Xio's Investigation Results (First Update)

By the time Abner regained consciousness, it was already late at night. Although he had "slept" for more than six hours this time, his head still throbbed with pain. Clearly, his depleted Spirituality had yet to recover.

"What exactly did you encounter? How was your Spirituality consumed so completely? Do you know that when the police officers brought you back, I almost thought you were about to lose control and turn into a Monster on the spot! I've never seen anyone's Spirituality run dry like that... No, not even a dead person would be left without a single trace of Spirituality!" Detective Isengard, who had been keeping watch beside the bed, could not suppress his shock and fired off question after question when he saw Abner awake.

Everything in this world possessed spirituality. All things had evolved from the Original Creator, so even inanimate objects possessed Spirituality! Once a Beyonder's Spirituality dropped below a certain level, they would lose control.

Abner now understood this knowledge as well. He knew that his condition had definitely been abnormal, and he pondered inwardly, Did the Pure White Eye protect my spirit from losing control? Or did the God of Knowledge favor me again? Neither seems quite right... The Spirit Body isn't like the physical body. Loss of Control caused by depleted Spirituality is difficult to resolve through outside intervention... Wait, everything evolved from the Original Creator, and all madness and corruption originate from Him... But I'm not. My soul must have come from another universe, perhaps even one of higher dimensions. So... does my soul lack the foundation for losing control altogether? But that doesn't seem right either. If I truly wasn't affected by the Oldest One, then where did my Spirituality come from? Hmm, that's one possibility. I'll need to verify it later.

Though that was what he thought, Abner put on a lingeringly frightened expression and said, "I was using a Beyonder item to observe something when I suddenly suffered a backlash... That thing may be connected to an existence of an extremely high level."

"You dared to look at something like that? How did you not turn into a Monster on the spot?" Detective Isengard said irritably. He truly hated that his student was so reckless.

It wasn't like I wanted to analyze something that dangerous... Abner felt deeply wronged as well. He really had not wanted this to happen. As for why his body had not undergone Mutation, that was probably the Pure White Eye's protection. After all, unlike his soul, his body was truly native to this world.

Seeing that Abner was still in poor spirits, Detective Isengard scolded him a few more times before leaving so that he could rest properly.

Teacher has definitely guessed that I'm hiding some secrets... But since he isn't asking, I should just keep playing dumb! Abner sighed inwardly and closed his eyes again.

However, his headache made sleep impossible. After tossing and turning for a while, he sat up again and recalled the Gray Fog he had glimpsed before losing consciousness.

"Some of that puppet's essence was actually connected to the Gray Fog... What a trap! The great ruler Above the Gray Fog isn't yet the gentle and kind Klein, so what exactly was I analyzing before? Sefirah Castle? Or even the Celestial Worthy?" Cold sweat broke out across Abner's forehead at the thought. Just as his teacher had said, the fact that he had not died on the spot was practically the blessing of a God.

"I remember that in the original novel, Miss Justice's mirror, Mr. Hanged Man's glass bottle, and Madam Hermit's Astrological Instrument were all items connected to Sefirah Castle. They represented the Red Stars scattered throughout the Gray Fog... That puppet should have been something similar. Heh, my reckless Analysis this time wasn't entirely without gains. At least now I know the essence of this connection! Hiss..." A wave of pain twisted Abner's expression as he smiled, but he finally felt a little of his Spirituality returning.

"Since I know the essence of this connection, I can design rituals in the future to grant certain items special properties, allowing them to connect with the Gray Fog and become a Red Star above it. Of course, this connection would be one-sided. The Fool would have to respond before a true connection could be established. In essence, it would be similar to chanting the Fool's Honorific Name in Ancient Hermes."

"So this gain is actually useless? Hmm... not entirely. At the very least, it gives me a new path for joining the Tarot Club in the future. If I want to join the Tarot Club, directly approaching Klein in the real world would be the worst option. Too many great existences have their eyes on him. Getting close to him could easily land me in someone's schemes, and even if I wanted to exchange information with him later, I would have to do so through Sefirah Castle! Chanting his Honorific Name might not achieve anything either. Given Klein's caution, how could he casually respond when a stranger called his name? Wouldn't he fear that it was the True Creator or Amon's doing? Instead, like Madam Hermit or Little Sun, praying with an item connected to Sefirah Castle about something that interested him would be the most likely way to get pulled Above the Gray Fog..."

As Abner continued thinking, drowsiness finally overcame the pain. His eyelids gradually grew too heavy to lift. He yawned, lay back down on the bed, and soon fell asleep.

