155: Chapter 156 Twists and Turns in Joining the Club

Locke Galahad did not hesitate; he immediately extended his right hand and placed it upon the most prominent moon symbol on the entire book.

It felt cool to the touch, giving him the sensation as if he were truly touching a miniature moon.

"Could it really be a moon model crafted by the Goddess herself using moon soil?"

After a moment of trance, he followed Christiana's instructions and channeled his Extraordinary power into the moon.

As the Extraordinary power was injected, the pure white moon actually began to glow. Locke immediately called out his name, "Gallo, I hereby swear that from this day forward, I am willing to join the Church of the Night Goddess and become the most devout believer under the Goddess."

However, after he finished shouting, the moon glowed but showed no other reaction.

Even Christiana Yeri, standing nearby, saw this scene and widened her eyes in confusion. "This shouldn't be happening. Why isn't the Holy Spirit giving a response?"

"Could the Holy Spirit be asleep?"

Locke raised his hand and asked with some guilt, "This ritual of mine... did it succeed or fail?"

"That shouldn't be." Christiana frowned slightly; it was clear she was very puzzled.

"All the steps were correct. Logically, since you were introduced by Time, the Holy Spirit should have given some sort of response."

Locke withdrew his hand, a trace of embarrassment flashing across his face. Although he didn't know what this Holy Spirit was, he guessed it might be like consciousness stored within the book.

"Could it be... that the Holy Spirit has some kind of malfunction?"

"Gallo, wait a moment. Let me test it and see."

After saying this, Christiana frowned and reached out toward the moon. As the moon lit up again, she performed the same prayer as Locke and then asked, "May I ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten me?"

As soon as she finished speaking, a pair of eyes and a mouth grew on the originally smooth, white moon surface. "Little Christiana, what is your doubt? Ask quickly, don't disturb my sleep."

Huh? Christiana was clearly stunned upon seeing this, then pointed at Locke.

"Holy Spirit, I just held an initiation ritual for this new believer, Gallo. Since you didn't respond, I thought the ritual had failed or that something had happened to you, my Lord."

The moon, called the Holy Spirit, turned its eyes toward Locke, curled its lip, and said very flatly, "This little guy isn't being honest. He didn't use his real name during the ritual just now, so the initiation is invalid. That's why I couldn't be bothered to pay attention to him."

"Little Christiana, anything else? If not, I'm going back to sleep."

"I have no further questions."

The Holy Spirit yawned, and immediately after, the entire moon dimmed once again.

Christiana bit her lip gently, staring at Locke with a strange expression. She didn't say anything, just looked at him calmly.

Locke felt somewhat embarrassed under her gaze and could only raise his hand to his mouth, coughing twice.

"Ahem, Miss Christiana, so do I need to perform this ritual again?"

Christiana didn't answer but moved half a step forward, staring straight into his pupils with her large, deep blue eyes.

Locke couldn't handle it. Already feeling guilty, he didn't even last a few seconds of eye contact before turning his head away.

Christiana refused to give up. She followed the movement of his head, moving along with him, and continued to stare at him.

After a long while, Christiana finally spoke slowly, her tone very cold: "Why did you lie to me? And here I was, trusting you so much."

She had preferred to believe that the secret codex was malfunctioning rather than suspect that Locke was lying.

That was her personality. That was why she was so shocked and confused when she learned the truth.

For the first Time in a while, a ripple of emotion appeared on Locke's face, breaking his usual calm. After all, being caught in a lie on the spot was truly terrible.

"I... my teacher once told me not to easily reveal my name to others, so I gave a fake name. I didn't expect it would affect the ritual."

"I can understand your caution."

Seeing him say this, Christiana didn't press the issue further. Instead, she blinked and came up with a reasonable solution.

"I have a method that can put your mind at ease."

"What method?"

Locke felt that unless necessary, he didn't intend to reveal his real name, at least not until he was familiar with the people of the Church of the Night Goddess.

"That is for us to both make a vow to the Goddess of the Night."

"However, the prerequisite for me making the vow is that you need to help me craft a mask. How about it?"

