Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

Shiller found a hunting store on the east side of the town, not far from the dock, and as expected, there was a large stockpile of weapons. The walls of the store were adorned with various models of shotguns and the display cabinets were filled with shiny new ammunition.

However, the bad news was that the shotguns displayed on the walls were not functional, which was normal, given that though American big cities had many zero-cost deals, it didn't mean rural areas were safe. If someone burst in to rob the place, the displayed guns could become the store owner's death warrant, so the critical components had been removed.

The counter was locked but made of only ordinary glass, which Shiller smashed open with a crowbar. He found some ammunition inside that could be used with the first shotgun he had found, but now the gun was no longer in his possession.

The handgun he held used a relatively special type of ammunition, which typically wasn't sold in American gun stores because small firearms, being easily concealed, were more suited for assassinations in public places, so their regulation was quite strict.

Shiller looked around the store for a notice board because gun laws in America required legal firearms dealers to display state-specific gun laws; finding such a notice would tell him which state he was in.

From the climate, Shiller guessed he was in a state near Canada. The Night Owl's police uniform resembled that of New Jersey's, but there were differences, and Shiller had never heard of such a place in New Jersey.

After looking around and failing to find any legal documents, he found a door to the warehouse. Shiller navigated through a narrow passage and saw that the warehouse door had a warning sign and was locked.

Seeing the lock, Shiller knew Greed had acted prematurely. He had a high dexterity score and a lock-opening skill, still holding two skill points, but he decided not to use them for lock-picking. Instead, he planned to see what came off the ship—if it was a Deep Diver, it would be better to invest in skills related to the Cthulhu Mythos.

Shiller left the gun store and circled around to the back of the building, only to discover the windows had already been smashed open by someone. Upon entering, he saw the weapons had been practically looted and the traces left behind were too fresh, only a few hours old at most.

The good news was that this confirmed there were indeed survivors in the village, but the bad news was that these survivors were armed with shotguns and plentiful ammunition, making it even harder to deal with them.

After leaving the armory, Shiller's next target was the best house in the village; after all, Old Sirteck was wealthy and likely didn't live too shabbily. He needed to check his house for clues.

Near the center of the village, almost across the street from the church, Shiller found a red three-story house that stood out from the surrounding architecture.

As is known, in relatively colder regions, village houses are generally not built very tall, as it is not conducive to heat retention. If they were, it cost a lot of money to insulate the whole house and required modern heating systems.

Most of Europe and America did not have centralized heating; cities relied on electric heaters and air conditioning, while villages depended on the most primitive fireplaces. The few residences Shiller had passed had a single floor, each with a fireplace in the living room and one in the bedroom.

Standing outside this house, Shiller noted its thicker walls and no sign of a fireplace, concluding that the owners were definitely wealthy, at least one of the richest in the village.

And when he reached the front door, he found no signs of forced entry; it seemed the house had not been invaded by monsters, and the homeowners hadn't left, as the door was locked from the inside.

Was there someone still inside the house?

Shiller knocked on the door politely and rang the doorbell but got no response. He stepped back to scale the surrounding wall.

Just as he touched the wall, the red dice appeared again, dexterity check 14 < 20, which he failed; Shiller jumped but didn't make it over.

"Such bad luck," Shiller muttered under his breath, but not ready to give up, he moved to the backyard. The backyard gate was similar to a fence and was also locked with chains and a lock, but at least there was a chance to pick it.

Shiller found a thin metal wire used to secure a picnic table in a neighboring backyard. He took the wire back to his side, dexterity check 18 < 20, and failed again.

Shiller took a deep breath. At that moment, a voice sounded in his ear, "If I told you now that Greed is laughing his heart out, would you get angry?"

It was the voice of the Transcendent. Shiller, without looking up, said, "You're back? Did Greed send you to watch my blunders?"

"Yes, I've just returned," said the Transcendent. "But it's not just Greed watching your blunders; actually, it's not only him—there are quite a few people here."

"All brought here by Greed?"

"He said he's disappointed by your malicious speculation about him, but no, it wasn't him. It was Arrogant."

