Miss Witch's Forbidden Book Secret

Roman spread his hands and said, "I could have given you more. But the Newlon Port Defense Bureau was only established a short time ago, so this is all I can offer. But don't worry about the money. I have a big order here."

Tia frowned and said, "You have a list to give me for free?"

She doesn't believe in free lunch.

"Of course not. It's because of the lack of manpower. Do you know how many extraordinary people there are in Newlon Port, Miss Sulph?"

Roman pushed his chair aside and stood up, saying, "Silver Castle has the means to monitor fluctuations in the total number of transcendents in the country. There are a total of 500-800 transcendents who have entered the Pathway Sequence in Newlon Port, and that's not counting those who have one or two transcendent skills.

"Including you and me, there are only eight people in the Newlon Harbor Police Department's Extraordinary Division, or the Suppression Bureau. Four of them have been assigned to Silver Castle to guard the Queen's Celebration.

"The remaining four, myself and two others, were urged by the Silver Castle and the Cathedral to deal with the things behind Canaan Ogre.

"I've found quite a few promising candidates for recruitment, but according to the regulations, if there's no valid reason—like special skills—then they must go through a three-month assessment process."

Roman sat down, crossed his arms on the table, and said helplessly, "So now I have to rely on you for a lot of things."

Tia leaned forward slightly and asked, "Xisao, what do you want to do?"

"It's simple, debt collection."

Volume 1: Chapter 16: Origin, Path, Sacred Numbers, and Rituals

"Specifically, how will the profits be divided?"

"Seven and three. The creditor gets seven, the Suppression Bureau gets three. And then, Miss Sulph, you can take another three out of the three."

"9%? That's a hefty cut!"

Tia roughly figured it out. This was too shady. The black market intermediary only took 45% from her at a time!

Roman smiled and said, "It depends on the size of the order. An order of five gold pounds and one of five thousand gold pounds are two completely different things."

He took out a dozen documents from the drawer, put them on the table and pushed them in front of Tia, explaining:

"The Sulun Gunpowder Workshop was originally a gun manufacturing factory that supplied firearms and ammunition to the Greater Harbor District Police Department. Last November, due to poor management, it declared legal bankruptcy. However, at that time, the Greater Harbor District Police Department still had an order worth 5,000 gold pounds that had not been submitted.

"Also, I can make an exception for you on this one and give you 15%."

"Are you asking a dead person for money?"

Tia took the document, which contained a transaction contract between the police station and Su Lun Gunpowder Workshop, as well as several newspapers reporting on the day when Su Lun, the founder of the Gunpowder Workshop, declared bankruptcy in court.

But when you turn to the next page, you will see news that Su Lun was assassinated at home, and there are traces of sulfur burning and mercury evaporation at the scene.

Tia asked in surprise: "Did a superhuman do this?"

"Yes, the underground gang in the Greater Harbor Bay area. Because Su Lun still owed them money, they broke into Su Lun's house to deliberately retaliate against him. They also took the deposit belonging to the Greater Harbor Bay Police Department. Their leader, Peter Quick Hand, is a Sequence 9 Beyonder, whose roots are suspected to be prophecy and alchemy."

"I don't know much about the extraordinary."

Roman smiled. "Ms. Sulph is the hero who broke through the alchemist's stronghold."

"No, that's a title you forced upon me. I've never acknowledged it." Tia bared her fangs and said unyieldingly, "The fifty pounds is hush money, not a reward."

"Okay. If you need anything, I'll prepare it for you right now."

Seeing that Tia was flawless in the alchemist case, Roman could only shrug helplessly.

Tia said, "I need all the information about the supernatural path, just the introductory level. For this, I can join you, the so-called Anti-Suppression Bureau."

"That makes sense. What else do you need?"

"I also need the police to provide me with protection. Since you have promoted me to this position, you should provide protection to prevent the alchemist's accomplices from deliberately retaliating against me."

Roman narrowed his eyes and smiled, "And to protect you from the promotion ceremony in a safe environment."

"That's right, otherwise I wouldn't dare to collect the debt."

They both stood up at the same time.

"What do you call it?"

"You can call me Sir."

"It's a pleasure to work with you, Sir Roman."

"It's a pleasure working with you, Miss Sulph. Also, welcome to the Suppression Bureau."

