"Ignore them."
When Old Neil finished his sentence. the illusory pair of eyes that lurked in the darkness behind him vanished. Her spirit vision failed to trace any of its existence.
Returning to the duo, Selina was greatly taken aback by Klein and Old Neil's display of indifference.
The spirit vision is capable of seeing the Spirit Bodies. Is it perhaps it indicates one's beyonder level? Selina reasoned with herself.
Are they natural? No... They are most definitely an anomaly!
Her thoughts raced for answers she couldn't quite grasp. Needless to say, her familiarity with Old Neil had plummeted significantly, she became wary of him in less than a second.
Okay... okay... Those eyes, they stare with unknown intent...
I don't know why are they so calm, but if their current reactions is this, then the danger haven't been arrived... Selina instinctively placate herself. Her facial however, failed to ease.
Taking actions wouldn't bear any result...
It took her awhile to recover, her furrowed brows slowly subsided. When, she finally nodded, she immediately said, "Mr. Old Neil."
She then turned to Klein, "Mr. Moretti."
"I apologize for my sudden demeanor. That was uncalled for."
Old Neil smile didn't faded, with gentleness he replied, "That's alright, Moretti also exhibited similar reaction when he first saw it. However, I assure you, that matter is nothing to be worried about."
Moretti did? Selina subconsciously directed her eyes toward Klein in his vest and black coat.
Klein didn't elaborated anything, instead he only nodded for affirmation.
First it was the puppet in the Chanis Gate and now a pair of eyelash-less eyes? Selina took a silent breath.
Surely there couldn't be more right?
"This is a characteristic of ritualistic magic," explained Old Neil with a chuckle.
Huh?
Selina's face produced a dumbfounded expression.
Old Neil laughed and said, "That's right. I am a beyonder of the Mystery Pryer pathway, which is know for their utilization of ritualistic magic. Those eyes manifested because earlier I had prayed for luck from the Goddess."
"Prayed?" Selina blurted out of piqued interest.
She have yet to pray to Mr. Fool this week and her time is running up!
While subconsciously, after explanation, Selina's thoughts eased. Perhaps it is what Old Neil had said, an effect produced by ritualistic magic...
A silent breath slipped from her mouth.
"Yes, praying to the Goddess or any other deities is considered ritualistic magic." Old Neil clarified. "It required one's spirituality, the deity's domain and most importantly, their honorific names. However, that topic can be saved for later. So? How was the feeling of spirit vision?"
The feeling? Selina retracted her attention from the earlier matter about the eyes and observed the surroundings.
Fascinating... Truly fascinating... I believe it is called third eye? Hmm... maybe not, or perhaps it's akin to that. Selina felt like a child who had just been gifted with a new toy. She couldn't help but differentiate the surroundings from with and without.
From there, she noticed the storage area, where the materials Seeka and her had placed. It was filled with strange contents that some either have a liquidous eyeballs and black ink-like water that oozes grey mist.
What all these materials had in common were their vibrancy in color.
The materials glow... Does that mean they still retain life?
Spirituality... Selina pondered for a moment as she recalled her conversation with Dunn Smith. Potions have remnant spirituality within them, one of the causes of a beyonder losing control...
They require materials to be concocted... I see, then those materials still have spirituality within them which lets spirit vision detects them. She quietly concluded.
After a moment, Selina also noticed quite a few things. Like how the word 'spirit' in the term was clearly the main objective, yet there's also a saying that the spirit world is everywhere, contradicting her environment.
As there were no spirits wandering around.
This led her to believe that since she's in the department of the officials, a unit filled with beyonders. Perhaps because of this, the spirits within the area fled.
However, she still blurted out, "Mr. Old Neil, isn't it true that the spirit world is around us? There were no spiritual bodies, maybe it is due to the amount of beyonders in the vicinity?"
"That's right. There's also the fact that in our unit, Corpse Collector is also common. A starting sequence of on of the pathways under the Church of the Evernight. They're fairly adept at the knowledge of the undead and spirits." Old Neil enlightened.
Corpse Collector... So pathways that are adept in certain domains such as the undead, when their quantity is dense, it can have an affect in an area?
As she contemplates with her new-found power. Selina felt a painful spasm at her glabella.
Her vision erupted into a chaotic blend of colors. At a split-second, she saw a figure, at the next moment she saw Klein standing just before the illumination by the door.
Oh... It was just Mr. Moretti... Selina heaved a sigh, almost assuming that another strange event had occurred.
She turned and hurriedly asked, "Mr. Old Neil, how do I exit from this Spirit Vision state?"
"Like before, think of an item to divert your attention. It will bring you out of Cogitation. Close your eyes and control your spirituality and repeatedly tell it to end. When you open your eyes again, you will discover that your Spirit Vision has ended."
Old Neil described leisurely and when he was done, added, "Of course, that is the most trivial and clumsy method. We can repeatedly hint to ourselves in Cogitation from practice to affect our spirituality. That way, you will have a simple switch. For instance, tapping at your glabella twice lightly would allow you easily activate Spirit Vision. Another two taps will simply end it. As for how you set it up, it depends on your habits and preferences."
