At night, Dorothy sat before her desk, gazing at the world map hanging on the wall. This map depicted almost the entire world.
This world primarily consists of three continents. The Main Continent, also known as the Lightfall Continent, is located in the center of the map and is where most of the modern nations of this world are situated, such as Farano, Olitz, Quidosas... and Prit, not far from the continent. These are all Main Continent nations. The Industrial Revolution originated here, and they possess the most advanced civilization.
In mythology, the place where the Radiant Savior descended is Holy Mountain, located in the center of the Main Continent. This is also the main battlefield where the Radiant Savior fought against evil gods and Save the World, hence it is also called the Lightfall Continent. Holy Mountain is also the current central hub of the Church. The entire continent is crisscrossed with mountains and rivers, vast plains, and most areas have a habitable climate, with only a part of the eastern region lacking precipitation, consisting of grasslands and deserts.
South of the Main Continent is the Ufeiga Continent, also known as the Southern Continent or the Hot Sand Continent. The northern part of the Ufeiga Continent is a desert, where it is said a once-prosperous civilization fell, burying a large number of ruins under the yellow sand. The southern part is a dense rainforest, home to many primitive nations and tribes.
Communication between the Ufeiga Continent and the Main Continent has existed since ancient times. They are connected by a small, narrow, serpentine isthmus, and the Conquest Sea separating them is not too large, so there has been a certain degree of exchange between the two continents since ancient times.
In contrast, to the west of the Main Continent is the New World, discovered only in recent decades, also known as the Western Continent or the Starfall Continent. It is separated from the Main Continent by an ocean much wider than the Conquest Sea.
Like the Ufeiga Continent, the New World is currently being colonized and plundered by colonists from the various nations of the Main Continent. The secular regimes there cannot resist the pace of the industrial powers of the Main Continent.
Additionally, north of the Main Continent, there is actually a Northern Continent, but this continent is located in the polar region, covered by a thick ice sheet year-round, and is called the Extreme Ice Continent. However, it is sparsely populated, not just by humans, but there are few living things there, so it is generally not considered when discussing the situation of the various continents.
Dorothy gazed at the map before her, focusing on the Main Continent, which is arguably the largest in area. If her previous conjectures were not wrong, then the Empire once created by the Light King had an exaggeratedly vast territory. One nation ruled the largest continent in this world, which was incredibly powerful. Even the language currently spoken by the nations on the Main Continent evolved from variations of the empire language, and the empire language is likely the common ancestor of the written languages of the various nations on the Main Continent, with evolutionary differences arising due to regional variations.
Dorothy had read some history books from Prit and other countries on the Main Continent in the library and found that the further back in history these books recorded, the more vague and obscure they became. Ultimately, they would all trace back to the Shining Light Church's Save the World mythology. This means that all secular history books on the Main Continent begin with the Radiant Savior's Save the World mythology. The history of each country starts with the Save the World mythology and gradually becomes clearer from obscurity.
As for the history before the Save the World mythology, it is not recorded in any secular historical books and can only be hinted at in secret transmission. The vast Empire that once ruled the entire continent has no trace in the history of any nation.
For example, Dorothy once learned about the existence of the Light King in a secret transmission. According to the description in the secret transmission, it was the Light King and his allies who expelled the evil gods and demons, and he ultimately established the Empire.
The history in the secret transmission has a clear difference from the Shining Light Church's mythology here, but the image of the Light King and the Radiant Savior has a certain degree of overlap.
According to the Shining Light Church mythology, the Save the World is a god who descended from heaven out of pity for the world. In the secret transmission history, the Light King was an emperor who gained god-like power, transforming from a human into a god.
"It seems the Shining Light Church has hidden a lot of history..."
Looking at the pile of books on her desk, Dorothy murmured. It was obvious that the history of the current secular world was dominated by the Shining Light Church, and the true history had likely been hidden.
'Based on the information obtained so far, it is quite certain that a vast Empire once existed on the Main Continent. The Radiant Savior's mythology may have some connection with the Light King, the founder of the Empire, and the Shining Light Church may have originated during the Empire period.
