East Coast of Pritt, Tivian. During the daylight hours, somewhere in Tivian, a black carriage made its way through a bustling and lively street. Inside the carriage, driven by Dorothy’s own corpse marionette coachman, Dorothy sat quietly. Having just helped Misha handle the Serenity Bureau’s spirit summoning, she now opened her magic box and took out the reward Misha had given her—three mystical texts smuggled out of the Bureau. She began reading them one by one. Because these mystical texts were specifically chosen to make up for the shortfall in Dorothy’s spirituality, they were all focused on the two types of spirituality she currently lacked—primarily Stone. The first mystical text was titled “Essential Mysteries of Ore”, a work analyzing the esoteric meanings of various ores. In it, the author discussed the differing mystical properties and applications of various types of ores—how they could be used in rituals, which parts of a ritual they suited, and what roles they could play in the creation of mystical tools. It also briefly touched on the techniques for crafting spiritual storage items. According to the text, although the essential nature of minerals and metals falls under the Stone spirituality, their compatibility with other spiritualities varies. This study of how minerals and metals resonate with other types of spirituality—known as “Spirituality Adaptation of Metals and Ores”—is a foundational discipline for every Stone-path craftsman. It forms the theoretical basis for the creation of many mystical tools, and though profound, the text only introduces it briefly, with some basic examples like: gold has high compatibility with Lantern, silver harmonizes well with Shadow, iron, besides human bone, is among the more compatible materials for Silence. Original content can be found at novel fire.net As for Chalice, it naturally repels Stone, making almost all mineral and metal materials poorly suited—copper being only slightly better. In contrast, wooden materials work somewhat better, but modern Chalice societies generally prefer flesh and blood, the most effective material, and thus look down on alternatives. Stone itself isn’t particularly picky, but out of respect for the Stone spirituality, craftsmen still prefer to use actual stone when crafting for it. “So this mystical text mainly explains the spiritual inclinations of different materials… it reminds me of spiritual storage items. Lantern usually uses gold coins, Shadow uses silver coins, Silence uses either bone or iron, and Chalice skips metals entirely, using jerky as a storage item—edible and functional. That’s… quite unique.” “They listed five spiritualities and their compatible materials, but not Revelation. Probably because Revelation storage items are rare and expensive, and there hasn’t been enough experimentation. Same as that text I read earlier about elementalization of spirituality.” Dorothy thought this to herself after finishing the first book, then concentrated on extracting the spiritual energy within. She gained 4 points of Stone from it. Without pausing, she returned the first book and picked up the second. This one was also a Stone mystical text, titled “Sacred Craft of Chisel and Stone”. It recorded part of a journal by a Beyonder archaeologist named Zakael, who had investigated the ruins of a long-lost nonhuman civilization known as the Dwarves. According to the text, the author had accidentally discovered a ruin deep within the mountains built by Dwarves, and spent years decrypting the damaged records inside. With some personal conjecture and reconstruction, he tried to piece together what Dwarven life might have been like. The portion Dorothy now held recorded a myth passed down among that civilization. The story took place in the distant ancient era, when all sentient life was just beginning to awaken. A race known as the Dwarves lived in the deep mountains—short in stature, they carved into stone and mined precious ore, crafting intricate tools and becoming the world’s first miners and stonemasons. Living long in the earth, they revered metals and stone, worshipped the land and mountains as deities, and called their god the “Lord of the Mountains,” or the “Stone God.” They called this deity “Tango” in their language, meaning the Great Foundation Layer. But the Stone God was not one well-suited for worship. Its nature was inert—unaltering and rigid. The Stone God disapproved of change, or if it approved, its changes were so slow and drawn-out that no mortal life could ever witness them. To many Dwarves, this made their god slow—dull even. A prayer representing the entire race might take centuries