Chapter 247: A Step Into the Past

"You brought her into your bedroom?"

"You spent a night with her?"

Christine was dumbfounded.

Even a child could easily deduce what had happened during the night.

A skimpily dressed female attendant with pleasant looks.

A half-naked Calvin.

A man and a woman inside a room—alone...

Christine's eyes reddened. She felt stifled for some reason.

She knew that she had no right to intervene in what Calvin wanted to do.

If he wanted to satisfy his carnal desires, then who was she to stop him?

She didn't have the right to do so!

But for some reason, her heart hurt.

She felt dizzy as she took a step backward to retreat, but Calvin was even faster.

He swung his wrist and a breeze blew, slamming the doors shut behind her.

"Why do you look like you're jumping to conclusions, again?"

Calvin saw her bloodshot eyes and he couldn't help but bitterly smile. "Nothing happened last night. I only let her sleep here because she is a necessary ingredient for us to confirm the identity of those bastards so we can finally strike." He quickly explained.

"A necessary ingredient?"

"Confirm the identity of those people?"

Christine found that Calvin's words seemed to be laughable.

Especially when she saw how the female attendant was currently wearing nothing beneath her nightgown and the fact that her clothes seemed to have been disturbed by a pair of perverted hands.

"I-I can't stay here anymore!" Christine finally exploded.

She wanted to open the door, but she found that it had been sealed by something unknown that she couldn't triumph against despite the usage of Mana.

"It's futile. Every door in the Paradise Room has steel mechanisms as locks to protect the occupants inside the room when there is an emergency. There is no way for you to open that door unless you have the control panel."

Calvin picked up a wooden slab beside him and he presented it to Christine. "The control panel is with me, so you better stay put while I explain to you everything that is about to happen."

Christine stared at him in doubt.

Fortunately, she seemed to have calmed down after realizing that there was no way for her to come out of this room.

She took a seat at one of the couches. A contemplative look appeared on her face.

Calvin let out a sigh.

He went to the kitchen and returned with a plate of dishes that he seemed to have prepared beforehand.

"It's not much, but it's honest work. I hope you'll find it palatable at least." Calvin offered.

Christine glanced at the plates.

Her nose quivered, forcing the aroma that lingered in the air into her nostrils.

In an instant, her appetite awakened.

She seemed to have forgotten what just happened as she excitedly asked, "What is this? Why does it smell so good?"

"It's just a basic meat dish that has a lot of aromatics. Taste it." Calvin simply smiled.

Christine nodded. Tasting the dish, her eyes widened in shock. "You can cook this good? How come you're so good at everything? Are you perhaps an old ancestor? You're a hundred-years-old, right? Not in your mid-twenties?" She teased.

But her words made Calvin's heart shudder.

'Did she say that intentionally or is she hinting at me that she knows everything about my identity?'

'No, that cannot be...'

'It has to be a coincidence.'

"Ahem." Calvin cleared his throat.

"Ah!" Christine was quick to cover her mouth.

She realized that she had just spoken while her mouth was open.

A grave violation of the etiquette rules concerning young maidens in the Kingdom of Joselian.

Furthermore, her words just now had been somewhat rude.

Calvin was clearly young, why did she say that he was a 100-year-old ancestor?

"Are you not hungry?" Christine asked while eyeing the female attendant on the bed.

She was obviously trying to imply if bedding the female attendant exhausted him or not.

A helpless look appeared on Calvin's face as he responded. "I told you, nothing like what you are imagining right now happened. I brought her here because we need her..."

"That's all."

"In fact, your accusations do not even make sense. If I need to be satisfied, then I can just use my hand! Why would I bother with women when I'm this busy? It's too troublesome!"

Calvin's words surely made sense, but when Christine heard them. She couldn't help but blush.

She blushed at the mention of "hand".

It was because she found it relatable.

On her sleepless nights—she often used her hand to comfort herself.

The second-hand embarrassment was inevitable.