'And the message next to the mirror moon statue in the ruins below the school is in the empire language, so this mirror moon statue may also have been built by the Shining Light Church during the Empire period. The goddess symbolized by the mirror moon statue is very likely an otherworld of the Shining Light Church during the Empire period... or perhaps, it was the orthodox faith at that time, but for some unknown reason, it was abolished. The activity and demise of the Xing Shu Xiu Shu Hui (Star Numerology Scripture Society) might also be something from the Empire period.'
Dorothy thought to herself, trying her best to summarize all the information she had obtained, attempting to reconstruct the true history of this world. However, at present, she could only reconstruct it to this extent.
Finishing her thoughts on the true history of this world, Dorothy turned her attention back to the secret transmission before her. This secret transmission, obtained from Kirk, was written in a transitional script between Prit script and empire language. Dorothy did not understand empire language very well, so reading it was difficult.
Currently, Dorothy could only vaguely discern that this secret transmission was a record of early Holy Mother worship rituals. Although many parts were still incomprehensible, the parts she did understand left Dorothy astonished.
In this secret transmission recording ancient Shining Light Church Holy Mother worship rituals, the prayers and process used in the ritual were documented. In the records about the ritual process, the term 'blood sacrifice' appeared quite frequently. Although in the section on offerings, Dorothy could barely make out that the offerings were mostly livestock like cattle and sheep, and no humans were seen, she was still surprised, as the current Shining Light Church does not even perform livestock blood sacrifices.
Moreover, after painstakingly deciphering some of the words on it, Dorothy discovered that this secret transmission directly referred to the Holy Mother as 'Mother' at times, which would not happen now. Dorothy, having believed in the Holy Mother since childhood, knew the various forms of address to be mindful of when praying to the Holy Mother.
"It seems the Shining Light Church of the past and the Shining Light Church of today are also very different..."
Looking at the secret transmission before her, Dorothy murmured. Due to the language barrier, she could only interpret a small part of this secret transmission. To fully interpret it, she would need to fully master the empire language at least.
'But I promised Vanya that I would return the book to the Church after finishing it. It looks like I won't be able to finish reading it all at once, so I'll just have to memorize everything in one go and slowly interpret it later after learning the empire language.'
Dorothy thought to herself. Since Vanya did not want the Church's property to be damaged, Dorothy promised to return the secret transmission after reading it. Fortunately, Dorothy's ability as a Scholar was enough for her to forcibly memorize the image of every page of this secret transmission, so it wouldn't matter even if she returned it.
'Tomorrow, I'll ask Beverly to mail this secret transmission to the Church. I'll fully interpret it later after learning the empire language. For now, I can extract some Spirituality from here.'
Thinking this, Dorothy performed a Spirituality extraction on the part of the secret transmission she had already interpreted. As a result, she obtained 2 points of "Cup", 2 points of "Lamp", and 1 point of "enlightenment". The Spirituality obtained was quite a bit more than she had expected.
'This secret transmission on Holy Mother worship has quite a bit of Spirituality, 2 Cup, 2 Lamp, 1 enlightenment... Some other secret transmissions that cost three or four hundred pound each yield about this much Spirituality when extracted entirely. This one yielded so much from extracting only a small part. If I fully extract it later, there will definitely be more. This secret transmission has a considerable amount of Spirituality overall.
'Furthermore, one point worth noting is the connection between the Holy Mother and "Cup" among the Three Saints... According to the content of this secret transmission, early Holy Mother worship indeed seemed to involve blood and flesh sacrifices, and the Holy Mother also has a strong connection with motherhood. Blood and flesh combined with motherhood... This combination inevitably brings to mind the Cup Mother. Does this characteristic appear whenever "Cup" Spirituality is involved?'
Dorothy thought about this, but ultimately she did not delve deeper. She just looked at the deepening night outside the window and let out a sigh of relief.
"Hoo... Forget it, there's too little information right now, thinking more won't help. I should hurry and take a bath and go to bed."
Murmuring to herself, Dorothy tidied up the things on her desk, stretched, and prepared to take a bath and go to bed.
After taking a comfortable bath, changing into her white pajamas, and lying on her bed, she began to ponder again.
'So... should I go to the Dream World tonight? I gain absolutely nothing every time I go, maybe I just shouldn't go...'