Locke immediately agreed with a smile, "If it's just helping you craft a mask, then I shouldn't refuse."

Seeing him agree, Christiana turned around and smiled secretly.

After reaching an agreement, the two stood together before the statue of the Goddess of the Night and made their vows. The offering for this vow was a Sequence 9 supernatural polymer produced by Christiana.

Locke noticed that her expression was calm when she took this out; it was clear that this item was not particularly precious to her.

"It seems this Miss Christiana is quite formidable indeed."

A familiar feeling, but this Time the supernatural polymer disappeared, yet he didn't sense any strange gaze.

"It's done. You must remember what you promised me. You must help me craft a mask later. If you dare to deceive me, I will make you pay."

Christiana blew away the residue of the supernatural polymer on the ground, then immediately raised her small fist at him, threatening in a very cute tone: "Hmph, even your teacher, Time, won't be able to protect you."

"Uh, Miss Christiana, rest assured, I am a man of my word."

Locke didn't take this harmless threat to heart and instead smiled. Christiana was quite playful indeed; he wondered what her true face looked like under that mask.

With the preparations complete, Locke once again placed his palm on the moon on the cover of the [secret codex of the Moon] and began the ritual: "I, Locke Galahad, on December 31, 2003, voluntarily join the ranks of the Goddess of the Night, to follow in the Goddess's footsteps."

"Locke Galahad has been registered. Initiation ritual complete. Ha—"

The Holy Spirit's lazy voice appeared again after Locke finished his oath. After muttering a few words as if just going through the motions, it yawned and fell silent again.

"Congratulations, Mr. Locke Galahad. You are now an official Transcendent under the Church of the Night Goddess."

"So the ritual is considered complete, then?"

"That's right. From now on, you are a member of the Church of the Night Goddess, one of the eight major sects on this Terra."

Christiana placed the secret codex back into the hands of the statue and then educated him about the eight major sects.

"The Church of the Night Goddess governs the night and is in an alliance with the Vatican."

"The Thorn Rose Society—"

Locke listened intently, without blinking, as she recounted the relationships between the eight major sects.

This was information about the Supernatural World that he had never understood before, so he drank it all in eagerly. In just a few hundred words, Locke felt the vastness and magnificence of the Supernatural World.

"I see. Before this, I thought the whole world was in a very safe environment—"

"The reason ordinary people don't know about the Supernatural World is because even if they encounter events related to it, they either die or have their relevant memories wiped by a Transcendent afterward."

Facing the questions Locke casually asked, Christiana answered them very patiently.

"Can even memories be wiped?"

"Actually, it's not wiping, but a method of sealing away the relevant memories."

Christiana said as she walked: "Later, when they recall those extraordinary scenes, they will only think of those experiences as dreams."

"However, once they encounter those malicious Transcendents who worship evil gods, death is usually what awaits them; the survival rate is no higher than 10%."

While Locke silently digested this information on the side, he would occasionally raise a question or two.

Having caught such an opportunity to learn about supernatural knowledge for free, he didn't want to miss it at all, just as he did when he questioned his teacher in the past.

And in the face of his many routine questions, Christiana handled them with ease.

The two chatted in the church hall for nearly two hours, until Locke had asked all the questions he could think of, and only then did they end the conversation.

"Miss Christiana, thank you very much for your selfless clarification. I will certainly keep your mask crafting in mind. However, please provide me with your facial and head measurements and other relevant information; I will deliver the mask in 5 days."

"Head measurements? I don't really understand that. Why don't you just measure it on the spot?"

Christiana blinked and immediately proposed a solution. Locke thought about it for a moment and then said with some hesitation: "If I am to measure it, I need to use my hands and touch your entire face to get the information. Is that okay?"

"Touch with your hands? That's fine."

Christiana immediately raised her hand and pressed it onto the mask, slowly making a motion to lift it off.

Seeing this, Locke subconsciously held his breath, staring intently at the true face that might appear.

From her voice and posture, he could imagine that Miss Christiana was likely a woman of classical beauty.

As his breathing slowed, the passage of Time also seemed to slow down.

The mask was slowly lifted, and after her exquisite nose was revealed, just when Locke thought the mystery was about to be solved, the sight under the mask left him slightly disappointed.

