Chapter 045

Alvin did not impulsively go up to the man and wrestle the glass bead from him, even though there was a good chance that this guy was an ordinary person unable to prevent him from grabbing it.

The guy who was the actual person assigned to the glass bead was obviously an experienced Hunter, seeing he did not enter unfamiliar environments, and cautiously used someone else to do this dubious work.

Alvin figured that this man was bait, and that touching him might spring a trap.

So he stealthily put some spiritual materials he had on him into the small skull shaped mark on his arms, and then sat down on the counter and ordered a drink.

"That person of the Hunter pathway in charge of the bead is probably in the vicinity, definitely not far away, so he can react if something goes wrong. He should be using some means to monitor this bait, so if I do something suspicious he might notice me. I should instead wait it out for a while, and stealthily follow this guy" thought Alvin.

So he did not react when the man walked out and went on his way. But he stealthily took out the Ear of the Crazed from his pocket, and used it to follow the man's sounds. The man walked straight out, and started going west. Alvin waited until he was close to 70 meters away, and figuring that the monitoring of the bar had stopped, he quickly changed his coat, and morphed his face, and went towards the man.

He maintained the distance of 70 meters, and followed him solely based on his footsteps.

Just as the time he was using the Ear of the Crazed was approaching three minutes, the man stopped, and seemingly sat down. Alvin sealed the mystical item and accelerated towards the location of the man.

He found that he was sitting on a bench outside a food stall. He went and sat down on a bench in another food stall just within the line of sight of that man.

A few seconds later, he saw Gordon take a seat next to him.

"Am I in a dream?" Alvin asked, as he noticed that the streets around him had dulled, except the surroundings of the man he had been paying attention to.

"Yes" said Gordon. He then looked at the place Alvin was paying attention to and asked, "Is he our man?"

"Yes and no. He does have the bead on him, but he isn't the person in charge. This newer guy is very cautious, paying random people 10 soli to go into bars with the bead, while he probably stays back and monitors them" said Alvin.

Gordon nodded and said, "Go and wait for me in the coffee shop with the blue awnings west of here"

Alvin nodded, and walked off, guessing what would happen next.

He notice that the person from the Machinery Hivemind, Eugene was sitting inside. Alvin sat down opposite him, and ordered some pastries as he had too much liquid already.

After a while, Gordon returned, holding a glass bead in a small box.

"We switched it as soon as he gave it to another person. The nearest bar is 5 minutes away. It's best we switch this back by then" said Gordon, as he handed the orb to Eugene.

This time, the orb looked special, with a reddish brown lustre vaguely visible inside, and Alvin felt very attracted to it.

Eugene held the orb and used the same methods as earlier to appraise the orb. This time, he took much longer, and there was even sweat on his brows.

Finally, he put the orb down, muttering, "Fascinating. Truly fascinating"

"Tell us" said Gordon.

"First of all, this was made by at least an Alchemist. It is also possible that a Saint personally crafted this" said Eugene.

"Second" contained Eugene, ignoring the looks of shock from Soest and Alvin, "The Beyonder characteristic of this bead is that of the Provoker, Sequence 8 of the Hunter Pathway. But it is only the characteristics of the Provoker, there is no blend of Hunter characteristics as there would be if this was made from characteristics from a deceased Beyonder"

"So did the creator use the main materials of the Provoker formula and create this?" asked Alvin.

"No. It looks more like the specific characteristic trait of Provoker was ripped from a higher Sequence of this Pathway. If the person this happened to does not lose control on the spot, he could fix this by consuming another Provoker potion. But this characteristic will still be linked to him, as it once formed the chain between his Hunter traits and Pyromaniac trait. This ingenious arrangement can detect the link when they are close to each other, and manifests it as a glow" said Eugene.

"So there is a person if the Hunter Pathway, at least an Pyromaniac, who these people are searching for? And due to the convergence of Beyonder characteristics and link between them, the orb can be used to detect the person if they are close enough?" asked Soest.

"Indeed. It may also have some hidden functions, like locking onto the person once they are detected, but I can't accurately determine them for now. You either need to bring it back for my captain or some other higher-ups from the Machinery Hivemind to see, or wait until the person who it detects comes into its range and that specific function activates" said Eugene.

Gordon, looked to be in deep thought. He then got up, and said, "I just got word that the orb is due to be returned back to the man by his mule soon. I think it's best if the orb is returned to him, and thus the mastermind for now to prevent them from knowing we are onto them. We will take our leave for now" said Gordon.

Eugene said, "Then I will be leaving. Do let me know if you eventually get possession of the orb. We would love to study it" and left.

Alvin followed Gordon outside the shop.

Once outside, Gordon said, "I will go over and make sure that the orb gets returned without any problems. You should go and ask your informants where those two highlanders are. I suspect the trap is going to be sprung real soon, and we could use another set of hands there. Also, watch out for Hannah, Raleigh and Donald"