Interpretation

Lumian rolled backward a distance before getting back to his feet.

The scream that erupted and then abruptly stopped reassured him somewhat.

However, he did not let his guard down. Carrying his Hunting Rifle and Axe, he cautiously approached the completely collapsed house.

Dust filled the air where bricks, stones, and wood were piled up, lingering for a long time.

Standing outside, Lumian couldn't see the Monster's body at all, proving that it had been completely buried. In the current environment, his Sense of Smell was also greatly weakened, and he couldn't help but raise a hand to cover his nose to prevent it from being irritated by the dust.

Faced with this situation, Lumian took seven or eight steps back, maintaining a safe distance from his target, and patiently waited for the Dust.

While waiting, he kept observing his surroundings, wary of any faint footprints that might suddenly appear and any rapidly approaching smells.

Finally, the air returned to "freshness," and his vision was no longer obstructed.

Lumian approached the building once more, following the lingering scent of blood, and found the Monster buried under layers of heavy stones.

Since he wasn't in a hurry, he relied on his "Hunter's" talent to move the stones one by one in a specific order without causing a secondary collapse.

At the same time, he remained on guard, suspecting that the Monster was still alive and waiting for an opportunity to ambush him.

Another heavy stone was pulled away, and Lumian saw the Monster whose head and neck had turned into Whirlpool "mouthparts".

It lay on its back, crushed and mangled, its chest pressed against its back, its "mouthparts" full of sharp teeth impaled on the ground by a small, pointed Stone Pillars, and several of its dark tentacles covered in flesh were broken off.

If it weren't for the obvious features, Lumian wouldn't have been able to tell whether this semi-solid, highly viscous meat paste was his target.

This was even better than he had anticipated!

After confirming that the Monster was completely dead, Lumian turned his gaze to its chest and found that the three Black Mark were still clearly visible under these circumstances.

That's really strange... Even in the Mysticism World, this shouldn't be common, right? Despite her Older Sister's cramming session, Lumian still lacked too much knowledge and could only make certain judgments based on her intuition.

He originally planned to use the knife he carried to peel off the patches of skin where the Black Mark was located, but the trap was so effective that the skin on the other person's entire chest was completely broken and pressed into the flesh, making it impossible to peel off.

After a few seconds of consideration, he tore open the inner layer of his Linen Shirt, pulled off a small piece of fabric, and placed it in front of him to serve as a substitute for Paper.

Immediately afterwards, he took a strip of cloth, Entanglement his index finger, and stained it with the Monster's blood—he wasn't too concerned about whether this would completely isolate him from any potential Corruption or toxicity. If anything went wrong, he could just get out of the Dream quickly; the damage that would carry over into reality would be minimal, and he should be able to fully recover in a few hours or half a day.

Using the Monster's blood as ink, Lumian began to trace the three black marks.

As he was drawing, he suddenly felt dizzy and his temples throbbed with pain.

Based on the common sense taught by Aurora and his own understanding of his condition, Lumian concluded that his spiritual energy was nearly depleted, and he found the reason:

"Just by copying these three marks, my spirituality is almost completely drained?"

On one hand, he was surprised by the strangeness of the Black Mark, and on the other hand, he was shocked by how low the "Hunter's" spiritual potential was, estimating that it was only slightly better than that of a normal person with talent.

After resting for a while, Lumian continued to copy, and he did this intermittently three times before finally finishing his work, his head throbbing with pain.

In this state, he could no longer explore further, so he could only put away the cloth, pick up his Axe, and head back to his home on the other side of the Wilderness.

After stepping out of the Ruins and relaxing a bit, he suddenly felt as if he had absorbed a significant amount of the "Hunter's " Potion.

"Looks like it was a successful Hunting..." Lumian muttered to himself.

His already gleaned but unorganized summary then surfaced in his mind:

"Remaining calm is important... especially when you suddenly encounter prey and have no time to prepare."

"Observe the environment constantly and figure out how to utilize it."

Lost in thought, Lumian returned home, went upstairs to the second floor, and entered her bedroom.

He forced himself to recall those memories for a while before collapsing onto the bed and falling Past a deep sleep.

The next morning, when Lumian woke up, both temples were still a little swollen, a sign of excessive spiritual depletion in the Dream Ruins.

He shook his head, left the room, and went to the Washroom to wash up.

When he came downstairs, he found that his Older Sister had already prepared breakfast: toast with jam, sliced sausage, and strong coffee.

"So early?" Lumian blurted out in surprise.

My older Older Sister rarely gets up early.

Aurora responded irritably:

"You find yourself trapped in a time Loop, surrounded by strangers and more terrifying people. How can you possibly sleep well? I certainly can't."

"I can't help it even if I don't want to," Lumian comforted her Older Sister. "At least you can actually sleep, while I'm busy even in my dreams."

