Chapter 63

Lumian didn’t rush to find the three outsiders, Rien, Lya, and Valentine. Instead, he headed straight for the old tavern, hoping to get lucky.

If that mysterious lady appeared, he had many questions he wanted to ask!

After all, he had already accepted the free gift, and he would inevitably have to pay a price in the future. It might as well be like Aurore said, taking the opportunity to get more out of it.

As soon as he entered the old tavern, Lumian’s eyes lit up.

The mysterious lady was sitting in her usual spot in the corner, with two cups of emerald-green absinthe in front of her.

Two cups? Does she know I’m coming? Lumian walked over and greeted her with a smile.

"Good morning."

Today, the lady was wearing a white blouse with vine patterns at the neckline, paired with a beige ankle-length loose skirt, and a light pink beret by her side.

Lumian, influenced by his sister’s various magazines, knew this was the latest trend in Trier.

The lady looked up at him.

"It’s not early, it’s almost noon."

Isn’t this to accommodate your schedule? Lumian muttered to himself.

Seeing the mysterious lady instantly calmed his heart.

He sat down and said straightforwardly,

"I’ve encountered quite a few things recently."

The lady pushed a cup of absinthe towards Lumian. The green liquid, swaying in the glass, seemed like the goddess of joy in everyone’s heart.

She didn’t say he could talk, nor did she say he couldn’t.

Lumian picked up the cup of absinthe and took a light sip. The rich aroma, the refreshing taste with a hint of bitterness, was different from the absinthe he had before.

"What is this?" he asked in confusion.

"Another type of absinthe, very popular in Trier recently. To distinguish it from the old one, people prefer to call it absinthe anise. It’s especially favored by writers, painters, and poets," the lady also took a small sip.

In the transparent glass, the green liquid seemed to have a hallucinogenic quality.

The main ingredients of absinthe are wormwood, anise, and fennel. Different distilleries have slightly different recipes, with some even adding lemon essential oil.

Did you go to Trier for a few days just to bring back some absinthe anise? Lumian couldn’t understand the lady’s actions.

He didn’t ask, but instead talked about what he had experienced recently, including both reality and dreams.

The lady sipped the small cup of absinthe anise and listened quietly to Lumian’s story.

"Basically, that’s it. Is there any way for me to master that mysterious dance in the shortest time possible?" Lumian got straight to the point.

As for the key to breaking the loop and the secrets of the dream, with his previous experience, he believed asking wouldn’t yield any answers.

The lady gently swirled the emerald liquid in her cup and smiled.

"Without an extraordinary improvement in flexibility, you will never learn it.

"Of course, you can force yourself to complete a segment, but you will definitely suffer from ligament tears and muscle strains. How can you hunt monsters then?"

Lumian was very sensitive to the implications in her words.

"Is there any way to significantly improve my flexibility?"

The lady chuckled.

"You have to ask yourself."

"..." Lumian was defeated again by this vague hint.

If the person opposite was someone more familiar and less mysterious, he would definitely have said,

"Explain it clearly to me!

"Don’t make me kneel and beg you!"

As if hearing his inner voice, the lady smiled and added,

"The method to improve your flexibility extraordinarily lies within you."

"Huh?" Lumian looked puzzled.

The lady took a sip of absinthe anise and sighed.

"Didn’t your sister teach you ritual magic?"

Lumian noticed the strange emotion in her eyes again.

"She did." Lumian’s heart stirred. "Pray to myself?"

The lady looked him up and down and laughed.

"Who do you think you are? What can praying to yourself do?

"You can only summon the weakest spirits, and all your inspiration is focused on the physical."

For example, danger intuition? Lumian roughly understood the mysterious lady’s point:

The Hunter’s spirituality is indeed enhanced, but mainly in terms of inspiration, which doesn’t meet the demands of ritual magic and other mystical affairs.

"What should I do then?" Lumian asked.

The lady sighed.

"Have you learned binary ritual magic?"

"I have." Lumian nodded.

The lady sighed again.

"At least you have a sister. Otherwise, I would have to teach you all this mystical knowledge, which is too tiring, too tiring."

So, you didn’t teach me ritual magic, meditation, spirit vision, contract creatures, and supernatural languages because you found it troublesome? You appeared after Aurore finished teaching? Lumian felt a surge of blood rush to his throat.

He took two deep breaths and said,

"Binary ritual magic requires items closely related to deities or hidden entities, but I don’t have any..."

As he spoke, Lumian fell silent.

The lady smiled.

"You do.

"How about it, remember now?"

