Sunny tossed the report file for the Null Tangent Mystery onto the desk of the file manager.
Sitting behind the desk was an elderly woman wearing thick, square-framed glasses.
Through the heavy lenses, her eyes appeared sharp and unnaturally dark, like two pinpricks of black fountain pen ink leaking into her gaze.
“Oh, so you two managed to complete the report,” she said, her voice dry as parchment as she pulled the file toward her.
Sunny waved his hand nonchalantly, fanning the air.
“Barely.
We just uncovered a new existence.
Name: The Endweaver.
And before we could even ask about that demi-god or whatever rushed to kill us, he turned into a monster and attacked.
So…
there isn’t much in the report, my assistant Lie Longterm wrote.”
The old woman’s gaze shifted slowly toward Yuxuan, who stood beside Sunny with a naturally somber, brooding, yet intelligent expression on his face.
“So you’re Lie Longterm?” she asked.
“Yes, I’m Lie Longterm,” he replied steadily.
“Hello.
I am Belle Noir, the report file manager.
Age sixty-two.”
“Hm.”
The room was vast and oppressive, its high ceilings looming over rows of endless towering archives holding thousands of unresolved cases.
“I’m feeling sad about young Melissa,” Belle murmured softly, her eyes lingering on the files.
“Hmm, me too,” Sunny said with a solemn nod.
He turned toward the exit.
“Let’s go, Lie.
Back to the Baker Street office.”
“Okay.”
Yuxuan and Sunny turned away from the archive desk and headed toward the lift to return to the ground floor of the Suban Headquarters.
But before they could reach the metal doors, a quiet voice called out from the shadows behind them.
“Nmm…
Mr.
Lie?”
Yuxuan and Sunny paused, stepping back.
“Mr.
Sheren called for you,” said a young woman standing in the corridor.
She clutched a heavy leather folder against her chest with both hands.
She had long, cascading blonde curls, striking blue eyes, and a soft, delicate beauty.
“Okay, I’m coming,” Yuxuan replied.
“I’m Sana Wadi.
Bye,” she whispered awkwardly, a faint blush creeping onto her cheeks before she turned and hurried down the hallway.
“Maybe Mr.
Sheren called you after remembering that he forgot to tell you to retrieve the Shadow Smith potion,” Sunny mused aloud.
“Or maybe he realized you were heading straight toward his cabin anyway.”
They stopped before a looming wooden door at the end of the hall.
Knock.
Knock.
“Come in,” a stern voice echoed from inside.
They pushed the heavy door open.
Don Sheren sat behind a massive desk, holding a thin, worn volume between his fingers.
“Here is the theory book,” Sheren said, setting it down.
Yuxuan stepped forward and lifted the thin leather-bound tome.
“Is this the Smith Zero theory book?”
“Yes,” Yuxuan replied, studying the ancient lettering.
“Sunny,” Sheren spoke up, turning his attention to the second man.
“What’s wrong, Mr.
Sheren?”
“Go take him to the potion maker’s chamber to give him the Smith Zero potion.
I’ve already informed Ms.
Diantha about his arrival.”
“Roger!” Sunny gave a mock salute and turned on his heel.
“Let’s go.”
“Hmm…”
They traversed the winding corridors until they reached a towering ten-foot door crafted from dark iron wood.
“This is the potion maker’s room,” Sunny whispered, his tone dropping as he gestured to the ominous entryway.
“Big, isn’t it?”
Clank.
Clank.
Clank.
Sunny struck the heavy iron knocker three times.
“Can we come in?” he called out.
“Come in,” a smooth, serene voice resounded from within—melodic and lithe.
“Thanks.” Sunny pressed his right palm against the center of the door.
A glowing, intricate spell emblem flared to life under his touch—the official seal of the organization.
With a heavy groan, the massive doors parted on their own and swung inward.
As soon as the two stepped across the threshold, the doors slammed shut behind them with a definitive thud, sealing out the ambient noise of the headquarters.
