As the two were walking back to the elevator, Andre suddenly raised a question.

  "Have you been to a secret gathering before?", he asked.

  "Secret gathering?", Lea raised her eyes, shaking her head, "No, I haven't found any. I spent more time unconscious in my mystical life."

  Andre sighed as he counted his remaining budget, "It kinda sucks, but you can get into a novice circle here in Lacrosa. The problem being..."

  He pointed in her general direction. Which made Lea confused. She thinks that her appearance is decent enough, albeit a bit intimidating.

  She looked at her hands... oh.

  The marks of Corruption are clear on her body. Those formally trained or who do a bit of research would know that beings affected by one of the Negative Paths would not end well. Worst-case scenario becoming a Horror. Now that Lea noticed it, she gnced around with her emotion radars... anyone she made eye contact with had a spike in their caution while looking away.

  Sighing, Lea felt her Second Step ritual progressing once more. It made Lea suspicious about what constitutes to the ritual; she knows she can designate many targets for her ritual, but what counts as a "living hell"? And how much does she need to involve herself? It is progressing rather slowly...

  There is too much going on, she drew three clockwise circles on her chest and prayed, "May the Lord protect me..."

  "Anyway, I have everything resupplied for the Abyss Hunters.", Andre looked around, trying to find something suspicious, but everyone here was equally suspicious, so he couldn't do anything about this pce.

  Lea interjected his thoughts with a question, "Can't the church handle the resupply?"

  Andre nodded, "Ah, the church, of course, handles resupply, just the general stuff like gears, but there are special problems only locals know how to deal with. With Ein being near the Northern Frontier, we mostly deal with death-reted Pathstriders and Fire Pathstriders coming from the Great Desert."

  Renlou Empire is split into two halves, separated by a strait that was said to be an aftermath of a battle, leading to the current formation of the empire.

  "Which secret society do we have to watch out for? Besides... you know.", Lea was reluctant to say 'that' name; she has enough trauma for a whole year now.

  "Last week's Horror outbreak, after investigating the scene of the crime... was found to contain a ritual for a divine entity, be it the gods or something else.", he sighed as he got to the elevator area, "You can wander around if you like, Lacrosa is absolutely safe."

  Hearing that, Lea frowned. Things were not as simple as they seemed, and she was frustrated that she could not help with this case due to her position.

  "I'll go back with you.", she held her card in front of the elevator, opening it up.

  Andre chuckled, "Okay, Captain Owen should be finished with his investigation right about now."

  =0=0=

  Owen was at the house where the five Horrors came from. It was a two-story house with a rge basement. Most of the furniture was destroyed, so there was not much evidence to collect. Just some information about the tenants from the ndlord.

  Mr. Tony Dirge was the one who rented this house and had stayed in here for two months, always paid on time, and was friendly with the neighbors. Someone from the Southern half of Renlou, this makes it suspicious from the get-go - why make it all the way to the North?

  As Owen was thinking about what to do. A young man in a b coat approached him; the white coat had a symbol of a silver crescent moon with an eye in the empty spot. He has short white hair combed back neatly.

  Jacen Ses, a Detective colborating with Ein and the Church of the Three Rings in Ein. He looks at Owen with an uneasy expression.

  "Mister Owen, I believe I have identified which divine entity these Pathstriders were trying to contact.", he spoke in a tense voice.

  Owen turned to look at him, "Who were they trying to contact?"

  He imagines it could be The Maker or the Tome of Light, two dangerous divine entities that could make people go insane. The God of Degeneration, The Maker, can make people go insane just by looking at a tiny aspect of it, changing people into a twisted version of their ideal self. The God of Light, the Tome of Light, is even more dangerous with its whimsical nature, giving people knowledge and illusions that break down their sense of caution and create monsters in many forms, causing unending chaos...

  "They tried to summon Her...", Jacen looked around, his voice became hushed, "The Chalk Princess, the god we from MSSH follow and believe in."

  Owen sighed. Things just became more complicated. The Chalk Princess, or the Goddess of Technology, was one of the most recent gods, ascended near the end of the Third Era, ushering in an age of enlightenment, causing technological progress and arts to grow at an unprecedented speed.

  MSSH was one of the two societies that established a dedicated worship of this god... the other being the Cult of Technology. It could very well be them.

