Steam Age: I Fight Against Divine Authority with Otherworldly Tales

Chapter 50 Dark Clouds Approaching

Inside Corrigan's office, Suren and Carl were still standing there, one deep in thought, the other still with the dazed expression that Leonard had given him after patting him on the shoulder.

Corrigan looked at the two who were staring blankly, slammed his hand on the table, and said irritably, "Is there anything else? If not, you can get lost."

His voice clearly carried a hint of impatience. Carl shrugged and subconsciously took half a step towards the door.

Suren then looked at Corrigan and asked, "How long will the 'Frostblade Saint' stay?"

Corrigan's gaze swept over Suren, as if trying to glean something from his expression.

"What?" He didn't answer directly, but instead asked, "Why are you asking that?"

Suren shrugged, speaking casually as if it were a trivial matter: "Nothing much, I just think I might be very busy during this period."

Corrigan glanced at him, said nothing, took out a pipe from his pocket, lit it, exhaled a smoke ring, and sighed.

"Your intuition is right. The Frostblade Saints have a very strong tracking item, and they'll probably find the manuscript soon." He took another drag of his cigarette, the smoke thickening. "And there's still the mess with the Eternal Oath Knights to deal with. There might even be some mandatory group missions. I definitely won't have many days of peace and quiet."

As if remembering something, he pointed at Suren.

"By the way, Edmund's been frequenting the 'Mist Exchange' lately. He might be up to something, so be careful." He paused. "I don't want anything to happen to my 'Deathbird's'."

Suren nodded, asked no more questions, and pulled Karl away from the office.

Corrigan was the only one left in the office. He sat in his chair, took a deep drag on his cigarette, and exhaled a thick cloud of smoke.

A sigh echoed through the room: "Saint..."

Outside the room, Carl had just stepped out of Corrigan's office, said goodbye to Suren, and headed to the lab.

Watching Karl walk away, Suren leaned gently against the wall, turned her head to look at the stairs in front of her, and began to think about her next plan.

Leonard's arrival was like a period coming to an end to their peaceful life; things would no longer proceed as they had before.

Professor Derwent will likely be exposed soon, and the "Eternal Oath Knights" incident may trigger a collective mission, at which point his exposure is highly probable.

Suren closed her eyes and slowly exhaled.

The most important thing now is to get promoted. According to Leonard's words, frequent use of his abilities would allow him to be promoted within a month. Suren estimated that he was not far from being promoted; what he lacked now were the materials and the ritual.

Putting the ceremony aside for now, the collection of materials must be put on the agenda.

But Suren has only saved 760 pounds so far, which is just a fraction of what he needs to buy a 'Dominion of the Demon Heart Seal'.

He didn't have much time left, and he couldn't afford to slowly save money. Suren made up his mind that with his current equipment and those two powerful potions, hunting a Level II demon, the "Dominator," was still possible—provided he had a well-thought-out plan.

Thinking of this, he opened his eyes, straightened his body, and went to see Professor De Went.

Suren had carefully considered the dangers of going to find Professor Derwent now, but considering that Professor Derwent had not been discovered for so long, he figured that the so-called tracking items would also have great limitations, such as time, scope, or something else.

In Suren's view, going there now is actually the safest option, but meetings should be reduced after today.

"All the necessary preparations must be completed during this meeting," Suren resolved to himself.

Suren crossed two streets and stopped in front of Professor Derwent's house. A moment later, he was sitting in Professor Derwent's living room.

Seemingly unfazed by Suren's visit, Professor Derwent sat on the opposite sofa, a book on his lap, flipping through it at a leisurely pace.

"Professor, I think you should make plans soon." Suren sighed, his expression somewhat grave, and spoke quickly. "A priest from the church has arrived in Loren Town. He even has a tracking item. I suggest you leave Loren Town in the next few days."

Professor Devon closed his book, looked up, and his gaze fell on Suren's face. He could tell that Suren wasn't joking. Without saying anything more, the professor simply nodded slightly.

Seeing this, Suren stopped being polite and got straight to the point:

"Besides this matter, I also hope to get your help this time. When you went to the wilderness to study the ecology, you should have recorded quite a few Level II demons, the 'Dominator Demons,' right?"

The professor nodded: "I've been researching the Wilderness Demons for almost two years now. There aren't many 'Dominator Demons' in the wilderness of Loren Town, and I have indeed recorded some."

As he spoke, he stood up and walked towards the door. Suren also stood up and followed the professor.

The two of them, one after the other, quickly arrived at the professor's study. The professor walked to the desk, bent down, opened the lower drawer, took out several notebooks, and tossed them onto the desk.

Some of the notebooks were relatively new, with the leather covers still gleaming; others were quite old, with worn-out covers that had turned white and the corners curled up.

Professor Devont leaned over the desk and picked up a notebook from the pile of scattered notebooks.

He pushed up his glasses, quickly flipped through the pages, and then, as if he had found something, stopped on one of the pages. He pinched the corner of that page with his fingers and ripped it hard, a tearing sound echoing in the study.

He casually placed the torn piece of paper on the table, then picked up another, newer notebook and repeated the same action.

Suren stood to the side, watching the professor's actions, raised an eyebrow, and said nothing.

Before long, a stack of torn pages piled up on the desk, which Su Lun estimated to be about seven or eight pages.

The professor picked up the pages, checked the contents, nodded, straightened and flattened the pages, stacked them, and handed them to Suren.

Suren took the stack of pages and flipped through them roughly. They were mostly information about "Dominators of Demons," and the records were very detailed, including their habits, activity range, ability overview, and even their feeding patterns and migration cycles were clearly marked.

"You're probably aiming for a promotion," the professor said, now seated. He nodded at Suren, who was engrossed in reading. "If it were anyone else, I'd advise them to give up. But for you, with ample preparation, it shouldn't be a big problem."

Suren's gaze fell on the professor, and a smile appeared on her lips.

"You have that much confidence in me?" He waved the pages in his hand. "Actually, I have a very good memory. There's no need to tear it out. It's a pity to ruin your research records like this."

The professor smiled and tapped his hand on the table. "I've already planned to destroy these notes; there's nothing to regret."

"Destroy?" Suren asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Yes, the research is almost complete. Actually, after all these years, I've given up hope." The professor sighed. "Even if I knew the truth, what difference would it make? Some things are beyond my control."

The professor looked up at Suren, a strange emotion flickering in his deep eyes: "After you leave, I will also head to my hometown. You and Karl, take good care of yourselves."