In the luxurious hotel suite, by the window that offered an unobstructed view of the street scene, Dorothy, who was eating fried eggs, looked at the large, neatly printed text displayed on the pages before her, and couldn't help but fall into contemplation.
'So Azamu's Hai Sha Society and the Craftsmen's Guild have a trade agreement, and Garib, that kid, initially pretended to guarantee to the Craftsmen's Guild that he would also abide by the agreement, trying to stabilize the Craftsmen's Guild so they wouldn't interfere in the Hai Sha Society's internal struggle. Later, after taking power, he immediately tore up the agreement and sided with the Dark Gold Society, which had been secretly supporting him... The Craftsmen's Guild, having been played by Garib, is clearly at odds with him.
'The Craftsmen's Guild's principle of neutrality is first based on not offending each other. Garib's initial breach of contract was a great offense to the Craftsmen's Guild, which is why the Craftsmen's Guild didn't hesitate to reveal important information about the Hai Sha Society to others.'
Dorothy thought this, and in her opinion, what the Craftsmen's Guild could least forgive in what Garib did was the breach of contract. As merchants, they highly valued things like contracts and agreements. For the Craftsmen's Guild, Garib doing business with the Dark Gold Society was secondary, because they couldn't control the customer's choice, but breaching the contract was another matter entirely.
'But it's also fortunate that this Garib breached the contract; otherwise, Beverly wouldn't have agreed to give me this information. It seems I'll have to buy a ship ticket to Iweig in a while.'
Thinking this, Dorothy finished her fried egg, picked up her pen again, and began to write on the pages.
"By the way, what exactly does Azamu's divination item look like?" Dorothy wrote this on the pages. Since she had decided to go to Iweig to find the item, she naturally needed to know its appearance. However, Beverly's subsequent response was somewhat unexpected.
"As for the appearance of that divination tool, I'm sorry, I don't know either. Since Azamu obtained that divination tool, he has never shown it to anyone else, so no one knows exactly what that divination tool looks like except Azamu himself."
'No one knows what it looks like... Damn, does that mean if I want to get this thing, I'll have to slowly search for it inside the Net Flow Church?'
Looking at Beverly's response, Dorothy thought with a frown, and then she picked up her pen again and wrote down her question.
"You just said that the usage interval of this divination tool is three years. Is it currently in a usable state or a post-use cooldown state? If it's in a post-use state, how long will it take for this thing to be usable again?"
Dorothy continued to write and ask. In her opinion, if this thing had only been used recently and she had to wait several years after getting it, its value would be greatly reduced, and whether she should go get that thing would be a question open for discussion.
"You can rest assured about that. We have been cooperating with Azamu for many years, and we are aware of any major actions on his side. The last time he mobilized all the people in the society for a large-scale excavation and obtained a rich 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment) storage was in mid-to-late April three years ago, meaning in April 1357 they successfully excavated another ruin of the Book Repairing Society. Adding in the time it took for those guys to prepare resources and travel to the site, the time Azamu used the tool for divination should have been a month earlier, around mid-to-late March 1357."
'Mid-to-late March 1357... It is now early March 1360, which means that the divination item can recover its divination state at the earliest in the middle or late part of this month, or at the latest next month, so it is very necessary for me to get my hands on it.'
Dorothy thought this, and at the same time, she also noticed a problem. If that divination tool recovered in the middle or late part of this month, then that Garib would naturally also realize this problem and accelerate his plans. This divination tool is not something only she wants to get, and she might encounter some obstacles then.
"Thank you for the information; it's very useful to me."
"I hope it is useful to you. Whether it's Garib or the Dark Gold Society, we here hope to make things difficult for them."
After that, Dorothy and Beverly briefly exchanged a few more words, and then Beverly said goodbye and went "offline." Dorothy also closed "wen hai hang zhi", finished eating the last bit of her ham, and decided to read the two "Stone" secret transmission she had just obtained to replenish her Spirituality.
Just like that, Dorothy, sitting in the suite, wiped her mouth while controlling Brandon, who was returning by carriage from afar, to open the oil paper package received from the Craftsmen's Guild dispatcher, take out the two secret transmission from it, and begin reading the one on top.
...
The first secret transmission was a manuscript. The author of the manuscript was named Cole Wright. This person was not only known to Dorothy, but also to many people in this world, for no other reason than that he was the inventor and improver of the steam engine in this world.
