The Nouveau Nécronomicon was completely written in French, much to my dismay.
No offense to the people of France, but it being French was a massive setback for me as that meant I couldn’t derive any special knowledge from the book or even use it.
But this was just a temporary issue.
Learning French in the future should not be such a daunting task for me.
With this plan in mind, I hastily hid the Necronomicon as I did not dare to bring it back home where Zouken might catch a glimpse of it.
His Crest Worms were already bad enough.
I didn’t intend to deal with a version of them that had disgusting tentacles and haphazardly grown eyeballs.
The police had arrived on the scene rather climactically as Byakuya and the other parents had done so not long after.
He immediately embraced me and cried on the spot without caring to preserve his image, but paused once I told him about the details of what had occurred.
Specifically, I told him how Ryuunosuke had messed with our minds somehow, omitting any mention of my blood spikes and the Necronomicon.
Byakuya then quickly moved to confirm whether the killer had truly been a Magus or not.
It had to be understood that Magus society did not generally care about evil acts like murder or human experimentation.
However, should a Magus fail to uphold the masquerade and reveal something extraordinary to the general populace, it wouldn’t take long before the Mage’s Association erased them from history.
Knowing this, I understood why Byakuya was in such a rush as although he wasn’t personally involved with this matter, it still took place within his territory.
This would put the Matou under scrutiny should the supernatural elements of this case be revealed to the public.
In addition, Shirou’s account didn’t differ too much from mine as he simply told everyone that a big red knife was what had ended the killer.
He was completely right since my blood spike could be described as such.
However, the knife Ryuunosuke had also fit the description as it was covered in blood, so the investigators ended up concluding his cause of death to be that of ‘artistic’ suicide.
Aside from that, the brainwashing narrative was completely scrubbed from the case as it was instead replaced with Ryuunosuke having used hallucinogenic substances to confuse our minds.
He then took advantage of our confused minds to easily slaughter us one by one like sheep, with the killer himself having a dose of that same hallucinogenic substance, explaining his absurd cause of death.
Byakuya hid the matter well enough, I suppose.
This probably wasn’t the first time he did something like this as the police were completely helpless in their pursuit of the truth.
As for Zouken’s reaction to the whole ordeal?
“How amusing for your son to have survived against such odds,” he commented about me in his conversation with Byakuya.
Acquire that Uryuu brat’s body and return to me.
I’ve started to consider whether we should adopt from the Tohsaka now that news of their second daughter has reached us.”
He probably wanted Ryuunosuke’s body to feed his worms, a resourcefulness I could appreciate considering I’d literally done the same thing.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t manage to gather any more information as I had simply eavesdropped on them from my room.
I did hear that they were planning to adopt Sakura soon, but that was still just a plan, as I should have 2-3 years left before they actually acted on it.
Regardless, I knew that I shouldn’t waste any more time as I focused entirely on cultivation, suppressing what trauma I had incurred from that whole experience to address at a later date.
After all, I didn’t have time to waste on silly feelings and emotions, not when I remained a pathetic Rank 1 Upper Stage.
It helped that I didn’t have to deal with kindergarten any longer as I had managed to convince Byakuya that I didn’t need to be taught colours or how to count since I was already beyond my years in terms of intellect.
Using the Liquor Worm, I was finally able to break through to the Rank 1 Peak Stage a few weeks later!
Unfortunately, this also meant that the Liquor Worm was no longer of use now that I had reached the Peak Stage.
However, I didn’t discard it as the Rank 2 version of this Gu, the Four Flavours Liquor Worm, would be able to assist my cultivation after I reached Rank 2.
I trusted that Michizane would be able to deduce the refinement method of the Four Flavours Liquor Worm in the next simulation.
His aptitude was even worse than mine, so there was no way he wasn’t going to try doing it…
Speaking of the simulation, I had delayed using the Simulation Gu as I wanted to reach the Peak Stage first.
This was because I planned on refining a Dream Path Gu Worm.
The greatest cultivators of the Reverend Insanity world, the Venerables, usually specialized in two or three Paths.
This could be seen in Giant Sun Immortal Venerable, who specialized in the Blood Path and Luck Path, as well as Spectral Soul Demon Venerable, who specialized in Soul Path, Food Path, and Killing Path.
Of course, there were outliers who specialized in only a single Path, like Red Lotus Demon Venerable with the Time Path, or those who had an all-rounder jack-of-all-trades style like Fang Yuan, who technically specialized in Refinement Path, but had vast Attainment in all other Paths as well.
As for me, I didn’t know yet how many Paths I intended to specialize in, but I knew for a fact that the Dream Path would be one of them.
After all, my Vital Gu belonged to this Path and the simulated dreams it offered were still just dreams at the end of the day.
This meant that I could make use of them to refine Dream Path Gu Worms.
Normally, one would need access to a Dream Realm to refine Dream Path Gu Worms.
These Dream Realms were the main gimmick of the Dream Path as they were essentially the solidified manifestations of a person’s memories.
Using Dream Realms, a Gu Master could observe and be immersed in that corresponding person’s memories, gaining their Attainment levels as a result.
That being said, the simulations could only be considered fake Dream Realms as they did not originate from an actual person’s memories, but were rather fabricated by the Gu itself.
Despite this, I was pretty sure that I would still be able to refine Dream Path Gu Worms using them, and even if I couldn’t, it wouldn’t hurt to give this method a try.
This was why I had delayed activating the Simulation Gu as using Peak Stage Primeval Essence in the refinement process would improve my chances of success, even if it was by only the slightest margin.
But now that I had reached Rank 1 Peak Stage, there was no longer any reason to delay the matter as I settled into my bed for a good night’s sleep.
The Simulation Gu’s red eyes immediately began to glow as it absorbed my Primeval Essence.
Just like the first time, it took an extremely large amount of my Primeval Essence before it was satisfied, leaving me with only around 3% of my total reserves after the fact.
It then coiled against itself and bit the tip of its own tail, forming the mobius strip as I felt my head grow heavy and my mind numb.
I fell asleep then and there, observing the changes in my consciousness now that I knew what to anticipate.
For a brief moment, I was in a vast and empty void.
This lasted for less than a few seconds as the surroundings then became painted over, as if a giant brush stroke had drawn the scene for me to observe.
Not before long, I found myself confronted face-to-face with a handsome young man who had long, straight white hair tied into a loose ponytail.
This man possessed bright blue eyes set against red eyeliner.
He wore a light blue sokutai with golden and dark blue trimmings and crane wing motifs at the sleeves along with a large tasseled chain of beads over one shoulder.
A rather unique set of clothing that was complemented by the tall black hat he wore atop his head.
In his hand was a folding fan that bore pentagram-like symbols and upon his face was a gentle yet stoic smile.
“Oh, wow.
You remember me, don’t you?
I can see it in your eyes, Michizane-san.” The man said as his eyes widened in surprise.
Of course, I recognized him at first glance.
Although it had been three years since I last saw him in the previous dream, I had not forgotten his memorable countenance.
After all, I rarely forgot people who I’ve pissed on, even if it was technically my alternate self.
Abe no Seimei had finally returned for his disciple.