Daytime in the western suburbs of Igwynt, at Saint Amanda’s School.
In the morning, Dorothy, clad in the Saint Amanda student uniform, slowly made her way into the underground workshop of the school. Upon entering the door, she saw Aldrich leisurely sipping tea while seated in a chair. At the moment, he didn’t appear to be working on any carvings.
“These past few days... the city seems to have been in a bit of chaos, so I had a feeling you’d come to see me again, Miss Mayschoss.”
Looking at the white-haired girl in front of him, Aldrich smiled as he put down his teacup and spoke. Hearing the words of this “kindly elder,” Dorothy shrugged, then casually pulled up a chair and sat across from him.
“Let’s get straight to the point. I came today to ask you to take a look at two things. First, this...”
As she spoke, Dorothy produced a sheet of rough paper imprinted with densely intricate red patterns. Aldrich took the paper, glanced at it briefly, and spoke plainly.
“This item... appraisal fee: 30 pounds.”
“Didn’t you charge only 10 pounds for appraisals before?” Dorothy couldn’t help but complain upon hearing Aldrich’s price.
He responded slowly.
“My appraisal fees depend on the rarity of the item. The sigil you brought today isn’t ordinary, Miss Mayschoss.”His straightforward reply made his meaning clear: the rarer the item, the higher the fee.
“Profiteer...”
Dorothy grumbled internally but still pulled out 30 pounds from her bag and slapped it on the table. Although it was pricier than expected, it was still better than using her spirituality to perform an appraisal ritual. For non-mystical items, it was more cost-effective to rely on Aldrich.
“This here... is a Devouring Sigil created using an overlapping replication method. It has far greater efficacy than an ordinary Devouring Sigil. Regular Devouring Sigil can grant ordinary people abilities akin to those of a Craver. However, they have little effect on an actual Craver. In contrast, this sigil temporarily elevates the physical abilities of a Craver to an even higher level while consuming a large amount of Chalice. To distinguish it from ordinary Devouring Sigil, many refer to it as a Feast Sigil. Essentially, it’s an enhanced version of the Devouring Sigil.”
As Aldrich explained, Dorothy quickly pieced together how Buck had suddenly managed to unleash a burst of strength, slaughtering four corpse marionettes boosted up by Devouring Sigils. Turned out, he’d taken an even stronger sigil.
“So, can someone who isn’t a Craver use this sigil?” Dorothy continued to ask, to which Aldrich replied,
“Of course. As long as you can afford the Chalice it consumes. However, let me be frank: the Feast Sigil consumes five times the Chalice of a regular Devouring Sigil. Without being a Craver, a Beyonder cannot sustain such consumption. So think carefully, Miss Mayschoss.”
While warning her, Aldrich handed the sigil back to Dorothy. She took it, reflecting to herself.
“Five times a regular Devouring Sigil. That means it consumes 5 points per use. I can barely afford to use it a few times...”
After reclaiming the Feast Sigil, Dorothy considered her options. Aldrich, meanwhile, spoke again, his expression slightly complicated.
“To have something like this in your possession... could it be that you took down a high-ranking member of the Crimson Eucharist? If I remember correctly, you only recently came to me to purchase knowledge of advancement ritual for the Apprentice rank.”
Although he was aware that Dorothy had been opposing the Crimson Eucharist, Aldrich hadn’t imagined that someone who had only advanced to Apprentice a month ago could defeat a high-ranking member of the organization.
Dorothy, hearing his words, merely smiled and said, “Think whatever you want... Enough small talk. I have something else for you.”
She then produced another sigil imprinted with the markings of Shadow and Revelation and handed it to Aldrich.
His expression stiffened upon seeing it, and he remarked, “This one... 40 pounds...”
Without hesitation, Dorothy placed the money on the table. Aldrich immediately began to explain.
“This is a Dream Anchor Sigil. It records dream coordinates. This sigil marks a dream cocoon within the Dreamscape and stores its coordinates. By entering the Dreamscape using this sigil and assuming a mimicry form, you can instantly teleport to the cocoon’s location. Typically, these are produced by organizations specializing in dream research, such as the Black Dream Hunters or the Gothorp family. However, their production is scarce, making them quite rare in the world of mysticism. They are generally used to transmit information within the Dreamscape.”
After finishing his explanation, Aldrich returned the Dream Anchor Sigil to Dorothy, who received it with a knowing nod.
“So it can let me instantly move to the marked cocoon in the Dreamscape... A means of transmitting information, huh? Who could this Dream Anchor Sigil’s cocoon belong to?”
Dorothy pondered, narrowing her options down to two: either Brandon, the mole, or the so-called mentor.
“I didn’t expect you to get your hands on such a thing, Miss Mayschoss. But let me caution you—until you’ve developed a strong enough mimicry form, it’s best not to venture into the dream world. It’s dangerous there...”
Aldrich’s tone was serious as he warned Dorothy. After all, he had sold her the Dream Seeker’s Chronicles several months prior, and he figured she had finished studying it by now.
Hearing his warning, Dorothy’s lips curled in slight annoyance, and she retorted.
“Heh... I was going to ask you about that! That mystical book you sold me—it clearly said the mimicry spell could transform me into a bird, but it ended up turning me into a fish! How am I supposed to move around a forest like that?”
Faced with Dorothy’s complaints, Aldrich calmly sipped his tea before replying.
“I’m a firm believer in getting what you pay for. The mystical book I sold you was priced at 500 pounds precisely because of the translation error that restricted the mimicry spell to fish. If it could turn you into a bird, I wouldn’t have sold it in Igwynt, and the price would have been far beyond 500 pounds.”
His message was clear. It was sold cheap because it turned you into a fish. If it could turn you into a bird, it wouldn’t be for sale here or at that price.
Exhaling deeply, Dorothy put away the Dream Anchor Sigil. She then turned to Aldrich and asked.
“Next, Mr. Aldrich, can I purchase some information from you?”
“You can... As long as it doesn’t concern my clients, I’m willing to sell. But I have a lot of clients in Igwynt, so you might not get much out of me.”
Aldrich responded nonchalantly. Dorothy immediately placed a 10-pound note on the table and asked.
“I want to know if there are any White Ash-rank Chalice Beyonders in Igwynt.”
“There aren’t. Why would someone of White Ash rank come to a place like this?”
Without much thought, Aldrich pocketed the money and replied. Dorothy placed a second 10-pound note on the table and asked, “Then are there any Black Earth-rank Chalice Beyonder in Igwynt?”
“This... This I can’t—”
Aldrich was about to continue when he suddenly realized something. He fixed a serious gaze on Dorothy, who returned his look with a smile.
After a moment of silence, Aldrich chuckled and said, “You’re quite clever, Miss Mayschoss...”
“And you’re very principled, Mr. Aldrich...”
Dorothy smiled. By now, she had more or less confirmed the mentor’s rank.