Cole Wright was a figure from more than half a century ago. In Dorothy's middle school textbooks, he was recorded as one of the greatest inventors of this era. His invention and improvement of the steam engine directly triggered the steam revolution in this world. He was also a pioneering figure in applying steam power to production and life. The steam train in this world was also invented by him. Anyone with a little culture in this world knows his name.
According to the content of this manuscript, in the mundane world, Cole Wright was a great inventor, and in the hidden world, Cole Wright was also a powerful "Stone" Extraordinary, a high-level member of the White Stone Craftsmen's Guild, and a devout follower of the God of Craftsmen and Forging.
In the eyes of ordinary people, Cole Wright was a great inventor, but in fact, his true achievements were far beyond what ordinary people knew. This manuscript recorded many other unknown designs and inventions by Cole Wright, and these designs all involved the hidden and the Extraordinary.
For example, a steam core miniaturized from a large steam engine, and a steam car designed based on the steam core that could replace carriages. For example, a jetpack that could use "Shadow" storage as power and allow ordinary people to have the ability to fly. For example, a submarine that could dive into the deep sea. The manuscript also discussed the selection of more efficient mundane fuels besides coal...
Page after page, Dorothy could see countless astonishing invention designs by Cole Wright in the manuscript. If these invention designs could all be adopted and promoted, the face of the entire world and society would change because of it. And Dorothy also understood that the Spirit Sight on these pages also meant that such possibilities would not become reality.
...
'As Beverly said, the great figures who drive world change are almost all Extraordinarys in various fields. Mr. Cole is a good example... Looking at these manuscripts of his, many have extremely ingenious designs. If it weren't for the existence of Spirit Sight, he probably could have completely transformed this world into a different form.'
After reading the manuscript before her eyes, Dorothy sighed in her heart, thinking that this great inventor being chosen by the order construct core as the pioneer of the steam revolution must mean that He valued him greatly, coupled with his identity as one of the high-level members of the White Stone Craftsmen's Guild, he might even be a dependent of the order construct core.
Having finished reading the first secret transmission, Dorothy had Brandon in the carriage far away put away the book in his hand, then took out the second secret transmission and began to read it.
...
The second secret transmission was titled "Bones in the Mountain". It was a very old secret transmission with heavily damaged pages. The author of this secret transmission is unknown, and what he wrote in this secret transmission was research on the ancient Stone Prince faith.
In this research summary-like secret transmission, the author claimed to have once explored the towering mountain range in the eastern part of the Main Continent, and subsequently discovered village ruins hidden deep within the mountains. After long-term exploration, he found that these village ruins once belonged to remnants of the Stone Prince faith.
This secret transmission was the result of the author's long-term investigation and exploration of these ruins, along with some of his own views. In his accounts, he discovered that the entire village was constructed from suitable natural boulders without any processing. There were no idols set up for worshipping the Stone Prince, no divine statues like those of other gods. The object of their worship was the largest mountain they could see; they directly regarded the enormous peak as the divine image of the Stone Prince and worshipped it. The entire altar was set up in a position that best showcased the mountain's grandeur and majesty.
Their funeral custom was to preserve the complete human bones after cremation, and then place the bones into natural caves on the steep cliffs of the great mountain, places that were extremely difficult for ordinary people to reach. The author was also very puzzled as to how these villagers, who were not Extraordinaries, managed to transport the remains to such precipitous cliffs.
The author also visited some other existing villages in the area and collected their legends. In their legends, all tall mountains were formed from the sleeping bodies of giants, and therefore, deep reverence must be shown towards every mountain. Even though most of these people had already converted to the Three Saints, traces of the mountain worship faith still remained in some of their daily habits.
...
'The Stone Prince faith, I didn't expect it to still have some remnants in such remote places. Listening to the description in this secret transmission, the Stone Prince faith seems truly quite primitive and ancient, without even any carved idols, directly using mountains instead. It's completely different from the order construct core which advocates processing and forging...'
Dorothy thought this to herself after finishing the second secret transmission. Then, she had Brandon, who was far away, put away both secret transmissions, and she began to extract the Spirituality from them.
Subsequently, Dorothy obtained 4 "Stone" and 2 "enlightenment" from Cole Wright's manuscript, and 3 "Stone" and 1 "enlightenment" from "Bones in the Mountain". Combining this with Dorothy's current Spirituality, her current Spirituality storage situation was as follows.
