Lord of Mysteries: Return of the Stars!

Hastur muttered inwardly. His Lawyer potion was nearly digested, and he needed to quickly gather the Barbarian potion ingredients.

Just as Hastur was feeling disappointed about the night's event, a servant quietly approached him, handed him a note, and whispered: "This is from Mr. A."

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Hastur unfolded the note, which read: "If you are willing to become a Secrets Suppliant, the Core horn crystal of a Land Rhinoceros can be provided free of charge."

Hastur's first reaction was that this Mr. A was really bold!

Anyone with sufficient knowledge of mysticism would know that the Secrets Suppliant follows the Hanged Man pathway, which is the specialty and domain of the Aurora Order.

The Aurora Order has a notorious reputation in the extraordinary world, being an enemy of the Churches of the Seven Gods, akin to a terrorist organization in peacetime.

Its members usually lurk in the shadows and only reveal their terrifying nature when they act.

Right now, Mr. A's behavior was equivalent to asking someone in peacetime if they wanted to buy a submachine gun.

Encountering someone with a strong sense of justice would definitely lead to being reported to the official organizations.

Hastur's second reaction: Could it be that Mr. A had taken a liking to him?

He had always heard that the Aurora Order was full of beautiful lunatics and highly valued appearance, accepting anyone regardless of gender.

The more attractive someone was, the more they liked them.

Simply put, they were absolute appearance fanatics.

Hastur's third reaction was to refuse!

Not to mention he was already about to be promoted to Sequence 8 Barbarian, even if he hadn't set foot on the Black Emperor pathway, he still wouldn't choose the Hanged Man pathway.

Beyonders of this pathway tend to go insane, without exception. The only difference is whether they're somewhat crazy or completely insane.

The grand stage of the Aurora Order, don't come if you're not mad.

"Forgive my refusal. I prefer to become a Apothecary."

Hastur wrote a sentence on the note and had the attendant pass it on to Mr. A.

Mr. A glanced at the note and then turned his gaze back to Hastur. After a brief silence, he wrote another sentence on the note.

Soon, Hastur received Mr. A's reply, right in front of him.

"Everything is the Lord's blessing. We must all draw near to the Lord, for He is the only salvation in the end times."

"..." Hastur was speechless. He really didn't know how to ridicule Mr. A's train of thought.

This sentence was practically preaching right to his face.

Did Mr. A not realize that showing such fervor at a gathering of Beyonders would only make people more resistant?

Did he think Hastur was so easily swayed?

"I am a follower of the Goddess. I will not betray her."

Hastur still politely replied with this sentence to prevent Mr. A from pestering him further.

Less than two minutes later, Mr. A once again had a reply delivered by the attendant.

"Core horn crystal of a Land Rhinoceros, 300 pounds."

Hastur pondered for a moment and then wrote "Deal" on the note.

Regardless of Mr. A's motives, there was no reason to turn down such a reasonable offer delivered straight to his door.

Xio and Fors, sitting nearby, stared at Hastur for a while, their eyes full of curiosity.

In their circle, Mr. A was practically the most powerful Beyonder. For someone like that to show such interest in a newcomer attending the gathering for the first time was simply incredible.

"You know, I've always been popular," Hastur explained with a smile.

"Yeah, I heard Mr. A is an exceptionally handsome man. It's perfectly normal for him to be interested in you," Xio added with a teasing grin.

"..."

Hastur fell silent and decided to change the subject. "Did you two gain anything tonight?"

"No."

Xio and Fors both shook their heads. One had little ambition for advancement, and the other was severely short on money.

After the transaction, they rested for a bit, then moved on to the free communication segment.

Hastur wasn't particularly interested in this part, but he couldn't shake the feeling that Mr. A's gaze kept drifting toward him, so he had to act like he was interested in all sorts of knowledge.

"Is anyone here interested in the writings left by Emperor Roselle?" someone asked excitedly, holding up a sheet of paper and looking around.

Hastur remained silent. Fors glanced at him and whispered, "Is that trade you mentioned before still on?"

Hastur replied, "I only accept original manuscripts from Emperor Roselle. I place no value on reproductions."

"Then how do you determine if it's an original manuscript from Emperor Roselle?"

"I know a professor well-versed in history, he's very knowledgeable in this area. Besides, isn't Mr. A also skilled in appraisals?"

Fors glanced at Mr. A, then leaned close to Xio and whispered a few words in her ear.

Soon after, Xio stood and went over to the man claiming to have researched Emperor Roselle's mysterious writings. After an enthusiastic conversation, she successfully retrieved three sheets said to be original manuscripts left by Emperor Roselle.

Hastur only needed a glance to tell that two were later reproductions, only one was a genuine original from Roselle's diary.

Chinese handwriting is difficult to imitate, especially longer passages. Perfect replication is nearly impossible.

Additionally, he was familiar with the format and tone of Roselle's diary, making it even easier to distinguish.

