Southwestern Outskirts of Tivian, on the road leading to the city. Inside the swaying carriage, Dorothy sits, still examining the changes in herself after her recent advancement. Her next focus is on her spiritual capacity. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮 After advancing to the White Ash rank, Dorothy’s total spiritual capacity has increased to 50 points, a full 20 points more than her previous Black Earth rank. This is a significant improvement. “Fifty points of spiritual capacity... This means that if I want to advance to the Red Completion rank, I’ll need to accumulate at least 50 points of Revelation spirituality. If Revelation requires 50, then the other spiritualities will need at least 20 points each. The difficulty of accumulating spirituality has increased significantly... I wonder how long it will take to accumulate this much…” Dorothy ponders this in her mind. Although the spiritual requirements for advancing to the Red Completion rank are much higher, Dorothy isn’t particularly anxious. After all, she has only been in this world for a little over half a year and has already jumped three ranks to reach White Ash. For other Beyonders in the mysticism world, this is rocket-like speed. Take the Serenity Bureau, for example. James, the director of the Igwynt branch, is in his fifties or sixties and is only at the Black Earth rank. The elite captains at the Serenity Bureau headquarters, with more abundant resources, typically reach White Ash rank in their forties. The youngest White Ash-rank Beyonder Dorothy has encountered, aside from herself, is Adèle. If the celebrity section of the newspaper is to be believed, Adèle is only twenty years old, just a few months older than Gregor. In the end, the biggest obstacle for ordinary Beyonders in advancing is the accumulation of spirituality. Without dedicated resources from an organization or a suitable method for accumulating spirituality, it might take over a year just to advance to Apprentice rank. Adèle’s ability to reach White Ash rank at twenty is largely due to her spirituality accumulation method, the Desire Method. This method, which relies on collecting desires to accumulate spirituality, can be incredibly fast in the right hands, and Adèle happens to be one of those people. From the fact that the Wolf Blood Society tried to ruin Adèle’s reputation to hinder her spirituality accumulation, it seems that Adèle’s speed in accumulating spirituality through the Desire Method has reached a point of concern. Given a bit more time, she might be able to accumulate enough spirituality to advance to the Red Completion rank. Dorothy, on the other hand, relies on the Reading Method provided by her system, which allows her to accumulate spirituality even faster than Adèle. As long as she has enough mystical texts, she can quickly accumulate the necessary spirituality. “In short, although I’ve just advanced and am in no rush to consider the next advancement, I still need to accumulate spirituality as quickly as possible. Not just for advancement, but also for emergencies. With my current spiritual reserves, I wouldn’t be able to handle a fight, which is too dangerous.” Dorothy continues to think. Due to her recent advancement, her spiritual reserves are low, with only 1 point of Chalice spirituality left. In her current state, she would be extremely vulnerable in any crisis. Therefore, her immediate goal is to quickly accumulate a reserve of spirituality, bringing her main spiritualities above a safe threshold. “Right now, my Revelation spirituality is at 20 points, so I probably won’t run into situations where I’m short on Revelation. However, the number of auxiliary spiritualities I use has increased, so the pressure on those has also grown... For the next while, I’ll focus on accumulating spirituality, at least to the point where I can comfortably handle emergencies.” As Dorothy thinks this, she continues to drive the carriage toward the city. The dark sky is gradually brightening, and the sprawling outline of the city appears in the distance. The occasional crow of a rooster can be heard from the fields. The night fades, and morning arrives. Exhausted, Dorothy drives the carriage to the edge of Tivian. Other vehicles begin to appear on the road, and the buildings along the sides of the road become more densely packed. Finally back in the city, Dorothy lets out a long sigh of relief, confirming that the Eight-Spired Nest is no longer pursuing her. Dorothy originally planned to drive the carriage directly back to her home in Green Shade Town in the northern suburbs. However, after driving for a while, she realizes that she is too fatigued and that continuing to drive is dangerous—she nearly collided with another carriage. For safety’s sake, Dorothy