Translator: La0o9 Editor: La0o9
The Spire of Civilization.
The Holy Church of Knowledge.
At this point, the grand acceptance ceremony had ended, and the upper echelons of the Church had already returned to their own businesses.
Only the servants of the church and the low-ranking followers were left to clean up the aftermath.
Despite being so busy, everyone appeared incredibly joyful.
It wasn’t until midnight that the entire aftermath of the ceremony was completely cleaned up.
Immediately after that, under the command of a Cardinal, everyone began to set up the testing area.
It couldn’t be helped, they needed to do this as soon as possible because if they don’t, there wouldn’t be any time to do it later on.
——-because from tomorrow onwards, troves of people would flood the gate of the Holy Church, seeking to join them.
This was a simple undeniable truth.
Because during the acceptance ceremony earlier today, the Bramble Bird Empress had just announced publicly that she will donate a large sum of wealth to the Holy Church.
A sum large enough to move the entirety of the Strife Zones.
Even the eternally stern and solemn Pope appeared younger by several dozen years as he heard this.
Now that they thought about it, today seemed to be a very unique day.
In the morning, God descended upon them.
With everyone in the Strife Zones bearing witness, God sealed away a blasphemer.
When the ceremony was conducted in the afternoon, the Bramble Bird Empress suddenly donated an unprecedented amount—— in fact, compared to the descent of God, this donation affected the Holy Church a lot more.
——for at least the next 30 years, every person of the Holy Church of Knowledge will not have to worry about their spending what-so-ever.
And every divine officer of the Holy Church of Knowledge will receive a special privilege from the Bramble Bird Kingdom: an honorary Knight rank of the Bramble Bird Kingdom.
Within the 200 million World Layers of the Strife Zones, any honorary Knight of the Bramble Bird can withdraw a total of 10,000 pieces of #500 coins, from any world.
That amount of money was more than enough for any person to live lavishly for the rest of their life!
Furthermore, due to the authority of the Holy Church, even those with eyes clouded by greed wouldn’t dare to attack a divine officer and steal this wealth.
No person dared to openly go against a follower of God.
And so, that amount of money was completely safe and cannot possibly be stolen away.
Due to this, quite a few people were openly admitting that the donation of the Bramble Bird Empress had become the biggest headline of today, eclipsing even the descent of God.
You’re asking if this is blasphemous?
Of course not! The Empress is actively helping the growth of the Holy Church.
And tomorrow, the Pope will bestow the title of honorary Cardinal to the Empress!
…
Deep inside the Holy Church of Knowledge.
The Pope’s reception room.
Although it was late, there were still people here conducting a secret discussion.
The only participants of this discussion are the Pope, the Empress, as well as a General of the Bramble Bird Kingdom.
The Pope smiled amiably: “Empress Laura, the knowledge of the infinite worlds are vast and endless, why are you in so much of a hurry?”
“Because I’m still young, I always want to get what I desire as soon as I can, or you could even say that I’m not a patient person” Laura replied.
While talking, Laura was still searching for something in the void of space.
She suddenly pulled her hand back, taking a certain item out.
It was a pair of metal chain gauntlets, giving off a faint golden glow.
“Hm? An Epic-grade knight gauntlet? I’m quite lucky this time”
Laura was a bit surprised but then randomly tossed the gauntlet behind herself.
Ilya hurriedly caught it.
“Your majesty, the royal vault is already very full, where do you think this gauntlet…” she asked for her orders.
“Didn’t we already donate quite a bit to the Holy Church of Knowledge?” Laura appeared surprised.
“That was just something piling up at the outside of the royal vault…”
“Ah…”
Laura and Ilya quickly exchanged glances.
So we only cleaned up some garbage piling up outside the full royal vault.
This pair of gauntlets is an Epic-grade treasure, so it can’t be randomly thrown onto the pile of garbage.
“Ilya, you can take these gauntlets” Laura said.
Ilya showed Laura the pair of pure white gloves radiating a holy glow that she was wearing: “Did you forget, your majesty? Last time you found already a pair of Divine-grade Holy Apostle satin gloves, I’m currently wearing it now”
Laura appeared a bit troubled: “Hah, then what should I do, oh right——- mister Pope, I would like to donate another pair of Epic-grade knight gauntlet”
She took the gauntlet back and casually put it on the table.
The Pope’s eyes twitched very slightly.
“Laura… your majesty, your generosity will be greatly appreciated by all members of our Holy Church” the Pope arranged his words carefully before speaking.
Laura put her hand up to stop him with a very serious expression.
“Mister Pope, I will be frank with you, I would like to know a certain secret knowledge”
“Your majesty, I will grant you the title of honorary Cardinal tomorrow, allowing you access to the all the knowledge of civilizations that the Holy Church of Knowledge has collected so far”
“No, mister Pope, do you think I spent so much effort only to know the knowledge of the countless races’ civilizations?”
“What do you mean, your majesty?” the Pope asked.
“I want to know the secret of the numbered coins” Laura told him straight.
