Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Guide

In the night of Igewent, by the South Yang Flower Road, Dorothy carefully opened the envelope she had bought for 100 pounds. She pulled out more than ten pages of paper and realized these pages seemed to be directly torn from a book.

‘This person actually tore pages out of a book just for me…’

Looking at these pages, Dorothy thought to herself, then began to read each word and sentence cautiously. Following Audric’s previous reminder, the content indeed contained tiny traces of poison, so Dorothy had to be very careful while reading.

After a quick glance, Dorothy found that these pages originally belonged to a book called “General Knowledge of Ascension.” The paper was new, and the text was printed, suggesting it wasn’t an old or ancient book. Reading comfortably, Dorothy quickly reached the key points of the content.

…

After initially understanding spirituality and how to accumulate it, the path of Extraordinary Beings has been laid open to us. Next, we need to introduce the initial understanding of the ranks among Extraordinary Beings.

In the Secret World, the higher the rank of an Extraordinary Being, the stronger their power, longer their lifespan, and deeper their knowledge. They can better understand the essence of the world, transcending the mundane and elevating life. Extraordinary Beings are also clearly ranked from high to low.

Within the mortal realm, the stages of Extraordinary Beings are divided into five levels, and various secret societies give different names to each level without a fixed term. However, due to the widespread existence of the White Stone Craftsmen Guild across the continent, they engage in many transactions with major secret societies worldwide. Thus, their internal naming system gradually gained acceptance and became the mainstream in the Secret World.

In the White Stone Craftsmen Guild’s naming system, the lowest rank of Extraordinary Beings is called “Apprentice” or “Raw Stone,” followed by the next four ranks named after the four steps of alchemy.

They are “Black Earth,” “White Chalk,” “Red Tier,” and “Gold.”

…

Seeing this, Dorothy couldn’t help but nod slightly, thinking that the influence of this guild of craftsmen and merchants was truly significant, having standardized the ranking terminology in the Secret World.

After reading the fragmented pages, Dorothy got a general idea of the ranking system in the Secret World. So, the apprenticeship stage of “Cup” is “Thirster,” and Albert, who met with Vokhan and Edric that day, should be at this stage. Gregor could deal with him, so he might also be an “Apprentice,” though it’s unclear which path of spirituality he follows.

Dorothy continued reading. The next part introduced the promotion ceremony for all the initial stages of spirituality.

The following content was dense text paired with intricate patterns. Some terms were difficult to understand, but after putting in effort, she managed to finish reading it all.

With a big sigh of relief, Dorothy leaned back in her chair, rubbing her temples.

At this moment, the system in her mind already notified her that she had completed studying the new secret transmission. Without hesitation, she drew upon her spirituality. Since this secret transmission did not focus on any particular type of spirituality and was a comprehensive work on mysticism, each type of spirituality had a bit of content. Therefore, Dorothy accumulated 1 point for each type of spirituality, and due to the nature of knowledge, she received an additional 1 point of Enlightenment.

Now, Dorothy had accumulated 10 points of “Enlightenment,” 6 points of “Cup,” 5 points of “Shadow,” 1 point of “Lamp,” 1 point of “Stone,” and 1 point of “Silence.”

At this moment, Dorothy’s “Enlightenment” spirituality was full and met the requirements for promotion, but she felt no joy about it because of the issue with the promotion ceremony.

Indeed, as Audric said, the initial promotions for all types of spirituality were simple and largely similar.

The promotion ceremony for all types of spirituality only required drawing a simple magical array with the symbol of the respective spirituality and using some common incense materials. But the most crucial part was that the initial promotion ceremony needed a “Guide.”

Yes, a guide. All initial promotion ceremonies must have someone at least at the Apprentice level and with compatible spirituality to lead the ceremony. The one being promoted guides the spirituality, and only then can the ceremony succeed.

For Dorothy, she now had the required spirituality for promotion. The auxiliary materials were common and not mysterious items; she could buy them on the street. If she couldn’t find them on the street, Audric would definitely have them. The symbols for each type of spirituality were drawn in the book, so she could copy them. The key was finding a guide.

If Dorothy wanted to advance to an “Enlightenment” Extraordinary Being, she would need a senior “Enlightenment” Extraordinary Being at least at the Apprentice level to lead the ceremony for her. However, she had no leads on where to find such an Extraordinary Being.

In Igewent, where she was, the Crimson Eucharist was a society of “Cup,” and Audric was a “Stone” Extraordinary Being, none of whom had anything to do with “Enlightenment.” She couldn’t ask the An Yin Bureau if they had an “Enlightenment” Extraordinary Being; it was impossible to know where to look for such a guide!

Thinking of this, Dorothy felt a wave of frustration. She had no clue how to find an “Enlightenment” Extraordinary Being, and even if she did, what could she do? Without any connection, why would someone help her?

‘Might the path of “Enlightenment” be unfeasible? Perhaps I could become Audric’s apprentice, spend years engraving stones to accumulate “Stone” spirituality, and then ask him to be my guide once I’ve accumulated enough?’

Dorothy thought, then shook her head, dismissing this idea. Not only was her current “Stone” spirituality only at 1 point, and it would take ages to accumulate enough. Even if she did, asking Audric to be her guide would likely come at an exorbitant price.

‘Promotion fee… 1000 pounds…’

Images of Audric smiling benevolently at her flashed through Dorothy’s mind, and she decisively dismissed the idea of pursuing the “Stone” path.

With a hint of melancholy, Dorothy picked up the pages again and started reading, hoping to find another way. After careful examination, she quickly discovered an alternative to finding a guide.

In the last few paragraphs of the pages, it was written that if there was no guide, there were feasible alternatives.

First, one could use items rich in compatible spirituality to replace the guide’s spiritual guidance. However, such a ceremony was less stable and had a higher risk of failure, requiring higher qualities in the one being promoted.

Secondly, one could pray to a divine existence hidden in the higher echelons of the world. If the prayer caught the attention of such an existence, and if it was pleased, it could act as a guide, helping to complete the promotion ceremony.

Of course, the chance of a nobody like Dorothy catching the attention of a divine existence was quite low. Even if it happened, the outcome might not be positive.