Kaelan looks at Clive the moment he steps inside.
His gaze is steady.
Unreadable.
He raises one hand toward Clive.
Clive blinks, confused.
"Master… do you need anything?"
A faint mark glimmers on Clive's body, a rune containing Kaelan's conscious fragment.
Without ceremony, Kaelan pulls it back.
The rune dissolves into a thin stream of light and sinks into Kaelan's palm.
Clive instinctively takes half a step back.
"What was that?"
Kaelan closes his eyes briefly.
A new memory unfolds within him.
Not his own.
Clive's.
Dustin White.
The probe.
The black space.
The severed consciousness.
Kaelan's brows draw slightly inward.
That power.
Not an alchemist.
Not knight.
Something else.
Clive's voice cuts in.
"Master?"
Kaelan opens his eyes.
"I placed my power within you to protect you."
Clive's expression falls.
"Master… can that monitor me?"
"Yes."
Clive falls silent.
He lowers his gaze and thinks.
Then, cautiously, he says, "Master… can you not put your power in me?"
Kaelan studies him.
"Very well."
Relief flickers across Clive's face,
"But next time you will be dead."
The relief vanishes.
"So be cautious," Kaelan continues calmly. "Do not enter a criminal's house without thinking."
Clive's mind races.
What did Master mean?
Then it connects.
Dustin did not kill him.
The mark.
The black space.
The protection.
His master saved him.
Clive's eyes widen.
"Master… is there another way you can protect me?"
Kaelan snorts softly.
"Get lost."
The door behind Clive swings open.
An invisible force grips him and pushes him backwards toward the exit.
"Wait! Master!"
The force pauses.
Kaelan tilts his head.
"What do you want?"
Clive straightens quickly.
"Master… can you help me choose the third bloodline to refine?"
Kaelan answers immediately.
"You do not need a third bloodline."
Clive's eyes narrow.
Why?
He calculates rapidly.
"Why?"
Kaelan's gaze sharpens slightly.
"What is the difference between Life Alchemy and Flesh and Blood Alchemy?"
Clive answers without hesitation.
"The goal of alchemy is to transform into Spirit Life. Flesh and Blood Alchemy refines spirit beast blood, from outside to inside. Life Alchemy transforms from inside to outside."
Kaelan nods.
"And what is required for a Life Alchemy apprentice to break through to Official Alchemist?"
Clive freezes.
Understanding dawns.
A Life Alchemist must engrave arrays onto their bones.
Transform the foundation.
The breakthrough chance stands at roughly thirty per cent.
With potions and resources, it can increase.
But there is another way.
Engrave more runes.
Strengthen the array.
Transform blood into Spirit Blood.
Even a ten per cent Spirit Blood increases breakthrough probability by five per cent.
One hundred per cent Spirit Blood does not increase it by fifty,
But by sixty per cent.
Total breakthrough probability rises to ninety per cent.
With sufficient resources,
It can reach one hundred per cent.
Life Alchemy is the hardest path.
The most dangerous.
One mistake,
Death.
But it offers certainty.
And Master's meaning becomes clear.
The third bloodline,
Is his own.
Transform his blood into Spirit Blood.
That is the true third path.
Clive speaks slowly.
"If I refine my own blood into Spirit Blood… and then refine Spectacle Owl and Shadow Cat… my breakthrough chance will exceed normal limits."
Kaelan says nothing.
Clive continues thinking aloud.
"Even if I cannot reach full Spirit Blood transformation, I can compensate with resources."
Then reality intrudes.
"But even transforming one per cent of blood into Spirit Blood requires immense time and materials."
He looks up.
"Can I do it?"
Kaelan's lips curve faintly.
"If you do not try, how can you know you cannot?"
He observes Clive quietly.
Heaven and earth aura subtly gather around Kaelan.
If no unexpected disaster occurs,
Clive's chance of fully transforming his blood is extremely high.
Kaelan speaks again.
"Continue to comprehend and engrave the array I gave you. Once you complete it, your understanding of Life Alchemy will be sufficient to create your own Blood Transformation array."
Clive hesitates.
"Master… can you not simply teach me the Blood Transformation array?"
Kaelan looks at him.
"I am your master. Not your father."
Clive falls silent.
Then, cautiously, "After I create it… may I show it to you?"
Kaelan replies evenly.
"Does that need to be asked? When you create your Blood Transformation array, I will ask for it before allowing you to practice it."
A genuine smile spreads across Clive's face.
"Thank you, Master."
Kaelan nods once.
"Now go."
Another unseen force pushes Clive toward the door.
Clive barely keeps his balance as he exits.
The door shuts firmly behind him.
Inside the dome, silence returns.
Kaelan's expression changes.
Serious.
Cold.
Kaelan replays the fragment of memory he retrieved from Clive.
Dustin White.
The moment of escape.
The blade in the mind.
The severed consciousness.
When Dustin withdrew from Clive's body, he cut away a portion of his own awareness to prevent Kaelan from tracing him completely.
That severed portion did not vanish.
It remained.
And Kaelan absorbed it.
The fragment is incomplete.
Broken.
Not a flowing memory.
Not a coherent narrative.
