Tivian North Suburbs, Royal Crown University, King’s Campus. Deep beneath King’s Campus, in the gathering place of the Scholarly Society of Mystical Knowledge, members of the society are gathered as usual, engaging in discussions and studying together. These young students are reading, debating, and delving into the mysteries of the mysticism world, their behavior no different from usual. Even though a few of their companions are missing, and even though the respected Thorn Velvet is no longer with them, they continue their activities as if nothing has changed. At this moment, the students are gathered around a new masked figure, asking him various questions with a sense of reverence. The masked man patiently provides detailed explanations, helping the students with their studies. The students’ admiration for this new masked figure is no less than what they once had for Thorn Velvet. In their interactions with him, they seem to have completely forgotten about Thorn Velvet’s existence. After a brief exchange with the students, the masked man instructs them to continue their self-study and then leaves the gathering place, walking out into the school grounds. The man removes his mask, revealing the face of an ordinary middle-aged man. He quickly walks through the school corridors, blending into the crowd. Soon, he arrives at an office and knocks on the door. "Come in." A dry male voice comes from behind the door. Hearing this, the man pushes the door open and enters a dimly lit office with all the curtains drawn. In the center of the office is a desk. Behind it sits Claudius, dressed in Andrew’s suit, sipping a glass of red wine as he watches the man enter. "Sir." After closing the door behind him, the man kneels on one knee and salutes Claudius. Only after Claudius nods does the man stand up. "How are the students doing, Avery?" Claudius asks the man named Avery, who responds respectfully. "Everything is fine. The students have read a significant amount of ’The Chapter of Worker Insects’ and are deeply influenced by it. Although Chad is no longer here, as someone who has also read ’The Chapter of Soldier Insects’, I can control these little insects." "That’s good... The Queen’s Procession is absolute. Everyone in this procession must remember their place." Hearing Avery’s words, Claudius nods and murmurs to himself. It seems that even though Thorn Velvet is dead, they have not lost control over the Scholarly Society of Mystical Knowledge. The students who have read The Queen’s Procession do not worship Thorn Velvet alone. This is also why they were able to get the students to cooperate and deceive the Serenity Bureau investigators earlier this morning. "Sir, following your orders, I brought people here to reinforce the operation. However, I found that most of Chad’s people are gone. We’re short on manpower for rebuilding the base and preparing the ritual. Do you know where Chad is now?" Avery asks Claudius. He was originally stationed at another base in the city and was ordered by Claudius to come to King’s Campus to provide reinforcements. He has no fondness for Chad, who left behind a mess. "Chad went to investigate a lead. He said he was just going to find a student, but he hasn’t returned yet. He’s probably gone..." Claudius says grimly. Hearing this, Avery is slightly shocked. "What... Chad is dead? Who did it?" "I don’t know. It could be the Black Dogs, or it could be that third-party society he mentioned." Claudius says seriously, and Avery grits his teeth before responding. "Sir, should we investigate?" "Investigate? We’re already short on manpower for preparing the ritual. What do we have to investigate with? Two Black Earth Rank members have already died here. After bringing you here, I don’t have the ability to request more people from above." Claudius speaks slowly. The Eight-Spired Nest has a significant presence in Tivian, but there are also many places that require manpower. Although Claudius is a White Ash Rank member, his resources within the organization are limited, and he cannot mobilize people indefinitely. "Our top priority now is to complete the remaining rituals and then evacuate. Because of last night’s incident, this base has already drawn the attention of the Black Dogs. Although we managed to deceive them for now, it won’t last long. So, our main focus must be on preparing the ritual. We don’t have the time or energy to deal with anything else." Claudius continues. Not long ago, he used his identity as a Serenity Bureau observer, combined with mild hypnotic suggestions and the cooperation of the students, to send the Serenity Bureau agents away. However, this is clearly not a long-term solution. Since the Serenity Bureau has already noticed something suspicious in the