28 cup, 11 Stone, 20 Shadow, 4 Light, 14 Silence, 40 enlightenment. In addition to 2 cup and 4 Shadow in storage and 1850 pound in cash.
'My Stone Spirituality has recovered quite a bit, at least enough for self-defense, but it will probably be depleted again after one fight. Based on my current situation, my Spirituality reserves can only barely maintain my combat power. It feels very difficult to accumulate enough to meet the promotion standard, unless I get another opportunity like the Natsuki gift package...'
Looking at her current Spirituality reserves, Dorothy thought this to herself. Then she stopped dwelling on these matters, instead standing up, putting on her coat and shoes, and preparing to go out.
'Forget it, I should focus on the main task now. I'll go out and retrieve Brandon, and then buy a ship ticket to Iweig at the port. Since the divination tool will finish cooling down in mid-to-late March, it's not long from now. I need to get to Adria quickly to scout the location.'
Thinking this way, Dorothy pushed open the door and walked out. After walking all the way downstairs, she glanced around at the hotel entrance and then waved down a hired carriage.
Getting into the carriage, Dorothy told the coachman where she wanted to go, and the coachman immediately started driving forward. Sitting inside the carriage, Dorothy looked boredly at the street view outside the window for a while, then her gaze fell upon a rolled-up newspaper placed in a designated spot next to the carriage door. To help passengers pass the time, many coachmen would keep the day's newspaper in their carriage. As it happened, Dorothy was the type who couldn't stand being without words; she liked to read when bored in a place, whether it was a secret transmission or not.
Feeling bored, Dorothy picked up the newspaper that was placed there, then unfolded it. After scanning the newspaper's name, Truva Morning Post, she cast her gaze upon the headline news. Immediately, her whole body stiffened. After frowning for quite some time, she couldn't help but read the news headline aloud.
"Pilgrim Fleet in Peril, Holy Mother's Compassion Manifests Miracle, Holy Path's Radiance in the Vast Ocean, Gospel Evangelist's Grace Reaches the Wilderness...
"The most outstanding devout believer among the young clergy of this era, the light of the world who sacrificed herself to spread the Holy Mother's gospel, the Lord's loyal servant, the story of Sister Vanya Chaffron..."
Looking at the massive news article that occupied the entire front page, and seeing her familiar name printed in the bolded headline, Dorothy couldn't help but fall silent for a moment... After a long silence, she finally spoke with a sigh in prite language.
"Thinking back to when I first appeared in the news, it was just on a small local newspaper in Igwinte, and I only managed to occupy a spot on the front page by destroying one of Burton's strongholds and killing several people. Vanya comes along and immediately dominates the entire front page. Truly, the younger generation is formidable..."
...
Ten o'clock in the morning, North Conquest Sea.
On the sea surface, a fleet composed of over ten powerful Church warships of various sizes was cutting through the waves and sailing forward. The orange-yellow circular sun flags were being fiercely blown by the sea wind.
In the center of the fleet were three ordinary passenger ships, filled with the pilgrims who had recently been saved from danger. They were being protected by a naval force twice as strong as before, sailing towards their predetermined destination. This time, there would be no slightest mishap.
At the very front of the fleet, on the deck of a massive flagship, a Sister in white stood there, gazing at the distant sea horizon where land was not yet visible. The sea wind blew her white robe around, and a hint of worry was visible in her expression as she looked at the boundless ocean.
"Sister Vanya, the sea wind is very strong outside. Please come inside the cabin to rest."
Just then, behind Vanya, a voice full of vigor sounded. Vanya turned her head and saw a young man wearing the uniform of a Holy Rite Knights naval officer. Judging from the epaulets on his uniform, his status was not low; within the Church's ranking system, he belonged to the rank of High Deacon.
And it was such a High Deacon who, at this moment, faced Vanya, a Middle Deacon, with a hint of respect in his eyes and a respectful demeanor.
"Ah... it's Deacon Andrei. I just wanted to come out and see if we can see land yet. How much longer until we reach our destination?" Vanya said to the other person in an equally respectful tone, and the other person immediately replied.
"Not far now. We are expected to arrive at Cade Port tonight. After preparing there for a night, we will depart tomorrow morning and arrive in Adria in the afternoon. There, Archbishop Antonio has already arranged a grand welcome banquet. Many important guests from Adria and even other places in Iweig will be present. Sister Vanya, as the key figure of the banquet, please be sure to arrive in Adria in your most energetic state. So, please return to the cabin to rest and don't catch a cold."