Nairn's days were somewhat mundane.
If one ignored that he was now the owner of a spacious house in Tingen City, and had an anonymous account under his name that regularly received a "consultation fee" from a certain noble lady in Backlund.
From a penniless transmigrator who had to rely on his glib tongue and a few personal items that didn't belong to this era to barely trade for a cabin berth and avoid being thrown into the sea to feed the fish.
To now, not only being one of the masterminds behind the Tarot Club but also having his own loyal believers, and even successfully planting one into the mysterious and dangerous Demoness Sect.
This kind of steady development, the feeling of everything being under control, made Nairn fairly satisfied with the rhythm of his life.
The only pity was that of the personal items he brought when he transmigrated, except for a few that fit this era's background, the rest couldn't be brought over.
For example, his mobile phone.
Though even if he had brought it, in this steam world with no signal and no internet, it would just be an expensive brick.
But that didn't stop Nairn from missing it.
To obtain more forms of entertainment, he had to solve the problem at its root.
For example, finding a way to "fish" that familiar, fun-filled modern society back from the buried dust of history.
Nairn set a long-term, interesting-sounding goal for himself.
This could also be considered a promise to that unlucky fellow countryman of his, Klein.
Before achieving this grand goal, he needed to find some fun to pass the time.
Nairn began to act out the role of a "Player" from time to time.
He started to view life itself as a large-scale, immersive game.
He would observe pedestrians on the street with great interest, quickly constructing "character templates" for them in his mind.
That clerk in a hurry—his family, his troubles, and his insignificant dreams; that woman selling flowers on the street corner—her daily income, her hopes for the future, and the bitterness hidden in her wrinkles.
Compared to a pure "Spectator," he was more of a "Player" when acting, allowing him to leave behind good karma according to his own will.
He could also quickly learn and master various basic social character templates, then vividly act them out, from a newsboy on the roadside to a waiter in a cafe, from a ticket inspector at the theater to a librarian.
He could even perfectly mimic his new landlord's heavy accent and slightly swaying gait, just to see the flash of confusion on the other's face when they crossed paths, as if they had seen their own twin brother.
This reminded Nairn of some things he had done before:
Clearly a patient, yet he sat in the hospital pretending to be a doctor and successfully diagnosed the patients behind him.
Clearly a student, yet he sat in the office pretending to be a teacher, making the younger female students intoxicated by his explanations—
Well, the latter might have also involved his own modeling.
In short, every time he successfully acted out a role and fooled the people around him, he could gain pure pleasure and a faint spiritual feedback from it.
His observation skills and body control were greatly improved during the acting, allowing him to accurately mimic others' expressions, tones, handwriting, and even some signature small gestures.
This wasn't a requirement for acting out a potion; after all, he was already more than proficient in both his identity as the "Lovers" and his disguise as "thousand faces."
This was more like a pure instinct belonging to a "Player" and a "Fun-seeker"—actively seeking and creating fun in the mundane daily life, while also mastering his own power more skillfully.
These boring days didn't last long.
This leisure didn't last long.
When the doorbell rang and he saw the person standing outside, Nairn knew the boring days were over.
The sight before him made him raise an eyebrow.
Standing there was a young lady with a round face and a gentle, sweet temperament.
Looking at her features individually, they didn't seem top-tier exquisite, but combined, they produced a wonderful chemical reaction, forming an exceptionally beautiful face that even carried a hint of holiness.
It made it hard for one to look away.
Is this... a Demoness?
She was clearly only considered delicate before, but after the gender flip, her beauty had undergone such an earth-shattering change.
No wonder the Emperor would fall so low... but that didn't stop Nairn from still thinking that "Old Huang," who wrote the "diaries," was very unpresentable.
Nairn's gaze traveled over Triss's face and body with the pure scrutiny of one admiring a work of art.
Truly a beauty of the "calamity" level.
The Demoness Pathway is indeed the universe's number one beauty filter, well-deserved of its reputation.
"Great Lord of 'thousand faces,' your loyal servant, Triss, sends you her most devout greetings."
Her voice had changed too, crisp and pleasant, like a clear spring in a mountain stream.
Triss was wearing a decent lady's long dress and bowed deeply to Nairn, her posture humble to the extreme, showing no discomfort whatsoever from the drastic change in her body and gender, as if she were born to be this way.
"Come in."
Nairn stepped aside to let her into the house, listening to her report her experiences in the Demoness Sect, and how she used her perfect digestion of the potion under unfavorable circumstances to make amends, steadily gaining a foothold and obtaining her current status.
"Well done." Nairn's voice was lazy; he didn't care for these formalities and went straight to the point, "How is the matter I asked you to handle?"
He needed the Criminal Beyonder characteristic to lay the foundation for his advancement to Sequence 9 Fun-seeker.
The core of the Path of Chaos is seeking fun and breaking rules, and the Criminal Pathway's disregard for order and morality, and its primal instinct for seeking excitement and creating turmoil, were the best initial fuel for this "fun."
