“First, you will receive this.” the hawk waved its wings again, and one of the shining lights flew towards Red.

The boy touched the glowing orb. The light disappeared and a leather-bound book appeared in Red’s hands. He read the title.

‘A Primer on Arcane Scripture.’

“Is this a manual?” Red asked with interest.

“It is.” the hawk nodded. “It should teach you what you need to know about arcane scriptures and its applications up to the Spirit Core Realm. My master was an expert on formations, however, so the manual has a larger focus on that practice.”

The boy frowned. “I thought one needed to be at least in the Lesser Ring Realm before learning about Arcane Scripture.”

“That’s not necessarily true. The truth of the matter is that many advanced manipulation techniques in Spiritual Crafting require one to be able to use Spiritual Energy, and crafting certain items without them is nearly impossible. However, that is for advanced recipes. On the lower end, one may still be able to craft basic Spiritual Items with enough practice and the right resources. It is hard, but not impossible.”

Red nodded in understanding. He recalled how his Master Goulth could make powerful medicines even without having opened his Spiritual Sea. However, the man also said that Arcane Scripture was much harder to learn than Alchemy at that level.

“Is the formation against the curse in this manual, too?” Red asked.

“It is, but that will be harder for you to build before you’re in the Lesser Ring Realm.” the hawk said. “Right now, you should focus on learning the basics of Arcane Scripture. Once you’re done with that, you will need to familiarize yourself with formation building. When you are finally confident in your own abilities, there is a formation in particular you should focus on learning.”

The hawk waved its wings, and the book in Red’s hand floated in the air. It swung open, flipping to a specific page before falling back into the boy’s hands again. On the open page, there was the depiction of a magical circle with so many fine details that Red felt himself getting a headache from simply looking at it.

On the top of this drawing, there was a title.

“Parting Storm formation…” he read those words out loud.

“This is a formation my master came up with.” the hawk said. “As long as you can build it and have enough spirit stones to fuel it, you may use this formation to open your Spiritual Sea.”

Red was baffled. “… Can you use it multiple times?”

The hawk nodded. “You can.”

The boy was even more shocked. Wasn’t this basically a reusable Parting Sea Pill?

“You shouldn’t be too happy about it, though.” the spirit said. “Not only are the materials for building and powering this formation expensive, its effects differ from a normal Parting Sea Pill.”

Red reined his excitement in, paying attention to the hawk’s words.

The bird continued. “The Parting Sea Pill is so valuable because it does two things. It provides a large amount of harmonious Spiritual Energy for one’s body and it also helps a cultivator to open their Spiritual Sea with almost no effort on the individual’s part. It is a foolproof method, and the rate of success is nearly one hundred percent. The Parting Storm formation only does the first thing - it provides you with even larger amounts of harmonious Spiritual Energy to open your Spiritual Sea, but it doesn’t help you control it.”

Red frowned, his initial excitement deflating. “Isn’t that worse than the pill, then?”

If the boy still had to do the hardest part, which was controlling the Spiritual Energy, what was the point of the formation.

“Depends on how you look at it.” the hawk said. “If you’re only interested in opening your Spiritual Sea, then the pill is better. However, there is more to opening the Spiritual Sea than you think. Cultivators who managed to open their Spiritual Sea by themselves claim to have felt a moment of enlightenment once they succeeded. The vast majority of this time, this doesn’t result in anything special, and the feeling of enlightenment slips away in a split second. However, some cultivators deepened their understanding over certain aspects of Spiritual Energy after accomplishing that feat… You could say they improved their own talent in a way.”

Red’s eyes widened, but he didn’t let himself be taken away by his excitement again. “How likely is that to happen?”

“Very unlikely.” the hawk said. “But my master learned that chances may differ from individual to individual, and it mostly has to do with their previous experiences and understanding of the world before opening their Spiritual Sea. Of course, that was mostly conjecture on my master’s part, and there was no way for him to truly ever confirm it. However, this might prove to be an invaluable chance for you with your low talent, which is why you should strive to open your Spiritual Sea without the help of a pill.”

The boy hesitated. In the end, he nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

He was being sincere. He couldn’t pass on such a good opportunity, no matter how difficult it may prove to be. After all, Red’s ambitions didn’t stop at just the Lesser Ring Realm.

“Good.” the hawk nodded. “The materials required for the formation are relatively rare for a cultivator at your level, but they were still obtainable while my master was still alive. The hardest part will be in setting up the formation, but I trust in your skills to accomplish that.”

