Eldritch Horror Theatre

Sure enough, it was time for his favorite part—the quest.

’Exactly what I wanted!’

”Oh, what rat?”

Fu Qian showed no displeasure at Henry’s terms.

Given the current situation, there was no need to agitate Old Man Henry any further.

From his words to his actions moments ago—even exploiting the fact that Yuan Shan did not know his true strength, a detail terrifying upon deeper reflection because it implied she was asking a tiger for its hide—he had pushed the provocation to its absolute limit. Yet, the outcome remained less than ideal.

That swirling vortex was merely a glimpse of the related power and authority Henry wielded as a potential Covenanter.

And even that had been twisted.

Henry’s modest claim of being defiled was actually quite honest.

Judging by the sensation of being struck by that vortex, this old man was absolutely a festering sore upon the Blazing Rainbow.To sum it up, he couldn’t push the provocation any further. Without any results, he might as well move on to something else—figuring out exactly how the legendary Midas would manifest in reality, thereby taking complete control of the task and ensuring he could complete it whenever he chose.

...

”His name is Midas. A shameless stealer of fortunes.”

As it turned out, Old Man Henry hadn’t changed his terms, quickly recounting Midas’s heinous deeds once more.

Of course, he was still using this to test Fu Qian. It proved that despite the old man’s words, he hadn’t actually ruled out the possibility of Fu Qian being polluted.

It was a perfectly normal reaction.

Imagine a Tier 2 Transcendent who conceals his true identity, coincidentally crosses paths with his precious student, plays the hero to maintain world peace, and then one day casually asks if he happens to know who the Blazing Rainbow is.

Even if the man had truly moved beyond base desires, wasn’t it all a little too coincidental?

They were all veterans of this game, and the stakes were massive. How could his suspicions be so easily dispelled?

The fact that the old man hadn’t adopted a ”better safe than sorry” approach and immediately called in backup to kill him showed he was still acting with some restraint.

”Stealing fortunes? Doing something like that in Casino City is absolute madness!”

With that in mind, Fu Qian listened to Henry’s account with utmost seriousness, even slapping the table in a display of righteous indignation.

”Rest assured, I will track down this shameless scoundrel!”

...

Fu Qian’s overly impassioned rhetoric clearly had an effect.

Specifically, Yuan Shan’s face was flushing pale and green by turns as she tried desperately to avoid looking at her teacher.

Though she hadn’t shared much about her teacher’s illustrious past, given her usual understanding of Fu Qian, she couldn’t shake the feeling that the guy was making a veiled insult.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her teacher’s expression was just as grim. She wasn’t sure if he had been provoked—

”Excellent!”

Her thoughts were interrupted by another heavy smack against the table. Her teacher looked thoroughly impressed.

”Then I leave this in your hands. Yuan Shan, you are quite familiar with this place. Make sure you fully assist Mister Fang in his efforts.”

”Understood...”

Stunned for a few seconds by the directive, Yuan Shan finally gave a muffled reply, sighing deeply in her heart.

What had she even been worrying about?

Did either of these two really need anyone to spare their feelings?

...

”Are you really at Tier 2? How can you be at Tier 2?”

After bidding Old Man Henry farewell and stepping out of the Church’s Great Hall, Yuan Shan couldn’t stop herself from leaning close to Fu Qian’s ear to vent her overwhelming shock.

It was clear that, even now, she was struggling to accept the fact.

”Yes. Just advanced.”

Facing Chief Yuan’s astonishment, Fu Qian offered a completely honest answer.

Just advanced...

Yuan Shan naturally recalled the moment back in the mall when she discovered he was at the Demigod Rank.

The guy had given her the exact same line back then.

The problem was, hadn’t it been less than half a year since then?

Even for a Low-Tier Transcendent, that kind of advancement speed was terrifying.

Not to mention that the higher the tier, the more esoteric and unpredictable advancement became. Countless brilliant prodigies spent their entire lives unable to find the path forward.

There was being a genius, and then there was this.

”How recently?”

Overwhelmed by shock, Chief Yuan’s mind was mush, making her question sound a bit abstract.

”Hmm... probably about half an hour ago.”

She hadn’t expected him to actually pause and calculate the timeframe so seriously.

’I never should have expected anything from this guy...’ Yuan Shan thought. ’Wait, half an hour?’

Yuan Shan, who had instinctively assumed he was spouting nonsense, suddenly realized something.

Wasn’t that exactly when the two of them first arrived in the Sacred Night Capital?

What had that guy done right then...?

Her recent experiences flashed rapidly through her mind—that egg!

The next moment, her heart lurched as she realized a possibility.

”That thing you ate... was it the final step of your advancement?”

Yuan Shan couldn’t hide the dryness in her voice. Seeing the legendary act of advancing in the middle of a mission happen right before her eyes gave her a profound sense of unreality.

After learning their destination and judging the peril of this trip, he hadn’t just brought out every artifact at his disposal, but had actually decided to decisively break through on the spot?

An advancement was something anyone else would meticulously plan out, unwilling to take a sliver of unnecessary risk. Yet he had done it right in front of a whole city of Night Watchers whose allegiances were entirely unclear?

It was absolute madness!

But then again, if he hadn’t been so crazy, he might not have survived that encounter just now...

Remembering her teacher’s unexpectedly intense reaction, Yuan Shan fell silent.

His incomprehensibly crazy move had actually been the correct choice.

If he had merely been at the Demigod Realm, it was hard to imagine him withstanding that pressure.

”I’m sorry. That was my miscalculation,” she apologized earnestly the next moment, not waiting for his reply.

”I truly never expected my teacher to react so intensely!”

”It’s fine.”

Seeing Chief Yuan acting so solemnly, Fu Qian smiled and shook his head.

”I anticipated it.”

’...I really can’t argue with that.’

Fu Qian’s brand of comfort was always so refreshingly unconventional. Yuan Shan found herself speechless once again.

His statement was obviously a roundabout way of answering her earlier question—the thing inside that egg truly had been the final step of his advancement.

Thinking back, his aura had noticeably shifted right after he drank it. She had simply been led astray by his seamless misdirection and completely misunderstood.

She truly couldn’t afford to lower her guard for even a second when dealing with this guy!

But looking on the bright side, this also proved he truly had no intention of throwing her under the bus. Otherwise, given how long they had been dealing with each other, she would have found herself in dire straits long ago.

Chief Yuan was quite the optimist. After a quick mental analysis, she soon reached a conclusion that improved her mood.

”So, how is your condition now? Do you need to find a place to stabilize your state first?”

She even suggested going off the clock, perhaps as a bit of petty revenge against her teacher for his earlier lack of courtesy.

”I’m doing great. Never felt better!”

However, Fu Qian waved his hand to decline, indicating she didn’t need to worry.

”We should find that scoundrel as soon as possible. Just listening to the old man’s description was enough to make my righteous sense of duty boil over!”

”...I’ll take you to see a friend. She might know something.”

Though she didn’t believe a single word of his nonsense about a sense of justice, Yuan Shan struggled and ultimately failed to find any words to refute him. She let out a long sigh and spoke.