Under the dark sky, within the dimly lit forest, an unremarkable carriage travels along a small path. Guided by the faint light of a gas lamp, the masked coachman drives the carriage toward the distant city.
Inside the slightly swaying carriage, Dorothy, holding the Heart-Devouring Cane Sword, slowly opens her eyes, ending her recollection of the contents of the stele. After taking a deep breath, she furrows her brows slightly.
"The Arcane Professor... The difficulty of advancing to the White Ash-rank is ridiculously high... Are all pure pathways this outrageous? Just the spiritual requirements alone are this demanding..."
Dorothy mutters to herself, complaining. According to the records she saw on the stele earlier, for her Scholar to advance to Arcane Professor, she needs a total of 80 points of accumulated spirituality—30 points of Revelation and 50 points of the other five spiritualities. Although she had anticipated such high spiritual requirements when she advanced to Scholar, seeing the actual conditions for advancement still made her complain about how absurdly high they were.
In comparison, the advancement requirements for other Revelation-path branches to the White Ash-rank are not as exaggerated. Apart from the main spirituality, Revelation, which still requires 30 points, only the auxiliary spiritualities require 20 points each, totaling 50 points of spirituality—30 points less than the Arcane Professor.
The key issue isn’t even the 30-point gap. For hybrid pathways, one only needs to master two spirituality accumulation methods and have two sources of spirituality. However, for pure pathways like Scholar, if one doesn’t have a system like Dorothy’s to extract spirituality from cognitive poison, they would need to master six spirituality accumulation methods and find six sources of spirituality. The difficulty is simply outrageous.
“Sigh... I wonder how people in ancient times managed to advance in these pure pathways... The resource consumption is incomparable to other pathways, and the early-stage combat power is so weak and unstable... It feels like you’d need an entire major organization to support you to make any progress…”
Dorothy thinks to herself, then shifts her attention to another key point: the advancement ritual required for the Arcane Professor.
“The Scholar needs to read six mystical texts of different spiritualities, but the Arcane Professor requires the Honorific Names and holy symbols of six Pure Color Deities... Sigh... Another advancement ritual involving all spiritualities. I wonder if other pure pathways are like this.”
“This advancement ritual... seems quite troublesome. Six Pure Color Deities... Right now, I can only confirm the names of two: the Mother of Chalice or the Goddess of Abundance from the Chalice path, and the Radiant Savior from the Lantern path. The other four are still uncertain.” Dorothy strokes her chin, thinking to herself. Among the deities of the Shadow path, she only knows the Deep Web Spider Queen and the Mirror Moon Goddess. The Deep Web Spider Queen is not a Pure Color Deity but a Shadow-primary, Chalice-auxiliary deity. As for the Mirror Moon Goddess, there’s too little information, so Dorothy can’t confirm her exact spirituality.
For the Stone path, Dorothy knows of the Core of Order, but this might not be a Pure Color Deity. The Core of Order, associated with industry and craftsmanship, seems more like a Lantern-auxiliary deity, corresponding to the Blacksmith branch of the Stone path. In Dorothy’s view, there should be another Pure Color Deity in the Stone path, but this information might be obtainable from Beverly—for the right price.
As for the Silence path... Dorothy doesn’t know much about it either. For now, she only knows of the Great Soul from the New Continent, but whether this is a Pure Color Deity or even a deity at all is still difficult to verify.
Finally, the Revelation path, which is closest to Dorothy, is also a mystery. She can only wait for further progress in her research on the Star Numerology Scriptorium to get answers, and this might depend on Adèle finding her teacher Darlene’s research materials.
“Speaking of which... Darlene studied the Star Numerology Scriptorium because she was on the Desire path, which is Revelation-auxiliary. That old man Aldrich is also Revelation-auxiliary and has even reached the Red-rank. His research on the Star Numerology Scriptorium should be more advanced than Darlene’s. The next time I visit Beverly, I should ask about that old man’s current situation. If possible, I might even have Beverly deliver a couple of letters to Aldrich and ask him about the Scriptorium.”
Dorothy continues to think to herself. Next, she considers the other requirement for the advancement ritual besides the deity Honorific Names: the holy symbols.
Dorothy is actually familiar with holy symbols. They aren’t particularly rare items—they are simply badges engraved with a deity’s emblem and imbued with a trace of spirituality. In the Radiance Church, senior clergy often carry holy symbols of one of the three saints they worship. Some devout believer, after making contributions to the church, are also rewarded with holy symbols as a token of appreciation.
In Dorothy’s view, holy symbols are essentially superior amulets. Since even ordinary believers can obtain them, they aren’t particularly rare mystical items.
