Secrets: Priestess

Chapter 41: Life Refining

Chapter 41: Life Refining
"...Neighbors said they hadn't seen them for over a week."

Dunn, wearing his senior inspector's uniform, continued to ask the patrolman, "Do you have a picture of Riel Bieber?"

The patrol officer nervously replied, "I'm not sure... I'll have to go back to the precinct and check for details."

This kind of answer is basically a "no" to shirk responsibility.

Dunn had no expectations for the district patrol, so he sent the patrol out on a random pretext of investigation.

Then Dunn turned to Neil and said, "I need a realistic portrait of Riel Bieber."

Old Neil immediately understood Dunn's request, but he didn't act immediately. Instead, he waved his arms at Claire, called her over, and asked:

"Your spirituality is sufficient. Do you remember the ritual magic I taught you before? The one that allowed you to see the remains of the figures in the house through the ritual."

Of course, Claire couldn't have forgotten, so she nodded and said, "I remember."

Old Neil took out a pen and handed it to Claire. He then spread a piece of scrap paper on the table in front of them. "The captain wants a portrait of Riel Bieber. You try it first."

Claire did not reject this intentional cultivation of practical skills.

Claire pinched a handful of Holy Night Powder from the bottle she was carrying and sprinkled it around herself, creating a spiritual wall. With a flick of her hand, she encircled Old Neil as well.

Seeing this, Old Neil advised, "That's a bit of a waste of Holy Night powder."

Inside the spiritual wall, Claire prayed for the goddess's power.

Following the low, indistinguishable spell, Claire's dark red eyes turned almost completely black.

As her eyes turned black, Claire quickly drew a picture of Riel Bieber on a piece of scrap paper, and wrote down Riel's physical features in sentences.

Black hair, deep blue eyes, and a full porcelain denture on the left side of his mouth.

After finishing the painting, Claire raised her hand and pierced through the spiritual wall. A wisp of invisible black mist emanated from behind Old Neil and was sucked into Claire's heart.

Old Neil, who hadn't noticed anything, praised: "Praise the goddess."

Dunn also looked at the portrait on the table, which exceeded his expectations, and nodded slightly.

Old Neil smiled proudly at Dunn and said, "Look at how fast the new guys are improving now. They're much better than you were back then. I can finally retire. Don't bother me anymore from now on."

The subsequent investigation was basically centered around the "Fortune Teller" Klein, so Claire was temporarily free.

Although the Antigonus family's notes were not found in this operation, with the new clue that "Riel Bieber took the notes away", the Nighthawks issued a wanted order for Riel Bieber.

On the carriage back, Old Neil was in high spirits and reassured Klein, saying that although he hadn't found the notes, he had new clues, and organizations like the Secret Order wouldn't keep a close eye on him. He also said that Klein would soon be free from the shadow and threat, and so on.

Klein's tense expression relaxed a little after hearing Old Neil's words.

Claire listened to Old Neil's endless chatter, but her eyes darkened slightly.

During the ceremony just now, with the power of the goddess, she not only saw the appearance of Riel Bieber, but also saw a weak spirit attached to Old Neil.

No, it cannot even be called a spirit, it can only be said to be a fragment of a spirit.

What is even more worrying is that both the fragments of this spirit and Old Neil have a strong smell of pollution belonging to the hidden sage.

Old Neil's condition has become more serious...

The paperwork for the incident report for this attendance was handled by Klein.

Back at Blackthorn Security Company, Claire asked Dunn for a lounge.

Dunn quickly approved.

After entering the women's lounge filled with a faint fragrance, Claire locked the door.

This room is used more by Xiga and Luo Yao. They are both "sleepless people" and only come here to catch up on some sleep when they are too busy. The two of them keep the room very tidy and clean.

Claire didn't lie down in bed to rest. She took out a pen and paper and bent over the desk to write a letter.

The vague figure behind Old Neil made her worried.

During the month she spent among the Nighthawks, after vaguely sensing the polluted aura around Old Neil, she began to talk about him with the others.

Old Neil is older than Dunn, and it would be easier to find out about the past of such an old man.

But after talking to people around, everyone's perception of Old Neil is that he "never shirks his tasks", "is enthusiastic about teaching newcomers", "is greedy and stingy and only wants to get reimbursements", etc.

Even if someone asked Old Neil questions about family, love, etc., the question would always end with him saying, "I'm used to being single."

That thing behind Old Neil... looks a bit like the "fragment of the soul" mentioned in the book?
Claire wasn't sure.

She wrote in detail about the vague figure she saw behind Old Neil in a letter to Daly, and raised some questions of her own.

"...Sister Dai Li, I read in the book that spirit fragments can't exist for long. Then why do they float behind living people?"

"That's neither an evil spirit nor a resentful entity. What kind of existence is a fragment of a spirit?"

"How should we deal with this situation?"

After writing the letter, Claire used the materials she had prepared to simply set up the altar. She then recited the messenger spell Daly had left her:

"A spirit wandering in the void, a creature from the upper realm driven by humans, and a messenger belonging exclusively to Daly Simone."

In the gloomy atmosphere, with the dim candlelight flickering, a strange face emerged from the table amidst rippling circles.

The cute little girl with a unique appearance even tried to scare Claire by sticking out her tongue.

After seeing Claire's expressionless face, he obediently pinched Claire's letter with his little hand on the tip of his tongue.

Then he disappeared.

After watching Daly's messenger disappear, Claire did not break the spiritual wall.

She leaned back in her chair and began to deliberately weaken the seal of the Goddess's Sword bit by bit.

The whispers in her ears became increasingly frantic. Just as the hilt of a bone sword gathered at Claire's heart, a wisp of black mist escaped from the seal and transformed into a black line that spread from her heart towards Claire's neck.

As the black line appeared, the whispers in his ear suddenly changed style, becoming a gentle and alluring voice:

"As a reward for your embrace of knowledge, I grant you the knowledge of resurrection."

At this moment, Claire used the pollution intercepted from the "spirit" to hear the whispers from the hidden sage that Old Neil had heard before.

It was a ritual.

It's called "Life Refining".

The knowledge entered her ears, and the materials required for the ritual were engraved in Claire's mind:

100 ml of Elven Spring water, 50 grams of Star Crystal, half a pound of gold, 5 grams of Phlogiston, 30 grams of Hematite...

And a lot of human blood.

Claire opened her eyes suddenly.

There were densely packed pairs of eyes in her deep red eyes.

Claire groaned and pressed the bone sword against her heart again.

All the eye shadows disappeared.