"Now that I had confirmed the True Creator's attitude, I wouldn't need to worry about clashing with the Aurora Order in the future. Still, I couldn't let down my guard. The Ancient Sun God might have been a good person, but the True Creator had already gone mad. A madman's goodwill..." Luo Lin chuckled at the thought, shook his head, and turned to another matter:
"Next, I'll take a trip back to Backlund!"
Tomorrow was still the day Xio had arranged for him to attend the Beyonder gathering. If nothing unexpected happened, he should be able to meet Mr. A there.
Though a madman's goodwill needed caution, it was not impossible to make use of it.
At the very least, the Shepherd's abilities were quite useful.
The next day, Backlund.
When Luo Lin arrived at the agreed meeting point, he saw Xio already waiting there.
"Sorry, I'm late. I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long." Luo Lin walked over and spoke with a hint of apology, while noticing an unfamiliar lady beside Xio.
The woman wore a hood and leaned lazily against the wall. Her face was obscured, leaving only faintly visible brown hair beneath her hood.
In an instant, Luo Lin understood who this lady was—Fors Wall, the famous Backlund author, the future Tarot Club's Magician, and the number one person in Lord of Mysteries at lying down and winning.
Among the future Tarot Club members, if there was anyone whose power Luo Lin coveted greatly besides Mr. Fool, Fors Wall was undoubtedly one of them. There was no special reason for it; the Traveler ability was simply truly useful.
Moreover, due to Mr. Door, there were basically no wild Beyonders on this pathway. If Luo Lin wanted to obtain related abilities, aside from buying mystical items related to The Traveler, he could probably only hope to borrow power from Fors.
After all, he could not possibly count on those two Abraham Family traitors in the Aurora Order who had betrayed their master and ancestors, could he?
Of course, if he had the chance to turn them into mystical items, they would still be useful... Luo Lin's thoughts wandered for a moment before he heard Xio briefly introduce Fors beside her. However, perhaps because she did not trust him enough yet, Xio did not reveal her real name and merely referred to her by the codename "Doctor."
After introducing Fors, Xio handed Luo Lin a hood. Only after putting one on herself did she lower her voice and say, "Follow us. Once we get there, don't speak carelessly..." After giving him a few instructions, she led Luo Lin and Fors onto the carriage that had long been prepared nearby.
A few minutes later, the carriage arrived at its destination. The three got out one after another and came before an ordinary-looking wooden door. Xio stepped forward and knocked on it several times in a rhythmic pattern, and the door opened from within.
Luo Lin's gaze immediately fell inside. In the not overly large room, quite a few people were already seated. Most wore hoods or masks like them to conceal their identities, though some, either bold or inexperienced, openly showed their faces.
The most eye-catching person among them was naturally the one seated in a single armchair in the room. He was likewise completely covered by a hood, sitting there quietly and calmly as his gaze silently swept over everyone present, giving off an air of looking down upon them.
"That's Mr. A, a powerful Beyonder. At least mid-Sequence. I even suspect he may be Sequence 6. He's also the organizer of this gathering." Xio introduced him in a low voice, her expression somewhat serious.
At that moment, Mr. A, who had been sitting quietly, suddenly tilted his head slightly, as if listening to something.
The next second, as though he had finished listening, Mr. A suddenly raised his head and looked in Luo Lin's direction.
"He truly is a very powerful Beyonder." Luo Lin's expression did not change as he calmly met Mr. A's eyes. He could sense the fanaticism within them; evidently, Mr. A had likely received an oracle from the True Creator as well.
Not only that, Luo Lin confirmed something else. In that instant when their gazes met, Mr. A's favorability toward him had skyrocketed, reaching the point where Luo Lin could directly borrow all the abilities of a Sequence 6 Rose Bishop.
Though that seemed to be only one Sequence higher than Azzik's Sequence 7, the key was what Sequence Mr. A had been at his peak, and what Sequence Azzik had been at his peak. The latter only needed to become an ordinary friend for Luo Lin to borrow Sequence 7-level power, while the former needed to at least be a one-sided close friend for him to borrow Sequence 6. The next step would be friends bound by life and death.
Well, damn!
Was this what a zealot was like?
Luo Lin blinked, then gave Mr. A a small smile before looking away toward the blackboard in the center of the room. With interest, he asked, "Is that where trade requests are registered?"
After introducing Mr. A to Luo Lin, Xio's attention had naturally been drawn to the blackboard, so she did not notice the brief exchange between Luo Lin and Mr. A. At this moment, she searched the board for what she wanted while lowering her voice:
"Yes. Gathering members can anonymously write their requests on the blackboard, whether they want to buy or sell something. You're a Beyonder too, so you should understand that many members do not wish to expose their information."
"I understand." Luo Lin nodded, his gaze quickly sweeping across the blackboard. He saw the names of many common spiritual materials, as well as several potion formulas and books of mysticism knowledge being sold.
"What do you want?" Fors had already finished reading the blackboard. After confirming that no one was selling the Trickmaster potion formula, she sighed in disappointment before casually asking.
"I want to purchase some spiritual materials to practice Ritual Magic." Luo Lin answered without hiding anything. This was indeed one of the reasons he had come to this gathering.
Thanks to the identity of "Luo Lin Soroast," Luo Lin did not lack basic mysticism knowledge. His high spirituality was also enough to support him in learning and using many forms of Ritual Magic. However, theory and practice were ultimately different. Luo Lin did not know the field of Ritual Magic in this world particularly well, so he naturally needed to spend time practicing.
Luo Lin knew very clearly that although the Shadow of Time skill allowed him to easily borrow the power of others, external power was ultimately external. From beginning to end, Luo Lin had understood the Shadow of Time skill's flaw—it relied too heavily on others' favorability. Once Luo Lin fell out with the big shots and had no one left to borrow power from, he would be finished.
Favorability could be reliable when it was reliable, but it could also be truly unreliable. Besides, where was it so easy to raise favorability to its maximum value?
Take Mr. A, for example. His favorability toward Luo Lin could soar because of an oracle from the True Creator, and naturally, it could also drop to zero because of an oracle from the True Creator.
Before you continue