Chapter 265

Chapter 252: Definition

In the Prit Kingdom, on the northern outskirts of Tivyán, lies the town of Green Shade.

On the balcony of Green Shade Town No. 17, Dorothy sat drinking coffee while admiring the sunset to the west. Her mind was preoccupied with what she had seen and heard from afar on the mainland.

‘Wow, I didn’t expect that as I was struggling with accumulating spirituality, the secret transmission would come to me on its own.’

Dorothy thought happily. Currently, her main focus was accumulating spirituality for her advancement. She was worried about the slow accumulation of spirituality, but now she had unexpectedly gained some for free, which felt great no matter where or when.

‘I never expected that the method of exorcising spirits in the New World would rely on poison recognition. The effect of poison recognition on the undead is far greater than on ordinary people, so it can also be used to exorcise spirits. I learned something new; I didn’t know poison recognition could be used this way.’

Nodding, Dorothy continued to ponder. She had not only linked Kapak’s visual information but also his auditory information, so she heard the conversation between Kapak and the old shaman. Dorothy knew the specific situation there.

‘Kapak, that kid, was actually taken in as an apprentice by the shaman from his tribe? What was supposed to be an exorcism ceremony turned into an initiation ceremony. How dramatic… That shaman certainly has plans.’

Dorothy continued to think about the old shaman’s intentions. He took Kapak as an apprentice mainly to closely monitor him, particularly the so-called “spirit” within him. Clearly, he viewed Akka as a powerful soul residing in Kapak, one whose origins were unknown.

‘This old shaman is quite savvy. Unknown powers need close monitoring and control. From his demeanor, he seems to hope to guide the unknown power in Kapak towards helping the tribe… But this works out well too. If Kapak becomes a shaman apprentice, he will have more opportunities to learn other shamanic knowledge, which suits my needs.’

While thinking this, Dorothy shifted her attention to the secret transmission recorded through Kapak’s eyes from the New World.

This secret transmission, inscribed on a withered tree, had no title or author. It contained the cultivation methods of the native tribes’ shamans from the New World. The first part Dorothy saw seemed to be an introductory chapter for shamans.

The inscription on the withered tree detailed a series of techniques for communicating with spirits, including how ordinary people could use items and small rituals to find spirits, see them, communicate with them, judge their goodness, and precautions when contacting them.

If a common person mastered these techniques, they would become excellent mediums. The text also explained that a shaman’s duty was to serve as a channel between spirits and humans.

However, it did not detail the methods for accumulating spirituality, meaning even if one learned the above skills, they still couldn’t become an extraordinary being. Dorothy believed that the accumulation of spirituality for shamans might be covered in more advanced chapters, possibly found in other places of cultivation.

After organizing the newly obtained secret transmission, Dorothy immediately converted it into spirituality. This time, she gained 3 points of “Silence” and 2 points of “Enlightenment,” slightly increasing her “Silence” inventory. Now, Dorothy’s spirituality was as follows:

6 cups, 7 stones, 6 shadows, 1 lamp, 7 silences, 9 enlightenments.

“Hmm~ Great, now ‘Enlightenment’ is almost a third full. Collecting like this, I’ll be able to fill it up soon.”

Looking at her accumulated 9 points of “Enlightenment,” Dorothy murmured happily. The speed of accumulating spirituality was faster than she had anticipated.

‘But… my “Lamp” seems a bit low. Although I have enough storage items for divination, I’ll need at least 10 points of “Lamp” for my advancement. I still need to figure out how to collect more. However, the last time I bought books from Beverly, the “Lamp” secret transmission was sold out. That’s awkward…’

Dorothy pondered. Secret transmissions related to “Lamp” were mostly associated with the Radiant Church, which had a habit of collecting various scriptures, making “Lamp” secret transmissions rare in the market.

Ultimately, the number of secret transmissions was much smaller than storage items. The reason prices weren’t sky-high was mainly because others couldn’t utilize secret transmissions like Dorothy did, extracting spirituality from them. If others could do the same, the price of secret transmissions would skyrocket like “Enlightenment.”

“I guess I should ask Vania next time if she can get some secret transmissions from the church.”

Dorothy mumbled. Then, she turned her gaze to the pile of books on the table, all borrowed from the library. These books were the ones she had relied on to turn Kapak into a doctor over the past few days.

“Although it took some effort, it was worth it in the end… Regardless, after reading so many medical books, I barely got any ‘Cup’ spirituality. The difference between secular knowledge and hidden knowledge is huge…”

Looking at the medical books on the table, Dorothy said. Though she believed that the value of many secular pieces of knowledge wasn’t lower than hidden knowledge, and could even be higher, the gap in spirituality was enormous. Dorothy had hoped to gain at least 1 point of “Cup,” but ended up with none.

So many profound and meticulously crafted medical practices that could save lives weren’t worth even 1 “Cup,” whereas a few cannibalistic rituals from the Placenta Sect were worth 3-4 “Cups.” Was something wrong here? Why was there such a vast difference between hidden knowledge and secular knowledge?

For a moment, Dorothy pondered this question.

‘From another perspective, hidden knowledge contains a lot of poison recognition. Because of the poison recognition, hidden knowledge cannot be widely disseminated. They cannot be directly presented to the public or broadly applied to social activities and practical production, making them “hidden.” Knowledge without a lot of poison recognition can be widely spread, directly promoting societal development and progress, making them “secular.”

‘For example… these medical practices are secular knowledge with little poison recognition, allowing them to be widely spread and benefiting the masses. If they had a lot of poison recognition and were hidden knowledge, they would only become secret transmissions in the hands of secret societies, known and used by very few.

‘Thus, the key to defining the secular and the hidden lies in poison recognition. Knowledge containing a lot of poison recognition is hidden knowledge, forming the hidden world, while knowledge lacking a lot of poison recognition creates and sustains the surface-level secular society.

‘But then, what exactly is the essence of poison recognition?’