Ulrich could never imagine in a million worlds that he’d find comfort in the strong scent of mint, but in that moment, he did. It reminded him that he was back home in the real world, away from that blazing heat that seared his skin, scorched his flesh, and burned his throat. As he had expected, the pain disappeared upon waking up in the real world; however, that head-pounding headache remained.

  And despite the pain having disappeared, the memories of it remained, and it remained strong. Death was not an unfamiliar territory, not to the dreamer who cannot die in his own disturbingly realistic dream. Of many, including: blood loss, frostbite, drowning, injuries, infections, and many more. He had to admit that death by fire was the worst of it all, a transcendental level of pain which he never wished to inflict on anyone.

  Just thinking about the sight of his arm peeled off by the extreme heat made his skin crawl, and he shuddered out of chills at the mere recollection of it. It was one of those morbid thoughts that often appeared in one’s mind, the same way that some people imagined themselves vomiting, then eating it back up. An intrusive thought, and it was disgusting!

  Ulrich took deep breaths, several deep breaths, trying to keep his blood pressure from rising, his heart rate stable. And yet, even after five minutes, the pain remained, ever so irritating as he felt his own brain expand and contract, like it was a second heart with its own rhythm. Damning as it was, Ulrich could only helplessly massage the side of his head as he leaned it back, his ears buzzing with the sound of rain.

  It was still early in the morning, evident by the absence of the sun from his window, though he could somewhat make out a small veil of light concealed behind a mass of dark, gray clouds.

  What time is it?

  He turned to the clock hammered on his paneled wall, seeing that it was only slightly past eight in the morning. The sun should have clocked in by now, yet he saw no clear sign of it, perhaps due to the mass of dark clouds in the firmament. In that moment, he shivered out of fear, and that confused him.

  Why was it that thinking about the sun made him feel… repulsed?

  With his head leaned all the way back, and the headache slowly retreating, he couldn’t help but realize one damning truth:

  Am I… Scared of the sun?

  Unknowingly, Cygnus had given him Heliophobia, the fear of the sun and sunlight. On recalling that she appeared right when he and Ma’am Felanor were discussing her, as well as drawing his own guesses from their conversation, Ulrich reached a rather horrifying conclusion.

  She can detect or at least notice when someone speaks about her!

  Could it be through the law of contact, established from mentioning her name? That wouldn’t make sense… Cygnus sounds like a nickname rather than an actual title, or true name, which holds any significance in the mysticism world. Yet, despite his skepticism, he didn’t dare to speak that name out loud. Who knows if she existed in this period of time? And if she did, wouldn’t she just pop up and burn him alive for real? Just thinking about it made him shiver again.

  For that reason, it was better not to mention or utter her name.

  With that, he closed his eyes, not to sleep, but to rest them for a bit. The headache had almost disappeared completely, but the whispers and voices from beyond lingered, a kind of auditory hallucination, no doubt. To that, Ulrich was careful not to lend them his ear as he distracted himself with his own thoughts.

  He felt more relaxed knowing that neither Cygnus nor Ma’am Felanor could harm him in the real world, not intentionally at least. He wasn’t certain if they had the capability to do so if they wished. After all, they did notice his abnormality, the first to do so as a matter of fact.

  To be safe, Ulrich decided not to interact with either of them if possible, especially Cygnus and the other members of the Eternal Club. Since all of them were on a similar level of status, there was no doubt in his mind that they could discern his abnormality. Given all the bizarre and strange spells in this world, maybe, just maybe, there was a spell out there that could affect him through the veil of dreams.

  His resting period was cut short when the air in the room became noticeably warmer. After his encounter with Cygnus, his sense for warmer temperature had become sharper, more keen than ever. Aid with his Blessing of Shadow, Ulrich sense was heightened beyond what an ordinary human can imagine.

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  The candlelight, lit for goddess knows how long, flickered in and out by his side, eventually extinguished altogether. His face was blank, and his heart remained at ease. In that moment, a smile crept on his face, followed by a soft cough as he cleared his throat.

  “Is my door broken?” Asked Ulrich. In front of the candlelight desk, Anna appeared, her hand raised as an ember of fire danced on the top of her pointed index finger. Without saying a word, she moved her finger and grazed the wick of the candle, lighting it up again. Doing so, she smiled and faced Ulrich.

