Shipped!

## Chapter 47: The Goods are Out! Glass Island, White Queen District.

On the second floor of the pure white Brown Hotel, a young gentleman, dressed impeccably and behaving with utmost civility, was leisurely eating a freshly grilled steak in his room.

Standing beside his table was a maid in soul form. She had a pure white, translucent spirit body, appearing to be only seventeen or eighteen years old. Her attire, similar to "Fox," consisted of a white Priest's robe without a Mitre. Only her spine was solid; through her semi-transparent white body, one could barely make out the pale color of her spine.

Suddenly, the girl leaned in and whispered something in the gentleman's ear. Her mouth moved, but no sound was audible.

The gentleman, however, seemed to hear something. He raised an eyebrow, took out a pure gold pocket watch inlaid with gemstones from his pocket, and opened it.

"It's almost over."

He glanced at the time, put it away, and then stuffed the remaining small piece of steak into his mouth.

He chewed heartily, juice constantly oozing out. The tough tendons made a crunching sound. But because his teeth were strong, he chewed the meat thoroughly and swallowed it.

The young gentleman murmured softly, with a hint of satisfaction and reluctance, "It's such a pity to part with such a young and healthy body..."

At the same time.

In the room below the gentleman's, a maid who resembled a Newsboy was slowly cleaning the room, sighing with worry.

"It's finally ending... What torture. It's too terrifying."

Sherlock, who was hiding with Lu Lu in the abandoned chemical factory, had nothing in common with the Princess. Therefore, they maintained a polite and somewhat awkward silence.

He focused on the Sun, which was gradually rising to its highest point in the sky, and suddenly said, "It's almost time."

"What?"

Lu Lu, holding the child, asked subconsciously, then immediately reacted and perked up. "Is the ritual about to end?"

"There are four survivors left. Those two didn't die until the very end."

Sherlock said in a low voice, "'Bone Carver'... Lars Graham? I'll investigate him."

"If it's not him—don't say I said it!"

Lu Lu whispered nervously.

The Newsboy sighed.

"My esteemed Princess," he said lazily, "Normally, even if I did say it, he wouldn't know it was you. I know 'Lu Lu,' not 'Isabel Du Lac.'"

"...Eh?" Suddenly having her real name revealed, Lu Lu, who was trying her best to play the role of "Anne Alexander," widened her eyes.

"Master Agnes is too irresponsible. Although there's no penalty for failing the first advancement ritual, and with your nobility, you don't have to worry about being discovered in reality. But I think some common sense things should be taught in advance. Not all setbacks have meaning—especially since you've suffered quite a few setbacks already."

The Newsboy pulled down his Newsboy cap and said in a low voice, "I will report this ritual to Her Majesty the Queen in detail. Including the unusual difficulty of this ritual, the information on 'Bone Carver,' 'Knight,' 'Fox,' and 'Ke Ke,' and the matter between you and Mr. Fox. Of course, it also includes the mistakes you made in this ritual—I have memorized them all, without missing a single detail.

"This time is fine. But remember... From the second advancement ritual onwards, there will be a price to pay for failing or dying in the ritual.

"I am one of the very few Path of Wisdom transcendents in Avalon. If nothing unexpected happens, Her Majesty the Queen may entrust me to advance with you simultaneously and protect you during the ritual. I hope that next time we meet, you can slightly correct your naive and mischievous habits."

Speaking of this, the Newsboy looked at "Anne Alexander's" somewhat astonished and flustered eyes, and pondered for a moment.

Then he added, "I will try to investigate the real identity of 'Fox' for you. But please don't expect too much, my priority for the next period of time will be the 'Sweater Brotherhood' and 'Bone Carver.'"

"...Eh? Th-thank you, Mr. Sherlock..."

Although Lu Lu didn't know when she had been exposed, it wasn't surprising that the famous Mr. Sherlock Holmes had discovered her true identity. So she wasn't too shocked.

But when she heard Sherlock say he would help her investigate the "Fox," she was slightly embarrassed. However, she didn't refuse.

Seeing this, Sherlock sighed again, saying nothing more.

