Footsteps echoed in the long corridor, lit only by the never‑ending crimson skies. Lidien slowly walked, heading to his room… watching his shadow against the red hue, mirroring his now dark eyes.

'It seems I can't do everything alone…'

As his steps stopped in front of his room door, it was immediately opened by Xyon, beaming with a smile.

"Where is Alva?"

Lidien scanned his large room before taking a seat at the desk, where books were piled up… the books Nyomi had forgotten to return to the Knowledge Spire.

Xyon stood beside Lidien, bowing slightly.

"Alva was at the Training Hall, Master."

Lidien glanced at him, a gentle smile touching his face.

"Why didn't you stay with her?"

Xyon didn't move from his position, nor raise his head, but simply continued to bow.

"Because I'm your servant, Master. I should stay with you…"

Lidien smirked, a muffled laugh escaping him.

"Xyon, how can you serve me properly as a Soldier if you are weak? From now on, like Alva, just come to me after I call you. Train, because next week will be the time you prove to me that you're worthy of being one of my subjects."

Xyon bowed deeply, then stared at Lidien with resolute eyes and said his goodbyes before heading to the Training Hall to be with Alva.

Now, alone in his room, Lidien could relax as he slumped against the backrest, staring up at the ceiling.

'I need my own people, but not close enough to rely on them for everything.'

Lidien stared outside the window as the memory of Alva killing the Dark Wolf engulfed his thoughts.

'An assassin, huh. I better use her traits to their limits next week.'

He tapped his finger on the table, listening to its gentle, rhythmic sound that could free his mind from worries and let him focus on it alone.

Then, as he glanced at his space ring, he decided to get the book bound with human skin.

Out of boredom, he flipped through the book without reading… just looking at it.

It was still the same… the information about human skin played at the edge of his mind because of the effect of the Echoes of the Flesh.

And the crimson pages bore clear handwriting of food recipes that didn't exist in the Savage Expanse.

Lidien had thought hard about it, since the first time he opened it.

'The memory of the human skin has already run through my mind hundreds of times, yet I can't see whether the content inside was replaced… it's either hidden by a strong spell, or the memory of it being replaced was deleted.'

Then suddenly, he laughed at his own thoughts, thinking he might try cooking and splash it on the book, hoping that maybe it would reveal its content.

As time passed, just looking at it and flipping without reading, he placed it atop his head, covering his face, and decided to sleep.

At noon, Lidien woke from his dreamless sleep when he heard a cart wheel softly squeaking just outside his room.

Alva came in, wearing her maid outfit that highlighted her matured curves, snow-white ears, and tails, along with her silky silver hair.

She smiled when she saw Lidien, and put down the book, thinking that he had fallen asleep studying.

"Master… please have your lunch."

Though the cultures of the Blood Rose Clan and the Snow Fox Clan had stark differences, Alva, who was a former princess of the latter, easily adapted because of her literate mind.

Lidien ate his lunch while glancing at Alva still standing beside him.

"Alva… ask Mad Dog the status of what I asked him to prepare… and also, prepare me a residence outside the Rift…"

After Lidien gave her a merit slip, Alva nodded and left the room.

'If I can't understand what blood is, I need to at least build a Coreflux inside me and not always rely on Incite of Blood.'

Then, as he sought to understand what blood is, Lidien activated his Incite of Blood, analyzing the flow from his body and the ability it gave that regulated his blood flow and its effect on his Sparkline.

Lidien could feel it… the hundreds of people's blood present in the castle… and the small trace of it in the book bound in human skin atop the table.

He smiled; he hadn't even expected that the Incite of Blood would detect the remaining blood that painted the pages crimson.

Lidien curiously opened it and was surprised when he saw the crimson pages gleaming under Incite of Blood.

'Don't tell me…'

He then deactivated his Incite of Blood while staring at the crimson pages turning dim… like a normal blood‑soaked page.

Then, he activated his Incite of Blood again, making his Sparkline tingle from the sudden stop and flow of verve, yet he endured.

He then noticed that, if he disregarded the black ink, the blood showed different hues of crimson… some lighter, some darker… leading Lidien to conclude that the blood came from different sources, not just one.

'I thought it was accidentally dropped in that pool of blood. Now I realize he hid the content with it.'

Though Lidien knew the secret, he still couldn't understand the hidden meaning behind the ancient text, as if it were right in front of him, but he couldn't take hold of it.

'At least I know what to do... to study ancient texts... or find someone who could translate it.'

Frustrated by the book's stubborn secrets, Lidien decided to clear his head.

He left the castle, making his way to his cabin below the castle at the edge of the rift, and absorbed the Necrotic Essence that clung to the corpses.

The more they had decayed, the more potent the Necrotic Essence had become, making Lidien smile from ear to ear.

"Hmm... so after the flesh is gone from Superior Grade to Poor, it'll be the time for the bones to have their own grades..."

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