Lying on her large bed, Dorothy thought to herself. At night, she would occasionally use mimicry to enter the Dream World and wander around randomly, trying her luck to see if she could gain anything. Unfortunately, she returned empty-handed every time.
'It's inexplicable, the Woodland is empty, there's nothing there at all. Every time my time runs out, I return without success. What the heck...'
Dorothy complained in her heart. Originally, she had read in the dream records that the Dream World should be very lively, with many Dream World creatures that might carry secret transmission information composed of ancient memories. However, since entering the Dream World, Dorothy had not seen a single one, which made her quite annoyed to the point that she hadn't wanted to go to the Dream World recently.
'Forget it, I'll try my luck for a few more days. If I really don't encounter anything, then I'll just go once every few days and see. I'll get a bit more sleep every day.'
Thinking this, Dorothy closed her eyes and drifted into sleep.
...
Dream World, somewhere in the Woodland.
Thick, tall tree trunks supported the space, and dense canopies covered the sky, extending outwards. Countless pure white dream cocoons hung from the dense branches, and dreamy bubbles carrying memories slowly drifted between the trees.
Beneath the giant trees was a colorful grassland, where a hunt was currently taking place.
The hunters were four hounds. Their fur was black, their bodies sturdy, and at this moment, they were spread out, forming a circle, trapping their prey in the center.
Their prey was a wild boar with tusks. This wild boar was brown all over, with patterns emitting a faint silver light on its body. Although surrounded as prey, it showed no signs of fear or submission, but instead scanned its surroundings with a serious expression, looking at the hunters surrounding it.
Suddenly, the wild boar, as the prey, attacked first. After a snort, it charged directly at one of the black hounds, attempting to knock it away. The black hound it chose as its target dodged the wild boar's charge with exceptional agility, then turned around and pounced, grabbing onto the wild boar's back and biting down without letting go. The wild boar grunted in pain, then wriggled and slammed into the root of a large tree nearby, hitting itself so hard it saw stars.
Seeing this, the remaining three hounds also suddenly erupted, pouncing towards the wild boar, biting at various parts of its body and holding on tightly.
Snorting, the wild boar ran around, crashing into things with the four hounds tearing at it. After struggling for a long time, it finally collapsed, unable to support itself.
Seeing the wild boar fall, the four hounds all got off its body. Then, the wild boar's body began to rapidly disintegrate, turning into points of light. A very small portion of the light points were purple, and most of the light points were black. The purple light points quickly disappeared not long after appearing, with only some black light points suspended in the air.
Looking at these black light points before them, the largest of the four Black Dog spoke.
"Alright, Grego, it's time to absorb."
"Yes, Mr. James!"
Another Black Dog responded, then stood among the light points. After closing his eyes and sensing for a moment, the black light points gradually approached the Black Dog and finally merged into him.
"How is it? Grego, how much Spirituality did this Dream World creature have this time?" On the other side, another Black Dog spoke. Her voice was a female voice.
"A lot, Eilina. This Dream World creature was big, much more Spirituality than the rabbits we caught before. Now I feel like I've taken a big step closer to accumulating enough Spirituality. Overall, it's about one-tenth more. Thank you all for your help."
The Black Dog called Grego said thankfully, and the last Black Dog also laughed heartily and spoke.
"Haha, if you want to thank us, you have to show some sincerity. You're treating us to dinner tomorrow, and I won't accept a cheap restaurant."
"Haha, of course, Turner."
The Black Dog called Grego laughed in response. The four Black Dog here were the Dream World mimics of Extraordinary individuals from reality. They all belonged to the Iggwente Secret Agency.
James, Grego, Eilina, Turner... These were all members of the Iggwente Secret Agency. Tonight, they gathered in the Dream World to help Grego hunt Dream World creatures and accumulate Spirituality for him, so that he could accumulate enough to reach the point of advancement as soon as possible.
Hunting Dream World creatures in the Dream World by transforming into mimics and absorbing the scattered "Shadow" Spirituality is the method used by the "Shadow" Extraordinary individuals in the An Yin Bureau to accumulate Spirituality.
In order to reach the standard for advancement before going to Tivian, Grego needed to accumulate enough Spirituality, so his colleagues in the Iggwente Secret Agency were currently helping him with Dream World hunting.