Chapter 581 : Temple

After learning the requirements for her advancement to the Crimson rank, Dorothy immediately began gathering all the necessary items. Up to now, out of the six divine artifacts needed for the advancement, she had already obtained two, and another three were ready to be collected at any time.

The Deep Blue Heart and the Goblet of Nether Guidance were currently stored in Dorothy’s magic box. The Sacred Remains Scripture was being held by Vania. The Dreamscale Censer had been taken by the little fox and successfully rematerialized by the Butterfly Faction; she said she could have it sent via the White Craftsmen’s Guild at any time. As for the divine artifact of Stone, thanks to Mazarr and Beverly, Dorothy had already gathered the necessary deposit and rental fee—it was ready to be rented at a moment’s notice.

In other words, of the six divine artifacts required, five were already ready. However, apart from the Deep Blue Heart that had been in her possession from the start, none of these were what Dorothy had originally planned to obtain. Her initial goal had been the divine artifact aligned with her own spirituality, Revelation.

Back when she advanced to the White Ash rank, Dorothy had crafted the Revelation holy emblem herself using the system. So at first, she thought she could follow the same pattern and create a divine artifact for Revelation the same way. She casually placed an object before her and prayed for a blessing, just like when making a holy emblem. But in the end, while the item gained the traits of a holy emblem, it did not become a divine artifact.

After the first failure, Dorothy didn’t give up. She switched to different items, tried different prayers, and various methods of invoking blessings. But no matter what she did, the outcome was the same—none of them became divine artifacts. At most, they only turned into holy emblems.

At this point, Dorothy realized that creating a divine artifact was not as simple as crafting a holy emblem. Divine artifacts were supports for major rituals, treasured enough for churches to build temples around them, or for the White Craftsmen’s Guild to demand nearly 100,000 pounds in deposit to rent. They were clearly not something that could be made casually—there had to be a specific ritual involved. Dorothy now needed to ask Beverly about that in detail.

“Creating divine artifacts… that’s definitely not something simple. Yes, it does require a ritual—a ritual that connects with a deity. A priest must pray during the ritual to request the deity’s blessing. Once the deity accepts and grants the blessing, a divine artifact can be born. And the scale of the ritual isn’t small. Do you even have the facilities to conduct such a ritual?”

So appeared the reply on Dorothy’s Literary Sea Logbook, in Beverly’s neat, printed-like handwriting, tinged with an amused undertone.

“Don’t worry about the rest of that. Just tell me if you know how the ritual’s supposed to be performed. If you do, I’d like to buy it.”

Dorothy replied on the page, and Beverly answered immediately.

“Of course I know~ Actually, asking me is the right call. If you buy divine artifact ritual instructions elsewhere—if they even have them—they’ll probably only sell you a version for a single spirituality. But I can tell you this: although rituals for different spiritualities may look very different on the surface, their underlying principles are the same. The core doesn’t change. That includes divine artifact rituals too.

“All you need is the base prototype. Then, using knowledge of the target spirituality and deity, you can make the necessary adjustments. I just happen to have that base ritual and a basic modification guide. If you want it, it’s 1,200 pounds~”

When Beverly’s message finished appearing, Dorothy couldn’t help swallowing nervously.

“1,200 pounds… I’ve never paid that much for a mystical text before…”

“1,200 pounds… isn’t that a bit too expensive? Come on, I’m a loyal customer.”

Dorothy tried bargaining on the page, but Beverly responded even faster.

“This is a major religious ritual we’re talking about—1,200 isn’t expensive, okay? I already gave you a discount on the divine artifacts. Have some understanding, will you?”

Reading that, Dorothy knew she’d get nowhere arguing further, so she replied.

“Fine. 1,200 it is. How do I pay?”

“Just transfer it to the local Craftsmen’s Guild. Once I confirm the payment, I’ll send it to you via our special delivery channel—it’ll arrive within two days. Just stay in Adria and don’t leave. Pick it up at the guild the day after tomorrow.”

Dorothy thought over Beverly’s instructions and agreed—it was fine to wait a little longer in Adria. She was already waiting here for Edward’s mystical texts, after all.

“Alright, I’ll go make the payment now.”

