Chapter Eighty-Seven: A New Spiritual Summoning Method (4500-word chapter)
[Reality]
[Sheng Year 741, June 20th, 16:22]
[Evaluation: Utterly perfect execution!]
[Sacrificing all members of the Arrival Sect in Borough City at once, then brutally killing a third-tier Radiant Bishop—it all went as smooth as if it had been done multiple times before… Oh, right, because it has been.]
[To be honest, why not just do this on the 23rd? Go tell every organization that you did it. You’ll instantly become a superstar hero! Even the Salvation Goddess Religion’s wheelchair-bound bishop would stand up and toast to you!]
[Accept these rewards; they’re what you deserve based on your performance.]
[Reward: Mortality Points ×50, [Hunter Lv.1], [Scourge Lv.1]]
[Mortality Points: 193]
[Hunter: Passive ability. All aspects of your body have received a slight boost, allowing you the possibility to hunt down potion users barehanded.]
[Scourge: Passive ability. Those you k*ll in Simulation will feel a mild fear toward you in reality. The more times they d*e, the deeper their fear.]
“Hmph—”
Xia’er, lounging on the couch, opened her eyes and took a deep breath.
She raised her hand to touch the side of her head but only felt dry, soft hair—no wound or bloodstain.
Even after dying so many times, Xia’er still hadn’t grown accustomed to the pain of d*ath. Though, “getting used to d*ath” itself was an abstract concept.
Xia’er slowly closed her eyes and reviewed every detail from the recent Simulation. The bishop arrived slightly late at the Underground Sanctuary, around 13:02. This was normal since during their previous encounter at 13:01, he was already in the stone spiral corridor. Perhaps due to hesitation caused by the sacrifice, he paused briefly at the entrance but eventually entered anyway.
This was crucial for Xia’er’s plan to succeed.
Ignoring the system interface in front of her, Xia’er sat quietly on the couch for three minutes until confirming she didn’t inherit the “Time Distortion” negative effect upon returning to reality. Only then did she open her eyes.
The system interface appeared before her, and she re-examined the newly acquired abilities. She skimmed through the system’s comments, which were mostly redundant chatter, unworthy of attention.
Killing her first third-tier Radiant Bishop brought Xia’er substantial rewards, increasing her Mortality Points balance directly to 193.
Her most prosperous episode yet.
However, perhaps because some kills were repeated, the reward points weren’t as high as when she ascended to “Judicator.” Despite fewer points, there were still two new passive abilities.
One was the comprehensive enhancement of her physical data with [Hunter], while the other was the currently unknown [Scourge].
She had lost count of how many people she’d killed in Simulations, even forgetting who she’d killed how many times. Some might have died directly or indirectly under her hand multiple times without her knowing their names.
Like the church square explosion in the previous simulation, those deaths may or may not count against her.
This troubled Xia’er somewhat…
Since it was a passive ability, Xia’er couldn’t deactivate it. Would it develop into something where anyone looking at her would go insane out of fear?
Aside from lacking the ability to force knowledge into others, how was this different from the evil gods imagined by cultists?
But Xia’er wasn’t overly worried about it. Those she repeatedly killed deserved it, and even in reality, she’d deal with them soon enough. The [Scourge] skill shouldn’t significantly impact her life.
Xia’er closed the reward interface and opened the System Store.
There was something extremely important she needed to exchange.
A list of options appeared before Xia’er. Compared to the previously empty store, the current one was filled with useful and useless items. The classification list, which had been useless until now, finally came in handy.
Xia’er sorted by time and selected the most recent Simulation. A filtered list appeared before her.
After ignoring irrelevant options like clothes and underwear, Xia’er focused on three items, her expression gradually becoming puzzled.
[The Letter To Myself (Xia’er)]
[Mortality Points: 1]
[943ml bl**d (Xia’er)]
[Mortality Points: 10]
[Satanic Crest]
[Mortality Points: 20]
To avoid being influenced by Tempter potions and wasting her nearly depleted Spirit Power, Xia’er chose s*icide after gathering all intelligence.
