Inside the safe, stacks of soul coins were piled in neat layers.
The quantity was staggering.
The moment the door opened, a cold, deathly aura billowed out.
Elias narrowed his eyes.
Seeing was believing. It was only now that he truly saw what a soul coin looked like.
He reached out cautiously and picked one up from the edge.
When his fingertips touched it, he didn't feel the cold hardness expected of metal.
Instead, it had a smooth, jade-like texture.
The coin was about the size of a commemorative coin from his previous life.
It was less than the size of his palm.
However, compared to the gold crowns or Shillings circulating in Hope County, this thing was easily twice as large.
Its color was incredibly deep.
It was a pitch black that allowed no light to pass through.
Elias held it in his palm and observed it closely.
The spirituality within him began to slowly gather in his eyes.
Spirit Vision, activate.
The moment Spirit Vision was triggered.
Elias's pupils constricted sharply, and a needle-like prick of pain shot through his optic nerves.
On the surface of the ink-black coin, threads of crimson spirituality were frantically leaking outward!
Then.
A faint sound, one that seemed to drill directly into his brain, quietly echoed in Elias's ears.
It was a whisper.
Indistinct, shrill, and malicious, it was filled with hatred for the living.
It was the whisper of the dead.
This was a wave of negative spirituality from a restless spirit.
Fortunately, he was now a transcendent.
Whispers of this level couldn't break through a transcendent's cognitive filter.
Let alone shake his soul barrier.
But for an ordinary person, this thing would be an absolute disaster.
Even a brief period of contact would allow the resentment of the dead to drive a normal person insane.
In the eyes of commoners, it would surely be regarded as an ominous coin carrying a wicked curse.
While Elias was carefully examining the unsettling coin in his palm.
Beside him, Guss the infernal demon could no longer restrain the greed etched into its bones.
Its two massive palms reached roughly into the safe.
Clatter—!
A heavy thudding sound followed.
Every soul coin in the safe was unceremoniously dumped onto the floor.
Its dark yellow vertical pupils shimmered with blatant fanaticism.
As the mountain of black coins spilled out.
A few crisp sounds, distinctly different from the clinking of coins, caught Elias's attention.
He looked toward the source.
Tumbling out from the depths of the safe along with the soul coins were a few other items.
There were two glass potion vials containing an unknown liquid.
And a roll of old parchment tied with twine.
These items looked entirely out of place mixed in with the ominous soul coins.
"What are these?"
Elias instinctively put down the uncomfortable soul coin and pointed at the objects on the floor.
Guss didn't even look up, busy counting for itself.
"Those things aren't worth much!"
The demon said dismissively.
"Just some insignificant byproducts."
"They're just two bottles of potions."
Upon hearing this.
"Oh,"
Elias responded casually, intending to turn his gaze back to the pile of coins to figure out how to split the loot.
But in the next instant.
He was jolted with shock.
"What did you say?"
Elias's voice spiked, carrying a hint of excitement he couldn't hide.
"Potions?"
He stared intently at the two glass bottles on the ground.
"Aren't those spirit vision potions?!"
Guss was in the middle of its counting frenzy and was a bit bewildered by Elias's sudden excitement.
The demon's massive body paused slightly.
It turned its head, a clear trace of trepidation in its eyes.
It was afraid it had said something wrong and offended this "ancestor" who held the bone flute.
"Yes... that's right,"
Guss answered cautiously, its voice dropping in volume.
"Potions."
After speaking, it saw how Elias was staring at the bottles and finally realized.
Potions seemed to be quite important to humans.
A hideous, fawning smile immediately spread across its face.
"Does your excellency want them?"
"Please, take them!"
"They are useless to me."
Elias didn't even acknowledge the pleasantry.
His breathing became incredibly shallow and rapid.
He squatted down and grabbed the two glass vials.
The glass felt cold to the touch.
Without hesitation, Elias activated Spirit Vision once more.
He needed to compare!
As his Spirit Vision deepened, the spiritual fluctuations leaking from the bottles appeared clearly in his mind.
This frequency...
This hue...
This quality that seemed to resonate faintly with the transcendent power already inside him...
Elias's pupils trembled violently.
From the spirituality leaking from the vials, he could roughly analyze that...
One of them was exactly the Scale Two potion he currently dreamed of obtaining!
'Holy crap!'
Elias cursed wildly in his mind.
'Is this really a case of just what the doctor ordered?!'
'Did I just hit the jackpot?!'
Of course.
The shred of reason Elias had left told him that before he actually swallowed this thing, he needed to find a safe place and use a Dream Prayer Ritual to confirm it thoroughly.
