After finishing breakfast, Eros spoke with Estelle and then took a carriage toward the St. Elvira Cathedral in the Outer City. It was the largest cathedral of the Church of Reincarnation in Intiles and served as the seat of Cardinal Archbishop Anthony. His purpose for the visit was to find the Archbishop himself.
Inside St. Elvira’s, Anthony sat on the office sofa, looking at the young man before him with a look of surprise:
"You're saying you have already met the requirements to advance to Sequence 6?"
When Anthony had gone to the academy to verify Eros’s identity, he had personally reviewed the files. At that time, Eros was recorded as having just advanced to Sequence 7 a few days prior. How much time had passed since then? And he already met the criteria for Sequence 6?
To this, the Archbishop could only remark: As expected of a child watched over by an existence even greater than the Exalted Ones.
Seeing the shock on the Cardinal’s face, Eros scratched his head sheepishly. "Back in the Sin Domain, while fighting the evil spirits, the spirituality in my body was constantly depleted and then recovered. Gradually, I found I had met the advancement conditions."
Anthony suppressed his surprise and nodded, his tone smoothing out. "The boundary between life and death can indeed stimulate one's potential. So, your purpose today is to obtain the potion formula and ritual materials for Sequence 6?"
Eros nodded, adding with a hint of bashfulness, "I would also like a Sequence 5 Profane Spark."
Normal "Weird Things" would die of fright just by getting close to him, making it impossible to refine them into a spark. He wanted to try using a pre-refined, finished spark. Surely something already processed into a spark couldn't die of fright. This was the solution he had come up with last night—and for him, it was easy to achieve. He just had to ask the Church.
Sure enough, Anthony agreed to the request without a second thought.
On the carriage ride back to the Duke’s mansion, Eros held a small, transparent porcelain vial, inspecting it. Inside, a cluster of eerie green flame burned quietly—this was the Profane Spark.
Once home, Eros immediately retreated to his room. Without hesitation, he attempted to use a portion of his consciousness to accept the Profane Spark inside the vial.
Then, the flame went out.
Eros: "..."
Letting out a long sigh, he said helplessly, "It looks like using a finished spark won't work either! Am I going to be stuck at Sequence 7 for the rest of my life?"
His tone was laced with dejection. In his soul space, Barbara consoled him softly, "No, there will always be a way. Since a Sequence 5 spark doesn't work, we’ll try an Transcendent Weird Thing next time."
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At her words, Eros perked up. Right! If normal ones won't work, I’ll just go for the Transcendent ones.
But could a Transcendent Weird Thing even be refined into a Profane Spark? He had never heard of it. After all, a spark was meant for Sequence 6 advancement. If a standard Sequence 6 used a spark carrying Transcendent pollution, they would likely undergo an uncontrollable mutation in less than a second. Others didn't have his immunity to pollution.
Precisely for that reason, no one in this world had ever used—or even tried to refine—a Profane Spark from a Transcendent creature.
Furthermore, Transcendent Weird Things weren't exactly easy to catch. Barbara had only recovered enough to have half a foot in the Transcendent realm. How could she catch a creature fully entrenched in that domain?
Sensing his worry, Barbara spoke with an indifferent expression: "When the time comes, we’ll just bring two Temple Guards into the Spirit Realm."
Eros’s eyes lit up. Oh, right! I almost forgot them. The Temple Guards all possessed the strength of Sequence 4—which is to say, they were Transcendent.
With that realization, the gloom vanished from his face. After stowing away the extinguished spark, he walked out to find Undine.
Time ticked away, and soon evening approached. The charity gala was about to begin.
After bathing and dressing in a brand-new formal suit with the help of the maids, Eros sat outside the dressing room to wait for the other two. After about half an hour, Estelle and Undine emerged from the room together.
Eros turned to look, and the moment he saw them, his brow furrowed. He immediately stood up, walked over to Estelle, and pushed both of them back into the room.
"This dress won't do. Change into something else!" he insisted as he pushed.
Estelle looked puzzled. She inspected herself and asked, "I thought this one was quite nice."
Undine nodded vigorously beside her. "Yeah! I think Mama looks very beautiful and charming in this!"
"Too revealing. No! And yours—you change too!" Eros grunted, glancing at Undine.
Revealing? Estelle blinked. Where? She scrutinized herself again, her gaze falling on the small section of soft, fair skin and the deep cleavage exposed at her chest. Then she looked at her daughter, who similarly showed a section of fair skin and a shallow cleavage.
Did this count as revealing? Regardless, since Eros didn't like it, they would change. It wouldn't take much time anyway.
Before long, Estelle and Undine emerged in new gowns. Looking at the two of them, now wrapped up tightly and conservatively, Eros nodded in satisfaction.
Estelle didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Soon, two maids brought out pairs of high heels from the shoe room. Eros took the shoes from the maids' hands, ignoring their confused looks. He crouched down and, without looking up, said to Undine:
"Lift your foot."
Undine’s cheeks flushed red, but she obediently lifted her foot, which was clad in white silk. Moments later, Eros had helped both of them into their shoes.
As he stood back up, Estelle smiled wryly. "And which noble lady taught you this?"
Eros gave a dry cough and changed the subject. "Ahem, we should head out. As the hosts of the banquet, we shouldn't arrive later than the guests!"
Seeing that he wouldn't answer, Estelle’s eyes curved into crescent moons, filled with warmth and amusement. She didn't press him further, instead looking at her two children:
"Let's go."
She led the way to the luxurious carriage waiting at the mansion gates. The three of them traveled to the Rhine Palace—the royal venue for banquets, occasionally leased to high-ranking nobles.
Arriving at the entrance of the Rhine Palace, Eros extended his right arm to Undine:
"Shall we? My dear Princess."
Undine’s soft lips curled into a happy smile as she took his arm. Once she was settled, Eros extended his left arm to Estelle with a light chuckle:
"Your turn, my noble Duchess."