Not long after meeting Helen, Aiven's original body was so captivated by her charm that he lost his sense of direction, completely transforming into a devoted follower, allowing her to manipulate him at will. It was also under her instigation that his original self truly began to delve into mystical knowledge.
Initially, his original self thought he had found true love and agreed to all of Helen's requests. Even after Aiven himself transmigrated, it was only through an objective perspective that he painstakingly discovered Helen's guidance and exploitation of his original self.
Just as Aiven instructed his butler to refuse visitors, preparing to hide for a few days to conceal the marks left on his neck from hanging, Helen abruptly appeared in Aiven's bedroom that very night and placed a bottle of magic potion in front of him.
Looking at the magic potion before him, which looked unappetizing no matter how he viewed it, Aiven really didn't want to drink it.
However, Aiven, who was familiar with the plot, also knew that Demonesses were ruthless characters. Since she had already come to him, he had no choice but to pinch his nose and, with a look of surprise, drink the seemingly powerful ‘Assassin’ magic potion.
Sure enough, after drinking the ‘Assassin’ magic potion, Helen completely revealed her true intentions to Aiven.
She told Aiven that she originated from Theosophy Order and was also a Beyonder of the Assassin Pathway, and that the Sequence 7 of the Assassin Pathway was precisely ‘Witch.’ She also told Aiven that the reason she had him drink the ‘Assassin’ magic potion was to have him help them explore the secrets of their sworn enemy, the Demoness Sect, in Backlund.
After careful selection, they found Aiven.
The reason they chose Aiven was not because Aiven had the talent to become a Demoness or was easy to manipulate, but because Aiven had caught the eye of Mrs. Sharon, a member of the Demoness Sect.
Mrs. Sharon's interest in Aiven wasn't solely because Aiven, the young puppy, fit her aesthetic, but more importantly, because Aiven's brother, Robert Horn, was a rising star in Loen politics and highly exploitable.
Thinking of this, Aiven couldn't help but touch his nose again, lamenting the misfortune of his original self. With various Demonesses approaching him, he was already quite pitiful. What was even more pitiful was that the underlying reason could be traced back to his original self's brother, and had little to do with him personally.
From his original self's memories, Aiven easily understood why his original self's brother was unwilling to let him reunite in Backlund, instead keeping him in their hometown, Tingen. It was primarily to protect his naive and easily exploited younger brother.
However, despite all precautions, as Robert Horn's status grew higher and higher, Aiven was still inevitably targeted by those with ulterior motives.
Mrs. Sharon had been very interested in Aiven for a long time. When Robert Horn, in the parliament, joined others to abolish the grain bill, this interest grew even stronger, leading to several invitations for Aiven to attend balls and banquets.
It was just that Aiven had previously heeded his brother's advice to stay away from political figures, so he kept his distance from socialites like Mrs. Sharon, who had connections with various political factions in Tingen. However, he hadn't expected that this would actually increase Mrs. Sharon's interest in Aiven himself.
It was only when Helen continuously guided Aiven to interact with Mrs. Sharon that Aiven truly discovered her problematic nature. After all, Aiven clearly knew that Mrs. Sharon was the highest-level Demoness Klein confronted in Tingen, and possibly even the head of the Demoness Sect in Tingen.
During this time, Helen had been guiding Aiven to operate as a mystic arts enthusiast, which successfully attracted Mrs. Sharon, who had always wanted to win Aiven over. Under the guise of mystic arts exchange, their relationship grew increasingly intimate, deeply affectionate and inseparable.
Finally, yesterday, Aiven was enticed by Mrs. Sharon to drink a second bottle of ‘Assassin’ magic potion, becoming an peripheral member of the Demoness Sect.
This was also the reason why Aiven had been unhappy since waking up this morning.
Because the persona Aiven had cultivated in front of Helen was that of a ‘young puppy’ who had been deceived by her—still loving her, forgiving her deception, but deep down feeling uncomfortable.
