Lord of Mysteries 2: Circle of Inevitability

Lumian had just confirmed that Michel Garrigue should not have been implicated by Guillaume Bénet and the others. He planned to visit the deputy padre late at night, but when he returned home, he heard his sister say that there was something amiss about him.

Aurore glanced at Lumian and smiled.

"My clueless brother was standing right in front of him when I realized that something was off about him. Seems like you didn't notice…"

She appeared quite delighted, to the point that she had to raise her right hand to cover her mouth. After all, her younger brother, who was clearly ignorant of mysticism, had suddenly become a Beyonder. He had grasped a wealth of advanced knowledge and discovered that Cordu was stuck in a time loop. Not only had she been useless as a sister, but she also found herself outmatched in mysticism knowledge. This made her a tad unhappy.

Now, she had finally regained her dignity as an elder sister.

Lumian looked at his sister's smile and nodded.

"I didn't see anything unusual in his behavior."

Aurore tersely acknowledged, "His Astral Projection; how can I put it? Simply put, it's brighter than a normal person's, and he's not a Beyonder. He hasn't been training his body systematically for a long time."

"Maybe he was born with a good physique?" Lumian guessed before asking in puzzlement, "What's an Astral Projection?"

Aurore asked in surprise, "You don't know?"

"No." Lumian shook his head.

Aurore grinned again and said with a hint of disbelief, "That woman taught you divine paths, the Law of Beyonder Characteristics Indestructibility, and the acting method, but she didn't tell you basic concepts like Astral Projection?"

"She was in a hurry, so she only focused on the main points." Lumian defended the mysterious woman.

Aurore smiled even more happily.

"Perhaps this basic mysticism knowledge is useless to unofficial Hunters. You just need to track, set traps, and fight."

She struggled to describe her brother's current state. To say he was ignorant of mysticism wasn't entirely accurate since he knew a great deal. The things he had learned were all formidable. To say that his knowledge surpassed most Beyonders wasn't right either; he didn't even know what an Astral Projection was.

Aurore sighed and said seriously, "I can only complete your mysticism education. Remember, in mysticism, the external parts of the human body are divided into four levels. The innermost layer, which is also the core, is the Soul Body. It's almost equivalent to the concept of a spirit. It's the spirituality of everything—what gets strengthened. You could say it's the essence of building a soul.

"To a Mystery Pryer, the potion mainly upgrades the Soul Body.

"The Astral Projection is located outside the Soul Body. It's the latter's manifestation in the real and spirit worlds. Moreover, it's closely related to your will and current emotions.

"So, do you understand? When I said the deputy padre's Astral Projection was brighter than a normal person's, I meant that his Soul Body or spirit had an issue. This is reflected in his Astral Projection. It has nothing to do with his natural physique. Of course, it could be because his spirituality is naturally strong.

"Through the Astral Projection, we can still grasp the target's true emotions. For example, red signifies passion and excitement. Orange represents warmth and satisfaction. Yellow indicates happiness and extroversion. Green conveys calmness and peace. Blue suggests coldness and introspection. White denotes brightness—an eagerness to improve. Dark colors symbolize worry, sorrow, and silence. Purple implies that spirituality is taking control, coldness, and estrangement…

"It's very difficult to fake these colors, but they're relatively generic. It's impossible for us to distinguish subtle emotions and delicate feelings."

Lumian listened attentively, as if he wanted to take out a fountain pen and jot everything down.

"Just listen." Aurore felt a little worn out from talking. She sat down at the dining table. "I'll give you my first witchcraft notebook later. It's filled with such basic knowledge."

"Alright, alright." Lumian sat down and nodded obediently. "What's outside the Astral Projection?"

Aurore picked up her carved glass cup and took a sip.

"Beyond that is the Body of Heart and Mind. From this point on, spirit and flesh merge.

"The Body of Heart and Mind involves the mind. It relates to one's reasoning, thinking, insight, and ability to understand things. Some potions mainly improve this, but there are also many spells targeting it.

"The outermost layer is the Ether Body. It's a manifestation of life force and physical state, so I can tell at a glance that your body has improved greatly. Yes, through the thickness, brightness, and color of different parts of the Ether Body, I can also determine the target's health. As a Sequence 7 Mystery Pryer, I can even determine the target's lifespan from the specific situation of the Ether Body.

"As for how to differentiate them, read the notebook later."

Lumian was enlightened.

"The Hunter potion mainly targets the Ether Body?"

"You're wrong. It targets the body and life force, and 'Ether Body' is the straightforward manifestation of both."

Lumian nodded as he revised, gaining a preliminary understanding of such mysticism knowledge.

