Chapter 25: Sequence and Potion

Lu Mi entered the old tavern and unexpectedly found the woman already awake, enjoying breakfast at her usual corner table.

She had changed into a new outfit—a brown long dress with a stand-up collar and ruffled edges, paired with a dark velvet hat resting beside her, making her seem as if she had just returned from some upper-class salon.

“So early?” Lu Mi steadied his composure and walked over.

The woman lifted her head and glanced at him.

“What if I didn’t sleep at all last night?”

“Maybe.” Lu Mi was no stranger to such situations—after all, when deadlines loomed, his sister Aurora often stayed up all night. He merely wondered why this mysterious, enigmatic woman would suddenly mention it.

He glanced at her “table” and saw the food laid out: a cream soufflé sprinkled with nuts, a perfectly roasted pancake, a croissant, a cup of dark coffee, and a cat’s tongue biscuit.

My appetite is quite good… but these aren’t the kind of things Cordu could provide—except perhaps Aurora, or maybe only the chef in some official’s household could make them… Lu Mi sat down and remarked casually:

“All desserts.”

The woman nodded seriously, rare for her:

“Intis’s desserts truly are delicious, and there’s a wide variety—even if you had one every morning, you could go a month without repeating.”

After speaking, she took a bite of the cat’s tongue biscuit, half-closed her eyes, and savored it for a moment:

“This is one of the meanings of travel.”

“You’re not from Intis?” Lu Mi asked on impulse.

The woman smiled:

“I’m from Ruin, but given the current situation, that doesn’t matter.”

That Ruin—the place with nothing but steam engines, factories, vast armies, and specialties like armchairs, mint sauce, fried fish with potatoes, and pure serpent-fruit beer? As a pure-blooded Intis native, Lu Mi immediately recalled the common jokes people made about the Ruin Kingdom.

He grunted and changed the subject:

“I took care of that monster with the hunting rifle.”

The woman sipped her coffee and replied with quiet indifference:

“Good.”

For some reason, Lu Mi always felt a strange emotion in her gaze.

In previous exchanges, he’d sensed the same thing—that beneath her amusement and amusement, some hidden emotion lingered, though he couldn’t identify what it was.

He continued:

“I obtained a strange deep-red substance from that monster. Holding it makes me irritable, filled with aggression.

“I believe it’s something tied to extraordinary power, but it didn’t follow me back into reality.”

The woman smiled:

“After so many crossings, haven’t you noticed that nothing except your own state can be brought over?”

“But you said extraordinary things were an exception…” Lu Mi stopped mid-sentence.

He thought of his current bodily aches, of the injuries he’d suffered in the dream, of how those memories hadn’t vanished upon returning to reality.

After a moment’s thought, he carefully said:

“You mean, by acquiring this deep-red substance and gaining extraordinary power to become an extraordinary being, the resulting non-normal state can be carried into reality?”

“Clever enough.” The woman didn’t look up, still savoring her cream soufflé.

“But won’t the corresponding power weaken?” Lu Mi frowned. “My injuries in the dream were much lighter in reality.”

“The state changes brought by extraordinary characteristics won’t.” The woman lifted her head, gazing at Lu Mi. “That’s why I said extraordinary things are the exception.”

“Extraordinary characteristics…” Lu Mi chewed over the term.

He thought of his sister’s mention of “extraordinary beings.”

Acquire extraordinary characteristics, become an extraordinary being? Lu Mi was beginning to understand.

Based on the woman’s explanation, he made a further guess about the dream’s peculiar nature:

The ruins are actually real—or once existed in reality somewhere, then fell into the depths of some powerful being’s dream, continuing to evolve naturally. My dream is essentially a special channel, shaped by the symbols on my chest, connecting to those ruins?

According to this theory, my home appearing there is like a mark left by my dream during interaction—a reflection of what my subconscious considers safest. That’s why it feels unlike the surrounding wasteland and ruins, as if belonging to a different world…

The monsters dare not enter because they physically can’t—they’re trapped within the real ruins, while my “home” is a product of dream and reality merging. Only those with the special mark can pass through the barrier…

The special mark affects only me; my current state is recorded and carried back into reality. Non-extraordinary changes decay, extraordinary ones remain unchanged—death should be the same…

If true, then there shouldn’t be anything terrifying hidden in my dream home. But the origin of these symbols on my chest, the source of that terrifying voice—those still symbolize something horrifying…

Lu Mi fell silent for a long while. The woman across from him calmly finished her breakfast, showing no impatience.

