Under the dark sky, within the dim forest, an ordinary carriage traveled along the forest path. Illuminated by the faint light of a gas lamp, the masked coachman drove the carriage towards the city ahead.
Inside the carriage, within the slightly swaying compartment, Dorothy, holding the heart-devouring staff-sword, slowly opened her eyes from her seat. After finishing her recollection of the stone tablet's content, she took a deep breath, and her brows furrowed slightly.
"Sequence ""Mystic Professor""? The difficulty of advancing to Chalk Tier is really a bit excessive... Are all pure-color professions this outrageous? Just the Spirituality requirement is this high..."
Dorothy muttered her complaints. According to the records seen on the stone tablet earlier, her Erudite required a total of 80 points of accumulated Spirituality to advance to Sequence "Mystic Professor": 30 points of 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment) and 50 points of the other five types of Spirituality. Although Dorothy had anticipated such a result for advancing to Chalk when she previously advanced to Erudite, upon actually seeing the advancement conditions, she couldn't help but complain that the Spirituality requirement was ridiculously high.
In contrast, the advancement requirements for Chalk under other 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment) paths are not as exaggerated. Besides the main Spirituality, 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment), still needing to be accumulated to 30 points, only the involved auxiliary Spirituality needs to be accumulated to 20 points, requiring a total accumulation of 50 points of Spirituality, 30 points less than Sequence "Mystic Professor".
In fact, the most crucial point is not this 30-point difference. For mixed-color professions, mastering two methods of Spirituality accumulation and having two channels for Spirituality accumulation is sufficient. However, if one wants to cultivate a pure color like Erudite, and cannot rely on the system to extract Spirituality from Spirit Sight like Dorothy, then they must master six methods of Spirituality accumulation and find six channels for Spirituality acquisition. This difficulty is simply ridiculously high.
'Hoo... I wonder what kind of talents were able to advance in these pure-color professions in ancient times... The level of resource consumption is completely incomparable to other professions, and their early combat power is so poor and unstable... It feels like only a large society providing support could allow them to proceed smoothly...'
Dorothy thought this in her heart, and then she shifted her attention to another key point: the advancement ritual required by Sequence "Mystic Professor".
'Erudite needs to read six secret transmissions of different Spiritualities, but Sequence "Mystic Professor" actually requires the revered names and holy emblems of six pure-color main gods... Hiss... Another advancement ritual involving all Spiritualities, I wonder if other pure-color professions are like this.
'Regarding this advancement ritual... it seems very troublesome as well. Six pure-color main gods... I can only currently confirm the names of two: the Mother of the "Cup" or the Fertility Goddess from the "Cup" side, and then the Radiant Savior from the "Light" side. The other four types are still uncertain.'
Touching her chin, Dorothy thought to herself. Among the deities of "Shadow", she only knew the Deep Web Spider Queen and the Mirror Moon Goddess. The Deep Web Spider Queen is not a pure-color god, but mainly "Shadow" and auxiliary "Cup". There is still too little information about the Mirror Moon Goddess, so Dorothy cannot determine her specific Spirituality.
On the "Stone" side, Dorothy knew of the order construct core, but this might not be a pure-color god. The nature of the order construct core, as an industrial god and craftsman god, is more like auxiliary "Light", corresponding to the Blacksmith branch path within the "Stone" path. In Dorothy's opinion, there should be other pure-color gods within "Stone", but this information should be obtainable from Beverly, provided the price is sufficient.
Regarding the "Silence" side... Dorothy doesn't know much either. For now, she only knows about the great soul from the New World, but whether this is a pure-color god, or even a deity at all, is currently difficult to verify.
Finally... regarding 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment), which is closest to her, Dorothy also knows nothing. She can only wait for further progress in the research on the Xing Shu Xiu Shu Hui (Star Numerology Scripture Society) before there might be results, and this might require Adele to continue relying on her teacher Dalena's research materials.
'Speaking of which... Dalena's reason for researching the Xing Shu Xiu Shu Hui (Star Numerology Scripture Society) is because she follows The Path of Depravity, which is auxiliary 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment). And that old fellow Aldrich is also auxiliary 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment), and he has even reached the Crimson Tier. His research on the Xing Shu Xiu Shu Hui (Star Numerology Scripture Society) should be much stronger than Dalena's, right? The next time I go to see Beverly, I can actually ask about that old fellow's recent situation. If possible, maybe I can also ask Beverly to help deliver two letters to Aldrich and ask him about the Scripture Society.'
Dorothy continued thinking in her heart. Next, she began to consider another requirement of the advancement ritual besides the revered names: the holy emblem.
Dorothy actually knows about holy emblems. They are not particularly rare items; they are essentially badges imprinted with divine symbols and carrying a tiny bit of Spirituality. Within the Shining Light Church, senior clergy members always carry a holy emblem of one of the Three Saints they believe in. Some devout followers, after making contributions to the Church, will also be given holy emblems as a reward by the Church.
In Dorothy's view, a holy emblem is essentially a slightly more advanced amulet. Since ordinary followers can obtain them, they are not considered particularly rare extraordinary items.
