The Landon youth racked his brain, trying to search through all the transcendents he had met recently.
But he didn't know many people to begin with.
And he couldn't think of a single person who could be called an “old friend” by Elias, let alone someone even more annoying than him.
“You don't mean someone from the Sorenstein family, do you?”
“Not even close.”
Elias smiled mysteriously and didn't explain.
He couldn't exactly tell Jack that he had just had an Audience with himself.
If he said that aloud, it wouldn't sound like a successful promotion; it would sound like the potion had fried his brain.
Jack wanted to press further, but his own voice suddenly rang out from behind him.
“Someone I know?!”
The voice was identical to his own from just moments ago.
Even the rising tone on the last word was exactly the same.
Jack's shoulders jerked, and he whipped around.
Behind him, there was only the closed wooden door, his old coat hanging on the wall, and the light pull cord swaying gently in the sea breeze.
“What was that?!”
“Just borrowing a line from you.”
Elias focused on the transparent circuit in his sea of consciousness.
【Borrowed Voice】.
It could perfectly mimic a voice he had recently heard to say a single sentence, projecting it from any location within thirty feet.
In combat, making a companion's warning suddenly sound behind an enemy would be more than enough to force them to look back.
It was the same for infiltration.
A guard didn't need to leave their post for long.
As long as they turned around to look, Elias could make sure they wouldn't see anything ever again.
“A spell you just learned?”
“Yes.”
“So you didn't tell me who it was just so you could test your spell on me?”
“Don't think so poorly of me,” Elias corrected him earnestly. “Not telling you and testing a spell on you are two entirely unrelated matters.”
Jack opened his mouth, but for a moment, he couldn't find a single angle to argue back.
Elias reached out with his right hand and made a gentle grabbing motion in the air.
The frying pan that had just vanished dropped out of thin air into his palm.
【Sleight of Hand】 released a nearly imperceptible thread of spirituality, silently snagging any small, unattended object within ten feet.
Under normal circumstances, it couldn't rip something directly out of someone's hand.
However, when Jack heard “stop” earlier, his grip had already loosened. The frying pan was only resting loosely in his palm, which happened to leave the perfect opening for the spell.
Elias glanced at the corner of the table.
A cork slid silently across the tabletop, crossed the gap between them, and dropped into his hand.
There was no sound of rushing wind.
Nor was there any obvious fluctuation of spirituality.
He really was like Spider-Man now.
Unfortunately, this "web" could only grab small, unattended objects for now.
Relying on it to swing himself across Moon Bay was asking a bit too much of the spell.
“How did that pan vanish just now?” Jack asked.
“Like this.”
Elias swiped his finger along the handle of the pan.
The frying pan vanished from his hand once more.
【Trickster's Fingertips】.
As a basic effect of Scale One, it could only make palm-sized objects disappear or appear between his fingers.
The object didn't actually cease to exist; instead, it was temporarily stored in a thin trickster pocket dimension.
It could hold a maximum of three items at a time.
Once the spell advanced, the capacity would expand to the size of both his hands fully spread out.
This moderately sized frying pan was just barely within that limit.
Elias held up his hands to measure, then looked at the elemental revolver at his waist.
If he could hide a frying pan, he could naturally hide a gun.
In future encounters with enemies, he wouldn't even need to sweep aside his trench coat and reach into his Gluttonous Stomach.
One moment, he could be reasoning with them empty-handed.
The next moment, the muzzle of his gun could provide the supporting arguments.
It was incredibly civilized and highly efficient.
Elias grew more and more satisfied with this new circuit.
Most spells of the Moon Lord pathway were straightforward and stable, making him feel like a well-trained caster.
But these newly acquired spells, from their names to their effects, felt somewhat sketchy.
Unfortunately for his enemies, he happened to prefer the sketchy ones.
“Help me test another one.”
Elias looked at the two spice jars on the table.
Jack instantly grew alert.
“How do we test it?”
“I'm a bit hungry after being busy all night.”
Elias pointed toward the kitchen.
“Pass me the salt first.”
Jack gave him a suspicious look, but still walked to the table and reached out to pick up the sugar jar.
In his perception, the color of the jar, its position, and even the appearance of the white granules inside all pointed to a single answer in an instant.
This was salt.
“Here.”
Elias didn't take it.
“Taste it.”
“What is there to taste about salt?”
“I suspect it got damp.”
Jack, annoyed by his prodding, could only dab a bit with his fingertip and put it in his mouth.
The moment the sweetness dissolved on his tongue, his expression froze.
A few breaths later, the cognitive interference faded.
Jack looked down at the sugar jar in his hand, then at the salt jar sitting clearly on the other side.
“Did you do that on purpose?”
“The effect is quite good.”
Elias nodded in satisfaction.
【Minor Misunderstanding】 could make a target misidentify an object for a few breaths.
