The real world.
Bedroom.
Aaron's spirit quietly appeared and surveyed the room, noticing that the two candles representing the ritual were still burning.
"As expected... Every time I enter the Dream Realm, I appear somewhere different, but I always return to where my body is..."
"There must be a risk of getting lost in there, and it's also difficult to use the real world to orient myself in the Dream Realm. The two don't correspond point for point."
"So mastering special techniques for orienting myself in the Spirit Realm would be very useful for exploring the Dream Realm. Perhaps I'll also need special techniques for keeping track of time in the Spirit Realm..."
"Time and space are in disarray? Maybe the Spirit Realm would be better called the Dream Realm!"
"The experiment is over. Time to get down to business."
Aaron looked at the spiritual materials tainted by mental pollution. Following the ritual's mysterious channels, he channeled wisps of mysterious energy into them and began the "purification."
A white light appeared, sweeping over everything like a wave and enveloping all the items in the ritual.
The items all began to float.
Among the bloodstained stones, the phantom of a huge bird with blazing wings appeared. It suddenly burst apart and vanished.
On the iron fragment, wisps of dark red rust melted and dripped away...
A translucent human face gradually emerged on the parchment. Its expression shifted from blank to twisted... but in the end, it slowly faded and disappeared completely.
"As expected, the mental pollution on the stones came from a supernatural creature, while the pollution on the parchment came from a Beyonder?"
Aaron's spirit returned to his body, ending the ritual. He looked at the spiritual materials, now as good as new.
The iron fragment's luster had turned