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.............

Coming out of the director's office, Tia was followed by a police officer in a blue and white uniform. She was a young girl who looked like she had just been employed. Her flaxen hair was tied into a ponytail, and she was holding a wide-brimmed hat nervously.

That's right, it's poor Miss Scarlett again. This girl had just been sent by Sir Roman to be Tia's guide and escort.

"Hello, I'm Scarlett, the director who sent me to protect you. Nice to see you again. The documents you need are here..."

Tia followed Scarlett and curiously asked along the way: "Is Miss Scarlett a regular employee now?"

Scarlett whimpered at the mention of this.

"No, because my performance wasn't good enough, I was eliminated from the assessment... Thanks to Director Roman's kindness, he said I could try to apply for the Defense and Suppression Bureau. But if I don't get in within three months, I'll have to go home..."

"Is that so... Then I wish you good luck on your exams, Scarlett!"

"Thanks you!"

Tia smiled with her eyes narrowed, completely different from the cold look she had when she bombed the church.

"This is it."

Scarlett stopped at the file room in front and went in with Tia. The documents prepared for Tia were piled on the table. She could only look at them on the spot and could not take them away.

The second purpose of Miss Scarlett, who is "protecting security" next to her, is to prevent Tia from stealing things.

With a rustling sound, all the documents and files were flipped open.

The first thing that comes into view is a mystical scroll drawn by a madman from the Arabian Empire more than 800 years ago, which basically reveals the nine root paths.

The entire Nine Root Path is drawn on parchment, consisting of a circle, seven celestial bodies, and a human body in the center.

They are also represented by nine sacred numbers.

For example, the circle symbolizes the origin of the Ouroboros, and the sacred number 8 represents eternity.

The entire scroll symbolizes the "Creator", with 0 representing everything.

The seven celestial bodies are the seven doorsteps to ascension, the seven righteous gods that make up the entire world, the seven halos of the human body, and the seven root paths that mortals can set foot on. Their names vary greatly, but their essence is the same. They are referred to by the sacred numbers 1 to 7.

即：1[先知]、2[圣杯]、3[锻锤]、4[国王]、5[无鞘之刃]、6[土中橡木]、7[炼金术]。

Each root path is closely related to a person's inner and outer self.

For example, the power of the Holy Grail includes faith, holiness, knowledge, protection, mercy... Er Ling II (II) Yi Chan Lin ⑻ II...How far a transcendent can go on this path depends entirely on his or her own talents in these areas.

Those who lack faith will be rejected by the Holy Grail, those without wisdom cannot become prophets, those who do not go through pain and rebirth cannot master the hammer, and those who do not know how to obey orders and stay within the boundaries cannot become king.

Each root path has multiple branches, like branches spreading out from a tree trunk. For example, under alchemy there are substitution scholars and great philosophers, and under the Holy Grail path there are silver knights and saints.

In mmoRPG terms, it refers to professions and their corresponding sub-professions.

In terms of specific levels, it extends from the highest sequence 1 to the lowest sequence 9. It's very simple.

The information from the Suppression Bureau contained a few brief introductions about nightmares, probably because they considered that she was just a beginner and did not reveal any confidential information.

What remains is information about the ceremony.

Tia opened two books and suddenly asked Scarlett, who was reading a tutorial and doing exercises nearby, "Does Miss Scarlett know about the ceremony?"

"Eh, eh!"

Scarlett quickly stopped doing the exercises and said, still a little confused, "Director Roman did teach us a little bit. In his words, the ritual is a miracle."

"Miracle?"

This is indeed an apt description.

Tia recalled falling into a nightmare. The ingredients of various rituals were normal, and there was no supernatural energy such as "mana" and "elements" in games and novels, but she was able to dive into the dreamlike deep sea.

Scarlett recalled: "To be precise, it is a miracle with a threshold and a price."

"No matter what kind of ritual it is, there are thresholds for its use, and its use inevitably brings a price. Or perhaps it's the supernatural power itself that carries a curse."

This reminded Tia of the Eternal Holy Seal.

The threshold for that thing was Sequence 7 and required complex ritual materials, and the price was falling into a nightmare—although she felt that there was nothing dangerous in the nightmare.

