Toot.
A loud whistle echoed through the station.
The steel beast of the industrial age slowly pulled in, wrapped in rolling black smoke and steam. Passengers stepped down from the iron train one after another.
Among them, two men with unusual bearings walked out through the crowd.
Compared with the ordinary people around them, they stood out at a glance.
One of them pressed down the brim of his top hat, trying to hide his face as much as possible. He glanced sideways at the man beside him, something unreadable passing through his eyes.
"Javier, you seem different from before. Ever since the last game, something has been wrong with you. What happened?"
Javier said nothing.
His experience in Legend of the Empire could only be described as absurd beyond reason.
Anyone who had someone climb back along the connection to reach them would shut themselves away for a while.
Before that, he had never imagined that someone could raise their own strength inside a game world to that degree.
Strong enough to challenge the system itself.
That was something he had absolutely never considered.
Although he had died before the system made its move against Caelum, the mere fact that Caelum had been able to go that far left him with a shock he could not put into words.
Fortunately, the hostile system had revived him in the end.
After that, he responded to this summons from the hostile system and came to this game world to oppose the game system’s invasion.
In the past, Javier had been proud and arrogant.
Now he was quiet to the point of humility, cautious in a way that made him almost seem like another person.
Only after a long while did he answer.
"Nothing. I am only worried that we might run into an especially powerful player from the enemy faction in this world."
"Hm?"
Soros paused.
"When did you become this timid? Did you fall hard in the last game world?"
Again, Javier remained silent for a long time.
Then he said, "Just as you guessed. To be honest, a certain person has left me with something close to a shadow in my heart. I hope I do not meet him again in this world. Otherwise, I really do not know how to play this game."
"It cannot be that serious."
Soros was greatly surprised.
He had never seen Javier fear someone to this extent. No matter what, they were both top players without question.
"What is there to be afraid of? Even if the enemy faction player who killed you in the last world is here too, he will still need time to grow. He may not be our match."
"I hope so."
Javier remained worried.
Soros’s comfort had no effect at all.
The shadow Caelum had left in him was simply too large.
All he could do was pray that he would not run into Caelum again in this world.
There were so many players in the two system factions, and so many game worlds.
If he could meet the same person twice in a row, then he would really be too unlucky.
At Caelum’s house.
An old man with neatly combed white hair threw the bag in his hand onto the table. He unzipped it, took out a pack of cigarettes, and tossed it to Caelum.
"Cigarettes made from the leaves of the Soul Calming Tree. If you do not want your sanity to keep falling, you had best smoke a few every day. When you run out, ask me for more. This thing is rather troublesome to make, so I cannot bring you too many at once."
As he spoke, the old man took out an exquisite lighter and tossed it to Caelum as well.
"Use this to light them. The wick inside was soaked in corpse oil from a certain creature. Together with the leaves of the Soul Calming Tree, the effect is better."
"Thank you."
Caelum shook the cigarette box.
There were about twenty inside.
He drew one out, flicked the lighter open, and the burning wick gave off a thread of blue smoke.
He lit the cigarette.
The blue smoke mixed with the scent of the cigarette, bringing him an unusual sense of peace. The madness stirring inside his mind was immediately pressed down.
The old man was named Owen.
Owen came from the upper nobility of the United Kingdom of Stars, so his family was very wealthy, and he also held a place among high society.
He was a tenured professor at Cton Royal Academy.
His field of research was mysticism, though he had also studied history and archaeology to a certain degree.
He had a particular fondness for strange things.
Relying on his own wealth and influence, he had collected many formulas and materials.
Although he himself was only an ordinary person, in the fields of potions and alchemy, he was a genuine master level figure.
Even among the kingdom’s upper ranks and nobles, only a tiny number of people knew that this world possessed extraordinary power.
Most people believed this was a world of science.
Owen’s family had passed down research in this area, which was why he had been able to walk so smoothly and so far in the field of mysticism.
More than two months had passed since Caelum advanced to Stage Two of the Investigator Sequence.
During this time, he had been faithfully acting the role of an Investigator.
Sometimes he helped Cton Police Department solve cases.
Sometimes he investigated unknown secrets hidden in the shadows of this world.
Sometimes he silently recorded the privacy of certain people.
He lived like a ghost.
Or like a recorder wandering among the crowd.
He acted the role with great focus.
Owen was someone he had met during this process.
The old man’s clumsy concealment had been seen through by Caelum at a glance, and after that, the two formed a cooperative relationship.
Caelum was quite interested in Owen’s skills and occasionally needed him to provide small items to solve his own problems.
Owen, for his part, was just as interested in Caelum, a young man whose entire being seemed filled with mystery.
They hit it off immediately.
Although Caelum had never displayed any astonishing extraordinary power in front of Owen, Owen knew that this young man had to be closely connected to some kind of existence.
According to the records passed down through his family, only someone who had closely contacted a terrifying existence would suffer such a rapid drop in sanity.
In other words, Caelum was being watched by some unknown being.
Owen held a feverish love for mysticism.
More than that, he wanted desperately to know what kind of end would befall Caelum, who was being watched by that unknown existence.
This was an experiment, an observation and record from close range.
Of course Owen could not allow himself to miss such a rare opportunity.
The dark side of this world had to contain mysteries far beyond imagination.
He wanted to witness all of it with his own eyes.
"Do you have anything else useful?"
"Of course."
Owen took a candle from the bag.
"Sleep Candle. Light it with your lighter, and within five seconds, every living creature within a radius of ten meters will be knocked unconscious. But be careful. Before lighting it, remember to light a cigarette made from Soul Calming Tree leaves for yourself."
"How long does the sleep last?"
"About one hour."
Knock, knock, knock.
At that moment, someone knocked on the door.
"Caelum, there is a troublesome case. Sheriff Marbury would like to ask for your help."