When the plot-skips players into the game world

Aiwass waved his hand lightly in front of Lily, interrupting her gaze.

It was then that Lily suddenly became alert, "Hm...? What happened to me?"

"Nothing."

Mycroft added considerately at the side, "You were just lost in thought for a moment. Miss Lily must be very busy with work on a regular basis, probably lacking some rest."

His implication was that he hadn't seen anything.

Aiwass went along with the cue he had given, "Indeed, since I won't be going out the day after tomorrow, why not take two days off to rest."

And in his heart, Aiwass confirmed a fact—Lily had developed an adaptability for the Path of Love.

This book wasn't even a Codex Book, yet Lily was completely captivated by the cover.

This indicated that Lily's adaptability to the Path of Love was quite strong.

...Strange, when did this change come about?

Previously, when Aiwass allowed her to choose a Codex Book freely, she chose Spider's Silk Sensing. This at least indicated that at that time, her strongest adaptability was for the Path of Adaptation.

An answer emerged in Aiwass's mind.

—It must have started from the day Minister Drost died.

Since that day, there was an obvious change in Lily's temperament.

The most noticeable change was that her previous tendency to endure wrongs rather than argue had disappeared—with shyness gradually transforming into confidence, Lily clearly became more composed and calm.

Normally, when faced with troubles and decisions, she would subconsciously seek help from Aiwass. Because she was afraid to make decisions, always worried that she'd cause a problem, she'd leave the choice to Aiwass. But in recent days, the frequency of her seeking Aiwass's advice had clearly decreased.

Back then, Aiwass thought she was just simply maturing, gaining confidence, having avenged herself, and washed away her pain and confusion. But now it seemed, from that time on, there had been a shift in her Path.

However, in front of others, she still pretended to be as unremarkable as before... This showed that her adaptability for the Path of Adaptation hadn't been impaired. She had just acquired a new Path, and Aiwass let it be for now.

Lily wasn't like Aiwass, who could use the consumption of experience to level up. If she was to keep up with Aleister's advancement ritual, she couldn't afford to spread herself too thin with her side jobs.

Take Sherlock, for example... As he raised his professional level in the Path of Wisdom, his level in the Path of Authority naturally stagnated.

Nevertheless, there were still some daily practices that could slowly increase a bit of experience. For instance, the "Prayer" of the Path of Devotion had to be done punctually every day; similarly, the "Demonic Pact" from the Path of Transcendence—so long as the contracted Demon was of a higher level, one could also gain slow improvement. Because these bindings all originated from within the Path itself.

Priests cannot go without praying, and Demon Scholars who long neglect their growth and fail to get stronger will be reaped by their own Demons.

If Lily's main focus was to develop the Path of Adaptation, with the Path of Love as a side job... There shouldn't be a big problem. It's just about completing some of the "daily tasks" of the Path of Love.

That being said, increasing one or two energy levels shouldn't pose much of a problem.

Aiwass picked up "The Poisoned Apple of the Three Goddesses" and flipped through it on the spot.

Although filled with embarrassingly detailed illustrations... If Aiwass hadn't misunderstood, this book should be a job transition book for "Witches."

"Witch" is one of the most common professions along the Path of Love, drawing strength from the Eternal Self, the Moon Goddess with her three aspects: "maiden," "mother," and "crone." The founder of this profession was Medea, an Angel Envoy of the Eternal Self, and Medea's name was also hidden in this book.

With mastery in "Potionology," "Sorcery," and "Transformation Skill," one could transition to a Witch.

This book even recorded the extremely rare "Werewolf Transformation Skill" heritage.

It specifically mentioned that the Werewolf Transformation Skill was one of the most feared abilities of the Witch, even more dreaded than those ludicrously powerful Magic Potions.

The Werewolf Transformation Skill required proficiency in Sorcery and Transformation Skill to begin learning. In gamer terms, that meant both of these Mystical Skills had to be at least level 10 or above, equivalent to a minimum third Energy Level, to access it.

After acquiring the Werewolf Transformation Skill, one could use human flesh as a medium to forcibly grant the adaptability of the Path of Love to someone who consumes the cursed human flesh, inflicting upon them the Curse of Werewolf Transformation.

Unlike common Transformation Skills, the Werewolf Transformation Skill is very difficult to break free of or resist through willpower alone. Just consuming that bite of human flesh is enough to curse even those of near-equal strength.

