Iggwente Upper City, Hui Guang Church.
In the morning, the early sunlight filtered through the huge stained glass windows into the spacious sanctuary. Vanya, dressed in a Sister's habit, was kneeling before the altar, performing her morning prayer with utmost piety.
"Lord... thank You for bestowing new Light upon this new day, allowing us to bask in Your grace once more. I come before Your saint presence again, offering thanks and praise to You. May Your greatness be eternal, may Your knowledge be eternal. I will forever remember Your enlightenment, thank You for protecting my spirit from the poison of the evil scriptures, You... tsk..."
Praying, Vanya suddenly felt that something was wrong. Then she slapped her own face hard and immediately stopped praying.
'No, no, that's not right. The morning prayer isn't like this. The beginning was normal, but how did it go off track towards the end? There's no praise for knowledge or anything in this morning prayer... And what in the world was I saying at the end!'
Vanya thought inwardly, feeling a bit annoyed. This problem had been bothering her for several days. When she prayed normally, the prayer would inexplicably go off track to strange places, and it always happened when she was just getting into the zone.
In short, it was fine if she didn't pray seriously, but once she entered a state of piety, praying sincerely as she used to, the prayer would become more and more distorted. This had made her very troubled these past two days, and she had almost let it slip in front of other Sisters.
'Sigh... I should practice some more and try to correct it.'
Sighing in her heart, Vanya prepared to continue practicing prayer. Just then, a voice came from beside her.
"Oh, Sister Vanya, you're still here doing your morning prayer."
Vanya looked towards the voice. She saw a portly priest walking towards her. Vanya recognized him; his name was Kunde, one of the persons in charge of this local Church, who usually liked to flatter others.
"Haha... It's already been over an hour since the morning prayer time, hasn't it? Sister Vanya is still persisting in prayer. This determined piety is truly admirable. As expected of a Sister from Tivian, truly a role model for us!" Kunde said flatteringly, looking at Vanya. This made Vanya feel extremely awkward.
"Ah, ah haha... Captain, You are joking, Mr. Kunde. I just occasionally pray a bit longer, it's not to that extent..." Vanya replied with a smile, thinking to herself that she had just made too many mistakes in prayer recently and had specifically come to practice.
"Haha, what truly humble character, Sister Vanya..."
Then, Vanya and Kunde began to exchange pleasantries. After several rounds of flattery, Kunde asked Vanya about the progress of Bishop Deekt's sacred relic recovery work. Vanya replied that the work was almost done and they would return to Tivian in a week.
Hearing that Vanya would be leaving in a week, Kunde began to ask Vanya how she felt about Igwinte, trying to gauge her attitude towards the local Church, so as to know if this Sister would say anything bad to the higher-ups after she returned. Vanya skillfully dodged the questions and said that she had a very good impression of the place.
Having received his answer, Kunde smiled and left. Vanya breathed a sigh of relief, then knelt before the altar again, preparing to continue practicing prayer.
This time, she took out the sacred book tucked at her waist and opened it, preparing to practice according to the sacred book to increase her faith.
However, when she turned to a certain page, her attention was drawn by the newly appearing text on it.
"Are you there?"
...
A few days later, Yi Gewen West Suburbs, Saint Amanda School.
At night, the crescent moon was rising. Although Saint Amanda School was brightly lit, the male students remaining at school were currently in their evening class. The sound of their unified recitation echoed in the night sky, spreading to the distance, as usual.
In the distance from the school, on a road halfway up a low mountain, a carriage was parked here. Inside the carriage sat two figures; they were Geffrey and Oswan.
They were currently looking through the carriage window at the brightly lit school in the distance, listening to the sounds from within. Oswan snorted coldly and said.
"They're still having classes at this hour, hmph, they really don't know anything, that old guy..."
"Yes, it does seem like he hasn't reacted yet, but just to be safe... should we send a Ghost in to scout?" The one speaking was Geffrey beside him. At this moment, he wanted to scout the school ahead again, but this was rejected by Oswan.
