13 Mink Street

Chapter 190: Karon And Pu’er

Pu’er pouted as she looked at Karon. She then silently raised her paw and placed it in his palm.

She did not say she agreed, because she still had not fully calmed down from her earlier outburst, and from time to time, there were little sobbing movements that resembled nods.

Karon reached out and picked the cat up. He sat on the bed, and placed Pu’er on his lap. She sprawled across his lap, refusing to look up at him. From time to time, she even stretched out a paw to push away the hand Karon placed on her head, though she did not jump down from his knees.

Even after being a cat for more than a hundred years, she still had not lost her temper as a young lady. That only proved just how willful the old Pu’er had truly been.

Still, this was pretty good too. If she had communicated with him from the very beginning with the attitude of some old grandmother, then every day when he opened his eyes and woke up, all he would have seen was a lifeless black cat sitting on his bed and mumbling at him. His life itself would have seemed covered by a layer of gloom.

“So, what should we do next?” Karon asked.

“Call the radio demon in and have him spread out the scroll.” Although Pu’er was still a bit emotional, she did not dare make trouble that might affect the progress of this particular matter.

Karon looked at Kevin, and the dog instantly understood the implication and ran out of the study. A moment later, he led Alfred inside. Alfred was holding a scroll in his hand, clearly having prepared it long ago.

“Young Master, are you ready?” Alfred asked very respectfully.

“Yes.”

“Young Master, you...” Going by the start of his sentence, it seemed as if Alfred intended to say, “Young Master, you won’t rethink this one more time?” but after he saw Pu’er suddenly turn her head to glare at him, he stopped joking around. “Young Master, please sit on the carpet.”

“Alright.” Karon carried Pu’er down from the bed and sat on the carpet. Alfred took out a pure white scroll and spread it out before Karon. It was covered with complex runes.

Pu’er jumped down from Karon’s lap and sat across from him, pressing her paw to the scroll.

“Young Master, please place your hand on the scroll as well. When I activate the scroll later, please do not resist its pull on your soul. The symbiotic pact is not a particularly difficult ritual, but both sides must be willing, and show no resistance.”

“And after that?” Karon asked.

Pu’er said, “After that, come find me in your soul realm. Once you find me, use your soul power...”

She paused. Taking a moment to gather her thoughts, she continued, “After you find me, cut your finger and drip a few drops of blood into my mouth. In the soul realm, that should count as the transfer of soul power.”

Alfred said, “Young Master, this means that this symbiotic relationship will be led by you. Pu’er will be recognizing you as her master.”

“Radio demon, you don’t have to put it so bluntly!”

Alfred smiled. “There are only two reasons why you agreed. One is that this is currently your only way to break your restraints and seek to regain your former power. The other is that you also know very clearly that becoming symbiotically bound to Young Master, even if he is the dominant partner, is absolutely not a loss for you.”

“Woof!” Kevin added something.

“What did Kevin say?” Karon asked.

Pu’er refused to translate, so Alfred answered, “This subordinate guesses that Kevin is saying that the third reason is sweet-and-sour fish.”

Kevin smiled and nodded his head.

“Through the scroll, I enter the soul space, I find her, and then drip three drops of my blood into her mouth. And then what?” Karon had a cautious personality. Of course, it was not that he did not trust Pu’er, but rather that he did not want to become flustered if anything unexpected came up afterward.

“After that, you simply wait for the result,” Alfred replied. “There is a certain degree of danger in this symbiotic pact ritual, but with your soul and body, Young Master, along with Pu’er’s soul and body, means that is almost no need to worry about that. However...”

“However, what?”

“This subordinate is worried whether you can maintain a balance between the power of Light and the power of Order within your body once so much Light-attributed power manifests, Young Master. If the balance falls out of control, it could trigger some trouble and uncertainty.”

“I waited until he became an Inquisitor before starting this. He has already determined his path, so it’s fine,” Pu’er explained. “And his Inquisitor foundation is very solid. There won’t be any problem. If there really were a problem, it would already have appeared during his purification.”

Ignoring Pu’er’s explanation, Alfred continued to stare at Karon. “So, this still falls to you to decide, Young Master.”