Under the Curse of the Werewolf Transformation Skill, the cursed will be forcibly transformed into wolves. If they wander as wolves for nine years without consuming human flesh, they can revert to human form, as though they had lived as humans for those nine years, and become powerful "Werewolves"—becoming beasts during the full moon, and otherwise able to turn into a mighty monster, half-human and half-wolf, at will.

Werewolves by default possess over a third Energy Level in their Path of Love profession... Meaning, even an ordinary person, after withstanding the test of the Werewolf Transformation Skill, can become a third Energy Level Transcendent.

Even the children of werewolves will still be normal humans who won't turn into wolves. All "Werewolves" in this world are transformed one by one by Witches.

However, whether they are in the transformation period of the Curse or in their werewolf form under the full moon, should they consume human flesh, they must maintain their wolf form for another nine years from that moment. If they die of old age or are killed while in wolf form, their human form will die as well.

Once affected by the Werewolf Transformation Skill, a reversal can only be performed by another equally powerful Witch concocting an antidote.

This book specifically states that all Curses and Magic Potions cast by a Witch are reversible, as this is a fundamental principle of the Path of Love. Only, the Witch concocting the antidote must be at least as strong as, if not stronger than, the Witch who cast the curse or poison.

...Hm.

Now that I think about it, having Lily become a witch doesn't seem too bad?

After roughly flipping through half of the book, Aiwass's thoughts had slightly changed.

—At least advancing Lily one or two times should be fine.

Upon closer consideration, being a witch was indeed quite bothersome. Aside from concocting love elixirs, there were also potions that could paralyze or petrify people, and some that could turn people into lambs, toads, or wolves... and even transfer one's own injuries and poison to another person.

In the game, dying once would clear away negative status effects. But reality wasn't that simple.

To counteract a witch's mana, it was best to have the help of another witch...

If Lily changed her job to that of a witch, then if I were to be cursed, poisoned, or malevolently transformed by accident, Lily could help me concoct an antidote.

However, now that I mention it...

It seems that we do indeed know a werewolf—Mr. Dark Cloud, whom we met during the advanced ritual. He is the Iris Flower werewolf.

No matter what job werewolves had before, they gain adaptability from the Path of Love once they become werewolves.

Then their dead bodies could be transformed into companions by the Sons of the Moon.

Although the Sons of the Moon retain all the memories of their previous lives, they clearly aren't the resurrection of the living. To be transformed into a Son of the Moon requires an eighty-day ritual... and a normal person's soul would be allocated by the Nine Pillar Gods or return to the source of the world within a week of their death.

The Sons of the Moon certainly want to increase their companions, but such actions are rather repulsive to other Transcendents on the Path of Love.

Unless one is a fervent worshipper of the Sons of the Moon, no one would want their corpses desecrated, their social relationships, memories, and experiences from life stolen by a bloodthirsty beast.

Since Mr. Dark Cloud became a werewolf, that means he most likely offended a powerful witch.

Having offended a witch and the Sons of the Moon, I guess his relationship with Hawkeye isn't very good either.

Mr. Dark Cloud, who knows many secrets, is truly a remarkable individual...

But that's a good thing for Aiwass.

—I might be able to obtain clues about further strengthening Lily from him. This is true for both adaptation and love.

He said he would come to Avalon not long ago, but who knows when he will arrive...

With these thoughts, Aiwass closed the hastily browsed book.

And the prompt simultaneously appeared before him:

[From "The Poisoned Apple of the Three Goddesses," you have gained inspiration for "Potionology." Would you like to pay 21 public experience to master this mystical skill?]

[From "The Poisoned Apple of the Three Goddesses," you have gained inspiration for "Sorcery." Would you like to pay 44 public experience to master this mystical skill?]

No. No.

Aiwass immediately refused without hesitation.

The last thing he wanted was to become a "witch"—setting aside the fact that a third path would slow down the efficiency of experience acquisition, having one witch around was enough. Plus, a witch wouldn't be able to remove a curse that had been cast on herself.

Besides, he was a man. Who knows what bizarre job he might end up with after learning the mystical skills of a witch.

"This is for you."

Thinking this, Aiwass smiled and handed the book to Lily, "All of this is for you, including this potion, this glove... I'll take away this letter. Master Yanis might be interested in it."

Regardless of Mycroft being nearby, he said with a profound meaning, "However, Lily... just remember not to neglect the real business."

"I understand."

The moment Lily took the book, she felt as if a chord was lightly strummed in the depths of her heart.

Even without reading the book yet, Lily somehow felt a resonance—she was certain she could learn all the knowledge contained within it.

It seemed... it was not just an ordinary book of mystical studies.

It was also alive.