"Can you please stop being so perverted in front of the food?" said Christine.

Calvin only chuckled.

He took a seat in front of Christine and the two of them ate their breakfast.

Fortunately, the dishes that Calvin made were just too good that Christine didn't kick up a fuss anymore.

When the meal was done, Calvin finally explained what was about to happen.

"The crux of the matter right now is to confirm the identity of the people who harmed Fatty. To do that, we need this female attendant..."

"Aren't you curious about the matters of the other shore? Do you want to know what it's like to be a part of the other shore? I can let you experience being a member of that side. But that is only if you are willing to do so." Calvin explained.

"The other shore?" Christine's eyes widened. Her father had once told her that the other shore was a dangerous rabbit hole. Yet, why was Calvin acting so casual in regards to the other shore if it was as dangerous as her father described?

Could it be that her father lied to her by saying those words back then so that he could keep her out of the matters of the other shore?

"That's right. In a moment, we will be traveling to the past. If we want to confirm the identity of those bastards, then we can only do it by traveling to the past..."

"I've already done the necessary preparations yesterday. We should be able to do it by today. However, it must be done today since the chances of success would diminish the more time passes." said Calvin.

"Travelling to the past? We can do that?!" Christine was startled.

Her curiosity seemed to have burst forth at this moment as her eyes gleamed in excitement.

"It's not exactly traveling to the past. Precisely, we're going inside her dream. "

Calvin glanced at the female attendant.

Her eyes seemed to be moving fast underneath her eyelids.

Rapid-Eye Movement had always been a reliable sign for dreams.

Obviously, the female attendant was in her dream world at this moment.

"Inside her dream… Is the other shore really that mystical? You can just randomly go into anyone's dreams? Will she know that we are in her dreams?" Christine was bewildered and surprised by Calvin's revelations.

"Yes, she'll know that we are in her dream. But does that really matter? She knows that she is dreaming and since everything is just a dream, does that matter? After all, everything that happens inside the dream won't affect reality…" Calvin smiled.

Christine stared right at Calvin for a moment before she asked, "I must know... Are you able to enter the dreams of anyone? And what can be done while inside the person's dream? Can you do anything, like establish your own country, or become a bandit?"

Calvin nodded. "Yes, everything is possible in the dream world. But remember that since you are an intruder. The owner of the dream world can kick you out of her dream world at any time the owner wants. You can do everything, but it's not advisable."

"I-I see…" Christine took a step backward and stared warily at Calvin.

"Why are you getting further away?" Calvin asked.

"I don't want you entering my dreams!"

"Hey, it's not that easy…" Calvin couldn't help but chuckle. "First, the subject has to dream. To do that, autosuggestion is necessary. Yesterday, I called her over for a drink and I made sure that the focal point of our topic was about dreams."

"This method of autosuggestion is quite useful and reliable..."

"But it's not exactly discreet, you know?"

"What's more, did the two of us even talk about dreams in the first place? Without talking about dreams, there is no way that I can autosuggest you to be in a dream."

"In addition, why would I even want to invade your dream world?"

Calvin asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"I-I don't know!" Cornered, Christine darted her gaze around the room and said, "Maybe…"

"You want to do some lewd stuff with me in my dream?"

"Pfft!" Calvin almost keeled over from what he had heard.

This future Goddess of Blade, Christine Allana sure was hilarious.

The difference in her personality today compared to her personality in his previous timeline made Calvin think as to just what exactly happened to Christine back then.

'Just what made her change so much?'

Setting these unanswerable questions aside, Calvin stared at her. "Did you already forget what I said earlier? The owner of the dream world can kick the intruder out at any time! It's their world after all…"

"If I invaded your dreams and I did something that you didn't want, you can just easily snap me out of existence."

"Oh, I see…" Christine seemed to have finally understood Calvin's words. "But that doesn't mean that I permit you to invade my dreams, okay?"