And Aiven's discomfort was genuine. Having just transmigrated, he was forced to drink two bottles of ‘Assassin’ magic potion. Aiven was not a devoted follower like his original self; it would be false to say he harbored no resentment, so it appeared exceptionally real.
But at present, he was simply not strong enough. Aside from finding some satisfaction in bed, he could only continue to maintain his previous persona.
A high-level Hunter often appears in the form of prey. Aiven deeply agreed with this statement. First, act as a young puppy, then slowly get back at them later.
Of course, Aiven did this not only to seek future revenge against Theosophy Order and the Demoness Sect, but also because Aiven had awakened his golden finger after drinking the first magic potion.
At this moment, Aiven raised his right hand, looking at the faint black light emanating from it, recalling the hallucination that appeared after he drank the first magic potion.
After Aiven drank the ‘Assassin’ magic potion, he found himself vaguely appearing in a room. The entire room was empty, with only one Door and two windows.
Two different colored lights shone into the room from outside the two windows.
Aiven groggily stood up and walked towards the window emitting black light. Looking out from the window, Aiven realized that he was actually in the highest building of a 20th-century Old Shanghai-style city.
He saw bustling crowds outside, including rickshaw pullers with towels around their necks, faces rotten to the bone, oozing pus, pulling rickshaws that Aiven had only seen on television in his previous life.
There were women sitting in rickshaws, graceful and wearing tight cheongsams, but with swollen, blackened skin, adorned with gold and silver.
At the same time, there were also trams coming from afar, ringing bells, connected to overhead wires, and running on tracks below.
Just as Aiven was shocked by the scene before him and wanted to see more clearly, Helen's call pulled him back to reality.
Since then, Aiven had never entered that room again, but Aiven had a feeling, knowing that he could pre-acquire a Beyonder ability below Sequence 7 of the ‘Demoness’ Pathway.
After careful consideration and deliberation, Aiven pre-acquired the divination ability of Sequence 7 ‘Witch.’ And being skilled in divination also meant being skilled in interfering with others' divination, which was what he needed most at the moment.
Aiven, who had read Lord of the Mysteries, actually knew very well that in this world there were too many unknown dangers and people, and too many Beyonder abilities to find people. Not being easily noticed was the primary rule for survival in the world of mysteries, which was why Helen gave Aiven ‘Golden Gaze,’ a Sealed Artifact with relatively minor side effects.
At the same time, Aiven learned of another special ability brought by his golden finger: Aiven could simultaneously consume magic potions from a similar Pathway to the ‘Demoness’ Pathway—the “Hunter” Pathway.
That is to say, Aiven could simultaneously consume the ‘Hunter’ magic potion corresponding to the Sequence 9 ‘Assassin’ magic potion. The consumption levels of the two magic potions could not differ by more than one Sequence.
Aiven's golden finger allowed him to become a true dual-Pathway Beyonder, which also meant that Aiven's initial idea of finding an opportunity to break free from Theosophy Order and the Demoness Sect was directly declared bankrupt.
Because the magic potion formulas for the Demoness Pathway were relatively strictly controlled, if he left these two organizations, Aiven would have difficulty finding relevant magic potion formulas in the future. This would be equivalent to crippling his golden finger, and might even cause a hidden danger of him being unable to advance. Therefore, Aiven still had to continue to play along with these two organizations.
The appearance of the golden finger was a huge surprise to Aiven. After all, although he only had half the memory of Lord of the Mysteries, it was enough for Aiven to recognize the reality of this world: it was truly ‘impossible to move an inch without a cheat.’
Although he didn't know what hidden dangers this cheat-like golden finger had, ‘having a cheat is better than not having one,’ which was enough to make Aiven ecstatic.
“It's just that Demonesses transform at Sequence 7, while Hunters need to reach Sequence 4 to have a transformation effect. The transformation periods of the two Pathways are not equivalent. Do I really have to be a woman for a period of time between Sequence 7 and Sequence 4 in the future?”
