Chapter 45

Chapter 45: Preparation

Looking at Edric solemnly swearing while kneeling in front of him, he nodded with satisfaction. Edric’s current performance had surpassed that of an ordinary zombie puppet, appearing no different from a living person. All of this was due to Dorothy’s new abilities after her advancement.

Now, Dorothy could strengthen her control over the zombie ring by consuming “Enlightenment” spirituality. This significantly increased her ability to control them, allowing her to make them perform intricate actions they couldn’t do before, and even speak. Consuming more “Enlightenment” would also allow her to temporarily increase the upper limit of zombie puppets she could control.

Enhancing one’s mind and spirit to increase control—this was the characteristic of an “Enlightenment” Extraordinary Being. However, such additional enhancements came with a cost.

To maintain high-level control over zombies capable of speech, Dorothy needed to inject an additional point of “Enlightenment” into the zombie ring. This state could be maintained for a day. Increasing the upper limit of zombies controlled required even more “Enlightenment.”

This long-term use of “Enlightenment” spirituality would inevitably run out. However, the changes brought by advancement were also reflected in the storage of spirituality.

After advancing to a Sage, Dorothy’s original 10 points of “Enlightenment” spirituality changed. They transformed from 10 points of “stored spirituality” into 5 points of “inherent spirituality.”

Once stored spirituality was consumed, it was gone, but inherent spirituality could slowly recover through rest.

In other words, for Dorothy, “Enlightenment” spirituality had started to become like an MP bar, with 5 points of automatically recoverable “Enlightenment” spirituality, though the maximum recovery remained at 5 points.

As for Dorothy’s other spiritualities apart from “Enlightenment,” they remained as stored spirituality, decreasing as they were used. Similarly, other paths’ Extraordinary Beings would convert their respective spiritualities into inherent ones, such as the “Thirster” having 5 points of inherent “Cup.”

Looking at the zombie ring in her hand and then at Edric, Dorothy smiled slightly. She felt the time had come to actively seek trouble with the Holy Communion.

“Now, some preparations need to be made… This time… they need to leave some marks…”

Gazing at the dimly lit gas lamp in the warehouse, Dorothy muttered to herself with her hands behind her back.

…

Two days later.

The morning in Igewent, as the sky began to lighten, on the apartment building on Yangnan Flower Road in the Upper City, Gregor rubbed his dazed eyes as he woke up from his sleep. In the faint morning light and chill, he got out of bed and pulled back the covers, just like any other day. He dressed himself, yawned, and opened his door to enter the living room. However, he saw an unexpected figure there.

“Dorothy? Hehe… You’re up so early today, how unusual.”

Looking at the white-haired girl sitting on the sofa eating breakfast, Gregor smiled unexpectedly. Usually, he would wake up earlier than her and often nagged her about oversleeping, so he didn’t expect her to get up so early today.

Taking a bite of bread, Dorothy sitting on the sofa turned her head to look at Gregor standing at the door, then responded easily.

“Today there’s a practical class at school, so I need to go earlier and gather with everyone.”

“Is that so… Practical classes, that’s good too. Go outside more, don’t just sit in the classroom all the time… Your school’s teaching methods are quite innovative…”

As he spoke, Gregor started eating breakfast with Dorothy after washing up. After Dorothy finished, she said goodbye and left. Not long after, Gregor quickly went downstairs.

Without taking a carriage, Gregor walked briskly along the quiet streets in the early morning. After walking steadily for nearly forty minutes, he moved from the residential area to the gradually bustling streets. After wandering around for ten minutes, he arrived at a high-rise building of about ten stories. Judging from the advertisements on the building, at least three different companies operated here.

Gregor walked straight into the lobby of the building, stepping on the marble tiles to reach the reception area. He spoke to the elderly woman with gray hair and glasses sitting behind the desk.

“Good morning, Miss Ada.”

Hearing Gregor’s words, the elderly woman, who had been writing something down, lifted her head and adjusted her glasses before speaking in a hoarse but steady voice.

“Good morning, Gregor. Did you walk here? Your home isn’t close, taking a carriage would be much more convenient.”

“Hehe, thank you for your concern, but I’m used to exercising more. This distance isn’t enough to make me sweat,” Gregor said with a smile, and the elderly woman nodded slowly and continued speaking, then handed him a key.

“Alright, suit yourself. Today, Room 8 is under repair, so enter from Room 6.”

“Got it, thank you, Miss Ada.”

Picking up the key, Gregor walked toward one side of the hall. He did not take the main staircase upstairs but instead turned several corners and walked down a corridor. Counting the rooms, he arrived at a plain door and used the key to open it.

Opening the door, what appeared before Gregor was not a normal room, but a long, downward-extending staircase. Gregor entered and closed the door behind him, then descended directly into a simply decorated spacious hall where several clerical-looking people were bustling about.

Ignoring the passersby, Gregor walked straight to a corner where a stack of racks stood. On the racks were various props such as pistols, swords, and masks. Behind the table in front of the racks, a young man with glasses and gray-brown hair, exuding a scholarly aura, was writing something.

“Hey, Brandon!”

Arriving at the table, Gregor slapped it and shouted, causing the young man to jump in fright. Only when he saw Gregor clearly did he breathe a sigh of relief.

“Phew… Mr. Meyshos, you almost scared me to d*ath.”

“Hehe, you’re too easily startled, Brandon. You need to practice your composure; otherwise, you won’t make it as a Hunter. By the way, just call me Gregor, no need for any formalities.”

Gregor laughed and spoke to the young man, who responded with a forced smile and shook his head.

“I think it’s better if I just stay in a clerical position. Joining the team is out of the question. It was just a naive idea from before.”

“Aren’t you dreaming of being like your father?”

“It was just a dream from before. The reality is… my qualifications fall far short of the entry standards. Right now, I feel good doing what I’m doing. After all, I’m contributing to the Bureau either way, so it doesn’t matter where.”

Brandon looked at Gregor and said slowly, and Gregor nodded in understanding.

“You’re right… As long as you can play your part wherever you are, I’m glad you can see things this way.”

Just as Gregor spoke, a rugged voice echoed from afar.

“Brandon, give me another 500 rounds of ammunition!”