Just as Annan was thinking about Salvatore, as if by so telepathy, Salvatore took the initiative to contact Annan.
"Annan? Can you hear ?"
The figure of Salvatore appeared in the full-length mirror of Annan’s bathroom.
It was apparent that Salvatore was sowhat nervous.
He had moved a small stool and was sitting squarely in front of the mirror in his formal attire. His body was slightly leaned forward, with his hands placed on his knees.
He glanced at the Hand of Winter standing behind and to the side of Annan, revealing only half of his body, and seed a bit embarrassed: "You have company there..."
"It’s just an elder who takes care of my day-to-day life."
Annan’s body was not completely dry yet, with his hair still sowhat damp. His upper body was covered in thick, fluffy clothes.
He revealed a gentle and harmless smile: "My family lacks a sense of security. They always worry that I might be suddenly abducted... So when I am at ho, there’s usually at least one person watching over ."
"That must be quite uncomfortable."
"It’s also a form of kindness."
Annan responded.
He cocked his head: "Did you contact for sothing specific? Or... to test out this new ritual?"
"Oh right, Annan!"
Upon hearing Annan’s words, Salvatore suddenly realized: "This is a new ritual I’ve developed, what do you think?"
"One from the mirror realm?"
"Exactly!"
Excitent laced Salvatore’s weary eyes: "I had always thought that the Pope, now a mirror image, might allow to see the Mirror People with my own eyes... So, could I make that happen?"
"And was it possible?"
"It turns out it is possible!"
Senior Salvatore shared his findings with great enthusiasm: "Before the Mirror People held their Sublimation Ritual, he was already my idol! I deeply admire and envy his ability to give life to golems and his exquisite skill in manipulating ti... But I lacked the adaptability for the Idol School, so I could only admire from afar.
"This ti, I got a signed token from the Mirror People—it can be used as a true na indefinitely, and has considerable power in itself. With this token providing the endless ’overlapping echoes,’ I was able to develop a new ritual for the mirror realm!"
So you ended up creating sothing like a video call?
Annan’s expression was rather peculiar.
But this thing is indeed quite convenient...
"What’s the na of this ritual? What does it cost?"
"I call it ’Reflecting Mirror of Friends.’"
"Quite a straightforward na."
"I couldn’t think of any cool nas on the spot... The materials are simple. Apart from the influence of the Mirror People, you just need to attach a portrait of your friend to the back of the mirror, and then add snake egg white, eagle eye extract, and the tears of a white calf, on top of providing a cursed item—I’m currently using my own blood.
"As for what more affordable and stable cursed item to replace it with later... I will find a way to optimize that."
Saying this, Salvatore displayed a radiant smile: "After all, I need less sleep than the average person... as you know."
"Indeed, since I’m your keeper of secrets."
Annan nodded.
After Clarence’s death, Salvatore’s keeper of secrets was then taken up by Annan.
Due to the Curse Binding ’Relentless Reflection of the Sleepless,’ Salvatore was forced to stay up late every night. He couldn’t sleep until three in the morning and had to wake up at nine...
And his second Curse Binding, which he received upon advancing to silver rank, also limited his sleep to no more than six hours a day—if he slept an hour extra, he would appear a year younger without a corresponding increase in lifespan.
...But overall, there were ways to circumvent it.
After all, in judgent, comas are not considered as sleeping.
So Salvatore’s mood actually cald down—as long as he stayed up till he fainted, he would be able to catch up on sleep logically.
Once he had accepted this reasoning, it beca a legitimate excuse for staying up late and working overti.
"But did you contact specifically to test the effects of the ritual?"
Annan asked.
"I have actually already tried it twice under the conditions of ’long distance’ and ’changing nas’—this ti, I mainly wanted to see if the ritual could cross the great barrier and achieve international communication. The result is clearly not bad."
Salvatore seed to be in a good mood, "Another thing is to let you know so news from Noah... You left too cleanly, I couldn’t reach anyone to contact you."
As he spoke, he started to complain.
"Alright, alright," Annan comforted him, "What’s the news? Is it about Kafney?"
"... There is so news about that, but it’s not important. Do you know about the Corrupted called Blood Demon in the Royal Capital? His demonization is quite advanced, his [Limb Attachnt] is almost fully ford, roughly equivalent to a Gold Rank without the awakened elent."
Salvatore recalled as he spoke softly, "But he still got killed not long ago."
"The [Ritualist Killer]? Didn’t he get killed a while ago?"
"Initially, Philip thought he had killed the Blood Demon, but unexpectedly, the Blood Demon survived, even with only a head left."
Salvatore explained, "Later, he was attacked by the Blood Demon in his own room... It seed very dire, his lover was also killed by the Blood Demon. However, he was very lucky and ca out unscathed in the end."
"... Philip didn’t die from that?"
Annan was quite surprised, "How did he manage that?"
He wasn’t surprised that the Blood Demon wasn’t dead.
Because the one who dealt with the Blood Demon was Delicious Wind Goose—he had deliberately not killed the Blood Demon.
This was originally their mutual agreent. Only a few knew about this.
What surprised Annan was... why couldn’t the Blood Demon kill an utterly unsuspecting Philip?
Philip was by no ans a Gold Rank Transcendent.
He was neither a Transcendent nor a Corrupted. Just an experienced Ritualist.
How could he fail to assassinate a big, crispy target at point-blank range? The damage from the assault should have been fatal.
Isn’t that embarrassing?
However, Salvatore guessed sothing from Annan’s reaction.
"... Was the Blood Demon one of your people?"
Salvatore’s expression suddenly beca very strange. He leaned back significantly with his upper body, performing a tactical backward lean of high difficulty.
"Be careful not to fall over."
Annan reminded him, "Also, the Blood Demon was not one of my people. It was Delicious Wind Goose who brought the Blood Demon to Philip’s ho."
"I see..."
Salvatore suddenly felt a bit regretful.
After learning that the assassination attempt on Philip was Annan’s idea, he imdiately changed the subject and no longer pitied Philip, instead starting to regret that Philip hadn’t died, "Then it must be that you didn’t communicate well.
"The Blood Demon didn’t co out to assassinate Philip on his own initiative, but rather his existence was noticed by soone. So he had no choice but to co out and attempt the assassination—but he still failed in the end."
"He was discovered by soone?"
"Yes."
Salvatore answered, "It was the Sacrifice Saint, ’an adversary of his own’. He went to the Royal Capital in search of the Blood Demon... Any Corrupted that use ’flesh and blood’ as their characteristic ability would be found and killed by him. This has been his most frequent activity over the past decade.
"His goal is to prevent the holy bones of ’Sacrificial Flesh and Blood’ from falling into the hands of the Corrupted."
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