Sitting comfortably on the sofa in her suite, Dorothy enjoyed the warmth of the roaring fireplace while leisurely sipping hot coffee. During this time, she continued to analyze the Golden Base obtained from Sansone, attempting to decipher its relationship and status with the Crystal of the Key of Reading and Seeing and the Dark Gold Society.
After the previous experiments and referencing the information obtained from Beverly, Dorothy could now roughly deduce the current state of the Golden Base and the Crystal connected to it.
'If my previous deduction is correct, after the theft at the Adria Net Flow Church, the Dark Gold Society knew about the extraordinary nature of Maria's Light through the documents preserved in the Church Museum and Azamu's Legacy. Next, they should have begun more meticulous protection and research on Maria's Light, which is why the historical records of the Crystal became abnormal afterward.
'Initially, the Dark Gold Society considered Maria's Light to be an ordinary item, so they likely didn't pay too much attention to its storage method. Maria's Light should have been stored together with other ordinary valuable items by the Dark Gold Society, with a low level of preservation and not many special Extraordinary means used.
'But when the Dark Gold Society discovered the value of Maria's Light, the situation changed. They immediately increased the security level for Maria's Light, added more Extraordinary means to it, and began to preserve the Crystal more strictly.
'The Crystal's records are stored in the Grand Library of the First Dynasty. The Grand Library should have some means to scan the information of all Keys of Reading and Seeing worldwide in real-time and store it. However, after the Dark Gold Society upgraded the security of Maria's Light, the newly added Extraordinary means affected the Grand Library's scan, which is why the historical records about the Maria's Light Crystal in the Grand Library suddenly disappeared in April last year.'
Leaning back on the soft sofa, Dorothy pondered in her mind, trying her best to stand in the Dark Gold Society's perspective and consider how they would handle Maria's Light.
'The reason for the records appearing again later is likely because the Dark Gold Society began research work on the Maria's Light Crystal to activate its abilities, to show its ability to display the location of the Xing Shu Xiu Shu Hui (Star Numerology Scripture Society) ruins. These studies included various experiments, some of which could only be conducted with the Crystal in a normal state. Therefore, it couldn't always be kept in a high-security environment, as various Extraordinary security measures, while able to conceal and protect the Crystal, also interfere with it. The Crystal's records in the Grand Library showed unusual activity multiple times, which could be the influence of experiments. They were likely trying to activate the Crystal in their own way.
'If I were a researcher from the Dark Gold Society, I would definitely consider the impact of Extraordinary security measures on the Crystal. Security measures that isolate external Extraordinary detection would, in a sense, also isolate internal Extraordinary detection from affecting the outside. If the Crystal's operating principle is to spontaneously conduct external Extraordinary interference to find targets, then the security measures could potentially have an impact on the Crystal. Many experiments had to be conducted after removing the security, which led to the Grand Library re-detecting the Crystal's location and resuming recording its state.
'The Dark Gold Society's researchers repeatedly experimented with the Crystal, repeatedly taking Maria's Light out of and putting it back into the security environment. This led to the intermittent historical records in the Grand Library. From the information in the Grand Library, the Dark Gold Society's research on the Crystal should not have been smooth. Their experiments continued for over half a year, with the frequency gradually slowing down from fast to slow. This might indicate that their research on the Crystal has been progressing poorly and they have gradually lost interest.
'It's estimated that because they didn't succeed for a long time, they chose to temporarily abandon the research on the Crystal recently. Therefore, from the end of last year until now, the Crystal's records are still completely missing. Maria's Light has been re-sealed by the Dark Gold Society, but in a high-security environment.'
Dorothy speculated in her mind like this. After realizing that the Crystal was likely sealed in a high-security environment by the Dark Gold Society for a long time, her brows furrowed. She slowly stood up from the sofa and continued to ponder while walking on the thick, luxurious carpet in her slippers.
'The few Keys of Reading and Seeing Crystals in the hands of the Dark Gold Society are different from the one Azamu had. They are not individual entities; they are part of the high-level Key of Reading and Seeing 'Guiding Key', and can only function after being combined with the Golden Base. Therefore, no matter how the Dark Gold Society experimented, they couldn't activate the Crystal's effectiveness. Frederico was once the Prime Minister of Faloro, so he likely had some understanding of the rumors about Maria's Light, and thus he probably also realized that those Crystals needed to be reassembled onto the Golden Base to function.
'Therefore, they began searching for the Golden Base throughout Faloro. But this base is not that easy to find. Whether in legends or historical books, after the Crystal of Maria's Light was taken off and made into a necklace, there was no news of the Golden Base at all.
