Sitting at her desk, Dorothy didn’t immediately delve into “Hymns to the Mother of the Chalice.” Instead, she set the book aside, closed the suitcase on her desk, and placed it on the floor. Then, she picked up another suitcase and laid it on the table.
This particular suitcase was stolen by Brandon from the Serenity Bureau. It contained items from their sealed vault. Although a sudden attack by the fierce elderly receptionist had reduced the haul by more than half, there was still something left inside.
Taking a deep breath, Dorothy opened the suitcase and began inspecting its contents. As expected, there wasn’t much—aside from a few containers of spirituality, there was only a single mystical item.
First, Dorothy discovered six gold coins engraved with sun symbols, two silver coins with moon symbols, and a thumb-sized stone carving. Based on her passive appraisal skill, these were spirituality containers. Each gold coin held one point of Lantern, each silver coin held one point of Shadow, and the stone carving held one point of Stone.
"Six points of Lantern, two points of Shadow, and one point of Stone, huh? Not bad. Both Lantern and Shadow are highly practical for me. Detection and concealment are always critical."
After examining the containers, Dorothy turned her attention to the mystical item remaining in the suitcase. It was an old book with a copper cover, completely devoid of markings or text on the front or back. After inspecting it thoroughly, Dorothy opened it and found yellowed, blank pages, as though it were merely a notebook.
“Well, this is quite something—a book of blank pages.”
Dorothy couldn’t help but make a sarcastic remark. However, she knew that anything stolen from the Serenity Bureau’s archive wouldn’t be ordinary. Activating her passive appraisal skill, she noticed faint traces of purple light around the book, indicating it was a mystical item related to Revelation.
"An item related to Revelation, huh? Interesting. Looks like I need to figure out what this thing does."
Thinking this, Dorothy grabbed one of the gold coins from the suitcase, preparing to conduct an appraisal ritual on the mysterious book.Armed with paper, pen, and drawing tools, Dorothy sketched a ritual diagram associated with Lantern attribute based on her knowledge of appraisal magic. Placing the book in the center, she methodically prepared the ritual.
If Dorothy had stored Lantern spirituality within herself, she could have used the appraisal skill directly. Since Lantern was external, the ritual was necessary.
Fortunately, the ritual wasn’t complicated. Dorothy completed it quickly and activated her appraisal skill. As Lantern spirituality was consumed, the gold coin on the diagram dimmed, and information about the book appeared in Dorothy’s mind.
[Literary Sea Logbook]
[ Words written in this book can set sail within its pages. When Revelation spirituality is infused, the words can navigate the Literary Sea. The written text will remain linked to the book. ]
“What kind of nonsense is this? A book that makes words ‘set sail’?”
Puzzled by the appraisal result, Dorothy frowned and began contemplating its meaning.
"So... it lets words undergo some kind of unusual transformation and ‘set sail’? But what does that even mean? I’ll have to experiment to find out."
Mulling this over, Dorothy placed the blank book in front of her, picked up a pen, and prepared to write something. After a moment’s thought, she decided to write a simple word in Pritt: "Knowledge."
The word appeared in neat handwriting on the yellowed page. Dorothy stared at it intently, waiting for something to happen. She didn’t have to wait long.
To her astonishment, the letters on the page began to wiggle, as if imbued with life. It squirmed and twisted, moving across the page like a tiny, living creature.
It transformed into a small "fish," swimming gracefully across the paper—sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, much like a real fish darting through water.
"Wow, it’s moving... This is so amusing..."
Fascinated, Dorothy watched the lively word-fish flit across the page. However, as her curiosity gave way to contemplation, a new question arose.
“It’s fun, sure... but what’s the point?”
The sight of the word swimming around the page left Dorothy scratching her chin in thought. Despite her efforts, she couldn’t deduce any practical purpose for the book.
“Ugh... Is this just a gimmick? Did the Bureau really stash such a pointless item?”
Frustrated, Dorothy suddenly remembered the book was associated with Revelation. Perhaps infusing it with Revelation spirituality would reveal more functionality.
"Good thing I still have spare Revelation spirituality today. Let’s give it a try."
With that, Dorothy placed her hand on the book and infused it with one point of Revelation spirituality. As she pulled her hand away and looked back at the page, she noticed that the word-fish began swimming faster.
"Ah... So adding Revelation makes the word swim faster. More entertaining, sure... but what’s the use?"
Disappointed, Dorothy continued to observe. Just then, the word-fish suddenly accelerated and darted toward the edge of the page. Dorothy thought it would stop, but it passed right through the page’s edge and disappeared.
“What the heck?”
Startled, Dorothy quickly flipped to the next page and saw the word-fish swimming there. After a few movements, it darted to the next page.
“It can swim between pages?”
Dorothy continued flipping through the book, watching the word-fish traverse one page after another. When it reached the final page, it swam off the edge and vanished entirely.
She flipped back and forth through the book but found no trace of the word. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something on a nearby newspaper.
The word “Knowledge” was swimming among the lines of text on the paper! It darted out from the newspaper’s edge and reappeared on Dorothy’s notebook, then swam across the pages before disappearing into her bookshelf.
“This thing can jump into other texts?”
Realizing this, Dorothy was struck by the book’s deeper functionality. As she prepared to investigate further, the word-fish swam out of the notebook, moved into other books on her shelf, and eventually swam beyond her sight—leaving her room, her apartment, and even the Southern Sunflower Street.
It swam faster and faster, heading into the vast, boundless Literary Sea.
Staring at the now-empty book, Dorothy’s lips twitched slightly as she thought.
“This is... way too ridiculous.”