Lumian thought for a moment and said, "The body, mind, and spirit draw closer to the granter because the boon's power bears their corresponding imprint?"
He deduced this from how Beyonder characteristics retained mental imprints of the original Creator and previous owners.
Although a boon bestowed pure power without characteristics, it should still be tinted with the owner's colors.
The lady, holding her tarot cards, nodded approvingly. "Your deductive reasoning isn't bad.
"You should thank Aurore for giving you a solid foundational education."
*You don't need to remind me...* Lumian grumbled inwardly.
The lady continued, "Even if the granter has no desire to influence the recipient, it is difficult to avoid having their body, mind, and spirit drawn toward Him. If the bestowed power did not contain the granter's will, the recipient would find it hard to harness, and it would quickly dissipate.
"That is why the orthodox deities' boons in this regard are mostly temporary and strictly controlled within certain limits."
*So evil gods don't care what becomes of the recipient in the end?* Lumian nodded thoughtfully and asked curiously, "Can Beyonders—I mean, people who already possess Beyonder characteristics—receive boons? Would there be a conflict between the two, leading to a loss of control?"
The lady looked at Lumian with a smile and shook her head. "There will be some conflict, but not much.
"Think about it: the bestowed power alters your body toward the granter, whereas your body originally existed in a state adapted to your own Beyonder characteristic. Once too vast a discrepancy emerges, it will inevitably clash with the characteristic until a new equilibrium is found.
"Because this conflict doesn't involve the mind or spirit, under normal circumstances it won't cause you to lose control—unless your mental state was already near collapse at the time.
"The only problem is that you might have to learn to watch yourself sprout a third eye or a fourth hand with complete equanimity.
"Of course, that assumes the bestowed power resides in you long-term and possesses a sufficiently high status. Otherwise, minor bodily changes are negligible."
Lumian let out an "Mm."
"What if the boon comes from one's own or a neighboring pathway?"
The lady nodded.
"That indeed won't cause a conflict."
She then smiled.
"But that doesn't mean physical changes won't occur."
What did that mean? Lumian was about to press further, but the lady said with a laugh, "I thought that after learning about the Inhabitants of the Loop, you'd be eager to ask about the time loop. Instead, you're dwelling on knowledge you might never even use.
"That doesn't sound like you!"
Lumian gave a self-deprecating smile.
"Originally, I wanted to ask right away if you had a way to help us break this time loop. But then I remembered something you said before:
"You said that the price of you solving the problem would be the destruction of all Cordu Village and the death of everyone in it. To strive for a better outcome, I would have to figure it out myself.
"Back then, I couldn't understand why, but now I can guess the reason.
"Since you aren't an Inhabitant of the Loop, is direct destruction your only way to break the loop here?"
The lady nodded in satisfaction.
"Indeed, that is the case."
"Then why didn't you make that clear before?" Lumian couldn't help countering.
It wasn't like explaining it would trigger destruction!
Or was this lady just used to keeping half of everything she said to herself?
The lady chuckled.
"If I had told you back then that the entire village was trapped in a time loop, would you have believed me?"
Lumian pondered for a moment. "No..."
Before experiencing it firsthand, who would believe something so absurd and bizarre, sounding straight out of a story?
"Exactly," the lady said with a smile. "Why should I have explained it? That would have only meant wasting a great deal of time trying to convince you."
"..." Lumian fell silent.
Seizing the opportunity, he asked, "Do you know what the key to breaking this loop is?
"In which direction should I direct my efforts?"
The lady shook her head again.
"Here, divining certain matters is very dangerous."
"Huh?" Lumian failed to catch her drift for a moment.
The lady had no choice but to elaborate: "If I knew where the key lay, I would certainly tell you. The sooner this is resolved, the sooner I can end this trip."
She then let out a sigh.
"When will I ever be able to take a proper vacation without any work attached..."
*Work?* Seeing that he would receive no "revelation" from this mysterious lady, Lumian probed, "Is it true that as long as the parish priest isn't killed, the loop won't restart?"
"No," the lady gave a precise answer. "The loop has multiple trigger points, including the arrival of the Twelfth Night. As for the rest, you will have to figure them out on your own."
*The Twelfth Night... That still leaves plenty of time to investigate...* Lumian mulled it over and said, "Because the abnormality within me was stimulated, I'll retain my memories and Beyonder characteristic across every loop from now on?"
Seeing the lady nod, he pressed further, "If that's the case, then as long as I stay alive, continuously looping and investigating, I'll sooner or later find the key to ending all of this..."
This was an application of the "proof by exhaustion" Aurore had once mentioned.
"In theory, yes," the lady said, that indiscernible emotion Lumian found so baffling surfacing in her eyes once more. "However, you should have noticed by now that only Cordu Village and its surrounding area are looping. Everywhere else is unaffected. In other words, time in the outside world flows normally, and the dates are completely out of sync with Cordu.
"Those three investigators send out a telegram at regular intervals describing their condition and the village's state. The moment they mention a date, Intis officialdom will notice the anomaly here.
