Dorothy’s Forbidden Grimoire

Listening to the so-called “system” in her mind, Dorothy found herself lost in thought. According to the “system,” the booklet she was holding—which detailed ways to extract “Chalice” spirituality through murder and cannibalism—was a fragment of a book called The Art of Sacred Anatomy.

Furthermore, the fragment contained high-spirituality knowledge and was recommended for study.

Right, the system’s function revolved around knowledge exchange, trading knowledge from this world for that of another. Did this mean that the contents of The Art of Sacred Anatomy could serve as bargaining chips?

At this thought, Dorothy became somewhat excited. Previously, she had been able to trade ordinary language for Dragon Tongue. What might she be able to exchange with this knowledge?

“Hey, system, after I study this high-spirituality knowledge, can I use it to exchange for knowledge from another world?”

Dorothy directly inquired of the system. Through her tests, she had discovered that the “system” was mostly silent, only occasionally responding when questions directly concerned itself. It didn’t seem to possess true intelligence.

“Confirmed. Any knowledge containing corresponding spirituality can be exchanged. The amount of spirituality within the knowledge determines the strength of the acquired otherworldly knowledge.”

Hearing the system’s response, Dorothy froze.

So, the more spirituality the knowledge possessed, the more powerful the exchanged knowledge would be?

Previously, she had used over 3,000 words of Prittish to exchange for three characters of Dragon Tongue. In other words, the spirituality of over 1,000 Prittish words was equivalent to a single character of Dragon Tongue.

“Then, system, after studying this fragment of The Art of Sacred Anatomy, can I immediately use it for exchange?”

“Yes, but at present, your soul strength is insufficient to imprint new otherworldly knowledge. The pages of the Soul Codex are full. You must elevate your life state, strengthen your soul, and expand the Soul Codex.”

The system’s response left Dorothy stunned.

What? My soul strength isn’t enough to imprint new knowledge? I need to strengthen my soul?

So, those otherworldly pieces of knowledge have to be engraved onto the soul? The stronger the soul, the more that can be engraved? And my soul is already full?

It’s like trying to write on a sheet of paper that’s already filled—unless the paper itself is enlarged.

No way! Just three characters of Dragon Tongue, and my soul is maxed out? Are ordinary people’s souls really this weak?

“Hey, what’s the current usage state of my soul?”

Dorothy urgently asked the system. Its response remained as indifferent as ever.

“The current writing capacity of the Soul Codex is at 100%. It has recorded the Dragon Tongue characters ‘—fus—’ and ‘—ro—.’ The character ‘—dah—’ is in an unrecorded storage state and will be recorded once soul strength is enhanced and the Soul Codex expanded.”

After listening to the system’s reply, Dorothy paused for a moment to sort out her thoughts.

Only two characters? So, I can only use two Dragon Tongue characters right now? It seems I can only fully master otherworldly knowledge once it’s recorded in the Soul Codex. Even if I acquire the knowledge, it’s useless until then. The Soul Codex has limited capacity, and I need to raise its limits to learn more.

How am I supposed to increase those limits?

As she pondered, Dorothy suddenly recalled the system mentioning that raising the limits required elevating her life state and strengthening her soul.

This “life state elevation”… wasn’t it essentially the “ascension” described in the booklet? So, if I want to acquire more otherworldly knowledge, I’ll need to absorb enough spirituality to complete an ascension?

“It seems that in the end, I’ll have to find a way to absorb spirituality and seek ascension… But how should I go about obtaining spirituality?”

Dorothy wondered, until a sudden thought struck her.

“Hey, system, can the spirituality derived from knowledge be used for other purposes?”

“Yes. The spirituality in studied knowledge can be directly extracted and accumulated within the body. However, knowledge stripped of its spirituality can no longer be used for exchange.”

Hearing the system’s reply, Dorothy furrowed her brows slightly. After some contemplation, she picked up a pen and wrote down her conclusions about the system, knowledge, and spirituality.

“Knowledge contains spirituality. However, the spirituality within a piece of knowledge can either be used to exchange for otherworldly knowledge or extracted for personal accumulation to seek ascension. The two options are incompatible, and a choice must be made.”

Looking at it this way… the essence of the system’s exchange lies in consuming the spirituality within knowledge. Spirituality is an important resource, and Dorothy must decide how to use it—either for accumulation to ascend or for exchanging otherworldly knowledge.

Having reached this conclusion, Dorothy felt her thoughts clear up considerably. At this stage, however, there wasn’t much choice to make. With her Soul Codex already full, she could only choose to accumulate spirituality for now!

Once she made up her mind, Dorothy felt a surge of motivation. Although it was already late at night, she decided to stay up and finish reading the fragment of The Art of Sacred Anatomy she had in hand.

The booklet was thin and didn’t contain much material. It took Dorothy just over an hour to finish it. The content was so shocking and thrilling that the more she read, the more awake she became.

By the time the clock struck 4:30 AM., Dorothy had finished all the grotesque contents recorded in the booklet. She closed it with a long sigh and leaned back in her chair.

“Whew… I never worked this hard even when I was in school,” she muttered.

As she was reflecting on her effort, the familiar voice of the “system” suddenly echoed in her mind.

“Fragment of The Art of Sacred Anatomy mastered. Exchange or spirituality extraction now available.”

“Extract.”

Dorothy said decisively without even thinking, and the system responded immediately.

“Spirituality of the fragment of The Art of Sacred Anatomy fully extracted. Accumulated: 4 points of ‘Chalice’ spirituality, 2 points of ‘Revelation’ spirituality.”

Hearing this, Dorothy was startled and shot upright in her seat.

“‘Revelation’ spirituality? How did I accumulate ‘Revelation’ spirituality? The contents of The Art of Sacred Anatomy clearly pertain to the ‘Chalice.’ Why is there ‘Revelation’ spirituality as well?”

“‘Revelation’ exists within all knowledge…”

Hearing this response, Dorothy froze. At that moment, she recalled the descriptions of “Revelation” spirituality in the booklet.

It was a type of spirituality related to the soul, connected to profound mental states, insights, awakening—and knowledge itself.

Based on the booklet’s explanation and the system’s reply, Dorothy started making connections. If “Chalice” spirituality is deeply tied to flesh and blood, then “Revelation” spirituality is linked to knowledge.

Just as devouring flesh can grant “Chalice” spirituality, learning knowledge can yield “Revelation” spirituality—even if the knowledge primarily focuses on another type of spirituality.

This is because the fundamental nature of knowledge is “Revelation.”

Reaching this conclusion, Dorothy couldn’t help but smile knowingly. Finally, she had identified the path she needed to take and the spirituality she should primarily focus on accumulating.

Compared to “Chalice,” which requires consuming flesh and blood, “Revelation,” gained simply through learning, was a much better choice for her.

It seemed her future path would be that of a scholar…

With this thought, Dorothy shook her head. Glancing at the clock, which was nearing 5 AM, she quickly tidied up and prepared for bed.

Edrick’s reward had been fully studied and understood. Dorothy’s affairs in Vulcan were nearly wrapped up. After a good sleep, it would be time to bid farewell to this place.

According to her planned itinerary, the next destination was a major city in the Pritt Kingdom—her original goal, Igwynt…

“A big city, huh?” she murmured to herself as she turned over, pulled up her blanket, and drifted off to sleep.