In the club room, the three beautiful women sat in deep thought. However, only Sephera and Helena were worried about Celia, while Roselie remained calm—if not indifferent—to everything.

  Sephera spoke up to break the cold atmosphere, "What do you guys think she will do to Noctis?"

  Hearing her friend speak, Helena also responded, "I think she just wanted to warn him, but why is she so afraid of Noctis? Aren't most of those just rumors?"

  This time, Roselie answered Helena's question, "Most of those rumors are false, but some are true. And the truths are even more horrifying than the rumors. What I’m about to tell you is something you must not share with anyone else, understood?"

  Helena and Sephera nodded firmly. "Understood."

  Roselie nodded and began her story, "What I'm about to tell you is not a rumor; it's classified information that major churches have deemed highly confidential. From what I've been told, it involves dark cults and possibly even some evil gods. That’s why it has been kept so secret—only archbishops and above can access it. So, you must promise to keep this a secret.

  The first incident happened last winter. Noctis was captured by priests while experimenting on corpses. Strangely, those corpses showed rapid signs of decay, even though some had only been buried that very day. When the bishop and archbishop investigated, they discovered traces of a corrupting miasma infiltrating the bodies.

  When they interrogated Noctis, he claimed to remember nothing and appeared utterly insane. Even when the Cardinal used his power to delve into his memories, there was nothing—his memories had been erased so thoroughly that even the Cardinal was at a loss.

  Since he had only experimented on corpses, he was merely fined and confined to a dark room for five days before being released."

  At this point, Helena interrupted, "Why did they just imprison and fine him? As far as I know, grave robbing can result in life imprisonment or even the death penalty."

  Roselie wasn’t surprised by the question; she had once asked her father the same thing when he told her about Noctis. "From what I understand, the Church didn't imprison or execute him because they suspected he might be connected to a major dark cult or have knowledge of the evil gods."

  Hearing this logical explanation, Helena nodded. Seeing that her friend had no further questions, Roselie continued, "The Church decided to give him five chances to escape execution. If, after five offenses, they still haven't uncovered any useful information, he will be put to death in the most painful way possible—Lingchi*1."

  "Now, moving on, the second case involves the rumors about him assaulting women. In truth, these rumors are false. According to the Church, he kidnapped pregnant women, but those women abandoned their unborn children. That was why he abducted and tortured them. Since his actions were somewhat justified, the Church only fined him and imprisoned him in a dark room for a month.

  The third incident was the theft of confidential letters from a small church. Somehow, he infiltrated the church and stole records of dark cult experiments. You both understand how terrifying those experiments are, don't you?

  The fourth case was never made public—only teachers are aware of it. He brutally beat a girl at our school nearly to death. Although the academy tried to cover for Noctis to protect its reputation from the Church, they couldn't hide it from the Church’s higher-ups.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  As a result, Noctis was tortured by both the Church and the victim's family for two months.

  Now, he only has one offense left before he is executed. However, it seems the Church still hasn’t found any clues regarding his other activities. They suspect he has obtained a way to resist high-level divination and tracking. Even archbishops and the archbishop himself cannot investigate him."

  After finishing her story, Roselie calmly sipped her tea. But Sephera and Helena were not as composed.

  Both of them were trembling, terrified by Noctis’s madness.

  "Roselie... do you think he'll do anything to me?" Sephera was on the verge of tears.

  Before Roselie could answer, the door swung open, and Celia entered.

  "I don't think so, Celia," she said.

  Seeing Celia return, Sephera ran over and hugged her tightly, causing Celia to blush and protest, "Hey, Sephera, don't do that."

  "Did you meet him, Celia?" Helena asked, bringing up the main topic.

  Celia sighed and shook her head. "I did, but... it's unfortunate."

  Seeing Sephera and Helena’s confused expressions, Celia began recounting what had happened.

  Sitting at the table with a cup of hot tea, she sighed in frustration, "Even though I only saw him in passing, I feel like he isn’t as the rumors describe. But at the same time, I still feel uneasy."

  Sensing Celia's unease, the three friends comforted her, "It's okay, Celia. If he doesn't seem like the rumors, then that's a good thing. As for your uneasiness, maybe you should meet him again to see if the feeling remains."

  Feeling reassured by her friends, Celia nodded. "I hope so."

  ---

  On a crowded street filled with people, Noctis walked with a bored expression.

  Even though he had gathered some useful information about this world today, his mood was not good. He realized something—"Am I being too peaceful for someone who is supposed to be a madman feared by everyone?"

  Even though he had only been here for a few days, he was already looking forward to interesting events—except, of course, the ritual he had to perform.

  "So peaceful..."

  As he walked down the street, he stopped by a few food stalls to fill his empty stomach. Some people recognized him and immediately showed fear, which made him feel a bit helpless.

  After returning to his beloved home, it was already late. He washed up and sat on his comfortable bed, holding a few books in his hands, feeling bored.

  They were history books he had borrowed. Even though he hated reading books filled with nothing but words, he forced himself to study and expand his knowledge.

  He had a feeling he would need them in the near future.

  After meditating for a while on his bed, he decided to revisit some of Noctis’s most horrifying memories.

  They primarily revolved around his brutal beating of a female student, the torture of women who abandoned their children, his gruesome experiments on corpses, and his imprisonments in the Church’s dungeons. Those dungeons were similar to the basement of his own house—filled with nothing but darkness, occasionally echoing with strange sounds, and, of course, the relentless tortures from both the Church and the victims' families.

  As he absorbed those memories, pain surged through both his mind and body, making him writhe in agony on the bed once more.

  After a while, the pain gradually subsided. He let out a deep sigh and began examining his Blessing Seed.

  Yes, this was the main reason he had to relive those painful memories. It was one of the most effective ways to nurture the seed—"Experiencing mental and physical agony to grow stronger."

  And now, his seed had likely reached its limit, ready to bloom—if only he could obtain certain materials from the Church. But he had no intention of doing that. He had a different plan for his awakening.

  He wanted to use either a potion or his own Essence—even though it was hidden deep within the Hollow Abyss and would not be easy to acquire. Still, he had to try.

  Fortunately, he had already identified a potential source for what he needed—a keyword linked to a specific location: Aberrant Wastes.

  That’s right. He hadn’t forgotten what the shadowy figure had told him. In fact, he had been diligently researching it.

  During his visit to the library, he had searched for information related to that name. What he found was astonishing—Aberrant Wastes was one of the Eight Hollow Abysses known to mankind.

  And among them, it was considered the most enigmatic of all.