Xio took the three diary pages to Mr. A for appraisal. Mr. A gave them a quick look, picked out one, and then his gaze passed over Xio to fall once again on Hastur.

"Thank you for your generosity."

Xio successfully received a free appraisal from Mr. A and returned with a light step.

"Pay up, dear Baron,"

Xio said cheerfully. Earning 50 gold pounds for just a few words felt like a huge win for her.

"Of course, this is the deal we agreed upon," Hastur nodded with a smile, acknowledging the transaction.

The reason he was willing to pay a high price for Roselle's diary at this stage was to prepare for the future.

Because in the future, he likely wouldn't join the Tarot Club.

At that time, the only way to influence Klein and change some regretful events would be through Roselle's diary.

Klein collected Roselle's diary through Audrey, Alger, Fors, and others, and he was the one who could steadily supply Roselle's diary.

He could write Chinese characters and knew many things. Although his handwriting differed from Roselle's, he could fully pass off his own writings as imitations of Roselle's diary.

There was another benefit to this method, rather than directly approaching Klein and triggering his wariness, it would be better to communicate through Roselle's diary.

Klein would surely be more willing to trust Roselle, this fellow countryman down on his luck.

Also, through these transactions, he could recoup the costs of buying Roselle's original diary manuscripts from Audrey, Fors, and the others.

It was a guaranteed profitable business.

So now he needed to let Audrey, Fors, Xio, and the others know that he had a hobby of collecting Roselle's original diary manuscripts and that he still had many pages in his possession.

This way, when they needed to trade with Mr. Fool, they would naturally think of him.

As the exchange neared its end, Mr. A wanted to complete the deal with Hastur alone, but this request was refused by Hastur.

Mr. A didn't push further and had someone hand over the core rhinoceros horn crystal, while Hastur paid 300 gold pounds.

Leaving the gathering cabin, the three of them returned to Viscount Glaint's villa.

Facing Glaint's burning gaze, Hastur could only offer an apology, he truly had not acquired the Apothecary potion formula at tonight's extraordinary gathering.

"No worries, I can wait a bit longer," Glaint said with forced ease.

After some small talk, Hastur paid Fors 50 gold pounds to retrieve an original Roselle diary manuscript, ending the brief reunion for the night.

At 11:33 p.m., Hastur returned to his study, sat at his desk, and began listing his recent income and expenses.

His main income sources were threefold: 2,000 gold pounds loaned from Viscount Glaint, 800 gold pounds from selling the Barbarian potion formula, and a weekly salary of 10 gold pounds.

As for expenses, there were many: purchasing Beyonder materials, acquiring Roselle's diaries, wages for the butler and maids, daily living costs…

He picked up a pen and did some calculations on a piece of paper, eventually reaching a conclusion.

His savings had dropped to less than 800 pounds, only 500 pounds left in the bank, a little over 200 gold pounds on hand, and he had already earmarked 500 gold pounds to support two to three months of wages and expenses.

Given his current expenses and savings, as long as he didn't purchase the materials for Sequence 7 Briber, he could last until the plantation started yielding returns in June.

But it was impossible not to gather the materials in advance for the Briber, this would be another large expense.

"Sigh, still need to keep making money."

"Maybe wait until I advance to Sequence 8 Barbarian before worrying about making money. Right now, fully digesting the Lawyer potion takes priority."

"Wonder what kind of changes will come to the Hall of Stars after advancing to Sequence 8…"

Hastur pondered deeply for a while, then picked up another piece of paper to summarize the events he had recently encountered.

The Son of Chaos and the Fallen Mother, Andrew the scammer who hadn't been caught yet, the recently quiet Madam Germani, the still-murky Almshouse, and Mr. A who was very interested in him, these were all potential threats that could cause trouble.

He wouldn't deal with the Fallen Mother for now. As for the Son of Chaos, he'd assess again after advancing to Sequence 8.

He could issue a bounty on Andrew and have Xio help track him down.

For Madam Germani, it was best to keep things as they were.

Regarding the Almshouse, since Professor Wayne had dealings with Vice Dean Bard, he hadn't reported it to the Church of the Goddess of the Night. As long as he didn't go there again, there shouldn't be further trouble.

But Mr. A being very interested in him, that was troublesome.

Who knew what those lunatics might do? They might even show up at his house in the middle of the night preaching the True Creator's gospel.

"Could he really have already figured out who I am and come to find me?"

Hastur instinctively looked out at the pitch-black window, feeling a sense of unease.

"No, this place doesn't feel safe anymore."

Hastur frowned slightly, thinking he needed to move to a new residence, preferably somewhere close to the Church of the Goddess of the Night.

Only then would he feel safe.

"After tonight, I'll find an excuse to go live in the Empress's Borough for a while. After I advance to Sequence 8 Barbarian, I should have some ability to protect myself."

A decision was made in Hastur's heart.

He sat and thought for a while longer, then burned the paper filled with his notes to ashes.

Because of Mr. A, he was in a bad mood. Hmm… he couldn't let the Son of Chaos have it too easy either.