After Gareth left, Ralph finally had time to summarize the abilities and knowledge he had gained.
As an anomaly on the imaginer path, his abilities focused on creation. In Ralph's case as a Clown, he could create cards out of thin air. The cards he could create currently consisted of four types: the Ace of Hearts, Ace of Spades, Ace of Clubs, and Ace of Diamonds.
Apart from being effective throwing weapons, the four cards had different uses. The Ace of Clubs allowed him to create an illusion that could confuse his opponent, with its effectiveness depending on the opponent. The Ace of Spades enabled him to teleport or swap positions with the card; for instance, if he threw the card forward and it passed his opponent, he could swap places with the card and appear where it landed. The Ace of Diamonds served as a mini bomb, meaning the card could explode, although the explosion wasn't very powerful. Lastly, the Ace of Hearts functioned as a healing card. So far, this was perhaps the most surprising card, as it could heal minor wounds and alleviate serious injuries. As the initial stage of his mystical powers, this was certainly very useful.
Besides his new abilities, Ralph also gained knowledge about mystical powers and the path he had chosen. Mystical powers in general had five stages of power, each stage divided into three levels. This was basic knowledge of mystical powers. Regarding the Clown's mystical power, Ralph found himself gaining insight into the next stage of this power: the Trickster. He only knew the name and how to reach this stage.
To upgrade his Clown mystical power to Trickster, he needed to reach the full potential of the Clown mystical power. Of course, all this required involvement with the mystical world and related matters. As a beginner, Ralph started at the first level of Clown. His current goal was to enhance his skills as a Clown anomaly to reach higher stages.
The higher the stage of his mystical power, the less influence evil entities would have on his destiny. This was the reason Ralph chose this path!
After summarizing and better understanding his new abilities, Ralph stretched his body in the chair. Closing his eyes, he began to think about the words of the mysterious figure he suspected to be the All-Seeing Eye in the mystical hall.
My punishment for insulting and cursing the gods is to remain alive...
Thinking of this, he unconsciously fell asleep. The mental exhaustion overflowed, making him sleep soundly in a sitting position on the chair.
...
In the morning, Ralph vaguely felt his coat being gently tugged. When he opened his eyes, his gaze swept over a little girl with blue eyes and a worried face standing in front of him, pulling his coat to wake him up.
"Dad... Why are you sleeping here?" Eloise said, looking slightly displeased.
Ralph gasped, immediately moving his uncomfortable body, the result of sleeping in a bad position. Without showing his discomfort, Ralph smiled, "Oh, it seems I fell asleep after chatting with Uncle Linsite."
Eloise already knew Gareth and had even started to form an uncle-niece relationship. With Gareth's gentle and understanding personality, as well as his manners and politeness, he became a unique role model in Eloise's eyes.
After pouting, Eloise said softly, "Daddy shouldn't sleep just anywhere, or you'll get sick..." Her gaze somehow looked a bit sad.
Ralph maintained his smile while stroking his daughter's head. "Haha, forgive me, darling."
He glanced at the clock, which showed exactly seven in the morning.
"Alright, you need to get ready for school." Ralph said, lifting his daughter and standing up. At that moment, his gaze caught the revolver on the table lying there conspicuously. He quickly grabbed it and tucked it into his coat.
At that moment, Eloise innocently asked with a now cheerful smile on her face, "Daddy, do you think unicorns and fairies are real?"
Ralph, who was used to such questions, would typically answer with a joke. However, after learning and directly witnessing the symbolic world where such creatures existed, he answered with a smile, "Maybe."
At eight o'clock, Ralph was toasting bread and frying eggs when a knock on the door was heard.
Eloise, who sat patiently at the dining table wearing her neat pink school uniform, glanced up slowly. Ralph immediately opened the door to find a young girl with a simple appearance, wearing a brown dress that couldn't be called new, holding the hand of a little boy dressed in a pink uniform and a child's hat.
"Mr. Hume, is Eloise ready?" The young woman said.
