After this, seeing that it was getting late, Dorothy, pulling Vanya who was still standing there blankly and thinking about something unknown, bid farewell to Aldrich and set off on the road back to Igwinte.
At the farewell, Aldrich promised that he would help Dorothy go to Tivian in a couple of days, and Dorothy only needed to wait for his news. After thoroughly looting the two Bonecrafters who were defeated, Dorothy and Vanya returned to Igwinte by carriage.
After saying goodbye to Vanya at an intersection somewhere, Dorothy parked the carriage and walked back to Nanyang Flower Road. Upon walking up the apartment building and entering her home, she found it completely dark, indicating that Grego was still working overtime and hadn't returned.
"Ah, ah... how tiring..."
With a simple sigh, Dorothy walked into her room, turned on the Light, locked the door, and sat down to sort out her losses and gains from this endeavor.
First, the losses. In terms of Corpses Puppets, Dorothy lost a total of nine Corpses Puppets in this wave, with twelve remaining. In terms of talismans, Dorothy used up the only Silence talisman obtained from Bill, and there were no other talisman expenditures. Half of the explosives obtained at the Sunken Wharf were used up, with the other half remaining.
In terms of Spirituality loss, the consumption of 'Qi' did not exceed the blue bar's upper limit of 5 points, while the overloaded Corpse Puppet Ring consumed 2 points of 'Cup'. The consumption of'Shadow' was slightly higher; she used the Black candle twice, consuming 2 points of her own'Shadow', and the Corpses Puppets used two'Shadow' Spirituality reserves to secretly approach the enemy. After this, Dorothy's'Shadow' reserves were completely used up.
Next are the gains. To be honest, those two Bonecrafters were really poor. Dorothy only found a few talismans and a bit of money on them, nothing else. Their bone artifacts couldn't be used by non-Bonecrafters. As fellow Black Ranks, compared to Luer who went out to make a name for himself and established the Holy Communion Society, they were far behind.
However, thinking about it, Luer's 'Cup' path easily corrupts people and is most effective at gathering ordinary followers. By corrupting wealthy people like Field and Buck, he could easily gather large sums of money to engage in Extraordinary activities, so being rich is normal. Furthermore, Luer seems to have been at the Black Rank for a long time, already at the peak of Black Rank and able to advance, so it's normal for him to be a bit stronger and richer than average Black Ranks.
Moreover, according to Aldrich, Extraordinary of the'Stone' path often need to spend a lot of resources on their path to Golden for creation, making their own constructs, raw materials, tools, technical support, etc., all require money. Therefore,'Stone' Extraordinary spend a lot of money on their Extraordinary path. If they aren't unscrupulous merchants and don't have efficient ways to make money quickly, being a bit poor is understandable.
"Understanding is understanding, but these two guys are really poor."
Complaining, Dorothy placed the few talismans she had taken from them on the table. There were four in total, and Aldrich had already identified them for free.
Among them, two were Light Illumination Talismans, consuming at least 1 point of 'Light', capable of creating a floating orb of light for illumination that could follow the user. One was an Earth Listening Talisman, consuming at least 2 points of'Stone', capable of sensing vibrations through the ground. Finally, there was a Spirit Sealing Talisman, consuming at least 2 points of'Silence', capable of sealing a spirit body within an object, preferably a bone artifact.
Then there was the money. Neither of them had much cash on them, likely only carrying enough travel expenses because they didn't plan to stay in Igwinte for long, totaling around 100 pounds.
"Hmph... poor is poor, but at least there's some gain."
After sighing, Dorothy put everything into her magic box and then began to sort out the secret knowledge she had gained from this operation. Although this secret knowledge was not obtained through reading secret transmissions, she could still extract Spirituality from it.
This secret knowledge included witnessing the remains of the divine creature, the Abyssal Underworld Deer, from which Dorothy extracted 1 point of'Silence' and 1 point of 'Qi'. Knowing some details about the advancement of'Stone' path Extraordinary to Golden, Dorothy extracted 2 points of'Stone' and 1 point of 'Qi' from it. Knowing about the existence of the Xing Shu Xiu Shu Hui (Star Numerology Scripture Society) and learning the location of one of its ruins, Dorothy extracted pure 'Qi' from it, a total of 3 points of 'Qi'.