She nodded and said, "It seems that the lord has taught you a lot."

"I just received special training, and Director Roman said he has high hopes for me..." Miss Scarlett couldn't take her eyes off the supplementary textbook.

It seems that this girl was really hit hard by the test, and now she only wants to practice questions.

I hope this poor child can become a regular employee.

Tia also opened a book attentively, turned a few pages, and found two thin booklets underneath.

These are two fairly basic rituals.

One is the "Holy Blood in the Cup" related to the Holy Grail. Through a ritual, one can use one's own blood to create a cup of blood water that temporarily relieves pain and heals illnesses. The price is that there will be a 33mm wound on the hand that will bleed continuously until the ritual ends.

One is the "Mithril Bullet" associated with the forging hammer, which can be inscribed with a spell on a silver-plated bullet, allowing the bullet to permanently inflict additional damage to supernatural creatures. The price is that when inscribing the Qi 3 IV spell, the heart will experience severe pain. If the ritual fails, it will cause angina pangs lasting 1-3 days.

This should be prepared by the Anti-Suppression Bureau to collect debts from her.

After all, the person she was collecting debts from this time was the Sequence 9 Prophet. The specific branch and the number of accomplices were unknown, but it was at least a violent group of more than ten people, all of whom were armed with guns.

If it was a fool like Canaan, she would have blown them all up in one go.

But now the debt collectors are well-armed gangs in the city, so you need to use your brains.

So Tia planned to put the debt collection plan on hold for the time being and complete the promotion ceremony to improve her combat effectiveness first.

pat!

She closed all the files and documents and said to Miss Scarlett, who was leaning over the table beside her, "It's almost done. Help me prepare the materials for the ceremony on the way back...Miss Officer?!"

"Ah! Sorry! Sorry!"

Scarlett, who had been absorbed in her tutorial book, was suddenly awakened and quickly apologized, "Excuse me, what did you just say?"

I am completely immersed in the ocean of knowledge...

Tia glanced at Scarlett's book. It seemed to be the Ansu Criminal Code. It was a thick book with densely packed text on the two open pages and Scarlett's notes squeezed in the corners.

It seems that in a different world, law students wouldn’t have it easy either…

"Please help me prepare the materials for the ceremony. I'll tell you. Please deliver them to the old place before evening, which is 405 White Oak Street."

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Volume 1: Chapter 17: The promotion ceremony

Tick-tick, the pocket watch's hands moved towards 11. The sky outside the window was pitch black.

11 o'clock holds significant symbolic significance in mysticism, where it is considered a time of frequent spiritual activity, symbolizing intuition, revelation, and awakening. In the East, it is called "midnight," the ideal time for ritual practice.

In the bedroom, Tia lit the four candles sent by the Anti-Suppression Bureau one by one and first arranged the deep diving ritual.

This time everything was normal and he was not dragged down by the Hanging Temple again.

After the bedroom was filled with the fragrance of essential oils, Tia dragged out all the materials for the promotion ritual that she had prepared in advance.

Because her identity had been completely exposed, Tia simply took advantage of the Anti-Suppression Bureau and asked them to prepare a backup set of promotion materials for her, including:

An intact mirror, a living snake, a whetstone, a pigeon struggling to take off, a cat's eye-covered copper cane, a dried wolf's head, a rusty dagger, an hourglass, and a glass of twenty-year-old wine.

But wine was really hard to find in the world, so Sir Roman used the excuse of going to Count Mercury's house for dinner in the afternoon and brought back a bottle for Tia from the dining table.

Tia took out a silver-plated knife and carved a simple hexagram pattern on the ground. She took out a fresh cow heart with blood vessels tied, pierced it with a knife, and let the blood flow into the concave lines engraved.

Then place the ritual materials in the nine directions of the hexagram in order.

Finally, slightly adjust the mirror so that it can just reflect the moonlight outside the window onto the ritual array.

Preparation is complete.

Tia walked around the Deep Diving Ritual three times and the Ascension Ritual four times, silently chanting, "Three is light, three is darkness."

Immediately, under the light of four candles, Tia turned the hourglass upside down and let the sand flow; took out a rope and strangled the pigeon; raised her cane, dipped it in the pigeon's blood, and pierced the snake's body.