A pebble could be mistaken for a coin purse, an empty bottle for an antidote, and in an emergency, it could even briefly make someone mistake their left hand for their right.
This wasn't a simple visual illusion.
It directly deceived perception.
However, the caster's spirituality had to be higher than the target's to guarantee a high success rate.
Against a Scale One like Jack, the effect was naturally very stable.
“I'm not angry.”
Jack slammed the sugar jar back onto the table, his face sour.
Just as the words left his mouth, two subtle spiritual reactions flashed before Elias's eyes.
One came from a lie.
The other came from suppressed annoyance.
Elias raised an eyebrow.
【Gauging Expressions】 had taken effect as well.
Within thirty feet, anyone who was lying, tensing up from nervousness, or quietly reaching for a weapon could no longer escape his gaze.
It didn't let Elias know exactly what they were thinking.
But most of the time, he didn't need to.
Seeing someone say “I mean no harm” while reaching for their gun was more than enough reason to knock them down first.
If he learned the Scale Three spell 【Detect Thoughts】 of the Moon Lord pathway in the future, these two spells would complement each other perfectly.
One observed outward reactions.
The other looked directly into the mind.
It was a comprehensive approach, inside and out.
At that thought, Elias's gaze fell on Jack's right hand, which had just crept toward a spell scroll.
“Put your hand down.”
Jack froze.
“I was just trying to stop you from continuing to test spells on me.”
“That's the truth,” Elias agreed with a nod, then handed him the cork from earlier.
“Here, throw it at me.”
Jack didn't take it.
“Explain what you're trying to test first.”
“Evasion.”
“It won't bounce back, will it?”
“It's just a cork. What are you afraid of?”
“I'm afraid you'll turn it into something else.”
The kid was learning.
Only after Elias repeatedly promised he would only dodge did Jack take the cork and throw it at his shoulder.
The instant the cork left his hand, Elias slid half a step to the side.
Yet a brief afterimage remained in his original position.
Jack's gaze and judgment were momentarily caught by the afterimage, and the cork sailed right through the illusion, hitting the wall behind it.
【Shifting Afterimage】.
It was completely consistent with the information from the Origin Web.
Shifting half a step to the side left a fleeting afterimage, making the first attack aimed at him highly likely to miss.
The distance wasn't great.
But in battle, that half-step was often all that mattered.
“Again?” Jack asked.
“No need.”
Elias flatly refused when he saw Jack bend down to retrieve the cork.
Whether he could dodge it a second time was one thing.
But Jack's target this time likely wouldn't be his shoulder.
He connected to another node.
Transparent spirituality flowed from the inverted corridor, draping over him like a weightless coat.
Elias's face didn't change.
His henley, trousers, and old boots remained exactly as they were.
Yet his clothing suddenly seemed completely unremarkable, his usually slightly playful expression turned utterly mundane, and even his spiritual fluctuations subsided into nothingness.
Jack stared at him for a long time.
“How is it?” Elias asked.
“You look like a maintenance worker who walked into the wrong room.”
“Perfect.”
Elias was highly satisfied.
【Cloak of Mediocrity】 didn't give him a new face, but it could suppress his clothing, expressions, and spiritual fluctuations into an utterly unremarkable range.
The Ascetic Society was currently keeping an eye on John Constantine.
This spell had come at the perfect time.
The next time he went to Hastings Port, even if he walked right past an ascetic, he would have an extra layer of protection beyond just his derby hat disguise.
“Are you done testing?” Jack asked.
“Just about.”
Elias said, his eyes drifting to the 【Mind Shield】 scroll at the edge of the table.
An invisible thread of spirituality quietly reached out.
The scroll slid off the edge of the table, falling silently into his hand, and was hidden behind his back.
At the same time, 【Guileless Guise】 was activated.
Jack turned around to tidy up the things on the table, but his movements quickly ground to a halt.
“Where is my scroll?”
He first looked under the table.
Then he searched around the Secret Chest.
There were clearly only two people in this wooden cottage.
And Elias was standing right next to where the scroll had disappeared.
Yet every time Jack turned his suspicious gaze toward him, an inexplicable feeling would rise in his heart.
It couldn't be him.
How could he baselessly suspect a gentleman who had just successfully promoted and looked so completely open and honest?
“Have you seen my 【Mind Shield】 scroll?”
“Nope.”
Elias looked utterly innocent.
Looking at him, Jack actually found the answer completely believable.
He looked around on the floor once more.
Only then did Elias deactivate the spell and present the scroll from behind his back right before Jack's eyes.
That invisible sense of trust vanished instantly.
Jack stared at the scroll right in front of him, then at Elias's hand, which had not yet retracted. His expression slowly froze.
“I guess acting innocent is useless when faced with ironclad evidence,” Elias concluded thoughtfully.
Jack finally put two and two together.
“You learned a few new spells and decided to use every single one of them on me, didn't you?!
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