Beyonder gathering

"Hey! Watch out!"

Carrying a suitcase and a bag on his back, Lorne scrambled out of the path of a speeding carriage.

This was already the third time today.

But Lorne could hardly be blamed. For a Transmigrator like him, Loen's rule of keeping to the left was far too counterintuitive, and the roads were nowhere near as wide as those in his old world.

Watching the people flowing around him and feeling the setting sun on his face, Lorne felt a little melancholy, as though he alone did not belong in this world.

For some reason, he felt as though something inside him had loosened.

"Forget it. No point dwelling on all that." Lorne steadied his emotions and continued toward the Grizzly Bear Bar.

After a while, Lorne arrived at the Grizzly Bear Bar, though the suitcase in his hand made him look out of place. After ordering a drink as he had last time, he found "Bottle" in the innermost room on the second floor.

"I'd like to leave my suitcase and bag with you for now. I'll pick them up when it's over."

"I'll pay you for storing them," Lorne added as he looked at Bottle.

"Sure."

Bottle nodded.

"Oh, and I'd like to buy some weapons."

Bottle glanced at Lorne and asked, "What do you want?"

"A handgun and ammunition for it," Lorne replied.

Originally, Lorne hadn't needed a weapon all that badly, but his current situation was dangerous. He was unarmed, and the Monster potion hadn't given him any offensive abilities, so he could only buy something to defend himself.

Bullets might not work against Beyonders, but at least they could give him some sense of security.

"Three pounds," Bottle quoted.

"I'll give you a revolver and sixty rounds. I'll even throw in a Gun Holster."

"Believe me, that's a fair price. If you weren't a regular, I wouldn't give you such a good deal."

Lorne lowered his head, recalled the prices of similar items from his memories, and nodded.

"All right."

Lorne took out three pounds in banknotes and handed them over, then took out another two soli.

"For storing my things." As he spoke, Lorne handed his luggage to Bottle.

Bottle took Lorne's luggage without comment, but when he picked up the bag, he found that it suddenly started moving.

"Something alive?" Bottle asked in puzzlement.

"My pet." Lorne's eyes shifted evasively, and he offered no further explanation.

A Beyonder pet, admittedly, Lorne added inwardly.

"Wait here a moment." Bottle carried the luggage to the door.

After watching Bottle leave the room, Lorne lowered his head to examine the card table beside him.

He found that the cards looked much like the ones he remembered. The rules in his memories were also identical to those of Fight the Landlord from before his transmigration, except that the game had a different name: Fight Evil.

Could this be Roselle's work again? The name sprang unbidden into Lorne's mind.

About five minutes later, Bottle pushed the door open and entered with a small wooden box in his hands.

Lorne took the box and opened it immediately. Inside was a revolver with a black barrel and a mahogany-colored grip. It looked new, its entire surface gleaming under the light.

There were also sixty gleaming brass cartridges.

Lorne took out the handgun and examined it. He had no idea how to test a gun; neither he nor the body's original owner had any knowledge of such things. Only with Bottle's guidance did he manage to open the cylinder and take a look.

My intuition tells me there's nothing wrong with this gun. Lorne reached his conclusion as he set the handgun down. Now that he was a Beyonder, he chose to trust his intuition.

Seeing how inexperienced Lorne was, Bottle asked, "Do you know how to use this Gun Holster?"

"Uh..." Lorne shook his head awkwardly.

With no other choice, Bottle showed Lorne how to put on the Gun Holster.

After some fiddling, Lorne successfully stowed both the gun and the ammunition.

"It's almost time. Come with me, kid," Bottle said after glancing at the clock on the wall.

Lorne followed Bottle to the bar's back door and entered a pitch-black alley. After several turns, they arrived in front of an unlit house.

Bottle took a mask from inside his clothes and handed it to Lorne. "Consider it a free gift with the gun."

Pretty professional. Lorne took the mask and put it on.

Once Lorne was more or less ready, Bottle stepped forward and knocked on the door in a particular rhythm.

About ten seconds later, a small wooden panel in the door suddenly slid aside, revealing a pair of brown eyes behind it.

Only after enduring that gaze's scrutiny for quite a while did Lorne see the front door open.

A man wearing an iron mask stepped out and handed Lorne a hooded robe. In a hoarse voice, he told Bottle, "Come earlier next time!"

With that, he shut the door and led Lorne through the dark parlor into the living room on the first floor. A candle burned on the coffee table, its faint yellow light filling the room with shifting shadows.

Around a dozen people sat on chairs surrounding the coffee table, all wearing robes and masks like Lorne.

Lorne found an empty seat, sat down, and began looking around.

Before long, an elderly man with a distinctly scholarly air spoke. "It's about time. Let's begin."

As soon as he finished speaking, a somewhat youthful voice rang out.

"Um... I'd like to ask everyone a question. I'll pay for the answer."

"After someone drinks a potion from one pathway, do they still have a chance to choose another pathway?"

I wanted to ask that too. What luck. Lorne's face lit up with excitement. Since someone else had raised the question first, he wouldn't have to draw attention to himself.

"Ha! What a stupid question," a burly man sneered.

"Got so much money you don't know what to do with it? Here to give it away?"

The man was about to say more when the scholarly elderly man spoke. "There's no need to pay. I can answer that question. The answer is no."

"Once you've chosen a pathway and drunk its potion, there's no going back, so you must choose your pathway carefully.

"If you drink a potion from another pathway, either losing control or death awaits you," the elderly man added.

"Thank you for your generosity, Mr. Eye of Wisdom." The disappointment in the questioner's voice was obvious.

Someone else who felt disappointed was the nearby

Lorne. He had been planning to find a way to switch away from the Monster Pathway if changing pathways was possible, only to receive this news.

Does that mean I can only be a Monster? Lorne sighed inwardly.

Although he had received the answer for free, Lorne couldn't feel happy about it. He also felt that the elderly man called Eye of Wisdom sounded a little as though he was showing off.

After thinking for a moment, Lorne asked a question of his own. "Um, I'd like information about Assassins. Does anyone know anything? I can offer satisfactory payment."

The Silver-Haired Woman had given him an Assassin potion back then, so she was most likely a Beyonder of that pathway herself.

And his Orange Cat had drunk the Assassin potion. Spending some money on information about this pathway certainly wouldn't hurt Lorne.

It's a shame that woman didn't tell me the organization's name. Otherwise, I could ask about that too. As soon as Lorne finished his question, he noticed the elderly Eye of Wisdom turn his gaze toward him.

"I know about that as well, and I can tell you. How does ten pounds sound?" the elderly Eye of Wisdom asked.

Watching him jump in with an answer, Lorne couldn't shake the feeling that this Mr. Eye of Wisdom had a particular fondness for showing off.

After a moment's consideration, Lorne replied, "All right."

"Then stay behind after the gathering ends. I'll tell you in private."