Mystery: The Silver Key

Chapter 64: The Invitation from the Mechanical Heart

"A fool who does not belong to this era, a mysterious ruler above the gray fog, the king of yellow and black who holds the reins of good fortune."

"Your faithful servant begs for your gaze;"

We implore you to open the gates of your kingdom;

I pray that you will grant me strength.

...

As the ceremony concluded, a small stack of neatly arranged gold pounds appeared on the floor.

Cyril squatted on the ground, curiously examining the gold pounds on the ground. In his view, a thin layer of grayish-white mist was dissipating from these gold pounds.

In the blink of an eye, the gray mist that had clung to the list of successful bidders vanished, leaving behind only ordinary banknotes.

"Because I only transited through 'Source Castle,' only a small amount of gray mist adhered to my surface. However, I have been recognized by 'The Fool' and am one of those who can enter above the gray mist, so there will always be a fixed gray mist on me, like a mark?"

As he muttered to himself, he glanced back at the full-length mirror behind him. His reflection was always surrounded by a thin, illusory gray mist, seemingly existing between existence and non-existence.

Ding-a-ling~

The doorbell downstairs rang.

Without thinking further, Xireen tidied up the room briefly and then went downstairs.

Outside the door stood Max Livemore, the captain of the Mechanical Hearts squad whom they had met before, and his teammate Carlson.

Cyril nodded slightly to the two of them, then stepped aside to make way for them to enter the house, and asked:

"Gentlemen, it's not holiday time now. What can I do for you?"

As the team leader, Max stated bluntly, "We're here to invite you to join the Mechanical Heart."

"Huh?" Sirion was taken aback. The main reason was that the Mechanical Heart hadn't appeared for a while, and he had almost thought that they had forgotten about him, a wild extraordinary being.

After the two entered the room, he asked curiously, "Could I hear why you're only coming to see me now, and what kind of treatment you receive from those with a mechanical heart?"

"By the way, would you like black tea or coffee?"

"Coffee, thank you." Max nodded slightly, then sighed:

"I've been working on Zoira Hernandez, who escaped from the Backlund University attack, and the serial killer hiding in Backlund, and I'm a bit mentally exhausted."

"I'd like a drink."

Carlson, who was quite familiar with Sirion, spoke in a very familiar tone, completely different from when they first met, as if he had already considered him a colleague.

"Okay." Sirien nodded in response and quickly returned to the living room with three cups of freshly brewed coffee.

Max took a sip of his coffee, ignoring the temperature, and then exclaimed in admiration:

"You're quite good at brewing coffee."

As Emperor Roselle once said, practice makes perfect.

Cyril casually mentioned Rosell, but his eyes remained fixed on the other's lips, which were slightly red from the burn.

The coffee he had just brewed was obviously scalding hot, but the captain of the Mechanical Heart didn't feel it at all, making him wonder if the other party had modified his body.

Noticing Cyril's gaze, Max seemed to realize what was happening, raised his hand to touch his lips, and smiled wryly:

"For some reason, I'm not very sensitive to temperature. Is your coffee very hot?"

Cyril nodded slightly: "Yes, you can wait until Carlson drinks it before you start drinking it."

"Good idea." Max chuckled, then steered the conversation back on track:

"We are only inviting you now for three reasons: first, we need to conduct further investigations; second, we need to wait until you graduate from Backlund University; and third, we need to confirm your relationship with the Church of the Earth Mother and whether you have changed your faith."

"As for the treatment of Mechanical Hearts, you can rest assured that we have the best treatment among all the extraordinary teams of the Church of the Righteous God."

"Because you are already an extraordinary person, you will be directly assigned to the combat personnel. You will have a two-month probationary period with a weekly wage of £10. After you are officially hired, the wage will be increased to £15, and it will increase every year."

"In addition to their salaries, members of Mechanical Heart can also apply for extraordinary weapons from the church, mostly standard firearms or magical items with special effects."

"Of course, if you have suitable and exceptional materials, you can also ask the church's artisans to make a custom order, which is one of our hidden benefits."

"In addition, the church has collected a large amount of systematic occult knowledge and encourages everyone to learn knowledge and develop techniques, so there are almost no restrictions in this regard. As long as you join the church, you can get access to a large amount of knowledge."

"Furthermore, the Church controls a great deal of resources, so if you want to continue advancing on the extraordinary path, joining the Church will be much easier than being a wild extraordinary."

Cyril took a deep breath to calm his agitated heart; he had been shamefully tempted when he heard about the salary.

Unfortunately, he couldn't agree. Gaining access to the church's abundant resources would also mean facing corresponding restrictions. He would need to apply to leave Backlund, and without a sufficient and suitable reason, his application would be rejected. This would be very detrimental to his role as a "recorder" and "traveler."

"Apprentices" should follow in the footsteps of freedom.

More importantly, he didn't want to be a wage earner, even if he had a government job.

Established large corporations have far more potential than "fools" still in the early stages of startups!

...

Cyril: Praise to Mr. Fool~

Klein, who had just left the gray fog and hadn't even stepped out of the restroom, cried out, "Achoo!"

Who's cricketing at me from behind? (╯－_－)╯╧╧

...

"That sounds tempting," Sirion exclaimed sincerely.

"Of course, at the same level, the treatment of a Mechanical Heart is about a quarter to a third better than that of a Night Watchman or a Punisher. You can think about it carefully."

After saying that, Max picked up the coffee in front of him, and just as he brought it to his lips, he saw Carlson shake his head slightly. He looked embarrassed for a moment, and then put the still-warm coffee down.

...No wonder he's the biggest arms dealer in the mysterious world; he's just rich.

He sighed inwardly, then tentatively asked, "Is there a way to advance within the church through the 'apprentice' path?"

Max looked at him with some surprise, then shook her head: "To be honest, it's difficult."

"The Church mainly controls two pathways: 'General Knowledge' and 'Secret Seeker.' Other potion recipes may be found in churches in various locations, but they generally won't exceed Sequence 7."

"As far as I know, none of the churches in Backlund have ever included potion recipes from the 'Apprentice' path. This path is extremely rare; only the Aurora Society and the Gnostic Society are known to have a small number of 'Apprentices'."

After a pause, Max looked at him with a slightly serious expression and asked, "Where did you get the 'Apprentice' potion recipe?"

Without hesitation, Sirion presented the reason he had already prepared:

"A notebook. I once attended a gathering of extraordinary individuals and found a potion recipe in a notebook that recorded common knowledge of the occult."

Max didn't doubt it, but frowned slightly: "This is very likely a bait set up by the Aurora Society or the Gnostic Society to screen and recruit new people in this way."

"According to our investigation, your former club leader, Virch Stammas, has ties to the Gnostic and is suspected of having joined it."

"Join the Gnostic..." Cyril paused for a moment, then his thoughts wandered, wondering if Virch Stammas would become a beautiful witch if they met again.

Forget it, it's better to avoid running into her again. Who knows what trouble she might cause if she really becomes a witch?

As his thoughts drifted, he heard Max ask:

"You seem reluctant to join the Mechanical Heart. Is it because the church doesn't have any follow-up potions for the 'Apprentice' class, or because the priest at Harvest Church is spreading the teachings of the 'Earth Mother Goddess' Church to you?"

Coming to his senses, Sirion shook his head with a wry smile: "After experiencing the previous attack, I've found that I still prefer a more peaceful life."

"I understand." Max nodded slightly, then said, "We have a second plan: to cooperate with the Church and become their informants among the wild Beyonders."