However, the problem is that even within the Radiance Church, the general holy symbols believers can easily obtain are only those of the Three Saints. The Radiant Savior, due to having fewer direct believers, is difficult to obtain through conventional channels. If even the Radiant Savior’s holy symbol is hard to get, then the holy symbols of other Pure Color Deities are even more difficult. The only way is to try to obtain them from secret societies and cults that worship these deities.
"Sigh... It seems this advancement won’t be achievable anytime soon..."
Dorothy sighs and mutters to herself. She then sets aside the advancement conditions and continues to deal with the spoils of war.
In the evidence room of the Serenity Bureau, besides the advancement stele of the Star Numerology Scriptorium, Dorothy also found two mystical texts collected by Davic. At the time, she quickly skimmed through both texts using Davic’s vision.
One of the texts is Davic’s research journal. Through its contents, Dorothy roughly understands what Davic was researching and why he needed to interrogate Darlene.
Davic’s research subject was the Goddess of Abundance Church. The reason he interrogated Darlene was that her family had once been a priestly family of the Goddess of Abundance Church, so he wanted to extract more clues about the faith in the Goddess of Abundance from her.
Closing her eyes, Dorothy begins to recall some important contents from Davic’s research journal.
...
October 7th: Originally, we believed that the Abundance faith was densely distributed in the Deserou region during the imperial era. Several important remains we know of are located there, so Deserou should be the central region of the Abundance faith. However, according to that woman’s confession, there was an Abundance faith that persisted until a decade ago in the southern mountains of Falano. This might challenge our previous deduction.
October 10th: To further our research, I need to write to the elders and have our outpost in Falano send people to that woman’s hometown to confirm the situation there. Hopefully, we can find something valuable.
October 27th: Damn it... The church hasn’t withdrawn from that place yet. The Holy Mother Convent is still guarding it... How many remains have they taken control of now? Their blockade of the remnants of the Abundance faith is getting tighter...
...
The contents of Davic’s research journal flash through Dorothy’s mind. After roughly reviewing these contents, Dorothy strokes her chin with interest and summarizes the journal’s contents.
“From this journal, it seems the Wolf Blood Society is searching for remnants of the Abundance faith. They interrogated Darlene mainly because of her connection to the Abundance faith. Their goal is to find more remnants of the Abundance faith, though what they hope to gain from these remnants is still unclear…”
“Another thing to note is that the Radiance Church also seems to be searching for remnants of the Abundance faith, and it’s the Holy Mother faction that’s primarily handling this. After Darlene’s hometown was taken over by the Radiance Church, it was forcibly sealed off and controlled to this day. When it comes to the remnants of the Abundance faith, the Afterbirth Cult and the Radiance Church are in competition…”
“Additionally, the Wolf Blood Society previously tried to steal books about early Holy Mother faith from the church library, and the Holy Mother faction secretly supported Adèle’s Crimson Heart. The conflict between the Afterbirth Cult and the Holy Mother faction of the Radiance Church seems quite intense…”
Dorothy thinks to herself. After roughly organizing her thoughts, Dorothy begins to extract the spirituality from this research journal, ultimately gaining 3 points of Chalice and 1 point of Revelation.
Next, Dorothy recalls the second mystical text that originally belonged to Davic, which she saw in the evidence room. Strictly speaking, this isn’t a mystical text but a tattered, ancient parchment painting. However, the content of this painting carries cognitive poison. In Dorothy’s recollection, the blurred contents of the painting become clear.
Although the painting is blurry, Dorothy can still make out the general image. It is a group portrait with a distinctive style. The main figures are gathered under a large tree. At the center is a blurry-faced, plump woman dressed in simple clothes, holding a bundle of wheat. Surrounding her are four figures.
Among these four figures, one is a hunter clad in animal skins, drawing a bow. Another is a shirtless sailor gazing into the distance. The third is an elderly man with a cauldron in front of him, seemingly brewing something. The fourth is a graceful, dancing woman.
These four figures surround the woman under the tree. Elsewhere on the painting are strange script, which Dorothy doesn’t recognize. They resemble Imperial Script.
“Is this... a painting of the Abundance faith? The woman at the center is the Goddess of Abundance, and the four figures around her symbolize the four hybrid branches of the Chalice path besides the pure Chalice…”
Dorothy thinks to herself as she recalls the image on the parchment. At the same time, a question arises in her mind.
“I wonder if these four figures around the Goddess of Abundance simply represent the four hybrid branches of the Chalice path or if they represent four hybrid deities... But their appearances are completely different from the current hybrid Chalice deities like the Gluttonous Wolf, the Abyssal Serpent, and the Plague Vulture. They all have proper human forms. If they really were hybrid deities serving the Goddess of Abundance, then they must have been the predecessors of the Gluttonous Wolf and the others, who collectively fall for some unknown reason?”
