North Ufiga inland, in the capital city of Addus—Yadith.
On the outskirts of Yadith, inside the Temple of Revelation Runes, Dorothy remains within a hidden dimension that seems separated from the real world by only a thin veil, consulting ancient knowledge long buried for millennia.
Because Dorothy is the first Revelation visitor in thousands of years, the temple’s library system, dormant for so long, has resumed operation at her request. Characters floating throughout this secret space shift and reassemble incessantly before her eyes, forming new passages that unveil the latter half of the Revelation Path.
Using Chalice for Revelation, Spiritual Thread Path: Threadweaver Shaman → Fate-Binding Spindle
Using Stone for Revelation, Roaring Fury Path: Thunder Summoner → Heaven Decree Envoy
Using Shadow for Revelation, Bewitching Dreams Path: Dream Voyager → Bizarre Author
Using Lantern for Revelation, Foresight Path: Prophecy Scholar → Light Gazer
Using One’s Body for Revelation, Pure Reason Path: Arcane Professor → Omni-Law Mentor
//e_win
In Dorothy’s eyes, the drifting text arranges itself into readable Universal Script. All five methods of advancing from White Ash to Crimson within the Revelation Path spread out before her. Staring at the dense passages, she finds herself briefly entranced. After skimming the entire document, she narrows her focus to the section she needs most: the advancement ritual for the Pure Reason Path.…
In the advancement ritual from White Ash-rank Arcane Professor to Crimson-rank Omni-Law Mentor, the Arcane Professor must fill 50 points of Revelation spirituality—excluding their inherent spirituality. Beyond that, each of the other five spiritual domains must reach two-fifths capacity, 20 points each.
Along with these spirituality requirements, the Arcane Professor must also acquire six ritual implements, each an artifact imbued with divine blessing by a different one of six deities in separate spiritual domains. These deities may be of any pure- or mixed-color deities, so long as each belongs to a distinct one of the six domains. Only by arranging six deity-blessed items can the ritual circle for ascending to Omni-Law Mentor be established, enabling a true transition to the higher Crimson-rank Beyonder.
…
Standing in the distorted temple hall, Dorothy stares at the newly formed words floating before her, her expression involuntarily slipping into deep thought. Having finally obtained the ritual for Crimson advancement, her mind races with possibilities.
“Omni-Law Mentor… so that’s the title of my next rank? As I suspected, the spirituality requirement isn’t small at all. Needing 50 points of Revelation is manageable—I already have 42. Just a bit more to go. The tougher part is the 20 points each in the other five domains. As of now, I only barely satisfy Chalice and Shadow. Shadow is exactly 20 points; if I use it even slightly, it’ll drop below the threshold. Given how often I tap into Shadow, it’s easy to deplete by accident.
“And as for the rest of the domains, none of them meet the requirement. Silence isn’t too bad—I don’t use it much, and I’m up to 14. I can hit 20 by reading a couple more books. But aside from Silence, things look bleak. Lantern and Stone are both still under 10. Filling them will take a lot of work…”
Dorothy thinks this as she eyes the surrounding clusters of text. After evaluating her spiritual situation, she focuses on the specifics of the advancement ritual.
“Like earlier rituals, stepping into Crimson rank also requires items from all six spiritual domains. For Black Earth, you needed six mystical texts. For White Ash, six holy symbols. Now, at Crimson rank, it’s even stricter—you need six items blessed by gods…
“Mystical texts and holy symbols were one thing. They’re not inherently rare, just tricky to track down. But ‘deity-blessed’ items are on another level: these ‘god-touched’ artifacts mean a lot to every major sect that worships their respective deity…”
She furrows her brow at the thought. A deity-blessed item is something granted through the personal prayers of a high-ranking religious official, imbued with divine grace. Unlike the commonly seen holy symbols, these artifacts have serious value for each sect. Though not on par with “god-bestowed relics” or “sacred treasures,” they’re still important enough to be heavily guarded—certainly not something you can acquire by simply donating money.
