In the dim room, the relic from ancient times emitted a faint blue glow, reflecting and depicting a scene that had vanished into the river of history for who knows how long. Dorothy looked at the gradually appearing, miniaturized yet undeniably magnificent city model before her and couldn't help but murmur.
"The Land of Divine Enlightenment... Heopolis... Is that the name of this city? Is the secret to advancing to the Golden rank via the Path of Pure Reason hidden here?"
Placing the Guide Key she held onto the table, Dorothy slowly began to pace around the room, observing the city model before her from various angles. She had seen many ruins from the First Dynasty period, most of which were scenes of broken walls and ruins. This was the first time she had seen such a complete and magnificent First Dynasty city, even if it was just a virtual model.
'Heopolis... is it a name called the Land of Divine Enlightenment? If I remember correctly, the people of the First Dynasty claimed to be those who received revelation from the Judge of Heaven, honoring the Judge of Heaven as their 'Holy Teacher'. Divine enlightenment should be a very sacred and important term for them. The fact that this city could be given such a title shows its status in the former First Dynasty.'
'Thinking this way, this Heopolis is very likely the holy land of the Judge of Heaven, a holy land level ritual site in the First Dynasty. As expected, the secret to Golden rank advancement must be hidden in such an important place?'
Examining the city model before her, Dorothy pondered this in her mind. After she had finished examining the entire city, she turned to look at the Guide Key placed on the desk beside her, and then asked another question.
"Where exactly is this city?" Dorothy asked. After she finished asking, the projected city model distorted and twisted for a while, finally completely transforming into another appearance, changing from a three-dimensional model into a huge flat map.
On this map, Dorothy immediately recognized that it was a map of the North Wu region. In this map, a small area was circled and marked. Seeing this scene, Dorothy immediately recalled the appearance of the current standard map of this world in her mind and found the corresponding area.
'This location is... it seems to be called Buserite, a neighboring country of Adus, and also a very large Kingdom in North Wu. It's quite conspicuous on the map, but besides that, I don't have any more information.'
'According to the display of the Guide Key, this city called Heopolis is located somewhere in the hinterland of Buserite, but the marked area is still a bit wide, not very accurate...'
Dorothy thought this in her mind, and then she spoke to the Guide Key again.
"Can you further mark it more accurately? I want to know the more precise location of this city on a large-scale map." Dorothy asked the Guide Key. However, this time, the Guide Key did not change at all. The map it projected was still that very broad North Wu map, with no intention of zooming in for more detailed display. Seeing this scene, Dorothy couldn't help but frown slightly.
'That's it? Can this Guide Key only display maps of this scale? Is its level of detail only this much? That's not right... The accuracy of the Great Library's positioning is very high. It can even clearly pinpoint the exact location of the crystal within Frederico's body. With the Great Library's ability, it's impossible not to be able to pinpoint a more precise location.'
'This situation... it shouldn't be a problem with the item's ability, but rather a matter of some level of permission. Could it be that this Guide Key doesn't have permission to locate Heopolis's location in more detail? Or is there some other reason?'
Dorothy thought this in her mind. Based on how the Guide Key was currently marking for Dorothy, Dorothy could only confirm which general area in Buserite Heopolis was located, but the exact location within that area was still questionable. The marked point on the map looked like just a small circle, but in reality, it was a very, very large area. If she were to go there and search hard, she didn't know how much effort it would take.
"It seems I'll still have to put in some effort after getting there..."
Looking at the scene on the map before her, Dorothy murmured. Then she reached out and turned off the Guide Key again. After putting the Guide Key back into the magic box, she sat back down in her chair.
At this time, after initially reviewing the biggest gains from this operation against the Dark Gold Society, Dorothy began to seriously take stock of her specific losses from this operation, which were basically all Spirituality consumption.
Overall, Dorothy's Spirituality consumption in this operation was relatively large. The most significant consumption was creating the Anecdotal Spirit Thief K for Neff to attach to. Neff, transformed into Thief K, engaged in two rounds of combat with the Dark Gold Society. In the second round, she also restrained the enemy's greatest combat power, Frederico, from beginning to end. The loss of Spirituality was very high, but fortunately, during the process of relying on the spirit body, Neff could also make some Spirituality payments to the spirit body, so Dorothy still saved a good amount of Spirituality.
During such a long battle, Dorothy consumed a total of 8 points of "Shadow", 2 points of "Silence", and more "enlightenment" to maintain the existence and ability usage of the Anecdotal Spirit Thief K.
Apart from summoning the Anecdotal Spirit Thief K, Dorothy's most significant consumption was using the electromagnetic cannon. Her two electromagnetic cannon shots, one strong and one weak, had output levels of Scarlet and Chalk respectively. Combined, they consumed a total of 9 points of "Stone" and some "enlightenment".
Next, there were some scattered consumptions, such as transferring injuries for Neff, who was injured in battle, using the phantom scale incense cage for dream body transformation, and so on. These consumed a total of 1 point of "cup" and 2 points of "Shadow" for Dorothy. Calculating comprehensively, Dorothy's current Spirituality is as follows.
30 cups, 6 Stone, 14 Shadow, 19 Light, 18 Silence, 46 enlightenment.
'This consumption... seems a bit large. Although I had avoided many unnecessary combat losses through careful planning before, I still ended up using quite a lot of Spirituality in the end. As expected, it's not very realistic to try and save Spirituality when fighting a Scarlet...'
'This wave against Frederico mainly used the electromagnetic cannon and the Anecdotal Spirit, so the consumption of'Stone' and'Shadow' was particularly large. Leaving'Stone' aside for now, I remember my'Shadow' was almost full back then, and now there's only this much left. The Anecdotal Spirit is strong, but the consumption is also a bit high. I don't know when I'll be able to eat moths...'
