North Africa, Buserite.
In the Buserite desert during the daytime, the scorching sun hung high. On the edge of the Bastis oasis, Dorothy sat in her tent, frowning and recalling the events that had just occurred with a serious expression. It had been a long time since she had heard a prompt from her so-called'system', and she was startled when the notification sound suddenly appeared.
'My so-called'system'... usually only actively gives prompts when my actions are likely to trigger a divine reaction. This means that my recent action of compiling the history of the Santo Dynasty is capable of triggering some kind of divine reaction.
On this land of Buserite, there has always been some kind of invisible divine power entrenched here. This power is closely related to history and jurisprudence. Could it be that... the divinity in the 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment) domain is related to these?'
Touching her chin, Dorothy thought to herself. She had known before that the history and jurisprudence of a country could be used as a kind of power, a kind of resource. The Corpse Coffin's Royal Soul Soil and the Church's Nation-Worshiping Royal Authority were both Extraordinary systems driven by the power of national jurisprudence. At first, Dorothy was not entirely sure which type of Spirituality the power of jurisprudence was linked to, but now it seems certain that it is """enlightenment""".
'Intelligence obtained from those who summoned the Corpse Coffin before indicates that the Corpse Coffin possesses a certain degree of 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment) technology, and the Church must also possess some 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment) heritage... Although the Extraordinary paths the Church openly inherits are only three, the Nation-Worshiping Royal Authority appears to be an Extraordinary system created after the high integration of 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment) and Light... Interesting...'
Dorothy thought to herself. It now seems that among large Extraordinary organizations, the power of """enlightenment""" is definitely not completely extinct. They should have more or less preserved a part of the """enlightenment""" heritage, but it is all kept as top secret.
As Dorothy pondered this, she soon turned her thoughts back to Buserite and the mysterious power entwined with it.
'My'system' seems to have the ability to perceive divine influence. The divine influence entrenched in the history of Buserite is very likely from the Judge of Heaven... That is to say, it is the residual power of the Judge of Heaven that is interfering with the history of Buserite...'
'But what form does this interference take? Buserite is not allowed to have codified official history, and strong jurisprudential power cannot exist here... What exactly does this mean?'
Touching her chin, Dorothy thought to herself. Then she began to try asking the system directly in her mind what the specific meaning of its earlier prompt was. But the result was the same as before; the system did not provide much explanation for its prompt, so Dorothy could only speculate and judge for herself.
'This land is not allowed to have codified official history... Does that mean any attempt to compile official unified historical records in Buserite will fail? Will the residual divine power cause all Buserite historical records that are written to be destroyed and scattered, thus letting history be forgotten?'
'If understood purely literally, the meaning of this sentence is as such, but it is clearly not that simple, because the emergence of official history is an unstoppable process that accompanies the birth and continuation of a stable regime...'
'So-called official history, in a narrow sense, is the official history compiled by the government of a country, a regime, to be used as the orthodox history guiding the populace. If the divine influence of the Judge of Heaven, that curse, was merely preventing the birth of such historical records, then it would feel too simple and trivial. Therefore, the official history mentioned by the system here should have a broader meaning.'
'Even if a country or regime does not officially order the compilation of any historical records, it doesn't have a significant impact on the basic operation of the entire country. However, not compiling official history does not mean that 'official history' will not form. The existence of 'official history' in the form of books is merely an appearance; its essence is a unified recognition of the past by the vast majority of people within a collective, a view of the past that can represent the majority of people within that collective.'
'Even if a regime doesn't have official history, as long as it maintains stable rule for a long enough time, the citizens living within it will eventually establish such a unified understanding. People always want to know what happened in the past and why things are the way they are today. With the long-term stability of a collective, there will always be a narrative that wins the approval of the majority and becomes commonly accepted.'
'Therefore, even if the government itself doesn't create 'official history', 'official history' will gradually evolve among the populace. Thus, as long as a long-term unified regime exists, official history will inevitably appear... unless... that so-called curse can even sweep away regimes...'
Dorothy analyzed and thought with a serious expression. If her idea was correct, then the continuous chaos in Buserite for thousands of years might not be due to human factors, but because of the divine influence present there.
The divinity left behind by the Judge of Heaven controlled fate, causing dynasties that ruled Buserite generation after generation to perish prematurely. As long as Buserite remained in chaos, no so-called 'official history' could ever be born.
'So, this also explains why the system said that no large jurisprudential power can exist here. History is an important part of jurisprudence. Because this land is affected by fate, no large unified country can exist, and naturally, no powerful jurisprudence exists either...'
