The Master of the Strange Realm

As soon as she looked up, a huge illusory pattern made up of perfect circles, squares, and isosceles right triangles appeared behind Miss Miller. Countless dense mathematical formulas and symbols were floating around, covered in the pattern, with a hint of chaos. An absurd sense of beauty.

A transparent shadow formed behind the short lady, and the Euler formula just written by Jenkins gradually solidified and filled in the blank spaces of the geometric pattern, making the strange beauty of the style appear more intense.

Looking directly at those formula symbols, my head felt a little swollen and painful, but it quickly returned to normal.

"What's the matter? Mr. Willamt?"

She stood at the door and turned around as if aware. Jenkins smiled and shook his head. No matter how surprised he was, he had to remain normal: "It's nothing, I'm just sighing at the beauty of mathematics."

"Do you think so too? Numbers are definitely the most wonderful thing! By the way, where do you live? If I have any questions, can I visit you? I think you can be called a real Mathematician!"

Jenkins wanted to slap his mouth.

His eye of truth does not have the function of breaking illusions and can only see "reality" in a certain sense. After being promoted to the second level, he can observe auras and spiritual bodies more clearly, but the enhancement of his spiritual vision means that it is easier for him to detect certain things that should not be seen by mortals.

The empty eyeball that Dad saw when he "resurrected from the dead" is one, and the shape made of huge geometric patterns just now is also one. The mental pollution brought by the former made him fall to the ground, and the latter... The latter's mathematical level was obviously not as good as Jenkins', and that knowledge was nothing at all.

"Is it an illusion caused by a special item? Or is it a magic given by the god she believes in?"

Jenkins lowered his head to think about things and almost dropped the sleeping chocolate in the church.

After the lesson, Reverend Roberts gave Jenkins a 10-shilling note. Jenkins put it in his pocket and asked about Miss Miller.

Priest Roberts actually knew who Miss Miller was just by her name. According to him, Alexa Miller was indeed not a believer in our religion. She has been coming to audit every math class since the winter a year ago, and she has a good relationship with the original lecturer.

Although she is not a believer, the church is quite friendly to her because of her thirst for knowledge.

With this, Miss Miller borrowed a large number of books from the church library, most of which were about mathematics. Reverend Roberts and Mr. Foley had talked about this young lady in private. Mr. Foley believed that Alexia Miller's mathematical skills were not inferior to those of ordinary mathematics students.

She is not a math enthusiast, but a math expert.

Generally, gifters will deliberately match their abilities when they are at a higher level. For example, the red-haired lady that Jenkins knew obviously focused on "music". And this Miss Miller, who likes mathematics and claims that "everything in this world can be calculated clearly," probably has "arithmetic" as the core of her ability.

Jenkins thought for a while and was very sure that there was absolutely no evil god in the world claiming to have a vocation such as "mathematics", so he felt a little relieved about the lady.

The church still sent a carriage to take him back, this time it was a box carriage, and the driver sat outside, so the somewhat tired Jenkins had no chance to chat with others.

Chocolat, who had slept for a whole math class, was now energetic. After the carriage set off, he jumped out of Jenkins' arms excitedly. Jenkins wanted to catch it, but when he stretched out his hand, he found someone sitting next to him.

"when......"

He didn't finish his words. Through the light of the kerosene lamp hanging on one side, he finally saw that this was Miss Miller from before.

"Madam, you are in the wrong carriage."

Jenkins reminded him softly, pretending to be relaxed. He clenched the cane in his left hand and quietly lowered his right hand. There was a spare charm in his pants pocket.

"Mr. Willamt, I made the right move."

The brown-haired girl said, opening her hand, it was a silver piece, "I think you should know the Silence Charm. So, there is no need to worry about our conversation being heard by the coachman outside."

"I do not understand what you mean."

"Okay, let's bypass who you are? Why are you here? How do you appear here? How do you know that I am a gifter? Are you not afraid that I am a gifter of the church? Wait for boring topics and come directly to Last question - are you asking, 'What do you want me to do?'"

She said softly, spreading her hand to signal to Jenkins: "I don't mean any harm, I just want to ask you for some help. Time is gold. Since you are also very sensitive to numbers, you should also understand this truth."

