HPxLOTM: A Wizard's Path to Divinity

Although Mr. A carried a Spawn of an Evil God within him and could unleash power on par with a demigod, in a real fight, who knew which side that Spawn might choose to help?

As Edward hesitated, the air around them suddenly grew cold.

A moment later, a piece of parchment appeared in Mr. A's hand. He unfolded it and glanced at its contents—his pupils instantly contracted.

"What is it?"

"A letter from the headquarters of the Aurora Order."

He brought his hands together once more, clasping them tightly. "It says another Blessed will be dispatched to Backlund soon...Heh, to 'assist' me."

"Uh, did it mention who?"

"Miss D."

Edward asked again, "Assist you with the Lord's descent ritual?"

"No idea."

Mr. A shook his head. "The letter only said I should follow her instructions."

Oho! That was clearly an attempt to seize control.

How interesting.

A smile slowly appeared on Edward's face. "Then...if this Miss D were to meet with some unfortunate accident on the way, she wouldn't be able to 'assist' you anymore, would she?"

Mr. A glanced at him. "Maybe."

After a short pause, he added, "I'll keep an eye out for the Shepherd characteristic you asked for."

"Much appreciated!"

The two exchanged a meaningful look before Edward turned and took his leave.

Only then did Mr. A release his clasped hands. The parchment disintegrated into fragments and fluttered to the floor. He muttered to himself:

"I don't care about power struggles. As long as you don't interfere with my plans, we can coexist peacefully. But if you do..."

———

When Edward returned to the small villa in Empress Borough, Lilith was already back. She was sprawled lazily on the couch, playing with her tail as if she had never left the house.

"You're back~"

Lilith flipped over and sat upright. "You were out for so long~"

"I should've had you go back with Audrey. Then at least you'd have Susie to keep you company."

"It's fine~" she replied nonchalantly. "Miss Lilith will keep Edward company."

"Lilith is the best!"

"That's right!"

Edward scooped her up and carried her into the bedroom, then gently placed her on the bed.

"Oh no, I haven't wiped my paws yet."

She hurriedly jumped onto the desk.

"It's fine. Lilith's paws could never be dirty."

"Mm…"

Her eyes rolled a little, and her tail started swaying—she had run quite a bit earlier. There was no way they were not dirty.

"I'll go wash my paws."

Edward didn't think much of it. He reached into his pocket and took out the Black Emperor and Red Priest cards, then began a ritual to re-sacrifice them to Klein.

To Edward, he had possessed these two Blasphemy Cards for nearly a month already. But to Mr. Fool, only a few hours had passed.

There was no immediate reply. More than ten minutes went by—Mr. Fool was clearly out on some matter. Perhaps he had found a temporary washroom somewhere to log into his divine kingdom.

Once the two Cards of Blasphemy vanished, Edward stretched out his arms and let himself fall backwards onto the bed, lying down freely.

"Alright, all the most urgent matters I needed to take care of upon returning are done. Finally, I can relax a bit."

At that moment, Lilith jumped onto his stomach, a towel held in her paws. "Edward, help Miss Lilith wipe her paws."

"Okay~"

Edward sat up. With a towel in one hand, he gently picked up Lilith's soft little paw pads one by one, carefully wiping them clean. Only then did he place her back on the bed. "All done. You're squeaky clean now!"

Lilith immediately began dashing back and forth across the bed, running wild a dozen times. Then she did a forward roll and flopped down onto the mattress, eyes gleaming as she looked at Edward.

Feeling her gaze, Edward smiled. "What are you looking at?"

"Looking at Edward~"

She crawled over to his side and snuggled up close, then closed her eyes.

After a while, Lilith suddenly murmured, "Edward."

"What is it?"

"Are people who lie…bad people?"

"Yes."

"Will they grow long noses like Pinocchio?"

"Hmm, not necessarily."—That would depend on whether Bernadette had actually turned that story into a miracle made real.

Edward looked at her. "But I believe Lilith would never lie to me."

"That's right!"

Lilith nodded without hesitation—Miss Lilith had only withheld a few things from Edward. That wasn't lying!

Thinking of this, she suddenly recalled what Krismona had said: Once you become human, you might not be happy anymore.

Ah—life is tough. Even cats have to sigh.

———

[Empress Borough—Hall Family's Luxurious Villa]

Even though it had only been about an hour since they last saw their daughter, her sudden wave of affection left Earl Hall and his wife slightly puzzled. Still, since it was heartfelt love from their sweet, thoughtful daughter, they were more than happy to accept it.

"Father, this is a quill I got for you. Don't be fooled by its ordinary appearance—it's imbued with magical powers. In the future, you won't have to write by hand anymore. Just speak, and it'll write for you."

"Mother, these clothes are for you. They're incredibly comfortable to wear at home. And this pendant—put it on. It's not only beautiful, but it will also generate a protective shield if you're ever in danger."

"Annie, these candies and chocolates—please help me share them with everyone."

Standing to the side, Hibbert, who had only recently returned from overseas, felt like an outsider. He let out a quiet humph. "What about me?"