“There’s no problem. If what is being introduced is only power, then this body of mine can absolutely bear it. If what is being introduced is faith, then it matters even less, because I don’t believe in gods at all.” When he reached the Divine Shepherd stage, Karon had placed himself in the position where a god ought to stand. Since then, only he himself was the main axis on his path forward, and he was controlling his carriage. That meant that there could be no situation where the faith of another path could fight for control of the reins.

“Then there is no problem. This subordinate looks forward to you successfully completing this symbiotic pact, Young Master.” Alfred felt that his young master was advancing to reach the same kind of condition Sir Tiz had once possessed, namely that although they were both Inquisitors, “Inquisitor” was already insufficient to accurately describe them.

At this moment, the true strength of Alfred’s young master already far surpassed that of an ordinary Inquisitor. Once the symbiotic pact succeeded, then his young master...

Alfred could no longer even form a concrete estimate of Karon’s strength, because it had long since surpassed the measurement of an “Inquisitor,” which had erased any sort of precise standard by which he could be gauged.

“Alright, then let’s begin,” Karon said. Next, he and Pu’er each placed a hand and a paw on the scroll. Kevin squatted nearby, his mouth open as he watched with very high expectations; First, Pu’er would form a symbiotic link, and then Karon would help release a part of Kevin’s seal.

He wasn’t going to compete with Pu’er. A dog who slept on the floor had no right to compete with someone who slept on the bed.

Alfred began chanting. He did not use Marcan, but Gelsa, a language passed down from several previous epochs. It was said to have been the language of the race which had first developed ritual arrays. That race had long since perished, but through generation after generation of transmitted Arts, their language had become the dedicated incantation for certain Arts.

Once the recitation was complete, Alfred’s eyes glowed red as he looked at the scroll.

The scroll emitted a purple light that gradually spread over Pu’er and Karon.

Karon sensed a pulling force on his soul. He abandoned all resistance and actively welcomed it.

***

Buzz. When Karon opened his eyes, he found himself standing before Allen Manor. He was the only one present. Not a single servant could be seen, and the entire place was very quiet. Is this Pu’er’s soul realm?

Karon did not hesitate and walked into the manor, only to find that the moment he entered, he was met with interior furnishings that were changed. Or rather, from the outside, it appeared to be Allen Manor, but when he stepped inside, he discovered that it was the first-floor parlor of 13 Mink Street, the Immers family home.

It was a very familiar scene to Karon.

However, he did not linger for long and instead headed straight up the stairs.

The second floor was utterly silent. Karon arrived at the third floor and first looked over at the windowsill. In Immers’ house, that was Pu’er’s favorite place to lie every day. She enjoyed sunning herself there.

But at this moment, Pu’er was not on the windowsill.

Is she in one of the rooms? Karon opened the doors one by one. First, he opened the door to Tiz’s bedroom. It was empty, but Karon still allowed his gaze to linger on his grandpa’s bed for a little while. He believed that, in the real house at this moment, Tiz had to be lying in that exact spot.

After that, Karon opened Tiz’s study, but again found no trace of Pu’er.

Finally, Karon opened the door to his own bedroom. Because his bed was directly in front of the room’s door, the moment he pushed it open, he saw a figure lying on his bed. Before Karon could make out any details, he discovered that both his bedroom door and the bedroom itself were suddenly and rapidly expanding.

Then, all of his surrounding environment was swallowed up by white, and Karon had to close his eyes and allow himself a while to adapt to the change. He knew this was not truly because the light was “blinding,” but because his soul needed to readjust to the new environment.

At last, he opened his eyes again and found himself standing at the foot of a set of steps. Ahead of him stood a crystalline white platform.

He stepped forward and began walking upward. The platform was large, but there were not very many steps, so Karon quickly reached the very top. There, he saw a holy white bed, and lying on that bed was... not a cat, but a person; a woman.

Karon walked to the side of the bed and looked at the young woman. She wore a red hood and had a string of pearls around her neck. She was dressed in a black long dress, and brown leather boots were on her feet. In her hand, she held a wand.

Her features were exquisite, with just a touch of baby fat in all the right places. She was beautiful, though also indolent.