Lumian pointed to his chest.

"The thorn symbol and the dark green symbol?"

The lady nodded and then reminded him,

"Consider the dark green symbol out of the question. The essence of using binary ritual magic to get a response is to extract the divine power contained within the target item. If its power decreases, the balance your body has achieved will tip towards the bad side, and then..."

She didn’t finish her sentence, but her expression made it clear to Lumian what the underlying message was.

In Aurore’s usual terms:

"Hopeless, just wait to die!"

"The dark green symbol protected me from being completely corrupted?" Lumian, with some mystical knowledge, understood the current situation as corruption.

"It was the great being I mentioned who protected you." The lady corrected him seriously. "Once you unravel the secrets of the dream ruins, I will tell you her sacred name, and you can pray to her directly."

Was it the great being who bestowed the power to seal the corruption represented by the thorn symbol in my heart, preventing it from completely corrupting me? Lumian wasn’t sure if the great being was good or evil, or if they had any sinister intentions, but at least in this matter, he felt a sense of closeness.

He thought for a moment and guessed,

"Use binary ritual magic to steal the power represented by the thorn symbol?

"If that power decreases, the corruption will weaken, and the seal will become more solid?"

"How can you call it stealing?" The lady countered. "This is praying for a blessing, but it just happens that part of her power is nearby, and based on the principle of proximity, it responded. The weakening of the great being’s seal and a certain barrier prevented the main entity from noticing."

It’s people like you who only speak half the truth... What’s the difference from stealing? Lumian grumbled to himself.

Combining what the lady had said about divine blessings and abnormal paths, he asked thoughtfully,

"Through binary ritual magic, pray to the power represented by the thorn symbol, asking it to grant a blessing to significantly enhance my flexibility?"

"Something like that." The lady nodded. "To be precise, ask it to grant you the power of a Dancer."

"A Dancer?" Lumian thought of the performance of the "Noodle Man."

The lady took a sip of absinthe and said,

"For the extraordinary paths outside the twenty-two, we still categorize them from Sequence 9 to Sequence 0 for easier understanding, correspondence, and reference.

"Um... in a certain sense, the categorization of sequences aligns with the underlying rules of this world."

"The Dancer corresponds to Sequence 9 of the thorn symbol, like the Man in the Ring corresponds to Sequence 4?" Lumian asked several questions in one breath. "It can enhance my flexibility, strengthen my spirituality, and help me easily master that mysterious dance?"

The lady smiled with satisfaction.

"Indeed, with a foundation in mysticism, communication becomes much easier, and I don’t need to explain further."

Lumian asked excitedly,

"What are the names of Sequence 8, Sequence 7, Sequence 6, and Sequence 5?"

"Sequence 8 is the Begging Monk, Sequence 7 is the Contracted One. Oh, why do you need to know so much? Focus on mastering the ritual and strive to become a Dancer quickly." The lady wasn’t very patient.

"Begging Monk"… "Contracted One"… Hearing these names, Lumian instantly had many associations.

"Begging Monk" is a real profession, mainly referring to certain members of various churches.

For example, in the "Eternal Sun" Church, due to differences in certain beliefs, it is divided into multiple groups. The two main ones are the "Preaching Brotherhood" and the "Little Brothers," also known as the "Begging Monks."

The former consists mainly of many clerics and "Purifiers" from the Inquisition, emphasizing the ruthless suppression and cleansing of heretics, cultists, and wild extraordinary beings to promote the orthodox teachings of the "Eternal Sun."

The latter is mainly concentrated in monasteries, with some church members joining, advocating self-restraint, begging, and asceticism, spreading the teachings of the "Eternal Sun" to impoverished areas to increase the number of believers.

So, when he heard "Begging Monk," Lumian felt it was related to preaching, asceticism, and special ritual magic.

As for "Contracted One," the first thing that came to his mind was the black mark on the body of the monster and the parish priest.

Aurore said it might be a trace left by a special contract.

"The monster I killed was originally a Contracted One?" Lumian asked in surprise.

I actually killed a monster equivalent to Sequence 7?

The lady nodded slightly.

"Yes, the Contracted One gains different powers from different beings through a special contract provided by the being and divine witness. One contract corresponds to one ability.

"How powerful they are depends on what abilities they gain and how many they have. Even those who have strayed from the path can be killed by ordinary people.

"In fact, in the extraordinary realm, it’s common for certain extraordinary beings who are not good at fighting to be killed by those of lower sequences.

"Abilities are important, but so is the mind, and preparation is equally important."

PS: Votes for the monthly ticket, please!