Contacting Rube

The floor below was deathly quiet, but Adam could sense that quite a few people were gathered downstairs.

As Jin's black smoke turned into a tattoo upon his body, someone downstairs sensed Adam's arrival as well, though none of them dared come over and disturb him.

"You can convey your words through mental power," Jin guided him.

After trying it out, Adam quickly learned to communicate freely with Jin. Keeping calm, he walked down from upstairs, his gaze sweeping over the crowd. Compared to last time, there were fewer people.

After all, many of the mutants who had survived to this day knew when enough was enough. After receiving the first stage of the Tears of God Ritual, they stopped attending gatherings, cut off contact, and settled down to live peacefully.

But quite a few people chose to remain.

No one knew how long the Tears of God Ritual would remain effective, and the ritual itself had flaws. Its concealment was unable to withstand specialized inspections. In other words, receiving only the first stage of the ritual was still not safe enough.

So quite a few people stayed.

Among them was Leijana. This gorgeous woman had originally planned to leave after obtaining the first stage of the ritual. After all, she owned several clothing shops in the city and had connections with certain nobles. Ordinary inspections would not uncover anything on her.

Yet whenever the time came, she could not help recalling that night. The sight of Adam standing beneath the moonlight had completely occupied her mind. So when she received word that a second gathering would be held, she could not stop herself from coming here.

As Adam slowly descended the stairs, cries of "Mr. Riges" rose one after another.

Leijana stared wide-eyed, her gaze fixed upon Adam. It felt as though the entire world had frozen, leaving only Adam in her eyes.

"Hm?" Adam's keen senses immediately detected Leijana's unusual gaze.

Jin's voice sounded at just the right moment.

"What did you do to that death-omen banshee?" Jin asked, somewhat surprised.

Then, through Jin's explanation, Adam gained a deeper understanding of what was special about death-omen banshees.

Banshees were a major category of mutants. Just as werewolves came in many varieties, banshees were the same.

For instance, harpies, as well as the essence-sucking banshees many people hoped to encounter and learn about.

Death-omen banshees were one such type.

They possessed a special sense for death, able to smell the aura of death on people. Legend had it that when someone was about to die, a death-omen banshee would weep nearby or wash the dead person's clothes.

But that was merely legend. In reality, death-omen banshees could indeed sense when someone carried the aura of impending death. They would then leave a mark bearing that person's aura on a building near them in advance.

This mark connected to the death-omen banshee. When that person died, their death aura would be absorbed by the mark, and death-omen banshees were naturally able to use such death aura to perform certain spells.

"Close to death, yet far from death." That was Jin's assessment of death-omen banshees.

And now, perhaps because Leijana had previously tried to charm Adam, only to have her charm suppressed by Adam's own charisma, Jin judged that Leijana had effectively been struck by a permanent charm spell from Adam.

"At the instant her charm was suppressed, even her mental power and life force were altered." Jin teased, "Just like those pet birds you keep, your mark has been left upon both her mind and body."

"You got a beautiful woman for free. Don't go acting all—"

"She isn't as charming as I am." Adam's mental reply choked Jin off directly.

"But if it is truly as you say, then she would make a very good assistant," Adam said to Jin.

Though the organization gathered here appeared powerful, it was still as fragile as a sheet of paper compared to the Church.

And while these mutants could all be considered cautious, caution did not mean the Church would never discover them.

The organization's current structure involved too many connections. Once anyone was exposed, it would be easy for the trail to lead back to him.

Therefore, from the very beginning, this organization had been positioned as a cannon-fodder organization. Once Adam had used it to accomplish his objectives, he would swiftly sever his ties with it.

In the meantime, Adam could select some capable, ambitious mutants from among them and establish a new organization with full honesty—one more elite and more stable.

At present, the first suitable candidate had appeared: Leijana.

Seeing Adam come downstairs, Will hurriedly approached with two lists in his hands.

