“Corpse-Sand Society? So there really is a treasure-hunting syndicate dedicated to looting Star Numerology Scriptorium ruins? That’s quite interesting. Are the ruins of the Star Numerology Scriptorium really so easy to find?” In the hotel suite, at the dining table by the window, Dorothy mused to herself as she read Beverly’s reply. After taking another bite of her bread, she picked up her pen and wrote in the Literary Sea Logbook: “Are the ruins of the Star Numerology Scriptorium really so easy to find? There’s actually a syndicate specifically focused on excavating them?” Not long after, Beverly’s response surfaced on the page. “Of course they’re not easy to find. The Star Numerology Scriptorium may be long gone, but its powerful anti-divination system is still partially operational. Anything related to it cannot be divined. Among the many ancient syndicates and civilizations, their ruins are the hardest to locate. It’s very difficult to seek them out intentionally—they’re usually found by accident. “Since the Scriptorium ruins are a major source of Revelation storage items on the market, they’ve become highly sought after by many treasure-hunting syndicates. However, actively locating them is nearly impossible. That’s what makes the Corpse-Sand Society different. They appear to have a method of reliably finding ruins of the Scriptorium.” Sipping her milk, Dorothy raised her eyebrows slightly in surprise at the neat print appearing on the page. Once she finished her glass, she picked up her pen again and wrote. “A method to reliably find Scriptorium ruins? Don’t they have anti-divination safeguards? How can they manage that? What is this method?” “The exact method the Corpse-Sand Society uses to locate the ruins of the Star Numerology Scriptorium has long been debated in the mysticism world of treasure-hunters... but no matter the theory, they all point back to a single man: Azam, the founder of the Corpse-Sand Society.” Beverly’s reply continued to unfold before Dorothy’s eyes, and she read on with growing focus. “Azam, the founder of the Corpse-Sand Society, was a well-known independent treasure hunter in his youth. According to rumor, he once stumbled upon a ruin of the Star Numerology Scriptorium purely by chance. After that encounter—something happened—and ever since, he seemed to possess an ability to locate such ruins. Every three years, he would uncover a new site for excavation, extracting large quantities of precious ‘Revelation’ storage items. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞 “With the resources obtained from excavating Scriptorium ruins, Azam founded his own treasure-hunting syndicate. By offering heavy pay to recruit other treasure-hunter Beyonders, the Corpse-Sand Society rapidly expanded. In just over a decade, it became a sizable syndicate, rivaling others with centuries of history.” Reading these lines, Dorothy’s brows furrowed further. She picked up her pen once more. “Once every three years...? Azam could find ruins on such a regular schedule? How on earth did he do that?” “There was much speculation early on about how Azam managed to locate Scriptorium ruins. But over time, signs began to point to a single possibility: in the first ruin he stumbled upon, Azam found something—something capable of divination. With this artifact, Azam was apparently able to circumvent the Scriptorium’s anti-divination defenses to a certain extent and extract information about their ruins. This object was the key to his tracking method. “However, this item could only be used once every three years, which is why the Corpse-Sand Society’s excavations followed a three-year cycle.” “A relic capable of bypassing the Scriptorium’s anti-divination system... and usable once every three years? Damn, just how lucky do you have to be to dig something like that up…” Dorothy mused, clearly tempted by the mystery of the artifact. She couldn’t help but wonder—if she could use that item even once, could she locate a path to the Crimson-rank advancement? “So... what you’re saying is, if I want to know more about the Star Numerology Scriptorium, I should go find the Corpse-Sand Society? Or find that Azam guy?” Dorothy wrote. But Beverly’s response wasn’t what she expected. “No, I’m not recommending you go to the Corpse-Sand Society or look for Azam—because Azam is already dead. He was killed in an internal rebellion within the Society just last year. The current Corpse-Sand Society is extremely dangerous. I don’t advise getting involved with them.” “Azam was killed...? And it was his own subordinates who turned on him? This guy founded the syndicate, and he couldn’t even keep his people in line?” Dorothy wrote back in surprise. This was her first time hearing of a full-blown mutiny within a treasure-hunting syndicate. “The Corpse-Sand Society was assembled over a little more than a decade by Azam, using vast mystical