Recalling the contents of the painting, Dorothy ponders. It seems that the faith situation of the imperial era was completely different from today. From what she can see now, the Goddess of Abundance Church during the imperial era seems like a proper official religion, quite different from the current Afterbirth Cult.
Combining this with previous information, Dorothy can now conclude that the Abundance faith of the imperial era seems to have some intrinsic connection with the current Afterbirth Cult and the Holy Mother faction of the Radiance Church. Both the Holy Mother faction and the Afterbirth Cult are competing for the legacy of the Abundance faith.
"So... what exactly happened at the end of the Third Epoch? The Empire... the Goddess of Abundance Church... the Star Numerology Scriptorium... all perished during that time... It seems whatever happened back then was quite significant..."
Dorothy mutters to herself. She then extracts the spirituality from this painting, ultimately gaining 4 points of Chalice and 2 points of Revelation.
Next, Dorothy takes out the mystical text she found in Smith’s burning secret chamber and begins to read it carefully. It doesn’t take long for her to finish the contents.
...
This mystical text is a literary work titled "Homesickness."
The protagonist is a clerk working for a company in a big city. He left his hometown to make a living when he was young and has achieved considerable success in the city. However, he feels an unshakable sense of homesickness deep within him. He constantly misses his hometown and his mother, and as he grows older, this longing becomes more intense.
Later, news of his mother’s death reaches him. He leaves his job and returns to his hometown to attend her funeral. After the sorrowful funeral, to ease his intense homesickness, he decides to stay in his hometown and not return to the city where his career is flourishing.
Strangely, after returning to his hometown, the protagonist’s homesickness doesn’t ease but instead grows stronger. This inexplicable, intense emotion keeps him awake every night. He can’t understand why, even though he has returned home, his homesickness has become worse. He feels as though he is in his hometown but not truly there.
One night, tormented by this intense homesickness, the protagonist seems to understand something. He gets out of bed, takes a shovel, and goes to his mother’s grave. He digs up the coffin and opens it, once again seeing the familiar face.
Finally, the protagonist uses a knife to cut open the abdomen of the corpse in the coffin and buries his head inside. In the blood and flesh, he finds the peace of returning home.
...
"Tsk... These Chalice mystical texts are as bizarre as ever..."
Dorothy closes the mystical text and comments lightly. The Chalice mystical texts always have a similar style, and she’s used to it by now.
After finishing the text, Dorothy immediately begins extracting spirituality. From this "Homesickness" text, she gains 3 points of Chalice and 1 point of Revelation.
After extracting spirituality from three Chalice mystical texts in one go, Dorothy finally tackles the big one—the cognitive poison content from the advancement stele. Since the stele involves advancements for all Revelation branches, it also involves all spiritualities. Besides gaining a large amount of Revelation, she also gains a boost in each of the other spiritualities.
From the stone tablet, Dorothy gains 8 points of Revelation and 3 points of each of the other spiritualities. Combined with her previous gains, her current spirituality is as follows:
Chalice: 15
Stone: 14
Shadow: 7
Lantern: 4
Silence: 14
Revelation: 30
“Wow... After this round, my spirituality accumulation is surprisingly optimistic. Except for Shadow and Lantern, all the other spiritualities have already met the requirements.”
After reviewing her current spirituality status, Dorothy feels a wave of delight. At first, she thought she was still far from meeting the requirements, but after this round of organizing, the situation is much better than she expected. Especially for Chalice—she was down to just 2 points before, but now she’s up to 15.
For Dorothy, Shadow and Lantern aren’t particularly difficult to accumulate. She can first check with Beverly to see if there are any related mystical texts for sale. If not, she can try other channels, such as Vania, Gregor, or even the Eight-Spired Nest.
"So, the spirituality aspect isn’t a big issue now. The key is the ritual... The Honorific Names and holy symbols of six Pure Color Deities... That’s quite tricky. I can’t even confirm who the six Pure Color Deities are, let alone obtain their holy symbols."
Dorothy mutters to herself. In the current Fourth Epoch, information about the six Pure Color Deities can only be obtained by delving into Mystic History or dealing with various secret societies. The difficulty is much higher than raising seven lambs for the Werewolf advancement.
"Sigh... In any case, I’ll take it step by step. For now, my main focus will be on the advancement ritual. Starting tomorrow, I’ll tackle the easiest parts first..."
Dorothy takes a deep breath and says this. As the carriage sways slightly, she begins to contemplate her plans. The carriage has already left the forest and is heading toward the city illuminated by distant lights.