“Close enough.”
Elias looked at Jack's highly accusatory face and raised a single finger.
“Just one last one left.”
“Who are you going to use it on this time?”
Jack took half a step back, reflexively stuffing his scroll deeper into his coat.
“No need to be so tense,” Elias said. “I'm not using this one on a person.”
He connected to the last Rational Circuit in the inverted mirror corridor.
A thread of transparent spirituality drifted from his fingertip, quickly condensing into a coin in midair.
One side of the coin was engraved with a smiling face, while the other bore a crying face, its edges slowly shedding tiny specks of light.
【Lucky Coin】.
It could make a minor decision on behalf of the caster.
When two choices did not differ by much and the caster could not judge which was better, this coin would lean slightly toward the more favorable side.
Only slightly.
If tossing it into the air could actually tell him when Wayland would die, it would be called a wishing machine.
Elias looked at Jack, then at the cold stove.
“Smiling face, you cook.”
“Crying face, I cook.”
He flicked the coin upward as he finished speaking.
The coin flipped several times in the air before landing on the back of his hand.
The smiling face was up.
“See that?”
Elias held his hand out in front of Jack.
“Destiny wants you to cook.”
Jack stared at the smiling face and remained silent for a few seconds.
“How is this any different from you just telling me to cook?”
“The process is more democratic.”
...
Jack clearly did not buy into this democracy.
It was just a coin, after all. A single favorable result for Elias did not prove anything.
One or two coincidences were far from enough to verify if it actually leaned toward a better outcome.
This spell would have to be observed slowly over time.
Jack watched the spiritual coin disperse in Elias's hand and could not help but ask,
“What pathway is this, anyway?”
“A low-scale trick pathway that leans toward utility.”
Elias brushed it off casually.
“Nine low-scale tricks?”
“A street performer has a few more tools to earn a living. It's only reasonable.”
Elias put an end to the topic.
He had no need to tell Jack the specific names, limitations, and true origins of these nine spells.
This was not simply out of wariness.
Since he had not even figured out where the second circuit came from, the more details Jack knew, the easier it would be for him to leak secrets when facing certain supernatural methods.
Burdening Jack with an answer that could invite fatal disaster was not what trust looked like.
“By the way,” Elias suddenly stopped Jack, who was about to walk to the stove. “If a god dies, does their pathway of faith still exist?”
“Huh?”
Jack paused mid-step, completely dazed.
He stood in place thinking for a long time, his expression shifting from confusion to helplessness.
“I don't know either. Besides, you're asking me this kind of question? Isn't that a bit too far out of my league?”
“Isn't your family noble?”
“Nobles don't discuss what to do after a god dies at the dinner table either!” Jack retorted irritably, “Why don't you just ask the Moon Lord?”
Elias touched the curse mark behind his ear.
“I don't really want to draw his attention through that method for now.”
The hand that had reached out from the Full Moon Door last time had not left a very good impression on him.
“Go, go,” he waved his hand. “If you don't know, just get us some food.”
Jack muttered as he walked toward the stove, “Telling me not to ask questions, yet asking me things like this...”
Elias did not reply.
Once Jack's back was turned, he closed his eyes and sank his consciousness into his sea of consciousness.
Below the water's surface, the silver Rational Circuit belonging to the Moon Lord floated quietly.
Above the water's surface, the inverted mirror corridor reflected countless different faces.
Elias connected to both sides simultaneously.
【Moon Vision】 was the first to activate.
The lingering spirituality in the cottage immediately revealed itself.
The moonlight stone, the elemental revolver, the Waning Moon Key, and the Secret Chest at Jack's waist all radiated different glows in his vision.
Immediately after, 【Cloak of Mediocrity】 enveloped his body.
His clothing, expression, and spiritual fluctuations rapidly became unremarkable.
Both spells were maintained simultaneously.
Both drew power from the same pool of spirituality, yet they were responded to by the silver circuit and the mirror corridor nodes respectively.
They did not crowd each other out, nor did they cause the spells on either side to warp.
The two circuits connected to the Origin Web separately.
At least for now, they were operating perfectly.
It just wasted a bit more spirituality.
This should have been a good thing.
Yet Elias only had more questions in his heart.
The "Jiang Huan" who had appeared during the Audience had only spoken of things he himself knew.
It was more like a projection stripped from his memory and self-cognition.
But how could a mere self-projection complete an Audience on his behalf?
And how did it bring back nine complete spells from the Origin Web?
“The registered one drinks, the unregistered one opens the door.”
Did this mean that in the eyes of the Origin Web, Elias Rockland and Jiang Huan were originally two entirely different identities?
Did this new pathway simply have no god, or had some entity borrowed his face to avoid actual contact?
Even more troublesome was the Moon Lord.
The silver circuit did not reject the new circuit.
The newly acquired spells did not affect any of the Moon Lord's spells either.
But a lack of reaction did not equal tacit approval.