'Since the Crystal on it was removed, there are no clear records of where this inconspicuous, uncared-for Golden item went. During the Cold Moon Revolution, a large number of Bourbons treasures were looted and scattered among the populace by the Dark Gold Society. Many precious treasures originally preserved by the Bourbons disappeared during that chaotic period, but most of these treasures were exhibited because of their high visibility and stored in the palace. The Golden Base, because it did not conform to the general aesthetic of the Faloro people, was deeply sealed back to its original place at Xia Er's exhibition.
'If I hadn't quickly found the first-hand records from the Xia Er period in the vast archives of the Faloro National Museum, even Sansone wouldn't have known that this thing was still preserved deep underground in the National Museum. Because of its extremely low profile, it, along with other uncared-for cultural relics, escaped the catastrophe brought by the chaos of the Cold Moon Revolution.'
'I estimate that the people from the Dark Gold Society might have been scattered throughout Faloro along with most of the Bourbons cultural relics, which is why they were running around Faloro with the Crystal. This might have been an attempt to stimulate the connection between the Crystal and the Base through experiments, to see if the Crystal could find the Base, but they all failed. This is also the reason why the Crystal's records kept moving between different locations in Faloro.'
Thinking like this, Dorothy slowly walked onto the balcony and looked at the bustling city before her. Having roughly figured out the Dark Gold Society's operational logic, she was ready to start verifying it. If accurate, she would use this to formulate her next course of action.
However, before that, Dorothy decided to assess her current Spirituality situation to determine how to proceed with her future plans.
During her stay in Faloro for the past few days, Dorothy had learned a large number of hidden secrets through various channels. These secrets could, to some extent, enrich her Spirituality.
First, there was the promotion ritual for the Crimson Tier of The Path of Depravity. The Spirituality that could be extracted here was 4 points of "Cup" and 2 points of "enlightenment". The puzzles in the Temple of Beauty and the truth behind the puzzles combined could provide 5 "Cup" and 2 "enlightenment". The secrets about King Xia Er learned from Sansone provided 2 "Cup" and 1 "enlightenment". A small detail from the past Faloro succession war also provided 2 "Cup" and 1 "enlightenment". The general explanation of the National Worship Monarchy system gave Dorothy 3 "Light" and 2 "enlightenment". As for the hidden stories about Robert and Frederico, perhaps because the history is too recent, not much Spirituality was extracted.
In total, after a trip to Faloro, Dorothy gained a total of 13 "Cup", 3 "Light", and 7 "enlightenment" of Spirituality from various secrets. "Cup", a commonly used Spirituality, was significantly replenished, which was quite good.
Because Dorothy used almost none of her Scarlet tier abilities this time, her Spirituality consumption was very low. With the boost from Spirituality Mastery, she only profiled many mortals in the Temple of Beauty and Fernand, consuming 1 point of "Shadow", and unleashed a lightning bolt, consuming 1 point of "Stone". The consumption for controlling the Living Puppet was almost negligible. Calculating the total, Dorothy's current Spirituality status should be as follows.
31 Cup, 15 Stone, 24 Shadow, 19 Light, 20 Silence, 46 Enlightenment.
'Phew... With Spirituality Mastery, the loss of Spirituality is greatly alleviated. Although the Spirituality required for Golden tier advancement will likely be a lot, with the current significant reduction in Spirituality consumption, this requirement should be met soon.'
'With so much Spirituality as support, I feel more confident in directly facing the Dark Gold Society. So, the next step is some verification work...'
After finishing her Spirituality organization, Dorothy thought to herself as she looked at the cityscape before her.
...
Over the next day, Dorothy began to verify her speculation. The method of verification was simple: she once again found Sansone through Adele and asked him to help her look up some information. With the secret assistance of Sansone, a high-ranking member of Faloro, the information Dorothy wanted was quickly found.
According to Dorothy's previous speculation, last year the Dark Gold Society, in order to find the Golden Pedestal, should have conducted a nationwide collection and investigation of Bourbons artifacts in Faloro. This would inevitably intersect with the Tayi Sect and Faloro's official secrets, who were also collecting Bourbons relics. Sansone, as the head of Faloro's official secret police, might have some clues.
The result was as Dorothy expected. According to the information provided by Sansone, among the various Extraordinary conflict incidents in Faloro last year, there were indeed several that involved "Stone" Extraordinary individuals. Among these, there were even two instances where these "Stone" Extraordinary individuals clashed with Tayi Sect followers who were collecting Bourbons artifacts, the cause being a dispute over two golden items that seemed to originate from North Wu. Dorothy carefully examined the cities where these "Stone" Extraordinary individuals had appeared, and it matched the historical records of the Maria's Light's movement.
Dorothy also had Sansone's people help her investigate the personnel changes at the National Museum last year, and she also discovered some unusual circumstances. The person in charge of personnel at the Faloro National Museum, due to accepting bribes, had hired several employees with questionable identities to work in the National Museum without detailed scrutiny. These employees were assigned to work in key storage rooms and were also reported to have privately browsed collections without authorization, but these matters were left unresolved due to the bribes.