Tapping your glabella twice...
At the mention of the action used to open spirit vision, Selina immediately thought of Mr. Fool's habit and Darkwill's unusual pose during his lecture.
The linkage brought her to ask, "Can it also be tapped thrice or few more times?"
Old Neil raised both of his brows, he didn't expect the lady to be interested with costly action rather than decreasing it to only two.
"Well, as I've said, for how you set it up, it all depends on your preferences. Usually, beyonders would prefer a more concealed or quick action, so perhaps their three taps is a result of their difficulty in activating their vision."
"Are you... Having difficulties Ms. Roy? I can assure you these are quite common and will change over time." When he finally finished his elaboration, Old Neil asked out of concern.
So it activates out of habits and preferences... Then does that mean...
From her first introduction. Darkwill had been showing strangeness that Selina had often times ignore. Those were his ability to quickly discern materials from another, this was after he had done his habitual action of tapping his glabella thrice.
Mr. Fool is a given as "He" is a god, a being whose origin may have a link for her return. However, for a mentor to exhibit such subtleness and capability all indicates one thing:
Mr. Darkwill is also a beyonder! Selina quickly restrained herself from any unnecessary expression.
With this realization, she couldn't help but wonder which pathway Darkwill had taken. From her limited knowledge of the beyonder world, it may become a discovery of another pathway.
This excites Selina to the point of immediately trying to connect the dots while at the same time frightened her.
She had unknowingly associated herself with a potential dangerous beyonder!
So far, Mr. Darkwill hadn't made any sort of measures for me... As far as I know, he's safe. Selina eased herself with reasoning.
Before, she had already noticed his motive for accepting her. It wasn't out of pity, but a kind of strategic move to hire an eye-candy for promoting his store. Yet his actions for running it had crevices that shows his interest wasn't entirely placed on his profession.
Often times, during her reading session, Selina would saw him inspecting a small mound of brown powder by the counter, more attentively than the shop he's in.
She had been speculating that maybe it's a drug that induces one to become sarcastic.
From his profession, demeanor that quietly shows from time to time and his adept at potion and drug making. Selina had reached a conclusion:
Mr. Darkwill is a beyonder, who is in the same pathway as her. A fellow Apothecary!
That explains a lot of my interactions with him... I always thought he's just adept, however now... Selina paused, a sense of emanate danger had also landed along with a realization.
Then, if that's the case... Then in this world, are all skilled professionals. Beyonders?
The acting method suggests this as well. The concept of each name are equivalent to a professional that when acted upon results in the beyonder's integration with the corresponding powers.
A few things crossed Selina's mind as she shook her head in response, "I'm doing fine."
After saying that, she closed her eyes and thought of the item she had previously made:
A brilliant clusters of illusory light.
Selina planned on doing what Old Neil had instructed. Although imitation of Darkwill's three tapping gesture seems to be required as she's the same pathway as him, it could be a waste of valuable time in dangerous situations.
As for the other methods, she decided to just make it as simple as tapping her glabella.
With this in mind, she reached for the area between her brow, tapped it lightly twice and repeated to herself. Let it end...
End it.
End it..
End it...
A few moments later, the mysterious blend of colors, seemingly encompassing the whole world gradually subsided as Selina dimmed her Cogitation.
Old Neil nodded approvingly and with his guidance, hints and practice, she finally set up her switch.
She curled her hand, raised it at the level of her head to her glabella, and with the joint of her index finger tapped it twice without repeating anything.
Immediately, there were glowing auras of differing thickness and colors appearing before her eyes.
After another two, everything returned to normal.
"I've finally grasped it..." she sighed with delight.
Only now did she realized the toll of her practices. Feeling exhausted like she could fall asleep at any moment.
She was slightly puzzled, however it was oddly familiar. Her days working just to get a maximum of three hour sleep, this feeling for her is mutual.
Upon noticing her expression, Old Neil chuckled and said, "We're not Sleepless. Our time used in practicing and Spirit Vision requires smooth sleep. You can rest now, I'll continue my previous lesson with Moretti. Tomorrow, you'll learn mysticism along with him, followed by concocting special potions from formulas given by the Church of the Earth Mother. Let's not forget the historical documents as well."
"Very well." Selina stood from the chair and raised the hems of her dress.
"Thank you for everything."
After performing a brief courtesy, she turned for Klein and smiled, "To you as well Mr. Moretti, I hope we can be great companions."
Klein took his hat off and placed it to his chest, "No problem."
When he lifted his head, he saw Selina, somewhat completely different.
Unlike before, he had always thought of her as a beautiful lady worthy of gratitude without further advancements. However, now her appearance seemed to removed that perception at a psychological level.
Klein's breath became heavy, redness seemed to rise as he quickly retracted from Selina. Alarmed by what happened, he immediately composed himself.
As she bade farewell to him and Old Neil, closing the door on her way. Klein faced Old Neil and asked, "What do you see when looking at Ms. Roy?"