Meanwhile, in a dim alley in the East Borough, Xio wore a black Cloak and hid behind a low wall, secretly watching a pale-faced man load the corpse of a vagrant who had collapsed beside a pile of garbage onto a cart. There were already two ragged, filthy, emaciated corpses on the cart.

"Is he... collecting the bodies of vagrants who starved or froze to death in the East Borough? I remember this man being the owner of a clothing store. Why is he doing something so thankless and exhausting?" Xio's beautiful eyes were full of confusion, but she soon recalled the Acting Method Abner had mentioned. Since her own week of experiments had already preliminarily confirmed that the Acting Method worked, a thought arose in her mind. Is this man... acting? Is he a Corpse Collector?!

"I heard that the Corpse Collector Pathway is controlled by the Church of Evernight and the Numinous Episcopate... Abner once said that the Church's lower-ranking Beyonders don't know about the Acting Method, so he is likely from the Numinous Episcopate? Hmm, I need to remind Abner to be careful while investigating him."

Just as Xio thought this, the man collecting the corpses suddenly turned and looked her way. He had clearly discovered her hiding behind the wall.

Xio was immediately startled. She had no idea how she had been exposed, but her excellent combat instincts made her react swiftly. Not only did she grip the Three-Edged Stinger coated in Unknown poison, she also took out the Brass Charm Abner had given her.

Then she saw that the man opposite her had also taken out a Brass Charm, one identical to the one in her hand...

For a moment, the atmosphere became somewhat awkward.

The two faced off for several seconds before the corpse collector could no longer hold back. He lowered his voice and asked, "Who are you? Why were you spying on me?"

Naturally, Xio could not expose Abner. After a brief silence, she replied, "I'm the bounty hunter 'Arbiter' from the East Borough. Someone hired me to investigate why you were secretly transporting corpses." She was not particularly skilled at lying, but that did not mean she could not do it. Besides, her words were essentially all true.

"Are you an official Beyonder?" the man asked somewhat nervously.

"Heh, it seems you rarely come to the East Borough if you've never even heard of the Arbiter." Xio pursed her lips, somewhat bothered that her title had failed to have any effect.

Although Xio had not answered directly, the man had roughly understood that the lady before him was a wild Beyonder like himself. He relaxed his guard slightly and explained, "I'm not secretly transporting corpses. I just want to collect and bury them!"

"You're not a cemetery mortician. Why are you doing this?" Xio asked directly.

"Sorry, I have my reasons... I can only guarantee that I haven't stolen any corpses, nor am I doing anything bad!" The man hesitated for a moment before adding, "I'll conduct a Requiem ritual later. You may observe."

This man doesn't seem very guarded around other Beyonders... A standard rookie! Just like I was back then... If I hadn't run into Fors... Xio sighed. She knew that this man had likely brought his ordinary habits into the Beyonder world. Ritual magic was extremely dangerous. Generally, only people one trusted absolutely would be allowed to observe. Otherwise, if someone tampered with it, the consequences would be dire.

"Then let's go!" Xio rarely felt such compassion. She planned to help keep watch over him tonight, then subtly remind him after the ritual was over.

The next morning, Abner did not open his eyes until eight o'clock. He focused and meditated for a while, discovering that his Spirituality had fully recovered. Only then did he let out a long breath.

"It's good that there are no aftereffects!"

With that thought in mind, he left the bedroom and learned from the servants that Detective Isengard had already gone out to investigate a case. Only then did he remember the eleven missing-person cases from the Sivellaus Yard commission that they had accepted yesterday.

"Looks like I won't have time to read at the public library today. After meeting Xio, I'll also need to report to the police station in Cherwood Borough. One of the two cases Teacher assigned me still hasn't been solved."

After briefly sorting out his plans, Abner immediately left for the East Borough and successfully met Miss Xio at that small restaurant.

"You don't look well! Are you sick?" Xio looked at the clearly listless Abner sitting across from her and asked with concern.

"I was merely injured by the backlash from a Beyonder item..." Abner did not want to discuss it much, so he changed the subject. "Did you find anything on your end?"

Upon hearing this, Xio hesitated for a while before tactfully asking, "That classmate of yours, is his father... a little foolish?"

Abner was stunned. Recalling Mr. Grant's proper behavior and manner toward others, he asked in confusion, "Why would you say that?"

"His mystical knowledge is fairly extensive, but he's very naive in many respects!" Xio gave Abner a detailed account of everything that had happened when she encountered the man last night.

"He has one of my Brass Charms?" Abner was initially puzzled by this news, but he soon remembered the "newcomer" who had bought his last charm at the Beyonder gathering the day before yesterday.

"That person must have been Mr. Grant! No wonder his figure seemed somewhat familiar when I followed him afterward..."