Hearing Nairn's question, Triss's body stiffened slightly.
She stood up, her beautiful face filled with deep guilt and trepidation.
"Lord... please forgive me!" She lowered her head deeply, her voice trembling slightly, "I... I couldn't directly find a Criminal Beyonder characteristic or the main ingredients for the potion."
She paused for a moment, seemingly organizing her words, afraid of causing a misunderstanding with the existence before her.
"My return to the sect went smoothly. Under the protection of your divine power, the potion has been preliminarily digested. To avoid exposing my connection with you, I didn't dare to make any large-scale moves. This time... I only brought you a Sealed Artifact. This is by no means a test of mine, please believe me!"
"A Sealed Artifact?" Nairn's interest was piqued instead. "Bring it out for me to see."
"Yes!"
Triss respectfully took out an item wrapped in layers of lead cloth from her suitcase and carefully placed it on the table.
Nairn gestured for her to open it.
That was a brass old-fashioned pocket watch, with the gear parts on the dial exposed, full of the industrial aesthetic of the steam age.
A faint, cold aura emanated from the pocket watch.
Triss also handed over a description of this Sealed Artifact that she had copied from the sect's internal database.
[Project Name: Shadow-Stealing Pocket Watch]
[Danger Level: Grade 3 (Use with caution, dangerous under specific conditions)]
[Positive Effects: 1. Concealment of traces. 2. Criminal intuition. 3. Cold focus.]
[Negative Effects: 1. Addictive kleptomania. 2. Body temperature absorption. 3. Blunting of moral sense.]
[Background Story:...Originally belonged to a talented jewel thief... unintentionally triggered a residual ritual related to the 'Blood Sanctify Sect'... the 'Criminal Career' and the Beyonder characteristic of the 'Criminal' Pathway underwent a strange combination and contamination...]
Nairn's gaze quickly swept over the information, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.
"Not bad."
Indeed, it was not bad.
It allowed the carrier to better blend into the shadows, gain a Criminal intuition for environmental loopholes, and maintain absolute coldness and focus when committing evil acts.
Of course, the price was equally clear.
It would induce an uncontrollable desire to steal, continuously drain the wearer's body temperature, and more importantly, completely erode a normal person's moral sense over time.
The essence of this Sealed Artifact was a contaminated and distorted Criminal Beyonder characteristic solidified into an object.
For others, this might be a dangerous item that required careful use and constant vigilance against its negative effects.
But for Nairn, who possessed the Chaos Theater, this was no different from a pure Beyonder characteristic or a freshly made main ingredient for a potion.
It was nothing more than a matter of purification.
"It doesn't matter, it's all the same."
Nairn said indifferently, his tone as relaxed as if he were talking about a trivial matter.
Under Triss's gaze, which was a mix of terror and adoration, Nairn's fingers gently closed.
*Crack—*
A crisp sound of metal being crushed rang out.
The pocket watch, made of brass and precision parts, was easily crushed into pieces in Nairn's hand, like a fragile biscuit.
A black-red mist, wriggling like a living thing, suddenly burst out from the shattered remains of the pocket watch, carrying a bone-chilling coldness and a seductive, maddening intent to fall, attempting to drill into Nairn's body.
This was the collection of the Criminal Beyonder characteristic contained in the "Shadow-Stealing Pocket Watch," as well as the thief's residual obsession and contamination!
Triss's heart instantly leapt into her throat!
She knew the danger of this Sealed Artifact; even a sequence 7 Beyonder would not dare to directly contact its core like this!
However, Nairn only gave a disdainful snort.
He opened his palm, letting the black-red mist swirl and roar in his palm, yet it could not advance an inch.
The next second, an even deeper, more indescribable chaotic aura surged from his body, like an invisible giant mouth, instantly devouring the cloud of black-red mist!
No struggle, no resistance.
Like a red-hot iron dipped into ice water, it only made a faint "sizzle," and that contamination, lethal to low-sequence Beyonders, was completely purified and annihilated.
Only a cluster of the purest, shimmering characteristic remained.
Nairn closed his fingers, grabbing that cluster of Beyonder characteristic and refining it in an instant!
Boom!
A completely different power exploded within the depths of his spirituality!
If acting as a "Player" was mimicking and immersing from the outside, seeking fun within the rules.
Then at this moment, a strong impatience for all established order and serious atmospheres was frantically growing from the bottom of his heart!
A primal urge to throw a huge rock into a calm lake and enjoy the splashing water and panicked fish arose spontaneously!
His senses became exceptionally keen; it was no longer just observation, but an instinctive "sniffing."
Sniffing for where some fun could be had.
Sniffing for which link was most likely to have an accident.
Sniffing for whose emotions were most easily ignited.
It was as if the entire world had turned into a giant playground full of loopholes and fuses in his eyes, waiting to be detonated!