Compared to earning more Mortality Points, Xia’er feared doing something outrageous under the influence of the potion.
However, her simulated self seemed to leave her a letter and some bl**d. What could the purpose be?
Moreover, Xia’er hadn’t noticed where the bl**d and letter were hidden on her person. Surely they weren’t sewn inside her body…right?
Or maybe swallowed?
After pondering, it seemed plausible that the “Tempter” could pull such tricks.
Her simulated self likely knew she wouldn’t have much time to review the message, so she sealed both items within an envelope and hid it inside her body.
After hesitating for a moment, Xia’er decided to exchange for the envelope. One Mortality Point wasn’t a significant amount for her now, equivalent to only 125 Su Pounds, easily affordable.
With nearly two units of her own bl**d included, Xia’er believed her simulated self left some vital information.
With a thought, her Mortality Points dropped from 193 to 192.
A silver light flashed, and a clean, elegant light-blue envelope appeared in her hand.
Xia’er tore open the seal, unfolded the paper, and saw the content written in Chinese.
[Sheng Year 741, too lazy to write the rest]
[After manipulating those cultists, I had nothing else to do.]
[Being idle, I started experimenting with some interesting things.]
[I always thought spiritual summoning was too troublesome. You need to chant incantations for the bl**d array and wait for the Other Realm gate to open. In combat, there’s no time for that kind of summoning.]
[Plus, powerful spiritual beings might drain your bl**d completely… fatal in battle.]
[Since there were plenty of materials in the exchange zone, I just started experimenting.]
[And I found something intriguing.]
[A key step in spiritual summoning involves my own bl**d, but using previously drawn bl**d works too, as long as it’s mine.]
[Using ‘Echo,’ I drew several buckets of my own bl**d and traced back. Even after the bl**d coagulated into clots, it was still usable for sacrifices.]
[I kept some bl**d clots in my waist pouch, weighing approximately 1000g, a standard unit.]
You can take a look at how many points are needed for redemption.]
Later, I tried with those barrels of bl**d. When sacrificing the same item, the first time I normally summoned a small monster, and the second time, I used the bl**d array that I had recorded, drawing it myself with my heated bl**d.
[Can you guess what happened?]
The bl**d array drawn in advance could also be used —— but each summoned creature corresponds to different sacrifices and bl**d arrays. If I wanted to record them all, it would be an enormous project.
I experimentally scaled down the bl**d array, reducing it to the size of a parchment. Unfortunately, the small bl**d array drawn on the parchment did not have any effect.
The subsequent letters contained a list of all heretics in Borough City.
If you’re reading this in the simulation, you don’t need to read the last page.]
[—— Love from]
[Xia’er (^_^)]
If in the simulation, there’s no need to read the last page?
Xia’er directly flipped to the last page.
[I’ve done so many good deeds. Next time when I load the save file, let’s use “Tempter,” alright? Before every simulation, remember to remind me to use the “Tempter” potion. Look, the efficiency of “Tempter” is so high, and it can come up with ideas that others would never think of. Why not just drink the “Tempter” potion in reality? Then I won’t have to endure the mind probing every time…]
Xia’er only read the first line before putting down the letter, refusing to continue reading the lengthy plea that filled an entire page.
Did she end up persuading herself?
Sometimes Xia’er herself felt strange.
Even though each one was herself and under her control, under the influence of different potions, each version of herself seemed like a different person…
Although the major decisions were very similar, in the details, each version of herself handled things differently depending on the potion they consumed.
She didn’t know if this was good or bad, nor whether the system would eventually provide some skills to consolidate her state akin to schizophrenia.
Xia’er placed the letter between the pages of the notebook in front of her, closed it, and rubbed her temples.
Continuous simulations and summonings had accumulated much pressure on her spirit, and her whole body felt slightly weak.
This sensation made her feel a faint aversion to being “awake.” If she continued simulating, her mental stress might overwhelm her.
Suddenly, Xia’er thought of something and stood up.
A slight dizziness caused her body to sway twice. Xia’er gathered her belongings into her bag, then picked up her pillow from beside the bed and walked out of the guest room.