"There's no need for that. We went in and saw for ourselves before. There's a warning barrier against Ghosts inside. Our Ghosts will be discovered as soon as they sneak in, which would only alert the enemy.
"That old guy is very cunning. As Mr. Deer Skull's great enemy, he wouldn't fail to guard against the Ghost tactic."
Geffrey said. They had already scouted this school in various ways over the past few days. They had discovered obvious extraordinary traces inside, and they were all traces of "Stone"!
After investigating from multiple angles, they were finally able to confirm that the target they were looking for, their master Mr. Deer Skull's great enemy, was hiding in this school!
Now, the investigation was complete. The fish's location had been determined. It was time to reel in the net.
Time passed slowly. The two people in the carriage looked at the school in the distance for a while, then looked at their watches. Finally, they waited until the appointed time.
"It's time, we should make our move."
"Yes, the best ritual moment has arrived. It's time to invite Mr. Deer Skull over."
After a brief exchange between the two in the carriage, they got out of the carriage and came to the back of the carriage. They opened the doors of the rear cargo box, which contained two large suitcases and a long, large coffin.
First, they took out the suitcases, then the two of them worked together to pull out the coffin and place it on the ground. After that, the two took out a large pottery jar from inside the carriage. When they opened it, it was filled with white bone ash.
Next, Oswan began to pour the bone ash onto the ground, drawing circles and patterns with the bone ash as he poured, finally forming a circular magic circle. The center of the magic circle was a circle with an upright triangle pattern, the symbol of "Stone", which was the core of this magic circle. Below this main symbol, there was another smaller symbol, which was in the shape of a closed eye. This was the symbol of "Silence".
Primary "Stone", secondary "Silence", this was the meaning of this magic circle, and also the outline of "Bonecrafter", a branch path of "Stone".
After drawing the magic circle, Oswan and the other person opened the coffin beside them. What appeared inside was a complete human skeleton.
Looking at the skeletal white bones before them, the two simultaneously waved their hands. The white bones in the coffin began to float automatically, floating out of the coffin and onto the magic circle, then slowly descending to lie on the magic circle drawn with bone ash, resting quietly.
Next, Oswan took out a beautifully decorated long box from inside his clothes. After opening the box, a bone appeared inside, a human right upper arm bone. Compared to the white bones on the magic circle, this arm bone appeared pitch black, covered with countless dense incantations.
Respectfully holding this pitch-black incantation bone, Oswan came before the magic circle and knelt down. Geffrey, who also knelt down, reached out and removed the right upper arm bone from the human skeleton in the magic circle. Then Oswan replaced it with the incantation bone in his hand. Next, the two lowered their heads and chanted the incantations in unison.
As the incantations echoed in the dark night, the black incantation bone that had been replaced and grafted onto the white bones began to emit wisps of faint light. Subsequently, this faint light gradually spread throughout the white bones. In this faint light, the white bones began to move with clicking sounds, and then slowly sat up within the magic circle.
Amidst the echoing incantations, the humanoid white bones slowly stood up in the center of the magic circle, finally straightening completely. Then, beneath him, the bone ash that formed the magic circle seemed to be blown by an invisible wind, gradually detaching from the magic circle and condensing around the skeleton, attaching to it through the empty space.
Slowly, this bone ash continuously condensed around the skeleton, forming a layer of "skin". This layer of "skin" continuously expanded, slowly completely wrapping the entire white bones, forming "muscles", "fingers", "nose", "ears", "mouth", a "person"...
Finally, the bone ash in the magic circle was completely consumed, and a "person" appeared on the scene, a "person" whose outer surface was completely constructed from bone ash, with a gray-white body.
He had no physical features. His gray-white body was exposed, his face was handsome, and his entire body looked like a statue carved from stone. There were no pupils in his eye sockets, only pure blackness, which looked extraordinarily terrifying.
"Mr. Deer Skull..."