Later, because Sansone wanted to strengthen the control of Bourbons relics, he had the secret police stationed at the National Museum to strengthen management. The previous personnel bribery incident was investigated, and the few employees who had gotten in through bribery received wind of it in advance and left the museum.
The time these employees started working at the National Museum coincided with the time the crystal arrived in Flotz again. Because the Archbishop was stationed there and the official Extraordinary forces were dense, they could not operate on a large scale, only conducting some small-scale infiltration work.
Dorothy identified them as being sent into the National Museum by the Dark Gold Society to search for the Golden Pedestal. However, the number of people they could infiltrate into the museum was limited, and there were a huge number of storage boxes in the museum's storage rooms. Without relevant archive guidance, it would be difficult to find the desired collection in a short period of time. But to check the archives, the number of archives was also massive, and they did not have Dorothy's strong book-flipping ability. A few people did not have time to find anything and were driven out due to the influence of Sansone's decree.
After receiving this series of information provided by Sansone, Dorothy directly confirmed her previous speculation. The current Dark Gold Society is also looking for the Golden Pedestal and is trying in various places across Faloro, but they are still unable to determine the exact location of the pedestal. Although they had probed the National Museum, the intensity was not great because they could not truly confirm that the pedestal was there. After the attempt was obstructed, they immediately withdrew to avoid losses.
...
'Now... the Dark Gold Society's objective is pretty much confirmed, so what should I do next?'
During the day, in a park in Flotz, Dorothy sat on a bench, feeding a flock of pigeons gathered before her, while contemplating in her heart. At this moment, she already had a general idea of how to target the Dark Gold Society.
'Since the Dark Gold Society is also looking for the Golden Pedestal, then as long as I find a way to release information claiming the existence of the Golden Pedestal, I can lure out the Dark Gold Society's people and conduct a fishing operation. This is currently the best way to find the Dark Gold Society's whereabouts.
'But the key issue is how to disclose this information successfully to hook the Dark Gold Society's people without arousing suspicion. Judging from their previous voluntary withdrawal from the museum, their actions are relatively cautious. Luring the snake out of its hole without arousing suspicion will likely require some skill.'
After scattering all the pigeon feed in her hand, Dorothy wrapped her small trench coat around herself and thought seriously. Looking at the pigeons constantly vying for food in front of her, various thoughts emerged from her mind.
'Actually, the simplest method is to directly hold an exhibition and heavily advertise in the newspaper that the collection will be displayed and include the Golden Pedestal among them. However, this would make the trap a bit too obvious. The Golden Pedestal is not a particularly valuable cultural relic in the eyes of the public. Faloro people generally dislike its shape, and it was even overlooked to the point of not being affected during the Cold Moon Revolution. Suddenly holding a large exhibition to display such a thing, the Dark Gold Society's people will likely see it as a trap at a glance, especially since the cultural relics used for newspaper publicity in a large exhibition should be representative, and ordinary people do not recognize the value of the Golden Pedestal at all. If the Dark Gold Society, who is worried about not finding the item, suddenly sees something that ordinary people do not pay much attention to being heavily advertised and even exhibited in the newspaper, they will definitely not be overjoyed but suspicious.'
'This problem can be solved by making the exhibition small, but if the exhibition is small, the publicity will not be enough, and it is likely that it will not reach the ears of the Dark Gold Society and will not attract their attention.
'Similarly, even without holding an exhibition, promoting the Golden Pedestal through other publicity methods will encounter similar problems. The essence of this problem is that ordinary people... even ordinary Extraordinary individuals do not understand the value of the Golden Pedestal well, and it does not match any form of large-scale publicity. The Dark Gold Society will not easily believe such publicity content.'
Looking at the many pigeons in front of her, Dorothy's brows furrowed as she pondered. Although she now knew that the Dark Gold Society was seeking her Golden Pedestal and she could use a fishing strategy, how to configure this bait was indeed a big problem. The Dark Gold Society's Scarlet is not a careless fish, and she must hide the hook contained within the bait well.
'Phew... So... is there any way to achieve the purpose of extensive publicity without arousing the vigilance of the Dark Gold Society?'
Taking a deep breath, seated on the bench, Dorothy thought seriously. After a while, she had a sudden idea in her heart.
After this idea appeared, Dorothy decisively took out the "wen hai hang zhi" from her bag, placed it on her lap and opened it, turning to a page within it. That was Naifnis's contact page.
Looking at Neff's contact page, Dorothy thought for a moment, then picked up her pen and wrote on it.
"Hey? Senior Nefelnis, did you have a happy winter vacation? By the way, you still have some time left in your vacation, are you interested in traveling to Faloro? I can treat you."