Chapter 706: Phantom History
Northern Ufeiga, Busairite.
In the desert of Busairite under the blazing sun during the day, Dorothy sat in her tent at the edge of the oasis of Bastis, frowning and seriously recalling what had just happened. It had been a long time since she had heard any prompts from her so-called “system.” When the prompt suddenly appeared, it startled her.
“My so-called system… usually only comes out to give a prompt when my actions might trigger some divine reaction. This means that the act of writing the history of the Santo Dynasty could trigger such a divine reaction.
“The land of Busairite has always been under the influence of an intangible divine force. This power is closely related to history and legal principles. Could it be that the divinity of the ‘Enlightenment’ domain is connected to these?”
Dorothy pondered this in her heart as she stroked her chin. She already knew that a country’s history and legal principles could be used as a form of power and resource. The king’s soul in the Nether Coffin and the National Adoration Monarchy of the Church were both systems driven by the power of legal principles. At first, Dorothy was unsure which kind of spirituality was linked to the power of legal principles, but now it seemed clear that it was related to “Enlightenment.”
“According to intelligence gathered from the Nether Coffin, it has some degree of ‘Enlightenment’ technology, and the Church undoubtedly possesses some ‘Enlightenment’ heritage… Although the Church openly transmits only three extraordinary branches, the National Adoration Monarchy appears to be an extraordinary system created by combining ‘Enlightenment’ and ‘Lamp.’ Interesting…”
Dorothy thought to herself. It seemed that within large extraordinary organizations, the power of ‘Enlightenment’ had not completely disappeared; they must have retained some degree of ‘Enlightenment’ heritage, albeit as the highest secret.
Dorothy pondered this, and soon after, she redirected her thoughts back to Busairite and the mysterious forces intertwined with it.
“My ‘system’ seems to have the ability to sense divine influences. The divine influence lingering over the history of Busairite is very likely from the Judge of Heaven… This means that the residual power of the Judge of Heaven is interfering with the history of Busairite…
“But, what exactly is the form of this interference? Busairite is not allowed to exist in written official history, and here, there cannot be strong legal powers… What does this mean?”
Dorothy stroked her chin as she pondered this, then directly attempted to ask the system in her mind what the previous reminder meant. However, like before, the system did not provide much explanation for its prompt, leaving Dorothy to speculate on her own.
“This land is not allowed to have written official history… This means that any attempt to write an officially unified historical book in Busairite will fail? Then, the residual divine power would destroy all the written histories of Busairite, causing history to be forgotten?
“Interpreted literally, this statement means that, but it’s clearly not that simple, as the emergence of official history is accompanied by the birth and continuation of a stable government, an unstoppable process…
“Official history, in a narrow sense, is the officially compiled historical records of a country or government, used as orthodox history to guide citizens. If the divine influence from the Judge of Heaven, that kind of curse, is merely stopping the creation of such a historical book, it feels too simple. Therefore, the system’s reference to ‘official history’ should have a broader meaning.
“A country or government, even if no official historical records are ordered to be compiled, would not significantly affect the basic operation of the entire nation. However, not compiling official history does not mean that ‘official history’ will not form. The existence of ‘official history’ is just a facade; fundamentally, it is the collective recognition of the majority about the past, a representation of the majority’s view of the past.
“Even if a government does not have official history, as long as it maintains stable rule for a long time, the people living within will eventually establish such a unified understanding. People always want to know what happened in the past and why things are the way they are today. With long-term stability, some narrative will eventually win the approval of the majority and become a common recognition.
“Therefore, even if the government itself does not create ‘official history,’ it will gradually evolve in the civilian realm. Thus, as long as there is a long-term unified government, official history will inevitably appear… Unless… that supposed curse can also eliminate the government…”
Dorothy analyzed this thoughtfully, her expression serious. If her idea was correct, then the continuous chaos in Busairite for thousands of years might not be due to human factors, but rather due to the divine influence present here.
The residual divinity from the Judge of Heaven influenced fate, leading each dynasty ruling Busairite to a short-lived demise. As long as Busairite remained chaotic, no true ‘official history’ could ever emerge.