"That's true." Aurora picked up her coffee, which contained half a packet of sugar cubes, and took a sip.

After her younger brother sat down and ate most of his toast and sausage, she asked, "What did you find during this exploration of the Dream Ruins?"

Lumian recounted her encounter with the Monster in detail, concluding with, "Aurora, uh, Older Sister, could you help me figure out what those three Black Mark represent? At the end of the Lent Festival celebration, the Parish Priest also had similar marks on him, and in greater numbers."

Aurora nodded slightly and took out a fountain Fountain Pen and Note Paper from Hidden Pocket in her Ivory, belted Long Dress.

Lumian quickly began to draw, not quite accurately reproducing the Black Mark.

He quickly handed the Note Paper to his Older Sister, explaining, "I only wrote it down a few times, so I'm not sure if some parts are right or wrong, but some are definitely correct. Here, here, and here, they're all fine."

Even by merely restoring a portion of the mark, he had already depleted a significant amount of his spiritual energy.

Aurora placed the Note Paper on the table in front of her, stared at it intently for a moment, and said, "These characters are none of what I recognize, and the corresponding symbols are more Distortion than those commonly found in Mysticism."

Just as Lumian was beginning to show disappointment, Aurora added, "Judging from the influence of the supernatural writing and symbols on their surroundings, and the traces of their manipulation of natural forces, I suspect this is an outward manifestation of a special Contract."

As she spoke, she pointed to the Note Paper finger.

"Contract?" Lumian countered.

Aurora nodded:

"Judging from your battle with that Monster, each Black Mark should represent a special Contract."

"The purpose of this Contract might be to help it acquire a Extraordinary Ability from certain Spirit World Creature, beings from other dimensions, or alien beings. Therefore, the glowing Black Mark on its left chest grants Invisibility, while the one below its neck corresponds to a sound that causes irritability, resentment, and loss of Rationality. The one on its right chest doesn't show any signs of activity, and I suspect it's related to its 'mouthparts,' tentacles, or digestion."

"No wonder..." Lumian suddenly understood some of the details from the previous battle.

He then laughed and said, "Has this Parish Priest signed more than a dozen Contract with different creatures?"

"What do you call this? You call it that anyone can be his father!"

"What a strange description," Aurora muttered. "Now it seems that the Parish Priest who fought you at the end of the Lent Festival celebration didn't even show one-tenth of his strength. He must have only used one of the abilities he gained through the Contract before his body and mind inexplicably lost control, leaving him completely at your mercy."

Lumian didn't understand in the previous and the previous Loop, but now he clearly feels the luck he had back then.

He asked eagerly, "Can I copy the Contract obtained from Monster and make contact with the corresponding creatures?"

He was very envious of that "Invisibility" ability.

"Contract is Contract, Ritual is Ritual. Do you even know how to perform Ritual?" Aurora poured cold water on his enthusiasm. "Even if you mastered the Ritual, do you know what price you'd have to pay for this special Contract? This Parish Priest must have been able to complete it with the Gift of some Hidden Being..."

At this point, Aurora suddenly paused for a second, then muttered to herself, "Why do the Monster in your Dream Ruins also have these Black Mark... Did they also receive that That One's Gift?"

As she spoke, Aurora's gaze fell upon Lumian's left chest:

Could it be related to that Black Thorn Symbol that's locked up your heart?

"The Parish Priest also has it, hmm... that Dream Ruins might Hidden Being represented by the Thorn Symbol. The key to breaking the Loop might be hidden there, or, under certain circumstances, the problem can only be solved if reality and the Dream Ruins do something simultaneously..."

"Possibly." Lumian thought this could explain why the Monster also had Black Mark and why That One mysterious Lady had sent him to explore the Dream Ruins and try to unravel its secrets.

He then exclaimed, "Aurora, uh, Older Sister, your imagination is definitely much richer than mine."

"That's a writer's self-cultivation," Aurora smiled.

After breakfast, she asked Lumian to come with her to the Study to teach her Hermetic.

The two didn't finish their tutoring session until three or four in the afternoon, having only eaten a little something in between.

"Alright, you can go out and have a drink with Pierre Berri now." Aurora, seeing that it was almost time and wouldn't arouse suspicion, instructed Lumian.

Lumian hummed in agreement and offered a concerned word of advice:

You must be careful.

My Older Sister is going to risk everything to contact those three sheep and see what information she can get.

Inside the dilapidated two-story house where the Shepherd Pierre Berri lived.

Lumian looked around and asked the old woman in front of him:

Where is Pierre?

The old woman was Pierre Berri's mother, named Marti. Although she was only in her early fifties, she had many wrinkles, age spots, and gray hair due to hard work, and looked no younger than Naroka.

"He went to Church," Marti replied.

"Went to Church again? "Lumian was startled.