Chapter 41: “Inside the Antique Shop”
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Upon entering the antique shop, Duncan was met with exactly the scene he had envisioned: a cluttered, deteriorating space that vividly illustrated both the shop’s and its owner’s decline. Mounds of dust gathered by the windows highlighted the prevailing neglect.
Once inside, Duncan’s attention was immediately drawn to the tables along the walls, overloaded with an eclectic mix of large vases, unusual sculptures, and mysterious totems. The walls themselves were methodically lined with grids, each filled with smaller, equally peculiar trinkets. Directly opposite the entrance, a long, imposing counter served as a barrier to the deeper areas of the shop. Behind this counter, a shelf coated in dust displayed an assortment of dark-toned picture frames and miscellaneous small items.
Tucked away in the dimmer parts of the shop was a staircase leading upstairs, its presence shrouded in mystery. Beneath this staircase, a small door revealed a cluttered storage space brimming with a haphazard collection of objects.
Duncan was perplexed that the cultist whose body he had taken over could reside in such a decrepit setting yet still manage to contribute financially to the followers of the Black Sun.
As he walked cautiously toward the back counter, the ancient wooden floorboards creaked beneath him. Passing the staircase, Duncan noticed an operational electric lamp on the wall, which struck him as odd. The lamp, housed in a wrought-iron frame with a matte grey shade, had a distinctly modern design, yet the electric bulb inside was conspicuously visible.
This observation led Duncan to ponder the extent of electricity usage in this world. Did even those of lower social status have access to electric lighting in their homes? Why then did more primitive forms of lighting like gas lamps, oil lamps, and torches still prevail, especially in hazardous places like the sewers he had explored earlier, or the gas-lit street lamps of the city?
These inconsistencies troubled him. He had assumed that technological limitations necessitated the use of gas lamps in the sewers. However, it now appeared that electricity was sufficiently widespread in the city-state of Pland to be utilized in residential settings, contradicting his earlier beliefs.
Feeling uneasy, Duncan delved into his fragmented memories for explanations but found only vague impressions that such technological applications were “common knowledge” and simply “how city planning is done.”
Duncan considered two possibilities: Either the general public was uninformed about the city’s infrastructure, or the knowledge was so rudimentary that it barely registered in the cultist’s consciousness. This might explain why any relevant memories had quickly faded after the cultist’s death, leaving only a faint understanding that such ignorance was normal.
In the midst of his confusion, Duncan reached out and turned on the electric light with a soft click, casting a warm, radiant glow around the staircase and counter area.
He noticed another switch on the opposite wall that controlled the lighting for the entire ground floor of the shop but chose not to activate it.
Considering the late hour and the silence outside, a single lamp glowing in a closed antique shop might be interpreted as the owner working late. However, illuminating the entire shop could attract unwanted attention.
With only the dim light from the lamp near the staircase illuminating his surroundings, Duncan examined the items nearest to him. A wooden totem adorned with vibrant red and blue patterns caught his eye, standing alongside an antique ceramic vase, both tagged with exorbitantly high prices—originally marked at forty-two thousand, now drastically reduced to just three hundred and six dollars, a clear sign of desperation.
Duncan then surveyed the rest of the shop’s inventory.
If he discovered even a single genuine artifact, he considered, he would command his group, the Vanished, to breach the city walls of Pland.
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However, the shop’s inventory was overwhelmingly counterfeit; no seasoned collector would waste time authenticating these items. It seemed improbable that a genuine antique dealer would choose such a poor district for their business. Likely, the oldest item in the shop was the “Antique Shop” sign hanging outside.
Yet, Duncan was not surprised by the existence of this shop. The owner was evidently aware that he was selling fakes, and the customers had no illusions about acquiring ancient treasures. It was a mutual understanding. Even in this lower city district, people sought to satisfy their spiritual needs. The “Antique Shop” sign served not for outsiders, but for those who came to shop, enabling them to justify their purchases.
