Chapter 22: Forbidden Object
Leaning against the back of the chair, Sylvia idly tapped her fingers on the table, producing a soft “tap tap” sound.
At the same time, a mysterious and profound aura radiated outward from her body, prompting the plump crow perched on the back of her chair to instinctively fold its wings and lower its head.
While employing Silquaya the Faceless’s authority to simulate a brand-new spell, she recalled a transcendental path recorded in the scriptures of the Church of Radiance.
Transcendents who walked this path could perform permutations and combinations using occult symbolic sigils, thereby deducing and solidifying all sorts of strange and curious spells.
This path was called “Magician,” and it was mastered by witches.
Judging by this, the Magicians’ abilities seemed somewhat similar to her own contemplative power.
However, by comparison, her Authority of Change was clearly more powerful. Magicians could only use pre-existing occult symbols, while she had no such restrictions.
If given enough time, she could even create entirely new symbols from nothing.
While letting her thoughts wander, Sylvia continued her rhythmic tapping on the tabletop.
At present, the framework for the spell's model had already been completed.
In fact, within the Church of Radiance, there existed similar ready-made methods.
But the key to those lay in praying to the Lord of Radiance and borrowing the power of that pure light.
And yet, every priest, bishop, and knight present here was not a follower of Radiance.
If one were to force a prayer, the consequences were unknown.
Though the imagery seemed easy enough to imagine—
A pillar of pure white light piercing through the cathedral, purifying the faithless and heretical divinities beneath His gaze.
Shaking her head, Sylvia resumed the crafting of her new spell.
……
Thursday, December 22, Year 837 of the Common Calendar, 10 a.m.
In the deathly silent office, the sound of a chair scraping across the floor broke the stillness.
The source of the sound was Sylvia, who had stood up from her seat.
She had completed the simulation of the spell.
Pushing open the door, she proceeded along an underground passageway, walking until she reached its end.
Here stood a large silver-white door.
Several grooves had been carved into the surface of the door, within which were embedded diamonds.
Inside these diamonds, pure white light flowed like liquid, forming one mysterious symbol after another—
Seal, isolation, suppression...
Identifying one symbol after another, Sylvia nodded in acknowledgment.
Then she took out a hexagonal prism made of diamond and inserted it into a socket on the door.
This was a “key,” a key that Loruze Labrile had given her.
Previously, she had accessed this door by applying the Authority of Sloth.
But this time, she felt like doing it with a sense of ritual.
With a click, the puppet-like girl reached out and pushed the door open a crack.
In the next second, pure white light streamed through the gap into the outside.
She withdrew the key, stepped inside, and then closed the door behind her.
At this moment, Sylvia began to survey the so-called “Court of Radiance” once more.
On the walls of the Court of Radiance, diamonds were embedded in an orderly fashion. Like their counterparts outside, streams of pure white light flowed within them.
The symbols inside, however, were all uniform in meaning: “light.”
It was precisely these symbols that made the space brightly illuminated, even though no gas lamps had been installed.
Moreover, the light here seemed to shine from every direction, much like the “shadowless lamps” from her homeland, leaving no corner of the Court of Radiance in shadow.
She walked forward and soon saw a spiraling staircase descending below.
This was the necessary passage to reach the second basement level.
In the Court of Radiance within St. Ruls Cathedral, the first basement level was used to store books recording transcendental rituals as well as spiritual materials. The second basement level was the place for imprisoning heretics.
Besides that, there was also a third basement level, where forbidden objects were stored.
In this world, anything related to the transcendental would, over time, eventually lose its extraordinary effect.
Even with methods of sealing or preservation, these were only temporary measures to delay the inevitable.
But there were exceptions to everything.
There were two kinds of transcendental-related items capable of permanently retaining their extraordinary effects:
One was holy relics bestowed by gods.
Relying on divine power, they permanently solidified their transcendental effects.
The other kind were the forbidden objects.
In truth, forbidden objects could no longer be simply regarded as "items." They could be considered "living beings"—possessing traits of life nearly equivalent to a transcendent, although they did not possess a soul of their own.
This was also the reason why they could permanently retain their transcendental effects.
At the same time, due to their living nature but lack of soul and intellect, using forbidden objects often came with some negative side effects.
There were many causes behind the creation of these objects: corruption from evil gods, remnants left behind by the deaths of transcendents, and so on.
As for how to classify these forbidden objects, the Six Major Churches had established four levels:
**Level Three Forbidden Objects**: Usable.
These items could generally be used or worn by church personnel and had either no negative effects or only minor ones.
**Level Two Forbidden Objects**: Usable within limits.
These had certain dangers and negative side effects. They could be used within a defined scope but only under strict adherence to the church’s usage regulations.
**Level One Forbidden Objects**: Unusable and untouchable.
These carried extremely potent negative effects and harbored intense malice not only toward the user but also toward nearby life forms, rendering them completely unusable.
For objects categorized at this level, only two options existed: sealing or destruction.
The criteria distinguishing these three categories were based solely on danger and usability, not on the object's raw power or rank.
However, the final category had a classification standard completely different from the previous three:
**Level Zero Forbidden Objects**: Highest confidentiality and emergency response level. Any object possessing divinity or in direct contact with divinity would be categorized here.
Terrifying, dreadful, powerful—these words were enough to describe forbidden objects of this level.
And Sylvia herself had already been categorized in the Church of Radiance’s records as a Level Zero Forbidden Object.
Although it was only temporary for now, once envoys from the Holy See confirmed the clues, her status would soon be formalized and reported to other True God factions by the Church of Radiance.
According to Loruze Labrile, on the third basement level of the Court of Radiance in St. Ruls Cathedral, one Level Two Forbidden Object and five Level Three Forbidden Objects were stored.
Among them, the Level Two Forbidden Object was equivalent in tier to a transcendent who had undergone a third metamorphosis, while of the five Level Three Forbidden Objects, two were equivalent to second metamorphosis transcendants, and the remaining three matched the first metamorphosis tier.
At this moment, while recalling all this foundational knowledge, Sylvia descended to the second basement level and proceeded toward the cell holding that member of the Full Moon Sect.