At this moment, a light suddenly illuminated everyone's eyes—a pure white light bursting forth as the world collapsed and disintegrated.

Including those who had already died and those who were still alive among the ritual participants, a series of constantly changing images appeared before their eyes.

A young Priest with black hair and blue eyes, placing his hand on the back of a child's neck, his palm radiating light; a young Inspector, seriously injured and disemboweled by an Iron Hook, turning his back to the fleeing civilians, the short sword symbolizing the authority of the law in his hand radiating pure white light, still standing in place; deep green Water Demon Claws tightly gripping the Iron Hook Demon, hissing with white smoke, while the Iron Hook Demon's face was contorted, seemingly shouting something; a Bone Staff was thrown into the air, emitting a dim yellow light, pure white smoke drawing out from it, enveloping the Bone Staff to form a semi-transparent ghost of a girl with a blurred face;

The young Priest, holding a Paper Knife, resolutely and fearlessly used it to slit his own throat;

A dark-skinned fat man, his entire head gripped by a pale, withered right hand, the fat on his face and his trembling eyes of terror spilling out from between the fingers; Anne Alexander, holding the still-sleeping Little Iver in the sunset, a look of sadness and strength on her face.

—The next moment, the scene before them, along with the entire surrounding world, began to turn into sand.

Everything before their eyes dissipated like flying sand.

These sands flew into the air, then flowed backward, and were sucked back into the body of a huge, glowing hourglass.

Iver woke up, sorted out his complex emotions, and decided to at least ask around indirectly before drawing any conclusions.

After all, the information given in the ritual might not be entirely correct... right?... But having said that, he actually had similar guesses in his heart.

This was also within expectations.

Iver sighed and looked up, finding that he had returned to his original "Faceless Priest" image, still sitting in his frighteningly large chair.

But before him was no longer pitch black, nor were there the other eight chairs and the other eight ritual participants.

Instead, there was light.

Just like when he first advanced, a world of light without any shadows.

Screens of light fell quickly before him, displaying Iver's settlement points:

[Necessary task completed (Points: 600)]
[Preserve yourself: Ensure your own survival (Uncompleted)]
[Heart is the Sanctuary: Do not choose to hide in the Light Bearer Cathedral, take the initiative to go to Legal Square (Points: 100)]
[My Unforgettable Nature: Save those who are destined to die (Points: 100)]
[Once and for all: Find and kill the murderer (Points: 500)]
[My Favorite Jasmine: Ensure the survival of your wife, Anne Alexander (Points: 500)]
[Live Longer: Live as long as possible among the nine ritual participants, or try to die later (Points: 100)]
[The Beginning of Everything: Find the mastermind (Points: 1000)]
[Total points: 2900, ranked first]

That familiar, ruby-like, transparent, and pure figure of a stag reappeared in the distance.

His blood dripped on the ground, igniting red flame footprints.

He approached Iver again and gently licked Iver's cheek.

And the black thorns on His neck pierced Iver's cheek, leaving a barely visible wound from which black blood seeped—

Three lines of text appeared before Iver's eyes again.

[Light Affinity LV1 (Blue): You were cut by the Light Bearer's Sin Thorn, and from it, you comprehended a trace of the essence of light.]

Before he could see if the remaining two lines had Expansion entries, the two lines of blue-white text were completely burned away by black flames.

Two streams of purple light shone and overflowed, emitting a heavy hum.

This extremely familiar sound made Iver instantly widen his eyes and perk up.

——Jackpot!

He got something on his first advancement! And two of them! ...Could it be that the ranking really does determine the quality of the drops? This wasn't a feature in the Game... but it makes more sense this way.

But this seems more like a feature that should have been there from the start, but was cut for the sake of fairness...

Iver opened his eyes wide and saw two lines of rare purple entries:

[Vessel of Burning and Radiance (Purple): Light is born of fire, and fire floats on light. Your soul is nourished by both.]

[Tainted Light LV1 (Purple): No light is absolutely pure, just like the human heart. You attempt to temper your light with potent poison.]