Chapter 50: Observation

Seeing her brother open his eyes, Aurora had intended to comfort him by saying, "Non-spellcasting sequences usually require at least several attempts to succeed in meditation, and some even need to practice for five or six days, or half a month." However, she discovered that Lu Mian's forehead was beaded with dense cold sweat, and obvious terror remained in his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Aurora asked with concern.

Lu Mian took two breaths; the more he recalled, the more lingering fear he felt:

"I succeeded in meditation, my spirit seemed to float up, and around me were various colors and faint gray fog stacked together randomly. Some things I couldn't specifically describe were wandering everywhere, and in the sky, there were several particularly bright and particularly pure lights. No, not necessarily the sky, perhaps it was a very distant place, I can't be sure."

"According to your description, you did indeed succeed." Aurora began to explain. "What your 'Astral Projection' saw, or rather sensed, was the Spirit Realm. In that place, many concepts of reality either don't exist or are jumbled together, which is why you felt it was both in the high sky and located in a very distant place."

"Those seven lights are the Seven Lights of the Spirit Realm mentioned in some ancient books. They are considered to have a status close to gods, are omniscient, and belong to relatively friendly hidden existences. If you can master their complete honorific names, you can pray to them. Unfortunately, I don't know them either."

"Those things wandering everywhere that can't be described belong to Spirit Realm creatures, but what you 'saw' doesn't seem to be many, nor were they clear enough. This should be the limitation of the 'Hunter' sequence; your spirituality isn't high enough yet. Hmm... opening Spirit Vision later will probably be quite difficult, and the final effect will definitely not be very good. Hehe, having it is better than not having it."

She kept observing her brother's state, ready to interrupt the teaching and provide help at any time.

Seeing Lu Mian gradually return to normal, she finished everything she had to say in one breath and then asked:

"But what you saw shouldn't be enough to scare you, right? Don't you have a nickname called 'Bold Lu Mian'? Recently, you've even witnessed bizarre, absurd things carrying mental corruption like time loops, people turning into sheep, men giving birth, and the 'Lady of Night' parade. How could ordinary Spirit Realm creatures scare you?"

Hearing the various things his sister mentioned, the blood vessels on Lu Mian's forehead twitched slightly. He didn't really want to recall them, especially the parts related to Madame Pualis.

He exhaled and said:

"I felt that in the depths of the Spirit Realm, or perhaps in a very, very high place, something was watching me."

"Just that gaze alone made me very afraid, unable to control it, and I directly broke out of the meditative state."

Aurora's eyes moved slightly, and she said thoughtfully:

"I suspect it's related to the two strange symbols on your chest. They are linked to certain hidden existences. They might point to the source that caused Cordu to fall into a loop, or they might represent the 'specialty' that allows you to maintain clarity and strength in dreams and loops."

"As a 'Hunter,' you succeeded on your first attempt at complete meditation, which likely has the influence exerted by those two symbols."

Lu Mian nodded as he listened, agreeing with his sister's statement.

This made him feel a bit frustrated:

"In that case, I can't meditate at all. As long as I succeed, I'll be watched, and I'll have to break out of that state. And, I feel that constantly being watched isn't a good thing."

"Do you think you aren't being watched right now?" Aurora laughed. "It's just that you haven't entered a meditative state, so you can't sense it. Since you can't escape it and will inevitably suffer harm, you might as well try more often to improve your corresponding resistance, allowing the time you can meditate to gradually become longer. And in the future, when facing certain situations, this might bring you an advantage. Of course, before becoming a Sequence 7 'Pyromaniac,' a 'Hunter' almost doesn't need deep meditation. You should wait until your spirituality has improved before trying again."

"That sounds a bit miserable." Lu Mian had already adjusted his state of mind and mocked himself, "Can't resist, so I might as well enjoy it."

Aurora "heh"-ed:

"Under the current circumstances, I'd rather have this specialty of yours, even if it means facing many unknown dangers and difficulties. But at least during the next loop, I can maintain my memory and don't need you to remind me, which would cause many details to be missed."

She then looked at the window, which had long since turned black:

"It's time to teach you how to open Spirit Vision."

"You continue sitting, try meditating again. You don't need to fully enter that state where your thoughts float up. Although that would be more conducive to opening Spirit Vision, aren't there certain hidden existences watching?"

"Mm." Lu Mian leaned against the backrest, relaxed his body, first outlined the sun in his mind, and then replaced it with the sphere his sister had drawn casually.

He didn't repeatedly outline that symbol and stopped once his body and mind became tranquil.

Aurora observed his state and said softly:

"Good. In your current state, raise your hands and place them in front of your eyes. You can open your eyes now."

Lu Mian maintained the tranquility of his body and mind and slowly opened his eyes, discovering that his sister had extinguished the kerosene lamp at some point, letting the first floor fall into darkness, relying only on the faint crimson moonlight outside the window to reveal the outlines of various objects.

After adapting for a moment, he barely managed to see his own hands.

"Point your index fingers at each other in the air, close but don't touch..." Aurora began to guide. "Then, place your focus behind your hands, it can be behind the point where they face each other. Once you've completed this step, slowly move your fingers, keeping them facing each other without touching. Hmm, and they can't leave your line of sight."

Lu Mian followed her instructions completely, letting his gaze fall on the void behind his hands, and moved his fingers.

