Viève led Charlotte out of the sunlit room, through a short corridor paved with pale stone tiles, and past two unassuming wooden doors into a windowless chamber.
There were no lamps lit inside. Once the door closed, darkness surrounded them, but Viève merely murmured a phrase, and a gentle glow sprang up around her, illuminating the walls, the square table, and the objects on it like the morning sun.
Was this the power of a Beyonder? If Beyonders only began to differ noticeably from ordinary people at Mid-Sequence, then Miss Viève must be at least Sequence 7... Charlotte could not help glancing at the composed nun, who did not seem much older than herself, and felt a twinge of envy.
Suddenly, joining the "Purification-ers" and becoming a devout believer did not seem like such a bad choice.
Unaware that the person beside her was already considering changing her choice, Viève opened the iron box on the table, selected one of the parchment scrolls inside, and took out several other objects, setting them on the tabletop one by one.
Charlotte instinctively looked at the parchment and found it covered in curved, intricate letters that seemed to possess a rhythm of their own.
"This is written in Hermes, one of the things every Beyonder must learn." Fortunately, Viève immediately explained. "Many rituals, written formulas, matters of mysticism, and even the activation of certain abilities require Hermes or another language with primordial power."
She paused, then added:
"Without learning these, you're practically illiterate in the world of mysticism."
I thought getting a potion would make me stronger right away, but it turns out that's only the beginning. Afterward, I'll have to catch up on languages, rituals, and basic knowledge. I might even have to start with the alphabet... No wonder Henriette suggested I come to the Church and confess everything of my own accord. Otherwise, there's no way I could master this power... Charlotte grumbled inwardly, realizing that no system hidden beneath the ordinary world could possibly be mastered with a single bottle of potion.
Viève unfurled the parchment, lowered her gaze to it, and began reading the formula aloud:
"Main ingredients: the facial skin of a White-Maned Hunter and three tail feathers from a Crowned Falcon. Supplementary ingredients: one hundred milliliters of White-Maned Hunter blood, one Crowned Falcon talon, one green olive, and one gram of gold."
Charlotte's expression gradually stiffened as she listened.
Facial skin, tail feathers, blood, a talon... Could you really drink these things? Were they supposed to be boiled into soup?
Seemingly noticing her expression, Viève said:
"The main ingredients form the core of a potion. They usually come from the bodily tissues of supernatural creatures or objects rich in spirituality. Supplementary ingredients stabilize and balance the mixture. Some of them also come from supernatural creatures, while others carry symbolic meaning.
"The supplementary ingredients aren't critical. A little more or less won't cause much trouble, but if anything is wrong with the main ingredients, losing control and going mad are almost inevitable."
Losing control again... Having already heard the term earlier, Charlotte hardly needed to ask what it meant. She stared nervously at the parchment covered in unfamiliar writing, then suddenly asked out of curiosity:
"Then why not just give me a prepared potion? Why show me the formula?"
"The Church exercises stricter control over the Sun Pathway. Its formulas are closely guarded, and separate applications must be made for the ingredients... But we don't possess the complete Arbiter, Lawyer, or Assassin Pathways. If Peripheral Members wish to advance in the future, they often have to find the formulas and ingredients themselves. So you must at least learn to identify the ingredients and prepare a potion. And if you obtain a subsequent potion formula and give it to us, you'll also be adding to the Church's strength."
As she answered, Viève took a small iron pot with hanging lugs from beneath the table and placed it between them.
Then she checked the ingredients on the table against the parchment once more, one by one.
"Of course, that doesn't mean you can freely share the formula. Peripheral Members must also observe our rules of confidentiality."
They're stricter about the complete Pathway instead. Could that be because its power is closest to the Eternal Blazing Sun? The conjecture surfaced in Charlotte's mind, but she soon turned her attention to Viève, who had begun preparing the potion, and committed every tiny movement to memory.
The preparation was much simpler than she had imagined, requiring no fire. Viève simply put the premeasured blood, talon, green olive, and tiny grains of gold into the pot, then added the three tail feathers and the piece of pallid skin in turn.
The slightly rough skin softened rapidly upon contact with the blood. As though drawn by an invisible force, the tail feathers sank into it and fused with the green olive and gold, finally becoming a mass of brownish-yellow liquid with black specks drifting within it.
The entire process was so quiet that it was unsettling.
"A finished potion can't be stored for long," Viève said, pouring the liquid into a wide-mouthed glass bottle and handing it to Charlotte. "Otherwise, it can easily merge with its container and form a dangerous Sealed Artifact."
So that's the main reason for preparing it in front of me... Charlotte eased her unease with the inward quip, accepted the glass bottle, and felt the warmth coming through its sides.
She knew perfectly well that the Church had once used her as bait and that Viève was by no means an unreservedly good person. But if they really wanted to harm her, there was no need to go to such lengths. Simply appearing a little later when she was attacked would have let someone else do the killing for them.
More importantly, this was her only opportunity to gain power and become a Beyonder.
Charlotte looked up at Viève and confirmed that her expression was calm. Without further hesitation, she raised the glass bottle, tilted her head back, and drank the potion.
A strange sensation exploded in her mouth, like sourness, sweetness, bitterness, and heat mingling in perfect balance. A second later, Charlotte felt as though some invisible force had lifted her. Her consciousness briefly left her body, rising through the chamber's ceiling and the onion-shaped golden spire to look down upon Saint Roch Cathedral, then all of Suhit City.
