bookbashuk Chapter 37 The Strange Bounty
Chapter 37 The Strange Bounty
Suren looked at the secret message and exhaled. Then everything made sense, and this explained why the Church was able to control most of the extraordinary individuals.
Some of the folk rituals are fundamentally flawed. Even if they happen to point to the correct source, the mortality rate will soar due to the unbearable force on humankind.
As for the level of this secret knowledge, it was also within Suren's expectations. It is estimated that many people know this information, but most of them do not understand the principle behind it.
Suren tried to solidify some of his guesses about the source of the power, but all of them failed; he knew too little about this aspect.
Without warning, an unbearable pain shot into Suren's head, like being struck by a giant hammer, making him grimace and almost cry out.
It took Suren a long time to recover. He then realized the source of his pain—the Book of Secrets.
Recalling the pain he had just experienced, Suren shook his head helplessly. It seemed he couldn't use the "Book of Secrets" as a lie detector for endless trial and error. Only secrets that Suren had deduced and internally accepted could be attempted to be solidified; otherwise, he would suffer a backlash.
Suren forced herself back to thinking about the ritual. Now that she had figured out the reason for Ellie's mutation, it meant that her incantation was correct, or even very accurate.
Suren compared the incantation with the church's incantation and was able to identify the third and fourth sections. The third section represented the rules he needed to follow, while the fourth section should be used to express his needs.
The first and second sections are very deceptive, as both incantations point to the deity and their corresponding divine office. However, Suren's power does not originate from the deity, so it cannot be anchored to any divine office.
If, after gathering all the necessary materials and reaching the advancement threshold, one still hasn't grasped the principles of the ritual, then one can only use the term "Book of Secret Knowledge" to replace the position of the deity in the incantation.
Having grasped most of the principles of the ritual, Suren naturally recalled Corrigan's earlier claim of an "evil god."
"Does the church itself have a clear understanding of the nature of power, or do they themselves actually believe in the claims of an 'evil god'?"
Unable to find an answer, Suren shook his head, deciding not to dwell on it. After all, life is a journey that must be taken one step at a time, and the road ahead is still long.
Three days have passed in the blink of an eye. Nothing special has happened in these few days, and life in Loren Town is as uneventful as usual.
Suren stopped taking on dangerous missions and instead accepted simpler ones to hone her skills and increase her "level".
Finding cats and delivering messages are tasks typically handled by detectives, but Loren Town is so small that even a normal detective agency can't operate. These trivial requests have all become bounties posted on the bulletin board. Fortunately, those who can post missions at the "Dead Bird Monks" aren't exactly poor, and the rewards for these missions are decent.
Logically speaking, newly recruited Deathbirds should be doing these kinds of jobs; after all, those like Suren, who have killed several Level 1 demons in just a few days, are a minority.
That morning, Suren returned to the duty station, intending to take on a simple task to pass the time. He planned to visit Professor Derwent in the afternoon; the professor should have finished his research on the eyeball.
Suren spotted a familiar figure; Karl was unusually present in front of the notice board today, having spent the last few days in the lab. Suren walked over and found him staring intently at a bounty poster.
Suren followed Karl's gaze and noticed that the bounty was rather strange. It didn't directly describe the mission, only that it was a tracking mission with a very generous reward of 120 pounds and 100 contribution points.
Suren looked at the client: "Albert Howard." He felt inexplicably familiar with the name, and then he remembered that this gentleman's name had appeared in the newspaper before, and he seemed to have a good relationship with the church.
While Suren was pondering, Karl had already taken down the bounty. He turned to look at Suren, as if he had just noticed him. He grinned, revealing his signature silly grin: "Suren, you're here too? Perfect, you're smarter than me. It's rare to have a big shot like you. Let's solve this bounty together."
Suren chuckled slightly: "Where did you learn the word 'rich guy' from?"
"That's what the guys at the docks all say," Carl casually replied, walking briskly toward the counter.
Suren caught up with him in two strides, patted him on the shoulder, and reminded him, "The date on this bounty poster is from yesterday. It's just a regular tracking mission, with such a generous bounty, yet not a single Deathbird or Hound has taken it. Don't you find that strange?"
Carl was taken aback; he hadn't really thought about that. Just then, Mr. Lawrence's voice came through: "That's because Viscount Howard is particularly fond of putting on airs. He speaks with nothing but aristocratic arrogance. With this little bit of money, no one else would be willing to take on the Deathbird."
Suren nodded. He could understand. After all, most of the Deathbirds were of commoner origin, and they couldn't stand these so-called nobles who were so arrogant.
Carl shrugged. "I don't care, as long as I can make money."
Before he could finish speaking, he slammed the reward offer on the counter. Lawrence shook his head. After interacting with Karl for a while, Lawrence was no longer surprised and picked up a pen to register the reward.
Suren shook her head, thinking to herself, "Forget it, I'll go with him. There's nothing much to do anyway."
Watching Lawrence sign the papers, Carl, trying to make conversation, said, "Speaking of which, these bounties are mostly for tracking and delivering messages; there aren't any murder cases. It's pretty boring."
"Murder cases fall under the jurisdiction of the police department, which is under the 'Judgment Church,' and have no place in our 'Deathbird Brotherhood'," Lawrence retorted irritably, glancing up at Karl. "Do you think this is 'Libraton'? There aren't that many murder cases here."
Suren gleaned some information from Lawrence's words, and her tone became more inquisitive: "Are there many murders in 'Libraton'?"
Lawrence folded the registered bounty and handed it to Karl, casually saying, "Libraton is, after all, the capital of the Principality of Equilia. It covers a large area and has a large population, so naturally there are many more murder cases."
Suren pressed on, "There must be quite a few church members there, so the case should be solved pretty quickly, right?"
"Don't forget, there are also a lot of 'Filthy Ones' in populated areas. It's very difficult to track down a 'Filthy One' if they want to hide." Lawrence sighed, as if he had thought of something bad. "Take that 'Jack the Ripper' for example. It's been three years, and he still hasn't been caught."