Upon hearing Hugh's description, Fors pondered for a moment and said, "It's also possible that he has a powerful sealing artifact."
"This is another strange place," Hugh said. "It is said that some people have also observed the 'leader' while wearing the corresponding sealing artifacts, but they did not find any powerful magical items on him. They only saw a few extraordinary weapons on him."
She paused and then said, "'The leader' never seems to be afraid of investigations or leaks of information about the gatherings."
"Just like Byron, who was caught by me and told some information about the gathering, but the only punishment was to provide five pieces of valuable information free of charge."
"If information is leaked but not reported at the party, then there will be severe punishment."
Fors, of course, knew the difference between magical items and extraordinary weapons: "That's strange, could it be that he followed the same path as me..."
"That's not right either. There are also distance limitations for 'opening the door.' If it exceeds a certain thickness, it can't be opened."
At this time, she had not yet established a stable connection with the Abraham family, and her access to mystical knowledge was limited. Given the level of mystical gatherings she had come into contact with, she didn't even know about the ability to "travel."
Finally, Fors couldn't help but exclaim, "What a mysterious gentleman!"
Hugh nodded: "So I'm very uneasy. If I pass the so-called routine investigation, I don't know whether I should join that 'research group'?"
After thinking for a moment, Forl said, "I suggest you join them if you have the chance."
She said, "Think about it! Even betraying information about the party won't get you severely punished, and the person who initiated the investigation won't be punished either. This party has a very high tolerance for its participants!"
"At least you're not in danger. As long as you're not in danger and you can still trade for high-level intelligence, isn't that enough for you?"
Hugh dipped his bread in the soup: "That's true."
...
After his promotion was confirmed, Odis did not immediately begin preparing to concoct potions. As usual, he had Kaina watch over the workers replacing the glass in the shop windows, while he taught Aria how to make bullets for "Flaming Arrows" in the backyard.
Today's class was relatively simple and ended around 10 a.m.
At this point, all the lessons will be over, and Arya only needs to come and collect ten "Flaming Arrows" later.
She left her mailing address and told Odis that he could write to her if needed.
After seeing Aria off, Odis and Kainer mixed the paint and repainted the walls that had been burned by the fire the day before. After finishing all this, he took a carriage to the Backlund Mechanical Research Society to invite his old friend Max Livemore to lunch.
Odis spent 1 soule to get a private dining room.
The reason for referring to it as a "private dining room" is that, in Odis's view, such a room cannot be called a "private room" or "elegant seating area" because it is too narrow, with only a dining table and two chairs, and it costs so much money.
After ordering and the waiter left the room, Max smiled and asked, "Why are you being so generous today?"
Odis was taken aback: "Am I usually very stingy?"
"It's not that you're stingy," Max joked. "The last time you treated me to such a formal meal was a year ago."
If it really is a herbalist shop owner, then it's not a big deal. After all, given the prices in Backlund, this meal, plus a decent bottle of red wine, would cost at least £2.
But Max knew very well that the man in front of him was not a simple herbalist shop owner.
Odis has two identities. On the surface, he is the owner of a herbal medicine shop, while his shady businesses include the "Nanmu Ballroom" and the "Nanmu Restaurant," as well as two bars and a casino operated by Enoch as his agent.
His second identity is that of an informant for "Mechanical Heart," a fact that serves as his shield and makes him easy to investigate. However, few people can uncover that he is also the founder of the "Mystical Research Society."
Max didn't know if the "Mysticism Research Society" made money, but no dance hall in Backlund was more profitable than the "Nanmu Dance Hall".
What Max didn't know was that Odis actually had a third identity: he was a scholar who pursued knowledge in the "wilderness of knowledge," and as a mere Sequence 9, he had research achievements that other extraordinary individuals could hardly match.
Using magic arrays to create a unique way of crafting extraordinary weapons is just the most basic application of those research results.
In addition, he is currently a member of the Tarot Club.
Almost no one can find out about these two identities.
And these are the results of Odis's three years of work in this world.
After being teased by Max, Odis smiled somewhat embarrassedly: "You know, my experiments are very expensive."
"It's not just experiments that are expensive," Max said. "Those factories you opened last year, which later went bankrupt one after another, must have been quite expensive too, right?"
Just then, the waiter started serving the food, and Max said to him, "A cigar, please."
Odis reminded him, "One costs 2 sols!"
"Then give me two."
"One is enough, I don't smoke." Odis said with a hint of helplessness.
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
After the waiter cut the cigar and lit it for Max, Odis said, "Back then, I always wanted to try something new."
At the time, he wanted to open a factory to try to solve some people's employment problems. According to the novels he had read before, as a time traveler, he should be able to make a lot of money no matter what kind of factory he opened.
After the factory was put into operation, Odis discovered that he had absolutely no talent for business.
The factory's closure was not due to poor management, but rather because Odis was unwilling to lower the protective requirements for its employees.
For example, his enamelware factory requires multiple layers of protective measures in the polishing process, while other factories ignore these and treat workers as expendable resources.
Therefore, in terms of price, the products from the Odis factory were not competitive at all.
Another factor was the impact of the broader environment. With the enactment of the Corn Act, a large number of middle-class and farmers went bankrupt, while the industrial capacity of the entire Loen region continued to increase, leading to market saturation.
This is why the current international situation is quite tense, because they all want to dump their goods into each other's countries or colonies.
After three factories went bankrupt, Odis stopped thinking about that business and focused on developing the "Nanmu Dance Hall" business.
The waiter opened a bottle of red wine and poured a glass for each of them. They ate and talked.
Odis said, "I intend to advance to the 'Fighting Scholar' level."
What had always hindered his advancement was the monitoring of the "Mechanical Heart." Odis knew very well that encountering extraordinary events would not attract the attention of the "Mechanical Heart" for long, but that event was different because it was related to the high-sequence extraordinary characteristics or sealed objects (actually the "Wilderness of Knowledge") of the "Secret Seeker" or "Generalist" pathway.
Three years ago, he vaguely sensed that he had been secretly examined more than once. At that time, if he had revealed that he knew what it meant to "digest" magic potions, he would likely have been arrested and interrogated.
Now, three years have passed, and Odis has not shown any abnormalities. In addition, he is very useful to the "Mechanical Heart", so he dared to apply for a promotion.
Max paused slightly, holding the knife and fork: "Think it over. I've heard that at Sequence 9, although you might occasionally hear the whispers of evil gods, you can basically ignore them."
"But at Sequence 8, the whispers of the evil god become more obvious, and it is easy to be seduced."
He had already inquired about this for Odis.