Chapter 31

Chapter 31

The next day.

It was already the 47th week of Friday in the New Year 991. Even the clerical staff who usually had days off would soon have a relaxing weekend after work.

It should have been so, but unfortunately, the lockdown at the Spire City Court Headquarters made the overworked judges' relaxation seem far out of reach.

At six o'clock in the evening, during dinner time for most non-on-duty judges, Lingfei Ge's team, who had recently been working closely to build rapport with new members, gathered together. They hadn't been together long when they saw someone who shouldn't be in the cafeteria of Zone Four approaching them.

Wearing only a white shirt and leather pants, with short boots on his feet, and his eyes covered by bandages, Lin, with a noticeable patch on his left eye, sat down beside Lingfei Ge under the gaze of many people.

After sitting down, he glanced at Lingfei Ge's plate and commented without much emotion, "You're eating well."

"Isn't it all free food from the cafeteria?" Lingfei Ge glanced at him. "What do you want? Just say it."

"No, because there are more combat-oriented judges working in Zone Four, the meat dishes here are richer, and pork is occasionally served," Lin explained, looking at the dishes on Yan Tang and Shanta's plates. He had no appetite as he cut a boiled egg in half with a small knife, while Shanta pointed to the small piece of pork chop on her plate and asked if he wanted to share.

Lin shook his head; the doctor had advised him to eat lightly, but since crossing over, he felt that what he ate every day was already quite light. Even the meat dishes contained nothing but salt, sugar, and sour seasoning.

He cut the half-boiled egg again and said, "I came to consult about the inauguration ceremony."

"Inauguration ceremony?" Shanta didn't understand why he brought this up.

"Ah, your reputation has grown. Has someone invited you to preside over an inauguration?" Lingfei Ge guessed.

Even Yan Tang paused her slurping of noodles, different from the other two. Two days ago, she had listened to Suye Azari's blasphemous words in the tunnel with Lin. Although Yan Tang thought many of Suye's speculations were his imagination, there was one point Suye was right about.

Young ritualists often died young, and those who managed to live until retirement faced the harsh reality of aging much faster than their colleagues.

Could it be that Lin still somewhat agreed with Suye's words and wanted to become a professional to avoid this?

"It's about my thesis," Lin explained. "Reorganizing my set of calculation formulas, categorizing official rituals into reducible and irreducible types. The problem is, while I can slowly research other rituals, I've never dealt with an inauguration ceremony before. The materials required for such ceremonies are often very abstract..."

He gave up tormenting the boiled egg and spread his hands helplessly to the four combat professionals.

"I see," Shanta asked generously, "What do you want to know?"

"Abstract?" Lingfei Ge, who wasn't familiar with the inauguration ceremonies of other professions besides mechanics, was puzzled.

"The materials required for the inauguration of a Hammer of Gold professional indeed seem more material," Lin looked at him. "I remember that for mechanics, the initiate must personally create a remotely controllable robot from raw materials?"

"Yes, it must be a robot of equal height to the initiate," Lingfei Ge replied. "But I'm not very good with humanoid robots. Animal or insect-shaped machines are more useful in my work."

"Hmm," Lin tilted his head. "The true material required by the ritual is the initiate's perspective on machines and humans, and on machines and self. If the process of making the robot involves only copying predecessors' blueprints without any thought, even if the robot is made, the inauguration ceremony will fail."

"Ah?" Lingfei Ge, who had followed the steps to become a professional, was shocked. "I didn't know that."

"Knowing this requirement might make it harder for the initiate to focus on the goal of making the robot. That's what my mentor said," Lin explained. "The robot itself is also important; otherwise, the required material would be a thesis on the relationship between humans and machines."

Lingfei Ge thought for a moment and nodded, "So abstract."

"Right?" Lin sighed. He had thought all day about how to inaugurate Bai Li Bome, and now the buzzing in his head was almost drowning out the constant sound of the sea. "For example, the most common inauguration for cultist professionals, the beastmen, requires peeling the skin off a blood relative and killing them, then offering both to the Silver Maiden. On the surface, the ritual requires the act of peeling, killing, and offering, but in reality, it demands that the cultist strip away their human facade and abandon human morality. Equally abstract."

"What about the Blood Knight's ceremony?" Shanta asked curiously. "I remember being taken into a blood pool in a room of the Mother Church. After melting inside, the bishop rescued me, and I successfully inaugurated."

Lingfei Ge: "..."

Yan Tang: "..."

Lin: "..."

Wasn't the inauguration for the Mother of Source Blood a bit too intense?

"You need to understand the essence of blood within the melting," Lin said. "The specific understanding and insight are something you must ask yourself."

As long as one passes the inauguration ceremony, they can become a low-level mechanic or Blood Knight who looks identical. However, some in-depth studies by ritualists have shown that the depth of the initiate's understanding and insight affects their constant talents, magic power, and the speed of advancing to a mid-level professional.

Because of this, Lin felt even more conflicted about how to proceed with Bai Li Bome.