decides against driving while exhausted and instead checks into an inn that offers carriage parking services. Using her marionettes as a cover, Dorothy rents a room at the inn and settles in. After a quick hot shower, she collapses onto the bed and falls into a deep sleep almost immediately. After a long, dreamless sleep, Dorothy finally wakes up. The sky outside is still bright. She runs her fingers through her messy, slept-on hair, stretches her slightly sore body, and glances at the pocket watch on the bedside table. It’s already 2:30 in the afternoon. Still feeling a lingering drowsiness, Dorothy gets dressed, tidies herself up, and heads downstairs to check out. She then boards her carriage and, feeling much more refreshed, drives onto the streets. On the way, Dorothy stops by a telegraph office to send a message to Gregor, letting him know she’s safely home. She then finds a relatively nice place to grab a bite to eat. Before her meal, Dorothy picks up a copy of today’s newspaper from the front desk. As expected, the headline is about last night’s New Year’s Eve incident at Bishop’s Square. … “Unexpected Incident! Princess Isabella’s New Year’s Celebration Disrupted by Sudden Explosion” “At midnight on January 1st, an unexplained explosion occurred at Bishop’s Square in the South District during Princess Isabella’s New Year’s celebration. Princess Isabella, Duke Barrett, and numerous others were injured in the incident. The cause of the explosion remains unclear. The princess and the duke are currently receiving treatment, and no official updates on their conditions have been released. Since last night, Bishop’s Square and the surrounding areas have been cordoned off...” … “An explosion? Heh... It seems the royal government isn’t ready to publicly label this as an assassination attempt yet... If it were officially declared an assassination, from the government’s perspective, they would have to identify and capture the assassin no matter what, or else the government’s reputation would be ruined.” “But since this incident involves the hidden mysticism world, even if they do find the culprit, it would be difficult to make it public. So for now, they’re using the explosion as a cover story while they handle things behind the scenes. To the average person, the scene did look like an explosion, so even if Duke Barrett’s death is later officially ruled an accident, it wouldn’t be entirely unbelievable.” As Dorothy munches on her bread, she reads the newspaper and observes the other patrons in the restaurant. She notices that while many are discussing the news, the conversation isn’t particularly heated. If the newspaper had reported Duke Barrett’s assassination outright, the discussions would likely be twice as intense. “It probably won’t be long before the newspapers report that Duke Barrett succumbed to his injuries and passed away. When that happens, there’ll be another wave of public reaction. By splitting the news into two smaller waves, the royal government is trying to mitigate the negative impact of the incident.” With this thought, Dorothy finishes her bread, slowly sips her coffee, pays the bill, and leaves the restaurant. She returns to her carriage and drives toward the northern part of the city. After a few more hours, Dorothy finally arrives back in Green Shade Town. By the time she has her marionettes park the carriage, the sky is darkening, and another night is about to begin. Dorothy quickly walks back to her house. As she approaches her doorstep, she sees a familiar figure—none other than Beverly. “Beverly?” “Ah, Miss Mayschoss, you’re back just in time. Your dedicated postman is hard at work.” Seeing Dorothy approach, Beverly smiles and gives a slight bow. Dorothy waves her hand dismissively. “Enough, enough. If a postman as expensive as you were truly hard at work, I wouldn’t be able to afford it. Let’s get to the point—do I have any letters?” “Of course~ And it’s an urgent one.” Beverly says, handing Dorothy an envelope. After Dorothy takes it, Beverly gives her a scrutinizing look and continues. “Miss Mayschoss, it seems you were out all last night. Coincidentally, something major involving the Despenser royal family happened in the South District last night. Could it be that you...” “Don’t ‘could it be’ me... I wasn’t involved in that. I was just spending New Year’s Eve with my family. Stop jumping to conclusions.” Dorothy rolls her eyes at Beverly’s words. Beverly, hearing this, looks slightly surprised. “You have family to spend the holidays with?” “Of course~ Is that really so surprising?” “A little... Most Beyonders who delve as deeply into the mysticism world as you do tend to have some mental issues. The further you go down the mystic path, the harder it is to maintain normal human emotions and