East Coast of Prit, Tivian.
During the daytime, somewhere in Tivian, on a bustling and lively street, a black carriage was traveling along the road. Dorothy sat inside the carriage driven by her Corpse Puppet coachman. Having just finished helping Misha deal with the An Yin Bureau's summoning of spirits, she was now taking out the reward Misha had given her from a magic box: three secret transmissions brought out from the An Yin Bureau, which she began to read one by one.
Since these secret transmissions were used by Dorothy specifically to fill the gaps in her Spirituality, she requested secret transmissions for the two types of Spirituality she urgently needed, which were primarily'Stone' secret transmissions.
The first secret transmission was titled 'Essentials of Ores', a secret transmission that analyzes the mystical meanings of various ores. In this secret transmission, the author expounded on the different roles and connotations that various types of ores possess in mysticism, explained which rituals and parts of rituals they can be used in, described the different functions various ores can serve in the process of making Extraordinary items, and also briefly touched upon some techniques for making Spirituality storage items.
In this secret transmission, the author states that although the inherent attribute of minerals and metals is'Stone', different minerals and metals have varying degrees of adaptability to other types of Spirituality. The study of the Spirituality adaptability of minerals and metals is a fundamental discipline that every'Stone' craftsman must master, serving as the theoretical basis for the creation of many Extraordinary items, and it is very profound. This secret transmission did not delve deeply into these contents, only mentioning them superficially and providing a few simple examples of adaptability.
For example, Golden has high adaptability to 'Light'. Silver gets along relatively well with'Shadow'. Aside from human bones, iron is a material with higher adaptability to'Silence'. However, 'Cup' is inherently repelled by'Stone', so all mineral and metal materials have poor adaptability to 'Cup'; only copper is slightly better. Among non-mineral and metal materials, wood is slightly better. However, for many 'Cup' societies today, since they have the most effective flesh and blood at hand, they naturally don't think much of other materials. While'Stone' itself is not picky, craftsmen, to show respect for'Stone' Spirituality itself, tend to prefer using rock itself to create'Stone' items.
'This secret transmission mainly introduces the Spirituality tendencies of different materials. It feels a bit similar to the situation with Spirituality storage items. 'Light' storage items are generally gold coins, while'Shadow' are silver coins.'Silence', besides bone fragments, are iron coins. 'Cup', on the other hand, directly deviates from the mineral and metal category and has peculiar storage items like dried meat, which can be eaten while serving as storage. This is indeed quite unique.'
'Among these examples, the material adaptability for a total of 5 types of Spirituality is introduced, but the last one, 'enlightenment' Spirituality, is not mentioned. This might be because for 'enlightenment', even Spirituality storage items are relatively rare and expensive, and they don't have enough Spirituality for auxiliary experiments, so there are no relevant results. This is the same situation as in the secret transmission about the elementalization of Spirituality that I read last time.'
Sitting inside the carriage, Dorothy thought this after finishing the examples given in the first secret transmission. Afterward, she began to focus on extracting the Spirituality contained within the content of this secret transmission, gaining 4 points of'Stone'.
After finishing the first secret transmission, Dorothy did not stop. She immediately put the secret transmission in her hand back and picked up the second one to begin studying. This secret transmission was still about'Stone', titled 'Divine Forging of Chiseling Stone'. It contained a part of the notes of an Extraordinary archaeologist named Zakhaev. The content he researched was about a non-human civilization that once existed in the distant past, called the Dwarves.
The author of this secret transmission once accidentally discovered a dwarf ruin built deep within a large mountain. He spent many years deciphering the severely damaged records within this dwarf ruin. After adding some of his own speculation and reconstruction, he attempted to restore the living appearance of the dwarf civilization at that time. The part of the notes in Dorothy's hand recorded the mythological stories circulating within that so-called dwarf civilization.
