Omen

Several days later.

In the square before the granary.

Aaron was performing his daily training, the slender cross-sword dancing in his hand as if it possessed no weight at all.

Over this period, he had constantly attempted to contain spirituality; although it dissipated in the end, it had indeed seemed to benefit his body, with both his strength and speed improving once again.

Or perhaps, it is the credit of the potions I concocted earlier?

Aaron was somewhat uncertain, but the ability to advance his strength further was undoubtedly a good thing.

"Lord Baron, something has happened!"

Just as Aaron was preparing to continue, Eight-Fingers ran over, his face pale as he reported.

"Oh?" Aaron lowered his longsword and frowned.

"A murder occurred in the village. Poor Old Kru and his entire family are dead. By the looks of it, it must have been the work of outsiders..."

Eight-Fingers said.

"Take me to see."

Aaron picked up his sword and let Eight-Fingers lead the way.

In the village, outside a straw hut, a group of people stood around pointing and whispering. Several guards stood watch at the door, and upon seeing Aaron approach, they hurriedly saluted.

Aaron ducked into the straw hut. The windows on the mud-plastered walls were tiny, leaving the interior dim. One could still see an overturned wooden bowl with pea porridge inside, and a pile of scattered turnips and carrots on the floor.

A pool of dark red blood had already stained the ground a deep crimson.

"Old Kru and his wife are both dead, as well as his daughter... Fortunately, his son was not home last night and escaped the disaster."

Eight-Fingers explained from the side: "There were many perpetrators. They did heinous things to Old Kru's daughter and wife, and looted the few belongings he had..."

Aaron pursed his lips and remained silent, staring at one of the walls.

On the wall were three slanted marks, resembling the claw marks of some massive beast: "Is this a provocation?"

"Yes, this is the mark of the Wild Wolf. We can be certain that the ones who did this are the Wild Wolf Bandit Group!" Eight-Fingers wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

The Baron had entrusted the task to him and even allocated men, yet not only had he failed to catch the bandits, but he had allowed them to commit such atrocities. It was a sign of his incompetence!

"A mere bandit, daring to provoke a lord?"

Aaron tapped his brow, lost in thought.

Hmm, he currently possessed no spirituality, and [Danger Perception] could only be triggered in his dreams; clearly, he could not obtain any revelations from the perspective of mysticism.

Yet, his habitual caution and meticulous mind still made him feel that something was amiss.

At this moment, a guard hurried over and whispered something to Eight-Fingers.

Eight-Fingers' face lit up: "Lord Baron, the other party finally left a trail last night. I had men track them the whole way, and we have already caught their tail..."

Coincidence... more coincidences... although this is quite reasonable, but...

Aaron muttered to himself in his heart, then spoke: "Return to the manor first, and assemble the troops..."

Regardless, this group of bandits possessed some strength and could not be underestimated.

Inside Blackstone Manor.

Aaron delegated the tasks of assembling the troops and distributing weapons to Sanchez and his other subordinates, then returned to his bedroom and collapsed into bed.

"Hmm... if instant sleep counts as a skill, I am at least at the mastery level..."

In the dream world, Aaron muttered to himself.

The next moment, he sensed the feeling of [Danger Perception].

Nothing at all...

"Although I have been strengthening my consciousness body these days, this ability seems to have made little progress... Of course, it is also possible that the danger is simply too far away from me..."

Aaron sighed.

If [Danger Perception] could be used in reality, he wouldn't have to go through so much trouble.

At this point, he could only head to the branch of the Light of Redemption and wait for someone to pray or offer a sacrifice.

Fortunately, the time ratio in the dream was different, and those believers were quite devout, so it was not difficult to establish a connection.

"Lord... please forgive my sins!"

Before the altar, Calvin, dressed in a black robe, was praying.

He and the red-haired Rem had been captured by Olivia during the previous battle. After screening, the red-haired Rem, who had committed too many atrocities, was executed directly, but he had prayed before the altar of the 'Spirit of Void', received the 'blessing' of the Lord, and obtained redemption.

Recalling the things he had done in the cult, it felt like a nightmare.

"Calvin..."

Aaron walked around but found no one else praying. Olivia and Lin were also absent, seemingly busy with some task.

After obtaining the 'Scepter of Flesh', Lin frequently went out to sweep away the monsters within the city of Diat and accept other survivors, seemingly intending to integrate the city.

"Forget it, he will do..."

Aaron extended a strand of his consciousness downward.

In an instant, Calvin felt the gaze of a great existence; his entire being welled up with tears, and he knelt down in pious devotion.

He tilted his head as if listening to something, then finally stood up and shouted, "My Lord requires a sacrifice! Dark spirituality is the finest offering!"

Blackstone Manor.

Aaron awakened, sensing the spirituality within his body, and smiled slightly. "With preparations in place, I can now be considered half a Beyonder..."

The reason he required 'Dark' spirituality was that the Black Sun, or perhaps the sun itself, seemed to hold dominion over the symbolism of divination.

Although any spirituality could be used for rituals and divination, 'Dark' yielded the best results.

"No... that's not right. It might be that the path representing the Scarlet Sun is the most effective, after all, it is the source of all mystery, the Creator dwelling in the sky..."

Aaron's thoughts wandered for a moment before he took out a crystal ball and erected a wall of spirituality around himself.

The light in the room dimmed instantly, and amidst the candlelight, hazy illusions seemed to emerge within the crystal ball.

As he was now, he possessed a vast array of occult knowledge and secret traditions from numerous schools, and his insight was no small matter.

He had mastered various methods of divination, including pendulum divination, crystal ball divination, numerology divination, and dream divination.

The method he was employing now was crystal ball divination.

"The outcome of this operation!"

"The outcome of this operation!"

"The outcome of this operation!"

As Aaron chanted the subject of the divination in an otherworldly tongue, he felt his internal spirituality being rapidly consumed.

The next instant, hazy whispers seemed to echo in his ears.

Under the dim candlelight, scenes flickered within the crystal ball before him.

Among them were three parallel claw marks representing a wild wolf, followed by burning flames and blood, finally dissolving into a bottomless darkness.

Aaron's expression turned cold, and he calmly ended the ritual.

Divination did not always yield precise results; instead, it often provided a multitude of images, and part of a diviner's duty was to interpret these symbols.

"This matter is indeed related to the wild wolf... fire and blood represent immense danger... the final darkness suggests the possibility of me falling into the abyss. Is this a lethal threat?"

Aaron sneered.

Had he not made preparations, he would still be nothing more than an ordinary man at this moment, perhaps with a strong physique and decent swordsmanship at best.

Caught off guard by an ambush, he would still be at risk of death!