 20, 1346.
Whenever he had free time lately, Altair would disguise himself and attend Secret Gatherings. These gatherings came in all sizes, and he'd even come across someone selling a Sequence Seven Beyonder Characteristic.
But he hadn't had much money on him at the time, so he hadn't bought it. He had no idea what was available above Sequence Seven.
After all, most Beyonder gatherings in Bexland were organized by various groups. If he couldn't find something at a True God Church gathering, he could try looking at another one.
For example, he was about to attend a Secret Gathering organized by Mr. A.
According to Hahn, Sequence Seven Beyonder Characteristics often appeared at this Secret Gathering. Some of the items in the family treasury had been bought there. Bulk purchases came with discounts, and the quality was guaranteed.
After he knocked on the wooden door in a pattern of three short knocks followed by two long ones, it creaked open.
Once Altair entered, the doorman casually closed the door behind him.
Inside, he saw quite a few people sitting around haphazardly. Some had concealed their appearances in various ways, while others weren't afraid of being recognized.
After a quick glance around, Altair looked at the blackboard used for trading.
"One pair of adult Manhal Fish eyes, 200 pounds."
"Sequence 8 Sheriff Potion Recipe, 450 pounds."
"Emperor Roselle's notes, three pages, 20 pounds."
Some listings had already been crossed out. Others had notes saying that the seller hoped to keep the materials until the next gathering, and the like.
Altair was rather disappointed with this gathering. It didn't have anything he needed.
The materials and Extraordinary Items were all too low in grade to be of any use to him.
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