???

“So it's because I have too much spirituality?”

Elias sat on the floor and asked.

“What else could it be?”

Deep in his mind, Old Ed snorted irritably.

“Although you've managed to reinforce your body with the potions...”

“Your physical vessel still far from being able to keep up with your massive amount of spirituality.”

Old Ed paused and offered a simple, easy-to-understand analogy.

“For others, the cup is as big as the amount of coffee it holds.”

“But you?”

“You're forcing two cups of coffee into one!”

“Who else would be sleepwalking if not you?!”

So it was a case of the hardware failing to keep up with the software?

What a mess!

While others worried about not having enough spirituality and lived like misers, counting every drop, his spirituality was so excessive it had become a literal time bomb!

“However...”

Old Ed speculated.

“After some time, once your body slowly adapts to being washed by such high concentrations of spirituality, this problem should resolve itself.”

“Are you sure?”

Elias keenly caught the uncertainty in the old man's voice and raised an eyebrow.

“I'm not,” the old man replied decisively.

“?”

“Nonsense, I'm not an omniscient god!” the old man shouted righteously.

“I can only guess!”

“I've only heard of a situation like this once in my life.”

“There was once an ascetic who hit the jackpot and received too many divine blessings at once, leading to a severe spiritual overload.”

“He was in a similar state to you back then, getting up in the middle of the night to wash his hair while doing a handstand.”

Old Ed clicked his tongue.

“But you should know that the spirituality in your body can act like a slow-release medicine, gradually nourishing and reshaping your physical form.”

“So, after that ascetic survived a few months of madness, his body adapted, and he became a normal person again.”

“Thus, I reasonably deduce that the same will happen to you.”

“Fine then...”

Elias sighed helplessly and climbed up from the floor.

It seemed that until his body completed its "update," he would have to not only lock his door but also secure the bedroom windows every night before bed!

Who could he even complain to? In this perilous world, having so much spirituality that it overflowed had actually become a life-threatening burden!

...

Throughout the entire following morning, Elias sat at his desk, methodically preparing for the "big job" tonight.

He was going to dig up John's grave tonight. That was no easy task.

To that end, he dug out the folding shovel from his home and used spiritual materials to craft several charms for his use.

While crafting the supernatural items, Elias chatted with Old Ed in his mind about the vivid dream from the previous night.

The black armor, the ancient ruins, and that peerless young girl.

However, after hearing Elias's colorful description, Old Ed's conclusion remained the same.

“It's still because your spirituality is too high.”

“It caused your spiritual body to wander the spirit world while you slept, and you might have accidentally connected to some entity's memory fragments.”

“You must understand that the spirit world is filled with spiritual substances, and those substances most likely originate from the memories of living beings.”

“This kind of thing is quite normal. Don't make a fuss about it,” Old Ed concluded.

Although Elias still had some doubts, he thought about it carefully.

The top priority tonight was to take advantage of the chaos of the Spark Festival to go to the cemetery of the Lily of the Valley Convent and dig up John's grave!

Compared to this life-and-death matter that concerned finding clues to lift the dream demon curse, the truth behind the dream was suddenly unimportant.

He decisively pushed the matter to the back of his mind and pulled a sturdy, dark backpack from under his bed, specifically for carrying his supernatural equipment.

Besides his previous gear, the bottle of Scale One spirit vision potion he had obtained from Dr. Mester's safe was carefully wrapped in thick cotton and tucked into the deepest part of the backpack.

Generally speaking, for a transcendent who had already stepped into a higher Scale, the core effect of a low-tier potion like Scale One—promoting a leap in life stage—was completely gone.

Its greatest use was as a potent spirit restoration potion.

Of course, the production cost and black market price of a spirit vision potion were many times more expensive than a standard spirit restoration potion!

Unless someone had lost their mind, no one would be so extravagant as to use a promotion potion to replenish their spirituality during battle. It was essentially like throwing gold bars into the ocean!

However, besides that, this thing had another use!

It could pull someone on the brink of losing control back from the edge when their spirituality was completely exhausted.

Every transcendent had a sea of rationality in their brain. Once their spirituality was fully depleted, the soul barrier within the sea of rationality would lose its energy supply and collapse instantly.

When that happened, the unspeakable pollution and madness lurking in the Astral Plane, constantly eyeing the physical world, would seize the opportunity to invade.

