Secret Rites and Code of Conduct

Back in her room, Diana shut the door, and the dignified poise she had maintained in the church instantly fell away.

She rose onto her toes and flopped forward without a trace of ladylike grace.

The soft mattress caught her with a satisfying plop. She sank into the pillows, her cheeks squished and puffed slightly against the fabric.

"Phew~ I'm exhausted. It's much better not having to act like a lady..."

She casually tossed the wooden box onto the desk, nearly knocking the books off the shelf.

She curled up her legs and rolled around on the fluffy bedding a few times. Once she seemed to have regained some energy, she reluctantly got up.

Sitting back down at the desk, Diana picked up the wooden box she had tossed into the corner and curiously fiddled with it.

After receiving the Lord's revelation, she was no longer afraid of the eerie eyeball.

She took the grayish-white crystalline eyeball out of the box and squeezed it between her fingers.

"How amazing. It's still kind of springy to the touch."

The eyeball didn't feel as if it had been sitting around for ages. It was more like it had just been plucked from a little sheep, with all its moisture perfectly preserved.

Diana held it up to the gas lamp and carefully examined the slightly cloudy eyeball, then stared for a few seconds at its pupil, which resembled a wide slit.

Her pretty brows furrowed. She didn't notice anything unusual, but she did feel a little uncomfortable.

Diana gave up studying it and carefully set the eyeball on the desk.

"Hmm... As expected, I can't tell what's special about it. Only the great Lord of All Spirits can see the secrets within..."

"Come on, Diana. You don't have to expect so much of yourself. Some things are bound to remain a mystery. When the great Lord needs it, just hand it over to His messenger."

Diana comforted herself, then seemed to remember something. She brought the fingers that had just squeezed the eyeball to the tip of her nose and sniffed them.

A faint fishy smell wafted over. She pursed her lips and hurried to the washroom at the end of the hall, where she washed her hands several times, inside and out.

After washing up, she hummed a tune and returned to the desk.

She took the Book of Rituals from the bookshelf. Though she had read it many times, she could only ever make out the page containing a prayer to the Lord of All Spirits.

Still, she couldn't give up hope. She imagined that one day, the other pages might slowly come unstuck...

"Why are these pages stuck together so tightly..." she muttered, rubbing her fingertips back and forth over the pages, her eyes full of frustration.

Ivan, floating in the room, looked at the knight girl before him and nodded in satisfaction.

"Not bad. It's so late, and she's still working hard to uncover the secrets of these ancient books."

He had been wondering whether to wait until Diana fell asleep and then devour the eyeball.

That way, he could absorb its energy ahead of time and avoid another accident like the loss of control he'd experienced when absorbing God Blood.

But seeing how seriously and intently the girl was studying, he turned his attention to the two ancient books as well.

"Why do most of the pages in these two books written in an ancient language happen to be stuck together? Only one or two pages can be made out."

Ivan couldn't shake the feeling that the passage of time alone couldn't explain it. There had to be a deeper secret, but neither he nor Diana had found a way to open the other pages.

Diana sat at the desk with the book spread open before her. As she turned the pages, she tried to pry them apart.

Just then, the grayish-white eyeball she had placed at the corner of the desk suddenly rolled toward the Book of Rituals at the center. It was unclear whether Diana's movements had shaken the desk or the eyeball had simply lost its balance.

With a soft thump, the eyeball struck the open Book of Rituals.

Diana froze and hurriedly reached out to move it, but before she could touch it, a sudden change occurred.

The book lay open before her, its pages on either side crumpled and stuck together. Suddenly, they plumped up like sponges soaking up water.

As if stirred by a breeze in the room, the overlapping sheets on the left slowly turned over.

The ink on the page gradually drew inward, as though it had come to life. It crept across the page, gathering together until lines of clear text slowly took shape.

Her eyes widened as she stared at the page. Even her breathing grew quick and shallow.

Ivan saw the strange occurrence too and curiously looked at the new writing on the page.

"Butterfly Sheep's Eye, Heart-Dream Aspect."

Diana couldn't help reading it aloud. Ivan heard her and nodded slightly.

"Mm, I can't understand it. Good thing we have little Diana."

"But what's a Butterfly Sheep? A sheep with butterfly wings?"

He imagined all sorts of strange creatures as he continued listening to little Diana's thoughts.

"[Dream Awakener]: Allows one to keep their dreams highly vivid, remember every detail, and avoid dreams becoming blurred or forgotten.

"Within one's own vivid dreams, one can interact simply with the independent consciousnesses found there, ask simple questions, and receive vague hints.

"As one's rank increases, the interactions and questions can become more complex, and the hints received will become clearer.

"If an unusual scene appears in a dream, one can keenly detect the possible real-world revelation it contains. After waking, the revelation can be tentatively interpreted through the details of the dream.

"As one's rank increases, the revelations one detects will point more clearly toward their meaning."

After reading this, Ivan shook his head. He had thought the strange change in the Book of Rituals would reveal some incredible information.

He hadn't expected it to be nothing more than a description of the abilities of a Heart-Dream Aspect Beyonder.

"When I devour materials, information like this appears too. If that's all there is..."

But Diana's translation didn't stop there.

"Secret Rite: For three consecutive moonless nights, seek revelations within your own dreams each night, then interpret them before dawn on the third day.

"Upon successful interpretation, the revelation's code will transform into Spirituality and merge with you.

"Code of Conduct: Do not rely too heavily on revelations from dreams. In reality, judgment must also be based on your own rational analysis."

"..."

Ivan's tentacles twisted into a knot as he struggled to digest the meanings of "Secret Rite" and "Code of Conduct."

"Secret Rite? Code of Conduct?"

"The Secret Rite seems to be a ritual for gathering Spirituality or advancing in rank. But when would a ritual be needed to advance? Little George never mentioned needing a ritual to step onto the second stair."

"The Code of Conduct is probably a set of rules that comes with gaining an ability. Could following these rules strengthen one's control over an Aspect ability?"

He arrived at a rough conclusion, but it only left him with more questions. Then an even bigger problem occurred to him.

"Wait, how come none of this information appeared when I devoured the materials?!"

The ability he had once taken pride in—devouring supernatural materials to obtain information—had suddenly become half as useful.

He stared intently at the Book of Rituals. The twisted, incomprehensible writing on it now seemed to gleam with golden light.

"What a treasure..."

As Diana studied the ancient book intently, she suddenly felt an inexplicable gaze peering down at her from the space above her head. She shivered.

"Could some filth from the Spirit Realm have set its sights on me again because I'm reading an ancient book?"