Chapter 76

“This is much more chaotic than I imagined.”

I had thought that being a Count would mean a respectable status and considerable wealth, but I was completely wrong.

“I don’t want to eat this!”

“Aida, there are many people outside who are starving because they have even less than this. You shouldn’t complain.”

Aida, my younger sister, threw the bread aside and burst into tears, while our father, Count Bradley Somerset, sternly reprimanded her.

I glanced at the food on the table, thinking that the dining scene in a noble household might resemble that of an ordinary family.

On the table lay a thin, unidentifiable soup and bread as hard as rocks.

Certainly, these were not appetizing dishes even for a child.

Determined to eat, I attempted to dip the bread into the soup, but just as I broke it apart—

Crack!

Did I just hear the sound of wood splintering?

Chapter 76: Large Team Instance “Shael’s Wrath”

At half past five in the morning, the sky over Borough City was just beginning to turn a deep blue.

A carriage emblazoned with the emblem of the Salvation Goddess Church sped towards the Jazz Bridge District.

Soon, the carriage stopped in front of the manor at 15 Jazz Bridge District.

The two coachmen, dressed in plain black robes with hoods covering their faces, jumped down from their seats. One quickly walked to the carriage door and opened it, while the other ran towards the manor entrance.

“High Priestess, please be careful.”

Inside the carriage, a woman in white robes, clearly of higher rank than the others, leaped out directly.

Almost as soon as she landed, a silver-white armored figure emerged from the manor entrance. Each step the armored figure took produced a clanking sound, attracting the attention of the three people outside.

“High Priestess Yulis.”

The humming sound from within the armor echoed, as the figure asked, “Is there anything you need?”

This armored figure was Nia.

Nia felt something was amiss.

The High Priestess of Borough City, running to find Miss Aivana so late, could not be a good sign.

Nia’s intuition told her this had something to do with Miss Xia’er’s sudden departure earlier. Xia’er’s state then seemed very off, almost like someone influenced by a potion.

“I need to see Miss Russell. Please inform her.”

Yulis removed her mask, facing Nia and said seriously, “This is a very important matter… related to the ‘Judge’ potion’s exposure.”

In fact, Yulis did not intend to pursue the matter of the ‘Judge’ potion’s exposure, but now she had to use this as leverage to meet Aivana as soon as possible.

She needed Aivana’s help to capture the nearly uncontrollable Xia’er… Yulis had no confidence in completing this task alone.

Making Aivana agree to intervene was mainly to get the help of the three-rank ‘Crown Guard.’ This was Yulis’ goal.

She was taking a gamble.

A gamble on how important Xia’er was to Aivana.

Indeed, upon hearing about the ‘Judge’ potion, Nia fell silent for a moment.

About three seconds later, Nia slowly spoke, “I don’t know anything about the ‘Judge’ potion, but if you want to see Miss Aivana, you can come in. She’s awake right now.”

Nia opened the iron gate of the manor and stepped aside to let Yulis in.

Awake? At this hour?

Although surprised, Yulis signaled the reform monks behind her to wait and followed Nia inside.

Since the drawing room wasn’t yet repaired, Yulis was led to a study on the first floor to wait. After about five minutes, Aivana hurried into the study and sat on the single sofa opposite Yulis.

“Miss Russell, hello.”

Yulis nodded slightly and said to Aivana, “We’ve met before. My name is Yulis.”

“Mm.”

Aivana responded without emotion, but she was actually quite anxious.

Because Nia had told her that High Priestess Yulis’ arrival was related to Xia’er.

Recalling Xia’er’s strange behavior, Aivana secretly regretted not having Nia bind Xia’er until she returned to normal.

But now, Aivana didn’t know what exactly happened to Xia’er.

“Let’s skip the formalities. Miss Russell, I’m here about Miss Xia’er.”

Yulis began, “You know her, right?”

“Yes.”

Aivana nodded slightly, “She’s my friend.”

“She’s been affected by the potion, and the assimilation is severe,” Yulis said seriously, looking at Aivana. “I need your help to have the ‘Crown Guard’ intervene and control her.”

“Potion loss of control?”

Aivana finally couldn’t keep her composure, thinking to herself that this was indeed the case.

The thing she feared most had happened.

Xia’er, who had previously been checked multiple times and appeared to be a regular person, suddenly became extraordinary and changed drastically in personality.