Aiven thought of this, rubbing his face with both hands in distress. He was a pure man, who had never even worn women's clothes in his previous life. The thought of possibly losing his 'little brother' for a period of time made a wave of shame surge within him.
Just as Aiven was troubled, a knock came from the parlor door. Aiven knew it was the servant reminding him that breakfast time had arrived. Aiven spoke, telling the servant holding his clothes to come in and help him change.
When he first transmigrated to this world, Aiven, who had just integrated his original self's memories, was actually very unaccustomed to being served by a male servant. After all, Aiven was a normal man and found it difficult to tolerate strange men approaching and touching him. He had only endured it to avoid revealing any flaws.
But after only a few days, Aiven no longer felt the previous discomfort. One could only say that ‘it’s easy to go from frugality to luxury’; humans find it difficult to break free from their inherent nature of loving ‘enjoyment.’
Soon, with the male servant's attendance, Aiven changed into a white shirt, a black vest over it, black trousers, and a pair of shiny black leather boots.
Looking at himself in the mirror, Aiven nodded with satisfaction, feeling that this face was barely inferior to his previous life's.
He walked out of the parlor, descended the wide indoor staircase to the dining room, and found that Butler Buck and the servants had already set the food on the table, with a silk scarf in hand, waiting by the chairs.
“Good morning, Mr. Buck!” Aiven greeted him proactively.
“Good morning, Mr. Aiven!” Butler Buck replied to Aiven's greeting while pulling out a chair for Aiven to sit down.
Aiven instructed the other servants to help him cut some Dixie roast meat, a piece of Orleans sausage, and some grilled oysters, as well as get him a fried egg, while casually asking:
“Have any invitations been received today? Oh, that’s right! I sent a letter to Big Brother a few days ago, has Big Brother replied?”
Butler Buck meticulously took a large bottle of freshly squeezed fruit juice from a servant's hand, poured Aiven a glass of juice with the posture of pouring fine red wine, and said at the same time:
“Your alma mater has sent you another invitation, hoping you will become a lecturer in the ancient languages department at Hoy University after graduation. Tingen University next door has also done the same, both promising to promote you to associate professor in the shortest possible time.
Your mystic arts enthusiast friend, Mr. Hai Na Sen. Fan Sen Te, sent a letter inviting you to his home tomorrow morning as a guest, saying he found an ancient mystic arts book from the legendary Fourth Epoch, inviting you to appraise it together, and specifically instructed that the items you designated for purchase have arrived.
Mrs. Sharon sent an invitation, planning to host a charity auction at her home to help the poor in the lower streets and surrounding impoverished areas. It is said that people from both the old and new parties will attend, and she also hopes you can attend, and even better, prepare an item for auction.
As for Mr. Robert Horn's delayed reply... I sent someone to the post office to inquire, and two days ago, a train from Tingen to Backlund caught fire, and unfortunately, the mail sent to Backlund happened to be on that train. Mr. Robert Horn probably did not receive the letter you wrote to him.”
Aiven cut a small piece of beef with his knife and fork and put it into his mouth, savoring the tender, juicy deliciousness on his taste buds. Coupled with Helen's departure, Aiven felt a sense of relief, feeling that everything was so wonderful.
Listening to Butler Buck's earlier words, Aiven didn't pay much attention, but when he heard that the letter he wrote to his elder brother, Robert Horn, had not been delivered due to an accident, he suddenly froze.
The words ‘unfortunate’ and ‘happened to’ triggered Aiven's nerves.
Because of the two words in Butler Buck's speech, Aiven suddenly thought of an extremely horrifying question: Why, after several days of transmigration, had he not thought at all about the most rampant mastermind behind the city of Tingen—Ince Zangwill and the Grade ‘0’ Sealed Artifact 008—the Quill of Alzuhod?