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Most of these dishes were still warm from being freshly cooked, exuding a delicate aroma of cooking.
Thanks to the Sphinx's message, Fran already knew what had just happened. It must be said that Munin's quick thinking certainly saved her a lot of trouble.
Otherwise, the waitress will be forcibly controlled by the interlocking ridge "Sphinx" the moment she enters, preventing her from screaming or running away.
If things develop this way, I'll have to take out my pocket watch and help the waitress forget this unpleasant memory...
"Cough...cough, cough!"
Along with Haida's awakening came several incessant coughs.
The scars left by the girl in the mirror in her dream transformed into a bone-chilling cold that eroded her spirit. This was not a physical ailment like typhoid fever or a cold, so even her superhuman physique could not resist it.
Fran came to Heda's bedside, took the nun's arm, and carefully examined the places where she had been cut in her dream.
"A rich winter spirituality. It seems that the girl in the mirror wasn't exaggerating... If the fight continues, even if you eventually win, you're very likely to die from the subsequent erosion."
"However, this condition is not difficult for me. It can be resolved with broad-spectrum medication."
As she spoke, she took out a green capsule and then picked up the cup of herbal tea from the meal to help her swallow.
"Thank you."
After swallowing the medicine, Haida's condition improved significantly, and her slightly pale lips gradually regained their color.
Novel updates daily: qUN: ⊙; wu柒÷摝§?♂№杉—偲缌 However, the erosion has only been contained so far; the spirituality of winter will take some time to be completely eradicated. Moreover, the current state does not affect the battle. Or rather, a battle that can stimulate physical vitality can actually accelerate the healing process.
While resting and waiting for the medication to take effect further, she began to ask the questions she hadn't had a chance to ask in room 408.
"Dr. Fran, there are a few things I still don't understand."
"Please say."
Before anyone knew it, Fran had put on her round, silver-rimmed glasses, ready to answer.
Noticing this, Vivian and Mu Ning, who was on her shoulder, quietly leaned closer, like children preparing to listen to a bedtime story.
Haida then voiced her doubts.
"What did the girl in the mirror mean when she said to me, 'After becoming dead, try to climb onto a blade like Li Chu. Perhaps you will become one of us'?"
"Oh, that's easy to understand."
Fran raised his slender index finger and pointed it out of thin air, as if it were a pointer used in class.
"You also saw the 'Blade Staircase' of the Sanctuary in that silver mirror, so you should have some impression of it. Simply put, the dead who climb it will become the new maiden in the mirror. And if the living can step over the stairs, they will receive the enlightenment of the lamp."
"Becoming the girl in the mirror will transform you into a pure dream creature, while still retaining the ability to climb to higher levels."
"The one we met was probably transformed from Karmion's eyeball... That eyeball possesses both the qualities of the dead and the spirit of winter. It only needs a vessel capable of climbing the Blade Rank to complete the transformation of its life form."
At this point, Fran couldn't help but curl the corners of his lips into a slight smile.
"Using this method to find vulnerabilities, it seems that Karmion has indeed been driven mad by his impending death."
Haida pondered for a moment, then understood the meaning behind it.
"I see."
The reason the girl in the mirror said those words was more of an affirmation of her, or rather, an invitation.
After calming her thoughts, she began to ask the second question.
"What exactly was Karmion trying to express in that diary entry? He also mentioned the failure of the archmage Gloria..."
Upon hearing this, Juefulan simply offered a somewhat wistful comment.
"Oh, Karmion is indeed a sharp fellow."
"Although he was called a madman and a demon monk by most of the esoteric Buddhist disciples, he saw things that others overlooked from this special perspective and discovered the rewriting of the criteria for ascension. But it was precisely because of this that he eventually fell into despair."
"Scattering and splitting himself apart" was his last struggle. But he still couldn't escape death, only leaving more traces in the form of his belongings.
At this point, Vivian suddenly became curious about the current state of that eyeball. Although Dr. Fran had put it away, that was in a dream, and theoretically, it shouldn't exist in reality.
