Miss Witch's Forbidden Book Secret

But letting public opinion ferment, even if it's exaggerated into something like "Miss Sulph killed Bloodthorn with a stone," will still have some benefits.

Brigitte sipped the hot milk Noki handed her and said coldly, "But I don't think that nun has any talent for publicity. She's so obedient to you, are you two a couple? Does Anne know?"

Tia stated unequivocally, "They're friends, well... they could also be considered slaves."

"what?"

Brigitte couldn't believe the words she was hearing.

It's already the 535th year of the Holy Calendar! Where did you find these slaves?! People in the Southern Continent no longer trade slaves!

Tia added, "It's the kind of friend who can get things for free without spending any money."

"Huh? I didn't expect you to be so clever."

Tia pulled her hair back and shook her head, saying, "Bridget! You can question my flexible morality, but you can't question my relationship with Vera and the others. Not everyone is as lustful as you, like that lustful entity! Vera and I are very good friends and lovers, just like with Anne and Eleanor."

“And there’s that little princess too… Damn, yeah.” Brigitte was speechless. “But you look more like that succubus to me.”

"So how exactly do you find friends who can be bossed around without spending any money?"

Tia patted her chest and said, "I can't teach you that; it takes a pure heart. But I can teach you how to get spirits for free. I know how. Look, the raven shrike kind—those ravens don't even cost a few gold pounds!"

"How did you do that?!"

Tia reached out her hand.

"what?"

"Lend me some money urgently, I'll consider paying you back in the future."

"Tsk... I'll write you a check for one thousand gold coins later."

Brigitte was having Nogi help her tear up the check, still incredulous. "Spirits! I have to comply with the new labor law of Iris when I hire maids, and I have to pay them minimum wage and at least one day off per week! If I pay them even a little less, I have to worry about leaks and my personal safety! Not to mention those spirits, I have to set up complete rituals and even make offerings to them regularly to keep them from going crazy."

She glanced at Nogi again, "Nogi even wants to take two days off!"

Nogi immediately started tearing up the checks faster.

The girl hesitated, then sighed.

“Bridget...you're completely bound by the rules. This requires wisdom.”

"What's the meaning."

Brigitte frowned, completely oblivious.

Tia smiled and said, "Capitalism has ruined you! Think about it again tonight."

"Alright—now please help me prepare the soul-splitting ritual."

Tia cleverly glossed over the matter of payment.

Brigitte frowned and thought for a while. Watching Tia's retreating figure, she suddenly remembered that she hadn't paid yet and had even taken a thousand from her. She was jolted awake and exclaimed, "Damn it! Sulph! To hell with your pure heart, to hell with your wisdom! This is blatant robbery! Even slave owners are more noble than you!"

--------------

I have a lot of classes today, so I'll start with one chapter.

Chapter 434 Ready

In the small chapel of St. Pantheon, silver knights arrived one after another to help Tia complete her promotion to Sequence Three.

Helping an Ansu person achieve sainthood in the capital's central district, even if he is a student of President Ulrich, would make the alchemists of the society feel somewhat awkward.

But for the Silver Knights, who are righteous and straightforward, there is no such reservation. They possess almost every good quality in the eyes of the world: kindness, tolerance, rationality, affability, justice, and goodness.

Tia often wondered whether the Holy Grail Path created such a group of selfless saints, or whether good people who already possessed universal morality spontaneously chose the Holy Grail Path.

Or perhaps the two complement each other?

Tia wasn't a scholar specializing in the transcendental path, the Holy Grail, or religion, but it was always good to have a group of good people. After all, the world was already messed up enough; having more good people was better than having more villains.

The one in charge of guarding the church is the best of the best, the former Grand Knight Commander of the Golden Moon Bay District, the Hand of Justice, Lovisa Bar.

Lovisa brought all the necessary materials for the ceremony from the city hall, and had two silver knights assist her in clearing away evil spirits and purifying the area in the church. Only then did Tia pick up the ritual knife and carve the ritual array on the ground.

The ritual array is not complicated. The basic ritual uses the sacred triad structure, which is the "sacred triangle" composed of nine equilateral triangles. This is a classic alchemical ritual.

The entire Sacred Triangle can also be seen as a dot matrix composed of 1/2/3/4 dots from top to bottom, representing the One, the duality of soul and matter, the trinity of spirit, soul, and matter, and finally the four elements.