The chamber was bathed in dim, flickering light.
On a plush, triple-seated purple sofa sat a striking woman with flowing purple hair—Ms.
Diantha.
Before her rested a long wooden table.
“So you’re Lie Longterm…
the newcomer,” she said smoothly, her eyes locked onto Yuxuan.
“Yes, that’s me,” Yuxuan confirmed.
“Okay.” Diantha rose gracefully, reaching into a dark wooden cabinet beside her.
She pulled out an ancient, tarnished copper cup and set it gently onto the table.
“Come closer,” she instructed.
Yuxuan stepped forward, the floorboards groaning beneath his boots until he stood directly across from her.
“Hold it,” she said, gesturing toward the cup.
Yuxuan picked up the heavy chalice.
“Now…
look into the cup and tell me what you see,” she ordered quietly.
Yuxuan lowered his gaze.
Sunny leaned in closely, his breath hitching as he tried to peer into the liquid as well.
“The Eternity…” Diantha revealed softly.
Sunny gasped, stepping back in shock.
“What?!
The Eternity?!”
Yuxuan stared into the vessel.
Reflected in the strange fluid was his own face, but behind his image was a terrifying, infinite expanse—a miniature cosmos swirling within the boundaries of the metal cup. New chapters come out on NovelPing first.
The liquid itself didn’t look like water; it resembled dark, thick cosmos fluid, flowing with distant, miniature stars.
“Same answer,” Yuxuan said, his voice strangely calm despite the hypnotic depth of the liquid.
“Hmm.
It means you belong to the Dismay and Decay pathway,” Ms.
Diantha revealed.
“Yes, and I belong to it as well,” Sunny interjected unexpectedly.
“Wait…
but Mr.
Sheren didn’t mention this,” Yuxuan said, looking up from the cup.
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“It’s obvious why he didn’t mention this third pathway,” Ms.
Diantha explained gently.
“Because it is incredibly rare.
The cup you are holding was forged from enchanted copper ore—it utilizes a combination of Shadow and Singularity path spells to reveal hidden affiliations.
“When an ordinary person looks into it, they see nothing.
If someone linked to the Shadow pathway looks into it, the liquid turns into dark ink.
If someone from the DAD pathway looks into it…” She gestured toward the swirling vortex in the chalice.
“…they see the cosmic void.
In short, we call this the Dismay and Decay pathway—or DAD.
Only you, Sunny, Melisa, Mr.
Trever, and our Lord Omega possess this affinity.”
“Not even our Lord Omega…?” Yuxuan murmured, digesting the gravity of her words.
“So, what are the spells of this pathway?
And how many sequences does it contain?”
Before Ms.
Diantha could answer, Sunny cut in enthusiastically:
“It has six sequences!
☫Sequence 1: Nullity Slave
☫Sequence 2: Dark Apex
☫Sequence 3: Crimson Wielder
☫Sequence 4: Lithe Cry
☫Sequence 5: Demi-Existence
☫Sequence 6: UNKNOWN”
“Right now, I am still at Sequence 1: Nullity Slave,” Sunny continued, his tone taking on a serious edge.
“There are no set spells for this pathway.
You have to discover sorcery by yourself—it’s like the copper ore glass Path-Revealer.
This pathway is essentially a hybrid version of the two preceding pathways.”
Ms.
Diantha waited for Sunny to finish before speaking.
“Alright…
drink the liquid to awaken your pathway.”
Without hesitation, Yuxuan raised the heavy copper cup to his lips and drained the cosmic fluid in a single gulp.
He handed the empty chalice back to Ms.
Diantha.
They turned and walked out of the dim chamber, leaving the heavy doors behind.
“It was bitterly sweet, wasn’t it?” Sunny asked as they walked down the silent corridor.
“Yeah…” Yuxuan replied quietly, his head light as the unknown power began to settle into his veins.
“It was.”