“So, this explains why the system said that no major legal powers can exist here. History is an important component of legal principles. This land, influenced by fate, cannot sustain any large unified nation, nor can it have any powerful legal systems…”
“Dorothy pondered this. Now, it seems that the residual power of the Judge of Heaven is affecting the history of Busairite, and this influence might be related to Heoperis. However, the exact connection still needs further investigation.
“After the First Dynasty, no powerful unified kingdom has existed on this land. All the dynasties’ legal principles were destroyed. Does this mean that the legal principles of the First Dynasty are still governing this land?
“I remember that in my homeland, each dynasty had a tradition of compiling histories for the previous dynasty, aiming to promote the legitimacy of the current dynasty and provide a final judgment for the previous one, effectively ending the legal principles of the preceding dynasty.
“However, the various dynasties in Busairite only have beginnings and no endings. They have no compiled official histories, no final judgments. From this perspective, are the legal principles of these small dynasties still continuing? Perhaps they simply haven’t lasted long enough, and their legal powers are too weak…
“At the historical origin point above these small legal principles, is the legal principle of the First Dynasty still continuing? Busairite is the core area of the First Dynasty. If every dynasty born after the First Dynasty perished quickly without being able to provide a final judgment, wouldn’t the coffin lid never be closed? And if the coffin lid remains open, who knows what might come out?
“So, now I need to find a way to contact the legal principles of the First Dynasty, which may still be alive. To contact something as abstract as legal principles, I can only try to contact the intangible divine power…”
Dorothy thought seriously, now determined to reach out to the divine power that had destroyed countless dynasties, the only method being to continue compiling the history of the Santo Dynasty. By doing so, she hoped to observe how this power would influence her compiled history. As a ‘Red Tier’ extraordinary being of ‘Enlightenment,’ she might be able to detect some clues.
Based on the experiences of the historians of the Santo Dynasty, the divine power’s influence was subtle and gradual, not intense. Therefore, she believed there was little risk in trying.
After making this decision, Dorothy immediately controlled the zombie puppet underground in the library, resuming the compilation of the official history of the Santo Dynasty. However, after writing for a long time, Dorothy did not feel anything unusual.
“Hmm… It doesn’t seem to be particularly different… Is it because the influence is too slight, beyond my perception? Or am I unable to perceive it solely through the zombie puppet?”
For a moment, this question arose in Dorothy’s mind. She believed that there was always a certain isolation between her and the zombie puppet. If she wanted to truly feel the intangible power, she might have to do it personally.
As soon as this thought formed in her mind, Dorothy put it into practice. She stood up from the carpet beneath her, walked out of the tent, and left the lakeside camp of the delegation.
Ultimately, with the support of the zombie puppet inside Bastis, Dorothy successfully infiltrated the city and quickly found the location of the underground library.
Dorothy, dressed in a long robe, strolled through the brightly lit underground library, quickly reaching the stone table in the center and sitting down. Without delay, she took over the work of the zombie puppet and continued to rapidly compile the chronicles of the Santo Dynasty.
Holding the pen herself, Dorothy wrote swiftly on the blank pages, carefully observing any changes in herself and her surroundings. Fortunately, Dorothy soon felt something unusual.
She felt that while writing the chronicles of the Santo Dynasty, a force with significant similarity to herself appeared around her, manifesting in the text and on the tip of the pen. This force was extremely weak but clearly rejected her presence.
Under the influence of this force, Dorothy felt her mind often wandering while editing history, her concentration frequently slipping. This was clearly related to the “curse.” It affected her process of editing history, and if the history was completed, it would seemingly affect the process of its disappearance.
Having confirmed her ability to sense the intangible power, Dorothy began to comprehensively feel how this force influenced her editing process and quickly identified some patterns.
Whenever Dorothy edited content related to the collapse of a dynasty, this force appeared, slightly influencing her editing work. If the content was unrelated to the collapse of the dynasty, this force vanished.
During the editing process, Dorothy discovered an experience that piqued her interest. This experience stemmed from her pure fabrication of history due to incomplete historical records.
