"This is too much. It's way too hard."
After studying the Dark Bible for a while, Bruce's eyes began to ache, forcing him to set it aside for the moment.
The spells and illustrations in the Dark Bible were even more dry and rigid than the text in a history textbook. Before long, he could not bear to read any further. The chaotic words fought one another in his head, and he had no choice but to stop and rest.
Bruce did not idle during his break, either. He had Fawcett recite the Potion Formula for the Believer role and wrote everything down. It filled an entire sheet of paper-quite a lengthy list.
Lengthy though the list was, none of the ingredients in the Potion Formula were particularly rare. Bruce could obtain them with a trip to an apothecary and a department store.
Zambesi was a kingdom, after all. Surely they could gather everything? If not, he would have them find the ingredients themselves.
He would give Zambesi the Potion Formula for the Believer role. For now, it could serve as a divine blessing, granting them some power to protect Zambesi.
Bruce also needed the means to protect himself, and the Wizard role would provide that. Only after becoming a Wizard could he wield the extraordinary powers recorded in the Dark Bible.
The Potion Formula for the Wizard role was not complicated, and its ingredients were not particularly scarce. Wayne Manor's wealth would be enough to procure them, though that would still take time.
Suddenly, a question occurred to Bruce.
"Fawcett, if I brew the Potion, will acquiring the Wizard role cause any disturbances that might attract the Night Watchers' attention?"
Bruce made a point of asking. The Dark Bible stated that anything involving the occult would have some effect on its surroundings, and he did not want to expose his identity as an Extraordinary so soon.
"No. The ritual to become an Extraordinary affects only you. No one else can detect it."
Fawcett shook its head as it spoke.
During the process of becoming an Extraordinary, every reaction occurred within the body. Bruce could therefore safely perform the advancement ritual in the manor and acquire the Wizard role.
Bruce nodded slightly. Reincarnating Fawcett and summoning a demon for Ghost were different matters. Both involved magic, as well as evil, and were bound to cause significant disturbances.
Rhode Town was far from peaceful. Although there were not many Night Watchers, they were fairly active. Any abnormal activity caused by large-scale magic would certainly attract their attention.
Even if he was an Extraordinary with the Wizard role, the Goddess of the Night Church would consider him an evil Wizard, a dangerous worshipper of an evil god. They would brand him a member of the forces of evil and sweep him up with the rest.
Although Extraordinaries stood opposed to the Fallen, there were good and evil among the Extraordinaries themselves. Battles between them were hardly uncommon. Of those who caused disasters and conducted evil rituals, which one was not an Extraordinary?
To avoid being blacklisted by the Goddess of the Night Church, Bruce needed to leave Lane Village and find somewhere safe.
"Hmm, I should arrange an outing for myself."
That was what Bruce thought. Since coming to this world, he had mostly stayed around Rhode Town and had never truly experienced this magnificent, colorful world.
What sort of place should I choose?
Bruce opened a copy of that day's newspaper. His gaze shifted slightly as he read the headline.
The headline read: The great philanthropist Guen Brody and his 200 public schools.
Guen Brody was quite a celebrity in the Rune Kingdom, and Bruce had heard of him.
His background was much like Bruce's current one: he had inherited a vast fortune and become a wealthy man, with a manor and farms of his own.
However, Guen Brody had inherited his father's estate, and unlike Bruce, he also owned a jade mine. He had therefore followed in his father's footsteps and gone into the jade business.
Of course, that alone would not have made Guen famous throughout the Rune Kingdom.
There were far too many wealthy men like Guen. In the eyes of true high society, he was insignificant-merely a provincial moneybags. What had really made him famous was a newspaper's revelation that, for more than a decade after inheriting his fortune, he had quietly supported impoverished regions and established numerous public schools. By the time the story broke, Guen had already founded more than eighty of them.
Before that revelation, hardly anyone had known about these deeds, and Guen had never publicized them.
