Within the ruins of the Baruk Royal Palace hall, Shadi stood among them, silently watching Vanya leave. After she disappeared from sight, he looked up at the vast sky, observing the constant rumbling and falling lightning. Then, with a slight frown, he murmured,
"Setuot... her words felt unclear. It seemed like she said something very important, but also like she didn't say anything at all. Could you hear more from her words?"
"Me? What I can confirm from her words is also very limited. I can only make some guesses based on what she said... As for the accuracy of these guesses... I cannot be certain..."
Beside Shadi, Setuot's phantom slowly emerged. He too was looking towards the direction where Vanya had disappeared, his gaunt face showing solemnity.
"Guesses... What can you guess? What do you think their current strength is like?"
Shadi continued to ask Setuot. As the leader of the Adus Revolutionary Army, his primary concern was definitely the strength of this mysterious organization. Only by roughly understanding their strength could he have a basis when interacting with them in the future.
"Their strength? I can't judge much about that. Based on their performance today, they could use the city defense array Technique from Qiwen Temple and manipulate that Sister with spiritual threads, which means they displayed abilities from the Thunder Technique User and Puppeteer branches of the 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment) Path. This indicates that their cult should already have a certain scale, at least enough to successfully supply the Extraordinary resources needed to cultivate two branches, and both are at least at the Crimson Tier. This is something many ordinary societies cannot achieve now."
"Therefore, in my opinion, their strength should not be underestimated. Although they did not display Creation Tier abilities this time, it doesn't mean they don't have them... You need to be more cautious when interacting with them."
Setuot advised Shadi in this manner. Listening to Setuot's words, Shadi nodded thoughtfully and then responded,
"An organization capable of simultaneously supporting two promotion chains, at least to Chalk, has a considerable possibility of reaching Scarlet. I will interact with them cautiously..."
"Hmm... The secrets within the cult that the priest belongs to, being able to allow people to step onto the 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment) Path again after thousands of years and restart the faith of the Divine Master, are undoubtedly numerous. Using ambiguous words to avoid direct answers is also a means to prevent the leakage of important information. If you want to know more about their secrets in the future, you might need to gain their trust further."
Setuot continued speaking in this manner, and listening to Setuot's words, Shadi slightly tilted his head, then continued speaking.
"Listening to you, you hope I continue to maintain good relations with them and understand them further? Then why don't you interact with them yourself? They worship the ancient god Judge of Heaven from seven thousand years ago, and you are the lingering spirit of a noble from the First Dynasty seven thousand years ago. You should have common ground, right?" Shadi said to Setuot. He could clearly see that Setuot yearned to interact with that cult, but for some reason didn't want to show himself personally, instead pushing Shadi to the forefront. This action made Shadi slightly confused.
Listening to Shadi's words, Setuot did not respond immediately. Instead, he remained silent for a while, seemingly after some thought, before continuing to speak.
"I have my own considerations. Until I figure out if they are truly a cult that believes in the Divine Master and if they truly represent the Divine Master's will, I will not appear before them..."
"What if you determine they are imposters impersonating the name of the Judge of Heaven?"
"If they are imposters, merely profiting under the name of the Divine Master, then it's nothing. But if they commit acts that profane the Divine Master under the Divine Master's name, I will make them suffer the consequences they deserve..."
"So if they are truly the representatives of the Judge of Heaven, or even preparing for the Judge of Heaven's revival, will you immediately show yourself and interact with them?"
Shadi continued to ask Setuot in this manner, and upon hearing Shadi's words, Setuot paused slightly. After pondering for a moment without immediate reply, he slowly sighed and spoke.
"At that time, we'll see. I also wish to be under the Divine Master's grace again... But in a sense, before a true Apostle of the Divine Master, my current state might be considered that of a person burdened with sin..."
...
After the conversation with Shadi ended, Dorothy in Qiwen Temple began the aftermath work for this battle. She controlled Vanya to leave the Royal Palace and had Neff pick her up while she was still unconscious. At the same time, she continued to use the city defense system to unleash lightning, punishing the Savior Sect forces scattered throughout Adis. These armed individuals, having lost Mukhtar's precept support, had all returned to being ordinary people, completely defenseless against the lightning constantly falling from the sky unleashed by Dorothy.
