Three years ago.
The sun slowly set.
God was stingy with his light, as he refused to extend his shining glory for another moment.
A black-haired boy stood behind the railings of the moat, using a simple stick in his hand to pick at the trash below.
Occasionally, there would be something to gain from the sewers, like a silk handkerchief that someone carelessly dropped into the water, or something of the same sort. After these things were cleaned, despite being soaked in the sewers, they could still be sold to people at the general store for a hefty sum of money. At least, a hefty sum to the boy at this time.
The sound of footsteps resounded from afar, which alerted Darr.
It was already late, night would soon fall, and a large number of entities with nothing resembling good will would soon emerge.
Darr only remained here because if he didn't find anything soon, he would starve to death, which made no difference either way.
The quiet and peaceful town of Lohr did not carry sympathy, and it wasn't uncommon for people like him to die every day.
What kind of existence that was, Darr could not explain using his meager words; but he would never forget that day.
That individual seemed to have noticed Darr and stopped his feet, looking into his bottomless profound eyes, Darr felt an unprecedented sense of terror, as well as peace.
Two very contradicting emotions had manifested in his heart at the same time.
〖 1 minute and 27 seconds later, the sewer water outlet 〗 that individual flashed an intrigued smile, stated something that he couldn't make heads or tails of, then continued forward.
Darr blankly stared at him, a bit clueless as he looked back at the sewer water outlet next to him, but his train of thought was quickly cut off by another wave of footsteps.
Large numbers of fully-armored knights swiftly and orderly advanced, completely ignoring Darr as they headed towards the individual from before.
…
"Criminal, you'll pay for your crimes, sinner of the Hermit Order" these knights muttered the words of judgement, drew the swords from their hips and continued rushing towards Negary.
Several knights instead attempted to fire arrows from afar, but none of them could ever reach Negary.
The gleams reflecting from the knights' armor caused Darr to lower his head. To Darr, these knights were great people of Lohr, existences that he dare not face.
〖 It's nearly enough 〗 a sphere dropped out from Negary's hand and began rolling backwards.
Negary could sense a ring belonging to the Hermit Order from among the knights, which meant that there had been a member who carelessly exposed themselves.
Fortunately, Negary already expected this and hid a distinguishing mechanism within the ring. As he had already discovered the clues of this danger and had a certain experimental idea, Negary didn't immediately trigger the self-destruct function of the ring. Instead he purposely showed himself in the vicinity to draw the attention of these knights.
〖 All things that exist are interconnected and mutually coupled〗
As Negary obtained more knowledge, the things that he was able to predict also increased.
Through the changes of moisture in the atmosphere, he was able to accurately determine when there would be strong wind, and when rain would start to pour.
The more information he held, the more principle laws of things that he understood, the more he could foretell of the future.
Omniscience meant Omnipotence.
As Negary could now use his germs to alter the moisture in the atmosphere, thus taking control of when it would rain.
Every change would become a piece of gear in Negary's grasp, and all he needed was a small push to reach his desired results.
Negary had been leading the pursuing groups of knights behind him around for quite a while.
Through their footsteps, their breathing, their heartbeats, Negary had obtained a large amount of their data.
All the gears had been set in place, the path he walked, the air he breathed, the heat he exuded, as well as the ring in those people's hands.
Each of his actions was a gear in a system, and from the very moment that he turned the very first gear, everything he desired would come to take place exactly how he wanted them to.
Darr then witnessed a scene that he would never forget for the rest of his life.
The sphere that fell from Negary's hand drew the knights' attention.
A certain cautious knight raised their bow and shot an arrow, accurately striking this sphere.
But unexpectedly, the sphere exploded on contact, which caused some of its fragments to scatter towards the knights.
In a coordinated manner, the knights in front raised their shields, all of which glittered in the light of their divine technique.
The church at this point could no longer underestimate any member of the Hermit Order, considering how hard they slapped the church's face not too long ago.
Furthermore, this particular individual's actions after he was discovered had completely roused their caution. Regardless of how they tried to block or surround him, he would still somehow slip through, while also setting up various traps that would cause them a lot of trouble at the slightest bit of neglect.
The church is currently undergoing change, going as far as forming a new department with actual authority.
If I can catch this criminal and earn some contributions, I might be able to advance a step further.
Such thoughts flashed through the mind of the Red Sun Knight who was leading the pursuit.
However, he suddenly noticed that the shield-bearing knights were acting a bit strangely.
The shield-bearing knights themselves silently muttered 'oh no' to themselves, as they all felt some sort of change from within their bodies as soon as they raised their shields.
One knight felt his arm becoming numb, thus shifting a bit from precise form. He recalled how there were a few blades of overgrown grass that was covered in dirt, so he had been using the shield in his left hand to push them away due to his hygienic habits. It was this small detail that caused his arm to slightly shift at the very moment he raised his shield.
The other knights were more or less the same, either due to their itchy noise, a glint from the setting sun, or minor wounds from getting caught in the previous traps.
These small mistakes overlapped all at once, causing their shield formation to become crooked and left a few gaps, which perfectly allowed the shards of the sphere to slip through and shoot towards the knights inside the formation.
More chaos ensued, as the first line of knights unexpectedly could not block these shards, the second line of knights hurriedly raised their swords to intercept the shards or tried to avoid them.
But without fail, more issues occurred one after another.
The entire squad of knights fell into chaos as the knights who raised their swords just happened to cut their friends who tried to avoid the shards.
In the end, every knight fell on their feet, some were even heavily injured.
The knight's fall caused the underground sewers just below to slightly loosen, releasing a ring covered in dirt and mud from the wall, which rolled along the leaking sewer pipe together with the filthy sewage water.
Negary's words then surfaced in Darr's mind. Perhaps it was his instinctive reaction, Darr reached out with the stick in his hand and just happened to catch the ring on it.
Exactly 1 minute and 27 seconds had passed.
Realizing what had occurred, Darr hurriedly fled with the ring. He had seen the knights making fools out of themselves, so if he didn't run, he might become collateral damage.
With that ring, he managed to survive, then eventually joined the Hermit Order, becoming an esteemed guest of one of their Overlords thanks to his calculating abilities.
"This time, the gear shall definitely be mine!" Darr told himself with a zealous expression, even after three years, the scene from then still remained fresh in his mind.
He craved that personage's power to an extreme degree.
