After initially sorting through all the skills she currently possessed, Dorothy immediately began the next step, starting to check her Spirituality situation. After completing the promotion, all her Spirituality had undoubtedly taken a significant hit.
Sitting on the armchair with bare feet and wearing a nightgown, Dorothy rocked back and forth while stroking her chin, beginning to examine her Spirituality situation. First, her attention focused on the ""Cup"".
The main loss of ""Cup"" Spirituality was naturally the ritual, which cost Dorothy 20 points in one go. Afterward, other areas of loss were during the battle with Gothsmore. Shaping the Full Moon Water Demon and giving it form cost 1 point of ""Cup"". After successfully ambushing and temporarily restraining Gothsmore using spiritual threads, Dorothy performed a series of significant damage transfers to restrict Gothsmore's movements.
These damage transfers, which were enough to kill ordinary people or even Chalk Extraordinary countless times, should have consumed a large amount of ""Cup"". However, due to the existence of Spirituality Mastery, the damage transfer skill belonging to the Chalk Thread-Controlling Spirit Witch was greatly reduced, costing only 3 points of ""Cup"" in total. Although Spiritual Thread Manifestation is a Scarlet skill, its consumption is very low. Dorothy manifested multiple spiritual threads, but they only manifested for an instant before successfully capturing Gothsmore, thus consuming only 1 point of ""Cup"" overall.
Also, when Dorothy saved John. Machison in Tivian earlier, she used one Water Absorption and one Life Devour. At that time, Dorothy did not have Spirituality Mastery, so the 2 points of ""Cup"" from the two talismans were consumed.
In total, Dorothy consumed 27 points of ""Cup"" during this period. Dorothy previously had 28 points of ""Cup"". This means that, excluding the innate ""Cup"" contained within her meager flesh, Dorothy now only has an additional 1 point of ""Cup"" left. This situation can be said to be very dangerous.
'Good heavens... there's only one point left. This is too dangerous. If I continue to fight using ""Cup"", I'll probably drain myself dry. Thankfully, it ended in time...'
Looking at the meager ""Cup"" remaining on her, Dorothy said with lingering fear in her heart. After finishing her examination of the ""Cup"" Spirituality, Dorothy began to check her next type of Spirituality, the situation of ""Stone"".
Dorothy didn't use much ""Stone"" this time. It was used when restraining Gothsmore, conducting electricity to shock Gothsmore's body, and previously having the Corpse Puppet use an electromagnetic cannon to shoot down Gothsmore, buying time for Francesco. Additionally, she used magnetic force to make the Corpse Puppet fly.
Due to Spirituality Mastery, these consumptions were compressed to a very low level. Current conduction only consumed 1 point of ""Stone"", the Chalk ultimate output electromagnetic cannon cost 3 points of ""Stone"", and the magnetic levitation part was negligible, totaling 4 points of ""Stone"". Adding the 20 points spent on the previous promotion, Dorothy consumed a total of 24 points of ""Stone"".
Dorothy previously also had 28 points of ""Stone"". Now she only has 4 points of ""Stone"" left, which is slightly better than ""Cup"", but not by much.
'That level of electromagnetic cannon... only cost 3 points of ""Stone"". That's quite cost-effective. It seems that later, when ""Stone"" is a bit more abundant, I can actively reduce the cost further and use it as a regular skill. Compared to the fireballs the Scarlet Archbishop casts, the electromagnetic cannon has extremely high projectile speed and high armor-piercing capability. As long as it can lock onto a target, it's a guaranteed hit. Even a Scarlet ""Shadow"" can't dodge it.'
'The drawback of the electromagnetic cannon is that when facing high-level ""Cup"" with high vitality, its destructive power is a bit lacking. Overly strong penetration often causes it to pierce directly through the entire target after hitting it, leaving two holes on the front and back with no further effect. For ""Cup"" with vital points, it's fine as it can kill with one hit. However, for ""Cup"" that have removed their vital points, being pierced is not a fatal issue and they can recover quickly. Therefore, its destructive effect is not as good as fireballs that cause a violent explosion upon impact, directly blowing up and vaporizing large amounts of flesh and blood. Too much penetration is sometimes not a good thing. I need to find a way to solve this in the future...'