"Arrogant would never actively do such a thing, must be you then? Have you skipped work just to bring people here for fun?"

"You misunderstand me; we're just testing a copy."

"So, the onlookers are developers from Battleworld? God of Stories, Walter, Lucifer, who else?"

"Nya is also here," he said. "He can provide you with professional technical support."

"Thank you, I can hardly believe it."

After Shiller failed at picking the lock, he talked to the Transcendent while moving to the other side of the yard, as there was a car parked there. Stepping on the car to climb over the wall shouldn't be too difficult, right?

This time, the Transcendent didn't give him any trouble and seemed to think that it would indeed be too much if an adult couldn't climb over the wall with the aid of a car. Thus, Shiller easily made it into the yard.

The yard was also very tidy, showing no signs of any struggle, and the back door was locked. The doors of this house were of much better quality than those of other residences and could not be broken into.

Shiller walked around the house and thought that he might be able to knock open a window on the right side to enter the kitchen, which was quite spacious, just in case someone rushed in, he would have room to fight.

With a crash, the glass was shattered by a pry bar. Fortunately, the glass wasn't specially made. It seemed that the Transcendent had judged that any normal person should be able to break it; otherwise, Shiller would really be ready to hit someone.

Shiller climbed through the window into the room, making as little noise as possible, but he knew that if there were anyone in the house now, they would have definitely heard the sound of the window breaking.

The house was very quiet, with no screams or footsteps - it seemed that the intruder was not in the house at that moment.

Shiller first searched around the kitchen, where he found particularly useful information: the food in the refrigerator had been cleaned out, and from the frost marks left on it, these foods had not been taken long ago, probably just yesterday or the day before.

After leaving the kitchen, he went into the living room, which was much better decorated and more modernized than other rooms, with a TV and stereo. The decorative bookshelf was also filled with various beautiful little sculptures and books.

On the bookshelf, Shiller found a family photo and, as expected, saw his own face, or more accurately, Greed's face. Hence, the man standing to his right must be Old Silterk.

He looked like a standard Caucasian male with no distinctive features, whereas the woman on the left had some Asian facial characteristics. Shiller thought she must be a character generated by the Transcendent based on his own face.

"I don't know what your parents look like, and you don't have that memory either, so I just created two similar ones," said the Transcendent. "I'm sorry if it offends you."

"Can you see my memories?"

"Some of them," the Transcendent said. "Entering Battleworld automatically opens some memory permissions to weave some credible illusions or dreams, but those are relatively surface level memories. I can't see the deep ones."

"What if I look exactly like Greed?"

"It's not the same in the eyes of others."

"Why is it that only he retains his original appearance?"

"He requested it," explained the Transcendent. "Apart from those attribute points, you can also make requests about your appearance, such as changing race, hair color, eye color, and other insignificant details. He requested to keep his original appearance, so I had to change yours."

Shiller didn't really care much about this, so he just asked and let it go. He took the photo out of the family frame and put it into his pocket.

Then he went upstairs, glanced at the bedroom quickly, and headed straight for the study. The door to the study was also locked, but this time it was locked from the outside, which seemed relatively simpler.

Shiller tried to pick the lock again. Dexterity skill 18＞15, and he finally succeeded for once. The door to the study was opened.

As soon as he entered the study, Shiller felt a difference because all the walls were hung with concept design sketches of monsters. The books on the bookshelf were all about strange and monstrous creatures.

On the desk, Shiller found an unfinished manuscript with a bright red area depicting the chest of a dead man, with several eyes popping out amid the blood spurting continuously.

It seemed this was Old Silterk's concept for the Wandering, which had a bizarre kind of beauty.

Shiller searched the room further and found several pieces of information about some rather terrifying monsters, but the one with the most information was named "Internal Hunter." Old Silterk had made many conceptual drawings for it.

But there was only his artwork on the paper, with no explanations, and his drawings were so erratic, with several versions looking completely different, that they didn't seem to offer much reference value.

However, Shiller found a piece of paper in a locked drawer, which had only one sentence written on it.

"It's all a deception by the Church."