Her current state, where she seemed to lack intelligence but could easily get carried away, made Lin doubt whether he could design a ceremony that she could truly meet the requirements for.

He was worried, more so than he initially was about Bai Li, thanks to her reckless actions last night.

While talking to them, Lin's mind was deeply engaged in thought.

"If you think about it this way," Shanta suddenly said, "the abstract part of the ritual seems more like what the gods expect us to do."

Lin was taken aback.

"The Mother wants me to understand what blood is and why it is the source of life," the centaur piously placed her hand on her chest, feeling the heartbeat below. "Those who cannot understand this truth will not gain the Mother's approval and cannot follow her into battle. It is only natural."

"My Lord cares more about people and society than I thought," Lingfei Ge said, a bit headache. "Trouble, I wasn't good at humanities in middle school."

Yan Tang remained silent, seemingly lost in thought.

Lin began to slowly eat the boiled egg that was now in multiple pieces.

He finally found a bit of direction.

The hope and expectations of the gods? Growing up in a world without gods and not believing in religion, Lin indeed lacked this perspective.

An idea gradually formed in his mind, but before it became clear, someone interrupted him.

"Hey! Lin!"

A familiar blonde handsome man complained as he patted Lin's shoulder, "Why did you come here to eat? Now I have to run an extra trip to Zone Two."

Is this payback for all the overtime I demanded from the Wind Plunder Secretary? Lin mentally grumbled, unable to recapture his previous thoughts, and swallowed the last vitamin tablet from his plate.

"Help me put down the plates," he said to Shanta as he got up, not bothering to exchange words with Secretary Galewind. The two of them walked out of the cafeteria together.

Shanta watched their backs with a puzzled look and asked Lingfei Ge, "Is there a mission?"

Lingfei Ge was still pondering the issue of arts versus sciences, not even lifting his head as he replied, "Don't ask."

***

No one did.

On the way into the cafeteria, familiar combat inquisitors had greeted Lin. When following Secretary Galewind out, everyone ignored the two of them.

"Trying too hard to hide something..." Lin's mind already active, his complaints multiplied.

"At most, they just know the Chief Inquisitor needs a ritualist, or perhaps they've guessed you're taking over as the head of the Ceremony Department," Secretary Galewind didn't seem to care, "This level of leak isn't a problem."

"Ah? Head?" Lin was somewhat surprised. He knew that Secretary Galewind wouldn't say this without reason; it must be that during the two days he buried himself in the archives, such rumors had surfaced. But for him, an evil deity, to rise to the upper echelons of the Inquisition in just half a year—wasn't that a bit too much?

Although when he first infiltrated the Inquisition, he wasn't yet an evil deity, or perhaps he didn't know he was one.

"You need management experience to take on the role," Lin began to speculate, "There's no suitable candidate at the main office, so will they transfer an experienced ritualist from a branch office?"

Secretary Galewind smiled at him upon hearing this but said nothing.

Oh, this is the part that can't be leaked?

Lin gave up on guessing and brought up other matters. They took the tram to District One, entered a building, went upstairs, and found the Chief Inquisitor's office near the large conference hall, which was not closed.

Faint voices of conversation could be heard inside, both of which sounded familiar to Lin.

Without needing Secretary Galewind to knock on the slightly ajar door, one of the familiar voices, Chief Inquisitor Hui Cui's voice, raised, "Come in."

Lin and Secretary Galewind entered the office. At the desk, the person talking to Hui Cui had already turned around, smiling warmly and greeting Lin.

"Lin, you don't look well. If you're injured, don't stay up late studying."

Her tone was very warm, and indeed, she and Lin were quite close.

Hugo Zhaigenli, the head of the Ritual Department at Spire City's Inquisitor School, was also Lin's mentor.

She was forty-five years old, looking much younger with makeup, of medium height, and very slim. Today, she wore a blue suit, a pair of tortoiseshell glasses, and her chestnut hair cascaded to her waist, with a pair of cat ears pointing in different directions atop her head.

A matching cat tail swayed behind her, with several black spots clearly visible at its tip.

Lin, who had momentarily hallucinated a calico cat, realized that the answer to a question from earlier was now clear. He called out, "Mentor."

"I'm really glad," Hugo turned to Hui Cui, saying, "Chief Inquisitor, you even arranged a familiar assistant for me?"

"Lin happens to be in the know," Hui Cui said, then smiled at Lin and added, "I don't think I need to introduce you, but introductions must be made. This is your new head of the Ceremony Department, Hugo Zhaigenli.

"Before she takes up her post, I hope the two of you can work together to design and perform a ritual using the 'Conch' to find the missing fragment."

"Leave it to us, Chief Inquisitor," Hugo said confidently.

"Alright." Lin said, feeling a pain in his left eye again.

Hugo, now in work mode, turned to discuss with Lin, "How about using the binary ritual method? I'll represent the main body, and you'll represent the fragment."

"..." Lin controlled his expression, "Yes, I think that's fine."