Lord of Mysteries: The New Black Emperor

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Hobert first bought a military-grade telescope from the mercenary club, then wrote a letter to Miss Xio, asking if she still wanted to consult him about Beyonder knowledge. Whether she wanted to or not, he requested her to meet him at the law office the next morning.

After sending the letter with the help of a servant, Hobert prepared to head home early to avoid missing dinner in three hours. When he arrived at the club's entrance, he began pondering whether stepping down with his left or right foot would be safer.

As he was choosing a mode of transportation, he worried about whether the hired carriage might overturn or if the coachman could be a psychopathic killer. 

Bad rating! Hobert thought to himself after getting into the hired carriage. I should give the Hanged Man a bad review. Is this caution? This is more like paranoia!

However, Hobert had not yet taken off the ring. He wanted to quickly adapt to the negative effects of the ring, ideally being able to distinguish real caution from the ring's side effects as soon as the cautious thoughts arose.

Thus, at dinner, Hobert hesitated whether to pick up the sharp knife. While going up the stairs, he again contemplated which leg to step with first, and when closing the door, he turned back several times to ensure his clothes weren't caught.

Back in his room, physically and mentally exhausted, Hobert sighed: "Indeed, acquiring new abilities always comes with a price."

The next day, Hobert arrived at the law office at seven o'clock, two hours early, to avoid missing his meeting with Xio, which might disrupt his plans for the next few days.

This was an hour earlier than usual, and the office door wasn't even open yet.

Looking at the tightly closed door and having missed breakfast, Hobert felt an urge to return the ring.

However, after sitting on the office steps and reflecting, Hobert suddenly realized that his previous impulse to argue with others had disappeared. After all, arguing often leads to fights, and being cautious means it's better to stay quiet.

Thinking this way, he found that the ring's negative effects weren't entirely useless.

Alright, alright, I'll keep it, he thought, and then came the naming phase.

Hobert suspected that the Beyonder characteristic used to make the ring likely came from a Warrior Pathway Pugilist or a Mystery Pryer Pathway Melee Scholar.

The latter seemed more probable because the ring's negative effect likely originated from the Beyonder characteristic's provider. Typically, Beyonders of the Warrior Pathway weren't this overly cautious.

A comical image appeared in Hobert's mind: a warrior on the battlefield hesitating whether or not to fire his gun. What if the gun backfires? What if I hurt the enemy? What if the bullet damages the plants? 

While the warrior hesitates in the trench, the enemy has already taken the position.

This image was absurd just thinking about it.

On the other hand, "Mystery Pryer," who know a lot of ritual magic and knowledge, tend to revere the Beyonder world and often become extremely cautious.

So, the ring's Beyonder characteristic was more likely from a "Melee Scholar."

Hobert thought, Since the ring can make me an expert fighter, I'll just call it the 'Combat Ring'!

Then Hobert wondered if he could use his Beyonder abilities to counteract the ring's negative effects.

More specifically, he thought about twisting the cautious thoughts induced by the ring. Since this was a confrontation with its negative effects, whether the twisting succeeded or not, he could generally tell which cautious thoughts were real and which stemmed from the negative effects.

It was a great idea, so Hobert gathered his spirituality and began resisting the ring.

He soon found this method very effective. He could easily distinguish the negative effects and, with his twist, no longer had to hesitate over trivial things like which leg to step with first.

However, with more complex caution, the effect of the twisting was limited. Hobert's hesitation was still noticeable, but he could now differentiate which thoughts were caused by the "Combat Ring's" negative effects, giving him a clear target in fighting against his overly cautious mindset.

Around nine o'clock, Xio and Fors arrived at the law office, and Hobert received them in a small meeting room.

Hobert dragged his chair a little further from Fors, always feeling like she might stretch out her hand and open a door on him. To be cautious, he thought it was better to keep his distance from her.

Wait, no! That's the Combat Ring's negative effect, he realized, and under Xio and Fors' slightly confused gazes, Hobert awkwardly dragged his chair back to its original position.

Xio asked with some concern, "Hobert, are... are your legs cramping?"

"No, no," Hobert said with a bitter smile. "I just... felt the floor was a bit uneven."

He quickly changed the topic: "Have you decided on what kind of Beyonder knowledge you want from me?

"As I mentioned before, it would be best if we start the operation this afternoon. If you haven't decided yet, you can choose to let me owe you an answer or explanation, or I can pay you a sum of money."

Xio said, "We've decided." She glanced at her friend Fors.

"I have a friend," Fors cleared her throat and said, "Yes, I'm asking on behalf of a friend.

"Well, during the appearance of a blood moon, she hears maddening ravings. Why is that?"

Hobert, of course, knew the backstory and immediately exposed it: "Your friend is a Beyonder of the 'Apprentice' Pathway, right?"

"Uh, uh?" Fors froze for a moment. "Y-yes."

Hobert continued, knowingly, "Does her surname happen to be Abraham?"

"No."

"In the Fourth Epoch, the Abraham family had mastered relatively complete potion formulas for the 'Apprentice' Pathway," Hobert explained. "But ever since their ancestor, Bethel Abraham, disappeared during the War of the Four Emperors, the family's Beyonders have seemed cursed, hearing maddening ravings on blood moon nights.

"I suspect your 'friend' consumed a Beyonder characteristic left behind by an Abraham family member without proper treatment, so even though she isn't a member of the Abraham family, she's still affected by their curse."

Xio quickly asked, "That's right! Your description is just like how our mutual friend described her experience! Is there a solution?"

"There are two solutions," Hobert said.

Xio was thrilled. She hadn't expected that the problem that had been giving them such headaches and left them clueless could be solved by Hobert in two ways!

"But both methods are difficult," Hobert added. "The first is to find a suitable mystical item to extract your friend's Beyonder characteristic, treat it, and then let her consume the characteristic again.

"To my knowledge, the Abraham family used to cultivate many non-family 'Apprentice' Pathway Beyonders. As long as the characteristic is treated and the person isn't a member of the Abraham family, they won't suffer from the family curse."