“A master of Stone, huh…”
Looking at the newspaper that Goffrey handed over, Oswan nodded thoughtfully before continuing.
“Your deduction is indeed possible… Someone who can dispel the Chalice’s corruption in such a short time must have an astounding mastery over Stone. What I need to find… is a master of Stone…”
“So, behind that miraculously recovered brat might be our target. Even if not… they could be connected to them.” Oswan murmured before turning back to Goffrey and continuing.
“So, where is that brat now? What do you plan to do?”
“I went to the hospital’s Mystical Injury Ward. She has already been discharged. For easier follow-up observation, the hospital recorded her current address. I plan to investigate and see if I can trace the presence behind her.”
Goffrey spoke frankly, and after a moment of contemplation, Oswan responded.
“Hmm… This is indeed a lead worth following. I hope you can find something. Meanwhile, I’ll try a different approach and investigate from another angle.”
Saying this, Oswan glanced at the towering buildings under the gloomy sky in the distance and murmured, “Mr. Deer Skull’s great enemy is somewhere in this city. If we can find him for him, our path to the extraordinary will be wide open…”
…In an apartment building on Southern Sunflower Street in the upper city of Igwynt.
Dorothy sat at the desk by her bedroom window, her expression serious as she studied an old book covered in dust. She had just bought this mystical book from Aldrich, and it was said to contain information on the Black-rank.
Dorothy quickly skimmed through the book, ignoring the cognitive poison in the pages as she read. It was a research-based mystical manuscript that explored the spirituality of Stone, titled “Expressions of Spiritual Elements.”
According to the manuscript, Stone and Chalice are the spiritualities of opposing substances. Among them, Stone is the most material. If used as a catalyst, it can manifest other less material spiritualities, easily triggering their elemental expressions.
Spirituality is an essence with multiple layers of expression. Each layer reflects a different aspect of spirituality—concepts, mind, perception, material… There are many forms of expression, and elemental expression falls under the material aspect.
The manuscript states that all six spiritualities have corresponding elemental expressions. The elements of Stone and Chalice can manifest easily, whereas the other four spiritualities generally require Stone as a catalyst.
The six spiritualities and their corresponding elements are as follows:
Unfortunately, due to a lack of sufficient research subjects, the element corresponding to Revelation remains undiscovered.
Since all six spiritualities have elemental expressions, some paths on the extraordinary journey focus on manipulating these elements, known as Elementalists. Among them, Chalice and Stone naturally manifest their elements, while the other four require Stone as an auxiliary spirituality when advancing to the Black-rank. After the advancement, Stone acts as a catalyst, enabling them to manifest their primary spirituality’s elemental expression and control the corresponding element.
For example, if an apprentice of Lantern chooses Stone as an auxiliary spirituality, they can advance in rank to become a Pyromancer. Similarly, an apprentice of Shadow who selects Stone as an auxiliary spirituality can become an Aeromancer.
After finishing the entire manuscript, Dorothy let out a long breath. As Aldrich had said, she now had a deeper understanding of spirituality and the Black-rank. At the very least, she had learned the names of five Black-rank class and gained insight into one of her possible advancement paths.
If she used Stone as her auxiliary spirituality, she would become the Elementalist corresponding to Revelation. However, the frustrating part was that the book listed the elemental expressions for all spiritualities except Revelation, meaning that even if she chose to advance as an Elementalist, she wouldn’t know what element she could control.
“This is such nonsense. Just because there aren’t enough research subjects for Revelation, you haven’t discovered its elemental expression? Seriously, is Revelation really that rare in the mysticism world? You guys can use it for divination and anti-divination, but you can’t spare some for research?”
Looking at the manuscript in her hands, Dorothy internally grumbled. She was starting to suspect that Revelation might be somewhat uncommon in the mysticism world.
All in all, the manuscript gave her a general understanding of the Black-rank and a potential advancement path. Without hesitation, she extracted its spiritual content.
Although the manuscript focused on Stone, it also introduced knowledge about all other spiritualities except Revelation. As a result, Dorothy accumulated spiritual points across the board—4 points in Stone, and 1 point each in the others, with 2 points in Revelation.
Including her previous accumulation, Dorothy now had 15 points in Chalice, 5 points in Stone, 1 point in Lantern, 3 points in Shadow, 2 points in Silence, and 9 points in Revelation.
“400 pounds… Not bad at all.”
After putting away the manuscript, Dorothy unlocked her bedroom door and walked into the living room, where she saw a sleepy-looking Gregor sitting on the sofa reading a newspaper.
Seeing her rarely present older brother, Dorothy blinked and said, “Gregor? You’re already up? Not catching up on sleep?”
“Ughhh… I have a job later this afternoon until evening, acting as a bodyguard, so I can’t sleep in.”
Yawning, Gregor spoke weakly, clearly exhausted from the recent workload at his agency.
“Oh… So you still have work. Are there really that many places in Igwynt needing security lately?”
Dorothy asked curiously, to which Gregor responded slowly, “Of course… The Burton case… The White Riverbank case… And now even Viscount Field died in the mountains, killed by wolves. The whole of Igwynt is in a state of panic. Any rich person wants bodyguards around 24/7… Sure, the pay is good, but this pace is killing me…”
“That makes sense… With such dangerous criminals and beasts roaming free, who wouldn’t be on edge? Sigh… I never expected even someone like Viscount Field to meet such a fate. Life is truly unpredictable. Maybe I should buy some protective charms or something…” Dorothy sighed.
Hearing her words, Gregor froze slightly, then put down his newspaper and spoke seriously to her.
“Listen, Dorothy, don’t buy that stuff. Don’t believe in those charms. They’re useless.”
“I can tell you this—I have inside information from the police. Those criminals who committed those tragedies don’t target ordinary people. They’ve probably left by now, so there’s no need to worry too much.”
Gregor’s warning reassured Dorothy, and she nodded in understanding.
“I see. That’s a relief. But Gregor, you’re pretty amazing—getting inside info from the police like that.”
Dorothy praised him, and Gregor couldn’t help but grin.
“Of course! I’m your big brother, after all. In my line of work, we interact with the police all the time. Even regular officers have to show me some respect.”
Gregor boasted, recalling how even police captains circled around him when he spoke.
“You really are impressive, Gregor.”
Dorothy smiled, thinking to herself, “ If I stir things up in the city, even more people, including the police, will be circling around me.”
“By the way, Dorothy, are you heading out?” Gregor asked, glancing at her outfit.
“Yes, I’m visiting Anna, the student from the Charity Orphanage who was previously adopted by Viscount Field. She was recently discharged from the hospital, and the orphanage invited me to check on her.”
“Huh?” Gregor was momentarily stunned.