Chapter 569
Some of the ancient Ansu texts were still beyond Xia Er's comprehension, but many of the materials were written in another ancient language that he couldn't understand at all. He could only temporarily seek out some books that he could read.
After spending half an hour perusing a small portion of the ancient Ansu scriptures, Xia Er gained a deeper understanding of the Church of the God of Order. He could also discern a commonality in the church's records regarding the Era of Holy Wars.
Xia Er labeled all the texts from the Church of the God of Order concerning the Era of Holy Wars with a single tag: "functional."
These texts were essentially weaponized theological knowledge, serving the cause of holy war. They resembled a form of brainwashing by the church, reinforcing the legitimacy and righteousness of faith and holy war. However, the content Xia Er truly sought was scarce.
One thing he could conclude, through cross-referencing with the records from the Holy Communion sect, was that since the beginning of the Era of Holy Wars, there seemed to have been no appearance of transcenders.
It appeared that after the transition from the Era of Chaos to the Holy Wars, transcenders had completely vanished... coinciding with the time when the gods went silent.
This millennium-long holy war had nearly drained the resources of the major churches, obliterating a vast array of legacies and further obscuring the Era of Chaos...
Nevertheless, Xia Er remained patient, sifting through these heavily subjective, religiously tinted texts until he had gone through the meager collection available.
In the end, he picked up the documents he couldn't understand and began to flip through them. Although he couldn't grasp the meaning of the words, he could memorize them verbatim. Once he learned the language, he would naturally understand the texts.
After recording this information, Xia Er hurried to the archbishop's residence of the Church of the Savior Goddess, where he found Eleanor.
In previous simulations, Xia Er had gained experience in subverting Eleanor multiple times. This time, he chose the simplest method—the pendant of the Faceless Goddess.
Using the "Omniscient," he successfully earned Eleanor's trust, allowing her to take him to the Church of the Savior Goddess's corridor library.
Here, Xia Er obtained a small portion of the ancient texts of the Church of the Savior Goddess, all written in ancient Ansu.
Although the collection here was far less than that of the Grand Cathedral of North Ansu, it was sufficient for Xia Er to compare the knowledge he had acquired from both sides.
The more he compared the knowledge from both sources, the more his confusion deepened.
Where have the gods gone?
Why did the transcenders suddenly disappear?
Perhaps due to the nature of the church's texts, there were almost no records left concerning the gods and transcenders. The remaining materials mostly avoided the heavy topics, focusing instead on recounting the battles of the holy war and promoting the church's main narrative.
If the gods have vanished...
Then what exactly is Sadana?
Is He a proxy of the gods? One of their remnants?
If so, then what about the Pure White Knight and the Dark Worm?
What about the divine servants and the first Dark Worm? Why do they have different feelings towards him?
The divine servants and the first Dark Worm recognized him as Sadana.
The second Dark Worm seemed to have no interest in understanding any information about itself, only thinking about how to extract more blood from him.
As for the Pure White Knight, he directly referred to him as the "Time Binder"...
Xia Er felt surrounded by a chaotic swirl of information. No matter how he searched, he still couldn't penetrate the mysteries of the other realm or the Era of Chaos.
It was as if something or someone had completely erased this segment of history.
Unbeknownst to him, Xia Er had spent the entire night exploring a vast amount of information. It wasn't until dawn broke that he finally set down his pen.
His hands were smeared with black ink, and the papers he had written on were scattered all over the floor, leaving little room to stand.
At that moment, there were less than six hours left before returning to reality.
Despite a night of organizing, the overwhelming information did not bring Xia Er any sense of stability; instead, it left her feeling somewhat lost.
"Ha..."
Xia Er let out a soft sigh, stood up, and as she did, the papers scattered across the floor. She stepped barefoot over the manuscripts.
The sound of her bare feet on the papers startled Tara, who had been dozing off. She looked up at Xia Er and hurried over, squatting down to place Xia Er's indoor shoes in front of her.
"Thank you."
After putting on her shoes, Xia Er pressed her hand against her abdomen and smiled at the standing Tara. "Could you get me something to eat?"
"Of course, Lady Xia Er!"
Tara responded eagerly and quickly left the study, while Xia Er walked to the window, pulling back the curtains to gaze outside.
The morning mist enveloped Ansu, and the hazy streets were beginning to see pedestrians. Xia Er simply watched the ebb and flow of the crowd, lost in thought.
She wondered if the Old Days would be a one-time opportunity. With a mindset prepared for the best, she found that most of her preparations seemed futile.
She didn't want to waste this hard-won opportunity of the Old Days simulation, as it was her leverage against Sadana and, so far, her only solution.
If she didn't attempt the Old Days, Xia Er would have to find a way to fast-track her progression to the fourth or even fifth tier, transcending the extraordinary to become a transcender... confronting Sadana with her own raw strength.
But Xia Er believed that path was not feasible.
She could indeed merge with "Uniqueness" more easily than others; in fact, she had already done so. Moreover, she had a ready formula potion and replication ritual laid out before her, from tier one "Knight" to tier five "Overlord." If she wanted to, she could simulate it several more times and surely succeed.
Yet reason and intuition told Xia Er that the absence of transcenders for so many years must have a reason behind it.
Rushing to become a transcender could lead to danger.
Xia Er closed her eyes, feeling the two red lights in her mind and the murmurs within.
It was Xiao Zuo from the other realm and Tara in reality praying for her.
As expected, Tara, like Xiao Zuo, began to fervently "harass" Xia Er after receiving the pendant of the Faceless Goddess, seemingly wanting to pray for her every few minutes.
Xia Er slowly opened her eyes, ignoring the red lights in her mind.
If the Old Days are the Era of Chaos, it means that transcenders exist there, along with true gods... it's hard to say whether the Old Days are more perilous than Sadana in the other realm.
But to uncover these truths and resolve the crisis, Xia Er had to venture into the Old Days.
Perhaps the system's initial promise to her—to forge her own path in the Old Days—would be the means to resolve everything.
At this point, she could only trust the system once more.
In the time that followed, Xia Er had a light meal before finding Aivina. The remaining time in the simulation was mostly spent under Aivina's mental healing, aimed at preserving her mental strength and preventing further depletion.
Until the system's final countdown ended, a silver light flashed before Xia Er, and she found herself back in that familiar silver space.
"No.16: 'Knight' Xia Er"
All sixteen save slots had been filled with different paths, and Xia Er had finally gathered all sixteen paths.
The silver space quickly dissipated before her, and her consciousness was pulled back into reality...
...
"Reality"
"Year 741 of the Holy Era, July 26, 16:00"
"Evaluation: Good, faster than I expected."
"Sixteen paths, you have finally completed the collection... Are you ready?"
"Take this; it is what you deserve based on your performance."
"Reward: Access to [Old Days] permissions."
"Destined Points: 374"
Xia Er slowly opened her eyes, the faint scent of mint lingering at her nose.
She looked at the system panel before her and took a deep breath.
This time was unprecedented; the system didn't even grant her a single destined point in the settlement interface. The only reward was the access to the Old Days.
Xia Er directly opened the system panel and entered the simulation interface.
"Future: 2 Days (Year 741 of the Holy Era, July 28, 16:00) (Cost: 10 Destined Points)"
"Past: 51 Days (Year 741 of the Holy Era, June 16, 11:55) (Cost: 100 Destined Points)"
Table of Contents