northern suburbs of Tivian, they will naturally conduct a long-term investigation. When they find nothing in other areas, their focus will inevitably return to the campus. Therefore, the best course of action is to finish our business here and leave as soon as possible. "Understood. I will focus all my efforts on the ritual." Avery responds respectfully. Hearing this, Claudius nods and then speaks again. "How is the ritual preparation going?" "It’s mostly on track. We should be ready within three days." "What about counter-surveillance?" "Following your instructions, we are currently reconstructing counter-surveillance measures at the entrance corridor of the ruins. Illuminating Beacons, Sensing Threads, and Anti-Divination measures are being prepared. We’ve also stationed enough guards to ensure nothing can enter the ruins unnoticed." Avery assures, but as he finishes speaking, his expression changes slightly, and he continues. "Sir, regarding the ritual, there’s one more critical issue. Since the torture slaves that Chad prepared have all escaped, we are now short on live sacrifices for further polluting the Mirror Moon statue. Should we... contact other bases and have them send over some torture slaves?" "No need for that. I’ve already said that I can’t keep requesting resources, and that includes torture slaves. Besides, transporting torture slaves from other places is troublesome. The Hunters have already tightened their surveillance on the northern suburbs. Transporting torture slaves might draw their attention. And it’s not like we don’t have live sacrifices available..." Claudius takes a sip of his red wine and speaks slowly. Hearing this, Avery is momentarily stunned before asking with some alarm. "We have live sacrifices available? Sir, are you suggesting that we use our own men..." "Ha, no. What I mean is, there are quite a few students, aren’t there? Using half of those who haven’t read much as live sacrifices should be enough. After all, we can’t stay at this school base much longer. Once the ritual is complete, these students who have been used as cover will no longer be of any use. They might as well be used as live sacrifices." Claudius continues murmuring. Hearing his words, Avery is momentarily stunned before slowly speaking. "Sir, are you suggesting that we use the students as live sacrifices...? Wouldn’t killing so many at once draw the attention of the Serenity Bureau and provoke them into intensifying their investigation?" "Don’t worry. Once the pollution ritual for this statue is complete, combined with the previous ones, our ’influence’ will expand further. By then, the threats from the royal government should be somewhat suppressed, including the Serenity Bureau." Claudius waves his hand and speaks with a mysterious smile. Hearing his words, Avery’s eyes flicker with a hint of confusion. "As long as the ritual is completed, everything will be fine?" In the office, Claudius and Avery continue their discussion. Meanwhile, in a place neither of them can see, a small gecko lies beneath the door crack, quietly observing the scene inside the room. … At this moment, in the library of King’s Campus, in a quiet corner, Dorothy, pretending to read a book, is processing the information transmitted by her distant marionette. She ponders thoughtfully. “The eavesdropping went smoothly... As expected, that guy didn’t notice me this time.” With this thought, Dorothy puts down the book in her hands and picks up a notebook beside her. She begins listing and summarizing the Vampire abilities, all of which she has gleaned from the materials Beverly sold her. Holding the notebook, Dorothy scans through the list of abilities before her eyes, finally stopping at the entry for "Spiritual Perception (Chalice & Shadow)". “That bald vampire, Claudius, was able to detect my small marionette before because of this skill, right? It allows him to sense the Chalice spirituality in the surrounding environment, as well as Shadow spirituality that hasn’t been concealed. He can also detect if there are any abnormalities.” “My small marionettes are flesh puppets powered by Chalice. Compared to the Chalice in a normal human body, the Chalice influenced by Beyonder powers is inherently abnormal, which is why Claudius could easily detect them, causing my surveillance to fail.” As Dorothy thinks this, she shifts her gaze to a ring on her finger, engraved with a crescent moon. This is the Concealment Ring, a keepsake from her mother. “But this time, my marionette, protected by the Concealment Ring, managed to avoid detection. I didn’t expect my surveillance abilities to improve after reaching the Black Earth rank.” Dorothy continues to ponder. At this moment, she is using the Spiritual Threads to remotely extend