15 Chapter 015

Alvin waited in the bar till 9. There were no signs of members of the Iron and Blood Cross. Mostly because they didn't exist, but the Nighthawks concluded that they had given up contact after obtaining what they came for.

"Well. So that's that. No Iron Blood Cross today. If they contact you sometime later, remember to notify me" said Gordon as he was leaving.

"Captain, I have one more thing to say" said Alvin.

"Yes?" asked Soest.

"Cheryl, that is my um...wife, well she is already a Beyonder" said Alvin.

"Oh? From which Pathway?" asked Gordon.

"She is a Seer. I found the formula before I arrived in Backlund and collected the materials after arriving here. She advanced a few months ago, and she shows no signs of losing control" said Alvin. He decided to tell the fact that Cheryl was a Seer. Proactively volunteering information could increase trust to a certain degree. Plus, if he wanted to obtain further ingredients and formulas for this Sequence, the church was his best choice.

"Alright. There is no need to register her as an informant too. You are responsible for her. And the church can help you if she shows signs of losing control" said Gordon as he left.

"Well, that went okay" thought Alvin, as he prepared to close the bar and leave.

Alvin came home, to see Cheryl waiting for him by the door.

"How did it go?" she asked.

"It went excellently. I am now a Sequence 9 Hunter!" said Alvin happily.

"Wow! That is so great!" cried Cheryl as she jumped into his arms.

After some time, Alvin asked, "Did you try out the acting method yet?"

"No. But I made preparations for it. I registered as a Seer in the Divination Club in Roseland street. I will go an about a day when I am free" said Cheryl.

"Keep an eye out for any suspicious people. They tend to gather in such places" said Alvin.

"You mean like me?" she questioned crossly.

"Well, you know what I mean" said Alvin.

"What now?" she asked.

"I already confirmed that there is no one monitoring us. You should go to sleep. First I'll go and revive the Cloak of Forgetfulness and Sword of Dominance. Then, I should check out that red box. There were a whole bunch of ingredients of the Hunter Pathway there, and this red box was at the centre. It's got he something" said Alvin.

"Naomi's already asleep. She told me she hasn't seen you all week. You should really spend some time with her also" said Cheryl quietly.

"I know. I was busy. Shall the three of us go out on a trip next Sunday? We can visit the Seven Rings Carnival. They are in Southville County now right? We can go and spend a week there, exploring.

"I too know that the Seven Rings Carnival is a cover for a huge travelling Beyonder gathering. Even when you are planning a vacation you are thinking about Beyonder things?" same Cheryl unhappily.

"I received some reliable news that the Beyonder world is subtly changing. There will be more and more Beyonders appearing, including those long forgotten from ancient times. We need to quickly increase our strength to have a chance of survival. Also, we still haven't had our revenge. How long can we wait? The only way to advance on that path is to become powerful enough that those nobles bother to answer when we question them" said Alvin.

"You are right. I'm sorry" said Cheryl.

"It's fine. We really need this vacation anyway. Unless something is pressing we will spend most of our time as if it were a normal vacation. Maybe we can find the ingredients for Clown and Planter potions if we are lucky. We have a sizeable amount of cash saved up" said Alvin.

After saying goodbye to Cheryl, Alvin went to the place where he had hidden his things. He retrieved everything, and came back to the house. He then laid the chest on the floor in front of him and started thinking.

"This red box is definitely of the Hunter Pathway. I can feel it. But what it is is unknown. When I was questioned by the Nighthawks during my ascension, I was almost caught. But this box saved me somehow. Is this an item that was present in the original story? Because I don't remember it. But then again, lots of details about the original story are a bit fuzzy" thought Alvin.

He then proceeded to try to pry open the box, interact with it using his spirituality, and use his relatively decent lockpicking skills to open it. Nothing worked.

"Well, those numerous Beyonders also tried to open the box and failed. Some of them were at in the higher Sequences.. If it weren't for the Cloak of Forgetfulness, and the fact that I was lucky that all the Beyonders I encountered were weaker, I would definitely have not been able to keep this box. Then again, I remember that those people couldn't move the box. But I easily plucked it off the altar it was in. How did that happen?" thought Alvin.

"Was there something special about me? I wasn't transmigrated then. So it wasn't due to that. The box was moved by Alvin Hans, a native rooted in this life. Was it because I was still a mortal? Or else, was it because I had something they didn't, a key of sorts?"

As he was thinking about keys, and all the items on him that could qualify, he suddenly thought about the Sword of Dominance. He did not know anything about it, only that it probably belonged to the Hunter Sequence. Also, it was very powerful, enough for him to kill Beyonders as a mortal. And its negative effects were not that severe. The condition after its use was easily fuilfilable, and while the previous Alvin Hans died from its backlash, that was because he was still a mortal. Alvin figured he could easily endure the backlash of the sword unless it got much stronger for some reason. He had gotten it in some bizarre and unbelievable circumstances a few months ago.

And the space for the keyhole on the box seemed to be just enough for a narrow sword such as the Sword of Dominance to fit.

"Well, here goes" thought Alvin as he inserted the sword into the keyhole. The sword immediately slotted in, and turned around on its own. The box swung open, revealing a red light emanating from within.