King’s Campus, Royal Crown University.
In the Outer Circle of the Scholarly Society of Mystical Knowledge’s gathering place, external members hurried back and forth. Mentally unstable members were scattered throughout the spacious room, muttering to themselves. In a corner, Nephthys sat quietly, intently reading a book spread open on the table before her.
The book was titled “The Procession of the Hive Queen,” a fictional work that anthropomorphized the story of several insects surviving in a jungle. The story depicted a vast and complex family system among the insects, where offspring were required to absolutely obey their parents, and parents, in turn, obeyed their own parents. This hierarchy extended upward, ultimately culminating in the entire swarm submitting to the great Hive Queen.
The novel, told from the perspective of several insects, described the operational system of this vast insect family, detailing how they hunted, waged war, and dealt with disasters. Throughout the narrative, there was pervasive admiration for the elder insects and the great Hive Queen.
This was one of the mystical texts Thorn Velvet provided to the students of the Scholarly Society of Mystical Knowledge. A single mystical text had been split into a series of eight books, with the content of one text diluted and expanded into eight volumes through excessive word padding.
Because of the excessive padding, the cognitive poison within the text was also diluted. Each volume contained a low concentration of cognitive poison, making it difficult for readers to detect. This allowed the cognitive poison to infect the entire society without anyone noticing. If not for the mystical item left by Nephthys’s tomb-raider grandfather, the entire society would have already been completely controlled by Thorn Velvet.
The book before Nephthys was the third volume of “The Procession of the Hive Queen,” which she had obtained through a highly contaminated friend. Once she finished the fourth volume, she would gain access to the Inner Circle.
Nephthys carefully flipped through the pages of the book. After reading forty or fifty pages, she rubbed her eyes. While reading, she had been closely monitoring her mental state and indeed felt a slight sense of unease. Pretending to rest her eyes, she closed them and began to pray silently in her heart.
“Above the endless expanse of this world, the convergence of infinite destinies, the gate and key to boundless truths, the great Aka, Recorder of All Things… I pray to you once more, protect my spirit, purify the contamination of knowledge…”
As soon as the prayer ended, Nephthys felt a sudden clarity in her mind. The faint sense of unease that had lingered in her thoughts vanished like mist, and she even felt a refreshing sense of relief. “It worked again… it really is effective.”
After finishing her prayer, Nephthys reflected with some amazement. Though subtle, she could feel the change in her mental state. She knew her prayer had taken effect.
Now, without the protection of her necklace, Nephthys was almost finished with the third volume, yet she felt no desire to worship Thorn Velvet. This proved a crucial point: the mysterious deity Aka, whose honorific name she had invoked, truly existed! It had responded to her prayer and protected her mind.
The mysterious Rose Cross Order worshipped a real deity!
“Thank you, Aka, thank you for your divine protection…”
After her prayer, Nephthys silently expressed her gratitude. Though her understanding of this deity was still shallow, she knew that reverence was necessary when dealing with the divine.
“The Rose Cross Order… a secret society that venerates a hidden deity. Its members include not only adults but also what seems to be a middle school girl. What is their true nature? What are their principles and goals? What are they and the Eight-Spired Nest seeking within the school?”
After expressing her gratitude, questions began to arise in Nephthys’s mind. However, as someone still new to the mysticism world, she had no answers. Yet, this only deepened her curiosity as a mystic lover, stirring other emotions within her.
“A secret society protected by a hidden deity… it’s truly something to aspire to…”
As she thought this, Nephthys turned her attention back to the book before her and continued reading the mystical text.
…
In the library of King’s Campus, Dorothy sat in a corner, reading a mundane book titled “Structural Mechanics” while responding to Nephthys’s prayers and helping her cleanse the cognitive poison. On the table before Dorothy were several thick books, many of which were engineering texts related to mechanical structures.
She had once considered inventing things like airplanes in this world, but her foundational knowledge was insufficient. Now that she was at Royal Crown University’s library, she could use her free time to fill in the gaps in her knowledge. Perhaps, with some support from Beverly, she could achieve something remarkable.
