"A Master of'Stone'..."
Looking at the newspaper Geffrey handed over, Oswan nodded thoughtfully and continued.
"Your deduction is indeed possible... Someone who can quickly resolve the 'Cup' erosion should have astonishing attainments in'Stone'. What I need to find... is a Master of'Stone'."
"So, behind that miraculously recovered brat, there might be the target we're looking for, even if not... they might have a connection to the target," Oswan murmured, then looked at Geffrey again and continued.
"So, where is that brat now? What are you planning to do?"
"I went to the hospital's Extraordinary Damage Department. She has been discharged. For the convenience of follow-up observation, the hospital recorded her current address. I plan to investigate and see if I can find the existence behind her."
Geffrey said frankly. After listening, Oswan thought for a moment and replied.
"Hmm... This is indeed a clue worth investigating. I hope you can find something. I also plan to change my approach and investigate from other angles."
Saying that, Oswan glanced at the towering buildings under the gloomy sky in the distance and murmured.
"Mr. Deer Skull's great enemy is in this city. As long as we can find him for him, our extraordinary path will be smooth..."
...
In the Iggwente Upper City, on the apartment building by Nanyang Flower Road.
Dorothy sat at the desk by the window in her room, looking intently at a dusty old book on the table. This was a secret transmission she had just bought from Aldrich, which was said to contain some information about the Black Rank.
Dorothy quickly read the book on the table, ignoring Spirit Sight, and read the words on it. This was a research-oriented secret transmission exploring the Spirituality of "Stone", titled "Elemental Expression of Spirituality".
According to this secret transmission, "Stone" and "Cup" are relatively material Spirituality, with "Stone" being the most material. If the Spirituality of "Stone" is used as a catalyst, it can make other less material Spirituality manifest, easily stimulating the elemental expression of other Spirituality.
Spirituality is an essence with multiple layers of expression. Each layer of expression reflects a side of Spirituality: concept, spirit, senses, matter... There are many types of expressions, and elemental expression is one of the material expressions.
This secret transmission states that the six types of Spirituality all have their corresponding elemental expressions. The elements of "Stone" and "Cup" can easily be stimulated on their own, while the other four types of Spirituality generally require "Stone" as a catalyst to be stimulated.
The elements corresponding to the six types of Spirituality are: "Light" corresponds to fire, "Shadow" corresponds to wind, "Cup" corresponds to water, "Stone" corresponds to earth, and "Silence" corresponds to cold... or rather, ice.
Unfortunately, due to the lack of sufficient research subjects for the "Awakening/Enlightenment" Spirituality, the element expressed by "Awakening/Enlightenment" has not been discovered so far.
All six major types of Spirituality have corresponding elemental expressions. Therefore, on the extraordinary path, there are ranks focused on manipulating elementalized Spirituality, called Elementalists. Among them, except for "Cup" and "Stone", the other four major types of Spirituality need to accumulate "Stone" as supplementary Spirituality when advancing to the Black Rank. After advancing, they can use the supplementary Spirituality of "Stone" to catalyze their main Spirituality, thereby stimulating the elemental expression of their main Spirituality and manipulating the corresponding type of element.
For example, if a "Light" Apprentice chooses "Stone" as supplementary Spirituality, he can advance to the rank of "Fire Art User". Conversely, if a "Shadow" Apprentice uses "Stone" as supplementary Spirituality, he can advance to "Wind Art User".
After finishing the entire secret transmission, Dorothy let out a long breath. Indeed, as Aldrich said, after reading this secret transmission, Dorothy's understanding of Spirituality and the Black Rank deepened. At least she immediately knew the names of five Black Rank positions and also knew one of her options if she were to advance to the Black Rank.
If she were to advance using "Stone" as supplementary Spirituality, she would advance to the Elementalist corresponding to "Awakening/Enlightenment". However, the frustrating thing was that this book listed the corresponding elements for all Spirituality except for "Awakening/Enlightenment". So even if Dorothy wanted to advance to Elementalist, she wouldn't know what element she could control.
'This is really messed up. Because 'Awakening/Enlightenment' can't find enough research subjects, its corresponding elemental expression hasn't been discovered... Is 'Awakening/Enlightenment' that hard to find? You can use it for divination and anti-divination, can't you give some to researchers?'
Looking at the secret transmission in her hand, Dorothy complained in her heart. She now felt that the "Awakening/Enlightenment" Spirituality seemed somewhat rare in the hidden world.
In short, Dorothy gained a general understanding of Black Rank knowledge through this secret transmission and also learned one of her advancement paths. Afterward, she decisively extracted it into Spirituality.
Although this secret transmission was themed around "Stone", it introduced knowledge of all Spirituality except for "Awakening/Enlightenment". Therefore, Dorothy accumulated a wave of full Spirituality, with 4 points of "Stone" and 1 point for each of the other Spirituality, and 2 points for "Awakening/Enlightenment".
Adding to what she had before, Dorothy now had a total of 15 points of "Cup", 5 points of "Stone", 1 point of "Light", 3 points of "Shadow", 2 points of "Silence", and 9 points of "Awakening/Enlightenment".
'400 pounds... that's quite a good deal.'
Then, Dorothy put away the secret transmission, unlocked the door to her room, and walked into the living room, where she saw a sleepy-eyed Grego sitting on the sofa reading a newspaper.
Seeing her brother, whom she rarely saw recently, Dorothy blinked and said.
"Grego? You're up already. Aren't you going to sleep in?"
"Ugh... I have a mission this afternoon and evening, to be a bodyguard, so I can't sleep more," Grego said weakly with a yawn. The work at the bureau these past few days had clearly worn him out.
"Ah... you still have to work. Is there so much need for security in Igwinte recently?" With a curious expression, Dorothy asked Grego, who slowly replied.
"Of course... The Burton case... The Silver Riverbank case... Now Viscount Field even died from a wolf attack in the mountains. Igwinte is in a state of panic right now, and every wealthy person wants to have a few bodyguards around the clock... Although the salary is higher, I can't keep up with this kind of exhaustion..."
"That's true... If such terrifying criminals and beasts are at large, no one can relax. Alas... I didn't expect even someone like Viscount Field to meet with misfortune. Life is truly unpredictable. Should I go buy some peace amulets or something..." Dorothy sighed. Hearing Dorothy's words, Grego was slightly startled, then put down the newspaper in his hand and said seriously to Dorothy.
"Listen to me, Dorothy, don't believe in that stuff. Don't buy any amulets randomly, they're useless."
"I can tell you, I have internal police information. The criminals who caused the tragedy not long ago won't attack civilians and may have already left, so there's no need to be too nervous."
Grego advised as such, and Dorothy nodded understandingly.
"I see, then I'm relieved. But you're really amazing, Grego, to be able to get internal police information," Dorothy said admiringly to Grego. Grego, praised by his sister, couldn't help but smile.
"Of course, I'm your older brother. Those of us in this line of work often interact with the police. Ordinary police officers have to give me some respect," Grego said proudly, thinking that whenever he spoke, even the police chief would revolve around him.
"Then you're really amazing, Grego," Dorothy said with a smile, thinking to herself that if I stir things up in the city, you and those police officers will all revolve around me.
"Oh right, Dorothy, are you going out?" At this moment, Grego scrutinized Dorothy's clothes and asked, and Dorothy nodded and replied.
"Yes, my student from Cien Orphanage, Anna, who was adopted by Viscount Field, was recently discharged from the hospital. The orphanage invited me to visit her with them."
"Huh?" Hearing Dorothy's words, Grego couldn't help but freeze on the spot.