Chapter 103: Secret Art Mentor

Lei Kedun traveled through the spirit realm and returned to the inn in Tinggen City; Tu Ba Ge was already lying on the table, asleep.

"It seems the spirit‑realm transit really affects it a lot! I knew about motion sickness on cars and ships, but didn't expect there's also a spirit‑realm transit sickness."

Lei Kedun thought that to himself, walked to the inn's window, drew the curtains, then placed his coat on the nearby coat rack. He lay on the bed and recovered his spent spirit by meditating.

When his spirit had mostly recovered, Lei Kedun slowly rose from the bed, took out all the ritual materials from his leather suitcase, and quickly prepared a ritual to communicate with the deep‑realm library.

The magical‑elixir ingredients and an extraordinary trait fell directly from the channel created by the ritual.

Then, using the set‑up ritual in reverse, he removed the wondrous seed‑vial that Tu Ba Ge was carrying on his back and sent it into the library.

When the ritual ended, Lei Kedun swiftly tidied the room.

"It can't be that every time I bring something to or store something in the library, Mr. Huang is on the other side helping me, can it? If only the messenger had hands and feet, this would be a bit much for Mr. Huang to handle."

Lei Kedun thought of a point he had never noticed before.

He had always assumed the library was highly intelligent, but after meeting the ill‑tempered Mr. Huang today, Lei Kedun couldn't help but examine the details he usually overlooks more closely.

"Never mind, first prepare the promotion, then go ask Mr. Huang," Lei Kedun quickly made up his mind.

He arranged the extracted materials one by one, took out a pre‑prepared glass cup, and, following his intuition, added the appropriate ingredients, poured in pure water, and finally poured the extraordinary trait of the Secret Art Mentor into the bottle.

A potion that looked like mercury, shimmering with rippling light, was ready—its surface filled with brass‑colored glimmers that traced mysterious, unknown symbols.

Lei Kedun fished a previously exchanged Rune gold coin from his pocket, flicked it in his hand, and performed a simple divination.

After the result affirmed his intention, Lei Kedun tilted his head back and drank the potion in one gulp. The elixir dissolved instantly, never actually traveling down his esophagus.

He only felt his head sting and grow dull, as if his soul were being peeled away from his body. Countless strange, incomprehensible things drilled into his mind.

At that moment, Lei Kedun had the illusion that all the world's secrets lay open before him; he felt as if he knew everything and could do anything.

In the unseen reality, his skin cracked, his body seemed to decompose into opened books, and eyes sprouted from flesh and blood.

Loss of control and madness spread silently.

As Lei Kedun's sense of self faded, a group's discussion, thoughts, and whispers reached his ears, pulling his drifting self back.

He heard those voices debating his paper, his viewpoints; each person's agreement acted like an anchor, keeping his self‑awareness clear and not lost.

In this state he could not perceive the passage of time, but he noticed his knowledge continuously expanding, his understanding of the world and its rules deepening.

Only when the potion's transformation of body and mind finished did Lei Kedun emerge from that state, his soul and flesh reuniting.

His body shivered briefly, as if it had endured something terrifying.

Lei Kedun scanned the inn's room, countless pieces of information automatically presented in his mind:

The inn's décor, the age of the furniture, the dust spread on the floor, the room's scent, the angle of light through the curtains—every detail was crystal clear in Lei Kedun's mind, each analyzed one by one.

"Ugh~ feels a bit uncomfortable, my brain seems to be running at high speed all the time."

Lei Kedun murmured softly.

The Secret Art Mentor of Sequence Five did not gain a new extraordinary ability; instead, all previous extraordinary abilities were greatly amplified, and his learning, thinking, and casting capacities were increased.

The main one is the scholar's "imitation" ability, which is now no longer mere imitation; through understanding the relevant knowledge, he can develop his own secret arts, with little gap from the original, even surpassing it.

"That feeling just now, as if I grasped all the world's rules, was truly addictive; if I hadn't cautiously published two more papers in the newspaper earlier, the difficulty of this promotion would have been greater."

Lei Kedun recalled the scene of his promotion. He had an intuition that the feeling of grasping the world's rules was closely linked to the Seer of Sequence Three, which would become his biggest obstacle in reaching Sequence Three.

To advance a Reader through Sequence Five's Secret Art Mentor, the required ritual is to publish a widely accepted paper.

