Oubos, Shenbei District.

During this idle time, Bologue was on one hand conducting various onboarding trainings for Aimou, and on the other hand moving into a new home.

After much consideration, Bologue and Palmer settled in an apartment in Shenbei District, which was very close to the Order Bureau, only a few streets away, similar to the distance from the Undying Club.

The new home was a two-bedroom, one living room, one bath, which was a very standard rental room. What tempted Bologue the most was that the landlord left a lot of good stuff, like a video recorder and a lot of movie tapes in the drawer, bringing Bologue's dream of a home theater closer to reality.

Besides this, the living room of the new home was also very spacious, enough to fit a long sofa and Bologue's war game board.

Due to the fullness of life, Bologue hadn't played with those pieces for a long time. During the move, he ordered a custom glass cover to enclose the board, which became a decorative coffee table topped with various yet-to-be-organized clutter.

After finishing work at the Order Bureau, Bologue and Palmer went directly back to the new home. The packing had been intermittent, and the house was still piled up with cardboard boxes. They planned to take advantage of the leisure today to tidy up properly.

Palmer didn't care much. In this short roommate period, Palmer had fully demonstrated his carefree lifestyle to Bologue, who felt that if given a few pieces of cardboard, this guy could manage to sleep a night under a bridge.

Actually, Bologue could do the same, but he felt that if basic living conditions could be met, there's no need to make himself uncomfortable. It was better to clean up as soon as possible if it could be done quickly.

"The view is nice."

Palmer pulled open the curtains in the living room, allowing the light to pour in and illuminate all the dim corners.

The new home was located on the top floor of the apartment, offering an easy view of the streets, watching over the traffic, and seeing the light rail weaving between the buildings, as well as the distant, towering cold grey tower that seemed to support the heavens and earth.

From the moment he saw the cold grey tower, Palmer's expression completely drooped.

"The view indeed is nice, open the curtains and you can see the company... Do you think if we wave here, the people in the Observation Tower can see us?"

Bologue, holding a cardboard box, murmured beside Palmer.

Palmer rolled his eyes at Bologue and angrily closed the curtains, as if by not seeing, that massive Cultivation Room would cease to exist.

"Tonight I've invited Hart and Church to the Undying Club for a drink," amidst the busy tidying, Palmer said to Bologue, "to celebrate my successful promotion to Prayer Believer."

"Sure, let's go together then."

Bologue glanced at the time, realizing there was still a while before evening.

Palmer continued, "Are you ready for what comes next?"

"Ready for what?"

"Your promotion ceremony, haven't you already passed the Triple Trials and applied for promotion to the Sublimation Furnace Core?"

Bologue's work paused for a moment as he recalled the Alchemy Matrix attached to his fractured soul and its mysterious origin.

Overlord Xilin.

Bologue still remembered the abnormality during his implantation ceremony and Geoffrey's warning to him.

"There's nothing I need to prepare for, remember? I'm an Undead."

"That's really something to envy." Palmer stretched his words, showing no hint of actual envy.

For Condensers, the soul serves as the carrier for the implantation of the Alchemy Matrix that masters Extraordinary Power. This implantation ceremony requires the human soul to be condensed from nothingness into a tangible, interferrable entity, allowing the Alchemy Matrix to attach to it and then sublimating back to void.

When a Condenser is promoted, their soul, as the foundation for the growth of the Alchemy Matrix, needs to stabilize, followed by the strengthening of the soul, further triggering the growth of the Alchemy Matrix.

This is somewhat akin to human growth. After intense training, growing muscles may stretch the skin, causing many growth lines to appear on the surface; the soul, fortified through the ceremony, experiences the same.

The Order Bureau provides free alchemy materials necessary for employees to be promoted from Condensers to Prayer Believers. However, on the journey from Prayer Believers to Negative Power Users, the required alchemy materials need to be procured by the employees themselves.

Apart from the necessary alchemy materials, just like the mandatory Triple Trials required for promoting from Condensers to Prayer Believers, there are unique transitional stages at each tier, which is also true for advancing from Prayer Believers to Negative Power Users.

The remaining part is certain requirements for Ether affinity, and these indicators are steadily increased as Condensers gradually familiarize with Secret Energy.

Bologue had been a Condenser for nearly half a year now and was preparing to be promoted to Prayer Believer. This promotion speed was not uncommon among Condensers.

Palmer opened a cardboard box, which was filled with his collection of records, and asked, "Do you have any plans after the promotion?"