It resembles scattered picture frames from a shattered film reel.
Thousands of images.
Faces.
Strange buildings.
Metal towers reaching into skies far denser than this world's atmosphere.
Lights without flame.
Vehicles without steam.
Crowds dressed in unfamiliar clothing.
Words in a language that does not belong to this world.
But the frames are not continuous.
Each image is isolated.
A childhood room.
Then a laboratory.
Then a battlefield of machines.
Then darkness.
Then a hospital bed.
Then another sky entirely.
Kaelan's eyes remain closed as he arranges the fragments within his spirit space.
He does not need full coherence.
He only needs patterns.
And one pattern becomes unmistakable.
Dustin White is not from this world.
He is a foreigner.
Like Kaelan himself.
Not from the Holy Continent.
Not from the New World.
But from beyond.
From another world entirely.
Kaelan does not know how Dustin crossed over.
The fragment does not contain that answer.
To obtain the full story, he would need to capture Dustin White alive.
Interrogate him.
Extract the complete memory.
But Kaelan does not wish to leave the ruin.
The ruin is equally important.
Perhaps more important.
The underground ecosystem.
The mechanical creatures.
The encrypted blue crystal.
The technological resemblance.
And now,
A foreigner appears within the same timeframe as the ruin's awakening.
Coincidence?
Kaelan does not believe in coincidence.
He exhales slowly.
"My believers will come in handy right now."
He closes his eyes once more.
His consciousness rises.
Higher.
Beyond the dome.
Beyond the cavern.
Beyond Mariopoll.
He feels the network.
The web of faith.
Threads of devotion stretching across continents.
He created this network deliberately.
Not merely to collect faith.
But to stabilise his transformation into his demigod-stage body.
Faith strengthens him.
Faith nourishes his comprehension of Law.
Faith refines his perception of the world's hidden rule network.
Through the network, he senses his priests.
Unlike ordinary believers, priests maintain a stronger tether.
They practice visualisation techniques.
They draw power from him.
They serve as living conduits.
The connection between Kaelan and a priest is difficult to sever.
He selects them.
Sends them a projection.
A face.
Dustin White.
Along with fragments of identity.
Name.
Former occupation.
Suspected abilities.
Kaelan's command spreads silently.
Find him.
He does not mobilise all believers.
Only priests.
Efficient.
Discreet.
Within minutes, the machinery of the Sand Temple begins to move.
In cities across the world, temple scribes receive the image.
Presses begin to print.
Clerics dispatch messengers.
At sunrise, citizens walking past the Sand Temples pause.
Wanted posters hang upon temple walls.
Dustin White.
In markets, murmurs spread.
"I think I know this man."
"Isn't that Dustin White? The businessman who died two months ago?"
"If he is dead, why is he wanted by the Sand Temple?"
"Then he is not dead."
"What crime did he commit?"
Sand Temples across continents display the same image.
Kings summon bishops.
Queens demand explanations.
Government officials request audiences.
And they receive only one answer.
"The Lord of Sand desires Dustin White."
Nothing more.
No crime specified.
No accusation detailed.
Only divine will.
Within hours, the news reaches Mariopoll.
Inside the ruin's camp, soldiers whisper.
Clerks exchange information.
Finally, it reaches Clive.
Clive stands beside Rosalyn and Raphael when a messenger delivers the news.
Raphael frowns.
"Who is this Dustin White?"
Rosalyn explains briefly.
"A businessman. Supposedly dead."
She pauses.
"Now it appears he is not."
Realisation
Realisation strikes her.
She turns sharply toward Clive.
"Dustin White is the killer."
Clive blinks, caught off guard by the direct accusation.
"Looks like it."
Rosalyn murmurs, "But why does the Sand Temple want him?"
Raphael's eyes narrow as he studies Clive.
"You do not seem surprised that Dustin White is alive."
Rosalyn follows his gaze.
"Did Master Kaelan tell you something? Can you tell us why the Sand Temple wants him?"
Clive shakes his head calmly.
"I do not know."
They question him further.
Clive answers carefully.
Never directly lying.
But never revealing Kaelan's intervention.
Eventually, Raphael exhales.
"This changes things."
The discussion shifts.
To the exploration of the ruin.
Rosalyn's expression hardens.
"We cannot use civilians to test the traps anymore."
Raphael nods.
"The plan must change."
They consider alternatives.
Automatons.
Golems.
Flesh-and-blood puppets.
Elemental spirits.
Each option carries advantages and risks.
Golems are durable but difficult to manoeuvre in unknown array environments.
Flesh-and-blood puppets require skilled controllers and risk corruption.
Elemental spirits are unstable inside sealed underground ecosystems.
Raphael speaks last.
"Our kingdom specialises in Steam Alchemy."
Rosalyn nods slowly.
"So automatons."
Raphael confirms.
"We will deploy steam automatons to trigger traps and scout ahead."
Clive listens quietly.
His mind is elsewhere.
Dustin White.
Hunted by Sand Temple.
Protected once by Master Kaelan's mark.
And now,
The entire world searches for him.
Clive realises something subtle.
Master acted immediately.
Which means,
Dustin is not a minor threat.
He looks toward the depths of the ruin.