"Dr. Fran, Karmion's eyeballs only exist in dreams. How did you preserve them?"
She voiced her question.
"It's very simple. It resides in my mind in a 'spiritual' way."
Fran explained with a smile, then touched his left eyelid with his index finger and flicked his eyeball.
With this movement, her amber eyes were turned from the front to the back, revealing blood-red pupils.
Its color is bright and eerie, like crimson corundum stained with blood.
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羹!
Chapter Sixty-Seven: Doors, Riddles, Keys
The ritual of splitting the self is called "intercalation".
It was not the discovery or creation of some mystic, but rather a clumsy imitation of an ancient deity.
Legend has it that the deity representing the creation of the sun split the primordial sun that hung in the sky during the Age of Dust.
Split and dismemberment is destruction and decline, but it is also rewriting and rebirth.
This is the origin of Carmine's "convergence theory" viewpoint.
The secret arts and rituals used by esoteric Buddhist disciples in the secular world can all be traced back to ancient secrets, so how can they say that they are not "imitating"? Like a myna mimicking speech, they can only rigidly reproduce the behavior without understanding its meaning.
Thinking of this, Fran's eyes narrowed slightly, and he raised his hand to adjust the silver-rimmed glasses on his nose.
At the same time, she casually flipped her eyeballs back over, restoring her pupils to a soft, clear amber color.
In fact, Karmion and himself are somewhat similar.
In order to prolong his existence and avoid the fate of complete annihilation, he used the "intercalation" technique on himself, which ultimately caused him to disintegrate into several relics. As for himself, in order to resist the madness that grew with time, he relinquished a part of his personality.
Although the goals of the two sides are very different, they are both acting based on a certain kind of obsession.
Heda, holding a delicate white quill pen, succinctly recorded what Fran had said in her handbook.
Qi now had a general understanding of Karmion's situation, the reason for the appearance of the girl in the mirror, and the broken Stag Gate.
However, new questions also arose at the same time.
"Dr. Fran, there are still some things I don't quite understand."
“Karmien is an early inhabitant of a lost era. When he was still alive, the Dreamflower Hotel had not yet been built, and even Foy City might not have existed. Why would his dream, which he used to store important things, appear in room 408?”
"good question."
Sanfrecce expressed his approval, clearly having considered the issue.
"I haven't reached a definitive conclusion on this either... However, there is a conjecture that can be considered."
"Perhaps Karmion's tomb is buried beneath the Dream Flower Hotel, and some kind of ritual was set up there, providing an anchor point for Number 408's existence in the dream."
"Of course, it's also possible that the dream materialized into the form of the study, since most dreams are just fleeting fantasies. And the study was probably the place that Karmion remembered most vividly before his death."
As she spoke, she lazily raised her hands, stretched her waist, and slowly yawned.
Despite having traveled for half a day and then having a dangerous face-to-face encounter with a girl in a mirror, Fran was not actually sleepy.
The reason for yawning is mainly because I used the "Crown Thief" skill too many times in my dream, which consumed too much of my spiritual energy.
Since rediscovering this talent, she has used it almost non-stop, to the point that her skill level is now close to advancing. She only needs to complete one high-level house call or a special advancement quest to complete the advancement.
【Crown Thief (Talent)】
[Quality: perfect]
[Effect: Evolved from the "Legendary Phantom Thief," this talent allows the user to attempt to steal anything, whether tangible or intangible, simply by "touching" it. Thanks to the tireless use of a certain doctor, this talent has now undergone further transformation.]
[Note: "Welcome, everyone... You will all have a place in my meticulously prepared museum!"—Still the anonymous space necromancer overlord.]
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[Study Progress: Proficient Level (Level: 100%). Further improvement requires breaking through this stage's bottleneck.]
Option 1: Perform any house call with a completion rate of Apollyon or higher.
[Option Two: After sending out invitations in advance, steal a treasure rated as flawless or above in full view of everyone.]