Adam swept his gaze across the crowd and reached out to take the lists Will presented. The attendance list from the previous gathering and the attendance list for this gathering were both there.

For most people, not only their names but even their addresses were recorded.

For the second gathering, aside from some whose nature was difficult to conceal, most had taken measures to hide themselves. But those measures were intended to guard against other people.

This time, the means of gathering them had also changed. Most had been invited and transported by people sent by Will, rather than coming alone. This reduced the risk of exposure, but their addresses would also become known to Will's people.

Such a thing would ordinarily make people deeply resentful, but Will had been especially adept at making it happen.

With Adam impossible to contact, Will, who possessed the first stage of the Tears of God Ritual, had become the only hope in everyone's eyes.

He had set the price of undergoing the Tears of God Ritual at neither too high nor too low, then released word that anyone willing to accept transportation would receive a substantial discount.

Will's face was filled with delight. He felt that his career had entered its second spring.

As a commoner on the surface, it had already been difficult enough for him to become a major merchant. Over the years, he had possessed neither the possibility nor the courage to advance any further.

Without deeper backing, rashly expanding his merchant association would only see him carved up by the noble factions.

He had previously provided aid to certain mutants, and after the witch doctor met with disaster, he had actively sought solutions. That was how he encountered Adam.

Will had gambled then, choosing to purchase Room Seventeen and completely expose his true identity. It had been an extremely dangerous thing to do.

But he had received his reward afterward. In the current organization, he could be considered the deputy leader. He controlled most people's lists, and although they were all mutants, they could already help him develop further.

Therefore, he treated Adam, who had given him everything, with even greater respect.

Unfortunately, he did not know about the flaws in the later stages of the Tears of God Ritual, nor had Adam ever intended for this organization to endure.

"There are quite a few of them, all kinds of mutants," Jin said. "That Will is a rare swamp man. He can release poisonous gas, and his body has no fatal weak point, but he fears flames. When exposed to high temperatures, his body dries out and cracks."

"That one over there is a ghoul. They generally feed on human corpses and possess astonishing vitality. When they return to their mutant form, their skin develops a gelatinous layer that can defend against most blades and swords. Their weakness is fire as well."

"There is even a Wendigo. Wendigos are much like ghouls, both feeding on humans. Their bodies are more like incorporeal forms. They can attach themselves to people and mutate their hosts. They possess powerful mental strength and the ability to bewitch hearts and minds. Conventional means find it difficult to kill them. Fire can restrain them, and harming the humans they possess can hurt them. To truly kill them, though, you need to invoke pure mental power or life force."

Jin introduced the mutants to Adam one by one, then remarked that Adam's luck was truly good. He had caught them at just the right time and gathered all these people together with the Tears of God Ritual.

"No matter how many mutants gather here, we cannot forget that this is Church territory." Adam shook his head. "If we are truly discovered, the Archpriest alone could wipe us out."

"But that old man cannot make a move many more times. He is too old, and too strong," Jin said. "If he engages in high-intensity combat, the immense holy power within him will quickly assimilate him, and then he will go meet their god."

"That is why I have no desire to be the unlucky bastard who faces the Archpriest at his strongest." Although Adam's luck had never been particularly bad, he would not place all his hopes upon luck.

"Adel, come in first." Adam entered the basement and called Adel inside.

"I will give you the first stage of the Tears of God Ritual. Then recruit these mutants and contact someone for me." Adam named several people from the list who had not yet undergone the Tears of God Ritual.

"Please speak, Lord Riges." Adel's expression was fervent. Over this period, he had tossed and turned. Not only had he failed to calm down, he had instead become increasingly unable to endure living in obscurity as he once had.

"Sir Rube." Adam sat in a chair, tapping his mask with one hand as he named this time's target.

Thanks to Zerozero_ and Yuming01 for your rewards. Thank you for your support. The second update will come later. I finally managed to adjust my schedule enough to sleep at two every night recently, yet I ended up with insomnia again and stayed awake until four. Please excuse my poor condition.