"Heh... I didn’t expect it was really you who reported him. But reporting someone from your own organization to other groups—wouldn’t that be considered betrayal?" After hearing Aldrich’s words, Dorothy asked curiously, to which he responded calmly.
"No, I reported him precisely for the sake of the Craftsmen’s Guild. Think about it—if Deer Skull had truly devoured an entire city to create a masterpiece, won the competition, and taken a seat on the Golden Triad, only for his actions to be exposed later, the covert agents and the Radiance Church would have come demanding answers. By then, he would have already been one of the Golden Triad, representing the guild to a significant extent, making it extremely difficult to handle. If the other two members of the Triad tried to deal with him forcefully, Deer Skull, as a Gold-rank, would have had the power to split the guild.
"In the end, this would have escalated into a complete deterioration of relations between the Craftsmen’s Guild and a major nation’s government, as well as the Radiance Church. This would have been absolutely detrimental to the guild’s future. My report was for the sake of the guild’s future."
Aldrich spoke with a righteous tone, and after hearing his explanation, Dorothy felt that it made sense. Deer Skull’s actions were indeed gambling with the guild’s future. Moreover, whether Aldrich intended it or not, he had objectively saved the lives of an entire city, which was undoubtedly a good thing.
"So, what happened after that? Deer Skull was expelled from the guild, so you were the final winner, right? Why didn’t you successfully advance to Gold-rank?"
Dorothy continued to ask, and Aldrich, after taking a deep breath, replied.
"After that, I did indeed win and gained the qualification to advance to Gold-rank. However, Deer Skull, harboring a deep grudge, sabotaged me during the final stages of my advancement ritual, causing it to go awry. As a result, I suffered a backlash.”
"In fact, the ritual wasn’t a complete failure. After the ritual, I had gained most of the abilities and status of a Gold-rank, but the backlash severely damaged my body, especially my spiritual channels, which store spirituality. Now, although I’m technically half a Gold-rank, I can only store spirituality equivalent to a Black-rank.”
"With such limited spirituality, I can hardly use even Red or White-rank abilities, let alone Gold-rank. This is why I’ve hidden so many stone statues in the school—I can only rely on external objects to unleash higher-level abilities. That’s why, in the battle earlier, your fight against Deer Skull’s subordinates was the key to the entire battle."
After Aldrich finished speaking, Dorothy nodded thoughtfully. "It seems the backlash from the ritual severely crippled the old man’s MP pool, which is why he needs so many ’mana potions’ to fight."
"You said Deer Skull sabotaged your advancement, which means his actions directly opposed the entire guild. Did the guild just let him go after that?" Dorothy continued to ask.
Crippling a Gold-rank that the guild had invested so much in—surely the guild couldn’t just let that slide? Earlier, they had only expelled him, perhaps out of sentiment, but after this, wouldn’t the Golden Triad have tried to kill him?
"They did go after him. The Golden Triad immediately issued a kill order for Deer Skull. However, at that time, Deer Skull found a new backer. Somehow, he convinced the Silence major faction, the Nether Coffin Order, to take him in. The upper echelons of the Nether Coffin Order intervened and negotiated to protect Deer Skull, and the Golden Triad was persuaded."
Aldrich responded, and Dorothy couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise.
"They were convinced just like that?"
"Heh... Of course. The Nether Coffin Order Sect used the Craftsmen’s Guild’s own principles to persuade them. They proposed a trade with the guild, offering something from the Nether Coffin Order in exchange for Deer Skull’s life. The guild would decide what that something would be.”
"Trade is one of the guild’s principles. We can do business with anyone. Since they proposed a trade, the Golden Triad was inclined to accept. To compensate me, the Triad gave me the right to choose what to take from the Nether Coffin Order to make up for my losses."
Aldrich continued, and hearing this, Dorothy’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.
She asked, "So, what did you choose?"
Hearing Dorothy’s question, Aldrich smiled slightly and replied, "I chose Deer Skull’s unfinished work, which had already been taken into the Nether Coffin Order."
