The Fourth Hundred and Eighty-Third Temple
Inland in Northern Ufeiga, within the capital city of Adus, Adis.
At the outskirts of Adis, on the edge of a lush oasis, stands the oldest building in all of Adis—the Radiant Cathedral.
Although the Radiant Church is now a typical Radiant faith cathedral, there are rumors that before the formal appearance of the term “Adus,” before the teachings of the Three Saints had spread to Northern Ufeiga, and before the Savior of Radiance came to save the world, this building already existed here, witnessing the prosperity and decline of Adis and Adus, witnessing countless historical changes.
At this moment, Dorothy, dressed in traditional North Ufeiga women’s robes and wearing a headscarf and veil, stood outside the Radiant Cathedral, curiously observing her surroundings. In her eyes, besides many ordinary citizens of Adis coming to pray inside the church, there were also many uniquely styled buildings.
Dorothy was standing at the front end of the main body of the church, where there was a long stone-paved road leading directly to the church’s entrance. On the road, countless commoners were bustling about. On both sides of the road were tall obelisks, each reaching up to several meters high, standing in equal intervals with each other. The square bodies of these obelisks showed no carvings, their sharp tips pointing towards the sky like spears.
At the end of the stone path lay what was considered the main part of the church—a grand structure with a triangular roof supported by numerous thick pillars. Engraved around these pillars were intricate and mysterious runes and inscriptions. Each pillar was nearly ten meters tall, making the entire “church” appear magnificent and imposing, exuding an ancient and grand aura.
‘Here… compared to those churches on the Main Continent, the style difference is quite significant. After all, this is a Second Epoch period building, even though it has been converted into a church, its original characteristics cannot be concealed. It would be more appropriate to call this place a temple rather than a church.’
As she observed her surroundings, Dorothy thought to herself. At this moment, she did not rush to enter the church but continued to neatly examine the array of obelisks lined up along the road. To others, these obelisks might seem unremarkable, but to Dorothy, they were quite interesting.
Although these obelisks appeared plain, as a “Enlightenment” Extraordinary Being, Dorothy could directly calculate the various data of the obelisks with just a glance. Despite the multitude of obelisks, almost all their dimensions—length, width, spacing, and more—were astonishingly consistent, with errors so minimal that they surpassed the construction standards of this era, leaving people to doubt whether they were truly man-made.
While such extreme details were imperceptible to ordinary people, for an “Enlightenment” Extraordinary Being like Dorothy, such details were easily perceptible. Moreover, this extreme regularity presented a unique beauty from the perspective of an “Enlightenment” Extraordinary Being, which is why Dorothy noticed it at first glance.
‘These obelisks must have been erected by the First Dynasty civilization during the Second Epoch era. As a civilization founded on “Enlightenment,” many places exhibit subtle traces of “Enlightenment”…’
Dorothy pondered this as she surveyed her surroundings. She then noticed a tourist information sign nearby, which seemed to be intended for foreigners. Given that Adis was often visited by foreigners before the war, the city had many facilities designed to cater to tourists.
Approaching the tourist information sign, Dorothy curiously examined its content and discovered an interesting introduction to the array of obelisks. These obelisks were collectively called the Radiant Pillars, and the light referred to here was not the Radiant light but lightning.
According to the tourist information, these obelisks would attract natural lightning during specific seasons. When lightning struck one of these obelisks, it would strangely leap between the tips of the obelisks, disappearing in an instant.
However, since Adis experienced very few thunderstorms throughout the year, the chance to observe this phenomenon was extremely rare. Because it was so seldom seen, ordinary tourists rarely got to witness it. Therefore, the tourist information sign included a simple illustration showing the scene of lightning striking an obelisk and the subsequent electrical connections jumping across different obelisks.
‘Oh wow… These obelisks can summon lightning? Could this have something to do with my Path of Roaring? And it says that after the lightning strikes the obelisk, it jumps at the tip. What kind of spectacle is this?’
