The salon

Lumian understood Franca's concerns and said with a smile, "Two directions:

"First, ask your Major Arcana if you want to take the opportunity to contact the Witch Sect. Since you were originally Men, you don't need to worry about being eliminated. As long as you can pass the relevant background check, you can use their resources to improve yourself. When you can't keep up the act anymore, just have your Major Arcana give you a mission to get away from Trier, and then you can pack your bags and run away."

"Think about it, you've already reached Sequence 6. Most of the higher-level resources are controlled by the Witch Sect. Infiltrating them and obtaining resources from within is much simpler and safer than fighting against them and risking your life to hunt them down. Of course, the prerequisite is that your Major Arcana can provide a way to evade the ' Primordial Witch's ' gaze."

Franca was taken aback, then muttered, "Why do you seem so familiar with this..."

Lumian scoffed, "Have you lost your memory? I'm doing something similar right now, infiltrating the Iron and Blood Cross Order on behalf of the ' Tarot Club '."

"What's the biggest advantage of this? After completing the ' Iron and Blood Cross Order ' mission, I can ask Gardner Martin for a reward, and I can also report to my Major Arcana, claiming progress in the infiltration, and get commendation from her. One mission, two rewards. Otherwise, why do you think the number of Mystical Item I have is increasing so rapidly?"

Of course, Mr. K was also a major contributor, but there's no need to tell Franca that.

"One mission, two rewards..." Franca repeated several times before suddenly realizing, "I'm already cooperating with you on a mission related to the ' Iron and Blood Cross Order,' won't that conflict with contacting the Witch Sect?"

Lumian gave him a look that said, "You're still not very skilled."

"There's no conflict, how could there be a conflict? Just be honest with the Witch Sect and tell them that you hope to switch to the ' Hunter ' Pathway at Sequence 4 and return to your original gender. So you're tracking down the ' Iron and Blood Cross Order,' and you already have enough clues and a lot of progress."

"According to your statement, those ' Witch ' are all men who transformed into women. I don't believe they didn't consider using the teleportation Pathway to retrieve their lost items. This reason is enough to convince them."

"Moreover, ' Witch ' and ' Hunter ' are adjacent Pathway, and they must have some ideas and intentions towards ' Iron and Blood Cross Order '. Now that you have the opportunity to infiltrate the latter, they will most likely not stop you, but will instead pay more attention to you."

"Most importantly, that way you'll become the person in charge of the Witch Sect's affairs related to the Market District and the ' Iron and Blood Cross Order.' Whatever happens here, if you want the ' Witch ' above to know, they will know; if you don't want them to know, they won't know. For example, the existence of Jenna, this Women ' Assassin.'"

At this point, Lumian smiled:

"You can also exploit the Witch Sect to cultivate Jenna. When the high-ranking ' Witch ' discover that a powerful, purely Women ' Witch ' was raised by their own Sect, won't they be furious Loss of Control on the spot?"

This is quite interesting to think about; it's the ultimate Provocation and mockery.

Franca nodded almost imperceptibly:

"You brat, if you had drunk the ' Instigator ' Potion, you might have digested it completely in a week."

"I'm just igniting a specific Flames within you." Lumian leaned back on the sofa.

Franca scoffed, half-mockingly and half-jokingly saying, "If I really joined the Witch Sect, and you reached the Sequence 5 breakthrough point but couldn't get the Sequence 4 Potion Formula and corresponding Main Ingredient from the Iron and Blood Cross Order, would you consider becoming a ' Witch '?"

Lumian thought about it carefully and said, "It depends on the situation. If we urgently need the rank and strength of Sequence 4 to accomplish something, then it's not impossible to switch. We'll choose whichever is simpler and easier."

"..." Franca was stunned. "You, you really don't feel any guilt?"

To make such an important choice sound like deciding between Absinthe or Lenzqi tonight.

Lumian answered with a word her Older Sister had once used:

"I'll stop at nothing."

He then added, "As long as the goal can be achieved."

"Besides, can't we just switch back at Sequence 3?"

"It's not something you can just switch at will. The vast majority of Beyonder will never advance to Sequence 4 in their entire lives, let alone Sequence 3. The higher you go, the more difficult it becomes, both in terms of the probability of Loss of Control and the acquisition of resources." Franca felt that Lumian was oversimplifying things.

Lumian laughed and said, "Anyway, isn't it just a matter of speculating and confirming whether it's feasible?"

Franca was speechless, then asked, "Didn't you say there were two directions? What's the other one?"

"Find a way to Hunting that Witch Sect's ' Witch,' get detailed information about the Women's Revelry Party from her, and then target the Participant suspected of being members of the ' Bliss Society.' Identify and eliminate the Core Member closely associated with Suzanne Matisse as quickly as possible," Lumian stated succinctly.

"That's feasible, but if the ' Bliss Society ' members didn't actually participate in the Women's Revelry Party, and were only contacting a portion of them, simply Hunting that ' Witch ' might not yield the information we want. Furthermore, it would inevitably attract the attention of higher-level forces within the Witch Sect, leaving no further opportunity for investigation," Franca analyzed thoughtfully. "I'll contact my Major Arcana first and see what her opinion is on my contact with the Witch Sect."