Plans had changed; she needed to make Aivana abandon her previous plan.
Each simulation brought Xia’er new information and intelligence, which rendered the previous plans full of loopholes.
Now, Xia’er’s plan wasn’t to stir up trouble anymore, but to completely disappear from the vision of the heretics while completing the mission.
However, these were just afterthoughts. It would take the people of the Arrival Sect quite a long time to trace Xia’er through subtle clues.
So Xia’er’s objective was to gradually fade Aivana and Adelle out of the Arrival Sect’s sight so they wouldn’t investigate Adelle and Aivana anymore.
Initially, Xia’er hadn’t figured out how to solve the problem with the Arrival Sect without involving herself and her two friends.
But now, Xia’er had a better solution inspired by her spiritual summoning experiments conducted under the influence of the Tempter potion.
There was one point: reporting heretics couldn’t continue.
There might not be any members of the Arrival Sect within the Salvation Goddess Religion.
But she couldn’t guarantee that there weren’t any spies hidden within the Redemption Society or Derton Group.
After all, she only had a list of heretics in Borough City.
Currently, only Xia’er, Aivana, and Nia knew about the heretics. Even Adelle in reality hadn’t learned about the situation yet.
According to the simulation timeline, tonight, Aivana would reveal the danger to Adelle and ask her to stay in the room. The next morning, they would report directly to Yulis.
Previously, reporting was the only option, but now with more intelligence, reporting had become a very unstable method.
This would expose Aivana, who had not been exposed yet, directly to the Arrival Sect’s attention. Not reporting would at least offer some protection to Adelle, who would soon attract Jiti’s investigation.
Xia’er wobbled as she reached the third floor. Just climbing from the second floor to the third had already left Xia’er somewhat breathless.
Her energy had been drained too much.
Holding her pillow tightly, a strong desire to sleep overcame Xia’er.
Struggling to maintain consciousness, she arrived at Aivana’s door and knocked.
She heard hurried footsteps inside, and soon the door opened slowly, revealing Aivana with a calm expression.
“Just hang it on the side.”
Aivana noticed the pillow Xia’er was holding and involuntarily smiled slightly.
After hanging the items, Xia’er draped her canvas bag on the door handle and asked, “Aivana, have you contacted the Derton Group?”
“Not yet… What’s wrong?”
Aivana asked curiously.
It had only been ten minutes since Xia’er proposed this idea, and Aivana hadn’t even drafted a letter, let alone contacted anyone from the Derton Group.
“For now, don’t contact them.”
After throwing the pillow onto the bed, Xia’er turned to Aivana, “And stop reporting to the Church.”
“Why?”
Aivana showed some confusion and couldn’t help but ask.
It was understandable that Aivana was confused. This was clearly the best solution. If they did nothing, the heretic leader hiding in Derton Manor would definitely find their way.
“My intelligence network… is ready to act.”
Dizziness hit Xia’er again, and she fell backward onto the bed, muttering, “We… will just watch the show…”
“All the heretics… will not escape…”
“Good night…”
Good…night?
Aivana instinctively glanced at her watch; it was only around 4:30. And she was already saying goodnight?
What about dinner? Who would prepare it for her? What does the intelligence network acting mean?
Does it mean that the organization behind Xia’er is finally stepping in personally?
We just need to watch?
That organization behind Xia’er… what kind of background does it have?
They are dealing with a deeply rooted Arrival Sect outpost in Borough City’s Derton Manor, where a third-rank bishop from the Arrival Sect would visit and assist on the 23rd…
In such a dangerous situation, Xia’er was confident enough to say, “Don’t worry about it?”
Seeing Xia’er fall asleep so carefree, completely defenseless, Aivana became anxious.
She had many questions to ask, but obviously, a more serious issue faced her now.
If Xia’er slept now, wouldn’t she wake up when Aivana went to sleep tonight?
“I… I’m sleepy too… Nia, go back to your room and sleep, and please close the curtains for me, thanks.”
Nia standing by the window pretending to be a steel-headed person: “?”
Turu