When the plot-skips players into the game world

Director Cornelius was leading the way, taking Aiwass and Miss Beyard to the end of the secret passage.

——In fact, the fact that he personally accompanied Miss Beyard through the secret passage could be considered a gesture of sincerity.

Even though they were all Sons of the Moon and had close cooperative relationships, there might come a time when Crescent Moon Manor would need to borrow money from Miss Beyard again. But to shove someone directly into such an obscure corner where no one knew and help could not be summoned... sounded incredibly dangerous.

Whatever traps, rituals, seals, or ambushes might be on the way could be fatal. Moreover, given how narrow the space was, there wouldn't even be room to dodge if a fight broke out.

"Is there only one secret passage?"

Feeling Aiwass scratching lightly in the palm of her hand, Miss Beyard, sensing something, asked, "The passageway is so narrow... What if we're walking through and someone happens to come from the outside?"

"You don't have to worry about that. We'll expand it later."

Director Cornelius shrugged his shoulders: "Building too many secret passages isn't necessarily a good thing. We can't monitor that many entrances at the same time, which would only make the manor less secure. No more and no less, one is enough——besides, this place isn't used that often. If it gets too crowded, we can always turn into bats, right?"

"That's true."

Miss Beyard nodded in agreement.

Her sharp nails scraped against Aiwass's palm, signaling that she understood there was only one secret passage.

"And coming out from here..."

Director Cornelius reached out and pressed the runes on the wall.

As he did so, three overlapping rings of white, yellow, and black gradually appeared. The intersections between each pair were filled with blood-red color. In the center was the rune on the wall, symbolizing "secret."

"Wind, earth, darkness, infuse three kinds of mana in equal proportions to open this secret door. It requires the simultaneous infusion of three units of mana... This serves as a form of simple identity verification."

Director Cornelius smiled: "However, any Son of the Moon should be able to open it. If you want to return to the banquet, you can also go back through this way. The door on the other side is also opened by energizing runes."

Sons of the Moon is a race, as well as an Extraordinary Profession.

As the favored ones of the Eternal Self, this profession possesses mana pools of three different attributes——representing transformation is wind, representing burial is earth, representing curses is darkness. These attributes are the basis of the Sons of the Moon's versatile and varied abilities.

Whether transforming into bats, changing appearances, or using "Beguile" to control others, all these abilities rely on the power of wind attribute mana; the soil from their homeland strengthens the Sons of the Moon—after their death, they turn to ashes and then rise from the ashes again, a method of rebirth akin to the Undead; as for the dark attribute, it is related to their curse and corrosion abilities.

...Wait.

Aiwass's pupils shrank ever so slightly.

She suddenly realized something. Your journey continues with My Virtual Library Empire

...Fortunately, she hadn't trusted that ghost of a mission prompt, Aiwass thought.

She knew that the New Moon Ritual couldn't possibly involve a genuine "collaborative mission."

If they entered the secret passage, they would find themselves unable to open the door.

Although among them there were definitely individuals with the three types of attribute mana, they were three separate people.

Three untrained individuals definitely couldn't infuse completely uniform mana "at the same time." Not to mention their mana was already low, so the opportunity for trial and error was minimal.

To forcibly break through this secret door, they would need to use blood.

Infusing their blood with mana, then mixing it in the proper proportions and smearing it onto the runes... this could also open the door.

But the problem was, by the time they could get here, they would most likely have just had their blood drained. If they gave more mana and blood, even fainting on the spot wasn't out of the question—they had no Flame Spirits or similar mana storage mediums at hand, and pure blood couldn't contain too much mana, which meant a large quantity of blood would be necessary.

So they probably wouldn't want to.

But if someone were to die, it would be different——no matter how much mana they had while they were alive, once they died, the mana pool itself would begin to leak into the blood and internal organs. Anything over ten points would enter the internal organs, brain, and bone marrow, with a maximum of ten points remaining in the blood.

Number 14's body had at most three points of Dark Attribute Mana, so when she was killed, a third of the remaining blood would contain one unit of Dark Attribute Mana. The same applied to the others.

By killing individuals with Dark, Wind, and Earth attributes and mixing their blood to splash on the runes, they could achieve the infusion of three units of equally proportioned 1:1:1 mana.

In other words, even if they reached an agreement to cooperate, by the time they got to this door, they might not know how to open it. Most likely, only a Mage of the Path of Wisdom or a Transcendent from the Path of Love could understand this rune.

Then, they would have to kill two or three people to open the door—if they had a Mage from the Path of Wisdom as a sacrifice, they could save one life since he alone could provide both wind and earth attribute mana.

And if they regretted their decision and tried to return the way they came, they would find that door closed as well.

—They would still need to kill to open the door.

If there were fewer than three people here, they wouldn't even be able to open the door and would be trapped here, quietly waiting as time passed. During those long hours, more than enough time for some of them to have second thoughts or for newcomers lured to the crypt by the mission to arrive and disrupt the balance.

"The task given by the Gemini Mirror is so cruel…"

Aiwass felt a palpitation.

Fortunately, she hadn't been foolishly hopeful and had abandoned the possibility of a "loving and harmonious" cooperation right from the start.

Last time's New Moon Ritual wasn't so blatantly… Of course, it could also be that it was so overt, it seemed fair to Aiwass. In any case, killing everyone was a victory, which was very knightly.

This time, she finally experienced what was meant by a "gory ritual."

Lies, deception, betrayal...

—Unlike the Full Moon Ritual, the New Moon Ritual symbolized the estrangement and confrontation among the nine Paths.

Indeed, one must treat each other as enemies...

Her mindset had undergone some changes.

As Aiwass was thinking this, the three red eyes were filled at the same time.

The sealed door finally revealed itself—where there had once been a dead end, a door of light suddenly appeared.

This was not a long-distance portal, but a door hidden by the Preserver using souls as material, based on the concept of a "crypt." As Aiwass passed through it, she felt an intense chill… as if she was walking past a graveyard in a single-layered dress at night.

Passing through this door, they did not arrive in any dimly lit cave or labyrinth.

Instead, they entered a secret room where all the windows were covered by thick curtains, hiding any light.

The building was made of wood, with a faint scent of essential oils in the air, clearly indicating that some ritual had just taken place.

"Where is this…"

Beyard felt the place seemed familiar.

"This is the Theresa Monastery."

Director Cornelius stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his spine straight and demeanor composed.

He introduced seriously, "The Secret Cultivation Assembly that worships Sister Sasha. You must have been here before—usually, when you first become the Son of the Moon, you are brought here to spend your initial period of no reason."

"Theresa Monastery..."

Aiwass also murmured, her eyes sparkling.

"So it's here..."

"You're interested in Sister Sasha, too?"

Beyard was somewhat surprised.

It was rare for humans to take an interest in Sister Sasha.

Aiwass nodded vigorously: "Yes, I am very interested!"

—Because this place was a known spot for dropping equipment.