Karon now understood why that young clan leader from Darkmoon Island had been so smitten with Pu’er, because even putting everything else aside, her appearance truly was impressive enough to stand its ground.

Combined with what Karon knew of her temperament, and he could perfectly visualize her movements and expressions once she was awakened, guided by her nature as a spoiled young lady. It would leave a very charming impression, and that her behavior was exactly what it ought to be.

The greatest genius in the history of the Allen family, Poelle Allen. A spoiled young lady who had reached Tier-9 in the family faith system very early on, and who had then started to complain that her progenitor Allen had been too weak. She had likewise lost all pleasure that came of climbing to the peak of a faith system too quickly, and she had even once said something along the lines of, “If I’d known, I should have believed in a church instead of having faith in some progenitor.”

Karon suddenly felt an impulse to reach out and pinch her nose.

He did precisely that, or rather, he had the thought and acted on it simultaneously, though he did not pinch her nose. Instead, he gently ran a finger across the bridge of her nose.

Heh, this damned feeling of being both strange and familiar. He could confirm that ever since leaving Swillen and coming to Veyn, Pu’er had basically slept in the same bed as him, yet it was still difficult for him to imagine that she had really been sleeping in the same bed as him all along.

Karon lifted his left index finger to his mouth and bit it open with his teeth. Blood began to ooze from its tip.

He then held his finger above Pu’er’s mouth. With his right hand, he gently helped her lips to open.

Sleeping, Pu’er seemed unaware of what was happening outside. She did not wake, but merely furrowed her brow slightly at the disturbance to her sleep.

One drop.

Two drops.

Three drops.

Three drops of blood fell into Pu’er’s mouth.

At that moment, Karon suddenly felt his eyelids growing heavier and heavier, while his soul grew denser and denser. The terrifying drowsiness came upon him so suddenly that he instinctively wanted to resist, and indeed, he did exactly that.

But just at that moment, a faint tearing sound reached his ears. Karon immediately realized that he could not resist and could not oppose this sensation, or the symbiosis ritual would fail.

So, he abandoned all resistance and allowed the drowsiness to swallow him. He collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep there.

After Karon fell asleep, the eyelashes of the young woman who had been lying on the bed tremble once. Then, her eyes opened. She pushed herself up from the bed and turned her head to see Karon asleep beside her.

A mischievous smile tugged at the corner of Pu’er’s lips. Reaching out, she pinched Karon’s ear. “That’s for teasing me, that’s for teasing me, that’s for teasing me!

“I’d like to see if you’d dare go establish a symbiosis with Lenora! I was obviously here first! Tiz should have arranged it this way too, hmph!

“That’s for not making fish for me every single day!

“That’s also for not making fish for me every single day!” Originally, Pu’er had planned to tug on his ear a bit more, but when she saw that even in sleep, Karon’s brow remained tightly furrowed, she suddenly found herself unable to continue.

She knew that he had always been under intense pressure, and that he had always been adapting to and learning about this world. She knew that every time he was faced with the unknown, at every moment of helplessness, he still stubbornly insisted on maintaining his own composure.

He ought to be very tired, shouldn’t he? Pu’er reached out, wanting to smooth his brow flat, only to find that it could not be smoothed.

“Why bother? What Tiz actually wants most for you is for you to live happily, yet you insist on coming out and seeing things for yourself. Where is there so much beauty in this world?”

Pu’er let out a sigh. She opened her left hand while picking up her wand with her right. She drew a huge cut across the center of her left palm, and let the blood to drip out. It first fell onto her own body, then gradually onto the white bed.

Immediately, the bed and even the crystalline white platform began to tremble faintly. If one’s line of sight could have been pulled infinitely upward at this moment, they would be able to clearly see that the man and woman were not lying on a bed at all, but on a fingernail, and beneath them was an enormous finger.

After doing all this, Pu’er stretched lazily and sighed. “It seems being human isn’t all that comfortable either. You have to wear clothes too. So troublesome.”

After a pause, she muttered to herself again, “This still doesn’t seem to be enough to let me turn back into a human, but it should at least restore a bit of my strength.”

