Miss Witch's Forbidden Book Secret

Chapter 190 A Deal

"This was a complete ambush, a despicable and shameless sneak attack!"

As Peter reached the entrance to the palace, he saw a moth flutter its wings near the chandelier in the corridor before disappearing without a trace. The girl with long, black hair, standing under the lamplight, stood with her arms crossed, her amber eyes brimming with barely suppressed discontent.

It's no wonder Tia was so angry; after she thrust her sword out, she did force Peter to break the ritual and pull her out of the deep sea.

But—the nightmare shattered the instant she thrust out the sword of victory, whether it was intentional on the part of Peter and Ulrich or the nightmare was indeed so fragile!

Just like when she rode the red deer to devour the twin serpents in the Plague Fortress, the entire nightmare continued to collapse—back then, when the Plague Fortress collapsed, numerous spirit creatures dismembered and devoured it. But now, no spirit creatures came to help, and as a result, all the knowledge within this nightmare was completely absorbed by Tia.

That involves knowledge of two secret texts and extraordinary techniques.

But the problem is—it's only a matter of mentioning it. Ulrich told Tia in detail how to find the Book of Transformation and the Book of Ascension, where to find them, and even gave her the prerequisite knowledge for the core content of these two books.

For example, the Book of Ascension, also known as the Book of Cocooning, differs from the Book of the Hearth, which discusses the Philosopher's Stone. The core of the Book of Ascension lies in the self-improvement of humanity, achieving perfection through "self-imposed entanglement." A key step requires the "Ascension" ritual of the Great Alchemist Sequence 7, supplemented by three rituals: the Incarnation of the Word (Sequence 4) from the Oak of the Earth, the Blessing Ritual (Sequence 5) from the Prophet, and the Tempering of Iron in Water (Sequence 6) from the Forging Hammer.

But they didn't give her the Book of Ascension, so she had no idea how to use it...

The same goes for the Book of Transformation. She does possess some extraordinary skills, particularly in carving, but Tia isn't particularly gifted in that area.

If it were just a normal nightmare, this might actually be a good thing. But it's the very same nightmare that's about to happen to Chairman Ulrich, who's about to make a deal with Tia.

Ulrich has already proposed a deal. Now that Tia has absorbed the knowledge, whether she likes it or not, she is on the scales and must pay the price.

That's why Tia was so angry with Peter.

This is clearly a trap set for her!

Peter raised his hand and gently pressed it down to calm Tia down, saying, "Alright, Sulph, I know you're upset. It's true that I'm partly to blame. But you don't want Eleanor's curse to remain uncured, do you?"

"Wait, what does this have to do with Eleanor?"

Tia took two steps back, looking warily at the Pope who spoke in such a subtle way, and kept imagining that the old man had a mustache in the middle of his nose.

Peter smiled helplessly, leaning on his scepter with its empty top, and said, "This is a deal between me and Ulrich. I have to find him a suitable successor to keep an eye on his two unworthy students. In exchange, he has to help heal Eleanor."

Tia said, her voice strained, "This has nothing to do with me. Why did you drag me into this?"

This has nothing to do with her!

Could it be that she is actually an Iris Flower Person, and that she and her sister Evina are the illegitimate daughters of Chairman Ulrich, and then a revenge drama unfolds?

That doesn't make sense either. President Ulrich Bonhoeffer is at least 120 years old. At that age, where would he get a teenage daughter?

Tia was convinced that Peter had framed her.

"Because I still have a deal with you, little Sulph."

Peter's voice sounded gentle and pleasant, but it echoed heavily in the corridor, carrying a hint of sacred majesty.

Before Tia could retort, the old man gave her a meaningful look and said, "I was the one who persuaded Elizabeth to let you take Eleanor to the Iris Garden. You wouldn't want Elizabeth to know that you took her daughter there, would you?"

Tia: "......"

The girl surrendered after being glanced at by the old pope.

"Alright, little Sulph, someone always has to make a sacrifice, why can't it be you?"

"Alright, come with me."

Peter chuckled and waved his scepter, pointing forward.

Tia had no idea what the old pope was up to, but she followed him over.

Walk down the corridor, and you'll reach the main hall.

In the main hall, Peter sat on the throne, and Tia casually brought a chair for him to sit opposite him.

Peter looked at Tia's dark circles and laughed, "Looks like you've been spending quite a bit of time at the Iris Garden these past few days."

Tia feigned ignorance and tried to get away with it, but it was true. Her soul, projected into the doll, meant her original self couldn't sleep; the brain is an organ, and it's not like the CPU stops working just because you turn on split-screen...

"But for now, stay in the country and get your promotion ceremony done."

Peter smiled, not caring that Tia pretended not to understand, and said, "However, you'd better not invite anyone else with you this time when you get promoted. Your next promotion will probably be by yourself."

"Me alone?"

Tia didn't understand what this meant at first, but then she realized that it meant she was the only participant in the promotion ceremony.

Peter said, “It is indeed only you. Therefore, the next ceremony will be different from all the previous ones. Didn’t Ulrich give you his legacy?”