resources and money to recruit people from everywhere. Its foundations were always shallow. Though its scale looked impressive, it couldn’t match the legacy or cohesion of the older major syndicates. “Azam maintained control largely through his strength as a Crimson-rank Beyonder. He had planned to spend a long time integrating his patchwork band of followers, but that integration process is exactly where things went wrong... “Two years ago, Azam suffered a setback while tomb raiding in North Ufiga. He encountered a powerful Death Prince. Although he managed to escape at the time, he was cursed during the encounter. Since then, he endured nearly a year of torment from that curse, and his personal strength steadily declined.” “The Death Prince of ancient Ufiga? Don’t tell me it was Hafdar, the Tomb Sands Prince who cursed Nephthys’ entire family? That guy’s cursecraft is top-tier—he’s kept the curse on Neph’s family for years without letting up. “If it really was Hafdar, then he’s way too powerful. For even someone like Azam, a Crimson rank, to fall to his curse... could Hafdal actually be a Gold rank?” Reading Beverly’s response, Dorothy thought gravely to herself. Just imagining Neph being haunted day and night by a Gold-rank undead made her shudder with concern for her friend. Finishing her train of thought, she focused her attention once more on the Literary Sea Logbook, where Beverly’s orderly printed words continued to appear at speed. “I mentioned before that Azam’s influence was built through money and resources, so loyalty was always an issue. Now that he’d grown weaker due to the curse, those followers he’d gathered through material gain became harder and harder to control. Realizing this, Azam chose to retreat from public view. On one hand, he hid the fact that his power had declined. On the other, he actively searched for a way to lift the curse. “However, things didn’t go as planned. Before he could lift the curse, word of his condition leaked out. Once the truth got out, a rebellion erupted within the Corpse-Sand Society. The group’s second-in-command, Garib, rallied his forces and stormed Azam’s hiding place. After a fierce battle, he killed the weakened Azam and seized control of the society…” “A rebellion… Unlike major organizations like the Eight-Spired Nest, Wolf Blood Society, or the Abyssal Church, which have established systems of rule, divine authority, and deep legacies, treasure-hunting syndicates are often just loose alliances of profit-driven individuals. Betrayal for personal gain is common... Azam barely had time to weaken before being backstabbed. Seems like these treasure-hunting syndicates are even more chaotic than I thought…” As she read the latest lines, Dorothy recalled a conversation with Nephthys where they discussed her grandfather’s notes. Those notes included Davis Boyle’s perspective on treasure-hunting syndicates—clearly, he’d been right. “So Azam was killed. That means the extraordinary artifact he used to divine Star Numerology Scriptorium ruins fell into Garib’s hands, right? So you want me to go after Garib now?” Dorothy wrote in the Logbook, but Beverly’s next response caught her off guard again. “No, that item didn’t end up with Garib. After killing Azam, Garib searched through all his belongings but never found the artifact. The entire reason he launched the rebellion was to get his hands on it—and yet, in the end, he came away empty-handed.” “Didn’t find it? Then where did it go?” Dorothy wrote in confusion, and shortly after, Beverly’s explanation surfaced. “About a month before his death, Azam began to suspect something was off. He realized he was being watched. In an attempt to fight back and save himself, he tried to resist Garib, though his efforts were thwarted. While he failed to escape, he did manage to secretly send that most important item away.” “Sent it away? But didn’t you say Azam was being monitored during his final month? How could he have managed to sneak something out?” Dorothy pressed further, and Beverly promptly replied. “He did it under the guise of something Garib wouldn’t suspect. You may not know this, but Azam had a habit of donating mundane antiques—ordinary relics with no extraordinary effects—to various prestigious museums. He was even an honorary patron at several of them. “When he first noticed he was being watched, he happened to be preparing a routine shipment of donated items. So Azam mixed the artifact in with the donation, planning to retrieve it later once he escaped. Since Garib’s men hadn’t yet realized Azam was onto them, and never imagined he’d go so far as to give away such a crucial item, they didn’t bother inspecting the donation carefully.” “He donated it? Damn... Do all tomb raiders end up donating to museums once they make it big? I remember Neph’s grandfather donated a ton of stuff too. Guess that habit really came in