The newspapers lavished coverage on his actions. A man who did good without seeking recognition, a great philanthropist, someone who truly cared about the Rune Kingdom-all manner of praise fell upon him. With others singing his praises, Guen's fame reached its peak, and his jade business boomed as a result.
High society even came to regard Brody Jade as a status symbol.
Although vanity and flattery had driven much of this success, there was no denying that Guen Brody genuinely engaged in charity. In the decades that followed, this great undertaking never stopped, and more people joined his cause.
Some sincerely cared about charity, while others merely wanted to enhance their reputations.
At the age of sixty, Guen Brody was granted the title of baron by special decree of the Rune Kingdom's royal family.
The schools he founded were all called Brody Public Schools, and they had educated many outstanding talents for the Rune Kingdom.
This year, the site for Guen's two hundredth public school would be selected in Jiaxi Town, Walkervis. Many wealthy people would attend to make charitable donations. Perhaps only a handful would genuinely be there for charity; most would be hoping to use the opportunity to spread their names and raise their social standing.
It would take place in two months.
"Guen Brody."
"Walkervis, Jiaxi Town. That's not far. Two months isn't all that long, either."
After reading the news, Bruce settled on the destination for his outing: Jiaxi Town.
He would go and join the festivities, too. Any donation would naturally be a token gesture, since he had only just inherited Wayne Manor. A philanthropist like Guen Brody did not necessarily need money. The wealthy men and nobles attending would surely donate cash, followed by auctions of various items. Donating money would be rather conventional. He could donate some books instead, fulfilling the purpose of a donation while keeping his own expenses to a minimum.
After all, he was stingy with money, too.
What others thought was another matter. In any case, he now had an excuse to go out and a place where he could avoid the Night Watchers.
"Walkervis should be relatively safe. The Goddess of the Night Church has fewer churches there, so there shouldn't be many Night Watchers."
"We can take care of everything we need to do there."
"What do you think?"
Bruce spoke to Fawcett and Ghost, who had remained in the study, listening to his plans.
"No problem."
Fawcett nodded repeatedly. It had long yearned for a human body. Once it had one, it could finally escape its misery.
Ghost also wanted to grow stronger as soon as possible. It had a vague feeling that, once it became stronger, the abnormalities affecting it would disappear.
But first, Bruce had to become a Wizard.
Over dinner, Bruce discussed hiring servants with Danvers. She knew more about such matters and was more meticulous in handling them.
Danvers asked Bruce about the details of the hiring arrangements, such as the number of servants, his preference for the butler's gender, and salary limits. Bruce gave her a rough idea of what he wanted, leaving most of the decisions to her.
Truth be told, Bruce was a rather unrefined man who did not really know how to enjoy life.
He also needed to spend money on further studies at Isco Higher Academy. That would be no small expense, though it was still acceptable compared with the fortune he had inherited.
That night, Bruce lay in bed, unable to fall asleep for a long time.
A great deal had happened that day: acquiring the Dark Bible, stealing the identity of the Dark Lord Eris, the crisis in the kingdom of Zambesi on the Western Continent, and finally deciding to acquire the Wizard role.
With so many things happening at once, Bruce felt somewhat caught off guard.
He opened his Character Status Panel and switched to the Dark Lord Eris's page. As he gazed at the seemingly endless list of innate abilities, envy filled his heart.
He could use this time to study Eris's abilities carefully. There were far too many of them, and they were so intricate and varied that Bruce could not grasp them all at once. He could only learn about them gradually.
In addition, the spirituality value of 70 on his own Character Status Panel had reached the requirement, allowing him to develop a new ability.
Since he could develop one, he might as well do so right away. One more ability meant one more safeguard. There was no reason to wait.
"Develop!"
Filled with anticipation, Bruce unhesitatingly chose to develop the spirituality within his own body. Nothing was more reliable than power he possessed himself, and the more, the better.
A moment later, a fourth ability appeared in his talents list.
Swordsmanship Mastery.