In the name of the true god

Time passed by unnoticed, and it was already past midnight.

Jude flipped through a large number of newspapers, but managed to glean no more than ten articles about Edmund.

Most of these events take place in the later years of Edmund's travels around the world. The content mainly revolves around how he led a group of wizards and resonators to evade the Holy Church's numerous pursuits, and also launched surprise attacks on several Holy Church churches, rescuing hundreds of their kind.

It wouldn't make much sense to tell Edmund these things now.

Edmund is still undecided about whether to reveal the only time he "lost out"—his arrest by Prince Leonard of the Kingdom of Florence in May 427.

The consequences of interfering with the timeline are considerable.

If I had warned Edmund about Leonard and Edmund had actually survived, would the resulting butterfly effect have caused a huge change on my side?

If Edmund hadn't ultimately become a "heretic" and hadn't obtained the Möbius strip, how could he have received his warning and thus escaped Leonard's pursuit?

just forget it.

I'll consider whether to reveal it once I've figured out the timeline better.

As for the fact that he was unable to extract suitable, experimental information from the newspaper special edition, that seemed to be of little importance.

After all, Vincent Monroe had waited for him for twenty years.

This has proven that they have successfully manipulated the timeline.

Thinking of this, Jude's hair stood on end again.

Unable to find information in the newspapers, he could only experiment with Vincent Monroe, which seemed to be his only viable option.

Therefore, Vincent Monroe's waiting became an inescapable "inevitability".

"It really seems like it was destined all along..." he murmured, then leaned against the sofa and fell into a deep sleep.

The next day.

October 15, 448 AD (Sunday) in the Christian calendar.

Jude yawned and carried several newspapers to the temporary rest room in the special ward of the Royal Capital Heavy Prison to change into his prison guard uniform.

"What's wrong? Didn't you sleep well?" Fatty Alan asked with concern.

"I've been so tired lately, I can't seem to get enough sleep." Jude hadn't forgotten the excuse he gave when he turned down Fatty Allen's invitation yesterday. "Luckily I didn't go drinking with you, or I probably would have had to skip work today."

Fat Allen didn't suspect anything, but kindly suggested, "You might not be used to working here yet. If it really doesn't work out, you should ask for a couple of days off to rest."

"It's alright, I can manage." Jude waved his hand. "Are you still going to play cards with those two priests today?"

"...Go." Fatty Allen said somewhat ashamed.

"I don't understand you..." Jude didn't intend to try to persuade him repeatedly.

Ultimately, everyone has their own way of living.

Sometimes we feel that others are going down the wrong path, but it's really just a matter of different perspectives.

"I, I, I, I absolutely do not acknowledge the union of two, two, two hearts. There will be, there will be any, any obstacles. Love, love, love is not true love. If, if, if one, one, one sees others change and then, one, one, one changes course, or, or, or... (Note 1)" The poet Anders arrived earliest and 'diligently' held the book of poems and recited it.

Colin, the vain guy, went to a ballroom dance last night and came to work today reeking of alcohol.

Upon hearing the poet Anders read about "love," he chuckled drunkenly and said, "Ha, our great poet seems to know a lot about love. Then tell me, why... why didn't that girl last night want to dance with me..."

"Aren't you the most popular one at the ballroom dance? There are still people who don't want to dance with you?" Jude teased.

"I...sigh, never mind..." The vain Colin collapsed in frustration and fell fast asleep.

Captain Foster glanced at his older brother Killian.

Kiri understood immediately and went over to wake Colin up: "Wake up. If outsiders see you sleeping while on duty, you'll lose a week's pay."

"So be it...nobody loves me anyway...sob sob sob..." Colin seemed to have been quite provoked.

"Alright, let him sleep." Captain Foster finally softened. "He just needs to wake up before noon."

There were only a few of them in the temporary rest room for the prison guards, so they didn't have to follow the rules too strictly.

Jude chuckled upon seeing this and looked down at the newspaper.

Half an hour later, the phone connected to the heretical prison area on the second basement level rang.

Fat Allen stepped forward and answered, "Yes, I'll be right there. Jude? He..."

Jude knew immediately that the two priests were planning to invite them to play cards again, so he said without turning his head, "I'm not going."

"He said he wasn't feeling well and didn't really want to play cards today," Fat Allen said, making up a plausible excuse for Jude. "Okay, okay, I'll be right there."

Watching the fat Allen leave, Captain Foster looked at Jude: "Why aren't you going today?"

"Those priests are cheating, it's no fun playing. I don't understand why Allen goes out every day to lose money." Jude shook his head.

"That's just the kind of person Allen is. It's less about trying to please the priest and more about him being afraid to refuse." Captain Foster lit a cigarette. "Actually, refusing wouldn't have been a big deal, but like I said, that's just the kind of person he is..."

Hearing your words is like hearing a lecture...

Jude shrugged and then began to read the newspaper.

noon.

The phone rang a second time.

After Captain Foster finished speaking, he kicked the snoring, vain Colin awake: "Let's go."

Jude stuffed the newspaper into the wardrobe, went to the canteen to collect his food, and then followed the others to the heresy ward, where bread was distributed and the sludge buckets were emptied as usual.

Still to the north.

"Do we need to empty the sewage bucket?"

"Do we need to empty the sewage bucket?"