"His work? What do you want with that?"
"Heh, naturally, for revenge. For us Stone path Beyonders, the process of creating a work is the process of advancing to Gold-rank. Once the Gold-rank advancement ritual begins, there’s no turning back. To successfully advance, he must complete his work and hold the ritual. By taking his work, I ensured he could never advance to Gold-rank."
"But doesn’t that mean you’ve created a life-and-death feud with him? Was it worth it?" Dorothy asked, feeling somewhat incredulous.
Aldrich’s actions had essentially pitted his half-crippled self against a peak Red-rank enemy in a fight to the death.
To Dorothy’s question, Aldrich responded casually, "Of course it was worth it. I hold grudges, even if I’m crippled. He ruined my ritual, so I’ll make sure he never succeeds in advancing.”
"After that, I left the upper echelons of the guild and began living in seclusion in various cities, serving as an ordinary city representative for the guild. Deer Skull, on the other hand, went mad trying to find me, desperate to reclaim his work. We’ve been playing this game of cat and mouse for over a hundred years.”
"Occasionally, he would find me and attack, but I always managed to get early warnings and called in help from the guild’s higher-ups or old friends to drive him back. After that, I would move to a new location. This went on several times until, thirty years ago, on the recommendation of my old friend Amanda, I came here to become the school principal and have been here ever since. Finally, he found me again.”
“This time, he got smarter. To avoid alerting me, he didn’t come himself but sent two inconspicuous Black-rank subordinates to scout. After confirming my location, to prevent me from having time to call in old friends like before, he directly sent a cursed bone avatar through his subordinates to fight me, thinking he could finish me off quickly.”
"Heh... But what he didn’t expect was that I’ve found reliable new friends here."
As he spoke, Aldrich glanced at Dorothy, who couldn’t help but twitch her mouth.
"This old man really went all out, risking his life just to block his enemy’s advancement. But given the current situation, that’s all he can do. And he’s actually friends with Saint Amanda, the school’s benefactor? He’s quite well-connected."
"Alright, you now know almost everything about the grudge between me and that guy. So, Miss Mayschoss, do you have any other questions?"
Aldrich continued, and Dorothy immediately responded, "Mr. Aldrich, you’re a Stone path Beyonder with Revelation as your auxiliary, right? I’d like to ask if you know anything about the Revelation path."
Dorothy spoke directly, and Aldrich gave her a meaningful look before replying seriously, "I had my suspicions before, but I didn’t expect you to truly be a Revelation Beyonder. More importantly, you’re still an apprentice and haven’t chosen a auxiliary spirituality yet. Therefore... you are a pure Revelation path Beyonder, one who started on the Revelation path from the very beginning. Am I correct?"
Faced with Aldrich’s words, Dorothy remained silent, tacitly acknowledging his statement. Seeing her response, Aldrich burst into laughter.
"Hahaha... Amanda, oh Amanda, you really didn’t steer me wrong by recommending this little place. I never thought I’d meet a true Revelation Beyonder here, one who genuinely walks the Revelation path—something that hasn’t appeared in our era until now. This old bones never expected to witness history in the making, hahaha..."
Aldrich laughed heartily, and after his laughter subsided, he looked at Dorothy again and spoke a name.
"The Star Numerology Scriptorium, the only recorded mystic organization in hidden history that pursued the Revelation path. They were active from the Second to the Fourth Epoch, once flourishing but ultimately destroyed by an unknown catastrophe.”
"The ruins of the Star Numerology Scriptorium are scattered across the continent. For anyone seeking the secrets of Revelation, the best way is to search for these ruins. I myself stumbled upon one of these ruins during an expedition and gained the opportunity to use Revelation as my auxiliary spirituality. I can tell you the location of this ruin. You might find more there."
As he spoke, Aldrich looked into Dorothy’s eyes and slowly said, "The ruin isn’t far. It’s within the Pritt Kingdom, in the capital city—Tivian."