After witnessing their companions being struck dead, these Savior Sect armed individuals displayed the expected reaction of ordinary people facing terrifying thunder. Amidst the strong light and loud noise of the continuous heavenly lightning, the Savior Sect armed individuals scattered and fled. Having lost the protection of the precepts, they ran in panic, collapsing completely.
Finally, after defeating all Savior Sect members throughout Adis and witnessing Shadi directing his Revolutionary Army subordinates to regain control of the city's order and pacify the ordinary citizens, Dorothy let out a long sigh of relief. She then found an opportunity, using a method she found in Qiwen Temple, to escape from the hidden space. She returned to her original residence unnoticed.
Under Dorothy's arrangement, the unconscious Vanya was placed in a safe location by Naifnis, while the Stone box on her was passed through the hands of a Corpse Puppet and sent to Dorothy's location. Dorothy stood on the balcony of her hotel room, watching the city filled with smoke while waiting for the Corpse Puppet eagle to fly to her side and place the Stone box, which originally belonged to Mukhtar, into her hand.
After obtaining the Stone box, Dorothy immediately began the work of inventorying the spoils of war. She sat at the desk in the room, placed the Stone box, which had been carefully inspected and opened by a Corpse Puppet beforehand, on the table, and began examining the items stored inside. Mukhtar's Stone box had significantly less storage space than her magic box, only about one-third of Aldrich's work, but it could still hold many things.
One by one, Dorothy carefully inventoried the items in the Stone box. Besides Extraordinary items, there were also emergency supplies like water, food, and various weapons. Among the Extraordinary items, there were Seals, Items, Storage items, and secret transmissions, all present.
Dorothy naturally focused on examining the Extraordinary items. After performing an appraisal ritual, she began appraising Mukhtar's Relics one by one, starting with the Seals.
Although most of Mukhtar's Seals were consumed during the battle, there were still many left. First were the Seals Mukhtar used to enhance his melee abilities: a Mad Banquet Seal and a Swift Seal. Both of these Seals could grant the user two-tier 'Cup' or'Shadow' physical abilities by consuming five points of Spirituality. For those who were already 'Cup' or'Shadow' ability users, the higher their level, the more limited the enhancement, with their inherent 'Cup' or'Shadow' passive not increasing beyond the three-tier level.
'This kind of thing is very effective for Extraordinary who are not related to the 'Cup' or'Shadow' or ordinary people, but it also requires a large amount of external Spirituality. Generally speaking, only wealthy non-'Cup' and non-'Shadow' Extraordinary would use this... and those in the Scarlet Tier don't lack these.'
Looking at the two different rune seals before her eyes, Dorothy thought to herself. She had used this Mad Banquet rune seal before, so she knew how significant its enhancement effect was.
After the two direct enhancement rune seals, what Dorothy saw was the rune seal Mukhtar used to create small explosions. This rune seal is called the Blazing Burst rune seal, an offensive rune seal that can create intensely hot flames that erupt violently. Dorothy had already witnessed the power of this rune seal in the previous battle. The power of the explosion is relatively limited, but the temperature of the fire it creates is very high, making it perfect for Mukhtar to use for self-detonation to escape. There were still two such rune seals left in his stone box.
'For Mukhtar, the defensive effect of this thing is far greater than its offensive effect. For a tank, if he gets controlled, using one of these on himself is indeed a good way to break free.'
After evaluating, Dorothy set the rune seals aside and then began to carefully inspect the extraordinary items in the stone box. Among Mukhtar's items, the first thing that attracted Dorothy's attention was a crystal clear, beautiful gem emitting a soft glow. At first, Dorothy thought it was a 'Light' storage item, but upon closer inspection, she found that it was an extraordinary item, a single-use item.
The name of the gem is Sunstone, or Eye of the Sun. Its effect is very simple: after grinding it into powder and sprinkling it into the eyes of a 'Light' Extraordinary, it can greatly enhance their detection ability.
A 'Light' Extraordinary who uses it can have an ultra-long vision of ten kilometers in a short period. Within this ten-kilometer range, their gaze can penetrate any physical barrier at will, seeing everything they want to see, and it also greatly enhances the efficiency of extraordinary detection, increasing the range of extraordinary detection to the range of vision while also allowing the user to use a small amount of 'Light' to detect targets hidden by a large amount of'Shadow'.