As soon as she finished speaking, a diagonal triangle symbol glowing with yellow light appeared in the center of her forehead. Jenkins only heard a buzzing sound in his ears, and then the woman's hand touched the same position on his forehead.

In a daze, countless broken pictures passed before his eyes. Miss Miller stretched out her hand and flicked it, and some fragments flew towards the unable to move Jenkins. Several pictures appeared in his mind out of thin air, and then he understood something.

“You are a faithless person who pursues the ultimate in arithmetic;

Although the knowledge I taught in the course just now was basic, my understanding of numbers and operations was extremely thorough, but you became curious about me;

You identified my cane as a Class B special item through an extremely complex and special method, so you are sure that I am a gift giver. If I am not, you will erase my memory;

You are not afraid that I will tell the church at this time, because you have never broken the law and will leave Nolan City soon. At the same time, you believe that no one can catch you;

You are waiting for me here because you want me to help you find out the location of A-11-2-3301, the malicious coachman, in the church. You can calculate the next possible location of its appearance through the past locations. You need to travel long distances quickly and have the means to avoid the maliciousness of strange things. "

After saying this unconsciously, Jenkins came back to his senses. Just now, it felt like someone had stuffed these things into his head.

Chapter 192 Chapter 188 Equivalent Questions and Answers

"The golden divine art [Knowledge Granting] can forcibly give the knowledge or information you have mastered to another person. Knowledge has weight, so this ability can not only save time in conversation, but also be used as an offensive ability. "

Miss Miller looked at Jenkins' face and seemed sure that Jenkins would agree to her request. Her eyes glowed faintly in the dim carriage. Although not as bright as the cat's eyes, they were more gentle and charming.

"These things are just processes. I don't want to waste our time, so just tell me the answer directly. Can you agree to this simple request? You don't need to harm anyone's interests or betray the church. I believe in equal exchange, so the reward I can provide is some knowledge that you are interested in. "

Jenkins looked at her coldly and did not answer for a long time. The divine power is not only used by believers of God, but also by pagans. However, in addition to the side effects of the ability effect discount, it is also very likely to be influenced or infected by the power of the righteous God, causing their beliefs to shift unconsciously.

The divine power just now was known to be related to the sage, so the rare non-believer in front of him was actually trustworthy in Jenkins' subconscious mind.

He thought for a long time before asking:

"I encountered a very interesting math problem a few days ago. Can you answer it for me? If I define the integers greater than 1 as prime numbers, the numbers that have no other factors except 1 and itself. How can I prove that any even number greater than 2 can be written as the sum of two prime numbers? "

"Hmm?"

Miss Miller frowned, "I know you want to distract me with complex mathematical problems, or take the initiative in the conversation, but this method is a bit too naive."

"It's really naive, tell me the answer. If you are really pursuing the ultimate beauty of mathematics, I think you can answer such an interesting question."

In the carriage, the huge illusory geometric figure that brings together countless mathematical symbols and knowledge appeared again. In the middle of the two people, dense numbers are constantly arranged and combined, and colorful symbols that Jenkins does not recognize collide with each other, deform, and produce new changes. But this time, no new knowledge was added to the pattern, and it disappeared helplessly into the air.

"Humph! "

The woman snorted and tilted her head away from Jenkins, looking at Chocolate, who was watching the two humans talking with interest. Seeing Miss Miller looking over, she pretended to be indifferent and buried her head in her paws.

"Men's pathetic self-esteem."

As she spoke, she took out a notebook from her bag, wrote a few notes seriously, and then closed it with a snap as if she was angry.

"You wouldn't write: 'Common Calendar 1865, Sage and Harvest Moon, Wednesday, 9th, today Williamette offended me, I wrote it down', right?"

Jenkins had already determined that the lady had no great ill will towards him, and the deal she proposed was very good, and he was willing to agree to it, so he tried to say something humorous to ease the tense atmosphere.

"It's not that boring, I will remember the problem you asked and then solve it."

She still maintained her confidence.

"Then I wish you good luck, no, I should wish you good luck. "

Miss Miller is a non-believer, which is indeed something Jenkins could not have imagined. There are non-believers in this world, but they are a rarer group than cultists. He did not want to evaluate non-believers, because he could not figure out whether he was a believer, as long as he was not a cultist or a criminal.