The prosperous Bols District at the center lay beneath the sunlight in orderly streets and densely packed rooftops. The old town huddled on the other side, its narrow, damp alleys resembling twisted fissures. Warehouses and docks to the west formed the bustling Harbor District. Ships followed the Rhine River toward its northern confluence with the Sona River, while the military fortress on the riverbank resembled a silent beast.
Farther away, toward Korus Mountain to the south, she could faintly make out the Church of the Artisan's Pulley Church. To the southeast stood Fauville Monastery, its white walls gleaming slightly in the sunlight.
The sensation of looking down over the city, its roads, bridges, and crowds was captivating. It felt as though she needed only to reach out to throw them into disarray-or restore them to regularity and order.
Yet higher and farther away, an indescribable gaze seemed to be descending upon her.
Charlotte suddenly realized that while she was observing Suhit City, she herself was merely part of what was being observed.
With a boom, her perspective plunged back into her body.
She was still holding the bottle up with her head tilted back in the posture of drinking the potion. Ethereal whispers sounded in her ears, like many people conversing quietly through thick walls. The walls and table around her, illuminated by morning light, spun ceaselessly, leaving her dizzy.
The light around Viève intensified, and warmth washed over Charlotte like a tide, suppressing the stray sounds little by little.
"Are you dizzy?"
"A little..." Charlotte answered with difficulty.
"Do you hear noises?"
"Yes..."
"That's normal immediately after drinking a potion." Viève held her wrist, confirming that she showed no further abnormalities. "You can picture something simple and clear in your mind and focus all your attention on it."
Simple and clear... Stay focused...
Charlotte closed her eyes. The first thing that came to mind was neither the Sun Holy Emblem nor the city she had just looked down upon, but the family portrait at home.
She pictured the wall facing the stairs, the patterns on the frame, Raoul, her mother, her brother and sister, and herself as an infant in the painting.
As the painting unfolded before her and gradually grew clearer, the faint noises in her ears finally receded. The world stopped spinning, and she no longer felt on the verge of collapse.
Looks like I'm all right now... She opened her eyes again. There was no painting before her, only the windowless chamber and the glowing nun.
The door was ahead and slightly to her left, roughly seven steps away. It would take two seconds to go from standing still to rushing through it, but Viève stood directly in the way of the only exit and was holding her wrist. If anything went wrong, the nun, whose slender body concealed tremendous strength, could respond immediately.
These assessments surfaced naturally in Charlotte's mind, almost without thought.
She recalled the woman in black in the printing house's storeroom. Her mind now supplied numerous ways of responding that had never occurred to her at the time: how to use the wooden shelves to limit her enemy's speed, how to exploit the woman's intention to capture her alive to buy time, and how to disrupt her opponent's rhythm when she closed in rather than simply retreat.
As for presence and authority, she had not yet noticed any clear difference. She would probably have to experiment with those gradually.
Was this what it meant to be a Beyonder? Was this an Arbiter?
Looking at a world utterly different from the one she had seen just minutes ago, Charlotte felt boundless joy well up within her. Then fatigue spread from her chest into her limbs.
She did not conceal the change in her condition. Gently drawing her wrist out of Viève's grasp, she said:
"The noises and dizziness are gone, but I feel a little tired."
Viève did not stop her. She nodded and said:
"That's normal after expending spirituality. Let's return to the office. Next, I'll teach you the most basic knowledge of mysticism and the rules of confidentiality."
She put away the parchment, iron pot, and empty bottle, then continued:
"Once you go home, you must begin studying Hermes. Come to the cathedral to pray at least once a week and report your situation to us. Later, I'll introduce you to several other Purification-ers and explain the rules you must follow as a Peripheral Member.
"Don't assume that being a Beyonder places you above ordinary people, unless you want to see the other side of the Inquisition."
Viève's tone was rather stern, but Charlotte did not truly take her words in. She lowered her head to look at her hands, still pale and slender, with no visible changes.
From this moment onward, she had truly entered the world of Beyonders.
The sunlight in late February was not yet particularly harsh, but it was already warm enough. Roselle Gustav returned to his bedroom, took off his tricorn hat and thick coat, hung them on the coat rack, and locked the door.
Only after entering this entirely private space did he relax completely. Yawning, he sat at his desk, picked out a book at random, and set it down after reading a few lines.
"This world is a cultural wasteland. No popular novels, no entertainment papers, let alone Douyin or King's Pesticide..." he muttered, then ducked his head as though afraid someone might hear him.
After glancing out the window, Roselle had an idea. He opened a desk drawer, retrieved a notebook from an inconspicuous spot at the very bottom, turned to a fresh page, dipped his quill, and began to write.
"Saturday, February 22, 1143.
"I'll write a diary in Chinese from time to time, recording my flights of fancy and some questions. For instance, why does this world also have three hundred and sixty-five days in a year and seven days in a week? Perhaps I'll be the one to prove the theory of parallel worlds.
"I visited Green's home this morning and met his father. Having a middle-aged man bow and greet me was terribly awkward, but secretly rather satisfying too. Mr. Randall was very interested in my ideas. Perhaps he can solve the funding problem. Of course, that depends on my producing a fully developed proposal, and Miss Sauron will have to handle the legal compliance.
"Speaking of Charlotte, she's completely different from the other women I've met..."