More importantly, this Sunstone can be stacked. If multiple Sunstones are used, not only can the vision distance be further enhanced, but they can also see through the surface of the world and see the shallow existence on the inner side of the world. The more stones are stacked, the deeper the inner world can be seen. However, after using more than one Sunstone, the user needs to supply additional 'Light' Spirituality to maintain the state, and this consumption is not small. The more Sunstones used, the higher the consumption.
And even if they can afford the consumption of multiple Sunstones, 'Light' Extraordinary cannot maintain the high-level transcendent vision for a long time, because excessive use of Sunstones will also put a burden on their eyes. Mild cases will result in vision loss, slightly more severe cases will cause blindness, and severe cases... will cause the original normal vision to forever change into a different appearance.
'This thing... is a bit strong. It can greatly enhance the perception ability of 'Light' Extraordinary. Mukhtar must have used this thing to find me, and judging by his appearance, he seems to have used two. This is the last one left...'
Looking at the crystal clear Sunstone in her hand, Dorothy thought to herself. After the battle, she checked her own condition and found that the'Shadow' in her Ring of Concealment, which was originally full of energy, was completely gone at some point. Therefore, she concluded that Mukhtar must have detected her existence by crossing the surface of the world in some way, and her existence being detected might be the reason why Mukhtar's counter-damage discipline could cover her.
After holding the Sunstone and observing it a few times, Dorothy determined that it should be a very precious item. So, after putting it away, she began to check the other items. Next were two relatively ordinary items, a ring and an amulet.
The name of this ring is Soul Sting Ring, an item used by'Silence' Extraordinary. It can weaponize the holder's own soul or'Silence' Spirituality, turning it into a spiritual sword or spiritual arrow to attack enemies. Spiritual attacks can penetrate all ordinary physical barriers with thin Spirituality, thus directly damaging enemies by ignoring blocks and armor, but they do not have this effect on extraordinary items and enchanted items.
The amulet is called Floating Spirit Amulet, and its effect is also very simple: it allows the wearer to float like a spiritual body. Although it doesn't float very high or very fast, it is still much faster than normal running.
'A ring that weaponizes'Silence' Spirituality? It feels pretty good. Mukhtar used this thing to attack Vanya back then, didn't he? Fortunately, Vanya was equipped with the heart-devouring staff-sword as a weapon, which could block spiritual attacks. Otherwise, after Mukhtar activated that no-escape discipline, there would have been no way to resist at all. She couldn't run, couldn't dodge, couldn't block, and couldn't counterattack. This guy's items and discipline combinations are all well-designed.
'And then there's this amulet that makes people float... Hmm... it's a small ability item that's better than nothing. For Mukhtar, the biggest use of being able to float is probably to enhance his prestige in front of other believers.'
Looking at the two items in front of her, Dorothy evaluated them in her mind. Then she put the items aside and began to examine Mukhtar's last extraordinary item.
This item was a scroll. At first, when Dorothy saw it was a scroll, she thought it was a secret transmission, but after careful inspection, she found that it was an item.
The name of this scroll is Soul Pact Scroll. As the name suggests, it is used to sign soul contracts. Soul contracts can take various forms, and the one recorded on this scroll is a power borrowing contract.
Mukhtar's Soul Pact Scroll had a contract with an existence named 'Martyr Beast' Bamigula. From the contract wording on it, it can be seen that this Martyr Beast seems to be a divine existence residing deep within the inner world. Mukhtar used this contract scroll to sign a contract with Bamigula, whereby Mukhtar could borrow power from Bamigula at the cost of his own soul.
After this contract is activated, Bamigula can immediately enhance Mukhtar's extraordinary power as a Precepts Cult Lord to help him deal with the current crisis. The price of the contract is that afterward, Mukhtar needs to feed one-third of his soul to Bamigula. This feeding involves the origin of the soul, and after being gnawed by Bamigula, Mukhtar's soul will be permanently missing and cannot be restored by other means. This is the reason why Mukhtar's power suddenly increased at the last moment.
It is worth noting that although this Soul Pact Scroll records the contract between Mukhtar and Bamigula, it is not limited to recording only this one contract.
According to the identification and usage instructions, Dorothy could see that this scroll had two uses in her hands. First, now that Mukhtar is dead, she can contact Bamigula residing in the inner world through this contract scroll and replace Mukhtar as the new party B in this contract. Second, she can erase the content on this contract scroll and return it to a blank state, in which case she can use it to sign new contracts with others, or other inner world creatures, divine existences, and the content of the contract can be renegotiated within the scope supported by the scroll.