In a medium sized room in an apartment located in East borough, A young boy of at most 18 years old was excitedly staring at a cauldron and some ingredients kept beside it.
He was of course Phillip Spearson.
I held back my excitement and starting to concoct the potion. I carefully brewd 100 ml of red wine, then I placed 1 segment of a Church-blessed candle. One poisonous mushroom and 10g of Verbena powder.
Then after some hesitation, I took out a box covered with a very faint layer of spirituality and took out a dark and distorted semi-illusory black lip like object from it which seems to constantly emit whispers. It was the beyonder characteristic of the lunatic I killed in an unknown alley.
I carefully placed it inside the liquid in the cauldron, then it emitted a sizzling sount and distorted black mist started to appear inside it which for some unknown reasons was unable to leap out of the cauldron as it the most was forcefully sucked by some pressure. Then the liquid started to change and it became a sacred black liquid intermittently bubbling inside the cauldron.
I carefully brewd the potion in an open flask, the liquid got transferred entirely without leaving a drop inside the cauldron. Then after some determination, I drank the potion into one gulp. The liquid instantly flowed inside me and my heart suddenly started to thumping in a rapid pace which made me a little afraid.
After that came pure silence for a single moment them all the hair on my body stood up at the same time and my mind started to ache like it was pierced by thousands of glass Shards, the pain made me scream but just after a moment, some strang kind of forbidden knowledge and unknown whispers started to enter my mind. The amount of ravings that appeared and entered my mind was enough to make my cognitive functions distorted, but it was weakened as soon as it approached me.
At that moment, I felt a slight barrier taking form around me which stopped the advancement of the knowledge and allowed only a small amount to enter my mind, then the barrier expanded and all the knowledge and whispers seemed to be purified which then transformed into a strang kind of stream of information that then entered my mind.
Following that, the aura of madness around me started to reduce and my headache reduced in a noticeable speed, my thumping heart which had become heated at some point of time started to emit a strang aura which consists degeneration and purification at the same time. It started to thump in a normal manner and after some unknown amount of time, I found myself covered in sweat from head to toe, I was on the floor and my overflowing spirituality came under my control instantly as soon as I thought about it.
Huff...puff.... I panted heavily and then used cogitation as explained by Old Niel in the original novel and helped myself stand up and scrutinized myself before analyzing the changes happened to me. Sigh.... Man, that was close, I thought I was going to lose control the moment I felt the whispers coming towards me, it was definitely True Creator's doing but it seems like this Heart of Madness is something that I can't comprehend, it was actually able to black those ravings and provided me with this much useful knowledge rather than the madness this potion gives.
Heh heh, so I can now perform ritualistic magic and divination, although my accuracy won't be on the level of a Seer but still, and with that came the ability to detect beyonders by thier aura if it's not concealed and it's even further enhanced by the Heart of Madness. I am actually able to detect beyonders of the my pathway and other four pathways also which can be interchange, which are, Sun, Tyrant, Visionary and White tower within 5 km of radius around me after activating it otherwise, I'll only be able to sense beyonders by thier auras according to the descriptions of the abilities of an average Secret Supplicant. And I also gained some honorific names one of which is definitely of the kings of angels of Monster pathway.
And this 'cheat' of mine is actually able to give me a slight danger premonition, it even enhanced my divination skills and spirituality control. My strength, agility, endurance, perception skills, comprehensive abilities, stamina and thinking skills, all of these are enhanced by my Heart of Madness.
Sigh... I think it gave me some of the enhancement and part of the abilities of the other four pathways also. Also, if I'm having a problem about something, I can activate it now and after enduring some ravings and headache, I will be able to sense the feeling of solution, although I will have to follow that feeling while keeping full vigilance and make plans and execute them meticulously to gain the solutions. It can also enhance myy divination and some other aspects for a period of time after that these enhancents will go to a short period of cooldown. At this level, this this all it can do and I have a vague feeling that after I start to digest my potion, It'll increase.
Right now, I'm also able to recall some of the memories of the original novel and the sea 9 potion formulas I've read about. It can be done slowly while using the Heart of Madness for some period on daily basis and after taking frequent rests. As for seq 8, it's a bit hard of other Pathways but.... I can slowly remember a sequence 8 potion formula of The Hanged Man pathway and after digesting the potion a bit, I'll be able to recall the sea 8 of other 4 pathways that can be interchanged on high sequences with my pathway. Although that process of 'recalling' may take some time, I don't have that much need right now but it can help me earn a very good amount of money and build connections. Sigh.....truly a heaven defying 'Cheat'.
Now let's use the famous spirit vision. I tapped two times on my glabella and suddenly, the surrounding around me changed. A higher, abstract plane of existence, that entirely overlaps the material world, acting as an infinite, chaotic sea of information and consciousness where distance and time is meaningless appeared in front of my eyes, everything around me became illusory, then I inspected myself recorded in to original text. It showed myself healthy and excited, but the part where my heart is located was distorted and I can sense a vague aura of degeneration and purification intertwined in it.
After turning off my spirit vision, I decided to check the highly advanced investigate method provided by the Heart of Madness, so I activated it with some nervousness and Instantly, some crazy but faint ravings started to enter my ears which can be considered rather a bad situation for ordinary sequence 9. But for me, it was not that hard to resist with the help of Heart of Madness and my endurance, I resisted it for a fullof 2 seconds and then it started. The auras of beyonders started to appear in my mind and I analysed it then I came to a conclusion that there are several low sequence beyonders around Easy borough and one or two mid sequence also. Suddenly, my heart gave a danger premonition which made me shiver....heh, what a strange way of giving danger premonition by scaring me this much.... I checked the aura it indicated while lampooning inwardly. I focused on a particular aura which was constantly moving towards my direction and it gave me a vague feeling of connection towards it.
This.... This is definitely the aura of a Secret supplicant, from the looks of it, that Rap God might've sensed something here so the Aurora Order sent this guy or girl whoever it is to check. Hmmm.... I'm rather lucky that he's only a sequence 9 and the anomaly might've been tampered with by my Heart of Madness.
Heh heh.... Let's see how capable this Aurora Order is.
With that, I took out a copper coin and recited something, then I flipped it and after it landed ony palm, I glanced at it. The enhanced results that came with the help of my Heart of Madness enhancements and activation made the corners of my lips to curl up.