Then, a circle was drawn around the outside of the Sacred Triangle, enclosing the entire triangle, somewhat resembling a philosopher's egg.

The Transformation Ritual is essentially similar to the forging of the Philosopher's Stone, except that the Transformation Ritual only involves "transformation" and lacks the step of "sublimation".

Lovisa lit the ritual materials as needed and sprinkled them as needed. Then she called Vera over and whispered to Tia, "This looks a bit like a spirit transformation ritual?"

"To be honest—the difference isn't that big."

Tia didn't lie and frankly said, "Knight Lovisa, you can think of the Transformation Ritual as a higher level of spiritual transformation. In fact, compared to the Philosopher's Stone, this is more suitable for completing the perfect prototype."

"Even more powerful than the Philosopher's Stone?"

"Of course not. The Philosopher's Stone has its uses, but if it's simply used to fulfill the basic requirement of a saint's perfect prototype, the Transformation Ritual is more appropriate."

Tia wiped the fine sweat from her forehead and said, "The Philosopher's Stone controls the duality of soul and matter. It infuses the physical body with abundant extraordinary elements and then forges the soul. Simply put, it's like how you, Knight Lovisa, gained a powerful body and a wealth of close combat knowledge."

"But there's one more step between the two: experience. This step actually lies in the spiritual aspect of the three elements."

Simply put, the computer hardware is installed, and the games are on the hard drive, but the operating system hasn't been installed yet.

The game simply won't run.

Tia said, “But the Transformation Ritual is different. It is designed based on the three elements, rather than the dual design of soul and matter. Therefore, if you want to create the ‘perfect prototype,’ the Transformation Ritual is more suitable.”

Just then, the reporters outside had already left, and the puppet had also disappeared.

Only Vera herself, dressed in a black and white priest's robe with a holy sash draped over her shoulders and with bright red long hair, is visible.

Vera made a deep impression on Knight Lovisa, even more so than on Anne, second only to Tia.

This girl, who has clearly embarked on the path of alchemy, is actually a proper church nun—alchemy is considered illegal and heretical in Ansu's official narrative!

But looking into the girl's eyes, she didn't have the flamboyant, fiery gaze of a sorcerer or a sheathless blade. Rather, her gaze was more like that of Tia, reminiscent of a panting cat, a fox, or a highly aggressive bird.

Vera's eyes were more like her bright and vibrant red hair, warmer and less aggressive, giving her a unique vitality that was like a sacred flame.

This means that she possesses a compatibility that is extremely compatible with the Holy Grail and oak.

However, Tia felt that Vera's so-called vitality was simply a result of her being too cowardly...

Vera had already seen Tia's inscribed ritual and was very interested. She came closer to examine it and said, "Can your transformation ritual help me quickly advance to Sequence Four? I don't want to work hard anymore. Can I rely on you? You've been taking advantage of me for so many years."

The girl rolled her eyes. "That won't work. All power comes at a price. The transformation ceremony requires a whole day of soul cutting. Think about whether you can withstand it."

Vera immediately backed down, raising her hand and saying, "Then I can't use the Guardian Angel! I'm only Sequence Six, should I ask Knight Lovisa to come?"

"No, I like you. Come here."

"Get lost! Even if you were my mother, I couldn't advance to Sequence Five and give you a Guardian Angel!"

Lovisa hesitated, unable to interject into their flirting.

"Go and inject the remaining Philosopher's Stone solution later. Two days is enough time. Although the extraordinary elements won't be enough to completely immerse your soul, it'll be close to the Sequence Five level."

"Free?"

Vera's eyes lit up.

Tia just smiled and said, "How could that be? The bill is on the Notre Dame Cathedral."

Vera immediately bristled, "Are you even human?! I'm not playing with you anymore!"

Tia reached out and grabbed her wrist, coaxing, "It's not free, but Vera, I'm not some kind of demon, how could I possibly harm you? Besides, this is Sequence Five, and it's painless—"

"You've advanced to Sequence Six, and your extraordinary abilities are already quite obvious. If you go back to Ansu, people will definitely see that you've embarked on the illegal path of alchemy, right? And you're only Sequence Six; you won't even have the ability to put up a fight against the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Armored Knights. But Sequence Five is different; you'll have some value in uniting people, Vera."

"Moreover, once I'm promoted to Saint, I can also use my connections to help you revise your file in the Anti-Suppression Bureau. You don't want the Church to find out that you've gone astray and ruin your reputation, right? So, I still suggest you consider my help."

