The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 998: Simple Trials

It bears repeating that "mysticism" is a general term.

Alchemy, divination, and other disciplines can all be grouped under the umbrella term "mysticism." It is much the same way that evil spirits, spirits of defilement, evil gods, and other phantoms and fiends are all categorized under the general term "anomaly."

Compared to the standard mysticism trials, the 7th-level trials were as complex and convoluted as mysticism after the Fusion.

At the very least, many students who were confident in their ability to take on the 7th-level trials quickly ran into difficulties.

Lu Li did not want to get stuck on this final step for too long, so he needed to prepare thoroughly to pass the 7th-level trial on his first attempt.

Aside from having Trader Anthony buy up the first thirty Sequence Potions, Lu Li also contacted the other "hunters" in the residential area. His status as a legendary exorcist compelled the solo hunters to tell him everything, including the secrets of participating in the trials.

"The 7th-level trial is a full-fledged event... not some half-baked mission we pick up from the task hall."

"We don't know what's happening, what kind of anomaly it is, and there are no clues. You can only investigate it on your own..."

"So the 7th-level trials depend a lot on luck. If you're lucky, you might just have to deal with a minor ghost. But if you're not... you might not even have a chance to escape. We don't have any 'babysitters' for these."

"No, the difficulty shouldn't vary that much. The Academy wouldn't just throw us into some unknown place. The event is only unknown to us. The Academy knows what happened and then assigns us events of appropriate difficulty.""You're right, but I stand by my opinion. Don't forget the 'point' of the senior courses. We have to find our own food and water every day. They couldn't care less if we live or die."

"Do you really think so? If they didn't care about our lives, we'd be living in a grim world where the anomalous fog and the Hour of Silence arrive every day, a world filled with danger and death. But none of that happens here. We're still under the Academy's protection."

"Enough arguing. We're here to help His Excellency Lu Li resolve his difficulties. There's a simple way to get an answer: we'll just describe our own experiences with the 7th-level trials, which is what we were planning to do anyway."

"I'll start. My 7th-level trial was to destroy a secret cult. Since I had no leads, it took me three days just to fully investigate the cult's structure. They worshiped an evil god from beyond human civilization. I took advantage of the fact that their deity hadn't hatched yet and wiped them out while they were performing a sacrifice."

"More details. That's too vague to be useful."

"Er... those cultists had some mystical powers, something like the Pantheon of Blood Madness. I set their sacrificial ritual on fire—then a few cultists burst out. They had sickle-like limbs growing from their bodies, they couldn't feel pain, and they kept attacking me even with their skin burned away."

Fortunately, only four cultists emerged, and they were already seriously injured.

"Did you pass the trial on your first try?"

"Uh... I failed three times before that. Once I ran into a pursuing spirit of defilement, once a migrating secret cult, and another time, an unknown dungeon."

"My turn. But I took my trial back in the Age of Anomalies, so it might not be very relevant... The trial required me to go to the town of Ancor on the edge of the Gloom Plains to investigate. I spent a week just getting there... That town was already hopelessly sick... Anomalies were pouring in unchecked, humans made up less than half the population, and the local church was insane. More anomalies infiltrated the town every day, and the proportion of humans decreased every day... You know what that means. Luckily, the trial only required an investigation, not a solution. I got out of there before Ancor fell or was consumed, and thankfully, I passed on my first try."

"The town of Ancor... the same town where the fall of the Northern Lands began?"

"The very same. I returned to Midnicht and reported its fall. Three days after I left, the town of Ancor vanished."

"Then I'll be the last one... Like Emil, I also took my trial during the Age of Anomalies, and I also passed on my first attempt. The trial requirements sent me to Midnicht. I thought the anomaly was a certain couple, but in the end, I discovered the anomaly was actually a cursed house."

"The process... ugh, I don't really want to remember it. It was terrible, terrifying. The shadow of it still hangs over me. I even doubt the curse was ever lifted... that it's still out there..."

"Alright, the shadow is too deep, I don't dare continue. Actually, the protagonist of this story was my teammate, from before I became a hunter... He failed fourteen times, and the last time, it cost him his life."

"The first time was shortly after he was promoted to the senior courses..."

"The second time was immediately after his recovery period ended..."

"The third time..."

"The fourteenth time—that is, the last time—he went to the Old Sewer to catch a fugitive. He prepared meticulously, reporting his progress to me every day. Things like how the fugitive was a heretic, what his mystical powers were... On the day of the operation, he vanished completely, and my subsequent investigation turned up nothing..."

"And that's when you became a hunter?"

"More or less."

"So, that gives us a clear picture of the 7th-level trials. They're divided into investigation and resolution, two fundamentally different types. The investigation-only trials are for extremely difficult cases. The other kind requires you to completely resolve the incident. As for which type suits you, Your Excellency Lu Li, that's for you to decide."

"Uh... I'd like to add that outside help isn't allowed, but you can use items like Sequence Potions and so on. Hmm... the definition of an anomaly is pretty vague, but I think if it's something that belongs to you, it's fair game to use."

"I want to add to Emil's point: investigating events allows for the moderate use of outside help, since in a real incident, you wouldn't be forbidden from using such resources."

"So what Emil said is close to the truth: the Academy knows the difficulty of the tasks and assigns us trials that are fairly consistent."

Lu Li thanked them for their help, which was truly generous for a group of solo hunters. Shortly after the three students left, Lu Li headed for the alchemy office.

Knock, knock, knock—

There was no answer. Professor Kris was not in her office.

Returning to his room, Lu Li summoned Trader Anthony and submitted his application for the 7th-level mysticism trial to Professor Kris.

[My dear, your teacher can't return just yet, but your application has already been submitted for you.]

Professor Kris replied quickly.

Then, a letter was slipped into the room from under the door.

[Investigate the anomaly of the Gauss Basin.]

Just as they had described, it was brief, vague, and difficult.

The Gauss Basin was far away, at the foot of the World's Spine mountains, and the surface, shrouded in Primordial Darkness, was difficult to traverse. The Old Sewer also concealed a multitude of dangers.

The great distance and the dangers along the way made most students who received this task give up on it, but for Lu Li—

Just over ten minutes later, Trader Anthony sent out two letters.

One was sent to Fudot and the Lince family behind her—the cult of the Eye-Worm—and the other to the Underground Trading Guild in the Old Sewer.

The investigation into the Gauss Basin anomaly was already being handled by the local power brokers—the cult of the Eye-Worm and the Underground Trading Guild.

And Lu Li did not even have to leave his room.