Christine hurriedly averted her gaze. "N-no."
Edward thought for a moment before asking, "The information about your family was mentioned in your brother's diary. He wrote that he was an orphan, with both parents deceased, and he never mentioned having a sister."
She remained silent for a while before finally speaking. "His father was my uncle. He was the last male of our bloodline in this branch." Slowly regaining her composure, her eyes flickered with hatred. "So, you're admitting it?"
"I'm sorry to say that your brother most likely lost control after consuming a potion and died a few months ago."
Edward briefly recounted the events and then took out the Master Key that had been sitting in his coat pocket. "This is what remained after he lost control."
Christine stared blankly at the key, instinctively trying to reach for it, only to realize her hands were still tightly bound.
Edward curled his fingers, gripping the key in his palm, and asked curiously, "I'm really curious—how did you determine that I was the one who killed your brother? Or rather, how did you recognize my connection to him with just a glance?"
She gave Edward a strange look. "Divination. I'm a Sequence 7 Astrologer."
Oh. He had almost forgotten that Astrologers had divination abilities.
"So, you first divined the place where your brother died, and then you conducted another divination at the scene to find me?"
Edward raised an eyebrow slightly. "You're lying."
Christine quickly refuted, "No! I carefully searched the site and found a strand of your hair…"
"In that case, you should have known that I wasn't the one who killed your brother."
"I…The dream divinations I performed only showed fragmented images. I couldn't be sure whether you were the killer or not. That's why I didn't go for a fatal attack just now—I wanted to capture you first to confirm. If you were truly innocent, I would have let you go."
"Well then, I really ought to thank you."
Edward leaned back against the sofa, watching Christine closely. He could tell that she wasn't telling the whole truth and was contemplating how to deal with her.
The formulas for Sequence 6 and beyond in the Apprentice pathway were mostly controlled by the Abraham family. Previously, he had considered relying on Fors if he couldn't obtain them himself—but the problem was, Fors was too much of a slacker.
If he relied on her, his advancement would be significantly delayed.
But now, a living Abraham descendant had delivered herself to his doorstep. He couldn't let this opportunity slip away. Killing her over a mere "misunderstanding" would be a terrible waste.
As Edward weighed his options, Christine was also deep in thought. She knew that her life or death depended entirely on this young-looking man, and she had no way to resist—she had severely misjudged his strength.
Suddenly, the chains binding her loosened, and Edward spoke with a gentle expression,
"Since this was just a misunderstanding, and we've cleared it up, you're free to leave anytime."
"???"
She was momentarily stunned but quickly took the opportunity to cautiously walk toward the door.
Just as she reached it, Edward's voice rang out. "Wait."
Christine tensed immediately.
Edward held out the notebook. "You forgot something."
The book looked very similar to the "Leymano's Travel Spellbook" that Fors would later acquire in the original novel. It corresponded to the Apprentice pathway's Sequence 6 ability, Scribe. It was quite useful in the mid-to-low Sequences, and even in the higher Sequences, it remained valuable.
Christine's face showed some surprise. "You're giving it back to me?"
"Of course…"
Edward then withdrew the book. "Actually, no. Unless you're willing to pay the price to reclaim it."
"…"
"What is this mystical item called?"
"I don't know."
"Earlier, when you used Frenzy on me, if you had followed up with a few strong attacks, you might have been able to take me down immediately. Why did you instead choose weaker abilities like electric shocks, freezing, and flashes of light?"
She pressed her lips together before replying stiffly, "I only wanted to capture you, not kill you…"
"I see."
Edward smiled. "You recently fought someone, didn't you? The abilities you had previously recorded were used up. And since you're still being pursued, you haven't had time to replenish them, right?"
Christine's pupils contracted sharply.
"How do you know that?"
Well, because I used Legilimency.
Edward rubbed his temples, feeling drained. Just now, he had subtly guided the conversation and distracted Christine to pry into her thoughts, but he had only managed to glimpse a small portion of what she was actively thinking.
Using Legilimency against Beyonders was proving to be significantly more difficult—and energy-consuming—than against ordinary people.
Edward chuckled. "I was just guessing. But now, I'm sure."
Her expression stiffened.
"Do you know the formulas for the Apprentice pathway's Sequence 6 and beyond?"
"I don't."
"Do you know where to find them?"
"I don't!"
"You really don't know the formula for Sequence 6 or above?"
She gritted her teeth and repeated, "I don't."
Tsk. Judging by what he gleaned from Legilimency, she was telling the truth.
Was it because she held too low a status within the Abraham family? Or was she too young to be privy to higher Sequence formulas?
"I'm guessing that within your family, promotions happen by directly consuming pre-prepared potions, is that right?"
"You guessed wrong!"
She snapped back defiantly, then turned and phased through the wall, disappearing.
"I hope she can really lead me to the Abraham family."
Edward wasn't worried that she would vanish for good. It was clear that she had another purpose for seeking him out tonight. And since she had a goal, she was bound to return.
The only question was—what exactly was she after?
No matter what, she had already gifted him such a useful Sealed Artifact on her first visit. That alone made her quite the generous benefactor.
A solid five-star rating!
Now, let's see what abilities this notebook still holds…
———
The Next Morning
When Klein arrived at the Blackthorn Security Company, he found that everyone was engaged in a heated discussion.
"What happened?"
Klein took the cup of coffee Rozanne had prepared for everyone and asked,
"What's going on?"
"I'm not sure…I just hope it's nothing serious." Rozanne looked worried.
Leaning back in his chair with his legs casually propped up on the desk, Leonard said lazily,
"There was a Beyonder battle last night over on Tulip Street. It didn't cause much damage, but quite a few people were woken up from their sleep."