Dorothy mused in her heart like this, then she shifted her attention to the next Spirituality, ""Shadow"".
Thanks to the Black Dream Hunter Group previously, Dorothy had a large meal in the Dream World and thus had extremely ample ""Shadow"" reserves. However, even though Dorothy had a lot of ""Shadow"", due to this promotion and battle, her ""Shadow"" was also consumed significantly.
In the battle with Gothsmore, Dorothy used the local legends of Glamorgan to shape the Full Moon Water Demon as a legend body, costing a total of 4 points of ""Shadow"". Afterward, the Full Moon Water Demon successfully used its abilities several times to confuse Gothsmore. The release of these abilities consumed a total of 4 points of ""Shadow"". Then Dorothy consumed 10 points of ""Shadow"" to shape the Lake Fairy as a legend body, providing a connection for the Mirror Moon Goddess's interference. The release of this series of abilities belongs to the Scarlet category, so Spirituality Mastery had little effect.
In addition, when in Tivian previously, Dorothy used the phantom scale incense cage to successfully infiltrate her family's cemetery by turning Misha into a dream body, costing 3 points of ""Shadow"". Adding the 20 points of ""Shadow"" spent on promotion, Dorothy spent a total of 41 points of ""Shadow"" tonight. Dorothy's ""Shadow"" was already full before, so after the consumption, she still has 9 points of ""Shadow"" left. Although Dorothy's ""Shadow"" was the most consumed among all her Spirituality, due to the previous abundant moths, there was still plenty left despite consuming so much.
'I didn't expect... that ""Shadow"" could still have 9 points remaining. That's quite a surprise. I really have to thank Black Dream for their generous gift. Thank you~'
After sincerely thanking the Black Dream Hunter Group in her heart, Dorothy continued to check her Spirituality. The remaining ""Light"" and ""Silence"" were not consumed by Dorothy in the past few days, except for the 20 points required for the promotion. The consumption of ""enlightenment"" is generally not counted, so it was ignored.
After calculating the Spirituality consumption, Dorothy also calculated her Spirituality income. Because her two main opponents this time, Gothsmore and Bo Ade, both died without complete bodies, she did not obtain any spoils. The only Spirituality she gained was from the riddle prayer about Dazzle Star Lake that she heard from John last time. Since Dorothy's ""Shadow"" Spirituality was full at that time, she was not in a hurry to extract the Spirituality. Now that her ""Shadow"" Spirituality has been consumed, it is naturally time to extract it.
Finally, from that riddle prayer, Dorothy obtained 5 points of ""Shadow"" and 2 points of ""enlightenment"". Calculating everything together, Dorothy's current Spirituality situation is roughly as follows.
1 ""Cup"", 4 ""Stone"", 14 ""Shadow"", 7 ""Light"", 11 ""Silence"", 2 ""enlightenment"".
'As expected... after successfully promoting, the Spirituality situation has become very dangerous... Especially ""Cup"" and ""Stone"", these two types of Spirituality that are closely related to fighting have been severely depleted. I must find a way to replenish them quickly afterward...'
'Fortunately, my ""Stone"" divine artifact can be returned to the Craftsmen's Guild after use. I still have a large deposit with the Craftsmen's Guild. Although it's mostly mortgaged assets, I can still recover a good amount of cash by directly selling a portion, which will be more than enough to buy books.'
Dorothy thought to herself like this. After finalizing the plan to sell assets and replenish Spirituality in the short term, she pulled her thoughts back to the issue of Spirituality. This time, what she was focusing on was her current Spirituality limit.
