Exile and Purification

A scarlet phantom projected into the consciousness of Gallo. In the vision cast by his inspiration, red blood mist billowed, and Gallo could even hear the sound of a carriage traveling from within that crimson haze.

Several hideous monsters with multiple arms and fangs protruding from their faces pulled a carriage that resembled a tower of black iron out of the blood mist. At the very top of that black iron tower, a crimson demonic phantom formed from red light appeared.

The phantom held a spear wreathed in the wails of souls, and Gallo could even hear the creature's mocking laughter echoing within his own will.

At the final moment when Gallo's consciousness faltered, he poured his attribute points into [Spirituality]. Suddenly, a vastly different power erupted from the depths of his soul!

If [Inspiration] was a tentacle reaching outward to perceive, then [Spirituality] was the core that condensed the existence of the soul!

A scorching and pure light of spirituality, like the rising morning sun, burst forth from within his body, dispersing the viscous blood mist and violently pushing away the cold will that had attempted to freeze his thoughts!

"Get out!" Gallo roared silently within his mind.

The whispers and erosion originating from the Subspace, faced with this newfound spiritual power, melted and retreated rapidly like snow meeting a blazing sun.

The scarlet demonic phantom in his mind—Blood-Howl Gorak—let out a roar of fury that gradually faded into the distance.

A streak of crimson shot out from the blood mist, attempting to pierce directly through Gallo's will, but under the light of his erupting spirituality, the spear wielded by the entity dissolved into scattering specks of blood-colored light.

The suffocating pressure within the attic suddenly lifted, and the flow of time returned to normal.

Gallo gasped for air, his entire body drenched in sweat.

Too careless, too dangerous. It was clear that this leather-bound notebook was a physical manifestation of the Subspace, an extraordinary item created by corrupting Jeffrey, using his life and soul as a sacrifice to lure and bewitch him.

For a Psionic with high inspiration, simply touching and reading the contents of this notebook would invite the gaze of that Subspace entity, thereby influencing the reader.

Even if an ordinary person carried this notebook for a long time without understanding the ancient hieroglyphs, they would be affected by the Subspace fluctuations, leading to drastic changes in their temperament.

Gallo panted heavily, then stood up, noticing his legs had gone weak. His sister Lily and mother Aisha had not noticed the extremely perilous scene that had just unfolded.

Gallo, who possessed knowledge of the Subspace, knew that once a Psionic was bewitched and manipulated by a Subspace entity, it was highly likely to trigger a Psionic runaway phenomenon, endangering those around them. The most terrifying consequence would be total corruption, either becoming a puppet or turning into a gateway connecting the real world to the Subspace.

This would allow Subspace entities to enter the real world.

"Looking at it this way, the... Blood-Howl Gorak from just now wanted to control me, thinking that if its projection appeared in my consciousness, I would bow down and worship it?"

Gallo took a deep breath and thought: "But after using the system to add points to my Psionic power, my strength exceeded that Subspace entity's imagination, allowing me to directly expel its projection from my will and banish it back to the Subspace!"

Furthermore, through this incident, Gallo understood that [Spirituality] was not just a power that influenced reality, but the cornerstone that anchored his own existence and resisted Subspace contamination!

If he had relied solely on inspiration, he would have had to remain perfectly centered at all times, never allowing the Subspace entity to detect even a single flaw.

"Another point added!"

Gallo opened his attribute panel and saw that his available attribute points had increased by one; it seemed this was related to banishing Blood-Howl Gorak.

Setting aside the new attribute point for the moment, he picked up the notebook from the table. The original dark red spiritual fluctuations had vanished, replaced by a layer of radiance—a spiritual fluctuation originating from his own essence.

When he opened the notebook, he discovered that all the dark red ancient hieroglyphs had disappeared.

"When I banished that Gorak, my own light of spirituality directly expelled... I suppose you could call it purification."

"It directly purified the Subspace contamination on this notebook, though it also caused the notebook to be infected by my own spirituality. While the negative Subspace influence is gone, this notebook can no longer be considered an ordinary object; with my spiritual fluctuations on it, it should still fall into the category of an extraordinary item."

As Gallo held the notebook, he could clearly feel a connection between it and his own spirituality.

He set the notebook down and took the Fenso coin he used for divination out of his pocket.

Under Gallo's inspiration, the coin was trembling slightly. Several tiny black tentacles were actually extending from what had previously been just a dark, greasy coin.

Those oily black tentacles writhed and waved, but they did not dare to be presumptuous in Gallo's palm, even transmitting a faint, fawning spiritual fluctuation.

"Every time I used this coin for divination, my soul would flicker in the Subspace projection, and as this coin displayed predictions of the Law of Causality, it naturally became contaminated with a portion of Subspace energy."

"However, early on, my inspiration was lower, so I could only tell that the coin was different—black and greasy—and my own spirituality wasn't strong enough to purify it."

Watching the black tentacles squirming in a fawning manner on the coin, Gallo gave up on the idea of using his own spirituality to purify it and tucked it away.

"Although this thing is eerie, it currently shows no signs of being a threat to me. If used correctly, it might even be a decent extraordinary tool."

"Besides, now that my inspiration has increased, I don't really need such simple divination tools anymore."

Looking back at the leather-bound notebook, Gallo felt troubled.

"Right now, even though I've banished that demon and purified the notebook, I haven't dealt with Sacia and her group. The danger in reality still exists, and more troublesome still, all the text in this notebook has vanished because of my purification..."

He took a deep breath and continued to think:

"Perhaps... I can explain it as an unknown cause. Even if Sacia knows this notebook is unusual, she doesn't know its specific function. Telling her that the text has disappeared—such an extraordinary phenomenon—might actually make her even more excited."

"Perhaps Sacia and her group want to communicate with a Subspace entity... They are truly a bunch of people playing with fire, completely ignorant of the dangers of Subspace existences."

"They probably think they are making contact with some great being."

Thinking of this, Gallo felt distressed: "But I can't just give them a notebook devoid of text and a blank sheet of paper."

"I have to provide at least some translated content to prevent them from blaming me directly for coming up empty-handed."

"But if I hand over the ritual content for communicating with that Subspace demon, who knows what terrible consequences might follow? Once a gateway to the Subspace appears in this city and allows various entities to pour in, I won't be out of danger, and I might even become a primary target for Gorak's revenge."

Finally, Gallo mused: "Perhaps, I could modify that ritual and change the target to 'me' instead!"

"That way, I might even be able to uncover what that group's true purpose is."