Northern Shore of the Conquest Sea, Telva. In the hotel room, Dorothy sat in her seat, deeply contemplating how to confront that White Ash rank Gargoyle. If the intel she’d received from Beverly was accurate, then dealing with those guys alone wouldn’t be easy at all. She definitely needed to come up with a better plan. “Tch… The biggest problem is time. If I had enough time to prepare, things would be much easier…” Dorothy thought to herself. If she had the luxury of time, she could’ve figured out a way to bring in allies. Whether it was Vania or Nephthys, as long as either of them were present, this whole situation would’ve been far simpler. “Short on time, short on manpower, and the task is heavy… this is going to be rough.” Dorothy rubbed her temples in frustration. Then she decided to set that problem aside for now and focus on something else—namely, reading the mystical texts she had purchased today. To be cautious, Dorothy hadn’t read any of the texts immediately after discovering the marking sigils on them. Instead, she waited until the attackers had been dealt with and the general situation was under control. Only then did she decide to read the three texts and extract their spirituality. From the small table beside her, Dorothy picked up the tattered scrolls. She had already torn off the sigil-marked back covers and used them as bait for traps. The texts themselves she’d kept with her the entire time. Now, she was ready to read them and extract the spirituality within—because only with enough spirituality could she hope to face the Dark Gold Society. She picked up the first mystical text and began to read. Soon, she finished the first book. … The first mystical text didn’t have a title. It was a set of notes written by a tomb raider named Baraal, who had spent many years looting tombs in North Ufiga. The notes recorded his studies of the structures and traps of various tombs in the region. In the notes, Baraal compiled his experiences and analyzed the architectural features of North Ufiga’s tombs, citing many examples. He provided detailed descriptions of deadly traps—such as quicksand, falling stones, trap floors, hidden crossbows, and sealing walls—including their mechanisms and disarming methods. The book also contained his hand-drawn diagrams, making it quite comprehensive. All in all, it could be considered a tomb raider’s guidebook—a product of extensive research by someone who sought treasure. The focus of his study was the engineering aspects of ancient tomb traps, making it a mystical text in the field of engineering. For a tomb raider who studied and applied it thoroughly, it would make navigating through dangerous tombs much easier. Of course, Baraal also noted in the text that being good with traps didn’t mean one could safely raid North Ufiga’s ancient tombs at will. Those places weren’t just filled with traps, but also with dangerous undead, creatures, and curses—threats often far more dangerous than any trap. … “Another tomb raider’s notes, huh… Seems like not all tomb raiders are muscle-heads. Besides Neph’s grandfather, there are others who liked to document their findings too… Well, it makes sense—if you’re not someone who likes to think things through, how can you survive in such perilous places?” After finishing the first mystical text, Dorothy extracted its spirituality and gained 3 Stone and 1 Revelation. Once she had drawn out the spiritual essence of the first book, she picked up the second and began flipping through it. However, as soon as she read the first paragraph on the first page, her brow furrowed slightly. The handwriting in this second text was exactly the same as the first. Realizing this, Dorothy began carefully inspecting the second mystical text—and sure enough, both were written by the same person: the tomb raider Baraal. “So both mystical texts are written by the same guy… Did I just buy a series? This Baraal was certainly a diligent one—he even wrote a second mystical text. Don’t tell me the third one is his too…” Thinking this, Dorothy casually flipped through the third text. After reading a couple pages, she found the handwriting matched the previous two. All three texts were the work of the same author—tomb raider Baraal. “Well, damn. I really bought a whole set by the same guy. No wonder they handed me all three at once when I asked…” Chuckling inwardly, Dorothy set the third text aside for now and focused on examining the second one carefully. … This second mystical text, also authored by tomb raider Baraal, was again a notebook—but with quite a few differences from the first. Dorothy found that this notebook appeared to have been written much later than the first one. In this one, Balaar’s handwriting was more meticulous, his vocabulary broader, and his language more precise and practiced. Compared to the first, this notebook reflected a much greater literary maturity—clearly the result of accumulated years. When writing this second