The pattern of Miss Miller's soul emblem is a simple white symbol, like the mathematical symbol 0. Such a special emblem must not be on the wanted list, which further relieved Jenkins.

The church has detailed records of the places where the malicious coachman appeared, and this is not confidential content, so even if Jenkins checked it, it would not attract attention. After discussing with Miss Miller, after confirming that she had no criminal record and had no intention of breaking the law, Jenkins agreed to her request.

"So, what kind of knowledge do you need? Since you want to trade, you must first negotiate the terms. Although I am knowledgeable, I am not omniscient, so please don't ask about things that humans cannot know. "

"I am very interested in how you circumvent A-11-2-3301's disgusting charging method. I remember that he would harvest the organs or flesh of passengers. "

He asked in a low voice. The lady in front of him was extremely smart. If he asked rash questions, he would only reveal his secrets. So, why not just pick one that interests him.

"Oh?"

The lady's beautiful eyebrows were raised, "Mr. Williams, although your level is not high, your vision is very good. People who study mathematics are indeed smart people."

"No, I just thought you were smarter, that's why I asked this question."

Jenkins thought to himself, and then found that the chocolate had slipped onto his lap at some point.

"But you just helped me collect some non-confidential information, and the answers to the questions are more valuable. I always abide by the principle of equivalent exchange."

"So how much do you think this answer is worth?"

"Two hundred thousand gold pounds, in cash."

Her expression was serious, not like she was joking. Jenkins thought his whole face twitched at that moment.

Finally, he asked Miss Miller how she discovered that her cane was a special item. After learning again that it was related to her ability and therefore the price was very expensive, Jenkins changed the question and asked about Asyash. A family thing.

"That family of lunatics? Well, let me think about it. I do know something, but you have to give me ten pounds and three shillings."

Jenkins endured the heartache, gritted his teeth and nodded.

"The cost of summoning demons from magma hell is greater than two hundred thousand gold pounds. This involves not only precious materials, but also sacrifices and life sacrifices. From this perspective, the person who conducts the ceremony, There must be a lot of power in the secular world. As for the Asyash family, they are all lunatics. Too much exposure to alien species and blasphemous knowledge has caused the crazy factor to penetrate into every generation of descendants. The idea of ​​​​the Orthodox Church is not wrong. , this matter is indeed related to Asyash, I am not very interested in this matter, but simple reasoning tells me: he is definitely not a noble, but has a good relationship with the nobles; man, no more than 40 years old; acts in a secretive way , but will not hesitate to kill ordinary people, and the level of the benefactor does not exceed level 7... Don't look at me like this, this is obvious, do you want to ask me the reason? "

Chapter 193 Chapter 189 Eldron’s Reply

After Miss Miller finished her conclusion, she immediately showed a slightly surprised expression when she saw Jenkins' confused look. Jenkins blinked and took out a 10-pound note and three silver coins from his pocket.

Although I have a lot of savings now, there will always be a time when the money runs out. His current fixed income is 5 pounds 10 pence per week, of which 4 pounds is the salary provided by the church to the benefactor, 1 pound is the apprenticeship salary given to him by his father, and 10 pence is the salary for teaching in the church at night.

Calculating this, the income for 52 weeks a year is about 281 pounds. Of course, this is just a fixed income. There will be commissions from the antique store business, and the sales share of "Stories from a Stranger" is also a large amount of income.

Cooperating with foreign publishers means that the money Jenkins can get is much less. This is not only related to the tax system, but also to some hidden rules of export sales. Therefore, after the hottest period of domestic book sales is over, the money he can get in a year may not be enough to get the amount he got from Mr. Blow in the first three times. "Stories from a Stranger" can bring Jenkins more than fame.

"The total legal income per year is probably only about 1,000 pounds, and apart from the church salary, everything else is subject to tax!"

Jenkins understood this a long time ago. If he were an ordinary person, then as a bachelor with little expenses, he could rely on this kind of income to hire three maids (to take care of the chocolate) and a coachman. and a groom, and at the same time there may be one or two horses and a carriage.

This is already the treatment that the highest-income group in the middle class can receive. If the annual salary is several times higher, we can be called the real upper class.