"Even if the investigators don't manage to send a telegram in every loop or fail to mention the date, as time passes, the authorities will inevitably discover the problem. When that happens, what method do you think they'll use to resolve Cordu Village's loop?"
Lumian fell silent. Only after a good while did he say, "Probably just like your alternative—direct destruction."
"It effectively prevents the anomaly from spreading and affecting others," the lady said with sighing emotion. "If you ever have the chance to visit the Sonia Sea in the future, you can ask around about Bansy Harbor. It was directly obliterated by the Church of Storms after suffering a certain corruption. Not a single person escaped."
Hearing this only strengthened Lumian's resolve to find the key to the loop on his own.
He mocked himself once more:
"Looks like I don't have much time left."
At most three or four more loops—and he couldn't afford to let every loop run all the way to the Twelfth Night.
The lady stood up and said placidly, "At least you still have a chance to save things. Some people don't even get that."
...
Leaving the Old Tavern, Lumian stood on the street and looked around at the sparse pedestrians and the rows of houses. Everything in Cordu Village felt so ordinary. People had joys, anger, desires, and emotions—no different from people anywhere else.
Yet beneath this village, where serenity coexisted with bustle and harmony with clamor, lurked an unimaginable horror. The time here, along with every person in it, was trapped in a loop, endlessly reliving the same few days.
Aside from a handful of people—the parish priest Guillaume Bénet, the shepherd Pierre Berry, Pons Bénet, and Ava Lizzie—Lumian couldn't yet determine who was anomalous and who was innocent.
Even with Raymond Craig, who was normally so simple-minded and naive, he couldn't be one hundred percent certain the fellow was completely clean.
As for the abnormal behavior shown by most of the youths at the end of Lent, that might have been the result of the parish priest exerting a supernatural influence over them on the spot, rather than an underlying issue from before.
For a moment, Lumian felt as though Cordu Village were a primeval forest fraught with danger at every turn, where he couldn't tell who was the prey and who was the hunter.
Caution and patience were the primary requisites for survival in such an environment; ability, courage, wisdom, and experience all had to take a back seat.
This bore some similarities to his life as a vagrant, yet was distinctly different.
As these thoughts surfaced, Lumian inexplicably felt signs that his Hunter potion was digesting.
*Is this the first step of the 'acting method'?*
*That was quick. I thought it would take a month or two just to get the hang of it...*
With this thought, Lumian suddenly felt a rush of excitement:
Could he completely digest the Hunter potion within one or two loops?
When the time came, combined with hunting in the dream ruins, he might quickly become a Sequence 8 Provoker, gaining far greater power and improving his chances of resolving the time loop.
Pondering as he walked, Lumian soon arrived at the village square.
His current plan was to "have a chat" with the parish priest and feel him out to see if he could discover any anomalies or gain some clues.
Just then, he spotted a figure walking toward the church.
The figure wore a hooded, dark-brown robe tied at the waist with a rope, and on his feet were soft, brand-new leather shoes. It was none other than the shepherd Pierre Berry.
*Him...* Lumian quickened his pace to close the distance and deliberately asked, "Pierre, what brings you back?"
At this moment, Pierre Berry's black hair remained greasy and curled, and the stubble on his face looked like it hadn't been shaved in a long time.
Hearing Lumian's question, he answered quite happily, "Isn't the Lent Festival coming up? I haven't taken part in years, and I couldn't miss it this year no matter what..."
A gentle warmth shone in his blue eyes, completely unlike the shepherd who had left such a deep impression—if not trauma—on Lumian.
*Uh, changing the location and the person asking makes his answer somewhat different from the last loop. Even though the essence remains the same, some of the wording varies...* Having listened closely, Lumian looked down at Pierre's new shoes and said with a smile, "Struck it rich?"
"Hardly. I can only say my employer was very generous this time and gave me quite a few things." Pierre was genuinely delighted. "I'll treat you to a drink tonight."
"Sure." Lumian agreed, then pointed toward the church. "Heading in to pray?"
"Yeah. It's been too long since I prayed to God in a church," Pierre sighed.
There was nothing inherently wrong with that statement, but the more Lumian heard it now, the more off it sounded.
Herding sheep didn't mean being completely cut off from human settlements. Lowland pastures had plenty of villages around them. While alpine pastures were indeed desolate, shepherds still had to come down every now and then for supplies; how could he possibly have failed to find a church?
Of course, if Pierre Berry had moved his flock to Fenepot or Lenburg this time, he really wouldn't have found an Eternal Blazing Sun church. But with Lumian's preconceived notions, everything out of Pierre Berry's mouth sounded suspicious.
Pierre Berry turned and asked, "Are you heading to church too?"
"No." Lumian shook his head. "I thought there would be people chatting in the square, but turns out nobody showed up."
He then waved his hand.
"I'm heading home first."
"See you tonight." Pierre Berry waved back.
Watching the shepherd walk toward the church, Lumian turned back toward the village.
He had abandoned his idea of chatting with the parish priest. His next destination was:
The shepherd Pierre Berry's home!
Chapter 37