Combining the previous consumption, Dorothy's current Spirituality status was as follows:
13 Cup, 10 Stone, 1 Shadow, 4 Light, 3 Silence, 14 Qi.
This time, when calculating 'Qi', Dorothy directly excluded the 5 points of inherent Spirituality used as the blue bar, only calculating the experience point Spirituality. Currently, Dorothy's experience point Spirituality is 14 points, and she only needs to accumulate 6 more points to reach the Student Rank limit of 20 points.
In terms of reserves, Dorothy now has 4 Light reserves and 2 Stone reserves. This is the complete picture of Dorothy's current Spirituality. As for money, including the original amount, what she got from the black-on-black at the wharf, and this time's gains, she has a total of 940 pounds.
'I didn't expect...'Shadow' is only left with 1 point. I need to find time to buy some from Aldrich to replenish it, at least enough for the basic needs of the ring of concealment.'
'Also, 'Cup'. Although 'Cup' seems quite abundant now, after the Holy Communion Society is completely gone, I don't have a stable way to replenish 'Cup'. My main combat strength lies in the Corpses Puppet army, and the main power of the Corpses Puppet army is 'Cup'. Although these 13 points of 'Cup' can last for a while, I must find a suitable source of acquisition before they are used up, otherwise the Corpses Puppet army will be greatly weakened.'
'Finally, 'Qi'. My experience point 'Qi' is only 6 points away from being full, and once it's full, it seems to meet the Spirituality requirement for advancement. I wonder if I can find the method for advancement in the Xing Shu Xiu Shu Hui (Star Numerology Scripture Society) ruin in Tivian.'
With uncertain thoughts, Dorothy took out a golden coin, placed it in her hand, and silently recited the divination words.
'Does the Xing Shu Xiu Shu Hui (Star Numerology Scripture Society) ruin in Tivian contain the method for advancing to Black Rank on the 'Qi' path?'
After silently reciting, Dorothy tossed the coin and covered it with her hand. After slowly moving her hand away, the lusterless coin showed the heads side, which represented confirmation, confirming the correctness of Dorothy's divination.
"It seems I have to go to Tivian," Dorothy murmured, looking at the divination result on the back of her hand.
After everything was sorted out, Dorothy tidied up the things on the table. After taking off her clothes and taking a bath, she put on her pajamas, turned off the Light, and lay down on the bed to prepare for sleep. However, as she lay in bed and pulled up the covers, she suddenly realized something.
'Right, about those two Bonecrafters, one of them is still alive. He's currently locked in the secret room at the school, I wonder if he's woken up yet. How should I use this guy...'
Just as she was about to go to sleep, Dorothy suddenly realized that she seemed to have a prisoner she hadn't dealt with, so she lay in bed and started thinking about how to handle him.
'What can a Black Rank Bonecrafter prisoner be used for? As a Corpse Puppet? That's too wasteful, my Corpses Puppets cannot inherit Extraordinary abilities, turning him into a Corpse Puppet would just make him an ordinary Corpse Puppet.'
'Sell him to Aldrich so he can interrogate the prisoner? To get information about Deer Skull? That's also an option, but Aldrich already knows I captured a Bonecrafter and he didn't ask me for him, which means he might think this little henchman won't yield any intelligence, Deer Skull wouldn't leak useful information to subordinates of this level. Aldrich isn't the type of Extraordinary who would strip bones and extract souls, he doesn't have much need for human materials, selling him probably wouldn't fetch a good price.'
'Psychological manipulation? Make him my puppet? If only I had that ability.'
'Give him the "cup" drug, corrupt him? Would that really work on'Stone' Extraordinary?'
Lying in bed, Dorothy pondered how to use the Black Rank Bonecrafter prisoner. As she glanced around the empty room, an idea formed in her mind.
'Perhaps... I can try this...'