If only she were a psychologist…

An “Auditor” wouldn’t be able to treat this mental disorder caused by the potion. Perhaps she should accelerate her replication ritual.

“You don’t seem surprised?”

Yulis seemed to sense her emotions and asked.

“Yes, I guessed,” Aivana nodded, taking a deep breath. “After she woke up, she mysteriously became an ‘Avenger,’ probably after drinking the potion yesterday afternoon when she returned from Derton Manor.”

“These days, she hasn’t performed any replication rituals, and she seems very calm, without any enmity with anyone… It’s fine, we’ll go find her now and arrange an ‘Avenger’ replication ritual for her.”

Aivana stood up, truly feeling anxious.

“‘Avenger’?”

Yulis’ mouth slowly opened, realizing something. “Wait, you’re saying she drank the ‘Avenger’ potion without performing any rituals yesterday?”

“Yes, before I left her room yesterday, she hadn’t shown any signs of the potion.”

Aivana wanted to say something about where Xia’er got so many ‘Avenger’ potions, but considering the person sitting opposite her was from the Salvation Goddess Church, she remained silent.

Soon, Aivana realized Yulis was still sitting there, seemingly with no intention of standing up.

“What’s wrong, High Priestess?”

Aivana urged, “Where is she now? We need to act fast.”

“No, let me think for a moment.”

Yulis raised her hand, interrupting Aivana. “First, answer me, did you give her the ‘Judge’ potion?”

“No, I only collect the ‘Judge’ potion and haven’t given it to anyone.”

Aivana replied without hesitation, worried about Xia’er being pursued and questioned by the Salvation Goddess Church.

“Miss Xia’er… didn’t drink the ‘Avenger’ potion,” Yulis said directly, knowing this question wouldn’t lead anywhere.

“She drank the ‘Judge’ potion just now.”

Aivana: “I know she drank the potion… What potion?!”

“I think we need more help, Miss Russell.”

…

Too noisy…

Xia’er descended the stairs one step at a time, rubbing her temples.

“Why didn’t I notice how noisy the people at Derton Manor were before… Is Yulis living in this environment every day?”

Xia’er muttered to herself.

She thought about the invisible Yulis, enduring such noise every day. How could she endure this madness?

Xia’er now felt that Yulis’ habit of pinching her face wasn’t so bizarre in this situation. To avoid going insane, one needs some special hobbies.

Fortunately, it’s not so noisy now.

Xia’er turned around to look.

Behind her, four shadows held eight corpses, including Jiti’s headless body.

Not all of them were cultists…

She was merely a gambler at Derton Manor, coincidentally running into Xia’er.

It wasn’t that Xia’er wanted to kill them; it was just that they were too noisy. If they had remained calm and courteous, giving Xia’er a wide berth, perhaps nothing like this would have happened.

Since it’s a simulation… I can use their corpses for some experiments.

Once Xia’er resolves the matter with the Holy Presence Society in reality, she could be saving their lives. This would be compensation for helping Xia’er complete the experiment in the simulation.

She walked step by step down to the first underground level, standing at the entrance of the basement.

The once tidy basement was now in disarray, with the attendants and maids at the entrance all dead. Blood and low-level materials were scattered everywhere.

The cultists, upon receiving the retreat message, had someone raid the basement and loot everything.

“So fast…”

Xia’er frowned slightly as she bypassed the corpses at the entrance and walked inside. As she passed the steel gate, which gleamed in the light, she saw her reflection through the gate’s reflection.

The hem of her black maid dress was torn, and she stood barefoot among the corpses, her white apron stained with blood. The blood was not only on her legs but also on her hands and face.

How messy…

Xia’er wiped her face with her hand, realizing it was futile. She no longer paid attention to her appearance and instead controlled the shadow to neatly arrange the corpses of the Extraordinary Persons. Then she started searching for low-level materials.

The Extraordinary cultist who looted the basement was a professional, taking almost all the second-tier potions and valuable materials, which made Xia’er feel somewhat disappointed.

However, she wasn’t too concerned since she came here specifically to find low-level materials for experimentation.

Now that the low-level materials were ready, it was time to try the Spiritual Summoning.

Under Xia’er’s control, the shadows gathered the scattered materials. One of the shadows walked to the steel gate at the basement, dragging the ordinary people’s corpses outside and piling them up. Then it closed and locked the gate to avoid any disturbance during Xia’er’s ritual.

Perhaps due to the gate being closed, alone in this enclosed environment, Xia’er felt the internal noise slightly diminish. At least now, she could clearly hear sounds within five meters around her.