Dorothy pondered this as she read the text on the tourist information sign, imagining the described scene.
After examining the obelisk group outside the “church,” Dorothy continued walking along the path, entering the main building of the church alongside the crowd performing prayers. After climbing a long staircase and passing through two towering stone pillars, she entered the interior of the church.
Before her eyes lay a vast open space. The ceiling, supported by countless large stone pillars, had huge openings allowing sunlight to stream in directly. The ground between the pillars was paved with finely patterned stone tiles, upon which many people knelt to pray. Deep within the open hall was a distinctly different, Radiant-style altar, where the enormous Holy Emblem of the Radiant Savior was placed. However, the Three Saints’ Holy Emblems usually placed beside the Savior were nowhere to be seen.
On both sides of the hall, armed members of the Revolutionary Army were on guard, while many men clad in special clerical robes of the Savior’s Incarnation Sect held scriptures, preaching to the citizens who came to pray to Shadi.
‘There are quite a lot of guards. Now this place has become the main base of the Savior’s Incarnation Sect in Adis. The original Three Saints Church has been converted to exclusively venerate the Savior. Of course, neither the Three Saints nor the Savior are the deities originally worshipped in this temple…’
After briefly surveying the scene in front of her, Dorothy mused to herself, then followed the praying crowd deeper into the hall, carefully observing the surroundings. Finally, she noticed the patterns on the floor beneath her feet.
The floor of the hall was made of massive and heavy tiles, each with naturally formed fine patterns. To ordinary people, these patterns were unremarkable, but to Dorothy, they were quite extraordinary.
Indeed, these patterns contained General Language! Just like the promotion steles of the Star Number Repair Association, they contained no spirituality themselves but could trigger the understanding of “Enlightenment” Extraordinary Beings. Such General Language could only be engraved by true craftsmen who mastered its secrets, differing significantly from the General Language written by Dorothy using her Extraordinary Item, the General Language Feather Pen.
In Dorothy’s eyes, the patterns on the floor tiles began to transform into comprehensible words. Initially, she thought these patterns would form some special text, but to her surprise, they eventually turned into numbers.
Yes, numbers. The content hidden within the General Language on these stone tiles consisted of numbers. Almost every large tile had a one or two-digit number, while a few tiles were completely blank. Additionally, Dorothy found some General Language with meanings beyond numbers on the bases of certain pillars.
‘Numbers? Interesting… It doesn’t seem like they’re writing the secret door directly on the surface…’
Dorothy thought to herself. Initially, she believed that the secrets in the Radiant Cathedral might be similar to those in the underground ruins of the Star Number Repair Association at Saint Crown University—a hidden door guided by General Language, visible and accessible only to “Enlightenment” Extraordinary Beings. Indeed, there was General Language present, but it did not explicitly indicate where the hidden door was. Instead, it was a series of seemingly meaningless numbers.
Discovering the secret on the floor tiles, Dorothy began to act as if she were touring the hall, meticulously recording the patterns on each tile. After wandering around for a while and confirming there was nothing noteworthy, she knelt down to pray for a moment before leaving the hall.
After leaving the Radiant Cathedral, Dorothy returned to her hotel, removed her headscarf and veil, and sat down on the balcony chair. There, she recalled all the information she had recorded in her mind, particularly the numbers in the hall.
In her mind, Dorothy analyzed all the floor tiles in the hall. She recalled all the numbers on the tiles, arranging them according to their original positions. Soon, she uncovered the mystery.
‘This… is a mathematical puzzle…’
Reflecting on the arrangement of the numbers on the floor tiles, Dorothy realized that these numerous numbers inscribed on the temple’s floor tiles were essentially a mathematical puzzle.
Not all tiles had numbers; numbered and non-numbered tiles were interspersed on the floor. By carefully analyzing, one could see that these numbers were interconnected. Using the numbers on the numbered tiles, one could deduce the numbers on the blank tiles. On the General Language at the bases of the pillars, Dorothy saw the rules for calculation.