"His true legacy to you is those two alchemical tomes. But not in this nightmare, but in two other places, the very places where your ascension ceremony will take place. And the one who will preside over your ascension will be the dead Saint Ulrich himself, who has become a phantom of the afterlife."

"But you need to be careful when you advance beyond Sequence 7. If you fail, your soul will most likely be damaged."

Tia asked cautiously, "Because of the intensity of the deep sea?"

“Oh, no.” Peter explained to her, “According to the original contract of the Year of the Saint, all advancement ceremonies were free of charge, with the cost to be paid by the spiritual apostles who signed the contract. But hundreds of years have passed and most of the saints from that year have died, so the apostles have defaulted on their promises. Now, those who are at Sequence 7 or above and are performing the ceremony for the second time are not guaranteed any further advancement.”

Okay, that's definitely the style of spirit beings...

Tia chatted briefly before leaving the Papal Palace with a hint of resentment. Peter, on the other hand, was all smiles, completely unconcerned about being mentally scrutinized by the black-haired girl.

Before Tia left, Peter specifically reminded her:

"Little Sulph! Don't go to the Iris Flower Garden after this promotion ceremony. Get some more sleep. There are plenty of rooms at 16 Crown Street, enough for you to sleep in."

Tia almost tripped over the threshold when she heard this from afar.

After she left, Peter called over the two priests who had led the way, and excitedly asked them to bring over the gifts that Tia had brought, so he could examine them carefully.

When the painter was painting his portrait, he heard the gatekeeper say that Tia had brought a lot of good things as gifts.

He inquired and found out it was an ancient porcelain piece from the Solomon period, at least 1500 years ago.

Although this thing doesn't sound that rare, Peter is a connoisseur of fakes! He's seen so many fakes in his palace that real ones are indeed rare.

This porcelain jar is not large, only about arm's length high. It is a wide-mouthed, curved bottle, but the body of the bottle is painted with a scene of King Solomon leading his army to conquer Herod, the city of the Papacy.

To be honest, this porcelain jar is indeed quite charming.

Peter looked at the two priests and said with satisfaction, "This is a good thing. Keep it safe for now. It's rare for us to have a real one here. In a few days, the envoy from the Papacy will be coming. I'll extort tens of thousands of gold pounds from the church, and you two can give this porcelain jar to the Papacy. Otherwise, if you give a fake, it will be recognized."

Chapter 191 The Eve of Promotion

It was already late at night when Tia returned to 16 Crown Street. She was going to tiptoe into the bedroom so as not to disturb Annie's sleep.

When Tia got to the living room, she found the lights were still on. When she went upstairs, she saw Vera with a tuft of hair on her head from not sleeping well, two red ponytails reaching her waist, wearing a nun's robe, holding a small crucifix in her hand and waving it around in front of her with a serious expression.

It was probably May, and the weather was indeed quite hot. Vera wore her robe as an overcoat, underneath which was a tight-fitting, opaque silk nightgown. Her fair skin and high breasts were vaguely visible, and combined with the cross, she had a rather sacred, nun-like aura under the light.

He exudes the decadent aura of a five-year seminary-affiliated church worker, making people feel as if he's being forced to work.

When Tia went upstairs to the study, she found Annie meditating, surrounded by various small objects left from the ritual. After looking at them for a while, she realized it was an ascension ceremony.

Tia patted Vera on the shoulder and said, "This is to drive away evil spirits."

“Yes, I thought I might be able to help in some way, so I came to perform a ritual to exorcise evil spirits for Annie.”

Vera had undergone two promotions. The first time, Isabella performed a ritual to exorcise evil spirits for her, and the second time, she performed it herself, so she was quite familiar with it.

Vera asked, puzzled, "This didn't drive away the evil spirits, so why is another one appearing...?"

"Who are you calling evil spirits?"

Tia didn't care when she was called out. She always believed in revenge. She walked around Vera with her hands behind her back, and ruthlessly reached under Vera's armpit, her little hand groping around uncleanly.

Vera surrendered on the spot.

Although it wasn't the first or second time that Tia had taken advantage of her, the problem was that Annie was still sitting in the chair! Even though it was during a promotion ceremony, it was still too embarrassing for Vera, and her face was burning hot.

Tia didn't press the matter and let Vera go.

Vera breathed a sigh of relief, then said with lingering fear, "I'm not playing with you anymore, I'm going to my tutoring session."

Tia exclaimed in surprise, "You still have tutoring so late?"

"Of course, the academy has exams too. I don't have time to study during my church internship, so I can only cram at night... Hey, you don't attend classes at all, how did you pass the exams...?"

"Isn't that kind of exam something anyone with a knack for can pass?"

"......"

Comparisons are odious, and Vera, feeling dejected, simply ran away. She almost failed her General Theology exam at the end of April; if it weren't for her tutor, Bishop Famas, being the teacher, she probably would have had to take it for another two months...

Tia saw that Annie was still having her promotion ceremony, so she went to ask Vera and found out that she had been preparing all afternoon.

The preparation took so long; they probably haven't eaten.

She asked Vera again—and sure enough, it was true. Not only Anne, but Vera's stomach was also growling with hunger. Tia's mention of it only made things worse. After working on the test for a while and expending some mental energy, she suddenly felt so hungry that she couldn't stand it anymore.