notebook, Balaar seemed to be significantly older. In terms of content, this volume no longer focused solely on studying tomb traps, but rather on the architecture of ancient North Ufiga. Dorothy could see that the focal point of Balaar’s research had shifted. No longer limited to the mechanisms within ancient tombs, it now extended to the architectural structures of the tombs themselves—and even to various structures across North Ufiga’s ruins. The goal of his research no longer seemed to be treasure hunting, but rather a genuine interest in these things. It was clear to Dorothy that the tomb raider known as Balaar had, during his studies of ancient tomb mechanisms, gradually developed an interest in the tombs themselves. Over time, this interest expanded into a fascination with all ancient architecture of North Ufiga. In his notes, he repeatedly marveled at the astonishing creations of the ancient Ufigan people. After witnessing their remarkable feats of engineering, Balaar became deeply fascinated by their civil engineering and architectural skills. This second notebook was a summary of his research after traveling across the North Ufigan ruins. … “Damn… a tomb raider turned scholar? From studying tomb traps to studying ancient architecture—that’s one hell of a shift. Guess this is what people mean when they say knowledge changes your fate…” Dorothy thought to herself after reading the second mystical text. Intrigued by Balaar’s transformation, she extracted the spirituality stored in the text. From the second notebook, she gained 4 points of Stone and 2 points of Revelation. After finishing that, she set the second text aside and picked up the third book, also written by Balaar. But only a few pages in, Dorothy’s expression grew heavier and more serious. … This third volume of Balaar’s mystical writings seemed to have been written many years after the second. Within its pages, his tone was fully that of a scholar; one would be hard-pressed to imagine that its author had ever been a tomb raider. No one knew how many years had passed, but by the time he wrote this third notebook, Balaar had become a true scholar of ancient North Ufigan civilization. Thus, this third entry was the most scholarly of the three—and, to Dorothy’s surprise, it was no longer solely about Ufigan architecture. Through this notebook, Dorothy learned that the elderly Balaar had spent half his life studying Ufigan ruins. And in his later years, after developing a deep understanding of ancient Ufigan engineering, he became fascinated by another discipline that underpinned engineering itself: mathematics. Yes—although this third notebook appeared on the surface to focus on Ufigan engineering, engineering was merely the point of entry. What it truly explored was ancient Ufigan mathematics. In his writings, Balaar referred to the ancient Ufigan civilization as the First Dynasty, and claimed that it possessed a magnificent and glorious culture. That brilliance wasn’t just reflected in the vast and majestic ruins buried beneath the sands, but also in the advanced engineering—and mathematical—knowledge that made such structures possible. According to Balaar’s years of study, the First Dynasty possessed a mathematical system completely different from the modern one. It was so arcane that Balaar himself could only partially decode it. He noted that this unique system was deeply intertwined with the dynasty’s religious beliefs. They called it "Sacred Numbers." The religion of the First Dynasty was not fanatical or blind. On the contrary, it was rational, logical, and rigorous. The people of the First Dynasty revered Sacred Numbers, believing them to be the fundamental tools for operating and constructing the world. If one could fully comprehend Sacred Numbers, one could deconstruct the world and analyze all things—even gods. (T/N: Judge of the Skies/Heaven > Heaven’s Arbiter) Balaar recorded in his text that the mythology of the First Dynasty spoke of the origins of Sacred Numbers. It was said that they were a gift to the ancestors of the First Dynasty from a divine figure known as the Heaven’s Arbiter. Their myths included the following description. "Our ancestors once dwelled in ignorance, gnawing raw meat and living like beasts—until the light from the heavens shattered the murk. “The Heaven’s Arbiter used the firmament as canvas, lightning as pen, thunder as voice, to bestow wisdom upon us. The thunder-light upon the sky became our first writing. “Among all forms of writing, Sacred Numbers were the first to be taught. The first peal of thunder signified the ’One’ of Sacred Numbers. Thus, all study of Sacred Numbers is a prayer to the Heaven’s Arbiter." … Seated in her chair, Dorothy read through the third notebook, absorbing Balaar’s insights into the mathematics of the First Dynasty. When she finished, her expression turned solemn. Her thoughts churned rapidly. “The First Dynasty… the Heaven’s Arbiter… So ancient