The Pope’s eyebrows loosen and smiled: “That is also very simple, although some of the coins’ uses are well-kept secrets, our Church has studied the first 700 numbered coins quite thoroughly”
Laura denied it: “What I want to know is not this”
The Pope still maintained his smile and nodded again and again: “Your majesty, I really didn’t think your desire towards the truth and secrets would be so deep-rooted, however, as an honorary Cardinal of our Holy Church of Knowledge, this is exactly how your nature should be”
“The latter 301 numbered coins are forged by the 4 Pillar Gods, I am quite surprised that your majesty would desire to know the secrets that are hidden with them”
The Pope spoke joyfully: “To search for the secret of knowledge, the beginning of all civilizations, looking for the truth of creation that the Gods left within the coins. As long as your majesty can maintain this curiosity, one day very soon, I will be able to remove the ‘honorary’ part of your title”
Laura coldly replied: “You misunderstand, in truth, I am also not interested in these few hundred numbered coins”
The Pope froze.
He found himself unable to see through this little girl sitting across from him.
The Pope then tried asking: “Then… what exactly do you mean…”
Laura’s voice greatly lowered as she spoke in almost a whisper: “Mister Pope, I would like to know the secret of the final three coins”
The Pope’s smile completely vanished as his voice became a bit dry and hoarse: “There are only one each of the final three coins, your majesty, the secret you seek might be a bit difficult to track down. The Church will be more than willing to search for them with you”
Laura replied: “You are wrong, I do not need the Holy Church’s help in searching for them, as I have my own way to find those three coins”
She looked at the Pope, seeing a clear look of fear within his eyes.
“Mister Pope, you should have already guessed at this point, I know about ‘that’” Laura told him.
“About what?” the Pope asked.
“The Saint Tree has told me, it is something that will allow the dead to revive, and all things to go against the flow, but the tree does not know the specifics”
The Pope suddenly stood up and hurriedly spoke: “It is already late, your majesty, please return”
Laura sat still without moving and slowly asked: “But sir, I seem to recall that the items I donated to the Church still haven’t arrived yet, are you in so much of a hurry to chase me away?”
The Pope’s voice became cold: “Your majesty, our Holy Church of Knowledge does not need your donation. The Holy Church of Knowledge will also never reveal that forbidden ‘thing’ to anyone, including you”
He opened the door: “Please leave, your majesty, our meeting is over, from now on, do not ever return to the Holy Church of Knowledge again!”
Ilya looked worriedly at Laura and stood in front to protect her.
“It’s ok, Ilya, step down, I still have something to say to the Pope” Laura spoke.
She opened her little backpack, took out a small black box from it and lightly placed it on the table.
“Please have a look at this” Laura told him.
She opened the box, then swiftly closed it.
In that split second that the box was open, the Pope saw a piece of bone – a black finger bone – silently sitting inside.
In that split second before the box was closed——-
A tiny strand of white-grey flame came out from the black finger inside the box, flew out and hovered in the air like mist or fog, not dissipating even after a while.
The Pope stared closely at the strand of white-grey flame, muttering while at a loss: “My God…”
He subconsciously shut the door.
“What do you think, mister Pope?” Laura whispered.
As the Pope stared more and more at the strand of flame, thick beads of cold sweat formed on his forehead, slowly dripping down his face.
“You Devil” he muttered in a low voice.
“No, this is only a transaction, mister Pope” Laura replied.
“This is blasphemous to God!” the Pope refuted.
“But to which God? This piece of finger bone does not come from any of the 4 Pillar Gods, nor is it from the body of the 7 Daemons, it came from millions of years ago, belonging to a dead, unknown God”
Laura smirked: “I believe this isn’t blasphemous to any of the seven Gods, so I intend to gift it to you”
The finger bone of a God.
The finger bone of an unknown God.
The path it took to become God was completely different from the seven known paths, one that contained never-before-seen mysteries and secrets to explore.
The Pope inched closer and closer to the box, gulping.
He took out a white cloth to wipe the cold sweat from his face and neck.
——should I eliminate her right here?
He looked at the little girl sitting on the other side of the table.
She smiled.
Glowing green branches and leaves manifested behind her, gently hugging her body.
The Saint Bramble Tree!
Damn it, this is an existence equal to that of a God.
It’s protecting her!
The Pope immediately gave up.
He tried his best to keep his calm and grumbled: “Empress Laura, what exactly do you want?”
“Tell me that secret I want to know, the donations I’ve given to the Holy Church of Knowledge will remain unchanged, and the thing in this box will be my personal gift to you”
“Or you can refuse to tell me the secret, but I trust that there will always be others who know about it”
Laura’s voice gradually slowed: “Even if you won’t tell me, to obtain this finger bone, there will be others willing to do so, what do you think?”
The Pope remained silent for an entire minute.
He suddenly smiled.
Shaking his head, the Pope sighed emotionally: “Empress Laura, I hereby welcome you as an official Cardinal of the Holy Church of Knowledge”
“Mister Pope, the Saint Tree is here, please go ahead and tell me that secret first. Make sure that you tell no lie, and then you are free to take this box”
“…Your majesty, listen well, as I will only say this once”
“Please”
“It was the era when the Gods were at their strongest. The final three coins are the joint results of 33 different Gods, all forging them at the same time. As the Gods poured everything they had into this, the three coins contain the power that far exceeds that of all the Gods combined”
“Each of the three coins contains only a part of the power. You must collect all of them, and have the three unique existences they represent present to trigger their power in order to achieve ‘that’”
“Can ‘that’ really be achieved?” Laura clenched her fist tightly as her breathing became rapid.
“It certainly can. It is the ultimate power, the power to revive the dead, for all things to go against the flow, and for the fate of all living beings to retreat” the Pope spoke with an extremely low voice.
