Southwest of Tivian, under the canopy of the winter night sky, a sudden clap of thunder exploded out of nowhere. As the roaring thunder sounded, a jagged, twisted white light split the heavens and earth, illuminating the vast darkness for a moment.
Although the light that pierced the sky lasted only for an instant, it was exceptionally dazzling. Within a radius of several kilometers, many eyes that had not yet fallen asleep witnessed this strange sight, including Barret's distant villa.
"What's going on? Why is it suddenly thundering?"
On the third floor of Barret's villa, Kenk, standing by the window, frowned slightly as he looked at the fleeting lightning in the distance. It was deep winter, and the current weather was not at all like thunder weather. This sudden thunder was clearly unusual.
"Mr. Kenk... the direction of the thunder seems to be the direction the Captain chased after. Could it be that the Captain encountered some situation during his pursuit? Should we rush over to support him?"
At this moment, next to Kenk, a henchman of the Eight Point Nest spoke up and suggested. Kenk, upon hearing this, directly shook his head and replied.
"No, there's no need. Even a derivative of the Priest is stronger than me, an existence beyond Chalk. Unless the opponent has a Crimson Tier stationed there, they won't be able to do anything to the Priest. However, if any other Crimson Tier besides Despenser and the Church approaches Tivian, it will alert the Archbishop of the Light Worshipping Zealots, so we don't need to worry about the Captain's issue. We just need to wait for his news."
Looking at the darkness in the distance, Kenk said as a matter of course. Hearing Kenk's words, the henchmen beside him all nodded understandingly and then didn't say anything further.
Yes, the Spiderfang Priest, that was one of the few Spider Queen Priests in their Eight Point Nest, a truly important figure. Although it wasn't the main body that came but a derivative, its strength was beyond what these little henchmen could imagine. There was no need to worry unnecessarily, just wait for good news here.
As expected, not long after the distant lightning strike, Kenk felt a pain in his arm. After confirming the location of the pain, his whole person became serious. Then he spread out his palm, allowing a Spider-Man with exceptionally brilliant patterns to crawl from his sleeve into his palm. This was the Spider-Man that the Spiderfang Priest used to communicate with him!
Seeing the Spider-Man crawling onto his hand, Kenk dared not neglect it. He immediately placed the Spider-Man on the table next to him, then knelt down respectfully. The group of henchmen beside him also knelt down upon seeing this.
After kneeling properly, Kenk spoke to the Spider-Man in a respectful tone.
"Priest, may I ask if you have any instructions."
Kenk spoke to the Spider-Man with full respect, while the other henchmen around him also didn't dare to breathe heavily after kneeling, quietly waiting for orders.
Not long after hearing Kenk's voice, the patterns on the Spider-Man began to twist, and the Spiderfang Priest's aged voice sounded from it.
"Kenk... go immediately to where the lightning just struck, collect the remains there, and take them away quickly. Don't linger."
"Remains? Uh... may I ask, Spiderfang Priest, are those the remains of that audacious Puppeteer? Have you already dealt with him?" Hearing the Spiderfang Priest's words, Kenk said with a hint of joy in his tone, but what he received was an extremely stern response.
"Go when I tell you to! Don't worry about anything else! It's almost dawn now, and the An Yin Bureau people might come at any time. Be quick!"
"Uh... Yes, yes... I'll leave immediately." After hearing the Spiderfang Priest's stern words, Kenk couldn't help but be taken aback, then nodded in a hurry. The group of henchmen around him were all slightly startled upon seeing this scene, and everyone felt for a moment that the current situation was a bit strange. They felt confused but didn't dare to say anything directly.
Just as Kenk was about to get up and act, the Spiderfang Priest spoke again through the Spider-Man.
"Oh, right, before you go, have the remaining people immediately prepare to use explosives to enter Barret's secret room, and burn everything inside along with this villa. Also, when you return after recovering the remains, recover one more thing halfway. I will guide you specifically then."
"Understood, Priest, I will act immediately!"
"Okay, it's almost dawn, hurry up..."
After the final instructions were given, the Spider-Man fell silent. Immediately, Kenk also dared not delay, getting up directly and putting the Spider-Man into his sleeve. Then he turned around and began to arrange for his subordinates to enter the secret room and burn the library. After everything was arranged, Kenk transformed into a flock of bats and flew towards the direction of the lightning strike in the distance.
...
At this moment, somewhere extremely far from Tivian, in a narrow room filled with a bloody smell and splattered blood everywhere, a hunched figure wearing a long robe was sitting on a high-backed chair. His breathing was slightly rapid, and his dark red eyes held complex emotions.