She looked at Karon, and a smile appeared at the corner of her mouth. “I can gain a crack of freedom because of this symbiosis ritual. I just don’t know how much benefit you’ll be able to take from me.”

At that moment, blood-red patterns appeared in the sky. Pu’er looked up at the crimson lines that were gradually spreading overhead, and muttered, “So your bloodline power has already started operating...”

She remembered what Karon had said to her while lying in bed after sparring with Gray some nights ago, that he had felt his family faith power was able to help him learn, and that the function of his family faith system was comprehension.

Pu’er yawned. “A legacy like Tiz’s isn’t something you receive through comprehension. This is... appropriation.”

After saying that, she was also unable to longer suppress her sleepiness, and she lay down in Karon’s arms. She rubbed her face against his chest until she found a comfortable angle, and then picked up Karon’s right hand and draped it across her waist.

Suddenly, Pu’er forced her eyes open against the sleepiness. “Umm... I think I forgot I’m not a cat right now...”

She then fell fast asleep.

***

In the real bedroom, Alfred was squatting on the floor, maintaining the same height as Kevin, and the two of them were observing their young master together.

At this moment, the light of the scroll dispersed.

“The ritual has already been successfully completed?”

“Woof.”

“So now Young Master is beginning to share in the benefits of the symbiosis?”

“Woof.”

A flame suddenly appeared in front of Karon. It seemed nearly alive, and it danced on its own.

“The Allen family’s fire attribute?”

“Woof.”

Within the sword case in the adjacent study, the Aelius Sword also started to tremble, as though it had received some kind of response.

Two red streams of light appeared on the backs of Karon’s hands. The flame that had just emerged began to merge with the two red lines. The originally pure red, which had been shaped like whips, gradually morphed into something that looked like two flows of molten lava.

“Woof.”

“The Allen family’s fire-attributed power is beginning to merge with Darkmoon Blade?”

Immediately after, a mist of water appeared before Karon. “The Allen family’s water-attributed power? I remember Pu’er took the path of fire.”

“Woof.”

“You mean that Young Master shares Pu’er’s bloodline, so on the basis of that bloodline, he generated dual powers of water and fire?”

“Woof.”

“Is this what it means to be a genius? Whether Young Master walks the church faith system or the family faith system, he is a genius in both?”

“Woof.”

“You mean that the significance of genius lies in adapting to any environment in the shortest possible time?”

Kevin raised a paw, and Alfred reached out to complete a high-five with him.

After the high-five, Kevin suddenly froze; Why did it feel like Alfred could suddenly understand what Kevin was saying? Could it be because, by constantly trying to interpret and listen to Karon, Alfred had already evolved the ability to listen to other things as well?

Kevin could not help turning his head to very seriously size up Alfred. While the dog and Pu’er had been waiting for the chance to gain a bit of freedom after Karon advanced to the Inquisitor rank, had one particular person had been quietly making secret progress all along?

The Sea God’s Armor appeared on Karon. Very quickly, the water mist fused with the armor. At that moment, the Sea God’s Armor grew even clearer, and every single line on it seemed to be newly refined, and certain parts even started to freeze over before melting away on their own... The increase in defensive power was not just a single tier of improvement.

Kevin stuck out his tongue. This was no longer “inheriting the Allen family’s bloodline,” nor was it “fusing” the bloodline. The young man he had once chosen had already completely skipped the previous two steps and directly entered into “bloodline application.”

Whether it was the Darkmoon Blade or the Sea God’s Armor, Karon had already used the Allen family’s bloodline to elevate both.

At that moment, a dazzling white light emerged from Karon’s body. This was the power of Light!

Kevin dropped to the ground in prostration. Just like during Karon’s purification, Kevin once again felt the aura of the God of Light, and foam began spilling from the dog’s mouth.

Alfred also dropped into a kneeling bow, but there was no fear in his eyes, only fanaticism.

At last, the white light dispersed, and everything once again returned from stillness to stillness.

Slowly, Karon opened his eyes. His right eye flowed with a gentle, holy white, while his left eye manifested a profound black.

—

Light of Order, Mythic Overview, Original Unabridged Version: The God of Light awakened the God of Order. From that day onward, wherever Light shines, Order exists.