She was somewhat tempted by Lumian's words.

Lumian hummed in agreement, but didn't urge Franca, since she wouldn't be going to the Red House Café in Chaillot again for another two or three days.

Prior to this, it was an invitation from the Count Puyver's salon.

On the third day after surveying the surroundings of Red Swan Castle and informing both the "Magician" Lady and Mr. K of the invitation, Lumian arrived at the beige Ancient Castle in Four-Wheeled, Four-Seater Carriage provided by Gardner Martin.

He wasn't dressed too formally; he wasn't wearing Tailcoat, a top hat, or even a cane, a symbol of gentlemanly Staff.

He wore a light brown Hunting Attire, with Ivory riding breeches underneath and brown boots on his feet. He held a Loen hat in his hand, letting his dark, golden hair flutter in the wind.

Based on some anecdotes Aurora had mentioned in casual conversation, Lumian knew that in similar literary and artistic salons, dressing too formally would make one stand out from the other Participant and appear like a fool.

Of course, this outfit was also deducted from the 10,000 Felkine activity fund that Gardner Martin had just given him, costing him a full 1,000 Felkine.

Lumian, holding the invitation, underwent inspection by the guards and passed through a heavy gate several meters high.

There is a large hall here, but it is decorated rather simply, like a resting place for the Butler, male servants, maids, and guards brought by guests when a grand banquet is held.

Lumian looked around to make sure this wasn't the hall from his Nightmare.

Passing through here, you'll find the courtyard behind you, and opposite the courtyard is the Main Building of Red Swan Castle.

It is six or seven stories high, and is surrounded by a ring of Tower.

Lumian subconsciously looked up and gazed at a narrow window on the Third Floor.

In his Nightmare, a man with dark red hair gouged out his brown-red eyes from behind the glass.

At this moment, there was nothing behind the transparent Glass Window, only the slightly mottled light-colored wall was reflected.

The walls in the room are mottled... Shouldn't they repaint them? Aurora once said that the annual maintenance costs for similar Ancient Castle are astronomical... Lumian withdrew his gaze and walked into the Main Building.

As soon as he passed through the double doors, his gaze sharpened, and his mood became slightly heavy.

This hall was exactly the same as the one in his Nightmare!

Whether it's the Crystal chandelier hanging high up or the spiral, gold-inlaid staircase leading to the second floor, everything is almost identical to what I had in my dream.

Although Lumian had anticipated this, he still felt somewhat conflicted when it actually happened.

The Men servants in the hall, all dressed in bright red uniforms with gold trim, stood in two neat rows, respectfully welcoming his arrival.

Lumian's eyelids twitched slightly as he looked at the bright red, which seemed as vivid as flowing blood.

The salon is located in the large living room on the first floor. It is elegantly decorated with a thick, dark red patterned carpet. A sofa is placed near the window, surrounded by bar Bar Stool and chairs.

On the other side of the living room, a tall girl sat in front of a brown piano. She wore an elegant and clean sky-blue patterned white belted Long Dress, and her reddish-brown hair was naturally draped down her back.

As Lumian entered the large living room, the girl's hands were sliding across the piano keys, creating a melody as melodious as a babbling brook.

Count Puyver sat on Armchair, with a refined Lady with black hair and blue eyes squatting beside him, leaning against the armrest, chatting with him with a soft laugh.

Whether it was novelist Anoli, Painter Maren, critic Anyong Eyrton, or Poet Ilett, they all brought female companions, either chatting in the sofa area or lingering around the table where desserts and Grilled Meat were laid out.

Besides them, there were other guests, and Lumian spotted a familiar face at a glance.

That was Laurent, who lived in the Golden Rooster Inn, the scoundrel who supposedly used his mother Mrs. Lacazan's hard-earned money to frequent upscale Café and socialize with high society figures.

Laurent was still wearing his neat black Tailcoat, his Brownish Yellow hair neatly parted in a side part, standing out from the casually dressed writers, Painter, Poet, and critics around him.

He wasn't restrained by this; his deep brown Eyes always held a smile, and his slightly thin lips kept uttering words of greeting.

The next second, Laurent also saw Lumian, and his pupils dilated suddenly, as if he had encountered Evil Ghost.

Isn't this Charles Dubois, the current Boss of the Golden Rooster Inn, that notorious Gang boss?

In an instant, Laurent felt a surge of intense fear.

He was worried that the other party would expose his identity, causing him to lose the connections he had worked so hard to build!

He was just one step away from succeeding!

"Wow, you're doing pretty well, getting invited to a salon like this..." Lumian smiled at Laurent and pointed to himself, implying that they were the same kind of people and could just pretend not to know each other.

Laurent breathed a sigh of relief, while Lumian walked toward Count Puyver.

He casually complained, "I didn't say I was bringing a female companion! You guys are making me look like an idiot!"

"Haha." Count Puyver and the others laughed, feeling a sense of smug satisfaction at their successful prank.

After laughing, Count Puyver pointed to the girl playing the piano:

"If you don't mind, you can invite my cousin, Miss Alois."