Inside the locked Silver Cicada Tavern, the "Dusk Watch" organization and the Zephandrel Police Special Forces were investigating a murder that had occurred several hours earlier. Because the sound of gunfire was so loud at the scene, many nearby residents had mistaken it for a natural gas explosion. As a result, the first responders were none other than the city firefighters.

  "Based on the on-site investigation, the body was divided into four piles of flesh, each weighed down by tables and chairs in the four corners of the room. Since no special code or symbol was found, we can rule out any ritual. It appears that the killer arranged it this way to prevent the corpse from healing and reviving. This is consistent with the characteristics of Sanguine's Thirst II," reported a detective from the Special Crimes Unit.

  "From the DNA tests on the victim, we have determined that the deceased was not a citizen of Zephandrel, nor even of the Eastern Pendragon Empire. Instead, he was an illegal immigrant. Additionally, four bullets were retrieved from the wall. Their number matches the four loud explosions reported by residents. The bullets are of the 15.2mm caliber, a caliber known for its immense power and heavy recoil. They are commonly known as 'elephant-hunting rounds,' and are not typically used by inexperienced marksmen."

  "15.2mm…" the Dusk Watch captain mused. "Aren't these normally used in sniper rifles?"

  "Very few handguns use 15.2mm rounds. When they do, they are referred to as 'hand cannons,'" a Special Forces officer added. "For instance, the famed 'Imperial Eagle' is one such weapon."

  "I will notify the Economic Affairs Bureau of the Orthodox Church to look into this," the captain said.

  After a short while, the results finally came in.

  "Marvin Fontaine," the Dusk Watch captain sneered as he reviewed the information sent by the church. "So it was the victim himself seeking revenge. That is at least plausible."

  "A Level 0 taking down a Level 2," another officer commented in amazement. "If it were not for his crimes, I would have liked to recruit him into the Zephandrel Police. We are sorely lacking in specialists who know how to use firearms against extraordinary ones."

  "Who says he committed a crime?" the captain shook his head. "Look at the response from St. Sophia's. They had already filed a report with the church regarding an entire family of vampires. The victim must have been one of those unfortunate stragglers from the previous incident. The church has already issued a bounty on them. In other words, Marvin here helped the church kill a fugitive, and the church is even giving him a reward."

  Elsewhere, at the gates of Marvin's ancestral residence,

  "Here is your bounty," said the captain of the Church Knights, tossing a package filled with banknotes to him. "Not bad, kid. Taking down a vampire all by yourself?"

  "It was sheer luck," Marvin replied.

  "Luck does not always last," the captain nodded. "Next time, if you encounter a similar situation, I suggest you report to the church first."

  "Understood," Marvin said, nodding as he closed the door. The Church Knights captain turned and descended the steps. From beginning to end, not a word was mentioned about the victim's extraordinary traits.

  Turning a corner, a street informant emerged from a nearby alley.

  "Identification by the aura shows he is still Level 0," the informant reported to the captain. "He is not a vampire, but he does have some residual, unassimilated spiritual energy. It appears he accidentally burst the container of his extraordinary trait and absorbed its power."

  "That possibility is high," the captain remarked. "He does not possess the Sanguine's Thirst trait. If he had taken Sanguine's Thirst II directly, he would have lost control. And yet he swaggered back to his ancestral residence. Keep a lookout for three more days, and I will personally report to the bishop."

  Inside the ancestral residence, Marvin ascended the stairs to the third-floor study. Pushing open the door, he found four women seated on chairs, scattered and quietly waiting for his return.

  "Sorry, I was downstairs handling some personal matters. All is well now," Marvin said.

  "Church people?" Yvonne asked. "I sensed very strong spiritual energy coming from them."

  The others tensed at her words. The Eastern Pendragon Orthodox Church's attitude toward extraordinary ones, though not as aggressively hostile as the Western Pendragon Church, was by no means friendly. Especially Aurora, who had prepared herself to jump out of the window at any sign of trouble.

  "It is a bounty payout," Marvin said with a smile. "For killing a vampire."

  "You killed a vampire?" Alice gasped in shock. She knew all too well how terrifying vampires could be. Nova, on the other hand, stared at Aurora with an odd expression, wondering what connection the slain vampire might have with her.

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  "Let's not dwell on that," Marvin shifted the conversation. "Since you have come, you must have decided by now that you want to become extraordinary, correct?"

  "Yes," Nova and Alice answered in unison.

  Two ordinary people aspiring to become extraordinary… Yvonne looked at the two with a sudden shift in her thoughts and then, in a coquettish tone, said, "If you wish to become extraordinary, I have a formula for the elixir of the Marionette's Kiss sequence."

  "Marionette's Kiss?" Nova asked excitedly. "What exactly does it do?"

  "Marionette's Kiss I enables an extraordinary one to detect the presence of nearby sentient minds," Yvonne explained slowly. "It also allows for mental communication with them. In what is known as telepathy, an extraordinary one can initiate or sever such communication at will, without the need for mutual consent. In telepathy, you can even subtly influence the thoughts of others."

  "May I ask, what is a sentient mind?" Nova looked up, her eyes alight with curiosity.

