Northern Shore of the Conquest Sea, Adria.
Morning. Inside the luxurious suite of a certain Adria hotel, Dorothy stood wearing light attire, her gaze locked on the floor.
Spread across the suite’s floor lay a massive map measuring roughly two or three meters in length and width, covering most of the room’s floor. Dorothy had evidently moved the bed aside to make enough space for it.
It was a world map depicting the four continents of this world in as much detail as Dorothy could find. Even so, many parts of it remained obscure and crudely drawn.
Of the areas presented, the main continent was rendered in the greatest detail. Each country and city was marked distinctly, the geographic names densely filling the map. Overall, one could see an imbalance of development—its western half was portrayed with greater clarity and prosperity than the east.
South of the main continent was the Ufiga continent, second only to the main continent in detail, with the northern part of Ufiga more complete than the southern. Next was the Starfall continent to the west of the main continent, showing more precise depictions of its eastern coasts. Moving farther west, where the main continent’s colonial power waned, the map grew progressively vague. Lastly, the polar lands north of the main continent appeared as little more than a rough outline.
Dorothy had chosen this large, highly detailed world map for her pendulum divination. She could only divine once, so she needed as precise a location as possible, and thus required the largest map available, one replete with information.
After examining the map on the floor a few more times, Dorothy let out a slow breath, then took a purple crystal pendant from her pocket. Next, she stepped out of her shoes, treading onto the map as though it were a carpet. Positioning herself at the center—near the Holy Mount of the main continent—she lowered the amethyst pendant in her hand.
“I need to know where to find specific information on the Pure Reason Path’s Crimson-rank advancement ritual.”
Standing on the map, Dorothy uttered this divinatory incantation, expending one point of Lantern and one point of Revelation to initiate the ritual. Gently, she began swinging the pendant through the air, the violet crystal passing above countless place names on the expansive map.
As it swung, the crystal seemed drawn by an unknown force, veering away from any natural gravitational motion. Its oscillations gradually diminished, the deflection steadily narrowing, until at last, the amethyst came to a halt. Its tip pointed south.
Seeing the crystal’s direction, Dorothy moved her feet, walking from the main continent’s position further south. Even upon crossing the Conquest Sea and reaching the northern edge of the Ufiga continent on the map, the crystal tip still tilted south. Only when Dorothy stepped squarely onto Ufiga’s territory did the crystal’s movement slow and finally hang straight down.
Observing the change in the crystal’s angle, Dorothy carefully shifted her position within the Ufiga region on the map, waiting until the amethyst was perfectly vertical. Then she lowered the crystal toward the paper, until its tip pinpointed a specific spot.
That location sat in North Ufiga, within an area marked as part of the Ardus Kingdom’s eastern region. Dorothy silently made note of the place, marking it on the map. Once the divination was complete, the purple hue drained from the pendant, returning it to an ordinary colorless crystal.
Finished with her work, Dorothy returned to the sofa and sank onto it, pondering the results of her divination.
“So… North Ufiga. I wouldn’t have guessed that my Crimson-rank advancement method would be there. That area is said to be full of relics from the First Dynasty, but apparently it also preserves secrets of the ‘Revelation’ path?
“Then again, I recall the First Dynasty worshipped the ‘Heaven’s Arbiter’ said to be a deity of ‘Revelation.’ That might connect to the Star Numerology Scriptorium, the group I just used the pendant to locate. Perhaps the Scriptorium is a surviving lineage of the First Dynasty after the Second Epoch.
“Which means if I want to learn the Crimson-rank advancement method, I have no choice but to travel to North Ufiga—another continent altogether. Who knows how much time I’ll need there to find what I’m looking for. Should I head straight there now, or go back to Tivian to rest first before setting off?”
Seated on the sofa, Dorothy mulled over the state of affairs in North Ufiga. To her, it lay uncomfortably far, and that region was rife with chaos and unknown risks, meaning this outcome wasn’t entirely ideal.
After thinking for quite some time and coming to no immediate conclusion, Dorothy turned her attention to the color-drained pendant resting beside her. This was the pendant that helped her pin down the Crimson-rank advancement secret. It also harbored its own mystery. When the pendant had first regained its divination state, Dorothy performed an identification spell on it, and the result was intriguing.
Reading Key
Grants access to the ‘Grand Library.’ The library issues access rights at fixed intervals to different holders of True-Sight Keys. While access is active, the keyholder can browse the information within, shielded by the library’s info-barrier. This particular Reading Key is only authorized to view geographic data and renews its access every three years.