  “No.” She said, tilting her head.

  Ulrich had a feeling that it wasn’t the first time she had done this, and he was most likely not the first victim to fall into her strange entrance. Now that he thought about it, didn’t she appear out of nowhere in their first meeting, too?

  “You have a strange… habit.” He pointed out, to which Anna's smile widened.

  “The light goes where it wants, and no entry point can block it.”

  Yup. Whatever that could mean.

  He didn’t want to make it awkward. No doubt, Anna wasn’t here to scare him or talk about the weather. The former failed, if that was her attempt at scaring him. As for the latter, it has been raining for so long that Belham should be flooded by now. No one in their right mind would discuss the weather over the past week.

  Either way, he changed the subject, knowing that she could only be here for one reason.

  “Selena?” He asked. “How was she?”

  She gave it a thought, yet to him, it felt like an eternity. Maybe the auditory voices that plagued his mind played some kind of temporal trick on him, causing a second to stretch for eons. Or maybe, the ideas and anxiety swelled his heart to the point that a dozen thoughts came and went each second, occupying that brief space in time.

  To an outsider, it was only a second, but for Ulrich, that single second felt excruciatingly long. Fortunately, Anna maintained her smile as she assured him.

  “She is completely fine. No sign of curses nor abnormality that I can sense.” Said Anna, her voice extremely confident. Ulrich was still silent, and she had probably taken that as a sign of worry when she added.

  “Just in case, I performed a thorough purification. If there was something I missed, it will be cleansed, just as that friend of yours was able to recover his sight.”

  Finally, some good news.

  “Thank you.” He said, “Genuinely. I mean it.”

  “Oh?” Her face perked up with interest as she teased, “Did you not mean it every time before?”

  “N—No, I mean yes—“

  Watching him struggling to rectify his words was rather amusing. If the dinner from prior was considered her payment, then this sight would be a bonus.

  Ulrich took a moment to recover his gentlemanly bearing before extending his hand forward, offering her a handshake.

  “I don’t do handshakes.” She said plainly.

  Germaphobia?

  He respected her wish and didn’t press it further than he had to. Now that Selena’s matter was out of the way, there was only one thing left on his mind.

  “About that Ruin… I plan to descend as soon as today.”

  Anna didn’t reply to that verbally, only offering him a curt nod. He sensed that she had some thoughts on her mind; evident by a slight shift in her facial muscle, yet, as much as he’d like to know what she was thinking, for a man to inquire another’s woman's thoughts in a man’s house? Now, that was quite improper.

  As a gentleman, he could not, and will not cross that line!

  And perhaps, she too had sensed his thought, as her words came ambiguously.

  “You are a good man.” She said. Her voice was so plain, monotonous, and lacking emotion that he didn’t know what make of it. Was that a compliment? Surely, such an arrangement of words can only be interpreted as a compliment. But her voice, the tone of it; it didn’t sound like one.

  It was at this moment that in his long life, even after becoming a seer and having his senses enhanced, there were still things he could not understand. Such was the mystery of the intricacy and subtext beneath human action.

  “Thank you…?”

  Their conversation didn’t last long since she only came to update him on the promised matter relating to Selena. Despite their meaningful interaction thus far, Ulrich still felt some distance between himself and Anna. For that, only time will close the gaps, and he was in no rush to take more steps than he had to. Better to let it grow naturally.

  Right now, the only thing that occupied his mind was reaching Rank 2 as soon as possible. This way, he can discern the changes to his divination while gaining more power. More crucially, he could use his new advancement power to explore that isolated white space.

  With the case relating to Shi Jing and Bai Ning reaching a dead end, Ulrich lost another lead regarding the Eternal Club. A shame that was. All the more reason for him to research that white space, hoping that it would give him some clues as to his transmigration, the dream space, or even allow him to divinate some clues regarding the Eternal Club directly.

  Without any hesitation, he got up from the soft sofa, picked up his coat, hat, umbrella, as well as arsenals and rucksack, then made his way to the Sanctuary.

  He had notified Rosaline and Captain about his second descent to the Shadow Realm days prior without giving them an exact appointment. And now, it was time for him to fulfill that appointment.

  …