This wasn't because Christiana's true face disappointed him, but because after the mask was lifted, he didn't know how she did it, but she had silently covered her face with a dark veil, keeping it completely covered from start to finish.

He was sure that the veil wasn't there just a moment ago; it had appeared out of nowhere the moment the mask was lifted.

Christiana noticed his downturned lip, and the red lips under the veil curled upward imperceptibly.

"Mr. Locke, you seem very disappointed that you didn't see my true face. Are you that curious?"

"Do I?" Locke raised an eyebrow and hurriedly returned to an expressionless state.

"Come on, but you can only measure over the veil."

Christiana didn't say anything more and immediately closed her eyes. Locke naturally understood what she meant, extended his large hands, and placed them over her face.

Bridge of the nose, eye sockets, cheeks, bone structure—

It took about 5 minutes for him to record all of Christiana's information into his mind.

At the same Time, he had a rough image of her true face.

A high-bridged nose, soft cheek lines, a sharp jaw, and a sufficiently three-dimensional bone structure. Coupled with that long red hair and the proud figure hidden beneath the wide nun's robe, a three-dimensional classical beauty appeared before Locke's eyes.

"Locke, are you finished touching?" Christiana felt her cheeks getting a little hot, so she couldn't help but ask.

"Finished."

Locke reluctantly withdrew his hands, then looked at the veiled Christiana in front of him and continued to ask: "Do you have any thoughts on the mask I'm about to craft for you? Or any requirements? You can tell me if you have any style preferences."

"Whether it's a young maiden, a mature woman, or an iceberg goddess, as long as you can think of it, I can craft it for you."

"Uh—" Christiana raised her index finger to her lips, thinking for a few seconds, "Any style is fine?"

"Yes, any style is fine, as long as I can imagine it." Locke nodded with a smile, not rushing her.

"Then please help me make a bearded young maiden."

"A bearded young maiden?" Locke blinked rapidly, suspecting he had misheard.

"Yes, a bearded young maiden."

Christiana put her hands on her hips, leaned her upper body forward, and stared at him intently, looking quite eager.

"It's that image of having a cute young maiden's face, but with a full beard growing on the chin and above the lips."

"Uh—are you sure?" Based on her description, Locke imagined it in his mind and suddenly felt as if a Zhang Fei with an anime girl's face had suddenly appeared before his eyes.

This scared him so much that he couldn't help but shiver, which also caused his gaze toward the beauty in front of him to become somewhat strange.

"Yeah!" Christiana nodded heavily: "I've long wanted to try that mask style, but it's never been sold on the market. I can only rely on you, Mr. Locke."

"Well, alright." Locke shrugged, "Since you've decided, then in 5 days, 5 days, I will deliver the mask to you."

"Hee hee, thank you."

Christiana extended her small hand, tapped his shoulder lightly, and quipped: "It seems you are better at dealing with people than Old Man Time."

"Uh—actually, I have another purpose for coming this Time—"

Locke didn't dare to respond to this. Although he used to call his teacher an old man, after witnessing his strength, he never called him that again. So, he immediately diverted the topic to another purpose of his trip—Moon Concealment.

Upon hearing his request, Christiana put her mask back on and, without any hesitation, took his hand and led him to a material room.

After turning left and right and chanting a few incantations, they arrived at their destination.

The material room was filled with all kinds of flowers, plants, and ores of different colors, each item carrying more or less of an Extraordinary aura.

Christiana pointed to several materials placed in the glass cabinet and began to educate Locke: "If you want to learn Moon Concealment, you need to first use these 24 special materials to refine a potion, and then carve an exclusive magic circle on your body."

"Then you need to use your Extraordinary Factor to activate and strengthen it. When the magic circle reaches the maximum level, you can apply the Moon Concealment mark to others to conceal their aura."

"Does that mean that as soon as the Moon Concealment magic circle is carved onto the body, it can start masking one's aura?" Locke asked after pondering for a long while.

"Yes."

"Then, I would trouble you, Miss Christiana, to help me prepare the potion and also help me carve the magic circle."