However, the problem is that even within the Shining Light Church alone, the holy emblems that ordinary people can easily obtain are only those of the Three Saints. The Radiant Savior's holy emblem is usually difficult to acquire through normal channels because there are not many direct believers. If the Radiant Savior's holy emblem is difficult to obtain, then the holy emblems of other pure-color gods are even harder to get. One can only try to obtain them from the hidden societies and cults that believe in these deities.
"Sigh... it seems this advancement won't be achievable anytime soon..."
Sighing, Dorothy muttered this, then she set aside the matter of the advancement conditions and began to continue dealing with the spoils of war.
Within the An Yin Bureau's evidence room, besides the Xing Shu Xiu Shu Hui (Star Numerology Scripture Society)'s advancement stone tablet, Dorothy also found two secret transmissions collected by Davik there. At that time, she quickly flipped through and recorded all of them through Davik.
One of them was Davik's own research log. Through the contents of the log, Dorothy roughly learned what Davik was researching and why he needed to interrogate Dalena.
Davik's research subject was precisely the Fertility Goddess Church. The reason he interrogated Dalena was precisely because Dalena's family was once a priestly family of the Fertility Goddess Church, so he wanted to obtain more clues about the Fertility Goddess faith from her.
Closing her eyes, Dorothy began to recall some important contents from Davik's research log.
...
October 7th, Originally, we believed that the Fertility faith was relatively concentrated in the Deserou area during the Empire period. Several important known ruins are located here, and Deserou should be the central area of the Fertility faith. However, according to that woman's testimony, there was actually a Fertility faith that persisted until a little over a decade ago in the southern mountains of Farano. This might challenge our previous hypothesis.
October 10th, For further research, I need to write to the elder and have the outpost in Farano send someone to that woman's hometown to confirm the situation there. Hopefully, we can find something valuable.
October 27th, Damn it... The Church still hasn't withdrawn from that place. The Holy Mother Convent's people are still guarding it... How many ruins have they controlled now? Their blockade of the remnants of the Fertility faith is getting stricter and stricter...
...
The contents of Davik's research log surfaced in Dorothy's mind. After roughly reviewing these contents, Dorothy rubbed her chin with interest and summarized the log's content.
'Through this log, it seems the Wolf Blood Society is searching for the remnants of the Fertility faith. Interrogating Dalena was mainly because she was related to the Fertility faith. Their goal is to find more remnants related to the Fertility faith. As for what they can gain from these remnants, that is currently unknown...'
'Also worth noting is that the Shining Light Church also seems to be searching for remnants of the Fertility faith, and the people of the Holy Mother faction are mainly doing this. After Dalena's hometown was taken over by the Shining Light Church, it was forcibly managed and blockaded until now. Regarding the issue of the Fertility faith remnants, the Fetal Garment Cult and the Shining Light Church are in a competitive relationship...'
'Adding to that, the Wolf Blood Society previously wanted to steal books about the early Holy Mother faith from the Church library, the Holy Mother faction is secretly supporting Adele's Scarlet Heart, and the conflict between the Fetal Garment Cult and the Shining Light Church's Holy Mother faction seems very sharp...'
Dorothy thought this in her heart. After roughly sorting it out, Dorothy began to extract the Spirituality from this research log. In the end, she obtained 3 points of "Cup" and 1 point of "enlightenment".
Afterward, Dorothy began to recall the second secret transmission she had seen in the evidence room that originally belonged to Davik. Strictly speaking, it wasn't actually a secret transmission, but a fragmented, very tattered parchment scroll painting. It was just that the content on this painting had Spirit Sight. In Dorothy's response, the blurry content on the scroll painting appeared before Dorothy's eyes.
Although the content on the painting was very blurry, Dorothy could still vaguely distinguish the general idea. This was a group portrait with a unique style. The main figures in the painting were gathered under a large tree. Occupying the main central position was a plump Madam with a blurred face. She wore simple clothes and held a bundle of wheat in her hand, and surrounding this Madam were four figures.
Among these four figures, one was a hunter covered in animal skin, drawing a bow and shooting arrows. One was a sailor with a bare upper body, gazing into the distance. One was an old man with a crucible in front of him, seemingly brewing something. One was a graceful dancer, dancing lightly.
These four figures surrounded the Madam under the tree. In other parts of the scroll painting, there were also strange characters written. Dorothy didn't recognize these characters and didn't know what they meant. Their appearance looked somewhat similar to Empire script.
'Is this... a scroll painting of the Fertility Goddess faith? The one in the center of the painting is the Fertility Goddess, and the four people around Her symbolize the four other mixed branches of the "Cup" path besides the pure "Cup"...' Recalling the image of the parchment painting in her mind, Dorothy pondered inwardly, and at the same time, questions arose in her heart.
'I also don't know if these four people beside the Fertility Goddess just represent the four mixed branches of the "Cup", or if they represent four mixed gods... But their appearances are completely different from the current mixed "Cup" gods like the Gluttonous Wolf, Abyssal Serpent, and Plague Vulture. They are all very proper human forms. If they really are collateral mixed gods serving the Fertility Goddess, then they can only be the predecessors of the Gluttonous Wolf and the others. Did they collectively fall for some reason?'