to receive a vague response. Some Dwarves realized this devotion brought no tangible help, and that such a deity was ill-suited for a civilization. So, they chose change—seeking to transform their god. The Dwarves called upon other gods, and two in particular answered. One was the Sun God, radiant and holy, ruling the heavens and casting the light of day upon the earth, bestowing fire upon mortals and teaching them mastery. In the Dwarven tongue, this god was called “Kago” — the Great Radiant One. The other was the God of Enlightenment, wielder of thunder, who delivered divine wisdom through heavenly lightning—a symbol of intellect and awakening. The Dwarves named this one “Fago” — the Great Revelator. These two deities joined in aiding the Dwarves and attempted to communicate with the Stone God. But even they could not change its inert nature. Then, the God of Enlightenment proposed a solution: if the Stone God could not be changed, why not forge a new god from it? Thus, with the Enlightenment God designing and the Sun God forging, a portion of the Stone God was hewn out, refined and smelted in divine fire. From this, they created a new deity—the Goddess of Craft, the Queen of the Forge, whom the Dwarves called “Tango-Mo”. Born of the Stone God, the Forge Goddess was both its daughter and avatar—a different manifestation of its divinity. She was more active, able to participate directly in mortal affairs, and thus far more fitting for a civilization’s faith. The Dwarves shifted their primary worship to her, with the Stone God willingly stepping back. However, a minority of Dwarves continued to worship the original deity, leading to offshoot sects. “This mystical text… is quite dense. Another one about ancient history. Dwarves… Stone God… Forge Goddess… If this myth is real, that’s fascinating.” Dorothy pondered with interest, stroking her chin, before analyzing further. “This ‘Dwarf’ nonhuman civilization clearly dates to the Second Epoch—possibly even its early period. The Stone God they worship… could that be the Prince of Stone, the so-called Lord of Mountains? And the Forge Goddess—perhaps the Core of Order? Or maybe they’re predecessors of those beings?” “Even if the Core of Order isn’t exactly the Forge Goddess, based on the faiths I’ve studied around the Prince of Stone, traits like inertia, primitiveness, and resistance to change definitely match the Stone God’s nature. If the Forge Goddess really is the Core of Order, then their relationship would resemble that of a primary deity and its incarnation. But from this one mystical text alone, I can’t say for sure.” “The text says the Dwarves are gone in this Epoch, so the Forge Goddess might have perished with their civilization. The Core of Order could be her successor…” Dorothy mused silently as she turned her thoughts to other elements of the myth. “Another interesting point—this Dwarven myth also mentions the Sun God and the God of Enlightenment. The Sun God must be the Lantern-path master of that time, possibly the predecessor of the current Radiant Savior. If so, they were the Lantern-path’s master in the Second Epoch. Still unknown whether their followers included nonhuman races.” “And then there’s the God of Enlightenment… That name isn’t new to me. I’ve seen it before—it appears in the Second Epoch, and only refers to one deity: the chief god of the ancient North Ufiga civilization, the Heaven’s Arbiter. If the Enlightenment God in this Dwarven myth is the same as the one in North Ufiga’s ancient mythology… then things get interesting. In Dwarven, the Prince of Stone and the Sun God are called ‘Tango’ and ‘Kago’, respectively, while the Forge Goddess is called ‘Tango·Mo’.” “This change in naming suggests that Dwarven culture had unique rules for divine names. The names of pure-path deities like the Prince of Stone and the Sun God end in ‘-go’ and have no suffixes, while the Forge Goddess has the suffix ‘Mo’ added after the name of the Stone God. This seems to signify that she originated from the Stone God, and was created under the Sun God’s influence. It shows there’s a clear naming distinction in Dwarven between pure and composite deities—the composite ones perhaps being marked with a suffix added to the name of their progenitor.” “But here’s the thing… the Enlightenment God is called ‘Fago’ in Dwarven, just like the other pure deities—no suffix. Does that mean, in the eyes of the Dwarves, the Heaven’s Arbiter was on equal footing with the Stone God and the Sun God? I’d previously thought the Arbiter was a composite Revelation-primary, Stone-auxiliary god. But if this mystical text is accurate, then the Heaven’s Arbiter