Chapter 500

Chapter 379: Shadow Ring

In the southwestern outskirts of Tivyán, on a road through a dark forest.

Two fine horses pulled a pitch-black carriage, continuing to gallop forward. Dorothy sat inside the carriage, holding in her hand an important tool that she had long prepared for her ascension, the Holy Emblems of the Pure-Colored Deities. Among the five emblems, one made of paper stood out as particularly special.

Unlike the other four, this emblem, directly folded from book pages, was Dorothy’s self-made Holy Emblem of “Enlightenment.” The idea to create the “Enlightenment” emblem had come to Dorothy when she was at her wit’s end trying to figure out where to obtain one.

Dorothy’s search for the emblems could be described as progressing from easy to difficult. Initially, she found the “Lamp” and “Stone” emblems, which had relatively cooperative corresponding societies that could be acquired for a few coins. However, the corresponding societies for the “Cup” and “Silence” emblems were not as friendly to work with. Nonetheless, after expending some effort and employing various tricks, Dorothy managed to acquire those emblems as well.

For Dorothy, obtaining the “Shadow” emblem posed a significant challenge, as she could not find any societies that could serve as a channel for acquiring it. With no money to buy it and no targets to manipulate, Dorothy could only search for clues through minute traces, eventually stumbling upon some leads after several twists and turns.

If acquiring the “Shadow” emblem was difficult, then the “Enlightenment” emblem was even more so. Like the “Shadow,” there were no societies to approach regarding “Enlightenment.” While the aspect of “Shadow” at least had the important lead of the Mirror Moon Goddess, the clues for “Enlightenment” were pitifully scarce. Dorothy found herself completely at a loss about where to begin her search for the “Enlightenment” Holy Emblem.

The obstacles she faced while searching for the “Shadow” emblem often led her to ponder what she would do when it came time to look for the “Enlightenment” emblem. Every time she considered this problem, Dorothy couldn’t help but feel a headache; there were simply too few leads regarding the “Enlightenment” emblem.

Thus, under such pressure and confusion, Dorothy began to contemplate some solutions, and the paper emblem was a practical result of one of her whimsical ideas.

From a long time ago, Dorothy had been pondering what this system she called “interface” was all about. She had organized the functions of the system and discovered that it could primarily clear poison recognition, exchange knowledge, listen to prayers, establish consultation channels, defend against divination, and more…

Upon observing and organizing, Dorothy realized that these functions were almost entirely related to “information,” and information was the primary expression of “Enlightenment” spirituality. Therefore, the system likely had a deep connection to “Enlightenment.”

Additionally, this system could sense divine existence. Whenever Dorothy did something that could attract divine attention, it would alert her, proving its sensitivity to divinity.

The ability to clear the world’s unique poison recognition and extract spirituality, along with its sensitivity to the divine, further suggested that the system might have a profound connection to this world itself, not just being a purely foreign entity like Dorothy.

The ability to receive prayers… being sensitive to divinity… having a connection to this world… being highly relevant to the spirituality of “Enlightenment”…

By analyzing the various characteristics of the system, Dorothy couldn’t help but conclude that her system might have a certain connection to the long-lost, mysterious deity of “Enlightenment.”

After realizing this, Dorothy conducted an experiment, praying to herself, using the system to bestow the meaning of the Holy Emblem upon an object through the fate of the “Enlightenment” deity.

The Holy Emblem symbolizes the deity and is an object created by believers, given meaning by the deity; thus, what constitutes a Holy Emblem and what does not—all of this can be determined in an instant by the deity’s thought.

Dorothy believed that if the system truly had some nature akin to the “Enlightenment” deity as she had analyzed, then by utilizing it, she should be able to create the Holy Emblem of “Enlightenment” on her own.

With this thought in mind, Dorothy set about her experiment. She left the carriage, went to the street, casually bought a few craft books aimed at children from a nearby elementary school, quickly learned the techniques mentioned in them, and folded a Holy Emblem from the torn book pages. She then placed the emblem on the table and earnestly prayed to the system, declaring that this object was a Holy Emblem.

Subsequently, something interesting occurred. After completing her prayer, Dorothy utilized her spiritual perspective to inspect the paper Holy Emblem, discovering faint traces of “Enlightenment” spirituality on it, just like the other Holy Emblems she had obtained.

These bestowed traces of spirituality were purely of “Enlightenment,” representing the significance endowed by the Pure-Colored Deity of “Enlightenment.”

Dorothy had imbued meaning into the object herself and had created a Holy Emblem.

From that moment on, the number of Holy Emblems Dorothy possessed remained at five; for her ascension, she only required the sixth emblem, the “Shadow.”

“My inference was correct… The system that has existed in my mind since I arrived in this world has a tremendous connection to the divinity of ‘Enlightenment.’ The truth behind this system may very well be the truth of the ‘Enlightenment’ deity, and thereafter, the truth of the ‘Enlightenment’ deity should pertain to the truth of my crossing over.

“It seems that my crossing into this world was not without reason, and it looks like I might have another objective moving forward: to discover why I crossed into this world… From the looks of it now, exploring this path is also exploring the path of ‘Enlightenment,’ coincidentally in alignment with the path I am currently seeking for my ascension…

“It appears that my exploration of the path of ‘Enlightenment’… is not just for the sake of becoming stronger but also has significance in uncovering the truth behind my crossing…

“Now, this exploration is finally set to advance; it’s time to progress to White Chalk…”

Inside the swaying carriage, Dorothy looked at the five Holy Emblems in her hand, especially the one she had personally created, the Holy Emblem of “Enlightenment.” With these rapid thoughts, after a brief moment of reflection, Dorothy gripped the five Holy Emblems once more, then turned to gaze out the carriage window at the dark sky.

There, Dorothy could sense the last piece of her ascension puzzle—the final “Shadow” Holy Emblem was being rapidly brought by a Bird Zombie Puppet, yet its speed was quite concerning.

“Too slow… It’s too slow… Compared to that old guy, my Bird Zombie Puppet’s flying speed is far too insufficient; it’s about to be caught up by that guy, and there’s no way it can reach me before he does…”

Through the spiritual threads, Dorothy sensed the Bird Zombie Puppet still soaring through the sky towards her, furrowing her brow as she thought intensely.

Due to the earlier obstruction by the iron bars of the ventilation system in the underground secret room, her Bird Zombie Puppet had not managed to deliver the Holy Emblem in time. As a result, the final emblem needed for her ascension was still in transit, and at this speed, it was absolutely impossible for it to arrive in time.