Preparation for the Advancement Ritual

"Sulfur, salt, mercury."

As evening approached, Sherlock Holmes was in his room, confirming the materials he would use for tonight's advancement ritual.

He wore a monocle, diligently checking the scribbled words on the labels of his bottles and jars.

Sherlock muttered softly, his fingers gliding over the bottles and jars on the shelf: "Sanctified Silver Powder, Blessed Holy Water. A bundle of Dried Black Sage, an unused White Crystal, six new Red Candles..."

Meanwhile, in the Silver and Tin Palace.

Princess Isabel was also pacing nervously in her room.

She was constantly muttering the names of the materials needed for the advancement ritual, her unease visible to the naked eye.

"And Clove Essential Oil, Cinnamon Essential Oil, Cypress Essential Oil, Benzoin Essential Oil... and Helichrysum Essential Oil, Chamomile Essential Oil... and... and..."

Yanis, the elven artist sitting beside her humming a song and writing music, sighed helplessly and put down her pen.

"—And Ginger, Dill, White Bread. Honestly... little Isa, what are you so nervous about? You should trust your Court Ritualists, they are much more reliable at setting up rituals than you are at preparing them yourself."

"Yes, I know..."

Isabel murmured, not even bothering to emphasize "Call me Isabel, not little Isa."

She felt a little short of breath, gently clutching the neckline of her white gauze dress, as if wanting to lift the collar to fan some air in and relieve her tension—but considering the image and dignity of the royal family, she dared not make such a vulgar gesture in front of outsiders.

"The first advancement is very simple, don't be nervous."

Yanis coaxed, "You have to believe in yourself, you are very strong, and your foundation is more solid than most people's. The first advancement, and a full moon advancement at that... probably six or seven people will be able to advance, so what are you afraid of?"

"...That's what I'm afraid of."

Isabel looked worried: "If six out of nine people can advance, and I don't—if that gets out, it will be a disgrace to the royal family.

"And, people will gossip about you, teacher, they will say bad things about you. They will spread terrible rumors..."

She was able to embark on the Path of Beauty purely because of Queen Sophia's doting on her. Because the Avalon's royal family, the Du Lac family, should normally only choose the Path of Authority.

But among the Queen's six grandchildren, Her Majesty the Queen's favorite was Isabel, the second youngest.

Younger than Isabel was only her two-year-old brother.

And Isabel showed her extraordinary artistic talent at a very young age.

When she was only four years old, she accompanied the Queen to listen to the opera Lulu's Magic Flute. Without understanding Stibium Language, she only listened to it once and was able to hum the arias directly.

Queen Sophia was very happy. Because before she became Queen, she dreamed of becoming an opera master. She even wrote several operas herself after inheriting the throne, just for fun. She just didn't release them out of consideration for her status.

And among her many children, only Isabel inherited her operatic talent.

Therefore, she overruled all objections.

She directly set a precedent for Isabel. Allowing her to step onto the Path of Beauty and formally study "art".

The Path of Beauty is the path of harmony and art, of flow and eternity.

And the key skill of the Path of Beauty is "art".

Including opera, musical compositions, paintings, sculptures, drama, dance, and poetry, all belong to the mystical arts of the Path of Beauty.

Art itself possesses a mystical quality. Without exception, all great masters of art are pioneers of the Path of Beauty.

Just as the key skill of the Path of Authority is "leadership"—the art of a monarch managing subordinates and directing others to obey, which also possesses a mystical quality.

If one wishes to increase their Path depth, specializing in only one skill is definitely not enough.

Perhaps due to her quarter-elf bloodline, Isabel's talent lies in singing and dancing.

And since she is embarking on a Path, she must walk it steadfastly.

Once transcendents step onto a Path, they become plagued by the desire to ascend higher—they become obsessed with delving deeper and rising higher. The longer they remain in place, the more easily they descend into madness.

It's like those talented young people in a certain industry who are slightly skilled but not geniuses. They often feel despair at true talent—a despair that those outside the industry cannot feel, a heart-shaking chasm that can only be understood after delving deep into the industry.

This sense of powerlessness and shock, if it occurs on the transcendent Path, will drive a person mad.

And the Path of Beauty emphasizes perceiving the beauty of the world, comprehending the harmony and eternity of the world... which makes it even easier to become insane.

Those art masters who specialize in one art form have almost all gone mad without exception.

Therefore, Her Majesty the Queen specifically invited Master Agnes for Isabel, to teach her the skills of painting, sculpture, and musical arrangement.

Because this is the safest route to advancement.

Anyway, it's not Isabel's turn to inherit the throne. Since the Queen is happy, let the child play.

That's what others thought at the time.

However, good times don't last long.

Starting more than a decade ago, the Avalon royal family suddenly began to fall ill one after another.

At first, they suspected poisoning, but later it was determined that someone was performing a powerful Lineage Severing Curse—a continuous and potent curse that even the Church's Illumination Spell could not completely dispel, and the Sacred Bone of successive Sages could not protect against.

If the power of a country cannot dispel or resist it, then it can only be a curse issued by another country.

