Eternal Life Society

Sergi's idea had been sound. For Aster, the moment he returned home and found that "the alarms he had set up had not been triggered" was indeed when he was most relaxed. That much was obvious from how he had gone straight to get money as soon as he got home.

Sergi had no intention of confronting Aster head-on either. He only wanted to hide somewhere inside the house and steal his target item while Aster rested.

If Aster had still been a Grave Digger, Sergi might have succeeded.

Even if Aster had arranged spirit sentries, it would have been useless, because a Grave Digger could only command spirits to a limited extent. Communicating with spirits and understanding what they wanted to convey were things only a Spirit Medium could do.

But there was no way he could know how far Aster had progressed in digestion, much less that one of Aster's purposes in coming to Tingen had been to seek advancement!

The moment his foot touched the stairs to the second floor, Sergi suddenly performed a difficult backflip. His center of gravity tilted toward the railing, and one hand was already braced against it.

Something was wrong!

Sergi was already drenched in cold sweat.

Aster, watching Sergi from the bottom of the stairs, was not surprised by this. A Clown's [Danger Premonition] allowed them to sense what would happen a few seconds later, and combined with their agility and balance in controlling their bodies, it made them exceptionally skilled at close-quarters technical combat.

Biting the tip of his tongue twice, Sergi activated Spirit Vision and saw a swordfish-shaped spirit body that had just pierced through where he had been standing.

That swordfish-shaped undead had already turned around, staring at Sergi with its three bizarre eyes.

It was not just the swordfish. After activating Spirit Vision, he also saw many things visible only through Spirit Vision—for instance, a great number of spirit bodies and Spirit World creatures that bore intense malice toward him!

Aster had advanced to Spirit Medium?! No, the number of undead he had summoned was at least thirty... I had only seen that many around Chief Rajaks... He was a Spirit Guide?!

Sergi jumped down from the railing and charged toward the second floor without hesitation, aiming for the window at the end of the hallway.

He chose to flee without the slightest hesitation. At Sequence 8, this was no longer a question of whether he could steal the item, but whether he could leave Aster alive!

Sergi leaned his upper body slightly and rammed the window with his shoulder, but the outcome was nothing like what he had imagined: the wooden window frame was unexpectedly hard.

He was bounced back by the glass that should have shattered easily.

"Sorry, sir, but my windows are rather sturdy. If you're interested, I can introduce you to that Artisan..."

Surrounded by spirit bodies, Aster slowly ascended to the second floor. Watching a grotesquely shaped spirit body slowly emerge from the window, the corners of his mouth gradually curled upward.

It was one of the undead Aster had contracted with. In the mystical world, it was known as Grip of Axis. Warriors who died in cold-weapon combat due to their weapons being destroyed had a certain chance of becoming this kind of undead after death. It possessed the power to make weapons sturdier, but Aster had only used it here to reinforce the window and prevent the uninvited guest before him from escaping through it.

Once he realized that "Aster was stronger than he had imagined," Sergi immediately raised both hands and shouted, "Wait, sir, whatever you want to know, I can—"

Fighting a Beyonder at least Sequence 7 in such a cramped space was absolutely unwise. Sergi only hoped that stalling for time would let him find an opportunity to escape. He could accept selling out some information for that purpose. But before he could finish speaking, he felt the time around him slow down.

The surroundings seemed veiled by a pale blue gauze, blurry and difficult to see through. Aster's figure in a black formal suit became layered and overlapping, while the sound entering Sergi's ears grew somewhat piercing as it stretched out. "There's no need for that..."

No need...? What did that mean... He wanted to kill me... Wasn't he afraid... the chief would report his identity as a Beyonder...? Sergi's consciousness gradually scattered, and his body froze in place.

The final sight reflected in Sergi's eyes was Aster raising his hand.

Only after squeezing Sergi unconscious with one hand did Aster blink hard in relief.

This was one of the few spell-like abilities that could be learned during the Spirit Medium stage: Eye of Slumber. Its effect was to gradually slow a target's thoughts to nothing after maintaining eye contact for more than ten seconds. Unless the target suffered a fatal attack or eye contact was broken, it was difficult to dispel the state.

This was purely a PvE skill. Only NPCs who did not understand the skill would fall for it... Those veteran players in the arena would never try to make eye contact with any Death Pathway player.

What a great opportunity. I had just received a new daily quest, and someone delivered himself right to my door... Gripping the stair railing with one hand, he used his foot to turn over the man who had passed out from lack of oxygen. Pinning Sergi's back with his knee, Aster began searching through his belongings.