From the recent promotion process, Lei Kedun also understood that the ritual's focus is gaining broad recognition, equivalent to obtaining part of an anchor in advance.

Though not as stable as a faith‑anchor, it suffices to endure the promotion process.

Lei Kedun also thanked the Great Emperor for leaving a way out; he didn't transport too many items to this era. Of course, Lei Kedun thought Luo Sai Er didn't do so because his prior knowledge was still incomplete.

Leveraging his cooperation with the Earth Church, Lei Kedun published a paper on grafting technology in the Knowledge Church's Clock Tower Academic Journal.

To ensure the ritual's effect, Lei Kedun also released two psychology research papers. Of course, they were all copied from magazines he had previously read, using recalled sigils.

Lei Kedun felt his ritual preparation far exceeded that of an ordinary scholar, yet the promotion still carried great risk.

"Because novels rarely describe loss of control from taking magical elixirs, I mis‑estimated the promotion's risk and difficulty."

He sighed inwardly, gaining a new assessment of the promotion's risk.

The events of the past two days heavily affected Lei Kedun's mindset, but he considered it a good thing—it showed he was integrating more into this world.

After the promotion completed, Lei Kedun slightly calmed his restless spirit, then meditated a circular image in his mind.

His spirit rippled like water, and a fragmented ring made of gears and chains materialized behind him.

Lei's consciousness returned to the library deep in the spirit realm; as his figure appeared in the library, a book forged of gold slammed onto him.

Lei Kedun took the eye‑catching book down; its patterns were familiar, bearing a hint of a contract.

"Messenger? How did it become like this?"

Lei Kedun said with some surprise.

"Praise my master! Because I once bore that divine blood, I have attained a transformation of my life tier!"

The golden‑forged book messenger actually tore a mouth on its cover and could speak.

Lei Kedun's eyebrows twitched; the book's art style was odd, like a polluted product.

"It can indeed be called a polluted product; the sun's divine blood was too noisy, affecting the book, but after I educated it, it has now pledged to my master."

Mr. Huang appeared beside him and gave the answer.

Lei Kedun originally wanted to ask Mr. Huang why he answered the question the moment he appeared, but his instinct as a Secret Art Mentor immediately began speculating based on known information:

But the Secret Art Mentor's instinct immediately began speculating based on the information he knew:

The spirit realm is itself an aggregation of information; he had just advanced, his spirit unstable, so as soon as a thought formed, the corresponding information surfaced, then Mr. Huang captured it.

"Not bad, finally learned to think for yourself!" Mr. Huang praised.

Lei Kedun was speechless for a moment; although he truly didn't enjoy actively pondering deep questions, he wasn't completely brainless either!

"Compared to thinking on your own, you prefer getting answers from others."

Mr. Huang spoke again.

"People's hardships, not to be dismantled!" Lei Kedun originally wanted to vent a couple of sentences in his mind, but upon thinking of the Spirit Realm's nature, he forcibly restrained himself.

"Because of the effects of the magic potion, I now can't help but think about everything I see, my brain constantly in a state of operation."

Lei Kedun sighed helplessly.

"Isn't that good?" Mr. Huang retorted.

Lei Kedun felt that this was indeed good for the members of the Knowledge Church, but for himself, accustomed to the knowledge infusion of the Hidden Sages, it was not very friendly.

"Mr. Huang, that drop of Eternal Blazing Sun's divine blood?" Lei Kedun wanted to speak to change the subject.

Before Lei Kedun could finish speaking, Mr. Huang flicked his right hand beneath his robe, and a thumb-sized dark glass bottle fell from the nearby bookshelf onto Lei Kedun's face.

Inside the glass seemed to be a miniature sun, illuminating the dark bottle to near transparency.

"I have placed some seals on it; you can take it out. You can use it to craft talismans or as a mobile lamp, but it is in a sealed state—you can use it to make at most one talisman per day, and if it is a stronger talisman, you need to let it rest for a few days first."

Mr. Huang explained, gesturing for Lei Kedun to take the drop of divine blood. Afterwards, he added:

"Don't expose yourself to its light for too long, otherwise you will still be affected."

Lei Kedun saw deep disgust on Mr. Huang's face; the other seemed to thoroughly dislike anything tainted with the aura of the Eternal Blazing Sun.

Lei Kedun suddenly recalled that Mr. Huang had just said he educated his messenger a lesson, and Lei Kedun felt that this education might also be a physical one.

(End of chapter)