Recalling the content on the scroll painting, Dorothy pondered in her heart. It now seemed that the state of faith in the world during the Third Epoch Empire period was completely different from the present. As it currently appears, the Fertility Goddess Church during the Empire period felt like a proper official religion, quite different from the current Tayi Sect.
Combining the previous content, Dorothy could now conclude that there seemed to be some intrinsic connection between the Fertility Goddess faith during the Empire period and the current Fetal Garment Cult and even the Shining Light Church's Holy Mother faction. The Shining Light Church's Holy Mother faction and the Fetal Garment Cult were both competing for the legacy of the Fertility faith.
"So... what exactly happened at the end of the Third Epoch? The Empire... the Fertility Goddess Church... the Xing Shu Xiu Shu Hui (Star Numerology Scripture Society)... all were destroyed at that time... It seems the events that happened back then caused quite a stir..."
Dorothy muttered as she spoke, and then she extracted the Spirituality from this scroll painting, finally obtaining 4 "Cup" and 2 "enlightenment".
Next, Dorothy took out the secret transmission she had found earlier in Smith's burning secret room. She opened it and carefully read it, finishing all the content on the secret transmission before long.
...
This secret transmission was a literary article titled 'Homesickness'.
The protagonist of the article was an office worker busy at a company in a big city. He came out to work hard when he was young and had a considerable income in the city, but he felt that there was always an unshakeable homesickness deep in his heart. He missed his hometown and his mother in his hometown every moment. As he got older, this longing became more severe.
Afterward, the news of his mother's death in his hometown reached the protagonist's ears. He put down his work and returned to his hometown to attend his mother's funeral. After the sad funeral, in order to quell his intense homesickness, he chose to stay in his hometown and not return to the city where his career was booming.
But strangely, after returning to his hometown, the protagonist's homesickness not only didn't subside but became even stronger. The inexplicably intense emotions kept him awake every night. He couldn't understand why, even though he had clearly returned home, his homesickness was becoming more severe. He felt as if he was in his hometown but not in his hometown.
One night, under the torment of intense homesickness, the protagonist seemed to realize something. He got out of bed, took a shovel, and went to his mother's grave. He dug out the deeply buried coffin overnight, opened it, and once again saw the face he was familiar with.
Finally, the protagonist used a knife to cut open the abdomen of the corpse in the coffin and buried his head inside. In the blood and flesh, he felt the peace of returning home.
...
"Tsk... these 'Cup' secret transmissions are indeed as bizarre as ever..."
On the carriage, Dorothy closed the secret transmission in her hand and commented simply, saying that 'Cup' secret transmissions were always in a similar style, something she was already used to.
After reading the secret transmission, Dorothy immediately began extracting Spirituality. From this book, 'Homesickness', she obtained 3 points of "Cup" and 1 point of "enlightenment".
After extracting the three "Cup" secret transmissions in one go, Dorothy began extracting the major one, the Spirit Sight content on the promotion stone tablet. Since the promotion stone tablet involved the promotion of all "enlightenment" branches, it also involved all Spirituality. Besides gaining a large amount of "enlightenment", every other type of Spirituality also increased.
Through the promotion stone tablet, Dorothy obtained 8 points of "enlightenment", and 3 points for each of the remaining Spirituality types. Combined with the previous situation, Dorothy's current Spirituality status was as follows.
15 cup, 14 Stone, 7 Shadow, 4 Light, 14 Silence, 30 enlightenment.
'Whoa... After this wave, the Spirituality accumulation situation is unexpectedly optimistic. Besides "Shadow" and "Lamp", all other Spirituality types have actually met the conditions.'
After reviewing her current Spirituality status, Dorothy thought with a burst of joy in her heart. At first, she thought she was quite far off, but she didn't expect that the situation after sorting out this wave of gains was much better than she had previously anticipated. Especially the "Cup" Spirituality, which was clearly only 2 points after she had spent everything before, had now increased to 15 points in this wave.
For Dorothy, "Shadow" and "Lamp" were not very difficult Spirituality types to accumulate. She could first go to Beverly to see if there were any relevant secret transmissions for sale. If not, she could try to obtain them through other channels, such as Vanya or Grego, or even the Eight Point Nest.
"So, the issue with Spirituality is not big now, the key is the ritual... the honorable names and holy emblems of the six pure-color gods... This is a bit tricky to get. It's impossible to even confirm who the six pure-color gods are, let alone obtain their holy emblems."
Dorothy muttered this. In the current Fourth Epoch, information about the six pure-color gods could probably only be sought by trying to explore hidden history or dealing with various cults and societies. The difficulty was much higher than promoting to Werewolf and raising seven lambs.
"Hoo... All in all, let's take it slowly for now. My main energy will be focused on the promotion ritual. Starting tomorrow, I'll start with the simplest part..."
Letting out a long breath, Dorothy said this, and then in the slightly swaying carriage, she began to think about her plan, while her carriage had already driven out of the woods and was heading towards the city illuminated by distant lights.