"Interface?"
Sitting at the table, Dorothy couldn't help but feel puzzled by the system's reply in her mind. She rubbed her temples and began to think.
'Interface? The essence of this system is an interface? What does that mean? An interface linking what? Hey, system, can it explain a bit more about this so-called interface?'
Dorothy continued to question the system in her mind, but this time the system didn't reply at all. Dorothy found that she had asked in vain.
After trying several different ways to ask the system without success, Dorothy temporarily gave up the idea of pursuing the system's essence and focused on the immediate priority, which was the promotion ritual.
After knowing that the system had the function of relaying prayers and guiding blessings, an idea naturally surfaced in her mind.
"Perhaps... I can give it a try. Tomorrow is the weekend, after all..."
Murmuring to herself, Dorothy finished her mystical research for the night. After putting the contraband from the table into her schoolbag, Dorothy changed into her pajamas, turned off the light, and went to sleep.
After a night of deep sleep, Dorothy woke up in the bright morning sunlight. Getting out of bed, rubbing her eyes, and opening the door, Dorothy didn't see Grego in the living room. Because there was no class, she woke up two hours later than usual this morning, so Grego had already gone to work.
In the current era of this world, the concept of weekends barely existed. Many professions worked year-round, and taking time off was impossible except during religious holidays. Grego, however, due to the special nature of his work, had irregular working hours. Sometimes he left late and came back early, sometimes he didn't come back for several nights in a row, and sometimes he could be idle for a whole day. Dorothy knew that his working hours mainly depended on when there were missions.
Many schools, due to having religious influences, therefore had one day off every weekend based on the mythological story of the Radiant Savior using 6 days to Save the World and resting on the 7th.
As for Saint Amanda School, where Dorothy was, because Aldrich himself belonged to the educational reformists, he not only stood at the forefront of the era by admitting female students to the school, but also added some science, engineering, and art courses to this traditional grammar school. Furthermore, under the pretext of increasing students' extracurricular practice time and opportunities to visit home, he added another day off to the weekend, allowing Dorothy to perfectly enjoy the full weekend.
Therefore, Dorothy also decided not to disappoint the principal's expectations and made good use of this Saturday to do some "extracurricular practice activities."
After finishing her ablutions, Dorothy ate the breakfast that had been on the coffee table for a while, then changed into casual clothes, grabbed her bag, and went out. After getting into a carriage downstairs, she headed straight for the market.
Getting off the carriage, Dorothy directly entered the market and purchased the materials according to the note she had prepared beforehand. There were still some items left, so Dorothy took another carriage to the luxury goods store on the commercial street to supplement them. After spending 15 pound, Dorothy took the purchased items by carriage all the way to the western suburbs of Igwinte, arriving at a small grove.
This grove was very large a long time ago and was used as a hunting ground because there were some prey animals there. However, the prey animals had long since been hunted out. Due to the expansion of the city, the trees here were extensively logged, and now only a little bit remains, so there is no further value in logging. However, the grove still contains a former lumberjack's cabin. A year ago, a murderer hid a body inside it. The police only found the body after arresting the murderer based on evidence and relying on his identification.
Dorothy's route to and from school happened to pass by here. All this information was obtained by Dorothy and the coachman during their casual chats on the road. And now Dorothy just happened to need a secluded place.
Getting off at a fishing spot by the river about a kilometer outside the grove, Dorothy, wearing a cloak, walked all the way into the grove, then went deeper, and soon found the lumberjack's cabin in the woods.
That's right, Dorothy planned to perform the promotion here. Due to Grego's identity, she didn't dare to hold a secret ritual at home. As for other hidden corners in the city, she was afraid she might accidentally run into the Red Communion Society. And a body from a murder case was hidden here not long ago. If the Holy Communion Society had someone here, there wouldn't have been a body... or even a murderer.
Stepping on the fallen leaves, Dorothy entered the small wooden cabin. The light inside was dim, and it was as empty as a wilderness. The air emitted a rotten smell. Dorothy didn't care at all that this place had previously been where a body was hidden and immediately began to set up the ritual.
"Ink-phosphorus lime powder... Redwood sawdust... Sun-facing grass..."
Opening her schoolbag, Dorothy mixed the purchased ore powder, sawdust, and grass powder evenly. Following the pattern on the fragmented page, she used the mixed powder to draw a simple circular magic array with the help of tools. Then, she lit six candles around it and placed three small copper incense burners outside the candles, filled with expensive incense bought from a luxury goods store and transported from the New World.
As the lingering fragrance began to fill the cabin, Dorothy started the final step of the ritual preparation: drawing the Spirituality symbol connecting to herself in the center of the magic array.
After pricking her finger with a needle, Dorothy dripped a drop of fresh blood into the remaining powder. After stirring, she began to use the powder to draw the Spirituality symbol.
In the secret transmission given by Aldrich, all Spirituality symbols were recorded.
The symbol for """Lamp""" is a vertically standing staff, with eight evenly distributed lines radiating outwards from the top of the staff to represent Light, like a bright Lamp emitting Light at the top of a staff, or like the top of the staff is the sun.
The symbol for """Shadow""" is a curved dagger, its blade bent into a perfect arc, like a new moon in the night sky.
The symbol for """Cup""" needs no explanation; it is an ancient wine cup that is wide at the top, tapers in the middle, and is small at the bottom, with an inverted triangle symbol drawn on the cup.
The symbol for """Stone""" is not something like a gem, ore, hammer, or chisel, but a gold coin, a gold coin marked with an upright triangle.
The symbol for """Silent""" is very simple: a closed eye.
The symbol for """enlightenment""" is also simple: an open eye.
Dorothy was going to perform the ritual of """enlightenment""", so she carefully drew an open eye in the center of the magic array, the symbol for enlightenment.
After everything was ready, Dorothy put the things in her hands aside, then knelt on the magic array, kneeling before the symbol of """enlightenment""".
Next, Dorothy began to silently recite the incantation.
"I swear to follow this path... worship this truth... explore the sea of consciousness... seek all truths... I will be the compass... the wake..."
Dorothy lowered her head and murmured softly. Her murmuring echoed in the small space, seemingly stirring something, causing the swirling white smoke to spiral around the magic array and the candles to flicker and dim.
Slowly, Dorothy finished chanting the incantation, and she began to pray.
"I wish to step onto the path of """enlightenment""", but the road ahead is murky. I pray here, entreating all the great divinities of the reverse side, to disperse the clouds for me and point out the path..."
Dorothy finished praying, but then an echo of her own words came from her mind.
「Entreating all the great divinities of the reverse side, to disperse the clouds for me and point out the path...」
After the echo ended, something like an option dialog box suddenly popped up before Dorothy's eyes.
「Received initial guidance application, do you agree to the guidance?」
Looking at the dialog box in front of her, Dorothy's mouth twitched slightly, and then she mentally clicked confirmation.