Even if he had to take another kick from a horse's hoof.
But so what?
This was enough to send him into a state of pure ecstasy!
He had searched far and wide only to find it right here without any effort!
This was too much of a coincidence!
Elias's palms were sweating with excitement.
It was fortunate that he had accompanied Charlotte here today by a stroke of luck.
Otherwise, he wouldn't even know where to begin looking for that damn Scale Two spirit vision potion recipe!
And now, the finished product was right in front of him!
Wait.
Elias's heart was thumping like a drum.
Since the Scale Two potion was here...
What was that roll of parchment on the ground?
His gaze locked onto the old parchment tied with twine like a hungry wolf.
Elias snatched it up.
He snapped the twine and quickly unrolled it on the dusty floor.
The parchment emitted a stale scent of old preservatives.
It was covered in extremely complex ancient runes and ingredient ratios.
And at the very top.
It clearly read—
Scale Three spirit vision potion recipe.
A wave of intense dizziness suddenly hit him.
It was too smooth.
Everything was just too damn smooth!
It was so smooth that Elias felt it was almost unreal.
He stared blankly at the potion and the recipe in his hands.
The slight curve that had just formed on his lips froze on his face in the next second.
A bone-chilling cold surged up to the crown of his head without warning.
He suddenly realized a fatal detail.
When he was in the second-floor treatment room, he was clearly still caught in the hallucinations caused by the dream demon curse!
At that time, the floor had turned into soft flesh and the walls were bleeding.
And after he had used the resonance of his cane to violently stimulate his soul for the second time...
From that moment until now.
He hadn't seen a single hallucination.
He hadn't felt that disgusting, sticky sensation again.
Not even once.
Was this normal?
And...
Elias swallowed hard, his throat bobbing.
'Could I still be inside a hallucination?!'
Once this terrifying thought took root, it spread through his mind like wildfire.
A sense of utter helplessness and dread washed over his heart like a tide.
Elias was suddenly seized by panic.
His breathing became erratic, and his chest heaved violently.
Right! Logic!
Look for logical loopholes!
How could this safe, which was protected by layers of moonlight repulsion charms, be opened so easily?!
It opened just because he extended a few spiritual tendrils?
How was that possible!
And why would the things that tumbled out be exactly the Scale Two potion he needed most right now?!
Even the Scale Three recipe was thoughtfully prepared for him?!
This is the transcendent world!
Not some game where you open a starter gift pack!
He should have realized it sooner!
This damned hallucination must not have ended!
How could there be such good fortune in this world?
Even winning the lottery didn't have this kind of pinpoint accuracy!
Perfect logic is, in itself, the greatest logical flaw!
Perhaps...
Perhaps in reality, he had already been cleaved in two by that demon's sword back on the second floor!
And everything before his eyes now was just the dying fantasy of his real self outside the hallucination!
'Dammit!'
Elias let out a desperate, silent roar in his mind.
Edmond Russell wasn't here, and he couldn't even distinguish reality from illusion!
He couldn't sink into this!
He had to wake up!
If this was truly a hallucination, then his real self must be in an extremely dangerous, near-death state!
Thinking this, Elias's eyes instantly became bloodshot.
The veins on the back of his hands bulged as he gripped The Roaring Cane tightly.
The cold metal texture of the cane was his only anchor at this moment.
He abruptly raised his arm.
He aimed the heavy base of the cane directly at his own chest.
He intended to imbue himself with the most violent resonance and then detonate it.
He would use the extreme physical and spiritual agony to tear through this perfect death-dream!
Just as Elias's muscles tensed, ready to plunge the cane into his chest.
"Excellency, what is wrong?"
Guss's gruff and puzzled voice came from the side.
It had stopped counting the coins.
The infernal demon looked up with a confused expression at Elias, who had suddenly stood up and was pointing his cane at himself.
It seemed bewildered as to why this human, who had been radiating intense joy a moment ago, was now consumed by extreme terror and rage.
He even carried a hint of resolute suicidal intent.
To the demons of Calovius, they were extremely sensitive to human emotions, especially negative ones.
Thus, the intense and abnormal emotional fluctuations coming from Elias immediately caught Guss's attention.
"Is there something unsatisfactory? Please, just say the word!"
Guss's massive body recoiled slightly, fearing the man might go mad and blow the bone flute.
Then, its yellow vertical pupils stared at Elias, and as if it had seen through something, it added tentatively:
"Is it that damned curse?"
Elias, who was about to drive the base of the cane into his chest.
His arm froze in mid-air.
He turned his head and stared at the infernal demon.
"You know I have a curse on me?"
Rate on N.U.
