Layers behind Layers, Guesses behind Guesses

Devouring a spirit.

An Ancestral Divine Spirit.

This was indeed Aldrich's aim, his plan's final destination. But the beginning of this plan didn't just pop up in his head out of the blue. The first thought that had originated regarding it was when Sha had transferred to him her memories just after his resurrection.

In those memories, there was a massive image of a rose. It had rained down thorns on the corrupted Shadow Homunculus, making her finally succumb under them. That image belonged to the spirit which Aldrich would later come to know as Everlasting Venomous Rose.

In those memories, he could feel Sha's powerful urge to devour that rose. He didn't know what changes the Shadow Homunculus had gone through, nor the identity of the spirit that had appeared in the Dungeon. There seemed to be only one way he could know more about it, and that was to go to the planet VR-252. Meeting the Ancient Scholar was just one of the many reasons.