Chapter 1743: Chapter 1743

Meanwhile, Jenkins was completely oblivious to the night's strange transformation. He lay face-up on the washroom floor, his soul and senses having departed entirely from the material world.

June belonged to the God of the Starry Sky and Equilibrium, the Universal Star. July, on the other hand, belonged to the God of Destiny and Order, the Hermit of Destiny. According to legends passed down from antiquity, the God of Destiny was ancient. While not counted among the three primordial gods—Nature, Earth, and Sun—most believed the Hermit's emergence was likely no later than theirs.

The Hermit was a remarkably discreet deity. To be precise, if one were to tally all the known records of the Twelve Orthodox Gods descending to the material world, the Hermit of Destiny would be the one with the fewest appearances in the current Eighteenth Epoch.

Destiny implied omnipresence, while Order implied a respect for the laws of the material world. Thus, despite the considerable strength of its church, the Church of Destiny, much like its god, was not particularly prominent in the human world.

Once again, Jenkins felt as though he was floating high among the clouds, surrounded by a hazy whiteness. Sacred hymns and fragmented whispers arrived right on cue. Far above, two figures—women whose forms he couldn't make out—were gradually approaching. To Jenkins, they seemed far taller than the ancient titans he had once seen, yet they exuded no sense of oppression.

He followed his usual practice, refraining from thought and simply using his senses to absorb the information around him. He allowed the vast, illogical stream of data and nebulous feelings to flood his mind.

This time, however, something unexpected occurred. Though Jenkins had done nothing, he felt himself "ascending." He could feel himself gradually drawing closer to the two figures whose faces remained obscured.

The headache and dizziness that had plagued him during his first encounter with the Month's End Whisper returned as he moved "higher." The long-absent sensation nearly made him faint, but he gritted his teeth and endured the pain, waiting to see what would happen.

The closer he drew to the two women, the more he sensed a level of power utterly alien to mortals. This wasn't a difference in the quantity of energy, nor in physical might; it was a chasm of disparity that could not be measured by numbers.

He had assumed the two women were summoning him, but in the end, they never spared him so much as a glance. As the nebulous sensation began to fade, a feeling of falling told Jenkins he was about to awaken.

Filled with confusion, he was once again forced to endure the profound sense of loss and disorientation that came from plummeting from a higher dimension. But unlike previous times, the first thing he perceived wasn't Chocolate bouncing on his chest, but a woman's voice:

"Jenkins, Jenkins, are you alright? Wake up, quickly."

The voice was muffled at first, then slowly grew clearer. Jenkins recognized the tone as Miss Bevanna's.

"Why would Miss Bevanna be in my locked washroom?"

Still confused, he returned to his physical body. When he opened his eyes, he discovered there was more than one person in his washroom. Dıscover more novels at novelFɪre.net

Miss Bevanna was kneeling on the tiled floor, cradling his head. Behind her, he could faintly make out the figures of Papa Oliver, Hathaway, Briny, and Julia.

"You're awake! What happened just now? Oh, you're bleeding!"

Hearing the surprise in Miss Bevanna's voice, Jenkins immediately scrambled out of her embrace. The mirror was right in front of him, and by the glow of the gas lamp on the wall, he saw blood trickling from his nose and the corners of his eyes.

Chocolate darted out from somewhere, leaping onto the washstand in a single bound. The cat then stood on its hind legs, its front paws clutching at Jenkins's clothes and its back paws balanced precariously on the slippery edge of the sink, and tilted its head back to look up at him with concern.

He addressed both his cat and the others behind him, steadying himself on the sink with one hand. He quickly turned the tap, wet his hand, and wiped at his face. But instead of washing the blood away, it only smeared it, making his face an even bigger mess.

"What on earth happened?"

Miss Bevanna asked again from behind him. Jenkins lowered his head, putting on a pained expression.

"I was just about to wash up when I suddenly felt dizzy. After that, I don't remember anything."

He mentally searched for a fragment of knowledge from his recent experience, hoping to find something he could use as an excuse—to claim he'd had a new breakthrough. But as he took stock of his own condition, he realized something was off. He spun around and summoned all the motes of light that represented his abilities. The number was clearly wrong.

"I think I have a new ability... Miss Bevanna, do you know what the White Basic ability, 'Cycle,' is?"

"Cycle? How could it be that one?"