Red didn’t know why the hawk trusted in his skills, considering he had yet to even learn the slightest thing about Arcane Scripture, but he didn’t question it.

“Suffice it to say, although this formation may still be inferior to a Parting Sea Pill in many ways, it would still cause quite a commotion if it were to be revealed to the outside world.” the spirit said. “You should be careful about how you handle it.”

That went without saying. Yet Red felt like everything he was coming into contact with in this place was a bomb waiting to explode if they were revealed to the outside world.

“Then, your next reward.” the hawk waved its wings.

Another of the lights floating in front of the spirit shot towards Red. The boy extended his hand, hoping to catch it, but instead the light shot into his chest, disappearing without a trace.

Red, however, didn’t panic.

“What was that?” he asked with a calm tone.

“An anti-divination technique.” the hawk said. “The people who have been prying into this inheritance ground might find out about you in their divinations, so it’s necessary to protect you in some ways.”

Red frowned. “They can find out about me?”

The hawk nodded. “Now that you have come into contact with this place, your fate is connected to it. Inevitably, you will appear in their divinations too.”

‘Another bomb waiting to explode, then.’

Red had so many knives hidden in the dark waiting to stab him that he was numb to the addition of one more. However, this still didn’t make him happy.

The hawk seemed to notice this. “If it makes you feel any better, they probably already knew about you from the Moonstone caves through divination. It was very likely they would have found you eventually, even if you didn’t come into contact with this trial. With this anti-divination technique, you get protected from their divinations on two fronts.”

Red nodded. He supposed that was a fair point.

“How long does it last?” the boy asked.

“It depends.” the spirit said. “It might last you hundreds of years if no one tries to probe into your identity. However, if these oracles continue their investigation of this place with the same intensity as before, then your protection will last at most 20 years.”

Red frowned. “Is that enough to reach the fourth realm?”

“It is a very quick pace… My master reached that realm when he was 29, though.”

‘So I have to at least be as fast as he was if I wish to not have my identity revealed.’

Another urgent goal Red had to accomplish.

“This anti-divination technique doesn’t feel like much of a reward.” the boy said.

Indeed, it was more like it was an absolute necessity if the spirit didn’t intend to lose its inheritor as soon as they stepped out of this trial.

“You’re right, it isn’t.” the hawk didn’t try to deny. “So let’s move on.”

It waved its wings again, and another more of light flew towards Red. It hovered above his hands, and the boy reached out for it. A small glass bottle fell into his hands.

Red looked at its contents, noticing hundreds of tiny pellets inside the bottle.

“These are Vein Opening pills.” the hawk said. “More than enough to open all twelve of your veins.”

“These are pills?” the boy frowned in skepticism.

They were too small compared to all the pills the boy was used to seeing.

“They are.” the hawk nodded. “Cultivators care little about practicality on this level, but my master was an exception. If he could make medicines as small as possible so they may all be stored inside one vial, then he would do it.”

Red examined the pills. “… I suppose that makes sense.”

“You should already know this, but these pills are meant to be a complement to your normal cultivation.” the spirit said. “You shouldn’t consume too many of them at once, or the toxins will accumulate in your body and will affect your future cultivation.”

The boy nodded.

“Then the next reward.” the bird waved its wings again.

Red touched the next mote of light, and when the glow disappeared, he noticed he was grabbing onto a bracelet.

“A magical treasure?” the boy asked with interest.

“Indeed.” the hawk nodded. “It’s a low level treasure, though.”

“What does it do?”

“It masks your appearance.”

Red frowned. “Why do I need to mask my appearance?”

The hawk didn’t respond immediately, staring at the boy with its piercing gaze. A few moments later, though, the bird sighed.

“Have you looked at your own reflection since you entered the trial?” it asked.

Red shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

He was too focused on other matters to take note of his own appearance.

“Then take a gander.” the hawk waved its wings.

A stream of water appeared out of nowhere in front of Red, circling around before forming into a round, flat surface. When the boy looked at it, he noticed it seemed to have formed into a mirror. However, he didn’t have time to examine this strange technique.

What he saw in the reflection left him shocked.

Red’s general features looked the same as ever - his sharp features, crimson hair, and emotionless eyes and expression. However, when he examined his left eye, he noticed something had changed.

His iris had changed colors - becoming a deep dark crimson. His pupil seemed to have become more elongated too, resembling that of a lizard, and that wasn’t all. A few crimson scales seemed to be growing on the left side of his face.

Red traced his fingers over them, feeling the coarse and hardy surface of this new skin.

“Demonification.” the hawk said.

This one word made Red’s blood run cold.