Currently, Dorothy's maximum limit for each type of Spirituality has increased to one hundred points. This means that if Dorothy wants to promote to Golden, she needs to accumulate at least one hundred points of additional ""enlightenment"" Spirituality. And since ""enlightenment"", the main Spirituality, requires an exaggerated value of one hundred points, based on previous promotion situations, the final requirement for other types of Spirituality is estimated to be around forty to fifty points.
'Good heavens... 100 points of main Spirituality, around 40-50 points of other Spirituality. Compared to promoting from Chalk to Scarlet, it has directly doubled again. Can only say it truly lives up to being the Golden rank? The highest rank mortals can reach below divinity. Reaching here, it can be said to be the peak in the present world.'
Estimating the Spirituality requirements for the Golden Tier, Dorothy sighed in her heart. She wasn't surprised by the high Spirituality requirement for Golden; after all, it was the peak of the current world. Even within super-large societies, there weren't many Golden Extraordinaries. Even the Church, which could act as world police, only had seven in total. This Spirituality requirement was commensurate with this tier.
Although the Spirituality requirement for advancing to Golden was so high, Dorothy wasn't overly worried. As long as she had the Reading Method, accumulating all this Spirituality was only a matter of time. With money to buy books, this speed was very fast. Dorothy's biggest obstacle to advancement had never been Spirituality requirements, but rather the incredibly difficult advancement ritual and the process of obtaining the ritual method.
'I wonder what kind of perverted conditions this Golden advancement ritual will require this time. It won't require six Divine Gifts, will it... Divine Gifts are treasures of major societies and cults; only Golden Extraordinaries are qualified to hold and guard them. To collect six would be an impossible mission...'
Dorothy muttered to herself in her heart, but she had not yet obtained the advancement method for Golden, so she couldn't be sure what the requirements for the Golden ritual were.
'In short, Golden advancement is not something I need to consider now. I've been busy for half a year, and now I've finally become Scarlet. I should rest well for a while and accumulate Spirituality first...'
Dorothy continued to think. After finally sorting out all matters regarding her new abilities and Spirituality, she yawned widely, then forcefully rocked the rocking chair. The force that rebounded from the chair bounced her up and she stood steady on the room's carpet.
Next, Dorothy climbed onto the large bed in the room. After pulling up the covers, she turned off the bedside Light, preparing to fall asleep. In the final moments before sleep, she looked at the bright moon outside the window, watching the cold light of the full moon fall upon her.
'Mirror Moon Goddess, Night Sky Empress, you really did lend a hand... My bloodline, inherited from my mother, truly has a great connection with the Mirror Moon...
'So... what exactly are you hiding? Master of the night, Dorothy, are you the hidden hand you left in Prit? Is she... or am I... a chess piece in your hand?
'Finally... what kind of memory is it that you concealed for me?'
Lying in bed, Dorothy watched the moonlight outside the window and thought to herself. Now, she could clearly perceive a noticeable abnormality in her thoughts and memories. She could sense that a segment of her memory was clearly abnormal.
This memory was about what happened after her consciousness escaped into the Netherworld during the critical moment of her advancement ritual. She clearly remembered that her consciousness, guided by the ritual, traveled deep into the inner side of the world, as if going somewhere. Dorothy knew at the time that this should be the Netherworld, the Spirit Sight world, which was closely related to the Spirituality of "enlightenment."
According to the information Dorothy obtained in Qiwen Temple, she knew that the Spirit Sight world was where all information and data in this world converged, the "akasha record" of this world. The consciousness of "enlightenment" Extraordinaries, guided by the ritual, would inevitably go to the Spirit Sight world. This was a segment similar to a pilgrimage or worship. To become a "enlightenment" Scarlet Extraordinary, one's consciousness must have touched and felt the Spirit Sight world at least once. The Spirit Sight world was a deep Netherworld, not as easy to reach as the Dream World or the Netherworld. Only high-tier rituals like the "enlightenment" Scarlet Tier could send a person's consciousness there.