Dorothy thought to herself. It now seems that the residual power of the Judge of Heaven is affecting the history of Buserite, and this influence may be related to Heopolis, but the specific connection still needs to be investigated.
'Since the First Dynasty, there has been no powerful unified kingdom on this land. The jurisprudence of all dynasties has been destroyed. Does this mean that the jurisprudence of the First Dynasty is still ruling here?'
'I remember that among the dynasties of my homeland before I crossed over, one dynasty had the custom of compiling the history for the previous dynasty, aiming to promote the legitimacy of the current dynasty and to 'put a lid on the coffin' for the previous dynasty. This was essentially concluding and putting an end to a dynasty that had effectively perished, and in a sense, terminating the jurisprudence of the previous dynasty.'
'However, the dynasties of Buserite. Their history only has a beginning, no end, no compiled official history, and no one to 'put a lid on the coffin' for them. Without a final conclusion, in a sense, is the jurisprudence of these small dynasties still continuing? It's just that their existence was too short, and the power of their jurisprudence was too small...'
'At the historical origin point above these small jurisprudences, is the jurisprudence belonging to the First Dynasty still continuing? Buserite was the core area of the First Dynasty. As long as all the dynasties that emerged here after the First Dynasty perished within a short period, they didn't even have time to 'put a lid on the coffin' for the First Dynasty. Wouldn't that lid just remain unclosed? And as long as the lid can't be closed, who knows what could pop out?'
'So, what I need to do now is find a way to come into contact with the potentially lingering jurisprudence of the First Dynasty. To come into contact with something as abstract as jurisprudence, I can only first try to contact that invisible divine power...'
Dorothy thought with a very serious expression. Now, the only way she can come into contact with the power that is not Alita and has destroyed countless dynasties is to continue compiling the history of the Santo Dynasty and see how this power will affect the historical records she compiles. As a Scarlet Extraordinary of """enlightenment""", she might be able to detect some clues.
According to the experiences of the Santo Dynasty's historians before, the influence of this divine power is not intense; it is a long-term and subtle process, so a brief attempt should pose no risk.
After making this decision, Dorothy directly controlled the Corpse Puppets in the distant underground library and began to continue compiling the official history of the Santo Dynasty. However, after writing for a long time, Dorothy did not feel anything unusual.
'Hmm... it seems there's nothing particularly noticeable... Is it because the influence is too small, so small that I can't detect it? Or is it that I can't detect anything just by relying on those Corpse Puppets?'
For a moment, such questions appeared in Dorothy's mind. She believed that there was always a certain separation between herself and the Corpse Puppets. If she wanted to truly feel that invisible power, perhaps she would have to do it herself.
Just having this thought in her mind, Dorothy quickly put it into practice. She stood up from the rug beneath her, walked out of the tent, and left the delegation's lakeside camp all the way.
Ultimately, relying on the support of the Corpse Puppets inside Bastis, Dorothy successfully infiltrated Bastis City and quickly found the location of the underground library.
Dorothy, dressed in a long robe, strolled through the brightly lit underground library. She quickly walked to the side of the Stone table in the center of the library, sat down directly, and then immediately began to take over the work the Corpse Puppets had brought, continuing to quickly write the chronicle of the Santo Dynasty.
Holding the pen herself and personally editing, Dorothy quickly wrote on the blank manuscript paper. At the same time, she carefully sensed the changes in herself and her surroundings. Smoothly, Dorothy quickly felt an abnormality.
Dorothy felt that when she was writing the chronicle of the Santo Dynasty, she indeed felt a power with great homogeneity to herself appearing beside her, appearing on the text and the tip of the pen. This power was very weak, but it showed a very obvious sense of rejection towards her.
Under the influence of this power, Dorothy felt that during the process of compiling history, her mind often wandered, and she had various difficulties concentrating. Dorothy had never been like this when dealing with similar problems before. This was clearly related to that kind of "curse." This was affecting Dorothy's process of compiling historical records. If the historical records were compiled, this seemed to affect the process of the historical records disappearing.
After confirming that she could feel that invisible power, Dorothy began to comprehensively sense the effect of this power on her condition during the compilation process and quickly found some patterns.
As soon as the content Dorothy was compiling in the historical records was related to the fall of a dynasty, that power would appear, mildly affecting her compilation work to a certain extent. If the content being written was not related to the fall of a dynasty, the feeling of this power would disappear.
During this compilation process, Dorothy discovered an experience that greatly interested her. This experience seemed to arise when Dorothy purely fabricated history.