He recalled his sister's words and asked curiously, "Aurore, how did you observe the deputy padre? Why didn't I sense you nearby?"

Aurore smiled.

"Actually, I've been staying at home all this while, using the Mystery Pryer pathway's special trait."

"What's special?" Lumian asked with the mentality that it didn't matter if his sister didn't answer.

Aurore pointed at her eyes.

"The most unique ability of a Mystery Pryer is called the Eyes of Mystery Prying.

"Although I need to reach a higher Sequence before I can activate the complete Eyes of Mystery Prying, allowing it to not only be of use to me, but it can also be placed on the surface of other objects to help me monitor matters remotely, this doesn't mean that Mystery Pryer's eyes aren't special before this."

"From Sequence 9 onwards, a Mystery Pryer has seen more than most Sequence Beyonders of the same pathway. The simplest example is that a Hunter can only see an Ether Body before they undergo a qualitative change in their godhood. Furthermore, it's in a less detailed manner. And now, I can examine the various details of the Astral Projection. In addition, I can also see things around me that aren't normally visible."

Aurore glanced at the kitchen.

This made Lumian inexplicably shocked.

There was clearly nothing in that direction, but he felt that there might be something invisible that he could not see!

Aurore continued, "Of course, this might not be a good thing. It's very easy for something to happen when you see something you shouldn't see. Therefore, I've been restraining myself. I don't look at things I shouldn't see, but as my Sequence increases, it's not up to you not to look."

Lumian thought for a moment and asked in confusion, "Didn't you say that only higher Sequences can project out the Eyes of Mystery Prying? Why can you observe the people in the cathedral from home?"

Aurore raised her right hand and pointed with her index finger.

"I've always told you that knowledge equals power, but you didn't believe me!

"Under normal circumstances, it's true that I can't observe things hundreds of meters away from home, but humans can use tools, and I have two 'assistants'."

As she spoke, she took out two items from a hidden pocket in her blue dress.

One was a brass telescope that could shrink and lengthen, and the other was a miniature version of a dark ink bottle—this was more like a child's toy.

"Look, the telescope can help me see people a few hundred meters away clearly. Once the visual range is closed, I can observe the target's Astral Projection, Ether Body, and Body of Heart and Mind state," Aurore introduced with a smile. "This is suitable for open spaces without obstacles."

Lumian was a little dumbfounded.

That works too?

They were clearly discussing mysticism. Why did his sister take out a telescope?

"What about this?" He pointed at the pocket ink bottle.

Aurore didn't answer. She massaged her temples and opened the bottle cap.

Lumian suddenly felt a little cold. A cool breeze seemed to blow in through the window.

"It's a unique spirit world creature," Aurore introduced.

"It? Where is it?" Lumian looked around.

Aurore was rather surprised.

"You still don't know how to activate Spirit Vision? But didn't you say you saw a lot of undead in the wilderness?"

Lumian had read about the term Spirit Vision in Psychic and knew what it meant. However, he was completely at a loss as to how to activate Spirit Vision.

He looked at his sister and slowly shook his head.

"I don't know." Then, he guessed, "Maybe ordinary people can see ghosts and undead directly when entering the so-called Paramita."

Aurore thought seriously and asked, "So, you don't know Hermes, ancient Hermes, Elvish, Dragonese, or Jotun?"

"What are those?" Lumian fully displayed what it meant to be illiterate in the field of mysticism.

Aurore couldn't help but facepalm.

"What exactly did that lady teach you?"

"Law of Beyonder Characteristics Indestructibility, law of convergence, acting method, paths of the divine, Sequence 0, Sealed Artifacts…" Lumian answered honestly.

"…" Aurore felt like he was flaunting. "I think you want a beating!"

She sighed for a few seconds before regaining her composure.

"Then I'll combine it with my contracted creature to teach you how to activate Spirit Vision, how to carry out ritualistic magic, and how to use language with supernatural powers.

"This is only a rough explanation. If you really want to completely master it, especially those few languages, it will take at least a year or two. Of course, this is also a problem with your Sequence pathway. Hunters probably don't have their learning abilities improved, nor do they have any enhancements in mysticism. Back then, I relied on diligence and indoctrination to master all of them in less than half a year."

Her right hand gently stroked the void in front of her, as if she was stroking a transparent kitten.

"It's very simple for Beyonders to activate their Spirit Vision, but it's not completely dark yet. Let's talk about something else first.

"I call it White Paper. It's a very weak spirit world creature. As long as you have an accurate description, you can hold a ritual and summon it in your name. Other than the fact that spirit world creatures are difficult to see, it only has one use. That is to carry a certain supernatural ability of the contractor, but it can't be too complicated or too powerful."