Due to the lack of comprehensive historical records, Dorothy could not create a fully accurate history. While editing historical events, she often encountered missing records, preventing her from fully reconstructing an event. In such cases, Dorothy, like many historians, would fabricate content based on guesswork to fill in the gaps in the records.
When Dorothy fabricated history, this mysterious force reappeared, but it merely appeared without interfering. Unlike when she edited content about the collapse of a kingdom, this force did not interfere with her work unless the content ultimately led to the collapse of the dynasty.
“When editing ordinary history, this force does not appear. When editing content about the collapse of a dynasty, this force appears and attempts to interfere. But when purely fabricating false history, this force reappears but does not interfere with the editing process…
“Why does fabricating false history lead to such a situation?”
Upon discovering this new phenomenon, Dorothy puzzled in her heart until a thought arose.
“History is a record and measure of time, but it is written by humans who cannot perfectly record everything that has happened.
“Fabricated false events… as long as they gain enough acceptance, can become real history in countless years.
“This force pays attention to the process of fabricating non-existent history but does not directly interfere. It feels like this force tacitly allows fabricated history… as long as it does not lead to the collapse of the dynasty…”
Sitting by the stone table, Dorothy pondered this seriously. Suddenly, she had a curious idea: if she avoided editing the history of the dynasty’s collapse while purely fabricating history, could she keep the already extinct dynasty alive in the historical records? After all, wasn’t fabricating history the default action of this force? Let’s see what happens if she completely turned away from reality and fabricated history.
With resolve, Dorothy stopped editing history normally and removed all content about the collapse of kingdoms. She began purely fabricating false history to avoid the second extinction of the Santo Dynasty, allowing it to continue only in the false records.
Dorothy activated her zombie puppet to begin fabricating stories of the third and fourth kings of the Santo Dynasty. They worked quickly, and five years after Dorothy started writing, her “Enlightenment” spirituality began to show signs of depletion!
Seeing her spirituality deplete, Dorothy was taken aback. Believing she was on the right path, she immediately accelerated the fabrication of the history. In her book, starting from the first king of the Santo Dynasty, Santis, and his son, the second king, Dorothy fabricated four kings in total, each inheriting the Santo Dynasty. The last king she named Hayak.
Dorothy wrote furiously, finally extending the history of the Santo Dynasty in her book from sixty years ago to the present. When she dated the chronicle to today, Dorothy breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, hiding behind a bench, Dorothy rubbed her shoulders, feeling somewhat tired. Stretching lazily, she slowly straightened up, leaning back slightly until she rested against the soft cushion.
“Wait… Cushion? I should be sitting on a hard stone bench, where did this cushion come from? And why does it feel soft under me…”
While looking up, Dorothy rubbed her eyes, and as she fully raised her head, she saw a scene that surprised her.
The library… it was still the underground library, but the scene inside was completely different.
Polished marble floors covered the entire ground, spotless and pristine. Countless bookshelves stood upright, filled with various books. The bookshelves and books were intact, undamaged. The original stone table in the center had transformed into a long wooden table, surrounded by beautifully crafted wooden benches. Various small exhibits and components were distributed around the library.
Compared to where Dorothy had previously been, the underground library now looked completely refreshed, as if it had instantly transformed from a raw structure to a finely decorated one.
Dorothy’s mouth opened slightly as she looked at the scene before her. She could see that the library had transformed into a standard underground library in an instant, and more importantly, there were many figures in long robes scattered throughout, flipping through books as if searching for information. These suddenly appearing individuals were not Dorothy’s zombie puppets.
“What… has happened here…”
Watching the sudden change, Dorothy was puzzled. At that moment, a pair of young people in long robes passed by her, seemingly students. One of them whispered to the other.
“Is it you? I remember you didn’t have anything to do today. Why are you here in the library?”
“It’s to collect materials for Mr. Novi. You know, he has been promoted to His Majesty Hakya’s royal advisor and is busy. As a student, I naturally need to help him alleviate some pressure.”