Indeed, similar scenarios played out under the city bridges of Earth, where vendors sold supposedly precious “ice type” jade bracelets for ninety-eight dollars each. These would shatter into pieces at the slightest impact. Both buyers and sellers were aware of the true nature of these transactions.
Duncan showed little interest in the dreary existence led by the previous owner of the body he now inhabited. Instead, his attention was focused on the potential uses of the shop he had acquired. For Duncan, the formidable leader of the elusive group known as the Vanished, this shop could serve as a crucial operational base.
It provided him a foothold to better understand the ways of the earthly realm and its modern inhabitants.
Determined, Duncan planned to leverage his unique ability to navigate the spirit world, using the shop, disguised as an “antique store,” to blend into the urban landscape of the city-state of Pland. He was hopeful that his forthcoming training with Ai would be successful, enabling her to transport “objects” between the Vanished and Pland in a reliable and discreet manner. If successful, the shop could also double as a secret storage facility for their supplies.
Settling himself at the back of the counter, Duncan began to carefully explore the scattered memories within his mind, scrutinizing any potential vulnerabilities.
The body’s original owner had been a devotee of the Black Sun—a minor player within the cult’s broader hierarchy. A severe crackdown on cult activities by the city-state had drastically curtailed the freedoms of Black Suntists in Pland. They communicated with extreme caution, their meetings shrouded in secrecy, with members donning full-cover hoods and masks. Most lower-ranking members knew only one or two intermediaries within the cult, a detail Duncan found distinctly advantageous.
It meant that within the cult, only a single person had been aware of “his” true identity and contact method. With that individual now gone, no one else knew of “his” existence as a heretic.
Confidently, he could now face the city’s authorities, secure in his facade as an exemplary citizen.
Even more comforting was his realization, after a thorough examination of his memories, that this significant risk had been neutralized.
The very contact person was among the three black-robed cultists he had met upon awakening in this new body…
Those three, unfortunately, had already been misled.
Allowing himself a moment to relax, Duncan shifted to sit more comfortably in the chair.
With the most immediate threat neutralized, the remaining concerns were the other Black Sun adherents who had been at the underground sacrificial ceremony and the larger, more mysterious Sun Cult that backed them.
His memories served him correctly; about four years prior, Pland had initiated a rigorous crackdown on the clandestine Sun Cult within its borders. This had pushed the sect to the brink of collapse within the city-state, their main aim now being to simply conceal their existence day-to-day and avoid detection by the church’s vigilant protectors.
Yet, despite their usual discretion, these cultists had recently committed an act of surprising boldness.
The sacrificial ceremony held by the cult had two primary objectives: to satisfy their god and to increase or extend the god’s influence in the material world. Those attending the event, including the “Emissary” who led the ceremony, were primarily regular members of the Sun Cult. One might wonder if such ordinary members could independently coordinate an event of this magnitude on their own.
Duncan’s memory contained only fragments of information, and as a low-ranking member, he typically wouldn’t have access to the secretive core of the church. Nonetheless, from what little he knew, he inferred that these surprisingly proactive cultists must have been acting under orders from higher-ups within their organization.
The heretical group that worshipped the “True Black Sun” was setting a major plan in motion in Pland. The sacrificial ceremony, which Duncan had inadvertently interrupted, was probably just an initial minor event leading up to the launch of their extensive plot.
Although Duncan had no particular affection for the “city-state of Pland,” he recognized that if he were to start his operations there, he needed to consider the potential disruption caused by a radical group like the “Suntists” within the city.
“The city was too important to be destroyed” Bruh this isn’t like Backlund or Tingen where we got to know it for hundreds of chapters and cared about it being destroyed. We just f*ckin arrived in Plunk or Pland or whatever its called… But I get it, first city he’s found and so on and so on, doesn’t want it destroyed
1. It’s the first city he found
2. Pland is somewhat the most familiar city right now
3. He’s currently already had some plans within this city
4. He already got a convenient identity
5. The potential worldly common knowledge he could get from this city
So yeah the city is kinda important right now. At least for experimental and research purposes, it do.
“Sutinist” lol