Lucien held the bottle of "Monster" potion, his arm trembling slightly. Even setting every other consideration aside, the potion in front of him looked deeply unsettling.
This was not the seamless fusion of ingredients he had imagined. The liquid in the bottle was murky, like soda poured into milk tea, and looking at it turned his stomach. It did not resemble the "Assassin" potion he had seen before either.
Lucien brought the bottle to his lips, then set it down again after a few seconds. He was visibly hesitant.
"No. I can't hesitate anymore." Considering his current situation, Lucien decided to force himself through it.
Good. He did not feel the fear from before.
Fate had not stopped him.
He stared at the potion one last time. After confirming there was nothing unusual about it, he decided to go through with it.
Just like the first time his classmates egged him into drinking beer, he closed his eyes, tried his best to ignore the strange texture and taste on his tongue, put the bottle to his lips, and downed it in one go.
The moment the potion entered his mouth, Lucien felt an odd sensation, as if he were forcing down jelly. He pushed himself to ignore the strange texture, worked his throat, and forced the potion down.
Gulp. Gulp.
The jelly-like potion slid past his throat, down his esophagus, and into his stomach.
"Ah."
He began to convulse involuntarily. Everything in front of him doubled over itself, the line between reality and illusion blurring in that instant. Countless fragments of information flooded his mind, as if his very soul were being scoured clean.
In that moment, Lucien was grateful his willpower was decent. If it had been any weaker, he suspected he would have been finished on the spot.
"Did it work? Am I a 'Monster' now?" Lucien's breathing gradually eased, and his expression slowly returned to normal.
He looked at his hands. They did not seem to have changed. He had not transformed into the monster he had imagined.
Still, his head felt foggy. He could sense the potion's power, but it seemed he could not fully grasp it yet.
A few more minutes passed, and Lucien's clarity returned. With it came the mystical knowledge of the "Monster" potion.
"Monster" was Sequence 9 of the "Monster" pathway.
It possessed inspiration far beyond an ordinary person's. It could often hear sounds others could not, see things others could not, and occasionally glimpse images of the future. It had a sharp intuitive premonition of danger.
Lucien's face stiffened as he absorbed the knowledge. He seemed to be waiting for something, standing frozen in place for several seconds before it finally sank in.
That was it? That was all!
The "Monster" potion's effects were just these?
What use was this!
Come on, a "Monster" should be the kind of ability that looked menacing and terrifying, shouldn't it?
Even if it were some kind of mutation or beast transformation, he would not complain. At least that would count as a survival ability.
Occasionally glimpsing images of the future. That sounds about the same as what happened to me earlier. Lucien recalled the image that had appeared in his mind not long ago.
Isn't that just my transmigrator cheat?
Then isn't the Monster potion even more useless? I already have this ability myself.
Lucien collapsed into the chair, his face full of despair.
"Meow?"
Lucien frowned and opened one eye. The orange cat was standing on the desk in front of him.
Somehow, he thought he saw a distinctly human-like smile on the cat's face.
The smiling cat and the miserable Lucien formed a stark contrast.
"Get down, get down, stop bothering me!" Lucien was irritated and reached out to shoo the cat away.
"Mrrow?"
The orange cat leaped from the desk, but it did not fall immediately. It floated in the air like a feather, then drifted lightly down to the floor.
"Huh?" Lucien was dumbstruck.
This, this, this—
No. Even the cat is stronger than me now. How can the gap between potions be this huge?
"I'm done for. I've been completely scammed."
"'Monster' ability, with this I can't even fight head-on!"
It was no wonder Lucien thought so. The "Monster" potion's abilities were simply too useless, and they overlapped with his own cheat ability.
That was right. Lucien had mistaken the image and warnings in his head for a cheat. After all, a transmigrator having something special was only reasonable.
"No. I can't give up. I'm a transmigrator. There has to be another way." Lucien stood up and paced back and forth across the room, trying to pump himself up.
"I can't die this easily. I still have this fate perception cheat. There has to be a way."
"A Beyonder gathering."
Lucien remembered that tonight, 'Bottle' would take him to join a Beyonder gathering.
Maybe he could try his luck there. There was a chance he would find a way to solve his current problems.
Even if he didn't, he could still pick up some knowledge about Beyonders. The original body had never received any proper mystical education.
Apart from a few mysticism languages, most of what he knew came from hearsay or from unprofessional books that looked unreliable at a glance, leaving Lucien desperately short on this kind of knowledge.
Of course, if all else failed, he could always run.
Running might end in disaster, but staying definitely would.
Lucien wasn't sure how far the silver-haired woman could track him.
But running would at least buy him some time.
"That's the plan."
Lucien got up and started packing his clothes. He had already decided that if he couldn't find a solution at the Beyonder gathering tonight, he would go straight to the train station and leave by train.
As for where to go, the farther the better.
Lucien began to pack. He might not be able to come back for a long time, so everything he could take, he had to take.
Clothes, pound notes, and some remaining spirituality-infused materials. He also opened a drawer and took out a small silver knife, a gold-inlaid pocket watch, and a gold coin with a strange pattern.