This story took place in the distant ancient times, when all intelligent civilizations were just beginning to awaken. There was a humanoid civilization called the Dwarves active in this world. They were short in stature, lived deep within large mountains, excavated precious rocks, and crafted exquisite tools. They were the world's first miners and stonecutters. Because they lived within the mountains year-round, they worshiped all minerals and metals themselves. They revered the earth and mountains as gods, calling them the Lord of Mountains, the God of Rock.
The Dwarves revered the myriad rocks of the mountains and earth as the embodiment of a god, calling this god 'Tango' in the dwarf language, meaning the Great Founder. However, the God of Rock was not a suitable deity for worship. The nature of the God of Rock was inert, tending towards immutability and stability. The God of Rock did not approve of change, or rather, the changes He approved of and brought about were extremely long and slow processes, so much so that the short lifespan of intelligent beings could not perceive them.
Therefore, in the eyes of many Dwarves, their god was slow, even foolish. A prayer that condensed the will of the entire tribe would take even hundreds of years to receive a vague response. Some Dwarves realized that worshiping the God of Rock could not bring more help to their race. The God of Rock was not suitable as a deity to be worshiped by a civilization. Thus, the Dwarves actively sought change, seeking change for their god.
The Dwarves sought help from other deities in the world at that time, and two very active deities responded to their request. One was the supreme, Light-filled, sacred Sun God, who resided high above the sky, illuminating the earth with His solar disc body, granting mortal races fire and teaching them to control it, called 'Kago' in the dwarf language, meaning the Great Illuminator. The other was the God of Enlightenment, who controlled heavenly thunder, preached to the mortal world with the thunder of heavenly words, symbolizing wisdom, called 'Fago' in the dwarf language, meaning the Great Revealer.
The God of Enlightenment and the Sun God together responded to the Dwarves' request and communicated with the God of Rock. However, even the two of Them could not change the inert nature of the God of Rock. So at this time, the God of Enlightenment came up with an idea: Since They could not change the God of Rock, They could shape a new god from the body of the God of Rock.
So, after the two gods communicated with the God of Rock, the God of Enlightenment presided over the design, and the Sun God personally took action, 'excavating' a part of the God of Rock. They then tempered and forged it with Their own power, ultimately shaping the dominant divinity of the God of Rock's part, which is the mastery of all smelting and forging, into a new deity named the God of Craftsmanship, the Furnace Queen, whom the Dwarves called 'Tango Mo'.
The God of Craftsmanship originated from the God of Rock; on one hand, she can be said to be the eldest daughter of the God of Rock, and on the other hand, she can be said to be the avatar of the God of Rock, or even a different expression of the other side of the God of Rock's divinity. The God of Craftsmanship originated from the God of Rock but is more vibrant and can actively participate in mundane affairs, making her more suitable as a deity to be worshiped by a civilization. Therefore, most of the Dwarves enshrined the God of Craftsmanship as their primary deity. The God of Craftsmanship also replaced the naturally lazy God of Rock as the main deity of the Dwarves, and the God of Rock was happy to see this. And, of course, a small portion of Dwarves were unwilling to abandon the faith of the God of Rock and continued their adherence, thus evolving into some factions different from the mainstream dwarf faith.
'The content of this secret transmission... there's quite a bit, and it's another secret transmission recording content from a distant era. Dwarves... God of Rock... God of Craftsmanship... If the mythological events in this secret transmission are true, then it's very interesting.'
Looking at the content of the new secret transmission before her, Dorothy stroked her chin and pondered with interest, then continued to analyze.
'It mentions a non-human civilized race like the Dwarves here. It's clear that this is a mythological story from the Second Epoch, or even the early Second Epoch. The God of Rock mentioned here, could He be the Stone Prince, who is referred to as the Lord of Mountains? And is the God of Craftsmanship the order construct core? Or perhaps they are the predecessors of the Stone Prince and the order construct core?'
'Whether or not the order construct core is the God of Craftsmanship, judging from the descriptions of the Stone Prince's faith I found before, which all mention characteristics of inertia, primitiveness, and immutability, the God of Rock should indeed be the Stone Prince. If the God of Craftsmanship is truly the order construct core, then the relationship between Her and the Stone Prince is akin to the relationship between a main body and an avatar... However, just by looking at this secret transmission, I cannot confirm whether the order construct core and the God of Craftsmanship can be directly equated.'