The 【Cloak of Mediocrity】 might fool ordinary transcendents.
But Elias was not confident enough to use a Scale One spell to deceive a deity.
After the two of them ate, Elias went back to bed to catch up on some sleep.
By the time he woke up again, it was already afternoon outside.
4:17 PM.
The lingering dream demon curse acted up right on schedule.
The walls briefly overlaid with a familiar stairwell, and the whale oil lamp on the table turned into a glowing screen.
A few fragments of memory belonging to Jiang Huan flashed before his eyes, quickly receding like a screen with a bad signal.
The entire process lasted only a few minutes.
Elias sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for the last trace of dizziness to fade before letting out a long breath.
Without the dream demon actively manipulating it, this thing felt more and more like a scheduled program with each passing day.
He really wanted to reply with "UNSUB."
But it wouldn't let him!
Having endured today's episode, he quickly recalled the commission he had encountered at the black market last night.
That stolen East Territory expedition notebook was related to the Twelve Earth Veins he had been tracking.
It was even more likely related to whether he could actually return.
Following the establishment of his second Rational Circuit, his questions had not decreased; instead, he had gained a whole new list of them.
Now that a clue had finally appeared that allowed him to keep digging, he had no reason to ignore it.
Not to mention, the investigation fee was four hundred.
And another one thousand four hundred upon recovering the notebook.
A total of one thousand eight hundred gold crowns.
Whether from the perspective of returning home, investigating, or simply being broke, this commission practically had Elias's name written all over it.
The only issue was that the commissions of the Society of Freemen would not wait for him forever.
If someone else took it first, he could hardly run over, claim he needed the money more, and ask them to hand the task over.
Elias stood up immediately and shouted toward the outside, “Jack, bring the Waning Moon Key! We need to open the door early today.”
Jack pushed the door open and walked in quickly, a trace of worry still on his face.
“You just promoted.”
“No, there was a very suitable commission last night that I forgot to tell you about.”
“It's very easy...”
Jack did not show much interest in this.
“How many gold crowns?”
“One thousand eight hundred.”
Jack went quiet for a moment.
In the next second, he turned around to fetch the Waning Moon Key, his movements so fast he looked nothing like the person who had just been worrying about Elias.
“You absolutely must start recharging the Waning Moon Key immediately!”
“Look at how excited you are,” Elias was somewhat speechless. “It's not like the money is going to you.”
“If you're wealthy, my safety is better guaranteed.”
Jack handed the Waning Moon Key to him, smiling quite sincerely.
“Besides, it's been fed very well over the past couple of days. It's no longer forcing itself to absorb my spirituality.”
“So in the end, me earning money is just to improve the lives of you two.”
“Sir, you finally understand.”
“Get out.”
The two of them took the Waning Moon Key to the reef where the moonlight was brightest.
Elias channeled spirituality into the chipped pendant, then slowly recovered it using the moonlight.
Once.
Twice.
Only when an illusory silver glow re-emerged at the chipped section did the Waning Moon Key refuse to absorb any more.
By this time, the moon hung high over the sea.
Jack spread out the Moon Bay nautical chart and pressed the bronze warehouse token marked “East Bank Seventh Pier, Warehouse Forty-Seven” into the center of the 【Mist Navigation Port-Return Ritual】.
The whale oil lamp lit up.
The spiritual compass began to spin.
Jack finished reciting the ancient prayer dedicated to the Lord of the Raging Sea as usual.
Still, no sound of rushing tides as described in books echoed from the depths of the spirit world.
There was no gaze.
Nor was there any grant.
Yet in the next moment, the rules already embedded within the ritual still began to operate on their own.
The flame of the whale oil lamp was stretched into a straight, thin line, pointing toward the East Bank of Hastings Port.
Watching this, the unanswered question from earlier in the day flashed through Elias's mind once more.
After a god dies, can the pathways and rules they left behind continue to exist?
He had no answer for now.
The Waning Moon Key had already risen before them.
The chipped part was filled by moonlight, and silver light traces immediately extended upward and downward, outlining a complete 【Moon Gate】.
On the other side of the light screen was an unlit warehouse.
Elias was in no hurry to enter.
He first repeatedly inspected the furnishings inside through the door frame, then had Jack adjust the spiritual heading twice.
Only when he clearly saw the matching warehouse token nailed to the inside of the door and the prominent “Forty-Seven” on the wall did he confirm that this landing point was no longer the already exposed West Bank Third Supply Depot.
Excellent.
At least he wouldn't have to say good night to a few waiting ascetics the moment he opened the door.
Elias checked his elemental revolver, the Roaring Cane, and the Gluttonous Stomach, then put on the Spy's Derby Hat.
A strange, blond, stubbled face reappeared.
He picked up his beige trench coat, draped it over himself, and stepped toward the ring of light.
“John Constantine, time to work the night shift.”
Rate on N.U.