values. If you hadn’t mentioned spending the holidays with family, I would’ve thought you were just another fanatic obsessed with studying the mysticism world.” Beverly says this to Dorothy, then waves her hand and turns to leave. “Anyway, I’ve seen plenty of those fanatics. Someone like you is rare, and I like it. I hope you don’t get driven mad by some strange thing in the future.” With that, Beverly walks away, hands behind her back. Dorothy, standing in place, ponders Beverly’s words and realizes there’s some truth to them. In a world filled with bizarre spirituality accumulation methods and the distorting effects of cognitive poison, maintaining one’s humanity is indeed difficult. Perhaps this is why evil organizations keep popping up, and why there are so many cultists. If Dorothy didn’t have the Reading Method and immunity to cognitive poison provided by her system, her mind would likely have been warped by now after spending so much time in the mysticism world. With these thoughts, Dorothy takes the envelope from Beverly into the house and sits on the sofa to open it. After a quick scan, she finishes reading the letter. The letter is addressed to Detective Ed, and the sender is none other than Misha, the leader of the anti-mole task force at the Serenity Bureau headquarters and a royal knight. The purpose of the letter, sent at this time, is undoubtedly to inquire about the incident at Bishop’s Square. It seems they’ve already confirmed that the Eight-Spired Nest was behind the attack. Misha wants to urgently consult Detective Ed, as in her eyes, Ed’s organization has a mole within the Eight-Spired Nest, so they might have key information about the incident. Moreover, Misha had recently shared information about Duke Barrett with Ed, and now Duke Barret has been assassinated. Misha naturally wants to clarify the situation and determine whether Ed’s organization is involved in the incident. Therefore, Misha once again invites Ed to meet in person to discuss the matter. After finishing the letter, Dorothy strokes her chin with interest, thinking to herself. “Well, well... This is perfect. I also want to know what the authorities currently know. And if they’re the ones inviting me to provide information... I should be able to ask for some compensation, right? It wouldn’t be too much to ask for a few mystical texts, especially since I’m running low on spirituality.” With this thought, Dorothy sets the letter aside and takes out a quill and an envelope from her magic box. After infusing it with spirituality, she begins to write a reply. In the letter, Dorothy agrees to meet Misha at the usual place tomorrow morning and also mentions her desire for some small compensation in exchange for the information. “Sigh... It seems the new year will be a busy one too.” After finishing the letter, Dorothy sighs and prepares to head out to find her “hardworking” postman. … Time flies, and soon the night passes. The winter sun shines on the spires of the Cathedral District. Amid the solemn tolling of bells, countless citizens cross the large square and enter the Hymn Cathedral to offer their New Year’s prayers. Although it’s already the second day of the new year, the Hymn Cathedral is still bustling. The pews are almost full, and many people without seats stand or kneel, praying devoutly before the altar of the Three Saints. In a secluded corner of the vast cathedral, two figures stand—Ed, dressed in a dark trench coat, and Misha, wearing a male servant’s uniform and sporting noticeable dark circles under her eyes. “It’s good to see you again, Miss Misha. You don’t look well. If I may be so bold, as a lady, you should pay more attention to getting enough sleep. It’s the key to beauty.” Ed tips his hat and speaks politely to Misha, who lets out a tired laugh. “Heh... Thanks for the advice, Detective... Though I’m not sure where you got that theory, it’s clearly not for me. Let’s get straight to the point. First, I want to confirm—the incident at Bishop’s Square on New Year’s Eve was the work of the Eight-Spired Nest, right?” “Indeed, it was those blood-sucking spider freaks. I’m glad you’re not blaming us, Miss Misha, especially since I received information about Duke Barrett from you just last year.” Ed shrugs as he speaks, and Misha, with her dark circles, continues. “Some of the survivors at the scene had contact or even brief skirmishes with the Vampires who tried to infiltrate. Based on their testimonies, we’ve pretty much confirmed from the start that the Eight-Spired Nest was behind this. But when it comes to the details, there’s still a lot we don’t know. You have a mole in the Eight-Spired Nest, right? What important information have you obtained from them?” “For example... who was the assassin who carried out the killing?”