handy when hiding things…” Dorothy chuckled to herself at the notion. She then quickly picked up her pen and continued. “So that divination artifact is currently in some mundane museum, huh?” “Correct. After failing to find the artifact, Garib realized it might’ve been sent off with the donation. He checked the records and found that shipment had been split among seven different museums in different cities across seven countries.” “Seven... that many? If I have to search them all, it’s going to take ages.” “You won’t have to. Most of the legwork has already been done for you. Garib already sent agents to six of the museums, and all came up empty. Only one remains unchecked. That’s the only place the artifact could still be. “The last museum is located in Adria, Ivengard. It’s called the Pure Flow Cathedral Museum. It’s a church-turned-museum under the jurisdiction of the Church—which is why Garib has been hesitant to go looking there.” Beverly’s words continued to appear before Dorothy’s eyes, and after reading them, she came to an understanding. “Hoh… this guy actually sent the item straight into Church territory, huh? That’s a bold move. Compared to other mundane museums, you definitely don’t want to mess with a Church-run one if you can help it.” Dorothy thought to herself, already more or less certain of what her next destination would be—Adria, in Ivengard. “Although, I think my original destination was Ivengard anyway. The Shimmering Pearl was headed there. It was only because we ran into those Abyssal Church bastards mid-voyage that everything got sidetracked… Now, finally, it’s back on track…” With that sigh, Dorothy had more or less grasped the full picture of the information Beverly had provided. However, some doubts still lingered in her mind. “Thanks for the intel—it’s been very useful. But that said, how do you know so much about the Corpse-Sand Society? Isn’t leaking all this sensitive information kind of against your neutrality principles?” Dorothy wrote this on the pages of her Literary Sea Logbook. From her point of view, what Beverly had shared clearly damaged the interests of the Corpse-Sand Society, which didn’t seem very neutral. “Neutrality principles… Those are built on a foundation of mutual respect. Now that Garib and his Corpse-Sand Society have offended us, we’re under no obligation to keep their secrets.” “Garib offended you?” Dorothy replied with some surprise, and Beverly promptly offered an explanation. “Yes. You might not know this, but we actually had rather close ties with the Corpse-Sand Society during Azam’s era. They were one of our major trading partners. “For over a decade, the vast quantities of Revelation spiritual storage items and other rare artifacts that Azam unearthed were sold to us first. We provided them the most favorable acquisition channels, and in return, they supplied us with a stable source of Revelation. Azam even signed a long-term cooperation agreement with us to cement the business relationship. We don’t form political alliances, but we’ve signed quite a few purely commercial contracts. “During the time when Azam was suffering from the curse and under surveillance, he tried everything he could to seek outside help. He eventually managed to contact us, asking for our help on the basis of our longstanding business relationship. That’s how we first found out about the upheaval within the Corpse-Sand Society.” As Beverly explained this in tidy printed text, Dorothy was already guessing what must’ve happened next. “So Azam asked for your help, but you ignored him?” “Of course. Business is business. Lending a hand would’ve meant interfering in someone else’s internal affairs. Even though Azam was very earnest, laid out the situation clearly, and offered us extremely generous compensation, we still chose not to get involved. Not meddling in internal matters is one of our key tenets. Add to that the fact that Garib personally promised us he’d honor Azam’s contracts once he took over, and you can see why we stayed out of it. We don’t care who runs the Corpse-Sand Society—as long as they uphold the deal, that’s all that matters to us. “Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. That punk Garib broke his promise shortly after taking over. He tore up our contract, canceled a batch of goods that were supposed to be sold to us, and sold them to the Dark Gold Society instead. That’s when we found out that Garib had already been colluding with the Dark Gold Society. It was their support that allowed him to gather enough power to overthrow Azam. “The Dark Gold Society had been eyeing the stable trade of Revelation items between us and the Corpse-Sand Society for a long time. Since they couldn’t take it from us through legitimate means, they did what they always do—play dirty. They supported the Society’s internal rebellion and helped install their preferred puppet.”