He moved them I don't know how many times, but he never discovered any changes.

Not long after, he couldn't sustain the meditative state and retreated from it.

"Did you see anything?" Aurora asked.

Lu Mian shook his head.

"'Hunter' is relatively difficult, don't have psychological pressure. If it doesn't work next time, it can be the time after next; if it doesn't work today, it can be tomorrow." Aurora comforted him. "Rest assured, ordinary people with higher spirituality can open Spirit Vision after a period of professional training, let alone Beyonders. Of course, what the effect is like is another matter."

If it doesn't work this loop, it can be the next loop, but if it still doesn't work next loop, there might not be a time after next... Lu Mian muttered to himself in his heart.

He had always been a resilient and patient person. After resting a bit and recovering some spirit, he tried again.

After failing time and time again, he finally saw a bit of fire-red color dart out from the void where his two index fingers faced each other.

Succeeded? Lu Mian felt a joy in his heart and turned his head to look at his sister.

He immediately saw a faint red light emerging from Aurora, covering her surface.

"Didn't you say you could see various colors of the 'Ether Body'?" Lu Mian asked doubtfully.

Aurora asked back happily:

"Succeeded?"

Lu Mian nodded and described his experience.

"You did indeed succeed." Aurora breathed a sigh of relief. "Yours counts as good. It's probably because of the bonus from that 'specialty' on your body. If it were another 'Hunter' coming, they wouldn't be able to open Spirit Vision without ten days or half a month of practice, and might even have to wait until after advancing to Sequence 8 to be relatively relaxed. Hmm, what you see is a very blurred 'Ether Body.' Red indicates I'm still relatively healthy. As for the others, 'Hunter' shouldn't think about seeing them; the strength of your 'Spirit Body' doesn't allow it."

She then took out that miniature ink bottle and unscrewed the cap:

"Try to see if you can see 'White Paper'."

Lu Mian stared and looked, only to see a nearly transparent, blurred bubble floating out from the bottle mouth.

It was very much like the kind he blew with soapy water, the size of a fist, dyed with a crimson color due to the moonlight shining in.

Lu Mian could only barely see this thing, having a feeling that he would lose track of it as long as he blinked.

That bubble floated in mid-air and flew to Aurora's palm. Aurora supported it and scratched its itch with her thumb.

The transparent bubble immediately contracted inward and then slowly opened, repeating this action.

Lu Mian steadied his mind and told his sister the scenes he had seen.

"Very blurred, right?" Aurora shook her head. "'Hunter's' Spirit Vision is indeed not very good. The 'Ether Body' can only see the most basic concepts, and Spirit Realm creatures can only discover things like 'White Paper.' You won't be able to see most of them."

"Having it is better than not having it." Lu Mian used the words his sister had just said to reply to her.

Having not witnessed stronger Spirit Vision, he was relatively satisfied with the current situation.

Aurora didn't say much more and guided Lu Mian to close Spirit Vision by re-meditating, gathering his spirit, and repeatedly telling his own spirituality to stop. She also trained him to continuously suggest to himself in that meditative state to set up simple actions for opening and closing Spirit Vision.

Lu Mian practiced time and time again and skillfully mastered the methods for opening and closing Spirit Vision, but the "shortcut keys" Aurora mentioned were never successful; he only vaguely grasped a bit of the key.

"Alright, you rest for a bit. We'll observe what problems the deputy parish priest has later." Seeing that her brother's face was already pale and his spirituality was greatly consumed, Aurora hurriedly let him take a nap.

The two went up to the second floor, went to the study, and turned on that electric desk lamp.

Lu Mian quickly fell asleep in the armchair, while Aurora read a book casually, waiting for the night to get deeper.

Not long after, Lu Mian entered the dream, but he didn't rush to explore, forcing himself to continue sleeping.

Finally, he was woken up by Aurora:

"We can observe the deputy parish priest now."

"Mm." Lu Mian sat up with a swoosh and looked at his sister.

Aurora opened that miniature ink bottle, stroked "White Paper" with her right hand, and her eyes quickly became dark and deep.

With the help of the contract's connection, she whispered in Hermes:

"My contract creature, carry the specialty of my eyes."

Lu Mian, who was beside her, could neither understand nor see, because he hadn't opened "Spirit Vision," so he could only wait patiently.

It was only a matter of seconds before Aurora withdrew her palm, sat down, and said to Lu Mian:

"'White Paper' has gone to the deputy parish priest's house."

Lu Mian took a careful look and discovered that what was reflected in his sister's eyes wasn't the scene of the study or his own figure, but trees gently swaying in the darkness.

Those trees were retreating rapidly.

This is the scene "White Paper" sees? Lu Mian had a realization.

Aurora picked up a mirror with silver plating on the back and took out light-white powder to sprinkle on it.

That powder quickly bloomed with radiance, making the mirror seem to be covered with a layer of water ripples.

In the water ripples, the deputy parish priest, Michel Galigou, appeared in the scene.

"White Paper" had already arrived outside the target's room and was watching him through the glass window.

At this time, Michel Galigou had already fallen asleep, his eyes tightly shut, his breathing steady.

Aurora and Lu Mian waited patiently, observing from various angles with the help of "White Paper."

Time passed second by second. Suddenly, the sleeping Michel slightly opened his mouth, and a blurred, transparent figure crawled out from there.

It was something like a lizard.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 51 =====