Coming back to himself, Lu Mi asked:

“How do I use this deep-red substance? Is it what you called the extraordinary characteristic?”

At this critical moment, he couldn’t help but use a respectful form of address.

The woman set down her coffee and looked at him:

“I can give you a potion recipe. Just follow it.”

The generosity unsettled Lu Mi:

“Why are you helping me like this?”

The woman laughed:

“What if I said it was fate’s arrangement? Would you believe me?”

No… Lu Mi instinctively answered inside his mind.

The village’s anomalies, the pressure like an approaching storm, his longing for extraordinary power—all pushed down his unease. He said firmly:

“I believe.”

When an opportunity arises, you must act decisively, seize it fully, without hesitation, without overthinking!

The woman smiled, and that elusive emotion in her eyes seemed to deepen.

She took a stack of sticky notes and a silver-cased round-bellied pen from her black handbag and began writing swiftly.

Soon, she stopped, tore off the top sheet, and handed it to Lu Mi.

Lu Mi quickly took it and read:

“‘Hunter’ Potion Recipe:

“Main ingredient: One unit of ‘Hunter’ extraordinary characteristic;

“Auxiliary ingredients: 80 milliliters red wine, one red chestnut blossom (can be dried specimen, or substitute with 10 drops of corresponding essential oil), 5 grams powdered white poplar leaf, 10 grams basil;

“Usage: Drink directly.”

Lu Mi memorized the contents thoroughly, then folded the sticky note and slipped it into the inner pocket of his brown jacket.

Only after doing so did he ask curiously:

“What does ‘Hunter’ mean?”

An extraordinary Hunter?

“It’s the name of the corresponding sequence.” The woman sipped her coffee again. “I know you know nothing about mysticism. Let me explain simply: Our world’s common extraordinary powers are divided into twenty-two paths. Each path has ten sequences, numbered 9 to 0—the lower the number, the higher the rank, the greater the power.

“The extraordinary characteristic you obtained belongs to the ‘Red Priest’ path and can only be used to brew the corresponding Sequence 9: ‘Hunter’.”

Lu Mi listened intently and blurted out:

“Then which sequence is my sister Aurora on?”

“She’s Sequence 7 ‘Wizard’ of the ‘Watcher’ path.” The woman answered indifferently.

She didn’t explain how she knew.

Aurora is already Sequence 7? Of course—she’s had extraordinary power for years… I’m only Sequence 9 after taking the potion… I’m still far behind her… I just hope I don’t hold her back when we escape Cordu… Lu Mi couldn’t help asking:

“Can I drink a higher-sequence potion directly? Or drink Sequence 9 today and Sequence 8 tomorrow?”

“Theoretically, yes.” The woman added, after seeing Lu Mi’s face light up, “But nearly everyone who tries dies or becomes a monster. One in ten million might succeed.”

“Become a monster?” Lu Mi was startled.

The woman chuckled:

“Didn’t your sister ever tell you the path of the extraordinary is dangerous?

“If you can’t control the power after drinking the potion, you either die from bodily collapse or mutate into a monster. Do you think that monster you encountered was human by accident?”

No wonder… Lu Mi finally understood what his sister meant by “danger.”

But he was willing to face it.

“Is there no way to reduce this risk?” he asked.

The woman studied him for two seconds:

“Yes: strong will, good physical condition, decent luck. As for the rest, you don’t need to know yet—you’re only taking your first potion.”

“Good physical condition…” Lu Mi frowned. He’d planned to go back and sleep immediately, then drink the potion.

In the dream, his body was still badly injured.

The woman across from him nodded gently:

“Don’t rush. Wait until tonight, until your body’s aches have mostly faded, then enter the dream.”

“Uh…” Lu Mi pondered. “So if my real body recovers, the injuries in the dream vanish completely?”

After all, his real body was only sore—not nearly as damaged as in the dream!

“Yes.” The woman confirmed his guess.

She continued:

“About potions, about the Divine Paths, there are many other basics. I’ll tell you after you drink the potion and become a ‘Hunter’.”

Divine Paths… Lu Mi asked:

“Why not tell me now?”

The woman laughed:

"If you die from drinking a potion or turn into a monster, wouldn’t all this talking of mine be a waste of my time?"

"..." Lu Mi had no reply.

He stood up and took his leave.

Before stepping forward, he asked one more question:

"Do you know if there are anomalies in the village?"

(End of Chapter)