“Six deity-blessed items from different spiritual domains… tsk, that’s no small matter. In the Radiance Church, a divine-blessed artifact is valuable enough to warrant its own modest chapel for safekeeping. No ordinary means could ever obtain something like that…
“Still, at least the requirement isn’t limited to purely aligned main gods. That means that if I manage to get artifacts blessed by a mixed-color deity, it’ll still count toward the ritual. That definitely lowers the difficulty a bit. If it had demanded six Pure-Color Deities, that would’ve been almost impossible…”
Such were Dorothy’s continued musings. She was relieved to see that not all the artifacts had to come from Pure-Color Deities—given how sparse their worship had become, acquiring purely aligned deity-blessed items would be unimaginably difficult. With mixed-color deities allowed, though still challenging, at least she had some avenues to pursue.
Six deity-blessed items; gathering that many would demand tremendous effort on Dorothy’s part. Even so, she already had one in her possession—the Deep Blue Heart, obtained from the Abyssal Church. That blue gem, which could summon the sea progeny Haimohois, was indeed a deity-blessed item of the Chalice domain!
“Not sure if it was the Mother of Chalice or the Abyssal Serpent who blessed this Deep Blue Heart, but as long as it’s definitely god-touched, that’s good enough. One of the six tasks solved before I even properly started—can’t thank the Abyssal Church enough…”
Recalling the Deep Blue Heart stored in her magic box, Dorothy thought back to how annoyed she’d been when she first bumped into the Abyssal Church on her trip. Now, she just wanted to thank them for bringing out a deity-blessed artifact so she could snatch it.
“So that’s the Chalice artifact sorted. Still need five more. For the Stone domain, I can ask Beverly about the Craftsmen’s Guild to see if they have any deity-blessed items to rent. Dealing with those profiteers might be feasible if I have enough money, but renting a deity-blessed artifact must cost a fortune, and my wallet might not handle that…
“As for the Shadow artifact, maybe the little fox can help. She’s a descendant of the Dream Knight faith and might know about a Dream Knight deity-blessed item. If that fails, I’ll have to rely on that Eight-Spired Nest’s Spider Queen. Lantern, however, is a real headache—sure, the Church definitely has divine artifacts, but how to get my hands on one is another question. I can’t just donate money like I did for a holy emblem. This time I’ll probably have to rely on Vania’s internal maneuvering. And there’s no easy way to secure a Silence artifact either. Maybe I’ll luck out again and run into the Nether Coffin Order, then take something from them…
“Finally, for Revelation… not sure if I can replicate the same trick I used to forge that holy emblem last time…”
Standing in the warped temple hall, Dorothy turned these ideas over in her mind. After many detours, she had at last obtained the Crimson advancement ritual. Now she had a clearer objective for her next steps, and it was time to withdraw.
“Phew… at least I’ve managed to secure the ritual. The main goal I came to Addus for is done. Now’s the time to get out of here.
“I wonder how things are going on Vania’s side of the negotiations? If they’re getting nowhere, so be it—just declare no results and head back. World peace for a nation isn’t something we can force if it’s clearly impossible. As long as she’s safe, that’s all that matters…”
So reflecting, Dorothy prepared to contact Vania through her information channel by praying to Aka, to check on how the negotiations were proceeding. Judging from the time, the second round should have reached its mid-session break by now.
Before long, Dorothy successfully got in touch with Vania. But the news she received took her aback.
“What? You’re saying Muhtar already left?”
“Yes… that’s exactly it, Miss Dorothea. I only just found out. The Savior’s Advent people vanished from the lounge, and the guards said they didn’t stop to rest after the first half but left straight away…”
Inside the palace’s negotiation hall, Vania in white attire sat at a large circular table, her face full of worry as she eyed a stack of documents. Not far from her, Shadi—the revolutionary leader—looked gravely out into the night through the window, equally stunned by Muhtar’s departure.
“They just walked out? What happened?”
Dorothy asked curiously, and Vania—still in the negotiation hall—continued explaining telepathically.