Ralph hesitantly smiled, "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm just preparing breakfast. If you don't mind, join us,"
The young woman was Lila, the only daughter of the baker who lived not far from Ralph's house. For the past three months, Lila had been the person Ralph trusted to take Eloise to school, especially considering his job used to require him to work longer hours.
As a good host, Ralph warmly offered.
Lila, who had tied brown hair and friendly brown eyes, shook her head. "No need, Mr. Hume, we will wait outside."
With that response, Ralph apologized again and quickly hurried to prepare the delayed breakfast.
...
A week later.
At ten in the morning, Ralph was on a steam train when a cat suddenly entered the train, passing through the wall. The black cat had long ears and a tail that looked like a black flame, constantly fluctuating.
A look of awe and vigilance filled his eyes.
According to Gareth, after the mystical disaster centuries ago, the mystical world began to merge with the real world. This allowed mystical creatures to directly interact with the real world, although still limited by mystical power.
These creatures mostly resembled ordinary animals, having their own thoughts and instincts, but could only be seen by people with mystical power. This now included him.
At that moment, inside the train, a bald man wearing a fur coat suddenly winced, stood up, and felt pain in his neck.
This instantly caused panic among the people, some started helping, and some watched in confusion. Among them, Ralph watched the man silently, as he was quite a distance from him.
The bald man fell to the floor, rolling around and screaming in pain. While everything seemed like the behavior of an ordinary sick person, the man suddenly pulled out a triangular necklace with a symbol of an eye inside it.
Holding the necklace, his body gradually regained balance, and his breathing returned to normal. The previously embedded expression of pain gradually disappeared.
The man glanced at Ralph with a confused face. Then, ignoring the people trying to help him, he walked to another carriage.
Mystical disasters were not a secret among the general public. In fact, they were recorded as one of the historical disasters in world records. However, the truth stopped there.
Like Ralph before meeting Gareth, people's knowledge was limited to the disaster and its effects on the surrounding environment. Of course, from a commoner's perspective, this seemed logical, but behind it all was a secret. Mystical disasters were the beginning of mystical creatures and anomalous powers entering the real world. And this became a secret known to only a few.
Regarding this, the inhabitants of the Gorgon Empire revered an exalted figure worshipped as the god who knows everything, the All-Seeing Eye.
The necklace held by the man was a symbol that should only belong to church priests or students studying under them.
Now I'm curious, why did Mr. Linsite come to this city far from the north?
He is a member of the Six Truths organization that handles mystical disasters... is he here to deal with a mystical disaster? What kind of disaster?
Busy with his regrets and choices so far, Ralph forgot to think about why Gareth came to this city. Only when he released the bad thoughts and feelings in his heart could he question it properly.
Combining several guesses, Ralph quickly became convinced the reason was probably not far from that.
My fate, tainted by evil entities, is not a mystical disaster, it's only an individual influence, whereas mystical disasters usually involve a group of people...
He quickly dismissed the possibility that Gareth came to this city for him. After all, his guess was that Gareth happened to find him in a desperate condition, given the kindness and hospitality he had shown all this time, Ralph felt it made sense.
As he thought, the whistle from the steam train sounded, indicating the train had reached its stop. Ralph lived in the suburbs of Aerdel in the Baron River area, and on the other side worked in the city center. This required him to use the steam train to commute.
Ralph sighed, stood up, and adjusted his half-top hat. He picked up his suitcase and walked out of the steam train. As he stepped out, the black cat he had seen earlier also followed, walking beside his feet and even brushing its soft fur against his leg.
Ralph tried to avoid it, but the cat, which he guessed was a mystical creature, kept following him. No one else saw the cat, making him uncomfortable.
It took more than thirty minutes to reach his office, avoiding the cat caused him to spend quite a bit of time.
On the cobbled street, flanked by tall buildings, Ralph stopped walking when a small but high-pitched voice was heard.
"That priest will die."
Startled, Ralph looked around.
Seeing the people around him going about their activities as if nothing was strange. And none of them indicated they were talking to him.
For some reason, Ralph looked down to look at the black cat that was still following him.
The black cat looked up, its golden eyes hiding many secrets, its mouth opened and suddenly spoke, "If left alone, that priest will die."