Anger, surprise, confusion... all sorts of expressions were written on the Spiderfang Priest's face at this moment. He was currently bearing the backlash of losing a derivative.
'Sure enough, that panicked escape posture... was it all faked? Was everything to lure me into this trap... Hmph... this time, you won.'
Sitting on the high-backed chair, the Spiderfang Priest's eyes flickered as he thought to himself. Regarding the previous escape of the person behind the scenes, he had already concluded in his mind that it was a deliberate lure aimed at him. In the Spiderfang Priest's view, the person behind the scenes controlling the puppets must have deliberately escaped to lead him into the ambush trap set by him and his companion, and his companion possessed a powerful Extraordinary ability capable of destroying his derivative.
'A control distance for flesh puppets far exceeding the norm, the ability to directly cause damage using the spiritual threads of puppetry... This is a "Cup" ability I've never seen before... In comparison, the "Cup" ability that Berlit encountered before, which worsened wounds, is not uncommon, although not many... If we only look at these, these guys might have some connection with the Placenta side...'
The Spiderfang Priest continued to think in his heart, and after a little thought, he recalled the dazzling lightning he saw in the final moments of his derivative.
'But... if they are truly "Cup"... where did this powerful lightning power come from? I have been secretly cultivating for over two hundred years, but I have never heard of any method to summon lightning...'
'Did they... obtain some Extraordinary item that can summon lightning from somewhere? What is the spiritual truth of this lightning power?'
Sitting on his high-backed chair, the Spiderfang Priest pondered thus. At this moment, he was already thinking about what he should say to his colleagues in the next high-level meeting of the Eight Point Nest.
...
Southwest of Tivian, on a tree-lined road, a carriage pulled by two spirited horses was rapidly traveling towards the urban area of Tivian. Inside the swaying carriage, Dorothy was sitting. At this moment, she was wrapped in a blanket to ward off the severe cold of the early morning. Having not slept all night, she had dark circles under her eyes, and her face showed undisguised fatigue.
"Ugh~~~ What a long New Year's Eve... But thankfully, it's finally over..."
After a long yawn, Dorothy murmured with a sigh. Her first New Year's Eve in this world was destined to be unforgettable for her in the future.
'From ten o'clock last night, it's been going on until the sun is about to come out, without stopping for a moment... If it didn't end, I'd probably be exhausted to death... But the results are good, although the process was a bit thrilling, at least the important goal has been achieved...'
Rubbing her eyes, Dorothy thought to herself. She was now a Chalk-ranked Sequence "Mystic Professor", and her biggest goal in recent months, promotion, was finally completed.
As soon as she thought about finally being promoted to Chalk, Dorothy felt a surge of joy in her heart, and the accumulated fatigue was relieved a lot for a while.
After completely destroying the Spiderfang Priest's derivative with the lightning strike, Dorothy did not stop but immediately picked up all the sacred emblems and dealt with the scene of the promotion ritual. After retrieving Edrick, who was used as a target, into the magic box, she immediately got into the carriage and controlled the coachman Corpse Puppet to leave immediately.
After that Scarlet Tier derivative was destroyed, the spiritual threads connected to him could no longer be maintained and broke, so Dorothy's escape this time could not be tracked by anyone.
This time, Dorothy immediately evacuated the scene after defeating the enemy and did not choose to search the corpse. The reason for this was that the previous lightning strike was a bit too loud. Although it wouldn't attract official Extraordinarys for a while due to the distance, those who were with him in Barret's villa would definitely be attracted.
The reason why Dorothy, after being promoted to Chalk, could seemingly easily handle a Scarlet derivative above Chalk was mainly because the opponent had voluntarily absorbed Dorothy's Corpse Puppet to track her beforehand, allowing Dorothy's spiritual threads into his body. After Dorothy's promotion, she could do a series of things using the connection of the spiritual threads.
Dorothy used the spiritual threads to transmit a large amount of damage to the Spiderfang Priest and finally bound him before destroying him with lightning. If the opponent had not voluntarily absorbed the spiritual threads beforehand, Dorothy would not have been able to deal with him so easily.
There was a Chalk and an unknown number of Black Earth and Apprentice in Barret's villa. With her Spirituality exhausted and without the prerequisite of linking the opponent's spiritual threads beforehand, Dorothy did not want to engage in battle and chose to leave. Anyway, she also saw that the derivative was eroded by a Shadow Masked Man. Besides Luer, a Black Earth wouldn't have anything good on him, and even if he did, it was probably destroyed by the lightning.
