"Wow, a priest saying such blasphemous things with such a flat expression." Samuel looked at Ethen's face, which hovered somewhere between masculine and feminine. "So thrilling, so thrilling. Classic rebellion against the higher-ups."
With a light chuckle and a shake of his head, Priest Ethen looked down at the thick scripture spread open on his lap.
He didn't answer the question about blasphemy, merely gently closing the scripture on his legs and handing it to Samuel.
"If you don't mind, you can take a look at our Harvest Church's scripture," he said.
The Harvest Scripture.
That was the name of the tome.
"Different extraordinary organizations have different views on the 'Law Seeker' system. For more detailed information, you can read the Church's scripture directly," Ethen said.
From the moment Samuel had approached him, this priest's face had maintained a gentle, placid smile.
His tone was soft, as if facing a true believer of the Church—no rejection, no impatience, no other negative emotions.
Whether Samuel expressed a desire for extraordinary knowledge or brought up his attempt to imitate Ethen, he showed no reaction tinged with negativity.
Facing someone who had once tried to replicate his memories and abilities through some means, his attitude was actually, "That ability of yours causes significant harm to yourself. I recommend using it less."
This made Samuel's interest in him grow stronger and stronger.
Smiling, Samuel reached out and took the scripture, thick as a dictionary, casually flipping through it.
It was pretty much as he guessed. The book was similar to a Bible, containing various strange little stories, with the Church's doctrines expressed through this method.
The scripture didn't explicitly mention matters of [Law], but that made sense. After all, this was material for the general public. Hiding extraordinary knowledge a bit deeper was normal.
Combined with what Ethen had said earlier about "Pollution," perhaps the Lovecraftian worldview's setting of "knowledge is toxic" could also be applied to this world.
In that case, such things really should be hidden securely.
Closing the scripture again, Samuel stacked it on top of the *Lunatic's World Travel Guide* in his hand.
"Thank you, I'll read it later," he said with a smile on his face.
"To be honest, I feel you're a really quite excellent missionary," he complimented Ethen.
"I'm glad you're willing to evaluate me that way," Ethen replied, his face still wearing that gentle smile. "I was just worrying whether my proselytizing might cause you trouble. It seems that's not an issue now."
Yes, proselytizing.
Or rather, the preliminary part of "proselytizing."
Although they had just been chatting about straightforward extraordinary knowledge, seemingly unrelated to "proselytizing."
However, this extraordinary knowledge was still incomplete. If Samuel wanted to continue learning about the extraordinary, the simplest, most convenient method was to read the Church's scripture now in his hands. Thus, Samuel would inevitably be subtly influenced by the scripture.
Even if he wasn't interested, at the very least Samuel would learn the content of the Harvest Church's doctrine.
Of course, Samuel could also seek out others to learn from.
But firstly, other churches or extraordinary organizations might be hard to find. There were too many scam organizations; even within churches, many clergy didn't actually believe in the existence of the extraordinary. Although Samuel could directly read minds, it was too troublesome, completely unnecessary.
Secondly, even if he found them, those organizations might not disseminate knowledge as selflessly as the Harvest Church. Moreover, each extraordinary organization's understanding of the extraordinary differed. Mixing two theories together might lead to contradictions, causing more confusion, and being misled wasn't impossible.
In short, directly reading the Harvest Church's scripture and indirectly understanding its doctrine was the simplest way for Samuel to access systematic extraordinary knowledge.
As for whether Samuel would become interested in the Church after learning its doctrine, that wasn't something Ethen needed to consider.
He wouldn't force anyone. What he wanted to do was merely "promote the doctrine without making people dislike it."
That was all.
He'd been played, but Samuel was delighted.
Although he saw through this little scheme at a glance, having someone actually try to trick him was genuinely quite an amusing thing.
Whether deceiving others or being deceived by others, both were equally interesting in his view.
If Ethen's trickery could have been a bit deeper, making Samuel realize it only afterwards, that would have been even better.
Both parties' objectives achieved, Samuel sat sideways on the chair, casually resting one arm on the backrest, chatting idly with Ethen.
"Speaking of which, we've been chatting for so long, and I just remembered I haven't told you my name," Samuel suddenly exclaimed as if struck by a thought.
"So you forgot? I thought you were unwilling to say, sir," Priest Ethen replied calmly.
He only said half the sentence, but Samuel could see the second half in his eyes.
Asking for the name of an [Absurdity] Law Seeker was meaningless; their aliases might outnumber the hairs on their head.
Samuel wholeheartedly agreed with that.
"Haha, let me introduce myself. I'm Celt, Celt Frein." He extended his hand, shaking Ethen's.
He wasn't lying. When creating this body, he had decided to name himself "Celt."
Of course, saying his name was Samuel directly was also fine; after all, "Samuel" wasn't his real name either.
He could even say his name was "Wu Lang," but uttering a name he'd already discarded felt even more pointless.
After thinking it over, this "fake name given to a fake body" was actually a rather respectful answer. At least this body was indeed called by this name.
He wasn't just making things up.
What was this? Lies upon lies turning into reality?
After all, theoretically, Samuel currently didn't have a truly accurate name in the literal sense. Neither Samuel, nor Celt, nor Wu Lang could fully represent him. If he were a demon, others couldn't even banish him back to the Warp by speaking his true name.
Seeing Samuel's extended hand, Ethen likewise extended his right hand, giving Samuel's a light shake.
This country also had the custom of handshakes, so Ethen could understand Samuel's gesture, avoiding misunderstanding.
As their hands clasped together, Samuel felt a peculiar intuition.
The *Lunatic's World Travel Guide* had probably updated.
This made the curve of his smile grow even wider.
Although the files weren't particularly useful, collecting a complete catalog was really, really fun.