'According to the secret transmission, the God of Craftsmen is the God of the dwarves, but dwarf civilization no longer exists in this era. It is possible that the God of Craftsmen perished along with the dwarf civilization, and the order construct core might be His successor...'
Looking at the content of the secret transmission, Miss Dorothy guessed in her heart, and then she shifted her attention to other aspects of this mythical story.
'Another point worth noting is that this dwarf myth also mentions the so-called Sun God and the God of Enlightenment. The name Sun God immediately suggests the Lord of 'Light'. This is very likely the predecessor of the Light King, the ruler of 'Light' in the Second Dynasty. It is currently uncertain whether His followers are non-human races.
'And there is also... the God of Enlightenment. This is not the first time I have seen this title. This title appeared in the Second Dynasty and refers to only one God, the main God of the ancient North Wu civilization, the Judge of Heaven. If the God of Enlightenment in the dwarf myth and the God of Enlightenment in the ancient North Wu myth are really the same entity... then things get interesting. In the dwarf language, the Stone Prince and the Sun God, these two pure-colored main Gods, are called 'Tango' and 'Kago', while the God of Craftsmen is called 'Tango Mo'.
'This change in appellation also seems to confirm that there are unique naming rules for Gods in dwarf culture. The names of the Stone Prince and the Sun God both end with the 'go' syllable and do not have suffixes, while the name of the God of Craftsmen directly adds a single syllable 'mo' suffix after the God of Stone. This seems to indicate that the God of Craftsmen originated from the God of Stone, a subordinate God created under the influence of the Sun God's power. From this, it can be seen that there are distinct naming rules between pure-colored Gods and mixed-colored Gods in the dwarf language. The names of mixed-colored Gods might be formed by adding their own suffix sounds after the names of the corresponding pure-colored Gods.
'However, the problem is... the God of Enlightenment is called 'Fago' in the dwarf language, which is the same naming format as the Stone Prince and the Sun God, without a suffix like the God of Craftsmen. Does this, in a sense, indicate that in the eyes of the dwarves, the God of Enlightenment, the Judge of Heaven, is an existence equal to the God of Stone and the Sun God? I previously thought that the Judge of Heaven was a mixed-colored subordinate God who primarily controlled 'enlightenment' and secondarily'Stone', but if what is said in this secret transmission is correct, then the Judge of Heaven should directly be the main God of 'enlightenment'!'
Analyzing the secret transmission in her hand, Miss Dorothy thought with some surprise. Since the secret transmissions she had collected before always associated the Judge of Heaven with lightning, and many records directly referred to Him as the God of Thunder, she had temporarily believed that the Judge of Heaven was simply an elemental God. However, if everything in this secret transmission is true, then Miss Dorothy's previous guess might be wrong. The Judge of Heaven might be the pure-colored main God of 'enlightenment', only that compared to other abilities, lightning is His most striking and prominent symbol, thus being primarily considered the God of Thunder.
'As a pure 'enlightenment' Extraordinary, upon reaching the Golden rank, I can actually control all the branch abilities on the path of 'enlightenment'. If the Judge of Heaven is the main God of 'enlightenment', then He can naturally also control lightning. Moreover, compared to other 'enlightenment' abilities, lightning is indeed much more striking and direct. Therefore, the possibility exists that the Judge of Heaven is revered as the God of Thunder by the world and is also the main God of 'enlightenment', or rather, as the main Deity (Jìshén - sacrificial God) of a super-large ancient civilization like the First Dynasty, it would be a bit demeaning if the Judge of Heaven were just a subordinate God.'
