Late at night in Igwynt, in her apartment on Southern Sunflower Street, Dorothy carefully opened the envelope she had spent 100 pounds on. She pulled out a dozen pages of paper and noticed that they seemed to have been ripped straight out of a book.
"He just tore pages from the book and sold them to me..."
Looking at the papers, Dorothy thought this to herself and began to read each word cautiously. As Aldrich had warned her earlier, the content carried traces of "cognitive poison," requiring her to proceed with utmost care.
A quick glance revealed that the pages came from a book titled “General Knowledge on the Pathways.” The paper was new, and the text was in printed font, making it relatively easy to read. Dorothy quickly reached the core sections of the material.
After a basic understanding of spirituality and how to accumulate it, the path of the beyond opens before us. What follows is an introduction to the basic levels of Beyonders.
In the realm mysticism, the higher the level of a Beyonder, the greater their power, longevity, and profound knowledge, enabling them to understand the essence of the world, transcend the mundane, and elevate their existence. Beyonders are categorized into ranks from high to low.
Within the mortal realm, Beyonders are divided into five stages. Different secret societies assign unique titles to each stage, but no standard terminology exists. However, the White Stone Craftsmen’s Guild, due to its widespread influence and frequent transactions with major organizations, has gradually popularized its internal naming system across the realm of mysticism.
In their system, the initial stage of Beyonders is called "Apprentice" or "Raw Stone." The next four stages correspond to the four steps of alchemy:
2. "Albedo" (White Ash)
3. "Rubedo" (Red Completion/Crimson)
Reading this, Dorothy nodded slightly, marveling at how the Craftsmen’s Guild’s influence had standardized the terminology of ranks in the realm of mysticism.
From the fragments, Dorothy gained a general understanding of how ranks were categorized. For example, the "Thirster" rank of the "Cup" pathway corresponded to the "Apprentice" stage. Albert, the person who had contacted Edrick in Vulcan, was likely at this level. Her brother Gregor, who managed to deal with him, was probably also an "Apprentice," though his specific spiritual path remained unclear.
Dorothy continued reading. The subsequent content outlined the initiation rituals for all spiritual paths at their foundational stages. The text was dense, filled with intricate diagrams and mystic terms, but after some effort, she managed to finish it.
Letting out a deep sigh of relief, Dorothy leaned back in her chair, rubbing her temples.
At that moment, the system in her mind notified her that she had completed studying a new mystical knowledge. Without hesitation, she extracted its spirituality. Since the material was a general introduction without a specific spiritual focus, it offered a bit of knowledge about each path. Dorothy gained 1 point in each type of spirituality and an additional 1 point of "Revelation" due to the nature of knowledge itself.
Now, Dorothy had accumulated 10 points in "Revelation", 6 points in "Chalice", 5 points in "Shadow", 1 point in "Lantern", 1 point in "Stone", and 1 point in "Silence."
Her "Revelation" spirituality was now full, meeting the requirements for advancement. However, she felt far from joyful—because of the problem with the advancement ritual.
Just as Aldrich had said, advancement rituals for all spiritual paths at the foundational level were simple and generally similar.
All paths required drawing a basic magic circle with the symbol of the relevant spirituality, using common incense materials as auxiliary elements. However, the critical component for the ritual was a guide.
Yes, a guide. For any spiritual path, the initial advancement ritual required the presence of a mentor who was at least at the "Apprentice" stage and shared the same spiritual affinity to preside over the ceremony. Without this, the ritual could not succeed.
For Dorothy, while she now had the necessary spirituality points, and the auxiliary materials were readily available in any shop—or Aldrich’s collection, if necessary—finding a guide was the true hurdle.
If Dorothy wanted to advance in the "Revelation" path, she would need to find a mentor who was at least a "Revelation" Apprentice. But she had no leads at all.
In Igwynt, the Crimson Eucharist followed the "Chalice" path, and Aldrich was a "Stone" Beyonder. Neither had any connection to "Revelation." She couldn’t exactly walk into the Serenity Bureau and ask if they had any "Revelation" Beyonders either. This guide requirement left her utterly clueless.
‘Does this mean the ’Revelation’ path is a dead end for me? Should I just apprentice myself to Aldrich and spend years carving stones to accumulate ’Stone’ spirituality? Then I could have him as my guide when I finally have enough points...’
The thought crossed her mind, but she quickly shook her head to dismiss it. With only 1 point in "Stone," it would take her an eternity to reach the required level. Besides, even if she did accumulate enough, who knew what outrageous fee Aldrich might demand as a guide?
Promotion fee... 1,000 pounds...
In her mind, Dorothy imagined Aldrich smiling kindly while extending his hand for payment. That image alone was enough to completely dissuade her from switching paths to "Stone."
Feeling frustrated, Dorothy picked up the pages again, searching for alternative solutions. After careful scrutiny, she finally found potential substitutes for a guide in the final paragraphs of the text.
The first option was to use a spiritually rich item that matched the required affinity to replace the guide’s role in the ritual. However, such ceremonies were far less stable, had a higher risk of failure, and imposed greater demands on the participant’s qualities.
The second option involved praying to high-ranking divine beings hidden in the world’s depths. If such a being took notice and was in a favorable mood, they could serve as a guide and assist with the advancement ritual.
However, the likelihood of an unknown individual drawing the attention of a divine entity was minuscule. Even if successful, the outcome would more likely be disastrous than positive.