might actually be the primary god of Revelation itself!” Dorothy thought in astonishment as she analyzed the text. In previous mystical texts she had gathered, descriptions of the Heaven’s Arbiter were always associated with thunder—often directly labeled as the God of Thunder. So she had assumed it was simply an elemental deity. But if this account were true, then her earlier assumption might be wrong. The Heaven’s Arbiter could very well be the true primary deity of Revelation, simply best known for its thunderous aspect. “As a pure Revelation Beyonder, once I reach the Gold rank, I’ll be able to simulate all the branches of Revelation. If the Heaven’s Arbiter is indeed the master of Revelation, it makes perfect sense that they could govern lightning. And compared to other Revelation powers, thunder is just… louder, more visible, more dramatic. That could be why people remember them mainly as the God of Thunder. But as the main deity of a colossal ancient empire, it’d be kind of underwhelming if the Heaven’s Arbiter were just a subordinate deity.” Though these thoughts churned in her mind, Dorothy didn’t leap to conclusions. The mystical text was, after all, compiled from fragmentary findings and speculation by a Beyonder archaeologist—its accuracy uncertain. While many ideas flowed through her mind, she refrained from rushing to judgment. Instead, she extracted the spirituality from the text: 6 points of Stone and 2 points of Lantern. Then, setting aside the archaeological journal, Dorothy picked up the third and final mystical text, “The Secret of Fire Worship”, a translation of fragmentary Third Epoch records. It detailed a heretical sect active in that era. The sect, called Flameburn Church, centered on fire worship and venerated the World-Burning Giant, a belligerent and destructive evil god who once tried to engulf the world in flames. The sect thrived during the imperial period of the Third Epoch, composed of apocalyptic extremists who sought to resurrect this fallen god—who had been slain by the King of Light—to ignite the world anew. Their doctrines and actions were too radical to be tolerated by the imperial state religion of the time, and the church was outlawed and aggressively purged. The text included descriptions of some of Flameburn Church’s rites, which mostly involved sacrificial burnings—sometimes of livestock, but also of worshipers themselves, or even entire villages. Even by today’s standards, the sect would easily be labeled an illegal and evil organization by virtually all official Beyonder groups. “So this is a record of a heretical cult from the Third Epoch… Figures. No matter the era, the world’s never short on lunatics like these. I just hope none of them managed to survive into this Fourth Epoch—we’ve already got enough monsters crawling around.” “Also, it mentioned the imperial state religion. Was their god the King of Light?” So thinking, Dorothy extracted the text’s spiritual content: 3 points Lantern and 2 points of Stone. “Phew… Finally got all the spirituality I need…” Dorothy exhaled deeply after reviewing her current spiritual profile. She now had everything required to support her advancement. All that remained… was the final ritual. Having finished the last mystical text, Dorothy tidied up the scene and instructed the carriage to continue onward. After rolling along for a while, it stopped at the roadside. Her corpse servant got down and opened the door—and a robed figure stepped into the carriage, sitting down across from Dorothy. The woman then removed her veil, revealing a beautiful, dark-skinned face. “Miss Dorothy…” “Mm.” Dorothy responded briefly to Nephthys, then had the corpse servant shut the door. The coachman corpse resumed driving, steering the black carriage northward. After a few turns through the city to realign their path, they left the city proper, heading toward the quieter outskirts of Tivian—to their alma mater, Royal Crown University. ==================== Author’s Notes: …Ugh. Just realized I miscalculated Dorothy’s spirituality earlier—back in Chapter 584, I forgot to include the points from Chapter 582. That made her seem short on spirituality when she wasn’t. Big thanks to the sharp-eyed reader who noticed and reminded me—otherwise poor Dorothy would’ve gotten cheated out of her rightful spirituality. That was my mistake. Guess I was writing while mentally fried. Her spirituality has now been corrected. I’ll go back and update Chapter 584 too—but due to the update delay, please be patient. Translator’s Notes: I’m not sure whether the one that I translated was the correct version or not, but I think it should be the correct one~