Xavier hesitated for a moment, his fingers twitching slightly, and he struggled inwardly over whether to listen to his curiosity

But before he could make his choice, the emblem stopped shaking.

And a voice appeared in his head, as if someone was talking directly to him.

"First meeting, Mr. Xavier." It was a soft female voice with a hint of compassion. He had to think of the kind of old god stick in the church.

"Long time no see, unknown Lady Stick." So Xavier replied like this, feeling the silence of the other party as he wished - of course, what "long time no see" was naturally made up, just to choke the mouth of the unknown god stick opposite.

“… I brought greetings," the woman with the voice of a compassionate god continued, "and an invitation. ”

"That's a surprising lady I've never met. I wonder what 'invitation' you want to give me? Xavier quickly put his "long time no see" behind him and asked her a rhetorical question.

"Our host values you. He appreciates your talent and wants you to join us. ”

"Join?" Xavier's hand tapped on the table, squinting at the remaining gravy on the plate in front of him, "What's to add?" I'm a little curious, but..."

He paused, and said in a flirtatious tone in his mind, "You can't just accept an invitation from an unknown source. Or maybe you don't even want to show up and invite me personally? ”

"Heh," he heard the lady chuckle, followed by her reply, "look out the window on the left, Mr. Xavier." ”

So Xavier looked to the left.

Through the somewhat dirty floor-to-ceiling window, he saw a young woman in a dark robe.

Her long, slightly dull blonde hair fell over the woman's shoulders, and she just lowered her hood and put a silvery-white half-face mask on her face.

Xavier raised an eyebrow, and he recognized the emblem that the woman was holding in her other hand: a huge scythe with a black crow with outstretched wings standing at the top, the emblem of one of the twelve main gods, "Fimot".

Followers of Fimot? But it wasn't like the god of death and rest, he thought.

Seeing Xavier turn his head to stare at the emblem in his hand, the lower half of the woman's face, which was not covered by the mask, showed a playful smile. The pale eyes hid behind the holes in the mask, casting him a look of unknown meaning.

Immediately after, Xavier heard her voice with a little teasing: "Sorry, I took it wrong." ”

As a result, Fimot's emblem was thrown to the ground, mixed into the damp dirt, and stepped on by her black boots—enough to anger every righteous believer.

"Now that we've met, let's have a good chat. Or do you want to talk face-to-face? The voice continued to ring in his head, and Xavier saw the blonde woman standing outside hooking her fingers.

“… Tsk, since it's an invitation, it's better to be respectful than to obey your fate. Let's have a good talk face-to-face. He continued, leaving enough silver coins to pay for the meal, and walked slowly out of the restaurant.

As a former thief, you still have to stand at a distance that can threaten your target to have some peace of mind - although he is a mage now, the other party also seems to be a priest. Moreover, at such a distance, he was able to make good use of the items stored in the Ring of Everything, so that he could easily bring some unexpected blows to the other party.

A few minutes later, the two stood face to face in front of a store that was not open.

"We hope you'll join us." The Lady of the Stick continued her conversation, her hand playing with an emblem that also marked a twisted cycle, her colorless white eyes staring at Xavier.

"You must be wondering what happened to this town, the Dark Forest. And the Lightless Forest just outside town, what's the fun thing to do there? ”

"I can let you know the whole truth and even let you get more. All you need to do is... You promise to join us, Mr. Xavier. She smiled mysteriously.

It seems that the organization behind this guy is the "murderer" behind this town... Xavier pondered. He was silent for a few seconds and looked at the lady, "What is the price of the invitation, and what do I have to pay?" ”

"Oh, just loyalty and service. Our master will grant you unimaginable power and knowledge... Think about it, more than all the famous magic academies in the world. ”

"- To exaggerate a little, to achieve an unprecedented wish. It's not impossible. She added. Then he tilted his head and looked at Xavier, as if waiting for his reply.

Aspiration... Aspiration.

The wish is to turn me into an archmage and send me back to Earth, is that okay? Xavier sighed inwardly, he naturally wouldn't say that, although it was indeed one of his own wishes. The other party's words were quite suspicious, and he couldn't help but think of the strange whispers that the flesh monster named Lagor Doren had turned into in the previous attack... It is also asking about "wishes".

"I guess I need a little time to think about it..."Xavier pondered for a moment, naturally there was no way he could run away to join a cult of unknown origin - of course, he couldn't just reject this guy. What if the other party is angry and ashamed?

"What if I say I need an answer from you right now?" The woman's smile did not diminish, but her right hand, which was playing with the twisted emblem, stopped, and was holding it tightly.

"Ahh Xavier laughed dryly, and touched the Ring of Everything on the middle finger of his right hand with his left hand, where there should be a few strange objects that could be used to escape: "That's a pity, I can only refuse-"

As for pretending to agree to join and finding another opportunity to escape, this plan was directly vetoed by him. In the face of the existence of an unknown suspected evil god, any false agreement may become his means.

"Then I'm sorry, Mr. Xavier." The woman interrupted him, the corners of her mouth twitching, "It seems that we can only take the plan that will not leave pleasant memories." ”

Xavier didn't think about it, and directly touched out a necklace strung with a transparent glass bead in the Ring of All Things - the apprentice bracelet. Able to consume beads to cast any spell.

But before he could make any more movements, a dark beam of light flew out of the emblem in the woman's hand and hit his arm.

The feeling of nausea and gagging churned from the stomach, and an uncomfortable evil sensation began to spread from the arm to the whole body.

[You are in the process of being exempted from the 'Perception' test...]

[D20+4=5[1D20=5]+3=8, verification failed. 】

Xavier cursed inwardly.

His perception attribute has always been a shortcoming, and he can be saved by magic items in the past. But now... Needless to say, now he can only rely on the exemption given by the mage profession to fight his luck. And this time it was very clear that it was a failure.

Feeling the muscles gradually becoming stiff, Xavier could barely look at it to imagine the debuff prompt on the system panel. He tried to rip off the last glass bead of his apprentice's bracelet, but felt his entire body freeze.

This is the ...... He thought.