Upon hearing this, Vera became even more agitated and retorted, "You're trying to help me, aren't you?! You're clearly just trying to scare me while you're also trying to steal my money."

"Then you don't have to pay it back."

"real or fake?"

Vera hesitated, but was deeply moved.

But Tia didn't really want the money; she was just trying to scare the kids.

The girl revealed a sly smile.

“I’ll ask Aunt Isabella for it.”

"Gulp...Isn't there a way to renege on the debt?"

Tia's face hardened, and she thought seriously, "Then I suggest you sell your body. Slave owners usually don't come after slaves for money."

Vera, shameless as ever, crossed her arms and asked excitedly, "Really? Can I buy you for a few days too?"

Reversing the Heavenly Stems.

Lovisa felt it was somewhat outrageous for a nun to discuss selling her body with a great alchemist in front of a knight, and reminded her, "Miss Vera, please have some self-respect."

Vera called out "Sister Lovisa, I was wrong" twice, and got away with it by being cute.

But it doesn't really matter.

Tia used to freeload off her, which was similar to what slave owners did.

Tia had taken a lot of advantage from Vera, although she had also given back quite a bit—for example, Tia had given her a thousand gold pounds when she returned to Newport with her, but she took it all back after a while. For a period of time, this red-haired ball of fur was almost plucked bald by her.

However, it was also a matter of mutual help. Vera's rapid promotion was inseparable from Tia's provision of materials and her connections in the anti-suppression bureau and the church.

Tia completely ignored her, clapped her hands, and put down the ceremonial knife, saying:

"Alright, alright. My ritual array is complete. The guardian angel isn't in a hurry; it can be delayed for two days, but the soul cutting can begin now."

Chapter 435 Otherworldly Existence

The ceremony officially began inside the chapel.

Vera first lit the candles on the altar, which illuminated the area in front of the altar. The ground was covered with a layer of golden fleece and white linen, which covered the ritual array of the Ten Holy Structures without obscuring the outer circle.

The ritual array was layered with another deep-diving ritual.

A white porcelain bathtub was placed on top, filled with hard ice cubes in clear water. A copper pipe connected the bottom to the alchemical equipment in the corner to maintain the low temperature.

Vera slit her wrist and let the blood drip into the water.

Blood dripped and spread in the ice water, turning a light red color.

The Silver Knights then left one by one, and even Lovisa left through the main entrance, slamming the door shut behind her.

Only Vera and Brigitte, who came from the banquet hall, remained in the church.

Tia had already taken off all her clothes, including her underwear, and was lying flat in the ice water, breathing steadily, with only her face exposed to the air.

His pores opened up, mingling with Vera's blood, as if they were one.

As Tia let her guard down, the low temperature quickly made her drowsy, and her skin turned slightly pale from being soaked.

The ritual array beneath them was emitting a faint, ethereal blue light, which became even more pronounced under the golden candlelight.

Tia completely let down her guard, both in soul and body, allowing the deep-diving ritual to awaken the power of the deep sea and drag her into the water.

Then the girl's head lolled to the side, and she lost consciousness in the icy water.

Brigitte glanced at Tia's body, unsurprised, and then said to Vera, "Sister Vera, weren't you going to have the Philosopher's Stone injected? Are you going to lie down in it too?"

Vera quickly shook her head and said, "It's the dead of winter, so cold! I'll just find a corner to curl up in. I brought my IV drip!"

Brigitte: "..."

While it's perfectly normal to find a place to sink to the deep sea, Sister Vera, why does this sound so tragic...?

Brigitte, seeing this, didn't bother to persuade her and smiled, saying, "I've already prepared the soul-cutting ritual. I'm here to confirm that the soul-cutting is controllable, leaving the blade in Tia's body. You can perform the procedure in two days."

"The transformation ceremony is not the first step in the entire promotion ceremony. You should have had enough time to absorb the Philosopher's Stone."

Vera asked in surprise, "Miss Bridget, aren't you going to perform the Soul Severing?"

Brigitte frowned slightly. "I used my extraordinary talent to cross sequences and forcibly memorized the knowledge of soul cutting in the Sequence 5 ritual in my brain. It's not a big problem to use it to kill people, but it's difficult to complete the ritual with meticulous care. You can just advance to Sequence 5 and take over the ritual. Besides, you're familiar with Tia, so she won't resist."

It turned out to be the case.