"What do you need the Potion Formula for the Believer identity for? Weren't you going to choose the Wizard identity?"
Fawcett froze.
Ghost also looked at Bruce in surprise.
"I just need the Potion Formula for the Believer identity. It isn't for my own use."
Bruce couldn't explain what he needed the Potion Formula for the Believer identity for. It involved secrets concerning Zambesi on the Western Continent and the Dark Lord Eris, and he had to guard those secrets with his life.
"Is it related to the Dark Lord?" Fawcett asked tentatively.
Fawcett immediately recalled that Bruce had previously asked about the Dark Lord Eris. Was Bruce asking for the Potion Formula for the Believer identity for the Dark Lord, to recruit believers for Him?
But did the Dark Lord even need the Potion Formula for the Believer identity?
Although Fawcett was a vengeful spirit and had committed atrocious deeds, as a former Secret Prayer, it remained deeply opposed to embracing any deity, whether evil or righteous. It also worried that Bruce was working with the Dark Lord, which would be extremely dangerous.
It would be bad for Bruce, and bad for it as well.
"For some experiments."
Bruce nodded and gave a vague answer. He couldn't explain what had happened to him, nor could he admit that he had obtained the identity of the Dark Lord Eris. He could only take these secrets to his grave, never letting another soul learn of them.
In truth, he had far too many secrets he couldn't reveal.
"Never believe what the Dark Lord says. You can't trust a single word from any of those gods. They're always trying to use us to do their bidding!"
Fawcett's attitude toward the gods was decidedly hostile. It didn't want anything happening to Bruce before it obtained a body, and it had already resolved to leave immediately once it had one.
It had no desire to become entangled with the Dark Lord because of Bruce. He was an evil god through and through.
"I have the Potion Formula for the Believer identity, and I can give it to you. But you have to promise me something. You can recruit believers for Him, but you must be careful. Don't make deals with gods. That's dangerous!"
With the Dark Lord involved and Bruce asking for the Potion Formula for the Believer identity, Fawcett had a rough idea of what might be happening: Bruce was working with the Dark Lord to recruit believers for Him. As for why, Fawcett thought back to its earlier speculation about bloodline power.
Perhaps the Wayne Family had inherited the bloodline of the Dark Lord Eris, which would account for the strange phenomena during the selection earlier. That would explain everything.
"All right."
Bruce naturally agreed to Fawcett's demand. He wasn't making deals with a god in the first place, and he didn't want too much contact with gods either. Still, Fawcett really was clever to have guessed that he wanted to recruit believers.
As Ghost listened from the side, its ethereal figure suddenly flickered ever so slightly. Recruit believers for the Dark Lord?
Why do I feel a little guilty?
Ghost sensed that something was wrong with its body. It vaguely felt an inexplicable force quietly attaching itself to it, merging with it, impossible to separate.
Neither Bruce nor Fawcett noticed anything unusual about Ghost. Both were weighed down by their own thoughts.
"Let's go back upstairs first, before Danvers notices I'm missing," Bruce said, closing the Dark Bible. They had been in the basement for some time.
Danvers hadn't been paying attention to Bruce's whereabouts. She was worried about her own body. Those abnormal symptoms had frightened her badly enough to make her break into a sweat. Fortunately, the strange sensation had lasted only a moment.
Setting her unease aside for the time being, Danvers went to take a bath.
After a quick rinse, Danvers finally felt much calmer. Facing the bathroom mirror, she looked at the black rose that had suddenly appeared on her chest, an inexplicable fear stirring within her.
She didn't know what had happened to her.
She didn't understand what the appearance of this black rose meant.
This unnatural phenomenon brought to mind curses and witchcraft, the bizarre, mysterious incidents the elderly spoke of.
She didn't dare ask the church about it either.
She feared that whatever was wrong with her body would make the church treat her as something evil and destroy her.
For now, her body had only shown a slight abnormality, with no other harmful symptoms. She would wait a little longer and observe it before doing anything.
Danvers reassured herself inwardly.
After putting on fresh clothes, Danvers stepped out of her bedroom. As luck would have it, she ran straight into Bruce at the turn of the stairs as he emerged from the basement and headed back to the study.
Ghost hurriedly concealed its figure.
Bruce pulled Fawcett off his shoulder and cradled it in his arms like a doll. Fawcett was just the right size to hide the Dark Bible he was holding.
Seeing Bruce holding a doll, Danvers let out a giggle. She hadn't expected her cousin to like dolls. How innocent and childlike of him.
"How did you get so filthy?"
Danvers had also noticed the dust all over Bruce.
Bruce stood there awkwardly, his clothes, face, and hair all covered in dust from the basement. He casually made up an explanation.
"I tripped at the entrance when I came back earlier. It's nothing."
"Why did you bathe so early today? Do you have plans tonight?"
Bruce quickly changed the subject. He smelled a strong perfume, probably something Danvers had sprayed on herself. She seemed to have used a little too much.
"I was pruning the flowers in the garden and worked up a sweat, so I took a bath," Danvers said, concealing her physical discomfort.
"I see. I suppose I didn't think things through. We should hire some full-time help for the house. I'll go change first. I haven't finished my reading for today. Let's talk later."
Bruce nudged the study door open with his backside, backed into the room, and closed the door.
Going to the study to change?
Danvers paused in mild surprise. Perhaps her cousin kept a coat in the study. She didn't give it much more thought.
"That was close."
Bruce wiped nonexistent cold sweat from his forehead.
Fawcett wriggled free and jumped to the floor. Being held by Bruce was truly uncomfortable.
It found itself missing Jessica's embrace a little, even though Jessica wasn't friendly toward it.
Ghost had already been waiting in the study for quite a while.
Bruce cleared a little space on the desk, placed the Dark Bible on it, then brushed the dust off himself.
Since no one but him could see the contents of the Dark Bible, Bruce could leave it out in the open without concern. Besides, there was nothing particularly unusual about its outward appearance, apart from its exceptionally black cover.
It didn't seem to give off any strange, eerie, dark, or evil aura either.
It should be safe.
Still, to be on the safe side, he would have to hide the Dark Bible whenever he wasn't in the study.
Next, he would carefully read through the magic recorded in the Dark Bible. Only once he knew what spells it contained could he go about doing the corresponding things.
Rubbing his hands together eagerly, Bruce opened the Dark Bible again.
The magical content of the Dark Bible was divided into four areas.
Runes, potions, curses, and witchcraft and gu.
Each area contained a wealth of material, leading into unfathomable mysteries, and every one of those mysteries involved evil and chaos.
If this Dark Bible truly came from the Dark Lord Eris, then Eris probably wasn't a benevolent god.
This time, Bruce didn't descend into madness as he had on his first reading. He remained perfectly calm. At the same time, reading became immensely difficult. The contents were obscure and hard to understand, unlike at the start, when he could skim ten lines at a glance and grasp them effortlessly.
It seemed madness had its advantages at times.