The Cycle of Fate

Chapter 158: The Power of the Group

"So, you spoke with your godson and now you're here to confirm my attitude?" Lumian maintained the same smile.

"What you believe in doesn't concern me, as long as it's not a heretical god. Besides, worshippers of the 'God of Knowledge and Wisdom' aren't fugitives in Trier."

He was essentially saying, "I'm still a wanted man; you can believe in whatever you want."

The Baron Brienne, being a smart man, didn't pursue the topic further. Instead, he said, "I'm truly grateful for your help in retrieving Ludwig. I honestly don't know how to thank you."

He didn't directly offer a reward, preferring to gauge Lumian's attitude first.

Lumian considered it for a moment, then picked up on the idea he had earlier dismissed:

Getting Baron Brienne to help with reading the materials and preparing the 'briefs' didn't mean he had to put him in the same room with Franca, Jenna, or Anthony Reid. He could simply give him part of the materials, explain what to watch out for, and let him take them home to read and summarize.

Similarly, before Anthony Reid agreed to assist in the operation against Father Guillaume Bénet, Lumian wouldn't have him directly meet Jenna or Franca. He would arrange a separate "office" for him.

Looking at Baron Brienne, Lumian deliberately asked, "Are you good at reading and taking notes?"

Aurora's notes on witchcraft mentioned that the Church of the 'God of Knowledge and Wisdom' controlled a pathway called the 'Reader', which was also the name of the Sequence 9 potion. Sequence 8 was 'Reasoner', and Sequence 7 was 'Detective'.

Considering that Baron Brienne seldom displayed any supernatural abilities and mostly relied on his sharp mind, decent combat skills, and exceptional marksmanship to lead the Savoie Party, combined with his current faith, Lumian suspected that Brienne might be a Beyonder of the 'Reader' pathway.

From the potion names alone, it could be deduced that such individuals were quite skilled at reading.

The Baron took a puff from his pipe and said, "Compared to the illiterate masses, my reading and learning abilities are fairly decent."

He wasn't entirely sure why Lumian was asking this, but suspected it was to probe which pathway he followed.

And that wasn't much of a secret—Gardner Martin already knew about it.

Lumian smiled sincerely. "I recently acquired a batch of materials on spirit world creatures, but as you might know—well, you should know—reading such knowledge for too long places a heavy burden on one's mind. I'm just a Beyonder on the 'Hunter' pathway and won't be able to use this material for quite some time. But when I do need it, I'd like to find the relevant information quickly, without wasting precious time. So, I'm hoping you could read some of these documents and help extract the key points."

"This sounds similar to creating a library index," the Baron immediately understood.

Smiling, he said, "It seems I'm getting the better end of the deal here. That knowledge is highly valuable in itself."

A library index... No wonder he's a worshiper of the 'God of Knowledge and Wisdom.' So professional... Lumian was pleased, thinking the Baron could potentially be more useful than both Anthony Reid and a 'Rabbit of Knowledge' combined.

At the same time, Lumian felt it necessary to take precautions against Brienne. For example, he could pull out ten pages from the materials given to him, read them in advance, make a record, and later compare them with the index Brienne submitted to see if anything was intentionally omitted or altered.