061: Profession [Red Priestess], You Have Anchored the Powers of [Concealment] and [Night] (Please Continue Reading!)
Approaching midnight.
Many parts of Saint Anne City had reached their quietest hour.
People still had to work and go out to fight the next day.
Of course, Red Alley was the exception.
If a girl there was lucky enough to encounter a lavishly spending patron, her work for the day might be finished in less than five minutes, allowing her to sleep comfortably until dawn.
On a bad night, hosting three to five patrons was simply par for the course.
While people often said that oxen could be worked to death but land was never plowed to destruction, fatigue was undeniably real.
Especially lately, a rumor had been running wild through the city about a doctor named Lee Tea, who could allegedly help men become powerful.
When it came to whether this was true or false, Red Alley had the most authority to speak.
Their work had become much more exhausting.
Once or twice might be fine, but when it happened repeatedly, there was definitely something fishy going on.
Not all of those patrons sang the praises of Doctor Lee Tea.
However, the girls could tell that some of them came here precisely to test whether they had grown more powerful.
Women understood men.
There was a saying in Red Alley: "Once you have hosted over a thousand men, men hold no more secrets from you."
Oh, and there was also a set of "health exercises" circulating from Charlie's Clinic.
It was said to be extremely potent.
Many people hadn't even registered at Charlie's Clinic; merely practicing these "health exercises" had made them twice as powerful as before.
All these factors caused the girls, who worked hard every night, to harbor resentment and hostility toward Doctor Lee Tea.
Some even went so far as to say, "If he has the guts, he should never come to Red Alley, or else I'll host him for free!"
"That's right, this guy is too outrageous, completely devoid of limits just for money. I'm with you!"
"Count me in too! I refuse to believe that if we sisters pull together, we can't handle one andrology doctor!"
...
"Achoo!"
Having returned home, finished dinner, bathed, and changed clothes, Lee Tea sneezed.
He sniffled and muttered, "I need to take care of my health; a summer cold is truly miserable."
During this time, Lee Tea had prepared an escape route, bullets soaked in holy water, sacred prayers from the Church of the Goddess of Light, and so on.
Whether they would be useful or not, he prepared them all.
Trading with the system could also be handled via the stream of consciousness.
The system was in an active state, and a single thought from Lee Tea was enough to sell his items.
Lee Tea took a deep breath. A transaction worth a full 200 gold coins was breathtaking, even for the high-income profession of a doctor.
Lee Tea was not a gambler; he disliked leaving his fate to luck.
However, when it came to divine authority, anyone would be willing to take a gamble on it.
Lee Tea closed his eyes and clicked purchase.
With a swish—
Ding-dong~
Prompt: Transaction successful! You have obtained [Authority of the Black Fog 1/20]!
In just an instant, Lee Tea was frozen in place.
It felt somewhat like selling his physical stamina, rendering his entire body completely immobile.
No, this was far more severe than selling stamina!
In the former case, he could at least maintain his inner thoughts and move his eyeballs.
At this very moment, aside from knowing he was still alive, Lee Tea could do absolutely nothing!
Lee Tea lived alone in his home.
If there had been a second person present, they probably would have been frightened to death by the scene before them.
In the bedroom, Lee Tea's eyes had turned pitch black, and a massive amount of black mist was spewing from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, swirling around his entire body.
Lee Tea currently looked just like a Saint's relic found inside a cavern!
Trade, trade, sell, sell, sell!
An Evil God's gadget was果然 truly unreliable; Lee Tea would just chalk it up to paying tuition fees!
That was what he thought. His brain generated the thought, passed it through layers of calls to issue a command, and then finally translated it into bodily movement.
Given Lee Tea's current state, this entire process was conservatively estimated to take an hour.
An hour was enough time for him to walk back and forth between Charlie's Psychological Clinic and the Maple Leaf Detective Agency.
Damn it!
Meanwhile,
Lee Tea also felt his consciousness drifting and rising into the air, arriving at a very, very high place.
The sound of rushing wind roared in his ears.
When he ascended to the highest point, the wind vanished, replaced by a chaotic din.
"..."
"..."
Were these the whispers of an Evil God?
No.
Lee Tea couldn't understand the language of Evil Gods, but these voices were different.
"Great God of the Black Fog, I have sacrificed my parents, wife, and children entirely to you. Please grant me wealth, endless wealth!"
"Divine Majesty, I have fallen in love with a boy, but he is merely the stable hand of our family. Please give me a revelation, what should I do?"
"God of the Black Fog, Great Deity, God of the Black Fog, Great Deity, you are the Sovereign above the Black Fog, you are the Eternal Moon, please bestow power upon me!"
"Goddess Majesty, I, Andy, am your most devout believer. I wish to see my mother one last time, even if only in a dream. Please grant me a sweet dream. Praise the Goddess."
...
Phrase after phrase echoed, spoken by men and women, old and young, filled with either frantic obsession or deep sorrow.
Lee Tea felt a splitting headache, as if two steel forks had pierced his temples and were stirring inside his brain.
How could a normal person's brain withstand the voices of a thousand or ten thousand people shouting in their ears?
"Damn it!"
Lee Tea woke up.
He found himself lying on the floor of his home, his entire body drenched in sweat. He hurriedly gulped down at least a liter of warm water before he began to feel slightly better.
"What on earth did I just experience?"
Lee Tea dared not think about it; the mere thought made his brain throb.
He looked at his hands—they were normal.
He touched his face—no ill effects seemed to have occurred.
However, just as Lee Tea thought it was all over, the overlapping waves of chaotic, noisy sounds returned.
He covered his ears and head, shouting at them to get lost.
Unfortunately, mere mortals like him had no way of influencing thousands of people.
Ding-dong~
Prompt: New profession available for advancement: [Red Priest].
[Red Priest]: A rare profession within the religious vocational system. Requires mastery of a certain authority and is eligible for advancement.
...
Lee Tea: "What the hell? Where did this profession come from? Wasn't I just considering whether to take up the 魔剑士 (Magic Swordsman) class?"
"Great God of the Black Fog!..."
"Great Goddess Majesty!..."
"O God, I have sinned, please!..."
...
Those voices continued relentlessly, leaving Lee Tea with no mental capacity to ponder career choices.
Ding-dong~
Prompt: [Red Priest], class requirements: Authority, Level -2.
Lee Tea cursed: "What the f***! This is the first time I've ever heard of losing levels just to change classes. Where did this nonsense profession come from?!"
Regrettably,
the current situation was: the arrow was already notched on the bowstring and had to be released.
Lee Tea either had to take up the new profession according to the prompts or continue suffering until his head literally split open.
The system?
Unable to concentrate, he couldn't summon the system interface.
Lee Tea made a mental note of this. It was a trap; he would never purchase anything related to Evil Gods again, and he refused to let himself make the same mistake twice.
"I fucking agree!"
The noise vanished instantly.
Ding-dong~
Prompt: Level -2, current level 11.
Ding-dong~
Prompt: Your assets -1 gold coin.
...
Ding-dong~
Prompt: Congratulations, you have successfully taken up the profession [Red Priest].
Prompt: You have anchored the authorities [Stealth] and [Night].