These were the original body's collection from his days as a rich young master. Now they were Lucien's reserve funds.
These little trinkets weren't worth much, but they were easy to sell off. If it came to an emergency, he could turn them into cash without any trouble.
"Right, and you too." Lucien grabbed the orange cat that had been watching him pack.
He tucked it under his arm and stuffed it straight into his satchel.
Then he dug out a large leather suitcase and crammed his clothes, the spirituality-infused materials, and the gold and silver trinkets into it all at once.
"Right, and Mrs. Griffin."
Lucien suddenly thought of his landlady. If the silver-haired woman came looking for him and he was gone, Mrs. Griffin might get dragged into it.
"No. I have to warn her. It wouldn't be right to just leave."
After thinking it over, Lucien decided to go and inform Mrs. Griffin. He had already realized that this hardcore old lady had her secrets, but even so, he couldn't let her take that kind of risk for him.
Knock knock knock. Lucien rapped on Mrs. Griffin's door on the ground floor.
"Who is it, this early in the morning?" Mrs. Griffin's voice came from inside.
Early? It's almost noon. Lucien's mouth twitched.
He had gone out to buy groceries in the morning, run into the silver-haired woman, mixed and drunk the potion, spent time calming himself down, then packed his bags to flee. All of that had eaten up the day, and noon was already close.
"Do you know it's very impolite to disturb a lady's sleep, little Lucien?" Mrs. Griffin opened the door with an irritated expression, clearly not a morning person.
"It's actually almost noon," Lucien offered quietly.
"Noon? Sigh. So it really has come to this. Old age gets everyone eventually." Mrs. Griffin let out a soft sigh.
"No, Mrs. Griffin, you're still very young. You're like, like—" Lucien fumbled for words. He did not have much experience with this kind of social maneuvering.
"I know I'm getting on in years. Let's not waste time on boring topics like that." Mrs. Griffin shut the age conversation down quickly, then looked up and swept her eyes over him. She caught his breathless state and asked, "What do you need? Why are you in such a rush?"
"I, I have an urgent matter. I might need to leave town for a while, so I came to let you know."
"Leave town? So are you here to break the lease, or to ask me to refund your rent?"
"I remember we signed a contract. That's not something you can just violate. Don't think you can get away with breaking it just because I seem easygoing." Mrs. Griffin's tone turned serious.
"No, no, I'm not trying to break the lease." Lucien denied it quickly.
"Then what do you want?" Mrs. Griffin asked, puzzled.
"Honestly, little Lucien, you've been acting strange these past days."
Strange? Did she figure something out?
As a transmigrator, Lucien felt a pang of guilt.
"I..." He hesitated for a moment, then spoke. "Actually, it's just that while I'm out of town, could you also leave for a while?"
"Why?"
"I've made some people angry. I need to avoid them for a bit. I'm worried they'll come looking for me here, and if they do, I'm afraid they might—"
"You're afraid I'll get dragged into it, is that it?" Mrs. Griffin cut him off before he could finish.
"Yes." Lucien nodded.
"Is that all?" Mrs. Griffin looked utterly unconcerned.
Is that all? The other side might be a powerful Beyonder. How are you this fearless?
"No wonder you've been so strange these past days. You went and made trouble for yourself!"
"You don't need to leave." Mrs. Griffin continued. "The contract we signed includes a clause that the landlord must ensure the tenant's safety. With me here, you don't need to be afraid."
"But—" Lucien tried to speak, but Mrs. Griffin cut him off again.
"Who did you anger? The gangs? The police? Or maybe a noble?"
"None of them. It's more troublesome than all of those."
"Oh? Then what is it?" Mrs. Griffin's interest was piqued.
"Uh, don't be scared when I tell you." Lucien hesitated.
"Don't worry. I've seen plenty in my youth. There's nothing left that scares me." Mrs. Griffin reassured him.
"It's... some people who exceed human limits." Lucien did not know how else to describe Beyonders.
"Exceed human limits? Interesting." Mrs. Griffin was neither disbelieving nor frightened. If anything, she looked eager to try.
"How did you provoke these people?" Mrs. Griffin gave him an appraising look.
Lucien squirmed under that gaze and did not answer.
"Forget it. You have your secrets, and I won't ask. Anyway, I'm not leaving."
"But—" Lucien started, and Mrs. Griffin spoke over him.
"How about you don't leave either? This house is very safe."
"After all, I forbid all violence here."
"As for so-called people who exceed human limits, I killed plenty of them when I was young." Mrs. Griffin wore a confident expression.
That confident? Could Mrs. Griffin be a Beyonder too? And a powerful one at that?
If that's the case, maybe I don't need to leave after all. Lucien analyzed the situation in his head.
But just then, Lucien went dazed again. An image surfaced in his mind: a sparse crowd and a steam train rushing toward him.
That was Backlund's train station.
Fate wants me to leave? Lucien thought.
When it came to this possible cheat, he was still willing to trust it.
"Little Lucien? Are you alright?" Seeing him frozen in place, Mrs. Griffin spoke up.
"Uh... I'm fine."