As the incantations of the third page manifested within Claudia’s mind, she didn’t even have time to chant. The uncontrollable knowledge transformed into monstrous hounds, tearing through her consciousness directly along the gaps of her cognition.
Furthermore, the intense impact nearly killed her brain, plunging Claudia into a state akin to brain death.
In a stroke of minor luck amidst the misfortune, her bodily functions remained operational.
“Alright, not bad… She’s just a vegetable now…”
Luo Wei let out a breath of relief; the current situation wasn’t entirely catastrophic.
Had Claudia actually died, Luo Wei would have been depressed for quite a while. Setting aside whether the connection established through the Grimoire of Forbidden Curses would break, even if it stayed intact, she would be forced to drag a literal corpse around.
In the heavily guarded Kolun County, doing that would be no different from screaming “I am a cultist priestess!” in the middle of the street.
Moreover… death would mean the loss of sixteen portions of Candlelight.
Considering how difficult it was to find another target for the Grimoire’s Dominion, Luo Wei was as desperate for Candlelight as a pauper was for coin.
The advancement granted by the Grimoire of Forbidden Curses clearly came with a price; the third page was a burden Claudia simply could not bear yet.
Now, what should I do… Luo Wei thought anxiously.
The most pressing issue was finding a way to heal Claudia. This was sixteen portions of Candlelight at stake, after all.
Going to a hospital was out of the question. Even in the era of her previous life, brain death was essentially a death sentence in a hospital, let alone in this age. Furthermore, if Luo Wei manipulated Claudia’s body to see a doctor and claimed “I’m brain-dead, please check me out,” the doctor would likely look at her—at Claudia—as if she were a lunatic before throwing her out the door.
Perhaps the Dream Sanctum has a way?
If that were the case, she would have to “log in” again and act as a pilot for Claudia.
Luo Wei pondered for a moment. She first dispelled the Blood Shadow Avatar she had used to examine Claudia’s body, then took over the physical form once more through the method of “Puppet Strings.”
Next, Luo Wei unfurled the complex information stream she had previously stored. From it, she mapped every sensation Claudia should have possessed—including every minor twitch and gesture—directly into her own mind. This was the only way to achieve a perfect simulation of Claudia herself.
With her prior experience, Luo Wei quickly integrated these information streams, manipulating Claudia’s body as naturally as her own limbs, rendering it indistinguishable from the original girl.
“If this ability let me be a Gundam pilot, my synchronization rate would probably be a hundred percent regardless of the machine.”
Before Luo Wei could even stretch or get a feel for the “Unit-Claudia” controls, a new update suddenly flashed through the information stream.
[Sense of crisis detected: Intensity Medium]
[In the windless dark of night, certain entities hide within the shadows, peering at you with ill intent.]
Unit-Claudia was indeed a Sequence 8 Transcendental; her powerful Spirit Perception was incredibly sharp. It could not only detect being watched but even pinpoint the direction.
Luo Wei looked up and squinted. Under the bright moonlight, she could barely see two faint, drifting dark shadows lurking within the silhouettes of the buildings, seemingly ready to strike.
[The air carries a scent akin to rotten eggs fermented for three days under an armpit on a humid summer day, mixed with an imperceptible trace of blood. You find this scent familiar; they are your colleagues, Priests of the Dream Sanctum.]
“So detailed… I wish it weren’t so detailed. I can practically smell the stench just by reading the words.”
The information stream was essentially Luo Wei’s complete “transparent vision” of Claudia, presented in a way she could understand. Consequently, the descriptions were heavily colored by Luo Wei’s own style. Because of this, the sense of déjà vu was even stronger.
“They didn’t come to chat… How troublesome. Why did Claudia have to offend her coworkers? We’re all risking our lives for the same cult; can’t we just get along?”
Luo Wei complained briefly before casually searching through Claudia’s memories.
Then, she realized she had misjudged her.
Claudia was a coward through and through. She had always endured the overt and covert ostracization from other Priests with a submissive attitude; it was impossible for her to have offended anyone.
The person who had actually offended the Priests… was Luo Wei herself.
These two ill-intentioned colleagues were likely the two unlucky bastards Luo Wei had stripped naked while acting as a local rioter during the cultist gathering.
The two Priests were one male and one female. The man she could perhaps handle, but for the woman… should she try a Persuasion check to see if she’d let it go?
Clearly, her colleagues had no intention of letting Luo Wei roll the dice.
Upon realizing their target had detected their observation, the two dim shadows immediately glided through the dilapidated, intricate buildings of the slums, moving toward Luo Wei’s shack with startling speed.
As they finally emerged from the shadows, two razor-sharp daggers flickered with lethal coldness under the moonlight.
The entire process took less than a single breath.
The killing blow had arrived.
“It was just a bit of lost face, is this really necessary…”
Luo Wei couldn’t help but think. Are all cultist priests this vindictive?
She had no time for further thought. The two lethal strikes, blended into the night, aimed straight for Claudia’s neck, intending to slit her throat.
The intersecting angles covered almost every direction Claudia could have used to dodge. However, they never expected that Claudia’s head would suddenly tilt backward a full 180 degrees—nearly folding in half—to narrowly avoid the strike.
Crack!
The sound resembled a snapping neck.
The two Priests, having missed their mark, turned around in disbelief only to witness a scene that made their skin crawl.
“Claudia” was using her hands to steady her accidentally broken neck, her expression carrying a hint of faint, indiscernible annoyance.
“What… what is this?”
“I’ve never heard of the ‘Dream-Walker’ sequence having the ability to animate flesh like this…”
An indescribable shiver began to crawl up their spines.
The eerie moonlight passed through the holes in the window, spilling into the modest shack. The gaunt woman looked at the two Priests and let out a smile as bright as a young girl’s. Her raspy voice somehow carried a trace of sweetness.
“So sorry, how embarrassing. I haven’t been human for a while, so there were a few minor oversights… Don’t mind me.”
Luo Wei mobilized Claudia’s linguistic modules to output the purest Kolun County accent, yet the tone remained unmistakably hers—elegant yet playful.
“It’s not her! That’s not Claudia! She’s been replaced by some other entity!”
Upon hearing this, the two Priests’ internal alarms went off instantly, and the urge to flee immediately took root in their hearts.
It was too late.
Illusory colors began to spread, slowly enveloping the entire small room.
In an instant, the “Dormant Chrysalis” had entered their dreams.