As Miss Bevanna adopted a thoughtful expression, Papa Oliver's voice came from outside the washroom. Now that Jenkins was awake, the three women were crowding into the small room, forcing Papa Oliver to retreat into the hallway.

Hathaway, Briny, and Julia had already changed into respectable attire and were gazing at him with worried expressions.

He repeated, picking up the cat from the sink and rocking it gently, then remembered to ask:

"Was I gone for so long that you went to get Papa Oliver and Miss Bevanna?"

He assumed he had spent far too much time lost in the Whisper.

"No," Bevanna replied. "According to Miss Mikhail, it's only been half an hour since you left them. Papa Oliver and I came looking for you ourselves. Something has happened!"

The words seemed to jolt her back to the purpose of their visit.

She grabbed Jenkins by the hand and pulled him toward the door, speaking rapidly.

"After midnight, the dense fog over Nolan transformed. We didn't see you join the fray, nor did you report to the church, so we worried something might have happened and came to check on you. Are you sure you're alright? Don't push yourself, but if you truly are fine, come with me at once. You're needed."

After a hasty farewell to the women of the house and a promise to return safely, Jenkins, Papa Oliver, and Miss Bevanna opened the front door.

Instantly, a fog as thick as flowing water surged toward the house, only to be stopped by an invisible barrier the moment it touched the doorframe.

The three of them plunged into the dense fog. Jenkins felt as if the very density of the air had increased by an order of magnitude; he could feel it resisting his every movement.

He looked up, peering into the distance. The night sky was completely obscured by the fog. Deep within that oppressive haze, far across the city, a colossal, gaunt, black humanoid figure was moving slowly. The instant he saw it, Jenkins felt as if every wisp of fog was trying to burrow into his pores, and the very air around him pulsed with malice.

He shook his head to dispel the sensation and climbed into the waiting carriage with Papa Oliver and Miss Bevanna.

"What in the world is going on? And what is that dark figure?"

As the carriage sped toward the city center, Miss Bevanna gave Jenkins a brief explanation. A week ago, after the Church had completely eradicated the Perfume Appreciation Committee, they had learned from confiscated documents that Nolan's fog had undergone its first qualitative transformation, shifting from a mere quantitative increase. This had given rise to the uncatalogued Mysterious Objects known as the Crawlers in the Fog. The Committee had also predicted a second transformation before the end of last month. The Church had been on high alert, but they never expected the change to begin in the final moments of the month's end.

"We don't know what it is. Every intelligent being that has approached that giant humanoid has vanished. The giant in the gray fog is currently just moving back and forth within a three-block radius. Fortunately, it's a commercial district with very few residents... but the Church has already lost people. Approaching the giant is now forbidden. The Church plans to deploy an arcane lock, just like last time, to at least contain its influence on the city. That's why we need you, Jenkins. We have to hurry."

The third person in the carriage, Papa Oliver, looked deeply troubled. He sat in silence, his head bowed. Wanting to draw him into the conversation, Jenkins asked again about his new ability, 'Cycle'.

He suspected he had gained the ability because he had now listened to the Month's End Whisper twelve times, starting from the end of the Month of the Hermit and Thunder in Universal Calendar 1865 and ending at the start of the same month in 1866—a complete cycle.

"A very rare basic ability," Papa Oliver began. "I've only ever read about it in old documents."

Papa Oliver spoke, and Miss Bevanna, who had never heard of the ability, also looked over with interest.

"I've mentioned before that most White Basic abilities aren't very conspicuous in their effects, but they often serve as prerequisites for more powerful abilities or increase the success rate of learning them. Your own set of abilities is rather eclectic, so you might not have appreciated this, but for a Benefactor who has undergone the Church's rigorous training, every White Basic ability is as crucial as the foundation of a building. The effect of 'Cycle' isn't easy to describe. It's primarily passive. You can think of it, roughly, as causing the holder to... evolve."

The word inexplicably made Jenkins think of Papa Oliver's key. He was beginning to understand why his mentor knew of such a rare ability while Miss Bevanna did not.

"Yes. In other words, with the passing of each year, 'Cycle' will make its holder stronger and stronger. Every twelve-month cycle is a step in that evolution."

Papa Oliver raised his hand and drew a circle in the air. Then, as expected, he saw the astonished expressions on the faces of Jenkins and Miss Bevanna in the faint, flickering light of the carriage.