Though there were many differences, this mathematical puzzle was still akin to Sudoku from her previous life.
The floor tiles in the hall were divided into two parts: a larger problem area and a smaller answer area. The answer area was located in front of the altar, where the basic digits zero to nine were inscribed on the tiles. Combining these digits could yield the numbers on the blank tiles in the problem area.
Dorothy guessed that the secret hidden in the temple required solving this interdimensional Sudoku puzzle. She needed to step out the answers in the answer area in front of the altar, offering a “divine dance” to the deity the temple was originally meant to honor, which seemed to be a traditional First Dynasty ritual.
‘It’s no wonder this ancient civilization inherited “Enlightenment.” Even their rituals involve mathematical puzzles. Luckily, this math puzzle isn’t too difficult. With a bit of calculation, I should be able to solve it.’
Dorothy thought to herself, then closed her eyes and earnestly started calculating the giant Sudoku-like puzzle covering the entire floor of the temple, trying to find all the answers. However, after a brief calculation, she furrowed her brow slightly.
‘No… This puzzle keeps yielding no results. Is there something wrong with my calculations? No, that’s not it. It’s because the conditions aren’t complete!’
Suddenly, Dorothy realized that there was a problem with the puzzle’s calculation. A number was missing from one of the tiles. Instead of a number, a blank space appeared on a tile that should have had one. Due to this missing essential number, the entire puzzle became unsolvable, lacking necessary data.
‘Missing a number… How could this happen? Is there something wrong with the puzzle itself? Or was one of the tiles damaged? But there are no signs of damage…’
Stuck in her calculations, Dorothy fell into deep thought, rubbing her chin as she tried to recall where things went wrong. Eventually, she remembered the series of obelisks outside the temple entrance, said to be able to attract lightning.
‘If I remember correctly, Balar’s third notebook mentioned that the humans of the First Dynasty revered lightning and sacred numbers. They regarded texts and numbers as gifts from the divine, believing that wisdom was brought to mankind by lightning. Thus, lightning symbolized enlightenment.’
Thinking carefully, Dorothy realized, ‘Those obelisk arrays that can attract lightning wouldn’t be guiding enlightenment, would they? According to the tourist information, after lightning strikes one obelisk, it leaps to the tips of other obelisks, creating a scene where several obelisks are linked by electricity.’
Dorothy pondered this further, recalling the simple illustration on the tourist information depicting the scene of lightning striking the obelisks. From an overhead view, the electric arcs connecting the obelisks seemed to form a digit from ancient Ufeiga script.
Realizing this, Dorothy understood where the missing number came from.
‘That makes sense. Those obelisk arrays are tools for seeking lightning enlightenment. After lightning strikes one obelisk, the tips of the obelisks produce different electrical arcs. Seen from above, these arcs combine to form a digit, a number from the First Dynasty script.
‘If this number is incorporated into the mathematical puzzle inside the hall, the whole puzzle would work correctly, with all questions answered. Since the number produced by each lightning strike is random, the puzzle’s appearance and final solution would vary each time.
‘In a way, this is like lightning posing problems to humanity. For the First Dynasty people who revered lightning and numbers, viewing lightning as a source of enlightenment and wisdom, this was a meaningful ritual.’
Nodding silently, Dorothy thought to herself. If she wanted to solve the mystery in the temple now, she simply needed to guide a lightning strike onto an obelisk, then use the number revealed by the lightning to solve the puzzle inside the hall. Once the answer was obtained, she could step it out in front of the altar.
To Dorothy, these operations were not difficult. However, the problem was that all these operations needed to be performed at the Radiant Cathedral, which would cause quite a commotion. Currently, the Radiant Cathedral was under the control of the Savior’s Incarnation Sect, with Extraordinary Beings of Red Tier stationed there. Would she dare to perform these manipulations right under their noses?
