435 An Early Acting Principle

In the nightmare, Poet Iraeta failed to escape his deranged fate. It’s not that he isn’t affected by the King’s Pie game, but that he hasn’t shown it yet. Just like Painter Mullen and Novelist Anori…

He has a facilitator behind him, ensuring his current safety and allowing him to transmit effective information? If that’s the case, who is the facilitator? Someone from the Sacred Heart Cloister? Did he make many similar arrangements after discovering the turbulent undercurrents in the cloister? Lumian’s thoughts raced faster than usual, and he quickly made a guess.

He retracted his thoughts and focused on observing the changes in his body after consuming the potion.

In addition to his enhanced insight, sharper and clearer thinking, and a series of specific manifestations, like improved intelligence and the ability to fabricate excuses to convince others, he also had superpowers in misdirection, confusion, and deception.

These abilities were core components of conspiracies, but a qualified Conspirer would only employ them subtly and at critical moments. Under normal circumstances, they tried their best to rely on their wits to prevent targets with backgrounds from detecting the existence of superpowers and seeing through their schemes.

Similar to Misleading, there’s another ability called Incitement or Instigation. This is very much like the Demoness’ Instigation. And when Lumian played Pyromaniac, he consciously incited others to ignite the flames in their hearts.

Lumian couldn’t help but mutter, Is my acting too advanced, or is the Hunter pathway deepening in certain concepts? Is acting in a previous stage an ability at the later stages?

Yes, the Conspirer potion revolves around conspiracies. There’s no qualitative improvement in combat…

After repeated confirmation, Lumian realized that his physique had improved to a certain extent, and his precise control over flames had improved. He no longer had to rely on Fire Raven, Fireball, Spear, Fire Serpent, and Fire Wall every time. He could casually shape the flames into different forms, such as whips and sabers.

Similarly, the difficulty of repeatedly compressing the crimson flames to form incandescent white flames decreased. The time required was significantly reduced and, depending on the flame’s specific appearance and energy density, it ranged from one to three seconds.

In addition, Lumian could temporarily merge his body with fire. He could use fireballs and other projectiles to quickly shift positions, either escaping the enemy’s attack range or closing the distance. This allowed Lumian to have more options in battle. He didn’t have to rely on Spirit World Traversal every time.

Conspirer had also enhanced his spirituality. Although Lumian hadn’t experimented, he believed that at his limit, he could complete Spirit World Traversal six times, up from the original four times.

Lumian sniffed and unsurprisingly caught a whiff of something further away, discerning more details.

This was due to the enhancement of a Conspirer’s information-gathering abilities. It would inevitably enhance their five senses and spiritual perception.

That’s about it… Lumian stood up, his body suddenly enveloped in flowing crimson flames.

He transformed into a fireball and flew away with a whoosh.

In less than ten meters, he landed on the ground, and flames dispersed around him.

The current limit is ten meters. It will gradually increase as the potion is digested… Lumian nodded indiscernibly and returned to the spot where he had discarded the black satchel and the military flask.

He was now fully aware that he was already a Sequence 6 Conspirer.

Franca held Lie and the gray amber perfume and asked with curiosity and concern, “Very cool… How do you feel?”

“That’s normal,” Franca consoled, empathetic. “For most pathways, there are only two qualitative changes below the high Sequences. For the Hunter pathway, one is at Sequence 7 Pyromaniac, and the other is at Sequence 5 Reaper. Regardless, each potion brings about new abilities or strengthening of the original abilities. If used well, it’s normal for a Sequence 6 to kill a Sequence 5.”

“I also discovered that I’ve been acting as a Conspirer for a long time…”

When he was wandering, he relied on ruthlessness and conspiracies to fend off humans who were older than him for food and a place to sleep in the cold. When he was in Cordu, every prank could be regarded as a conspiracy with low malice. After leaving Cordu, he had been trapped in conspiracies over the past few months, either screwing over his targets or falling into the traps of others…

Although Lumian didn’t digest a portion of the Conspirer potion on the spot, it made his condition much better compared to when he first consumed the Pyromaniac potion. The potion’s potency didn’t dissipate without control.

He didn’t feel like a Conspirer who had just advanced after consuming a potion. He felt more like a Sequence 6 Beyonder who had some time to adapt to it.

Simultaneously, he deduced two acting principles from his past experiences:

Firstly, a Conspirer’s core lay in their intelligence, not superpowers!

Secondly, the key to a conspiracy lay in concealing one’s true motives!