"No plans."

Bologue shook his head. He lived a simple life, with leisure activities such as listening to music and watching movies being his only pursuits besides work.

"Are you interested in taking a long vacation with me? And take a look at the Wind Source Highlands?" Palmer continued, "After all, I'm your partner. If I leave, it would be hard for you to carry out a lot of work, wouldn't it?"

"Aimou learns things quickly. When you're not around, I can team up with her..."

"Bologue!"

Palmer sternly interrupted Bologue, put down what he was holding, hurriedly walked up to Bologue, and emphasized to him.

"I am your partner, understand?"

Bologue nodded silently, recalling Church, possibly having been kicked out by Church once, Palmer was extremely concerned about changing partners.

Indeed, Palmer is a thorough unlucky fellow. If I don't partner with him, he'll just pass his bad luck onto others.

Bologue suddenly felt a spontaneous sense of selflessness. By sacrificing himself to mix with Palmer, how many people had he invisibly saved?

Palmer didn't know about Bologue's strange psychological activities, and he couldn't be bothered to guess. As Bologue's partner, Palmer knew very well how complex Bologue's mind was. Rather than guessing his thoughts, it was easier to guess the weather in Opus today.

He glanced at the gap in the curtains, and the gloomy sky revealed a dim light.

Overcast.

You see, how easy it is to guess, just one glance and you know what's going on.

"What's this?"

Bologue pulled out a piece of black fabric. It felt somewhat hard, unclear if it was due to the textile.

"A scarf Hart gave me," Palmer glanced at it and said, "Hart's quite nice. His family seems to be in the textile business. Every winter, he gives a few pieces like this to his friends."

Palmer took the scarf and hung it on the rack.

Bologue took another look at that black scarf for some reason, it felt somewhat familiar, but hard pressed to think, he couldn't come up with a specific reason.

The two of them continued tidying the room until evening. The scenery outside was quite nice, with half the city swallowed by the gloomy darkness, while the other half of the sky was stained with fiery orange-red.

Bologue thought that the rent being quite steep had its own reasons.

After tidying up, the living room became more cluttered, filled with various types of books, records, and videotapes.

None of this was Bologue's stuff. Bologue's personal items were pitifully few, the only big piece being that war sandbox used as a coffee table.

In other words, Bologue had been cleaning up Palmer's stuff during this time, and this guy's things were just too much.

The two of them took a rest, sitting at opposite ends of the sofa. Bologue looked ahead, thinking at least there's a TV at home now, which was left by the landlord, saving Bologue quite a bit of money. Also, there was a bathtub in the bathroom, Bologue couldn't even remember when was the last time he had a bath.

Bologue reclined comfortably in the soft sofa, with no lights on inside, only relying on the light coming through the floor-to-ceiling window to illuminate a dim corner.

The room was very quiet, so quiet that many small sounds were incredibly clear, the dripping water from the tap in the washroom, a gentle breeze bringing coolness into the room, Palmer squinting his eyes, emitting the sound of calm breathing.

Bologue looked at the room filled with objects, feeling a long-lost sense of... life.

He felt having Palmer as a roommate wasn't bad, Palmer relieved Bologue from that lonely ascetic life, allowing him to enjoy a serene tranquility.

Checking the time, it was still a while before the appointed time with Hart and Church, so Bologue decided not to disturb Palmer's nap. The guy just finished a promotion ceremony today and should be pretty exhausted.

Bologue stood up quietly and randomly picked a book from Palmer's pile and took it into his room to pass the time.

Following the principle of whoever pays more rent gets to live in the bigger room, Bologue used his good financial condition to occupy the master bedroom. It wasn't that he didn't want to yield to Palmer, but Palmer's things were just too many. If he didn't take the master bedroom, Bologue's stuff would have to be crammed in the living room, which Bologue didn't want to do.

Just like when he lived in Shenbei District, Bologue prepared a desk for himself, with drawers containing a diary he occasionally scribbled in.

He sat at the desk, flipping through the book he picked from the pile, glancing at its cover, and recalled this book, realizing he seemed to have come across it many times in different places.

When transporting goods to the Desperate Outpost, this novel was among the goods. In the small cabin of the stronghold, Palmer was reading this book. During the Vow Festival, Bologue and Aimou also saw the adapted movie of this book.

"Night Hunter..."

Bologue softly murmured the name of the novel, with a bit of curiosity, he turned the book's pages, then saw the author's name in the corner.

A peculiar name.

Blue Jay Crown.

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