Cards, weapons only suitable for a Clown... a few soli in cash, he was really poor... Ah, the symbol on this ring looks familiar. I think I've seen it somewhere, but I can't remember. Forget it, I'll just ask through Spirit Channeling later...

After confirming that Sergi was not concealing any mystical items or charms, Aster waved a hand and had a spirit body close the door. Then he took candles and other ritual tools from his pocket and began Spirit Channeling on the spot.

Of course, Aster would not let such a good opportunity to complete his quest slip away. Judging by Sergi's earlier behavior, he was rational enough to rule out the possibility of him being a Blessed of an evil god. And if he were merely a follower of some evil god, there would be no danger as long as Aster did not ask questions related to gods.

"What is your name?" As the candlelight changed from dim yellow to cyan-blue, a faint scent of incense spread through the room. Aster's silver eyes became increasingly indifferent, as if he were examining something.

"Sergi Red..." In Aster's eyes, Sergi's body was still lying where it had fallen, but his spirit body had already sat up, answering in a muddled daze.

"How old are you this year?" ...After asking several simple questions that would not provoke Sergi, Aster finally got to the point. "Which organization do you belong to?"

"I am from the Eternal Life Society..." His tone was hollow and vacant.

Eternal Life Society... It sounded familiar, yet unfamiliar... Aster, a player who had skipped the story, wore the same blank expression as Sergi. To avoid wasting the Spirit Channeling time, he continued asking, "Why did you infiltrate my house earlier?"

"Because I had just divined that infiltrating your house would not be dangerous..." Aster's expression became somewhat strange at that answer.

Whether in the game's story setting or its actual gameplay, players possessed the same special ability: they could not be divined, prophesied, or mind-read. It was precisely because of this incredibly powerful resistance to prophecy and divination that the game's protagonist had been qualified to interfere in the struggles of those at the highest levels.

Aster was merely surprised that this trait seemed to still exist in his transmigrated self.

I can't be sure it was because of the Anti-Divination effect... Maybe he was simply clumsy at the Seer stage... Aster quickly asked the next question. "What did you infiltrate my house for?"

That had been the question he wanted to ask just now, but Sergi seemed to have misunderstood it as "why were you confident it was safe to infiltrate the Crawley Family home at this time," so he changed his wording.

"Our organization has always been searching for Death God relics... The necklace passed down through the Crawley Family..." Sergi's spirit body's cheek twitched, as though he were about to awaken.

The necklace? They were after my necklace? This thing was a Death God relic? Aster suppressed his surprise and quickly asked his final question. "Who is the strongest in the Eternal Life Society?"

"Mr. Rajaks... He calls himself a Sequence 6 Spirit Guide..." The instant he said it, Sergi's spirit body rapidly sank back into his body. He frowned, and his eyelids began to tremble.

Bang!

The pointed toe of Aster's leather boot viciously struck Sergi's temple, kicking him straight back into a deep coma. Aster did not care in the slightest whether he would wake up with a concussion, brainstem damage, or other aftereffects.

"Eternal Life Society, Eternal Life Society... From the name, it seems to have something to do with the Death Pathway. Could it be a subordinate organization of the Numinous Episcopate?" Aster searched the scant story content in his mind with all his might and finally remembered something.

The game's protagonist seemed to have clashed with this organization, directly leading into a side-instance in version 4.0. Aster did not remember much about that instance's boss either, but perhaps that was a good thing. Any boss he could not remember was usually fairly easy—the kind where you attacked whatever appeared and dodged whatever came at you.

Too bad I didn't ask where the Eternal Life Society was... But it's not a big problem. I would have a hard time defeating that Spirit Guide head-on right now, so I should set it aside for the moment... Fortunately, they were not after my life. Collecting Death God relics seemed to be the Eternal Life Society's regular duty. The fact that they had only sent a Sequence 8 Clown to watch me showed that I probably was not among the people they considered especially important...

Aster quickly made his decision. He took a metal box from his pocket, inside which was sealed a pair of black gloves.

—After advancing to Spirit Medium, Aster could use a simplified Wall of Spirituality to seal the Witch's Kiss gloves, greatly extending the amount of time he could carry them.

Putting on the gloves, Aster killed Sergi without hesitation using the Demoness's black flames.

Sergi absolutely could not be allowed to return. Aster had exposed his Sequence 7 level in front of him, and Sergi had remained unconscious and at Aster's mercy for far too long.

As a Spirit Guide, Rajaks of the Eternal Life Society would surely understand just how much information an unconscious member of the organization could reveal after falling into the hands of a Spirit Medium. At that point, the conflict between Aster and the Eternal Life Society would escalate dramatically, perhaps to the point of becoming a fight to the death.