  "That delves into secret knowledge, and knowledge is not free," Yvonne hesitated. "It is 15 pounds."

  Fifteen pounds, about a year's salary for a middle-class family. Nova did not bat an eye as she immediately pulled two banknotes from her wallet and handed them over to Yvonne.

  This woman is truly exceedingly wealthy. Does she not care about spending 15 pounds? Or is it simply her decisive nature when it comes to investing in extraordinary knowledge? Yvonne's mind stirred, and for a moment she found herself unable to discern her true thoughts. If only I had the extraordinary trait of Marionette's Kiss II, perhaps I could see through her clearly, she thought with a twinge of regret.

  "Normal humans can be divided into three layers: the living body, the spirit, and the sentient mind," Yvonne began, having accepted the 15 pounds. "The living body comprises the flesh and soul. The spirit is the broad term for the soul, encompassing both the unconscious and conscious."

  "The unconscious part is the information stored outside the cerebral cortex. For instance, breathing. One is always breathing, yet have you ever consciously maintained your breath? Breathing is controlled by the cerebellum, without any need for your deliberate effort. Then there is the well-known knee-jerk reflex. When you tap the knee, the lower leg kicks. This reflex is stored in the spinal nerves and forms part of the unconscious spirit."

  "As for consciousness, it is the product of the activity in the cerebral cortex. This is what we call the sentient mind, and it represents your awareness of self. The mystic Freud believed that the sentient mind, or the self, can be divided into three parts: the id, the superego, and the true self."

  "The id refers to the influence of the body on the sentient mind. For example, some people have a genetic defect that prevents them from secreting a certain hormone, making them prone to irritability and loss of control. That irascible nature is part of the id and is innate."

  "The superego is the result of upbringing and environmental influence. For instance, a child repeatedly frightened by the dangers of the world may grow up to be cautious and timid. That becomes part of the superego."

  "If you remove the id and superego from the sentient mind, what remains is the true self. The true self is the most mysterious core of the sentient mind, and to this day no one fully understands its origin. Freud's disciple Jung mentioned in his 'Psychodynamic Theory' that the true self represents the essence of who you are. When a person dies, the id remains in the decaying body, the superego sinks into the collective unconscious, and the true self vanishes. Freud suspected that the true self was a kind of higher-dimensional projection that, after death, returned to a higher plane."

  "I have heard that some extraordinary ones of the undead can resurrect the dead?" Nova asked curiously. "But the Pendragon Church once stated that a resurrected corpse is not the original one because it lacks the true self?"

  "That is correct," Yvonne nodded. "A simple resurrection ability summons a body that contains only the id. This is why the undead appear disoriented and devoid of a sentient mind. Some families have pleaded with high-level psychic practitioners to retrieve the superego from the collective unconscious and implant it back into the corpse, so that the resurrected individual retains reason and memory, and can interact with others."

  "But because the true self is lost, the resurrected individual cannot perceive their own death. They do not possess feelings or a spirit. Over time, they easily descend into madness or are taken over by other malicious spirits," Yvonne concluded. "In the Fourth Epoch, there were several infamous tragedies where families resurrected their dead only to have the corpse eventually go mad and kill everyone."

  Nova shuddered, a creeping chill running up her spine. Yet she overcame her fear and quickly jotted down everything she could about the sentient mind in her notebook.

  "So if one ingests the elixir of Marionette's Kiss I, one can influence another's sentient mind?" Nova asked.

  "Exactly," Yvonne replied with a nod. "However, I only have the formula for Marionette's Kiss I. The recipes for higher-level psychic elixirs and their combinations must be sought out on your own."

  "Oh," Nova murmured, a look of bewilderment on her face. Suddenly, she looked toward Marvin. "Mr. Marvin, do you have any advice on this matter?"

  "An extraordinary one progresses from Level 0 to Level 10. With each dose of an elixir, the level increases by one," Marvin advised. "Different elixir sequences generally conflict with each other, which can lead to loss of control and transformation. Therefore, the sequence of your first elixir must be chosen with great care. It will determine which other elixir sequences you can safely take in the future, as well as the final bloodline you will develop at Level 10. I suggest you first choose your final bloodline, and then select the corresponding elixirs according to that path."

  "That is the ideal scenario," Yvonne sneered, interrupting him. "In reality, the complete bloodline path is held not only by the Eastern and Western Pendragon Churches but also by a few secret extraordinary organizations. Unless you are the offspring of an ancient extraordinary family, how could you possibly access the complete bloodline path at the Level 0 stage of a normal person?"

  "My advice is to first choose the elixir sequence that you like the most. Once you become the extraordinary one corresponding to that sequence, you can then seek out the bloodline path that includes that sequence, along with the other elixir sequences. Many people do not even get the chance to choose their sequence in their first attempt. They must grasp the only straw available and become extraordinary first, even if the elixir formula they have is not the one they truly desire."

  Marvin smiled without saying a word. To you NPCs, that may be the case, but you do not know the power of the player forums.

  "Mr. Marvin," Nova said, noticing the slight upward curl of his lips, "could it be that you have a complete bloodline path at hand?"