In the past, the acting principles were derived step by step, leading to a substantial digestion of the potion. In contrast, these two acting principles were accumulated from past experiences. Although they couldn’t directly result in the digestion of the potion, they facilitated Lumian’s subsequent acting, reducing the time it would take for him to fully digest the potion. To put it simply, he might only need to spend half his energy to achieve twice the effect.

Lumian had originally believed that digesting the Conspirer potion would take at least half a year, but from the looks of it, perhaps three months would suffice. Of course, the prerequisite was that there would always be a chance to act and conclude a new acting principle.

Franca shared his sentiments.

“That’s right. Just like how it was easy for me to act as an Assassin. I had too much ‘experience.’”

When she said the word “experience,” her voice involuntarily softened, as if she felt a little guilty.

Lumian paid no mind to this detail. After stuffing the items on the ground into his black satchel, he retrieved Lie, the gray amber perfume, and the burning white candle.

Seeing that her companion was indeed fine, Franca heaved a sigh of relief and said, “It’s a good thing to advance before the catastrophe. Damn it, if it weren’t for Browns Sauron being petty and jealous of me, preventing me from attending the orgies, my Pleasure potion would have been significantly digested. Hmph, I’ll have her experience true pleasure later!”

For the 103rd time, she cursed Browns Sauron.

Franca then asked, “Are we going to make a move on those individuals next?”

These individuals referred to members of the Sinners organization.

Over the past month, Lumian had repeatedly sought to capture the Sinners’ liaison through Guillaume Bénet’s widow, Paulina. First, he sought to uncover the Sanson family, seeking revenge for his sister and tracking Loki’s whereabouts—they had a deep connection to Loki. Perhaps they knew the location of the castle where Loki had been resurrected. Second, the Sinners organization also believed in an evil god. It was possible they knew a little about Trier’s cultists’ abnormal silence. Perhaps it could help Lumian and the others figure out the source of the disaster and the essence of the outbreak.

Back then, Lumian hadn’t figured out the pattern of the Sinners organization’s liaison, so he had postponed any operation. Later, he planned to wait until he advanced to Sequence 6 and gained greater strength before taking action. After all, other members of the Sinners organization weren’t like Padre Guillaume Bénet, whose contract abilities and corresponding negative effects were grasped by him, allowing him to prepare in advance. If the contract abilities of the evil god bestowed synergized well, they would be quite a tough nut.

Of course, Lumian had no intention of completely annihilating the Sinners organization by relying solely on his small team. It was a cult with a saint. His plan was to capture the liaison and obtain the information he needed before calling the Tarot Club for reinforcements.

“That’s right.” Lumian nodded with a smile and replied to Franca, “In two days, the Sinners’ liaison will likely visit Madame Paulina again.”

“Yes, I hope he knows something.” Although Franca didn’t think she could prevent the potential disaster, she still hoped to do something.

She paused for a moment and continued, “Take Jenna to Lavigny Docks tomorrow and introduce her to Mr. Fool’s faith.”

…

The following morning, Lumian knocked on Apartment 601’s door.

He glanced at Jenna, who had changed into a light-blue dress, and smiled.

“I need your help with something.”

“Me?” Jenna pointed at herself and turned to Franca. “How can I help?”

“Don’t ask. You’ll find out when you get there.” Lumian couldn’t be bothered to find an excuse.

Jenna’s eyes darted around in confusion.

“Dammit! Can’t you make yourself clear?” As she cursed, she gestured to Franca, indicating her helplessness.

Then, she followed Lumian out of the apartment door.

Franca fell into deep thought when she saw this scene.

…

In the four-wheeled, four-seater rental carriage, Lumian didn’t mention the purpose of his trip. He chatted with Jenna about the drunkards at Salle de Bal Brise and the actors at Théatre de l’Ancienne Cage à Pigeons. The atmosphere was relaxed and cheerful, as if they were on a school autumn outing.

Jenna didn’t inquire further and displayed considerable patience.

Finally, the rental carriage arrived at Lavigny Docks. Lumian paid the fare of 1.75 verl d’or, opened the door, and agilely leaped out.

Jenna moved to the carriage door, but before she could gracefully leap down, her eyes narrowed as she let out Franca’s usual sigh.

“Wow!”

Lumian followed her gaze and saw an ancient-looking three-masted sailboat parked at Lavigny Docks, clearly lagging behind the times.

Such a boat was rare at Lavigny Docks, but those who had grown up reading or listening to the The Adventurer series found it oddly familiar.

These great pirates seemed to be fond of such boats.

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