But his expenses are also not small. His employer, Mrs. Mahat, pays her salary once a week and lives alone. She has to pay for her own meals, steam expenses, seasonal changes in clothing, and the maintenance of the house. Not to mention, as a gifter, a ritual to learn abilities is enough for Jenkins to invest all of his income for a year.

He still remembers how shocked he was when he learned the number of gems needed for [Astral Sense].

Therefore, before all his savings were spent, he vowed to find a legal way to get rich.

His father told him that by marrying a noble girl with a prominent family background, his goal would be achieved quickly. But Jenkins still wanted to save face, and he suspected that his father's purpose in raising this attention was to bring the topic to social life and marriage.

Jenkins quickly obtained the information Miss Miller wanted and gave it to her. He was very doubtful about what kind of model should be built to figure out the rules for such random monsters, but then he thought that Miss Miller might have some special abilities or items, which were a combination of arithmetic and divination tools.

On Saturday morning, Dad had to go out for something, so he gave Jenkins a day off. He got up very early and happened to bump into the young milkman when he was going downstairs to get the newspaper.

The young man enthusiastically sold him a new flavor of milk. Since he had to pay 5 pence more per week, Jenkins politely declined.

When he came out of the bathroom with the newspaper, Jenkins remembered that Eldron's reply was almost here. Of course, he couldn't write his own address on the letter. The address for receiving the letter was the Pig's Head Bar, one of the entrances to the black market.

That remote bar combines multiple functions such as black market, gun sales, dangerous goods transactions, and intelligence sales. After Jenkins put on a black robe as a disguise, he asked the bartender if they could collect mail for him.

The bartender grinned and said that money was enough, and the address was a real apartment address that could be checked.

"A glass of old dark beer."

Jenkins, still in disguise, knocked on the table of the bar.

"5 pence."

The bartender didn't even raise his head. Although it was morning, the bar's business was still good. There were still many people sitting in front of the bar. On Jenkins' left was a middle-aged man wearing glasses. His clothes were a bit shabby, and the strong smell of tobacco choked Jenkins so much that he dared not breathe.

Jenkins handed over a crumpled banknote, and the bartender grabbed it in his hand. Seeing a string of numbers written in pencil on it, he nodded at him.

Jenkins turned around and found a remote single table to sit down. After a while, the waiter brought the beer. When he left, there was a black leather bag beside Jenkins' legs.

"The 2 pounds I spent, didn't they all go to buy a bag?"

He thought doubtfully.

Originally, he wanted to use these letters to test who was at 13 Green Avenue, Elderon City, but now that the church also knew about it, these letters were useless.

But in line with the principle that money should not be wasted, he still checked some of the replies.

A total of 50 letters were sent, and that was 4 days ago. If there is still no reply now, then there really will be no reply.

After counting, 37 people sent back the questionnaire, and the most important one was also there. This is undoubtedly the effect of the banknotes in the letter.

Jenkins sat on a chair in the restaurant and opened the letter from Green Avenue, Elderon City. The questionnaire was answered very carefully, not perfunctorily. If what was said here was true, then the person who filled out the questionnaire should be a 27-year-old man who had an annual income of about 300 pounds, did an ordinary clerical job, and was single and unmarried.

"Are all scammers so honest now?"

Jenkins felt that it was unusual for things to go smoothly, so he suspected that the recipient's lying skills were too high, so he didn't see the flaws.

The matter should have ended with Jenkins burning the replies, and then this matter never happened. But he shook the envelope and found that the responder at No. 13 Green Avenue actually wrote a short message. The message was written on a neat note, the font was ugly, but the spelling was correct:

[Dear Miss Fabry:

I am lucky to be able to participate in your social survey, and thank you for your generosity. I will look forward to your continued letters and hope to get the latest news about your graduation project.

Hunter Bell]

"Ah, trouble."

Jenkins covered his head and whispered.

Through the judgment of the church, it has been basically confirmed that No. 12 is the residence of the believers of the [Prince of Lies]. However, it has not been confirmed whether this is just a transit address or whether there are real cultists hiding there. If Jenkins does not reply, the possible cultists may become suspicious, suspect that they are being tempted, and then run away...