But whenever someone approached, the black noise intensified, making it impossible to hear anything again.

Xia’er hoped that what Spiritual Summoning summoned could help solve this problem.

Otherwise, every time she uses this save point in the future, she would have to avoid crowds and endure the whispering noise, which is far worse than burns.

Soon, Xia’er selected a piece of spiritual material.

It was a finger bone, seemingly from a first-tier Extraordinary Person. It was carelessly thrown on the ground, and Xia’er couldn’t sense much spiritual energy from it.

This was perfect for the first attempt.

The shadow cleared a circular area, cutting away the carpet and revealing the polished marble floor underneath.

Xia’er stood in this cleared space, slowly closing her eyes. The finger bone was clenched in her hand.

Luckily, unlike the knowledge attached to potions, the system’s skills didn’t require Xia’er to understand them. She only needed to silently recite them in her heart, and she would naturally grasp the method.

“Spiritual Summoning.”

Xia’er silently recited the words in her mind.

She released the finger bone, allowing gravity to pull it towards the ground.

“*.”

Xia’er’s lips moved slightly, and a character she had never heard before escaped her mouth.

After this sound, the falling finger bone suddenly stopped, defying gravity to hover beside Xia’er.

A shadow split from behind Xia’er, holding an axe in its hand. It slowly raised the axe to Xia’er’s shadow’s finger, gently slicing it.

Xia’er’s right hand suddenly split open, and droplets of blood, like beads, were pulled out of her wound, forming fine red threads in the air.

These red threads began to condense above Xia’er’s head, quickly forming an irregular, eerie pattern. With the finger bone floating in front of Xia’er, the array formed and plummeted to the ground.

Hisss —

The finger bone in front of Xia’er ignited with blue spiritual flame. Encased in the flames, the bone was soon eroded, leaving only a black, shapeless fragment that shattered on the ground.

The extraordinary traits contained within the finger bone were completely burned off and offered as a sacrifice to the unknown beings of the Other Realm.

At this moment, the blood array around Xia’er began to boil, red mist rising and constantly condensing in front of her.

Xia’er opened her eyes, nervously watching the scene before her.

She had seen some scenes from the Other Realm before, which affected her so much that she almost lost her sanity. If it weren’t for the Radiant Bishop, Xiu, she would have died during that simulation.

The red mist swirled and gradually formed a small blood vortex with a radius of 15 centimeters.

In Xia’er’s gaze, a hand slowly pierced through the blood vortex, landing with a “slap” in front of her.

It was a deformed right hand, about the size of a child’s, with only a palm and a short forearm. It had seven joints, one of which was a bone joint, making Xia’er feel somewhat familiar.

It seemed like the one she had just sacrificed.

The hand used its joints to prop itself up, crawling towards Xia’er like a reptile.

Disgusting…

Seeing the disgusting hand like a spider crawling towards her, Xia’er instinctively took a step back. But the next second, the hand seemed to sense something and abruptly shook off its joints, disappearing in front of Xia’er.

Before Xia’er could react, the hand-shaped spider quickly ran back to her, extending its body as if it had left something behind.

Then, enveloped in spiritual flames, the hand spider was completely consumed, leaving behind only the low-level spiritual material it had brought over.

Xia’er: “…”

Huh?

That’s it?

Its… function was to help pick things up?

And it only picked up one thing before running away?

She sensed a strange word imprinted in her mind, unreadable and incomprehensible. But Xia’er could feel that if she sacrifices another finger bone with extraordinary traits and uses the system to say this word, she could summon it again.

Xia’er roughly understood the mode of Spiritual Summoning.

Now, the most important thing is to figure out the rules and find a spiritual being that can help her.

Xia’er’s gaze fell on the arranged corpses of the Extraordinary Persons.

This time, she decided to sacrifice a first-tier gambler’s corpse and see what happens.

The area where Xia’er was standing had already been corroded by the blood array and was no longer suitable for drawing new arrays. She released the shadows to clear another spot.

Luckily, there was plenty of space here, and the walls could also be used to set up blood arrays. Once she consumes all these materials, she will likely have utilized this space fully.

Xia’er was preparing for the next Spiritual Summoning ritual, but she didn’t know that Yulis, who had run away, had already gathered a team of Extraordinary Persons, equipped with ample potions and rare Sealed Objects, and was heading towards Derton Manor.