Jude expertly tossed a piece of bread into each cell one by one, then dragged the sewage buckets that needed emptying to the side.

He initially planned to linger longer in front of each cell, so that having a few seconds or so of contact with Vincent Monroe would seem more normal.

But then I thought, if I drag this out, by the time I get to the last surveillance room, everyone else will have already finished, and I'll easily attract unnecessary attention.

So he opted to complete the food distribution and waste bin collection for the first nine cells at a slightly faster pace than usual. Then, taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention to him, he squatted down in front of the last monitoring cell and quickly pulled open the partition: "Do you need the waste bin emptied?"

Vincent Monroe was already waiting behind the partition.

He first cautiously scanned his surroundings to make sure Jude was alone before answering yesterday's question in a low voice: "Edmund Ravenscrow asked me to help you. The method of applying the law of similarity is simple: you try to align yourself with a goal of resonance. To ensure this process is as safe as possible, you must establish an anchor point."

The idea of ​​aligning oneself with a shared goal is not difficult to understand.

By comprehensively imitating the target you want to resonate with, both externally and internally.

But what about setting up anchor points?

That's a bit too profound...

Jude seized the opportunity to press further: "What is an anchor point?"

"Like a ship's anchor," Vincent Monroe explained. "If you don't want your ship to drift away without a trace, you'd better throw the anchor into the sea."

Jude seemed to understand, but considering that more than thirty seconds had passed, even though he was still troubled, he had no choice but to stop for the time being, hand the two pieces of bread to Vincent Monroe, and close the partition again.

Thanks to his refusal to ask too many questions and his brief lingering outside Vincent Monroe's cell, this secret contact went unnoticed.

After finishing his work and returning to the temporary break room for prison guards, Jude Ming outwardly held a newspaper to pass the time, but inwardly he secretly began to study the law of similarity.

Integrate existing information —

In North Point, a pig farm owner once awakened to the power of resonance, but later turned into a domestic pig and was publicly executed by the Holy Church.

Edmund said that the first major level of the law of similarity is called "imitation".

Vincent Munro reminded himself that aligning oneself with a goal is the most direct way to apply the law of similarity. And to ensure he wouldn't end up like that pig farm owner, he needed to establish an anchor point.

imitate……

self……

Anchor point...

Why can't pig farm owners change back?

Because he didn't set up an anchor point?

So, the relationship between a person and an anchor point is like that between a ship and its anchor.

A ship without an anchor cannot dock smoothly. Similarly, a person without an anchor will lose themselves in the process of imitation.

The laws of contact and similarity are truly complex and mysterious...

Jude put down his newspaper and looked around, trying to find something he could imitate to further break down the problem. Unfortunately, apart from a few colleagues, there was really nothing in the break room that could be imitated.

He closed his eyes again and recalled it in his mind.

Imitation of inanimate objects?

Imitating animals?

What animals have...

dog?

猫？

These are the only two types I usually see.

How can we then emulate cats and dogs?

Do we outwardly imitate their behavior, and inwardly imitate their psychology?

hiss……

What can dogs do?

It bounces around, sticks out its tongue, and barks...

Where's the cat?

Yeah, poop smells really bad...

Jude realized that he didn't actually know much about cats and dogs, and it wasn't really appropriate to imitate dog crawling or cat meowing in front of his colleagues in the break room...

This is insane...

He'll be sent to a mental hospital...

Thinking about this, Jude understood why Resonance Sorcerers were considered heretics. If he were in their shoes, unaware of the situation, and saw a Resonance Sorcerer imitating all sorts of strange animals, he probably would have shouted, "Burn him!"...

Similarly, he understood why the pig farm owner had to imitate pigs of all things.

Having dealt with pigs for many years, I am very familiar with them, so it is only natural to imitate pigs first.

Okay, that's enough!

Jude reorganized his thoughts.

To master the law of similarity, you must first set a target to imitate, then observe carefully. Only after you have a deep enough understanding can you try to make yourself converge with the target!

As for the anchor point...

Does repeatedly telling yourself "I am a person, I am a person, I am a person" count as...?

That probably won't work.

In the process of converging towards a goal, one must also psychologically align with that goal. On the one hand, one must align with the goal, and on the other hand, one must constantly remind oneself that one is, after all, a human being; how can one succeed when there is contradiction between these two?

Then you need to find an external object to indirectly remind yourself who you really are.

What's good...?

Jude's first thought was the Möbius strip ring.

This thing is unique and contains unimaginable power.

wrong.

The Möbius strip ring may be powerful, but it doesn't seem to have much to do with reminding yourself who you really are.

You need to find an item that can stimulate your instincts enough and maintain a strong connection with yourself as a "human being".

What...

What...

Jude pondered deeply.

Colin, the vain guy who had sobered up, jokingly asked Fatty Allen, "How much money did you lose today?"

"Fifteen gold coins," Fatty Allen replied with a wry smile.

"Fifteen gold coins a day? Spending a week rotating through the heretic ward every month, that's over a hundred gold coins! How much is our monthly salary? Do you think money grows on trees?" The vain Colin felt a pang of heartache for Fatty Allen.

money……

money……

money……

Jude, as if possessed, pulled out his wallet and stared intently at the banknotes inside.

Huh? Isn't this the perfect anchor point?

Note 1: From Shakespeare's Sonnet 116.