"Tulip Street?" Klein was momentarily taken aback. That wasn't far from where he currently lived.
"I reckon the Captain will assign someone to investigate soon. Let's just wait and see."
"How's Old Neil doing these days?" Klein asked.
After receiving an anonymous letter last time, Klein had immediately informed the Captain. They had rushed to Old Neil's home and managed to bring him back just in time before he completely lost control, securing him behind the Chanis Gate.
But that was only a temporary solution.
The Chanis Gate could prevent Old Neil from further losing control, but it couldn't restore him to normal. The real problem was that reviving his lover was an obsession Old Neil could never let go of—so for the rest of his life, he would have to remain locked away in there.
Still, as long as a person was alive, there was hope.
Afterwards, they had attempted to divine the sender of the letter, but since no traces of the sender's aura were left behind, even divination above the grey fog had yielded nothing useful.
Not long after, Captain Dunn Smith emerged from his office and said, "Klein, Leonard, head over to Tulip Street and investigate last night's incident."
"Understood," the two replied in unison, turning to leave.
"Wait."
Dunn handed them a registry. "This contains information on all the residents of Tulip Street. Take it with you."
Klein and Leonard changed into their police uniforms and took a public carriage toward Tulip Street. Since they were temporarily the only passengers, Klein flipped through the registry while asking, "Leonard, do incidents involving Beyonders fighting openly like this happen often?"
"That depends," Leonard said. "Think about it—if you were a pitiful nobody who got bullied all the time, and one day, by some stroke of luck, you became a Beyonder with considerable combat power, would you choose to hide, or would you take revenge on those who wronged you?"
Klein thought carefully for a moment. "I would hide myself."
"...Well, that wasn't the answer I expected."
Klein continued, "Besides, your scenario doesn't really make sense. How would an ordinary person just 'luck into' becoming a Beyonder? They'd need a potion formula, then they'd have to gather the ingredients, successfully brew the potion, and then drink it without losing control." He counted the steps off on his fingers.
Leonard chuckled and patted Klein on the shoulder. "Kid, you've still got a lot to learn."
Klein rolled his eyes and returned to the registry. As he scanned through the most recent arrivals to Tulip Street, his finger suddenly halted on one particular name.
"Edward?"
Leonard noticed his brief hesitation. "What's wrong?"
Klein smiled slightly and pointed at the name in the registry. "Oh, I just saw a familiar name. But he should be in Backlund, so it's probably just a coincidence. Still, since we're here, let's start with him."
"I'm fine with that."
Leonard shrugged. "Honestly, I think this is just routine work. I highly doubt the Beyonders involved in last night's fight would still be hanging around Tulip Street. More than that, they might not even live here in the first place."
As their public carriage continued its journey, more passengers began to board, making it inconvenient to continue their conversation. Klein simply closed his eyes for a short rest, while Leonard stared idly out the window.
Twenty minutes later, they arrived at Tulip Street.
Leonard took in a deep breath of the floral-scented air and, in an exaggeratedly poetic tone, sighed, "Ah, I love this street. A moment like this calls for a poem."
Klein crossed his arms and silently waited for him to perform.
One minute later, Leonard took a step forward. "Next time, maybe."
Klein sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I really shouldn't have expected anything."
"Hey, that's not my fault!" Leonard declared righteously. "Over a hundred years ago, Emperor Roselle already wrote the greatest poetry of all time. He left no room for us latecomers."
Klein immediately resonated with this. "You have a point!"
Laughing, the two arrived at Tulip Street No. 5. Leonard double-checked the registry. "Tulip 5. This is the place."
He strode up and knocked on the door.
A moment later, there was a soft click, and the door opened slightly—but no one was standing there.
Leonard instantly stepped back, exchanging a quick glance with Klein. Both of them simultaneously pulled out their revolvers and pressed themselves against the doorframe, one on each side.
Leonard gestured with his fingers. "One…two…"
Just then, a small black cat strolled out, tilting its head at them in confusion. "Meow?"
A voice from inside called out, "Lilith? Who's at the door?"
As Edward's head peeked out, he was met with the sight of two "guardians of the door" holding guns—one of whom was none other than Mr. Fool himself.
Klein froze in place. "It's really him."
Edward looked between the two men at his door and asked, "Gentlemen? Do you need something? Oh—wait a second, you're from the Divination Club…Mr. Moretti?!"
Leonard holstered his gun and raised an eyebrow. "Klein, is this really the Edward you know?"
"Uh…yes, that's right," Klein admitted. "Edward visited the Divination Club before and asked me to perform a reading for him."
Edward enthusiastically stepped forward and shook Klein's hand. "I really have to thank you again for last time. Your divination helped me find the perfect potion!"
"Uh… you're…welcome?" Klein was a bit taken aback.
Leonard looked even more surprised. "Wait, what? You actually asked Klein to divine what potion you should take? That's a thing?"
Wait a second, why did this guy reveal he was a Beyonder so easily? Is he a total newbie?
"Why not?" Edward laughed. "The world of the Mysticism was completely unknown to me. Instead of blindly picking a potion based on gut feeling or luck, wouldn't it be smarter to consult a reliable diviner for guidance?"
Leonard stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Huh. That actually makes a lot of sense. So what happened next? Did Klein's divination really work?"
"It worked! The moment the potion hit my stomach, I almost lost control!" Edward said with a grin.
———
[Note]: No Extra Chapter since we didn't hit the Powerstone goal :( But, you guys can have it IF we reach 180 P.S by tomorrow! Go, VOTE!