Miss Dorothy thought to herself. Although she had various possibilities about the Gods of the Second Dynasty in her mind at this moment, she did not directly make any conclusions. This was because the secret transmission used as a reference was written by an Extraordinary archaeologist based on some incomplete content he had excavated, combined with his own inferences and imagination. Miss Dorothy could not confirm how accurate it was, so although she had many thoughts, she did not jump to conclusions. Instead, she extracted the Spirituality from the secret transmission, obtaining 6 points of'Stone' and 2 points of 'Light'.
Next, Miss Dorothy put the archaeological notes aside and took out the last secret transmission to read. The name of this secret transmission was "Secrets of Fire Worship", which was a translation of incomplete documents from the Third Dynasty. The secret transmission recorded a secret transmission organization that was active in the Third Dynasty.
This secret transmission was called the "Fire Burning Cult", an underground church with fire worship as its core, sacrificing the World Burning Giant. The Fire Burning Cult was active during the Empire period of the Third Dynasty. Because the God they worshipped, the World Burning Giant, was a belligerent and warlike evil God who once tried to have the world burned by flames, the actions of this church were often extreme. They were a group of gathered doomsday theorists who attempted to revive the World Burning Giant, who had fallen in the Third Dynasty and was personally killed by the Light King, to reignite the world. Neither their doctrines nor their actions were tolerated by the Empire's state religion, which occupied the secular mainstream at the time, and they were defined as illegal by the Empire's officials and completely annihilated.
This secret transmission recorded some of the Fire Burning Cult's rituals, mostly involving sacrificing in various ways of burning with fire. These sacrifices often included the followers themselves, and even an entire settlement... Even from today's perspective, this is an illegal religious group that would be deemed an evil organization by most official Extraordinary organizations.
'This... is a record of a cult organization from the Third Dynasty... As expected, no matter what era it is in this world, such organizations will not be absent. I don't know if this organization was completely wiped out by the Empire in the Third Dynasty. It's best if they didn't have any remnants that continued into this Fourth Dynasty. There are already enough various demons and monsters here.
'Also, the book mentions something about the Empire's state religion? Does this state religion believe in the Light King?'
Looking at the last secret transmission in her hand, Miss Dorothy thought to herself. Then she began to extract Spirituality again, obtaining a total of 3 points of 'Light' and 2 points of'Stone'.
Finally, summing it up, Miss Dorothy's current Spirituality is as follows.
28 cup, 28 Stone, 50 Shadow, 27 Light, 31 Silence, 50 enlightenment.
"Huff... Finally, I've gathered all the Spirituality..."
After reviewing her Spirituality status, Miss Dorothy said with a long sigh of relief. Her Spirituality was now completely sufficient to support her advancement. All that was missing was the final ritual, and now Miss Dorothy's goal was to make up for this final deficiency.
After reading all the secret transmissions, Miss Dorothy tidied up the scene and then controlled the carriage to continue driving forward. After stopping slowly by the side of the road, she controlled her Corpse Puppet servant to get out and open the carriage door. Then, a figure in a long robe got into the carriage and sat opposite Miss Dorothy. Then she untied her veil, revealing a beautiful face with dark skin.
"Miss Dorothy..."
"Mm."
After briefly responding to Neff, Miss Dorothy had the Corpse Puppet servant close the carriage door and then controlled the Corpse Puppet coachman to start the carriage again. After driving through the City for a while to adjust their direction, Miss Dorothy's black carriage quickly drove north, heading towards Tivian's suburbs, away from the bustling City, towards Miss Dorothy and Neff's "alma mater", Royal Saint Crown University.
...
Hmm... I just realized that I seemed to have miscalculated Miss Dorothy's Spirituality before. When calculating the Spirituality in chapter five hundred and eighty-four, I actually didn't include the addition in chapter five hundred and eighty-two, resulting in Miss Dorothy having significantly less Spirituality. Fortunately, a careful reader discovered and reminded me, otherwise Miss Dorothy would have lost Spirituality in vain. This was my mistake, I was dizzy from writing.
The Spirituality has now been recalculated, and chapter five hundred and eighty-four will be revised later, but there is a delay in updating now, so you may need to wait a little longer.