Lord of Mysteries 2: Circle of Inevitability
chapter-859

859 "Ingenious" Plan

After Franca vented her anger and lay back down, Lumian finally asked, "What were you saying earlier?"

Franca glanced at the curtained bedroom window, making it clear: Check if the Demoness of Black is watching!

Lumian replied casually, "We're inside a Bottle of Fiction."

"..." Franca blinked. "When did that happen?"

"When I closed the door. I didn't want to disturb the neighbors," Lumian answered earnestly.

"..." Franca felt another surge of anger. She snapped, "You still need to check! What if the Demoness of Black can penetrate the Bottle of Fiction without you noticing?"

"Yes, yes." Lumian admitted his fault and took out the Black Tear headpiece from his Traveler's Bag, quickly sensing for a few seconds before putting it back.

Franca finally relaxed and nodded in satisfaction. "The thing is, Mr. Star gave me another task. He said, in addition to the Affliction potion formula and the materials, there will be a special reward."

"What task?" Lumian asked cooperatively.

Franca looked puzzled and said, "To get some water from the Samaritan Woman's Spring."

Lumian's first reaction was to consider the purpose of the task, but he quickly remembered that Franca had said Mr. Star was likely a high-ranking Red Glove from the Church of Evernight, and the Underworld Daoist who could grant others Beyonder powers from the Darkness pathway.

"It's understandable that Mr. Star, or rather the Church of Evernight behind him, needs water from the Samaritan Woman's Spring. But this task is too simple for us right now. And yet he wants to give you a special reward. Doesn't that seem a bit strange?" Lumian pondered aloud.

Franca thought for a moment and spoke, "I agree. It feels like he designed this task just to give me the special reward. It doesn't make sense. We've only met once."

Compared to other Demonesses in the Demoness Sect, one of Franca's greatest strengths was not assuming that every man she met would be infatuated with her or want to please her.

Lumian considered for a few seconds and said, "Maybe that special reward will bring a lot of trouble. It also represents something Mr. Star truly wants you to do."

Franca nodded in understanding. "Free rewards are the most expensive. What appears 'free' often comes with hidden costs."

Understanding this, she felt less worried.

She thought the potential problems with the special reward, even if they brought significant trouble, should be something she and her companions could handle.

Otherwise, the Major Arcana card holders wouldn't make such a choice.

She then turned to Lumian and asked, "How's your collection of the supplementary ingredients going?"

This should have been a daily concern, but hadn't she been feeling uncomfortable every time she saw Lumian these past few days?

Lumian reflected for a moment before answering, "I found a large battlefield from the war a few years ago and got a bag of blood-stained soil."

"I thought you'd go to the camp where Anthony and his comrades were attacked," Franca teased.

Lumian responded with amusement, "Am I that much of a devil? Besides, that's not a large battlefield and might be polluted by an evil god's worship."

Franca concurred succinctly, "What about the others?"

"I confirmed that there's active lava at the bottom of the volcano on Saint Tick Island, but it's unnecessary to collect it now. It will solidify quickly in the Traveler's Bag. I'll teleport it when it's needed." Lumian had been using his teleportation ability to travel around the world these days. "I plan to make the powder of plants and trees polluted by the Stone of Catastrophe myself."

As for acorns, that was too simple.

"Make it yourself?" Franca was surprised. "Is that possible?"

"It should be theoretically feasible. Certain parts of a Beyonder creature can replace such supplementary ingredients. And I have the Sword of Courage. I can place it and its companions on a pile of plants and trees, monitoring and replacing consumables. In about a few days, I should be able to create polluted plants and trees. Of course, this pollution will be more complex and severe than simple Stone of Catastrophe pollution. I'll consult Madam Magician in advance to see if the amount should be reduced."

"Indeed," Franca's eyes brightened, then dimmed slightly. "But the Plague Mother Serpent bile and Silver Hunter's fragments for the supplementary ingredients of the Demoness of Despair can't be made by the Black Tear."

"No rush. Jenna hasn't fully digested the Pleasure potion yet. It will take a few more days or even a week or two to become a Demoness of Affliction." Lumian thought and said, "I have collected the blood of seven different plague victims."

Although there was no widespread plague at the moment, many places on the Northern and Southern Continents had sporadic outbreaks. They were either quickly contained or limited to small, isolated areas without spreading.

With the Magic Mirror Divination of the two Demonesses, Lumian pinpointed eight or nine similar locations, then teleported there with Lugano.

If the authorities had already noticed the outbreak and were working to control it, he would leave after collecting the blood of the plague victims. If the plague was still quietly spreading, he would attempt to heal it with Lugano's help. If it couldn't be solved, he would find a way to inform the authorities.