Who else could it be? It could only be the Stibium Kingdom.

Although Avalon had no evidence, it was common sense... that only the Stibium Kingdom could have ritualists capable of such intensity.

Therefore, starting a few years ago—as the first royal family member was dragged to death by an incurable curse, Avalon and Stibium officially entered a state of hostility.

To this day, in Isabel's father's generation, only her father remains alive.

And in her generation, half have already died of illness.

Only Isabel's elder brother, Isabel, and her two-year-old younger brother remain.

Without doing anything, she inexplicably became the third heir to the Avalon Kingdom.

—If she really inherits the throne, then a big problem will arise.

Avalon, a country that advocates the Path of Authority, its new Queen has no affinity for the Path of Authority at all.

Now she is the third heir, but no one knows if she will suddenly become the first. Because "third" is already a very dangerous position.

Isabel has done nothing wrong, and neither has Master Agnes. However, due to the changing situation, there are even rumors among the kingdom's high-ranking officials that the Stibium Kingdom's goal is to have Isabel ascend the throne—so that it can throw Avalon into chaos from within.

The entire kingdom's privileged class, all the transcendents in government departments, and even most of the soldiers, came from the Path of Authority. How could the Queen of the Path of Beauty possibly gain their complete loyalty? So Isabel was under a lot of pressure.

Any mistake she made would be constantly magnified, then criticized and blamed.

But she didn't want to blame them either.

Because she could sense that they were also under great pressure and worried about that future.

She could also understand that their worries were correct—if she really became Queen in the future, Avalon would probably fall into prolonged chaos. But she really didn't have the adaptability for the Path of Authority... She had tried many times, but she really couldn't learn it.

All she could pray for was that her older brothers and younger brothers would stop dying.

But there was nothing she could do. It wasn't up to her.

She could only do everything according to the rules, silently doing her best to avoid giving others a chance to find fault.

Because of this, she didn't use her privileges. Instead, she entered the university and lived with the other students.

She only became a transcendent through formal channels after passing the comprehensive assessment of the first three semesters of her freshman year. Before that, she strictly limited her scope of study, only learning the more marginal parts of the "art" skills, the parts that ordinary people could also touch... Then she constantly honed her basic skills, but never engaged in learning about transcendent powers.

She patiently practiced the basics for thirteen years.

It was boring, meaningless, and painfully nauseating. But she persevered.

Because she wanted to show that she would not arbitrarily use royal privileges.

She hoped that this would make the voices of dissatisfaction disappear.

She tried to downplay her image as a "princess," hoping that people would see her as an ordinary person, not the kingdom's third heir.

It was only now that she suddenly realized—

Perhaps she had never truly become an "ordinary person" in the real sense.

She was still being served, pampered, and helped.

While other transcendents prepared their own rituals, she could only sit aside and drink tea. The Court Ritualist would take care of everything for her, and she didn't have to do anything—she didn't have to worry about drawing her ritual array incorrectly, or fear that buying inferior or fake materials would cause the ritual to fail.

"...I'll do it myself."

Isabel made up her mind.

She bowed deeply to the ritualist: "Master Osborn, I'm very sorry... It's not that I don't trust you. I just think... perhaps it wouldn't be good for me to watch from the side."

Isabel didn't know how to describe the tension and anxiety in her heart.

But watching the white-haired ritualist prepare the ritual for her always made her feel uneasy.

It was as if her mistake was being taken away and shouldered by someone else.

Her older brothers and sisters used to love her very much. If she accidentally broke something, they would be the first to admit their mistake.

Although Isabel was not reprimanded at that time, she always felt uneasy.

—Just like now.

It was as if something was tormenting her heart.

"Please let me prepare the advancement ritual myself."

Princess Isabel repeated.

Her voice became clearer, not as timid as before: "You can assist me from the side, Master Osborn."

The white-haired Court Ritualist on the side cheerfully stroked his beard, smiling and nodding.

"Alright, my little princess. Indeed, this kind of thing... it really needs to be done by oneself to have a sense of ritual.

"Remember this feeling well, Your Highness the Princess. The first time entering the Dream Realm, the first time coming into contact with the other eight Paths. Truly breaking away from the 'apprentice' status and becoming a true transcendent—"

On the other side.

In Moriarty Manor, Iver, clutching his forehead, climbed out of bed.

He wasn't really done sleeping yet.

But his spiritual intuition told him that if he didn't wake up, he would be late—so he forcibly woke himself up.

The setting sun was falling outside.

Iver used trembling hands to strike a match, repeatedly trying several times before he finally lit it.

He shivered as he lit the white candle placed by his bedside—this was obviously the "healing medicine" prepared by Oswald.

Iver grabbed the flame, feeling the vitality pouring into his body from the candlelight, and slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately... because Iver was interested in the occult, he had prepared all kinds of materials in his room. It wouldn't delay things.

The so-called "poor student has a lot of stationery."

Even though he didn't know how to use them, he bought everything he could get his hands on.

...It's just that he hadn't eaten all day. He was panicking with hunger.

He should find a way to fill his stomach first, then come back and quickly prepare for the advancement ritual.