Dorothy went to the Spirit Sight world consciously. According to the records in Qiwen Temple, she only needed to stay in the Spirit Sight world for a short while and then return to complete the advancement. At that time, Dorothy was curious about what the Spirit Sight world was like. She was thinking about whether she could get some precious secret transmissions from there.
However, strangely, when Dorothy recalled the situation at that time, her memory after entering the Spirit Sight world was a blur. She couldn't remember what happened at all. After that blurry memory, she felt like she lost consciousness. When she came to, she found herself back at the ritual site in the current world and had already completed the advancement.
Since the advancement was complete, Dorothy knew she must have been to the Spirit Sight world, but her memory of this period was inexplicably vague. She couldn't recall what she experienced in the Spirit Sight world at all. What she could feel was the silver light that surrounded and soothed her when she first woke up.
After feeling the silver light and the mysterious power attached to it, Dorothy understood that the Mirror Moon Goddess must have intervened. Under the celestial phenomenon of the full moon, she might have been paying attention to this former temple of hers. Dorothy might have been under the gaze of the Mirror Moon from the moment she stepped into the temple.
Afterward, Dorothy's series of actions in the temple... and possibly around Dazzle Star Lake... were likely seen by the Mirror Moon. She watched Dorothy manipulate the people of the Eight-Pointed Nest with various methods, secretly desecrate her temple, complete the replacement ritual, and did nothing, implicitly consenting.
After understanding all this, Dorothy had the subsequent operation of creating the Lake Fairy's Anecdotal. Because she knew that the Mirror Moon was highly likely to be on her side, and what she lacked should only be some means to interfere with Prit.
Dorothy knew that the Mirror Moon's stance was roughly on her side, so she also guessed that the blurring of her memory in the Spirit Sight world was mostly the work of the Mirror Moon. Dorothy speculated that the Mirror Moon might have been protecting her consciousness from being harmed by some extremely dangerous information in the Spirit Sight world.
The destructive power of this information might be more intense than Spirit Sight, or it might be something other than Spirit Sight. After Dorothy obtained this segment of mysterious information, even the system might not be able to fully preserve her sanity and it needed to be dealt with.
Dorothy speculated that what the Mirror Moon did was to use divine power to conceal the part of the information that was extremely dangerous to her, hence the blurriness of her memory. But Dorothy could also feel that this concealment was not particularly strong, at least not particularly strong for Dorothy herself.
Regarding that blurry memory, Dorothy's current situation was this: she could feel that if she tried her best to recall, she could remember the content of that memory, but at the same time, a sense of fear would arise in her heart.
This fear was not strong, or perhaps it was more accurate to call it a sense of crisis. If Dorothy wasn't afraid of this fear and insisted on thinking about it, she could recall everything. But it was this small sense of crisis that made Dorothy hesitate and no longer recall anything related to that blurry memory.
From this sense of fear, Dorothy read the Mirror Moon's warning to her. That Night Sky Empress was clearly warning her not to think deeply about this memory, otherwise there would be serious consequences.
But at the same time, Dorothy also felt that the intensity of this fear was not particularly strong, and she could overcome it if she had absolute confidence and determination. If it were the Mirror Moon, she should be able to make Dorothy completely unable to think about this information, or completely unable to recall this information, rather than this awkward situation.
The reason the Mirror Moon did it this way, Dorothy interpreted as the Mirror Moon telling her that when she was truly ready, when she truly needed the full picture of this information, she should recall it carefully, break through the limitations of fear, and bring it back into her mind.
This memory was a real "magic box" left by the Mirror Moon for Dorothy. When to open it depended on Dorothy's own judgment in the future.
"Alas..."
After interpreting the Mirror Moon's intentions, Dorothy looked at the full moon outside the window and couldn't help but sigh slightly, then murmured.
"That one is truly thoughtful... Since coming to this world, besides my brother, no one has ever taken care of me so selflessly without preconditions...
"I hope your true intentions... won't..."
After muttering, Dorothy lay down quietly on the bed, pulled up the covers, and fell asleep peacefully under the moonlight outside the window.