Due to incomplete historical materials, Dorothy was unable to create an absolutely complete and accurate history. When Dorothy was writing about some historical events, there would often be a lack of relevant historical materials, making it impossible to completely reconstruct a historical event. In such cases, Dorothy, like many historians, would directly make up some content without historical support, using purely fictional content to fill in the missing historical materials.
And when Dorothy was fabricating history in this way, that mysterious power interfering with history reappeared beside her. However, this time it merely appeared and did not interfere with Dorothy, unlike when Dorothy was compiling content about the Kingdom's demise, where this power interfered with her. This was unless the content Dorothy wrote ultimately led to the fall of a dynasty.
'When compiling ordinary history, that power does not appear. When compiling content related to the fall of a dynasty, this power will appear and try to interfere with me. And when purely fabricating false history, that power reappears, but it does not interfere with my compilation process...
'Why... does this kind of situation occur when fabricating false history?'
After discovering the latest phenomenon, Dorothy thought in confusion, until a thought arose in her mind.
'History is the record and measure of time, but history is written by people. People cannot record all past events as history 100% accurately.
'Fabricated false events... as long as they are recognized by enough people, they can also become true history after countless years.
'This power pays attention to the process of fabricating non-existent history, but does not directly interfere. This feeling is like this power tacitly approves of fabricating history... as long as the history fabricated does not lead the dynasty towards its demise...'
Sitting beside the Stone table, Dorothy thought seriously like this. Suddenly, she had a rather strange idea. What if, when compiling history, she didn't compile the history of the dynasty's demise, which that power tabooed? Instead, she would purely fabricate history, allowing this dynasty, which had already perished in reality, to continue only within the historical records. After all, fabricating history was an action tacitly approved by that power, wasn't it? Then let's see what happens when she completely shifts from reality to falsehood and just fabricates.
Thinking it, Dorothy immediately stopped compiling history normally. After removing all parts about the Kingdom's demise, she began to purely compile false history, allowing the Santo Dynasty to avoid the fate of perishing in the second generation, continuing only in the fabricated historical records.
Dorothy activated her Corpse Puppets and began to fabricate and compile the stories of the third and fourth generation kings of the Santo Dynasty. They wrote very quickly. After Dorothy had written five years of extended life for the Santo Dynasty in the historical records, when she put pen to paper again, her own 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment) Spirituality actually began to show signs of consumption!
Seeing the consumption of her Spirituality, Dorothy's expression froze. Then, as if she believed she had judged the direction correctly, she immediately began to accelerate the process of fabricating the historical records. In Dorothy's historical records, starting from Santis, the first king of the Santo Dynasty, and his son, the second king, Dorothy fabricated a total of 4 kings who successively inherited the Santo Dynasty. The last of these kings was named Hayak by Dorothy.
Dorothy wrote furiously the entire way, finally extending the history of the Santo Dynasty in her historical records from sixty years ago to the present time. When she set the date of the chronicle to today's date, Dorothy let out a long sigh of relief.
Afterwards, Dorothy, who was resting on the bench, rubbed her shoulders. Feeling a bit tired, she slowly sat up straight after stretching, leaning her back slightly until it rested against a soft back cushion.
'Wait... a back cushion? I should be sitting on a hard Stone stool. Where did a back cushion come from? And why does it feel a bit soft under my butt too...'
Looking up while rubbing her eyes, Dorothy thought. And just as she fully raised her head, she saw a scene that surprised her.
The library... it was still that underground library, but the scene inside was completely different.
Exquisite marble floors were immaculately laid across the entire ground. Countless upright bookshelves were filled with various kinds of books. The bookshelves and books were intact and complete, without any damage. The original Stone table in the center of the library had become a long wooden table. Around the wooden table were countless beautifully crafted wooden stools, and various small exhibits and components were distributed around the library.
Compared to where Dorothy was before, the underground library was now completely renovated, as if it had transformed from a bare shell to a fully decorated space in an instant.
Dorothy watched the scene before her with her mouth slightly open. She could see that the library before her had instantly turned into a standard underground library in the blink of an eye. Even more crucially, within this underground library, there were surprisingly many different figures wearing long robes. They were flipping through books everywhere, as if looking up some information. These suddenly appearing people were not Dorothy's Corpse Puppets.
'What... what on earth happened...'
Looking at the sudden change before her, Dorothy thought in confusion. Just then, a pair of young people wearing long robes walked past Dorothy. They seemed to be students, and one of them spoke softly to the other beside him.
"Is that you? I remember you didn't have anything to do today, did you? Why did you come running to this library?"
"Of course, to collect information for Mr. Novi. You know, he's already been promoted to His Majesty Hakyak's Royal Advisor and is very busy. As his student, I naturally have to help him share more of the burden."