Tia put on an apron and went to the kitchen to cook a few things. She stewed Annie's favorite coconut pumpkin soup, fried some bread, and considering that she hadn't slept for so long, she also made a yogurt cup. She layered yogurt, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries, ground sage, mixed it with a little powdered sugar, added a few forsythia flowers, and drizzled honey on top.

Sage and St. John's wort are both good for improving sleep and are commonly used in Tia's calming remedies.

Unfortunately, the Anne ceremony wasn't over even after it was finished. Tia then brought Vera a small bowl of pumpkin soup and bread, and Vera was so touched she wanted to call her "Mom." She didn't bring the yogurt cup, worried that Vera would fall asleep right after eating it—all that learning tonight would have been for nothing.

Vera tried to learn, but she was still completely confused. She went to the study to check, but Anne was still in the ceremony, so there was no hope for her.

Anne went to seminary first, and then studied a combination of seminary and engineering. So she is quite proficient in some of Vera's studies, but unfortunately she is on a promotion and has no time to pay attention to Vera.

The girl thought for a moment, then went to Tia's bedroom.

Right now, in the bedroom.

Tia was preparing materials for her promotion ceremony. Originally, she planned to promote herself today, but unexpectedly, a lot of things happened, and she also ran into Annie who was also being promoted, so she had to postpone it to tomorrow.

The materials needed for promotion are not many: iron-rich hematite fragments, fresh gecko tails, dried moth wings (one bottle/5g), the stomach of a cow that voluntarily swallowed a magnet nail, bloodstained magnet nails from the stomach of a cow that voluntarily swallowed iron nails, at least 126 intact bricks from a Solomon-era temple or church, a complete mirror, rotten and ineffective dried sacred wood, and an hourglass.

This promotion ceremony is rather unusual; it requires setting up a stove to cook soup. Therefore, it can't be done in the bedroom yet, but there's a garden at 16 Crown Street, so Tia can do it there.

The plan had barely been finalized when there was a loud knocking on the door.

When Tia opened the door, the red-haired girl seemed a little embarrassed and said hesitantly, "Could you let me in and do me a favor?"

Tia asked blankly, "What are you going to do? It's the middle of the night."

“Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t understand this part. Um…” Vera took out two books from under her arm: “The Complete Guide to the Essential Rituals of Saint-Simon” and “The Nun and the Hammer: From Rapid Healing to Targeted Detonation”.

Tia glanced at them and said helplessly, "Come in. Don't touch my things; they're needed for tomorrow's ceremony."

"Okay, okay. I'd be happy if you could help me, otherwise I'll have to retake the course in the second half of the year."

Vera carefully slipped in, closed the door, and a look of relief appeared on her face.

She ran to her desk, opened her books, and pointed to the parts she didn't understand, asking Tia for help. Actually, the material was all quite basic. Vera wasn't a complete academic failure; she was just incredibly busy with her internship, working over ten hours a day, and only had time to study on weekends—but when you're this exhausted, who can possibly study?

Over time, this aspect was neglected. It would be much better in the second year of university, because freshmen would take their place and keep them in their arduous positions. At that time, the workload would only be three or four hours or even a whole day without work.

However, Vera was too confident when she enrolled and chose a bunch of courses, but now she's worried about the tuition and doesn't want to choose them again next year...

They reaped what they sowed.

Vera was working late into the night and couldn't keep going any longer, so she said, "I'm a little tired, I can't go on anymore."

Tia closed the ritual manual for her and said, "Then go to sleep. But I probably won't be able to sleep for the rest of the night, as I still need to prepare for the advancement ritual and mix some essential oils."

"No, Hatch... I'll take a nap, I'll get up in a bit."

"You can't even get up!"

Tia knew Vera's personality all too well; she was a master of empty words, and if she was truly asleep, even if you tried to pry her out of bed, she would lie flat and refuse to get up...

The moment the complaint left her lips, Vera had already rolled onto Tia's bed, clutching the blanket and pleading, "I'll just sleep for a little while. Please, please, muah~"

"Wait a minute! This is my room!"

Chapter 192 Promotion Ceremony

When Anne woke up from her nightmare, Tia was shocked by the weakness on Anne's face.

The blonde girl stood up, rubbing her forehead and feeling dizzy. She was still wearing the thin clothes and slippers she had worn at noon. Now it was late at night, and the temperature had dropped below 15°C, so much so that Annie instinctively grabbed the cashmere shawl draped over her shoulders as soon as she woke up—it was the one Tia had just put on her when she saw it getting cold.

Anne's lips were unusually pale, and she gasped for breath several times. Tia brought over some warmed pumpkin soup and candy, which Anne ate all of, before her face regained some color.

Tia almost shook Vera up and gave her a quick healing spell because of her weak appearance, but after she checked Annie's pulse and heartbeat herself, she realized it was a false alarm.

This silly child went too far in his nightmare, using an extremely dangerous ritual that damaged his soul.

Anne had recovered somewhat, and pretending to be dazed, she pulled Tia aside and said, "I was just in a hurry, I'll definitely be more careful next time!"