Audrey immediately pulled out two top-tier, branded suits and handed them over. "Of course I wouldn't forget you."

Hibbert took the suits and gave them a quick inspection. "Hm, not bad. Do you have another one of those quills? Honestly, Father rarely writes anything himself nowadays, but I deal with paperwork all the time."

"I do."

Audrey brought out another magical quill and a fountain pen. "You can use this fountain pen in front of outsiders."

As Hibbert toyed with the pen, he asked casually, "Tsk, did you just go on a shopping spree with someone?"

Earl Hall and his wife both turned their gazes toward her at the same time.

Audrey, unfazed, nodded calmly. "Yes, I visited his hometown. A nameless little island in the Berserk Sea."

Lady Hall remarked, "No wonder I found the style of these items unfamiliar—I don't think I've seen them before."

Earl Hall raised an eyebrow and pondered for a moment. "This weekend, I'm planning to host a banquet. You should invite him as well."

"Huh?"

He added, "It's not a family dinner. Just a regular banquet."

"Oh, alright."

Audrey let out a breath of relief.

Hibbert smirked. "Last time on the ship, the two of you looked so close…Forget a family dinner, you might as well throw an engagement party."

"…"

Audrey chucked a cigar at him. "Hibbert, maybe you could try not talking when you're smoking?"

She hesitated, then added, "But there are quite a few people in Backlund who want to harm him. A ballroom full of people and prying eyes…"

Earl Hall seemed to have anticipated this. "Doesn't he know how to change his appearance? He only needs to show his real face when meeting me in private."

"A private meeting?"

Audrey immediately grew wary. "Father, what exactly are you planning?"

"I just want to take a look."

Lady Hall, however, smiled. "My, I can't believe our little girl has grown up so quickly."

As a mother, of course she wanted her daughter to marry someone she liked and start a family. But as the Countess, she also understood that her daughter's marriage wouldn't normally be decided by her. Under traditional circumstances, it would be arranged by her husband—usually to cement a noble alliance.

But now, the boy Audrey was seeing was clearly someone she truly liked. And since her husband hadn't voiced any objections, of course she was happy to see this relationship continue—provided, of course, that the young man passed her own scrutiny.

"Mama~"

Audrey put on her most adorable, spoiled expression.

Father and son exchanged a glance, seeing mutual helplessness and wariness in each other's eyes—Was their precious daughter(sister) really about to be swept away by some kid just like that?

———

The next morning.

Edward rose early and sat at his desk, organising the goals and plans for his time in the world of Mysteries. Ideally, this should've been done before his return, but all his time had been spent completing that magical study guide.

"First of all, the top priority is still advancing to a higher Sequence."

He muttered as he scribbled away in his notebook.

"At present, I still need two supplementary materials for the Traveler potion: 10 grams of Trapped Ghost Residue Powder, and 80 millilitres of Shadowless Demonic Wolf's Blood, along with the Shepherd's Beyonder characteristic. These two materials aren't too valuable, but getting hold of them seems like a real hassle."

—Because to obtain them, he'd first have to hunt down those two types of Beyonder creatures.

Even the pirate conference hadn't yielded results.

"The Trapped Ghost Residue Powder...maybe I can ask Christine for help. She doesn't want to get too involved with me, but just asking her to buy something shouldn't be too much, right?"

"As for the Shadowless Demonic Wolf's Blood, I remember in the original novel, Klein got it from Emlyn. And Emlyn obviously acquired it through the Sanguine, which means...I'll have to deal with the vampires again."

Still, since it was just a regular material this time, it probably wouldn't draw too much attention, right?

"As for the Shepherd's characteristic, if Mr. A can get his hands on it, he probably won't mind selling it to me. But I can't put all my eggs in one basket...and among the people I know, the only one who could probably get something like that is...Bernadette."

So...ask her for help again?

Edward hesitated for a moment before making a quiet decision: Don't approach her proactively. If she comes looking for him, then he'd bring it up.

"Besides the materials, I also still need two coordinates for the advancement ritual. One can be anywhere in the real world. The other's in the spirit world, and I can probably get a messenger to help with that."

So just like that, he could easily get all four required coordinates for the ritual?

Edward muttered in mild disbelief, "I'd originally thought I'd have to try the mental world or the book world from Groselle's Travels..."

At this point, Edward tore out the page full of notes and burned it clean. Then, he continued writing.

"Of course, once I advance to Sequence 5, I'll definitely need to start preparing for Sequence 4 as well."

"The second goal is to use the next Tarot Club meeting to verify how many of those 'treasures' my five senior patrons got me are actually real. Hmm...Honestly, even if just one of them turns out to be genuine, I'll be happy!"

Heh. Best-case scenario? Give me the sword in the stone that fires an EXX-caliburrr.

———

[Note]: Enjoy the Extra Chapter~ 290 Powerstones for another one tomorrow. Go, VOTE!

And if you are like me and want to read 40 Chapters in advance of the current story right now, you can support me on my Patreon. Thank me later~

Link - (P)atre(o)n.c(o)m/ Iseeblack [Remove the brackets]