Chapter 550

Chapter 405: Investigation

Holding the identification sigil in her hands, Dorothy thought to herself that the last sigil given to her by Adele had been quite useful. Since using it, she had wanted to replenish her supply, but unfortunately, this item was quite rare. Even Beverly didn’t always have it in stock, so Dorothy couldn’t purchase more. Now, however, she had a chance.

Next, Dorothy glanced at another type of sigil she had never seen before. Based on the patterns, she could confirm that this was also a “Cup” sigil. After using the identification technique, Dorothy confirmed its name and general function.

“Water Breathing Sigil: By consuming the spirituality of the ‘Cup,’ it grants a person the ability to breathe underwater like a fish.”

‘Water Breathing Sigil? Breathing underwater? This could be useful. No wonder Massimo said that if used well, his subordinates who jumped into the sea could return to the shore. In this vast ocean, this item is indeed very useful.’

Looking at the new sigil in her hands, Dorothy thought that she now had three of these sigils, which was quite a decent amount.

After identifying the sigils, Dorothy picked up a small vial from the table containing a dark blue liquid. This item had been found in Massimo’s sleeve, installed in a peculiar device worn on his hand.

“Sealing Water Bottle: A bottle that can contain a volume of water much greater than its surface area. Each bottle can store about 30 liters of water, and the water inside is in a special compressed state, appearing dark blue.”

‘A Sealing Water Bottle? A small bottle can hold so much water. That means these four bottles contain at least 120 liters of water! The amount of water in one bottle is even more than a mineral water barrel!’

Looking at the water in her hand, Dorothy marveled and then turned her gaze to the peculiar device originally worn by Massimo. After identification, she discovered that it was a device meant to work in conjunction with the Sealing Water Bottle. When the Sealing Water Bottle is placed on top of this device, it can quickly release the water contained within. That night, when Nephnis and Massimo confronted each other on the boat, the water arrows shot out from Massimo’s sleeve came from these bottles. The water magicians likely relied on these to create a favorable environment for themselves.

‘These items are designed for water magicians to quickly obtain water in places without it. Although water magicians seem to have the ability to create water, it still requires spirituality and time. It’s much easier to just carry a bunch of water with them. The Oceanic Path is indeed an extraordinary route heavily influenced by the environment, just like I have high requirements for weather.’

Thinking about the small vial in her hand, Dorothy felt fortunate that she did not clash with Massimo and Costa while at sea after witnessing Massimo’s capabilities as an extraordinary being on the Oceanic Path. Just a half-damaged white chalk water magician could manipulate water on the shore like that; she couldn’t even imagine what would happen if two fully capable ones faced each other on a boat. They would have a tremendous home-field advantage.

‘These items are very useful for water magicians but don’t have much use for me at the moment. I might as well keep them; they might come in handy in the future.’

With that thought, Dorothy set the vial down and began counting the cash she had found on Massimo. Since Massimo was on an international trip, the cash came from various countries. After converting it all to pound sterling according to the exchange rates, she confirmed that there was at least three hundred pounds in cash.

‘Three hundred pounds… well, that’s not too bad. I initially thought this guy was a jewel collector and might have some valuable jewelry on him, but he only had some cash.’

With a sense of disappointment, Dorothy returned the money to the magic box, along with the other items that had just been identified.

However, at this point, Dorothy did not put away the magical array paper on the table, since the identification was not yet complete. There was still one important item left to identify.

Dorothy reached into the magic box and pulled out a large, dull blue gemstone. This was the Deep Blue Heart, a treasure stolen from the Abyss Cult by Nephnis a few days ago. Costa and Massimo had risked their lives to retrieve it, and now Dorothy was about to see what it was capable of.

Suppressing the spiritual glow of the Deep Blue Heart, Dorothy placed it on the magical array and conducted a simple identification, quickly obtaining the results.

“Deep Blue Heart: A treasure blessed by the god of the ‘Cup.’ It can serve as an important tool in many rituals. When used alone on the water’s surface, it can attract fish from a wide area to gather around it.”

‘Deep Blue Heart… a ‘Cup’ divine blessing item? So, it was blessed by some god or divine existence related to the ‘Cup’? No wonder it’s so important…’

Looking at the gemstone before her, Dorothy couldn’t help but reflect that divine blessing items demanded respect in any society or cult.

‘A key tool for major rituals… imbued with divine blessing… no wonder it’s so significant. It’s a pity that after leaving the ritual, its usefulness becomes quite limited; at most, it can only be used to catch some fish. With this item, if I bought a fishing boat and went to the sea, I’d surely have a bountiful catch every day, but it’s a shame I have no intention of becoming a fisherman.’

With those thoughts, Dorothy placed the Deep Blue Heart back into the magic box. Although it was stolen to prevent a sacrifice, she had already come to see it as her own.

“Although it’s not of great use, it is still quite important and beautiful. Maybe someday it could fetch a good price if the opportunity arises.”

As Dorothy contemplated this, she began to tidy up her workspace. After everything was packed away, she started calculating the costs of her recent actions.

Due to her promotion, controlling various zombie puppets hadn’t consumed much of her spirituality, and transmitting minor electrical currents through the flying insects used up little as well. The major spirituality expenditure in taking down Massimo mainly stemmed from assisting Nephnis during the electrical therapy on him, costing Dorothy a total of 2 “Stones” and 2 “Enlightenments.” Considering the previous consumption while dealing with Bins, her current spiritual status stood at:

5 Cups, 5 Stones, 5 Shadows, 2 Lamps, 14 Silences, 7 Enlightenments.

Fortunately, when boarding the church’s ship, Vania had helped provide cover for both Dorothy and Nephnis; otherwise, her “Shadow” spirituality would have been even lower.

‘Hiss… It looks like my spirituality is becoming tight. I need to find a way to replenish it a bit, especially the commonly used ‘Cup’ and ‘Stone.’ As expected, after becoming a regular spirituality user, even the original ‘Stone’ can’t withstand consumption.’

‘I’ll wait until tomorrow. I’ll explore the city and see if there’s a branch of the merchant guild around. If there is, I might be able to buy a few books on secret transmissions.’

Looking at the gradually darkening sky outside, Dorothy thought about preparing for a good rest while setting a goal for tomorrow.

…

Meanwhile, on a tall building in Vanaha, a figure stood by the window, gazing towards the distant harbor. Looking at the majestic warships, they uttered a perplexed phrase.

“The church’s fleet… What are they doing here? Could it be…”