  "It seemed that these Pathstriders sought divine guidance, but somewhere along the line, something went wrong.", Jacen began to specute, "It could be the material they used."

  Owen thinks carefully, being careful so that the church won't end up in conflict with MSSH, "What material can form a connection to Her?"

  "Chalk.", he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, staring at the captain in disbelief, "That is the problem. I might need to take some time to analyze the chalk used for the ritual."

  "Is that all the information you got?", Owen asked, ignoring the issue with the Chalk Princess.

  "Yes, as of now.", he nodded, "I'll send more to the church if I find any more."

  After that, Jacen left the house. Owen also leaves and meets up with the police force waiting outside.

  "Tell the Mystic Bureau to patrol at night, I have a feeling this might not be the end.", he said, based on his experience with the mystical world.

  =0=0=

  After a day of constantly travelling, Eric finally made it to a town. People were at first skeptical about him, but as soon as he got into contact with the local clergy of the Church of Madness, he was quickly informed that he was in Damadur, the country right at the Eastern end of the continent.

  "Miss Mashhith" threw him all the way to the Ancient Forest in the Southern part of the supercontinent. He was fbbergasted by how far he went.

  And when he was questioned why he was here, Eric made excuses that something must've transported him here and had wandered around for a week straight. He bmed the mystical aspect of the world, expressing his confusion over the matter.

  His church were freaking out for a week straight, trying to locate him. News about Eric should reach them soon, so they could rest easy. And he needs to pn out his journey back to the Renlou Empire.

  =0=0=

  Lea was walking the streets at night, sticking to the shadow cast by her newly bought parasol. Because of Malediction, the darkness helps her hide and remain hard to notice, so people walking toward her don't realize she is there. Just keep walking past her.

  This was quite an amazing purchase, even though the special parasol was tempting, she had no way to buy it. Her current mission is to find where Dan lives, wandering around the Reve District and the slum to find him.

  The night was cold even in the summer months; it was quite uncomfortable, but for her own sake, she would continue.

  Not many people wander the streets, due to the control of the statues, compelling them to return to their homes. Yet there are still people loitering around in the alleys; those are Lea's target.

  She closed her parasol, and she punched a guy who was smoking in the face!!

  "What the—"

  Hss buddy also received a vicious punch. Her ritual started left and right, beating people up unprompted like a pent-up dog. She has too many things to let loose on. A group of people cannot beat a Vilin; they need a hero for that. Soon, eight people were groaning in pain on the ground.

  "Now...", she narrowed her eyes, grabbing the colr of the nearest one lying beneath her feet, "Tell me, do you know a Dan?"

  "D-Dan...?", he was startled, "Who the fuck is that..."

  This is... quite awkward... Lea frowned. For sure she thought that someone like him would be well known around here. From his pyboy looks, he seems like the type of person to hang out with these lousy people.

  Then again, she attacked them first and made assumptions based on their looks.

  So Lea lied, "He crossed my employer, and they want him to pay."

  "That doesn't mean you could just go around and beat up people!!", a man yelled at her, barely standing up after receiving a beating.

  "Would you be reasonable if someone dropped your baby on the ground and ran away? That's after being hired with a sary of eighty Drach a week!!", she made it as absurd as possible, while maintaining a level of anger that would intimidate them.

  "Ma'am... I know you are angry, but to beat people up to vent is no way to do things.", one of the men grunted.

  "Tch... I'll find that son of a bitch sooner or ter...", Lea turned around, opening her parasol and walked away, soon blending into the darkness.

  The men, all battered up, look at each other.

  "What was her fucking deal?", one grunted.

  "Chill for a bit. She might be crazy, that woman clearly was the mother from the looks in her eyes.", another retorted.

  "So we just got beaten up by an angry wife?"

  "Oof, I feel bad for her husband..."

  "Come to think of it, who the fuck dropped a baby?", one of them changed the subject, "And ran away?"

  "Hearing about it now... I just want to beat that guy up."

  All of them, through Lea's deceptions and their own misunderstanding, created a negative impression of Dan.

  All the while... Lea felt something in her perception... she smiled... she had found Dan. He was somewhere here in Lamos Street, Reve District...

  Her eyes scanned around, seeing all the orbs of various emotions... she quickly found one belonging to her target, she was drawn to him due to the marker...

  She can finally start making more progress...