Ufiga was known as the First Dynasty, and the Heaven’s Arbiter was their god. That mummy in the cursed text that targeted Nephthys’ family also mentioned this ‘Heaven’s Arbiter’...” “Judging by this, the Heaven’s Arbiter is likely a deity of the Revelation domain. According to the myth, this god taught humans writing, numbers, and counting using lightning across the sky. A god of thunder, of knowledge, of mathematics—how could that be anything but a god of Revelation?” … Dorothy thought to herself. From the looks of it now, this Heaven’s Arbiter might be a deity quite closely tied to her, and the first Revelation deity she had come across. She hadn’t expected to learn about it from the notes of a former tomb raider. “The First Dynasty… it must have been during the Second Epoch, right? Which means this Heaven’s Arbiter is at least a god from the Second Epoch—definitely ancient. But chances are it’s already fallen by now. I wonder how that happened...” Looking at the mystical text in her hand, Dorothy sighed inwardly. Just as she was about to extract spirituality from the document, she suddenly realized a problem: this particular mystical text might not yield any of the Stone spirituality she actually needed. “Now that I think about it… this can’t really be called a Stone mystical text anymore, can it? Even though it starts off discussing ancient Ufigan architecture through the lens of engineering, the bulk of it is purely about mathematics—ancient mathematics from the First Dynasty, at that. Engineering might fall under the Stone domain, but mathematics? That’s clearly Revelation. This third volume isn’t a Stone mystical text at all—it’s a Revelation text...” Dorothy frowned in thought as she looked at the mystical text. It seemed likely that this book was classified as a Stone text just because the first two volumes were and because its opening contained some architectural content. Whoever catalogued it probably didn’t read the entire thing carefully. If she were to extract spirituality from this book, she would gain a large amount of Revelation spirituality. But of all things, Revelation was what Dorothy needed the least right now. So from her perspective, extracting from this text would be quite a loss—hardly worth it. “Using a Revelation text to extract spirituality… feels like a waste. Should I try to perform a knowledge exchange instead? But what kind of knowledge could I get from this thing…?” Staring at the text in her hands, Dorothy mulled it over. Usually, the knowledge she received from exchanges was related to what she submitted. And right now, she had no idea what kind of knowledge this mathematics-meets-thunder-god text could yield. In the past, most of what she had exchanged from library material was… frankly useless. "Tsk… math and thunder god mythology… What kind of knowledge is that even going to produce?" Rubbing her chin, Dorothy pondered deeply—until a sudden idea lit up her mind like a bolt of lightning. “Right! Back when I helped Summer Tree, didn’t I exchange knowledge from that other world? If this is math plus lightning… there’s a perfect knowledge fragment over there. If I can draw that out now, it’d be amazing. Just what I need to deal with those black-market bastards…” Clapping her hands, Dorothy grew excited. She was now seriously considering doing a targeted knowledge exchange. “If I want to get a specific knowledge fragment… I’ll have to increase this text’s relevance to it. The connection probably isn’t strong enough right now, but I can patch that manually.” With that in mind, Dorothy got to work. The third volume written by Balaar primarily focused on mathematics from the First Dynasty. It included minor notes on thunder god mythology and originally used engineering as its entry point. Now Dorothy planned to learn the mathematics within, then apply it directly to analyze her own thunder abilities—how to discharge, how to discharge well, how to discharge accurately. After spending time doing calculations and reframing her own abilities through mathematical logic, she compiled her findings as a new chapter within Balaar’s text—one that explored how to use First Dynasty mathematics to interpret thunder-based powers. She even deliberately removed all engineering-related content, leaving a lean and focused knowledge bundle. This new version of the mystical text now consisted primarily of mathematical theory, practical computation for lightning control, and a sprinkle of thunder god mythology. “Math. Calculations. Discharge. Okay—these elements should be enough. If I use this as my offering, I should be able to exchange for the knowledge I’m after. And since my past exchanges did link to that world… other knowledge from it should be fair game too. With all the right pieces in place, this should work. “No ten-pull. Just a single draw. Come on, miracle single pull!” Like she was pulling a gacha in a mobile game, Dorothy began her new targeted knowledge exchange.