Chapter 162

One Hundred and Sixty-Two: Sorting Out

Afterwards, seeing that the sky was getting late, Dorothy pulled the still dazed Vania who didn’t know what she was thinking and bade farewell to Audric, setting off on the road back to Igewent.

At the time of farewell, Audric promised that he would help Dorothy reach Tivyán in two days, all Dorothy needed to do was wait for his message. After plundering the two defeated bone craftsmen, Dorothy and Vania got into a carriage and returned to Igewent.

After bidding farewell to Vania at some intersection, Dorothy parked the carriage and walked back to Nanyang Flower Road. After climbing up the apartment building and entering her home, she found it pitch black inside, clearly indicating that Gregor was still working overtime and had not returned yet.

“Aaah… how hardworking…”

With a simple exclamation, Dorothy entered her room, turned on the light, locked the door, and sat down to begin sorting out the losses and gains from this round.

First, regarding losses, Dorothy lost nine zombie puppets this round and had twelve left. In terms of sigils, Dorothy used the only silent sigil obtained from Bill and did not use any other sigils. The explosives obtained from the flooded dock were halved, leaving half remaining.

In terms of spirituality loss, the consumption of “Enlightenment” did not exceed the blue bar limit of five points, while the overloaded zombie ring consumed two points of “Cup.” The consumption of “Shadow” was somewhat large, as she used two extinguishing black candles, consuming two points of “Shadow” herself. Two zombie puppets used two “Shadow” spiritual storage items to approach enemies covertly. As a result, Dorothy’s “Shadow” storage was completely depleted.

Next were the gains. Honestly, those two bone craftsmen were really poor. Apart from a few sigils and some money, Dorothy found nothing else on them. Their bone artifacts could not be used by anyone else. Compared to Lüe, who had started his own Holy Communion, they were far behind.

But thinking about it, Lüe was an easy target for corruption, making it easy to gather ordinary believers. With his ability to corrupt wealthy people like Phil and Buck, he could easily gather substantial funds for extraordinary endeavors. Therefore, it was normal for him to be well-off. Furthermore, Lüe seemed to have stayed in the Black Tier for a long time and was already at the peak of the Black Tier, capable of promotion. It was natural for him to be slightly stronger and wealthier than average Black Tiers.

Moreover, according to Audric, extraordinary beings on the path of “Stone” often required substantial resources to advance, creating their constructs, raw materials, tools, and technical support, which all required money. Thus, it was understandable for “Stone” extraordinary beings to spend a lot on their extraordinary journey. Without being a shrewd merchant or having an efficient way to earn money, it was reasonable for them to be poorer.

“Understanding aside, these two guys were indeed quite poor.”

Muttering, Dorothy laid out the sigils found on the two men on the table, a total of four, all of which had been free of charge identified by Audric.

Two were lantern sigils, requiring at least one point of “Lamp,” capable of creating a floating light ball that followed the user. One was a ground-sensing sigil, requiring at least two points of “Stone,” allowing perception of vibrations through the ground. Lastly, one was a sealing spirit sigil, requiring at least two points of “Silence,” capable of sealing a spirit body within an object, preferably made of bone.

Then, there was the money. They each had little cash, likely carrying just enough travel expenses, totaling around 100 pounds.

“Sigh… Poor as they may be, at least there’s something gained.”

After sighing, Dorothy put everything into her magic box and began sorting out the secret knowledge she had acquired during this operation. Although this knowledge wasn’t obtained through reading secret transmissions, she could still extract spirituality from it.

This secret knowledge included witnessing the remains of the divine being, the Ancient Abyssal Deer, extracting one point of “Silence” and one point of “Enlightenment.” Knowing details about the ascension of “Stone” extraordinary beings to Gold, extracting two points of “Stone” and one point of “Enlightenment.” Learning about the existence of the Star Number Repair Association and obtaining the location of one of its ruins, extracting three points of pure “Enlightenment.”

Summarizing the previous consumption, Dorothy’s current spiritual condition was:

13 Cups, 10 Stones, 1 Shadow, 4 Lamps, 3 Silences, 14 Enlightenments.

This time, Dorothy calculated “Enlightenment” directly subtracting the five points of inherent spirituality used as the blue bar, only counting experience-based spirituality. Now, Dorothy’s experience-based spirituality was 14 points, needing only six more points to reach the apprentice tier limit of 20 points.

Regarding storage items, Dorothy currently had four lamps and two stones, which was her entire current spiritual situation. Money-wise, with the original amount plus what was obtained from the black market at the dock and this operation, she now had 940 pounds.

“I hadn’t realized that ‘Shadow’ consumption had dropped to only one point. I need to find time to buy more from Audric, at least enough for the basic needs of the Veil Ring.

‘And as for ‘Cup,’ although it seems plentiful now, after the complete collapse of the Holy Communion, I don’t have a stable way to replenish ‘Cup.’ My main combat force lies in the zombie army, and the primary power source for the zombie army is ‘Cup.’ Although these 13 points of ‘Cup’ can last for a while, before they run out, I must find a suitable source. Otherwise, the zombie army will be significantly weakened.

‘Finally, there’s ‘Enlightenment.’ My experiential ‘Enlightenment’ is only six points away from being full. Once it’s full, it seems to meet the spiritual requirements for advancement. I wonder if I can find a method for advancement within the Star Number Repair Association ruin in Tivyán.’

With uncertain thoughts, Dorothy took out a gold coin, placed it in her hand, and silently recited a divination phrase.

“In the ruins of the Star Number Repair Association in Tivyán, does a method for advancing to the Black Tier on the path of ‘Enlightenment’ exist?”

After silently reciting, Dorothy tossed the coin and covered it with her hand. After silently moving her hand away, the dull coin revealed its face side, signifying confirmation, confirming the accuracy of Dorothy’s divination.

“It looks like I have no choice but to go to Tivyán,” Dorothy muttered, looking at the result of her divination on her hand.

After everything was sorted, Dorothy tidied up the items on the table. After taking off her clothes, washing, putting on her nightwear, turning off the light, and lying in bed, she suddenly realized something.

“Oh right, there’s still one living bone craftsman prisoner in the school’s secret room. I wonder if he has woken up yet. How should I deal with this guy…”

Dorothy, who was about to sleep, suddenly realized that she had a prisoner unattended. Lying in bed, she began to think about how to handle it.

“What can a Black Tier bone craftsman prisoner do? Use him as a zombie? That’s too wasteful. My zombies can’t inherit extraordinary abilities; turning him into a zombie would only make him an ordinary zombie.

‘Sell him to Audric for questioning? To seek information about Lu Ke? That’s also an option, but since Audric already knew I captured a bone craftsman and didn’t ask me about it, it suggests he might think this low-level lackey wouldn’t reveal much. Lu Ke wouldn’t share useful information with such subordinates. Audric isn’t the type to extract souls, so he wouldn’t have much use for human materials. Selling him probably wouldn’t fetch a good price.

‘Mind control? Turn him into my puppet? If I had that ability, it would be great.

‘Give him cup medicine and corrupt him? Would that really work on a ‘Stone’ extraordinary being?”

Lying in bed, Dorothy pondered how to use the Black Tier bone craftsman prisoner. After scanning the empty room, she had an idea.

“It seems… I can try this…”