Once all of the souls have been dealt with, Shiro deactivated her true spirit nature before turning towards the temple.
“I suppose we should have a look now.” Shiro suggested with a smile.
Walking up the steps, the group proceeded to the top of the temple.
Usually, this process would be filled with people since the residents here used this temple as a place of worship along with a medium for gaining knowledge. However, there was only deathly silence.
While walking up the steps, Shiro couldn’t help but think back to the person who claimed the man was his subordinate.
What powers did he use for them to die in such a manner? Why did he waste part of their soul? Questions filled her mind but she had no answers.
Despite her knowledge of souls and mastery thanks to Hades’ help, she still couldn’t think of anything that might be helpful with just taking a part of them.
From what she could tell, the part that was missing was memories. Why just take the memories? What about the combat experience? The personality? Why did they only take away the memories but nothing else. Was there something to gain from the memories?
Sighing in frustration, Shiro pulled out the book and started to compare a few of the runes that her drones have scanned around the city. She had made sure that that would be as far as they could so that they could capture the full rune.
Looking at the transmitted images, Shiro started to fill in the gaps.
It didn’t take them long to reach the top as they could see a giant building decorated with the bare minimum for it to look holy along with a gate that towered over them.
Seeing that the gate was already open slightly, they didn’t hesitate to take a step into the temple.
The interior of the temple was larger on the inside than it was on the outside. Looking at the hall which stretched beyond what should be possible within this temple, Shiro couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.
Supported by tens of pillars that connected to the ceiling, Shiro could see statues lined up on either side, guarding the path towards the centre of the temple.
The statues were of armoured giants holding swords and had red capes behind them.
Sending out her senses just in case these could attack her, she realised that they were just normal statues so there wasn’t anything to be worried about.
Towards the centre of the temple was a large altar of sorts. Several staircases led up to the raised platform as a crystal formation could be seen behind it, radiating a myriad of colours due to the glass ceiling above which allowed sunlight to pass through the crystals.
Approaching the altar, they could see a kneeling statue of a knight along with the statue of a god. Scanning through her memories, Shiro couldn’t find anything related to this god and figured that it was probably a new god that appeared after the world was integrated with the system.
Spotting a silver plate with carvings on the surface, Shiro analysed the language before opening her mouth.
“In honour of the greatest knight who served me. I shall bestow knowledge to this hometown.” Shiro muttered before glancing back.
“Welp, I’m not exactly sure where the trials are so it’s up to you now. The book didn’t say anything else.” Shiro shrugged as Silvia nodded her head.
Stepping into the centre of the altar, Silvia took a deep breath.
“It’s pretty simple. I wouldn’t call it a ritual but rather the act of declaring the intent to do the trials.” Silvia shrugged before flaring her mana.
“Silvia, Sage of Life, wishes to attempt the trials of knowledge.” She called out as the crystals started to flicker.
Suddenly, the lights converged towards her as a portal opened up before her.
“See you soon.” Silvia glanced back with a smile before stepping through the portal.
One by one, the other healer and alchemists started to declare their intent as similar portals opened up for them.
“Do you want to try it too?” Nan Tian asked as Shiro thought about it for a moment. She wasn’t sure how long it’ll take so there was the chance that her mental state might become unstable halfway through the trials.
However, she couldn’t continue to trouble Nan Tian like this.
“I’ll give it a go.” Shiro said after biting her lip.
Taking a deep breath, she took a step forward and glanced up at the crystal.
“Shiro, Nanotech Demi Goddess, wishes to attempt the trials of knowledge.” Shiro called out.
Suddenly, golden lights appeared in the crystals as divine energy filled the room.
Taking a step back in surprise, Shiro watched as the divine energy converged within the crystals as a singular eye glanced down at her.
“A demi goddess… It’s already the new age… But it’s not the latter half… How peculiar… Regardless, answer me this young goddess. What knowledge do you seek and what you aim to do with it?” A voice rang out as Shiro knew that she was talking to a god or rather, what had been a god since this was left over divine energy that is sealed within the crystal.
“I know that you have medical, druidic and alchemic knowledge but since you are a god, do you have knowledge on the runic language that you use? The ones we found in the mist and the ones that we found hidden within this city. I want to use this knowledge so that I can become stronger to protect the ones that I care about.” Shiro answered truthfully.
Narrowing its eye, the pupils flickered for a moment before calming down.
“Understood. You are speaking the truth. My knowledge of runes is not as deep as my knowledge of the professions that you speak of but I will grant you access to the library containing the knowledge of runes. However, before I allow you to enter the library, I want you to make a vow.”
“A vow?”
“Indeed. You are not allowed to use the knowledge that you have gained to intentionally harm innocents.”
Hearing this, Shiro nodded her head.
“I, Shiro, vow to not use the runic knowledge that I would gain to intentionally harm innocents who have a good soul.” Shiro vowed as a tier 8 magic circle appeared around her before shrinking into a single rune on her forehead before disappearing.
“Good. Take a step forward.” The voice said as a portal opened in front of her.
“Just a question before I go. Who are you?” Shiro asked curiously since more and more unknown gods are appearing now and she wanted to know where they come from.
“I am a dead god. There is no need for you to know my name as this is the only place that contains my divine energy.”
“A dead god? Did you come from a previous garden that failed?” Shiro asked with a frown.
“I did indeed. The god of healing was my title. After the new age ended, everything was destroyed. The native gods were, unfortunately, taken care of. I was no exception.” The voice sighed as the divine energy faded away.
Sensing that he was gone, Shiro furrowed her brows before glancing back at Nan Tian.
“Don’t worry, I’ll ask for a trial of knowledge as well. Not sure what I’ll get though since I don’t have much healing.” Nan Tian chuckled.
“Mn, good luck.” Shiro nodded her head.
Hesitating for a moment, she jogged back and grabbed his sleeve.
Cough
“I spent a moment talking to him so I need a little reset.” Shiro scratched her cheek as Nan Tian couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Should I perhaps cut a piece of my sleeve off for you?” He joked as Shiro rolled her eyes.
Seeing the portal flicker, she let go of Nan Tian’s sleeve and stepped through.
[You have discovered the Library of a Dead God.]
[This library is an isolated space with all of the god’s knowledge contained within. You have 1 day within this library. You are limited to the runic section.]
Seeing that her time limit was one day, Shiro couldn’t help but pause for a moment. Turning around, she saw that her exit had been sealed.
She could already feel her heart beating as one day was far beyond her current limit. Previously, she was able to stay within Chronos’ dimension for a long time since her physical body was with Nan Tian.
But now, she was isolated on her own, in a library for a whole day with no knowledge of what could be happening outside.
Shaking her head, she dismissed her doubts as she still had a long road to go.
“It’s just 24 hours. It’ll go by quickly, I’ve done research longer than this before.” Shiro muttered as she glanced back at the library.
There were rows upon rows of books stretching as high as the eye could see with a single table in the centre.
Walking towards the desk, books started to fall down from above as they stacked themselves next to the table. A quick glance of the title told her that each of them were the knowledge linked to the runes.
Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the closest book and started to read.