While analyzing her Spirituality, Dorothy thought this in her mind. After finishing the analysis, she took out her "wen hai hang zhi", placed it on the desk, and immediately opened it, turning to Beverly's communication page.
Now, it was time to report the final outcome of the operation to this behind-the-scenes supporter.
"The operation was successful, Frederico is dead." Dorothy wrote directly on the page, and soon after, the neat printed response she was familiar with appeared on the paper.
"It's all done? Yo, that was quite fast. I thought it would take at least until tomorrow. With the hardness of Haolin Shigui, I didn't think you could finish the fight quickly. It seems I underestimated you a bit. By the way, what about that guy's stronghold?"
"His stronghold was buried by the collapse he triggered himself, along with all his subordinates. There were no survivors at the scene." Looking at the page before her, Dorothy decisively wrote her response, and Beverly's handwriting appeared immediately after.
"All buried? Then I roughly understand what the situation is like over there. To be able to forcefully kill a Scarlet'Stone' while facing home-field advantage, you really have a knack for it. Speaking of which, have you collected enough evidence to prove your achievement?"
"You can rest assured about that. I have plenty of evidence that proves that guy is completely dead. I'll find the nearest Craftsmen's Guild and hand it over later, and you can verify it yourselves." Dorothy continued to write on the page, and Beverly immediately responded.
"Alright, I'll arrange for the verification here. However, given your credibility, I believe you've truly achieved your goal, so the verification can be done later. You can tell me your request now. As a reward for successfully taking down a Scarlet from the Dark Gold Society, what do you want?"
Beverly asked Dorothy this way. Earlier, when Dorothy consulted Beverly about information regarding Haolin Shigui, Beverly had promised that as long as Dorothy could successfully kill Frederico, she would give Dorothy a big gift, and Dorothy could choose whatever kind she wanted. Was it some precious extraordinary item? Or a rare secret transmission? Or some privileges within the Craftsmen's Guild, all were options.
Looking at Beverly's response on the page before her, Dorothy paused slightly. Then, after thinking for a while, she picked up her pen and wrote on the page.
"As for the reward... I haven't thought about what exactly I want yet, so can I keep this opportunity? I'll ask you when I've figured out what I need."
Dorothy wrote to Beverly this way. Currently, she didn't really need anything particularly urgent from the Craftsmen's Guild. But that might not be the case in the future. Dorothy's every advancement ritual almost simultaneously involved all types of Spirituality, requiring things from different Spirituality fields. Black Earth was like this, Chalk was like this, Scarlet was like this... so it could be foreseen that Golden would definitely be like this too.
When Dorothy advanced to Scarlet, she had already used extremely rare items like Divine Blessings. Who knows what she would need when she reached Golden. Although Dorothy hadn't even obtained the Golden ritual yet, she had to start preparing for a rainy day. She planned to save this opportunity and, after obtaining the method for Golden advancement, use this opportunity to have the Craftsmen's Guild help her fulfill the "Stone" aspect of the Golden ritual.
"You want to save it for later... Hmm, that's fine too. Anyway, as long as the verification is complete, this opportunity of yours won't run away. You can use it whenever you want." Beverly wrote back to Dorothy this way. After reading it, Dorothy also nodded and continued to pick up her pen.
"That's great. In that case, please help me remember it." Dorothy finished writing this, and then after thinking for a moment, she continued to write.
"Oh, by the way, while I have the chance, there's something else I want to ask you. Do you happen to know the specific situation of this country called Buserite?"
Dorothy asked Beverly this way, and not long after, Beverly's response appeared before Dorothy again.
"Buserite? You're actually starting to get interested in a place like that. As for this place, I'm not particularly familiar with it. I've only heard some things about it before. Strictly speaking, you can't call it a country, but rather a region."
"Can't call it a country? Why?" Looking at Beverly's answer, Dorothy wrote again with a hint of confusion. Beverly quickly explained.
"Because the Kingdom of Buserite has long since perished. It was gone over ten years ago."
"Kingdom perished... Could it be rebels again? Like Adus?"
"Well, rather than saying that country perished because of rebellion, it's better to say it disintegrated on its own according to its own historical laws. The area of Buserite is quite remote even within the North Wu region, almost outside the radiation range of the Church's power."
"Unlike Adus, which at least had a stable dynasty for several centuries, Buserite has lacked stable order for a thousand years. Various forces have gathered together, a chaotic mix of good and bad, in utter disarray. Constant conflict and war are the themes here." Beverly wrote this before Dorothy, and after reading it carefully, Dorothy continued to write her question with a slight frown.
"Various forces are mixed together there. Do you know which ones?"
"There are simply too many. I can only give you a rough classification. The most numerous in that area are the native desert tribes. These tribes are divided into countless alliances and are constantly at war. Besides the tribes, there are also treasure-hunting societies and desert bandits characteristic of North Wu frequently active there. Because of the lack of stable order and laws, their activities are more rampant here than in other parts of North Wu."
"In addition, there are armies stationed by some neighboring countries under the pretext of protecting their own merchant caravans. The Lord's Church, wanting to spread its teachings and expand its influence, also exists here almost openly and engages in rampant proselytizing. The Order of Rot, a faction from the Southern Placenta, has also extended its reach here. The Church also seems to have been sending more of its personnel there in recent years."
"In short, the situation in Buserite has been chaotic and complex since ancient times. Fighting is a common occurrence. Most of the time, these numerous forces cannot do anything to each other. Even if one force can barely suppress other forces and briefly achieve superficial unity, it usually collapses not long after. It has been over ten years since the last ruler here was overthrown."