Seeing that Fran was showing signs of drowsiness, Heda did not ask any further questions.
Besides, the mystery and strange phenomena in room 408 have already been solved, so she actually has nothing left to ask.
Fran took off his silver-rimmed glasses, folded them neatly, and put them back in the medicine box. He then asked the nun beside him a question.
"Haidah, do you know what the most important thing is right now?"
"The most important thing?" Haida pondered for a moment upon hearing this.
This is a very broad question, and it is difficult to answer accurately.
Her initial reason for requesting an annual transfer to Golmouth was to find the spiritual material needed for the ancient arcane art of "Mechanized Spirit Body"—namely, the gray matter of the Abyss Familiar. However, this was a lengthy undertaking, potentially requiring an entire quarter to complete.
Therefore, nobody knows exactly what needs to be done... they can only figure it out slowly.
"I'm not deliberately making things difficult for you, my dear Heda."
Fran raised his eyebrows slightly, as if trying to make the nun in front of him less serious and more relaxed.
"The most important thing now is to solve dinner. The seafood risotto will get cold if we leave it any longer. We've finally gotten to try some foreign cuisine, so we should try to make a good impression."
As she spoke, she walked to the small dining table in the guest room, pulled over a stool, and sat down.
After Fran took his seat, Vivian followed closely behind.
Her movements carried an almost light and agile quality, as if she had been waiting for a long time. After all, it was already evening when they disembarked, six or seven hours after lunch.
Mu Ning on her shoulder folded her wings rather reservedly and turned her head slightly away, as if she wanted to distance herself from her master.
Haida was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, but her expression quickly calmed down.
"Indeed... it's dinner time."
As she spoke, she came to the small table and quietly began to eat.
Fran picked up the silver-plated spoon, scooped up a spoonful of seafood risotto, and put it in his mouth, chewing it delicately and elegantly.
The texture of the flower crab meat is delicate and tender. Although it is coated with hot sauce, it still retains the sweetness of fresh seafood.
The cheese from Modwell is baked in the oven until it turns a light brown color, then wrapped in crispy fried bacon, releasing a rich aroma.
"Flower crab, tiger prawns, smoked sea bream, Modaway cheese... and bacon slices. The ingredients were very fresh, and although the oven was a little too hot, it didn't affect the overall taste much."
Fran has a habit of appreciating and commenting on food, so he listed the ingredients for this risotto with familiarity and ease.
Previously, when faced with the dishes served by Krull at the Hanover residence, even if the guy had heated up the plates, she could still find flaws in other ways that forced him to reheat them.
After all, her purpose at that time was to find fault, not to have a meal.
Soon, as the plate of risotto was emptied, Fran finished his dinner.
"The chef at Dream Flower Tavern is indeed very skilled. It lives up to its reputation... and the room rates."
She rested her cheek on her hand, her tone slightly wistful.
A triple room like this, which includes dinner, costs around 60 silver dollars. For the average working-class person, this would indeed be considered a luxury.
Haida's mission budget is limited; if she lives here every day... it probably won't be enough to last a month.
"I will look for reasonably priced accommodation tomorrow."
Since Haida paid for the room, she was well aware that the hotel's price wasn't suitable for a long stay. Although the group was only going to stay in Gormouth for about three months, it would be best to find a safer and more secluded place.
This is the inconvenience of not having a Hunter's branch... If the Suspended Blade Training Ground in Foy City hadn't been evacuated, not only would there be no need to worry about accommodation, but one could also receive weapon supplies and help from local hunters.
Looking for accommodation?
Fran tilted his head, a hint of a smile appearing in his amber eyes.
"Why can't we just stay at the Dream Flower Hotel?"
"But that price..."
Vivian also saw Heda pay with a check and knew the prices here.
Taking a short break for a few days is fine, but if it's a long stay, the expenses will be uncontrollable... The budget for this mission also needs to be used to replenish various supplies, and it may not be enough later.