“Hmm, Nephthys is progressing quite quickly. This is already her second prayer, and she’s almost finished with this volume. At this rate, she’ll be done in less than six days.”
After cleansing the cognitive poison for Nephthys, Dorothy thought to herself. Besides being pleased with Nephthys’s reading speed, she also noted the spiritual attributes extracted from the mystical text Nephthys was reading.
“It’s Shadow and Chalice… the same configuration as the Beastman branch. However, this time, Shadow is more dominant.”
“Does this phenomenon suggest that the Eight-Spired Nest is primarily Shadow with Chalice as an auxiliary focus? It’s possible, but not certain. Based on the Shadow apprentice and this mystical text, it’s highly likely they focus on Shadow, but whether Chalice is secondary is unclear. Established societies often have multiple branches. The Eight-Spired Nest is stronger than the Crimson Eucharist, so it’s possible they have multiple branches.”
Through Nephthys’s reading, Dorothy speculated about the possible mystical traditions of the Eight-Spired Nest. Then, she turned her thoughts back to Nephthys herself.
Her previous conversation with Nephthys had yielded unexpected insights.
“It seems Nephthys’s grandfather was likely a Beyonder. He probably excavated many ancient artifacts with mystical properties during his time in North Ufiga. Nephthys must have fainted as a child due to the cognitive poison on those artifacts. That’s why her grandfather gave her the necklace—to protect her from the cognitive poison while she viewed those artifacts.”
“This also explains why the necklace’s spirituality was so limited and why it shattered after just two diluted mystical texts. Most of its spirituality was likely consumed when Nephthys was a child, viewing those ancient artifacts.”
After hearing Nephthys’s account, Dorothy was certain that her grandfather’s collection room contained ancient mystical texts from North Ufiga. She immediately asked Nephthys about the current whereabouts of those artifacts.
Nephthys explained that most of her grandfather’s collection had been donated to a museum before his death, while a small portion had been taken back to his childhood home in a neighboring county. There, he had built a manor and hidden the artifacts. Nephthys hadn’t been there since starting middle school.
“Those items are probably dangerous mystical artifacts and mystical texts, which is why they couldn’t be donated to the museum. Nephthys’s family manor is in a neighboring county, quite a distance away. If I can build a good relationship with Nephthys, perhaps during a break, she can take me to her old home to examine her grandfather’s relics.”
Dorothy thought to herself. She was quite interested in the ancient mystical texts of North Ufiga and might even find a few useful mystical items.
“After helping Nephthys deal with the Eight-Spired Nest, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to ask for a couple of ancient artifacts, would it?”
As she thought this, a faint smile of satisfaction appeared on Dorothy’s lips.
“But for now, I need to focus on the Eight-Spired Nest. In a few days, once Nephthys finishes reading, we can move on to the next step…”
As Dorothy gazed out the window, deep in thought, she suddenly felt a strange sensation.
Sensing the anomaly, Dorothy immediately stood up and made her way to the restroom. There, she took out her magic box. On the box, a gemstone was faintly glowing.
This phenomenon, as Aldrich had explained to Dorothy, indicated that a mystical activity had occurred with one of the items stored in the box, alerting the owner.
The current glow meant that one of the items Dorothy had stored in the magic box had just undergone some mystical activity.
Without hesitation, Dorothy opened the box and retrieved an item—a thick book titled “The Literary Sea Logbook.”
Indeed, among Dorothy’s mystical items, this was the only one that could initiate mystical activity on its own without being activated. This happened when it received textual information from another connected source.
In other words, The Literary Sea Logbook had just received a message from another connected text. The magic box, detecting the activity, had sent Dorothy a notification.
“Having this in the magic box gives me instant alerts. In a way, it’s even more convenient. But who could be sending me a message now? An old acquaintance? Or a new friend?”
As she pondered, Dorothy flipped through the pages of The Literary Sea Logbook. After checking the chat logs of old acquaintances and finding no new messages, she turned a few more pages. Finally, on a completely new page, she saw a fresh set of text.
It was a bold, blocky script, resembling stamped characters, written in a language she did not recognize.