LOM: Lord of Mysticism

Mr. A? That sounds more like a code name for a criminal rather than a powerful man of mystery. Audrey glanced at Mr. A and spoke to Fors and Xio Derecha with a hushed tone, "Are there any stories about this man?"

The hooded Viscount Glaint was equally curious.

Xio Derecha replied, "There were several such incidents in the past. Sequence 8 Beyonders, some even at Sequence 7, have targeted and tried to deal with Mr. A, but they've all mysteriously disappeared."

"So he truly is a powerful Beyonder," Glaint marveled.

They walked into the room as they spoke, and the guards closed the door behind them.

After adjusting to the gas lamp's light, Audrey saw two blackboards with several phrases written on them. Fors, who had an unlit cigarette in her hand, whispered, "Those are the requests of the members of this gathering. You should be able to understand that many people do not wish for others to know what they possess to avoid being a target of others. Thus, they write their requests, or what they are selling, as well as the rough price on the blackboards."

Audrey nodded and shifted her gaze to the words on the left board.

"I need a pair of eyes from a mature Manhal Fish."

"The dust left behind by vengeful spirits, 165 pounds."

"Three pages from Emperor Roselle's notebook, 20 pounds."

These prices... are too cheap!

As she walked, she saw other notices.

"Tears of an Infant flower, 200 pounds."

"Mummy Powder, 10 grams, 5 pounds."

"Fishman Secretion, 30 ml, 29 pounds."

"Formula for Sequence 8 potion, Sheriff, 450 pounds."

...

The Beyonder ingredients all cost less than 300 pounds! Audrey's eyes sparkled as she found a place to sit together with her companions.

Xio Derecha leaned over and whispered into her ear, "Do you have anything you want?"

Audrey thought, "I want it all!"

She had two elder brothers, rendering her eligibility to inherit the aristocratic title and the main portion of the inheritance null. But as a lady adored by her parents and brothers, she had property, farmland, pastures, mines, jewelry, stocks, and bonds to her name. Together, they were valued at 300,000 pounds.

This was a part of her inheritance, but she only possessed them in name before her father, Count Hall, passed away or when she got married. Every year, she received a corresponding amount from a trust fund.

But even so, she could receive 15,000 to 25,000 pounds a year, making her one of the richest women among the nobles in the entire Loen Kingdom.

Of course, she had expenses she couldn't avoid as a noble. And now that she was receiving annual payouts, she could no longer pester her parents for money all the time.

She with reservation, "For the time being, I have my sights on Emperor Roselle's notebook. I adore him, and I think that the special symbols and literature he created hold a mysterious power; it's just that we haven't found the correct way to decipher them."

Just as she had said that, a young man in a white shirt sitting near them stood up excitedly. "Yes! Finally someone who shares the same opinion as me!"

"I'm the person with the three pages of the notebook, and I can sell them to you right now!"

Audrey replied with a smile, "Then please allow me to express my gratitude."

She took out a pair of 10-pound notes and handed them over to the man, then received the three pages of Emperor Roselle's diary in exchange. Of course, no one here knew that they were part of his diary, and thus everyone generally called them his notebook.

Audrey flipped through the pages after she received them and confirmed that the writing was similar to the previous pages that she had come across. She put them away and asked Xio and Fors, "Who can I look for if the notes are fake? Mr. A?"

"Yes, Mr. A will not allow any fraud to take place in his gathering. And I could help you mediate this privately too," Xio Derecha replied.

"I understand." Audrey surveyed the people around her.

At that moment, Mr. A's facilitator walked over and whispered to Audrey's group, "You can write your requests on a piece of paper and pass them to me, or wait till the break later to write whatever you want to sell on the blackboard in the small room."

Fors took a whiff of her cigarette and surveyed the surroundings cautiously. "Have you considered which Sequence 9 formula you want?"

She had kept her promise and told Audrey and Viscount Glaint about all the Sequence pathways she knew of.

Audrey pretended to think before saying, "Spectator, I want to become a Spectator. And I also want the advancement of Spectator, the Telepathist."

She considered that in the future she would have to frequently come into contact with Fors and Xio Derecha, making it possible that they would realize that she was already a Beyonder, a Spectator. Thus, she decided to take this opportunity to reveal that she would become a Spectator and conceal that the Tarot Club existed.

Even though I'll be wasting some money, it'll still be worth it... Audrey praised herself. At the same time, she noticed that Xio Derecha was looking at the blackboards from time to time; her expression was slightly depressed.

Xio told me that the corresponding Sequence to Arbiter was Sequence 8 Sheriff. Is she looking at the 450-pound price tag? Well, it's obvious that she wants the formula for Sheriff...

She's already been an Arbiter for more than a year, and she has been unknowingly acting in the role of an Arbiter. Her potion should have been digested already...

Viscount Glaint revealed his choice. "I want the formula for Sequence 9 Apothecary!"

Feeling the gazes from Audrey, Fors, and Xio, he explained himself, "To me, health and not having to worry about major illnesses and harm is the most important thing!"

"A rational decision. I once dreamed of becoming an Apothecary." Fors said. She had a rather languid demeanor.

After making the decision, Audrey and the rest wrote their requests on pieces of paper and handed them over to the facilitator. They looked on as the facilitator made his way around the venue and asked the other participants, collecting several other slips of paper, and finally shuffled the notes and handed them over to his partner in charge of the blackboards, asking him to transcribe the information onto them.

"I need the formulas for potions Spectator and Telepathist; the price will be negotiated face-to-face..."

The facilitator would repeat the request three times after writing it onto the blackboard. If someone was interested, they could apply for a room in secret, and there would be facilitators helping them complete the deal.

After waiting for a while, Audrey and Glaint didn't receive a request for a deal and were rather disappointed.

At this moment, a facilitator walked over to Audrey's side, handed her a folded piece of paper, and said, "It's from Mr. A."

Audrey unfolded the slip of paper and read it. "Are you interested in the formulas of other Sequence 9 potions?"

Audrey wrote on a blank spot, "I am only interested in Spectator."

She folded the piece of paper and handed it back, then watched as it was passed to Mr. A.

Mr. A took a glance and didn't say anything, continuing to look over the rest of the members. But Audrey sharply noticed that he had secretly burned the piece of paper and allowed the ashes to fall to the floor.

Fifteen minutes later, Mr. A said, "Now we will have a break. You can interact with other participants freely."

At this moment, the young man who sold Emperor Roselle's diary approached Audrey and said in excitement, "I have already deciphered a portion of the Emperor Roselle's special characters and tattooed them onto myself. It allowed me to gain some remarkable abilities. Are you interested?"

Audrey recalled that she had asked Mr. Fool if the special characters in the Emperor Roselle's diary possessed any unique abilities. Mr. Fool's answer was that they were useless unless a deity suddenly took interest in them.

She looked at the young man and asked, "What remarkable abilities?"

"I have become stronger and healthier!"

Audrey looked at him in pity. "I'm sorry, I have more trust in my own research."

In the remaining time, she continued observing those who came to this gathering, but didn't obtain any more information. All she had was a rough idea that some of them were doctors or lawyers.

Audrey and the rest left the venue after another half an hour and returned to Viscount Glaint's mansion as they waited till the ball ended. Audrey returned home at about 10 that night.