In a dimly lit secret chamber, two core mbers of the Crimson Eucharist, Buck and Clifford, stood intently before a table. Illuminated by candlelight, Buck was engrossed in a divination ritual.
A ticulously drawn ritual array for ‘Lantern’ and ‘Revelation’ was laid out on the table, with a map of Igwynt placed neatly within it. Suspended above the map, a white crystal pendulum swung back and forth on its chain.
"I wish to know the current location of the one who killed Burton Veil today," Buck declared solemnly, holding the upper end of the pendulum’s chain. He fixed his gaze on the crystal’s oscillations as it traced its path above the map. Clifford, standing beside him, also stared intently, following every movent.
"So this is pendulum divination... the most practical thod for divining a location. The swinging pendulum will eventually be pulled by an invisible and mysterious force, pointing to the target’s whereabouts," Clifford murmured, observing the process. As a Beyonder with so knowledge of mysticism, he was familiar with the concept of pendulum divination, though it was his first ti witnessing it in practice.
Due to the rarity of ‘Revelation’ spirituality, divination rituals were exceedingly uncommon. Many lower-ranked Beyonders had only heard of such rituals and never seen them, let alone perford one themselves.
For both Buck and Clifford, this was their first ti conducting such a rare and mysterious ritual. Their eyes remained glued to the pendulum, eagerly awaiting the mont it would stop and reveal the target’s location.
One second, two seconds, three seconds... Ti passed slowly. However, the crystal pendulum showed no signs of stopping. As the pendulum’s swings grew smaller and smaller, the tension in the room gradually increased.
Finally, the crystal pendulum ca to a complete stop, hanging vertically above the map due to gravity.
"It... stopped? Is this the location of those people?" Clifford asked, bewildered. The pendulum’s behavior seed indistinguishable from that of an ordinary weight on a string. It appeared to be behaving naturally, without any sign of mysterious forces pulling it to a specific point. Was this the result of their divination?
"By the logic of divination, the pendulum’s current position should indicate their location," Buck said with a frown, his tone serious. Clifford, equally skeptical, ventured a hypothesis.
"So... their hideout is on the Ironclay River?"
"Perhaps. They might be using a boat as their base of operations. A vessel allows for easy relocation, after all. Hmph... not a bad strategy," Buck muttered, his expression grim. Clifford blinked, scrutinized the pendulum’s position on the map again, and raised another point.
"Wait a second, Buck. That part of the Ironclay River is a mudflat—there’s no water there. Boats can’t possibly dock in that area."
"Maybe they’ve built sothing on the mudflat, or perhaps there’s sothing beneath it. Either way, since the pendulum points here, we need to investigate," Buck said, his expression complicated. He, too, found the pendulum’s behavior suspiciously ordinary, resembling a simple gravitational pull. Yet, what if—just what if—the target’s location coincided with the pendulum’s natural vertical alignnt? Wasn’t that a possibility?
Both Buck and Clifford found it hard to believe that such a rare and spiritual divination ritual, consuming precious "Revelation," could fail. Thus, even though the result seed dubious, they had to treat it as credible.
After all, this result was achieved through the expenditure of valuable spiritual resources. Regardless of how implausible it appeared, they had no choice but to investigate.
"Clifford, gather enough n. We’re heading to that location now," Buck commanded, placing the pendulum on the table and striding swiftly toward the chamber’s exit. Clifford followed without hesitation.
"Got it. We’ll check it out thoroughly," he replied, quickly trailing after Buck.
…
Several hours later...
The door of the secret chamber was suddenly flung open once more, and Buck, his expression dark and brooding, walked in silently. His pants were caked with mud. Following closely behind was Clifford, storming in with a furious glare. His entire lower half was covered in mud, as though he had taken a tumble into it.
Clearly, Buck and Clifford had returned empty-handed. Their hurried footsteps brought them to the desk, with Clifford muttering bitterly under his breath as they approached.
"Pendulum... Pendulum... What a load of crap! It didn’t divine anything! All it did was get us covered in mud!"
As he spoke, an enraged Clifford grabbed the crystal pendulum from the desk and hurled it aside in frustration. The pendulum bounced off the desk and struck a glass bottle of li powder that had been placed nearby. The bottle toppled over, spilling its contents onto the table. The fine powder filled the air, scattering over both Clifford and Buck’s faces. Clifford began coughing violently, while Buck silently wiped the dust off his face.
"We underestimated them. I never thought they would have the ans to counter divination," Buck said coldly as he continued brushing the li powder off his face. His expression was restrained, but a fire of anger burned in his eyes.
"Cough, cough… What did you just say, Buck? Counter divination? They countered our divination?" Clifford asked, his voice tinged with disbelief as he coughed. Buck nodded grimly.
"Yes. Our ntor once said… In this world, where there is divination, there is also counter-divination. As long as one gathers the appropriate spirituality and performs the necessary rituals, divination can indeed be countered. And such rituals would undoubtedly involve the rare and precious ’Revelation.’"
"Hmph... I underestimated them. They managed to obtain ‘Revelation’—a rare spirituality. Their resources run far deeper than I had anticipated," Buck remarked solemnly, his hands clasped behind his back. Clifford, still puzzled, asked another question.
"So... what do we do now? If we can’t find their location, we can’t strike back!"
Buck inhaled deeply, calming himself, before responding slowly. "I will speak with Bill again and find a way to request an audience with the ntor. If that still fails, I will have no choice but to visit him in my dreams."
…
That night, in an apartnt by Southern Sunflower Street.
"Information retrieval has been blocked..."
Lying on her sofa, Dorothy exhaled in relief as she felt her accumulated spirituality deplete, coupled with the improvent in her system. The near-miss of having her location discovered through so inexplicable ans left her feeling uneasy.
"Phew... It’s finally resolved. I almost got tracked through so bizarre divination thod. Living in this eerie world really calls for greater caution," Dorothy thought with a sigh. Alongside her relief, the incident sparked her curiosity.
"So this world actually has such thods to retrieve information from afar? Fascinating. Based on the system’s hints, these divination thods also rely on spirituality, specifically ’Lantern’ and ’Revelation.’ Since I am already a ’Revelation’ Beyonder, I’m not lacking in that regard. If I can acquire more of ’Lantern,’ does that an I, too, could perform divination? With divination, I could gather intelligence far more efficiently."
"And then there’s the nature of different spirituality—so of them are quite intriguing. ’Lantern’ carries the aning of Revelation… while ’Shadow’ can counteract ’Lantern’s Revelation. From the effects of that Concealnt Ring earlier, ’Shadow’ seems to embody concealnt and obscuration, the opposite of Lantern..."
"And as for ’Silence’... it can apparently delete information. But what happens when information is deleted? What exactly is the essence of ’Silence’?"
As these questions swirled in her mind, Dorothy realized just how little she truly understood about this world and its mysticism.
"Seems like I’ll need to consult Aldrich more often when I have the chance… Although…" Dorothy muttered, frowning as she pulled out her recently replenished wallet.
"Although, I wonder if I can even afford the tuition fees anymore?"
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