After these few days of hard work, Lumian had basically achieved his goals.

Franca breathed a sigh of relief, stating, "Remember to use the Black Tear to deliver the potion formula and all the materials Mr. Star gave to Amandina.

"Sigh... When will I completely digest the Affliction potion?"

Although her current digestion progress could be considered very fast, she still felt it wasn't enough. The person next to her was just one step away from the final domestication step, ready to hold the ceremony and become a Sequence 4 demigod.

Lumian turned his head to Franca and laughed.

"I just told you, you're still lacking in the part about causing others pain. And the target should be of high Sequence, otherwise, it has to be replaced with numbers."

Franca didn't link it to her own pain this time and started thinking seriously.

Causing others pain, high Sequence... Causing others pain, high Sequence...

Muttering to herself, Franca suddenly turned her head, her eyes shining brightly at Lumian.

Lumian's smile faded as he raised an eyebrow and asked, "Do you have a bold idea?"

Franca chuckled. "You have a false Angel rank. If I can make you feel pain, wouldn't the digestion speed be incredibly fast?"

"But it has to be real pain." Lumian didn't dismiss Franca's suggestion outright.

"For example, castration?" Franca glanced at the blanket with a growing smile.

Lumian fell silent for a moment before responding, "We can try."

"Wait, you're actually agreeing?" Franca was startled. She had only been joking with the suggestion of "castration."

"If it can really help you quickly digest the Affliction potion." Lumian shrugged. "It can grow back anyway."

"Forget it, that's too painful. It would leave you with serious psychological trauma and issues." Franca said, ruffling her tousled hair.

Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "I have a better plan. An ingenious plan!"

Lumian felt uneasy, sensing that Franca's new plan might be even harder to endure than "castration."

Franca's smile turned wicked.

"I thought of that Julie from the castration, and her digestion method. She would seize the moment when the target was about to reach ultimate satisfaction, then cut it off, plunging them from extreme pleasure into extreme pain.

"I can be gentler, not cutting it off, but preventing you from reaching ultimate satisfaction. Let you yearn and suffer without fulfillment, which is also a kind of intense pain..."

Lumian raised an eyebrow, unable to speak.

Franca's smile grew more sinister, having found a prank to pull.

"For this, I need to bind you with the Demoness's spider silk, prepare more tools, and to enhance the stimulation, you need to use your Ascetic abilities to refrain from burning the silk...

"Although it won't compare to Julie's method, your false Angel rank should help me digest it quickly."

Saying this, Franca clicked her tongue. "I never thought I'd do something like this, and be the one doing the tormenting."

In the past, Lumian might have lacked a concrete concept of this pain, but after experiencing the two Demonesses, he could now imagine how unbearable that torment would be.

"This is the hell of pain." Lumian couldn't help but sigh.

"That's the Demoness, bringing pleasure and pain," Franca said with a smile.

Lumian jumped out of bed and picked up his clothes.

"Eh?" Franca looked puzzled.

Lumian responded in a deep voice, "We're going to the Samaritan Woman's Spring now."

Franca was first stunned, then burst into laughter, rolling on the bed.

She had regained her normal control over her desires after passing the Pleasure stage, so even after being with Lumian, tasting long-lost pleasure, and achieving unprecedented satisfaction, she still felt weird because it was someone she knew well, who also knew her original gender. But now, she suddenly found it amusing and interesting, making her feel much less uncomfortable.

"Give it a try, give it a try." She lay on the bed, her eyes bright as she continued with her prank.

Lumian sighed again.

"We'll talk after we get the water from the Samaritan Woman's Spring."

...

Beside the Samaritan Woman's Spring, shrouded in gray-white fog.

Since Lumian didn't approach and trigger any anomalies, Franca patiently waited for a while and then used the golden vial given by Mr. Star to collect half a vial of water from the Samaritan Woman's Spring.

They didn't bring Jenna, fearing that her encounter with Krismona's shadow might lead to uncontrollable changes. Lumian planned to bring Jenna here after becoming an Iron-blooded Knight with a certain level of self-protection.

The high-ranking Major Arcana card holders seemed to dislike entering the underground or underground catacombs. But Lumian, marked and branded, felt that even as a demigod, he should still be able to enter the area of the Samaritan Woman's Spring.

Not long after, Franca put away the golden vial, and the two walked shoulder to shoulder towards the edge of the gray fog.

As they approached the edge of the fog on the slope, Lumian and Franca simultaneously noticed a blurry figure outside the fog slowly approaching.

Franca first darted to the side, then stared intently for two seconds.

Her expression suddenly became excited, and she said in a hushed voice to Lumian, "Harrison!"

The visitor from Resurrection Island, Harrison!

They had failed to converge with him last time, and now they coincidentally ran into him!