"I won't!" A helpless look suffused on Calvin's face. 'This girl, seriously…'

"All right, what do we do now?"

"Oh, are you ready for us to start?" Calvin asked playfully.

"What? I'm always prepared for anything." Christine rolled her eyes at him

"Okay." Calvin simply nodded.

He took the leather bag that he had hidden beneath the bed and started to take out a few objects from inside the bag. Placing them above the table, a serious look appeared on Calvin's face as he started to sort out the ingredients.

"Dawn Driftwood… a quarter of the entire plank."

"Rosa Banksiae… a pinch of its petals."

"Pure Water… a splash."

"Holy Water… a drop."

"And then finally, an item with mystical properties to serve as the catalyst for the ritual."

Calvin took out the page of the Notebook of Secrets that he had prepared beforehand. When the ingredients were prepared, Calvin started to mix them inside a clay bowl.

Pounding at them, Calvin pulverized the Dawn Driftwood first before he added the other ingredients.

When the piece of paper with mystical properties was added into the concoction, Calvin took Christine's hand.

"Ah!"

"What?" Calvin frowned.

"Why are you suddenly holding my hand?"

"Come on, don't kick up a fuss. It's just holding your hand. It's not like I'm stripping you naked." Calvin rolled his eyes at her.

Christine was speechless. She was at a loss for words as she watched Calvin poke a needle at the tip of her left hand's ring finger.

"All right." Calvin also extracted a drop of his own blood.

Upon seeing that the concoction was finally completed, Calvin let out a sigh of relief.

"Mana is a form of spirituality. It is the basis of all things supernatural. Martial arts and mysticism are on opposite sides of the same coin. One might be able to ignore the other, but their nature is the same!" Calvin domineeringly stated.

There was a sudden change in the atmosphere.

Christine suddenly found it hard to breathe.

Calvin took several vials of essential oils from the leather bag. Then, he ignited a candle on the center of the table. The vials that contained the essential oils were instantly crushed in his hand with a kacha.

On his left was the Dawn Driftwood, while on his right was the Rosa Banksiae.

Both were mystical ingredients, yet their nature was the opposite.

Dawn Driftwood was the definition of Hot, while Rosa Banksiae—cold.

Calvin's eyebrows twitched.

He summoned his golden quill and placed it beneath the clay bowl that contained the Pure Water and Holy Water. Then, he drenched his right hand with the water and laid it against the candle in the middle of the table.

A solemn look flashed across his face as he closed his eyes and chanted.

"Oh, Goddess of Compassion and Light!"

"The Magister of Light and the Commander of Compassion…"

"You are the most benevolent!"

As the last syllable fell, Calvin stabbed the golden quill on the back of his right hand's palm with his left hand.

Blood instantly dripped into the candle.

But its flame wasn't extinguished.

Instead, from an orangey-hue, the dancing flame on the wick changed its color to crimson.

"Ah!" Christine was so spooked by what she had seen that she couldn't help but yelp.

"Circulate your Mana!" Calvin harshly spoke.

"O-Okay!" Christine yelled out in response as she closed her eyes and meditated on the spot.

The Mana inside her body rotated according to the Art of Wind-Chasing.

Strangely enough, she felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders the moment she started to circulate her Mana.

"With your light more powerful than the universe combined, and a compassion that could cover the world if you willed…"

"Your humble follower prays for your blessing…"

"With a catalyst in hand, please allow the usage of this incantation!"

"Rosa Banksiae, a herb that signifies the strength of women! Please be merciful!"

"Dawn Driftwood, an ingredient that signifies the dawn of men! Please be merciful!"

"With our blood as the anchor, and with a catalyst in hand…"

"Please allow the usage of this incantation!"

Calvin raised both of his hands. The Mana inside his body wildly churned as the crimson flame of the lone candle atop the table violently danced against an invisible tempest.

Calvin repeated the incantation seven times, and once he was done…

His eyes snapped open.

But the world in front of him had changed!