“Actually, nothing special happened. The negotiations went the same as before—our side and the Savior’s Advent Sect have major differences with practically no room for consensus. Mr. Shadi remained silent, never clarifying his stance. The discussion was in a stalemate with no progress. I wanted to keep going, and so did Mr. Shadi, but Muhtar evidently grew impatient. Before the break, he was already showing signs of agitation. His tone grew increasingly harsh, and he began saying he had no intention of wasting more time on these fruitless talks.
“I suppose they got sick of this obviously dead-end negotiation and decided to leave midway. I only found out moments ago. I was about to inform you, Miss Dorothea, but you contacted me first.”
Hearing Vania’s explanation, Dorothy’s expression darkened. She then asked.
“How long ago did they leave?”
“Well… we have a twenty-minute break. They walked out right after the first half ended, without stopping at all, so I’d say it’s been about twenty minutes…”
“Twenty minutes…”
At that, Dorothy felt a jolt. The palace’s negotiation hall wasn’t far from her own location. Traveling by carriage, twenty minutes was more than enough time to get back. If Muhtar was indeed returning straight away, he should be arriving any moment.
Dorothy realized Muhtar would soon return to the Light-Prayer Cathedral, so she hastily directed the corpse marionettes monitoring the vicinity to scatter and told Nephthys, who was waiting nearby to assist her, to withdraw immediately—reducing the risk of detection.
As for Dorothy herself, she still hadn’t worked out a way to leave this hidden realm on short notice and therefore could not depart just yet. Even so, she wasn’t overly anxious. This hidden realm within the Light-Prayer Cathedral came from extremely powerful ancient forces and was well concealed; Muhtar had been living here all this time without ever finding it, so there was no reason to believe he could suddenly detect it now. And even if he did sense something, he still wouldn’t be able to enter.
Nervous but determined, Dorothy searched for an exit in this stark, distorted space. Right in the middle of her search, she heard footsteps echoing outside the hall.
Following the sound, Dorothy looked toward the hall’s main entrance. Beyond two massive pillars of stone, Muhtar entered along with several clerics at his side, faces solemn and tinged with barely restrained anger.
Seeing Muhtar—who seemed almost in the same monochrome style as the hidden dimension itself—suddenly appear, Dorothy felt a jolt of alarm, worrying he might look her way. Thankfully, after stepping inside, Muhtar went straight to the Savior’s altar, knelt without turning around, and began praying, seemingly unable to perceive Dorothy within the overlapping hidden space. Dorothy breathed a deep sigh of relief at the sight.
“Whew… so people in the real world really can’t glimpse this hidden realm, but someone inside can see the real world. Sure, it’s oddly styled and limited to this Temple of Revelation Runes, but still, it’s pretty amazing…”
Watching the scene, Dorothy speculated on the initial relationship between this hidden realm and reality: that those in the outside world can’t sense or interfere with the hidden realm, while those in the hidden realm can observe reality yet likewise can’t affect it.
All things considered, Dorothy felt quite safe in her current position: she could see and hear Muhtar, but he had no awareness of her. Though he was a Crimson-rank Beyonder, the temple’s protection kept Dorothy relatively secure. Once she was sure of this, another thought struck her: maybe she could use this hidden realm to gather intelligence on Muhtar.
She didn’t dare use corpse marionettes to spy on him, but now she was physically present in a place where Muhtar couldn’t detect her—an ideal opportunity for reconnaissance.
Thus, Dorothy stood silently in the hidden hall, observing Muhtar as he prayed before the altar. After several minutes, she finally heard him begin murmuring in a low voice.
“O Lord… those heretics remain obstinate, believing they can dismiss all our efforts in Addus with a few words. Shadi has forsaken his debt of gratitude and refuses to fulfill his promise, forgetting the oath he once made to you. Negotiations… have grown pointless. Continuing on like this will only bring more humiliation.
“O Lord… to keep your radiance in Addus from fading once again, we must now adopt extraordinary measures. Yadith must be plunged once more into the crucible of war if it is truly to return to your embrace…”
In reality, Muhtar prayed devoutly before the Savior’s altar, while Dorothy—within the hidden realm—stood nearby, astonished by what he was saying.