At best, one would become a lunatic streaking through the halls of the Landon Asylum. At worst, their body would mutate on the spot into a disgusting mass of flesh covered in eyeballs and tentacles.

But in such a life-or-death moment, swallowing a spirit vision potion could provide a massive surge of spirituality instantly, forcibly rebooting the soul barrier!

In extreme cases, this burst of pure spirituality could even briefly connect to the deity at the end of that pathway, drawing a fleeting glance from that high-and-mighty existence!

This would serve to cut off and block the infiltration of the Astral Plane's pollution!

This was Elias's greatest trump card for tonight.

...

“Al! Aren't you up yet? Come and help!”

At that moment, Charlotte's voice, tinged with a hint of urgency, drifted in from the living room.

Elias kicked the backpack under the bed and pushed the door open.

As soon as he stepped out of the bedroom, he saw Charlotte standing on a wobbly wooden stool, holding a garland and struggling to hang it on the gas wall lamp in the living room.

Today was the Spark Festival, one of the most important traditional holidays in the Kingdom of Velen.

Legend had it that during the Dark Era, when history was blurred and unclear, the world was shrouded in eternal night.

It was the humans of that time who, in their despair, lit the first fire representing civilization.

Then, people followed suit, lighting torches until they dotted the dark land like sparks. This act moved the gods in the heavens, who then dispelled the eternal night and ignorance that had shrouded the world.

Every year during the Spark Festival, every city in the Kingdom of Velen would hold a grand Great Torchlight Parade.

This was the core and most breathtaking official ceremony on the night of the Spark Festival, symbolizing the tragic history of humanity surviving the desperate eternal night by passing the mundane fire to one another.

On that night, as the clock in the North District Municipal Square struck midnight for the first time, all municipal gas lamps and external searchlights in Hope County would be extinguished simultaneously by the official control valve.

The entire massive city would be plunged into thirty minutes of artificial absolute darkness.

During those thirty minutes of darkness, thousands of citizens would light their prepared torches or lanterns from a giant brazier in the center of the square, then converge into a massive dragon of flickering lights to parade and celebrate together in the pitch-black streets.

That was it!

The opportunity Elias had calculated countless times in his mind was precisely at this specific moment!

His plan was perfect: he would first accompany Charlotte out and blend into the massive parade crowd. Then, while everyone in the city was losing their minds in the celebratory frenzy, he would find an excuse to slip away!

He would sneak all the way to the cemetery of the Lily of the Valley Convent, which would likely be lightly guarded tonight, and precisely time his move with the Great Blackout!

Under the cover of darkness, he would play the role of a grave robber, nimbly digging up John's grave, taking what he needed, and making a run for it!

Tonight, the Seventh Agency would likely focus their attention on the items stolen from the Golden Rose Hotel. They might eventually trace things back to the Lily of the Valley Convent, but by then, he would likely be long finished!

No one would know, and there would be no evidence. The plan was perfect! It was foolproof!

While Elias was helping Charlotte hang decorations on the wall and mentally rehearsing every step of the night's plan, Charlotte suddenly jumped down from the stool, clapped her hands, and turned to look at him.

“Al.”

Her large, pure eyes sparkled with a light that brooked no refusal.

“Tonight, you absolutely must come to the parade with me!”

“Sure thing.”

Elias agreed instantly without the slightest hesitation. This was already the most important part of his plan. He would go to the parade, find an excuse halfway through, send Lottie home, and then circle back to do the big job. A perfect transition!

“You said it!”

Seeing Elias agree so readily, Charlotte narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Then, she put her hands on her hips and issued a serious command.

“Remember to dress decently tonight! Get your best formal suit out and iron it! Don't you dare embarrass me in front of my friends!”

“Hmm?”

Elias's hand, which was currently straightening a fake flower, suddenly stopped. Why did that phrasing sound so familiar?

He looked down at Charlotte with confusion. Wasn't it just walking around the streets in the middle of the night holding a torch? Who was he supposed to look decent for in the pitch black? The zombies in the convent's cemetery?

At this moment, Elias had no idea of the gravity of the situation.

Not until Charlotte spoke again, completely shattering his naive ignorance.

“Arthur said your current job isn't safe at all. So, he specifically asked me to introduce you to some friends tonight while everyone is out for the parade.”

Charlotte looked seriously at her brother, who had now completely turned to stone.

“He wants you to get married soon. Settle down.”

“???”