“A ‘Grand Library’… almost like a self-contained database. That so-called ‘info-barrier’ must be the Scriptorium’s anti-divination system. The Grand Library is their data core, and the info-barrier protects it. Meanwhile, this Reading Key acts as the library’s authorization, letting the holder pass through the barrier and read the contents…”
Gazing down at the now-lusterless pendant in her hand, Dorothy grew thoughtful. Initially, she assumed it would let her circumvent the Scriptorium’s anti-divination measures—a powerful mystical item. But as it turned out, it offered no such bypass. Rather, the Scriptorium’s anti-divination system periodically granted it browsing access.
Dorothy studied the results of her appraisal in her mind.
“Judging by what I found, this kind of Reading Key is certainly not unique. The Star Numerology Scriptorium must have created many different ones. All of them would grant access rights to the Grand Library, but the scope of those rights and the methods of access would likely vary… The one I possess can only read geographic information, and it’s locked behind a crazy three-year cooldown.
“That also perfectly explains why, during its cooldown, the artifact had no spiritual traces. It’s not itself the source of any mystical power; it’s merely the carrier. The true mystical power belongs to the Scriptorium’s Grand Library. Every three years, the library grants it authorization, which is why it only works once every three years.”
“By creating these keys, the Scriptorium basically limited how much of their preserved information could leak outside. But I don’t know whether these keys were meant for their own low- or mid-level members or for allied groups—or maybe both.”
Dorothy reasoned. Holding the colorless pendant, Dorothy arrived at these conclusions. The Star Numerology Scriptorium might be gone, but some of their legacies lingered, such as this so-called Grand Library. It likely had something akin to a self-sustaining AI to manage it, continuing to protect the Scriptorium’s knowledge base despite no living members. Granting periodic access rights to the Reading Keys was simply part of its ongoing routine, which gave Dorothy a sense of “post-apocalyptic nostalgia.”
“If there’s more than one Reading Key out there, I might find others and use them to gather far more information about the Star Numerology Scriptorium…”
So she thought. But after another moment of reflection, Dorothy decided to set aside this line of inquiry for now. She placed the temporarily useless crystal pendant back into her magic box.
“In any case, I’ve finally discovered the lead on my next advancement. My upcoming activities can revolve around this clue.
“Hm… I think I’ll go out for a stroll. By the time I’ve walked around till midday, I can have lunch outside. But first, I’d better tidy up.”
Stretching her arms, Dorothy rose from the sofa. Slipping back into her shoes, she surveyed the room. She then opened the magic box on the floor and commanded two corpse marionettes to crawl out from within.
She directed them to roll up the map she’d spread across the floor like a carpet, then move the bed (which she’d pushed aside) back to its original spot. Once the giant map was tucked away in the magic box, she also sent the two marionettes back inside. Finally, she closed the box and gave her arms a brief shake, preparing to change clothes and head out.
However, as Dorothy rummaged through her luggage in search of a dress, a familiar voice suddenly resonated in her head.
“Great Aka, please help me contact Miss Dorothy. There’s an urgent matter I need to speak with her about.”
Hearing that voice, Dorothy halted. Her hand, poised over her clothing, froze, and she straightened up with a slight frown.
“That voice… it’s Neph’s. Did something happen that she’d suddenly come looking for me? Could it be her Thief K identity has been exposed?”
In light of their recent “Thief K” collaboration, Dorothy naturally assumed the worst. She promptly sat back down on the sofa, took out the Literary Sea Logbook from her magic box, and flipped to Nephthys Boyle’s page. Picking up her pen, she wrote.
“What’s got you so anxious, Senior Nephthys?”
Her words had barely dried on the page when a reply from Nephthys appeared. Clearly, Neph had been waiting for Dorothy to respond.
“Miss Dorothy! It’s bad news—I just got an urgent telegram this morning. Granpa Nust has gone missing!”
“What? Neph’s old butler missing?!”
Dorothy blinked at the words glowing on the page. She had never imagined trouble would befall the butler back in Ivengard, that elderly caretaker of Davis and custodian of the notes.
“Write out the details. What exactly happened?”
Dorothy penned her question. After a short pause, Nephthys’s words once again materialized on the page.
“It’s like this: last year my dad got cursed and fell seriously ill, so he’s been recuperating with Mom at a country estate. Meanwhile, Granpa Nust stayed at our home in Tivian to manage the household and business. I came on this study trip, leaving only a few servants at home. Yesterday was the King’s Coronation Day, and Granpa Nust gave everyone the day off. But when they returned this morning, they found our home completely ransacked—worse than if a burglar had struck—and Granpa Nust had vanished. The servants panicked, immediately contacted the police, and then called others.
“Since Granpa Nust had told them not to bother Dad about anything—he’s still recovering—and since Grandpa Nust wasn’t around, they were to inform me of any emergency first. I’d been sending letters home to let them know I’m in Adria, so the servants knew where I was. They went straight to the telegraph office and sent an urgent wire. I only received it this morning.”