After a night of turmoil, Dorothy was already very tired. The promotion and battle had also consumed a lot of her Spirituality, so Dorothy did not want to stay in this place for long. She chose to evacuate immediately. Because her current state was very poor, Dorothy didn't even plan to contend for the remaining information in Barret's secret room. What she wanted now was to quickly find a bed and get a good night's sleep.
Thus, in exhaustion, Dorothy drove quickly towards the city. During this process, she was finally able to properly examine her current state.
Dorothy was currently a "Mystic Professor" of the Path of Pure Reason, and she had simulated the professions of "Thread-Controlling Spirit Witch" and "Summoning Thunder Master" from the "enlightenment" path, acquiring the main abilities of these two professions.
The ability of the Thread-Controlling Spirit Witch goes without saying, it is damage transmission. Dorothy could now transmit various damages arbitrarily between targets linked by spiritual threads.
However, this transmission also had some limitations. The damage transmitted could only be damage suffered within one day; old injuries beyond the time limit could not be transmitted.
Moreover, the transmission of injuries was only related to the size and range of the injury, not the location. The larger the wound transmitted, the greater the consumption of Spirituality. Just now, Dorothy transmitted three pistol shots to the Spiderfang Priest. Although they were all in vital areas, because the damage range was not large, one pistol shot only consumed 1 point of "Cup" and 1 point of "enlightenment". Three transmissions consumed 3 points of "Cup".
Another crucial point was that damage transmission could not reverse death. If a person suffered a fatal injury and died, Dorothy could transmit the fatal injury away, but the person would not be resurrected; only a complete corpse would remain in place.
In addition to damage transmission, Dorothy's original Puppeteer abilities were also enhanced to varying degrees. For example, Dorothy could now control Corpse Puppets up to a maximum radius of twenty kilometers. Within ten kilometers, Dorothy could simultaneously control thirty Corpse Puppets without significant Spirituality consumption. The volume range for controlling animal Corpse Puppets was also expanded; Dorothy could now attempt to control slightly smaller or larger Corpse Puppets.
Furthermore, Dorothy's puppet mark was also strengthened. She now had stronger Enforcement control over Living Puppets, and the Spirituality consumption for controlling Living Puppets was reduced. Each point of "Cup" could maintain control of a Living Puppet for one hour.
In addition to the Thread-Controlling Spirit Witch, the new ability Dorothy acquired was the lightning ability of the Summoning Thunder Master.
Dorothy could now generate electric current by consuming "Stone" and "enlightenment" Spirituality. This discharge ability was mainly based on herself at the Black Rank. For example, Dorothy could add a status to herself that allowed current to flow throughout her body, increasing her lightning adaptability while discharging electricity upon contact with enemies. She could also release electric arcs from her hands through energy storage, performing long-range attacks on enemies within a certain range.
At the Chalk Rank, this discharge ability gained a more powerful application: summoning lightning strikes. Dorothy could now summon lightning strikes from above any point within a seven-kilometer radius of herself. The power of this lightning strike was enormous, but it required a basic energy storage time. This storage time depended on the weather conditions.
If the weather conditions were suitable, meaning there were already thick thunderclouds or rain clouds in the sky, this storage only required one or two seconds. If there were clouds in the sky in general, it required more than four seconds depending on the extent. If the sky was clear with no clouds, it would also require extra Spirituality to create thunderclouds. The power of this lightning strike could also be enhanced through extra energy storage and extra Spirituality.
Just now, the lightning strike Dorothy used to hit the Spiderfang Priest consumed 3 points of "Stone" and 3 points of "enlightenment". The electric arc that intercepted the Spiderfang Priest's blood spear consumed 1 point of "Stone" and 1 point of "enlightenment" from Dorothy.
After undergoing promotion and battle, Dorothy's current external Spirituality accumulation was as follows:
1 "Cup", 6 "Stone", 5 "Shadow", 2 "Light", 14 "Silence", 0 "enlightenment".
In a sense, she became poor overnight.
"Hoo... It's like going back to before liberation overnight..."
Sitting in the carriage, Dorothy couldn't help but sigh with heartache as she looked at her current Spirituality situation. Before, everyone was in the double digits, but now, except for "Silence", they were all in the single digits, and some even only had 1 and 2.
Every time this happened, she would lament those normal mixed-path professions, who had two blue bars, used their abilities normally, and their Spirituality consumption would recover after a few days of rest.
After being promoted to Chalk, Dorothy could foresee that, except for "Cup", she would become a major consumer of "Stone" again.
But thankfully, she had a good relationship with the Craftsmen's Guild. They were not short of "Stone" secret transmission there. Dealing with them, as long as there was enough money, there would definitely be enough Spirituality.