the Concealment Ring’s "concealment protection" to her distant small marionette. The marionette benefits from the ring’s protection, which is why Claudius’s spiritual perception failed to detect it. Unlike her marionette abilities, Dorothy needs to continuously supply Chalice spirituality to her marionettes through the Spiritual Threads to keep them active. Therefore, the marionettes always contain a certain amount of Chalice. The Concealment Ring, however, remotely extends its protection to the marionette through the Spiritual Threads without transferring any Shadow spirituality. Since the marionette itself contains no Shadow, Claudius’s Shadow spiritual perception cannot detect its presence. Moreover, Shadow spiritual perception can only detect Shadow spirituality that isn’t being used for concealment. For example, Shadow spiritual storage items, Shadow mystical artifacts, Shadow winds created through elementalization, or Shadow blades created through enchantment. A Shadow-path Beyonder who relies on Shadow spirituality for concealment cannot be detected by Shadow spiritual perception alone. They would need to be illuminated by Lantern spirituality. Thanks to her new abilities gained from reaching the Black Earth rank, combined with her existing skills, Dorothy has successfully eavesdropped on Claudius this time, obtaining a series of valuable intelligence. “These guys... are planning to perform some kind of ritual around that statue on the second underground level? And they’re in a hurry—they plan to start in three days? During the ritual, they intend to use the students corrupted by cognitive poison as live sacrifices?” “Hah... I originally thought that these guys, under pressure from the Serenity Bureau, would have to withdraw from this campus. I didn’t expect them to somehow manage to send the Serenity Bureau agents away and now plan to pull off something big? This is really…” After organizing the intelligence she obtained from Claudius, Dorothy is somewhat surprised. At the same time, she has many questions. What exactly is the goal of the Eight-Spired Nest? Why do they need to search all over Pritt for those Mirror Moon statues? What are they trying to achieve by polluting the Mirror Moon statues through rituals? Why would polluting more Mirror Moon statues expand their "influence"? And how could this so-called "influence" reduce threats from the royal government and even the Serenity Bureau? A series of questions swirl in Dorothy’s mind, but she doesn’t have much time to ponder them now. The most urgent matter is how to deal with the ritual in three days. “I’ve already successfully reached the Black Earth rank. The ruins below are of no use to me anymore. I could completely avoid getting involved in this matter. Continuing to accumulate spirituality and follow the new clues for advancement is what I should be doing.” “But... if I do nothing, the students of the Scholarly Society of Mystical Knowledge, who have been corrupted, might not be saved. They will be used as live sacrifices in the ritual. And I promised Nephthys that I would help her fight against Thorn Velvet and save her fellow society members…” Dorothy thinks to herself. To be honest, Nephthys has been a great help in Dorothy’s recent advancement. Dorothy now plans to cultivate Nephthys as part of her own faction, much like Vania... She doesn’t want to break her promise, nor does she want to stand by and watch people die. “Besides... based on the current situation, the Eight-Spired Nest has been searching all over Pritt for those Mirror Moon statues. They must have excavated quite a few ancient ruins. Perhaps they know the location of the Star Numerology Scriptorium ruins? Maybe there are other ruins where the Star Numerology Scriptorium and Mirror Moon statues coexist? If I target the Eight-Spired Nest, I might find some clues?” “Moreover... I’m currently broke. After my advancement, I’m instantly poor again—not only short on money but also low on spirituality. Thinking back to my time in Igwynt, I made my fortune by robbing the Crimson Eucharist. If I want to rebuild my wealth and achieve a comfortable life, isn’t this the perfect opportunity and target?” 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦 Thinking about money and spirituality, Dorothy’s mind becomes more active. Looking at the Eight-Spired Nest base guarded by a White Ash Rank member, she suddenly feels a surge of courage and considers making a move. "Well, but there’s still a White Ash rank member there. I should report this first and see how the Serenity Bureau reacts." Dorothy murmurs to herself, then closes the book in her hands. ========================= T/N: Wow, Serenity Bureau is as useful as the Police Department in my country *clappy clappy*