“Thank you for your business~”

…

Dorothy then had her corpse marionette fetch the money and head to the guild to make the deposit into the account Beverly had provided. After that, she rested and leisurely spent two more days in Adria. At the agreed time, she once again dispatched her corpse marionette to the local guild to collect the package. Sure enough, Beverly had sent it.

After bringing the package back to her hotel, Dorothy immediately began unwrapping it. Inside was a slim booklet, neatly printed. As she opened it, she saw perfectly typeset Pritt script—obviously machine-printed.

“Don’t tell me that gearhead wrote this on the spot after getting my payment…”

Dorothy couldn’t help but think this as she stared at the brand-new booklet. All the mystical texts she had received before were old, worn tomes—handwritten, with beautiful calligraphy and a mysterious, ancient aura. They exuded a forbidden air. This brand-new booklet looked more like a manual or a marketing brochure—like something someone would hand you on the street, only for you to throw it away into a bin.

“If I tried selling this thing, I bet no one would believe it cost over a thousand pounds…”

Dorothy chuckled as she sighed. Then she sat down properly, opened what looked like a brochure, and began reading. Thanks to the clean and orderly font—unlike some eccentric mystical text authors with wild, hard-to-read penmanship—she was able to read through it very quickly.

The mystical text in Dorothy’s hands was likely a copy Beverly had transcribed after reading it somewhere. It recorded the principles and essential elements of the divine artifact ritual, outlining the basic prototype of such a ritual and detailing the traits of divine artifact rituals aligned with different spiritualities, along with guidance on how to adapt the prototype for other spiritualities. It even included Revelation, and listed fine-tuning references for certain deities—for example, the King of Light and the Goddess of Abundance—suggesting this text was written around the end of the Second Epoch or early Third Epoch.

After skimming through the content at speed, Dorothy more or less grasped the method. She discovered that the divine artifact ritual involved four key components.

First, the Deity’s approval, the most crucial part. The deity being prayed to must agree to bestow a blessing and create the divine artifact. According to the mystical text, the deity’s recognition is the foundation of the entire ritual; everything else hinges on it.

Second, a pious priest recognized by the deity. This priest would serve as the ritual’s central officiant.

Third, a receptive object to receive the blessing. This item must already be a mystical item and must share the same spirituality as the deity being invoked.

Fourth, a “Temple”-Grade ritual site. The text stated that a divine artifact ritual is a large-scale "temple-grade" ceremony and must be performed at a venue that meets this standard.

After reading through the entire mystical text, Dorothy furrowed her brows and fell silent. As she read, she had already begun comparing her own circumstances to the ritual’s requirements, assessing whether she could perform it herself.

“First and most important… divine approval. That’s not an issue. The so-called ‘God of Revelation’ is the system—or something equivalent to it. No matter how you put it, this mysterious system possesses divine-like powers. If I can use it, I essentially am the God of Revelation, Aka. So approval? Why wouldn’t I approve of myself?

“Second, the priest… also no problem. If I approve someone to act as the priest and they believe in me, that works. Nephthys, Vania… even myself can do it. Of course, the best option is Vania, since she’s already ordained. The main officiant is crucial; the assistant celebrants can just be corpse marionettes.

“Third, the receptive item—it must be a Revelation-type mystical item. I have those, so it’s also covered.

“But the final requirement… that’s a problem. A temple-grade ritual site? Where the hell am I supposed to find that?”*

Dorothy frowned deeply. She had met three of the four conditions. But the last one posed a real challenge.

Temple-grade ritual sites weren’t some everyday concept for newcomers to the mystical world like Dorothy. They were part of a classification system for religious ceremonies, with four grades of ritual sites.

Shrine: the lowest tier—examples include roadside statues, totem poles in forests, rune stones on mountain peaks, and home altars. Suitable for low-level rites like blessing holy emblems, making holy water, or granting small-scale blessings.

Sanctuary: mid-tier—usually average-sized temples or churches, like those in small towns within the Radiance Church’s jurisdiction, tribal totem sites in shamanic religions, or ritual spaces of cults operating in regular cities.

Temple: large-scale divine temples—like the central cathedrals of major dioceses in the Radiance Church, usually located in the capitals of major mainland nations, overseen by Crimson-rank archbishops. Examples include the Hymn Cathedral in Pritt and the Heart-Cleansing Cathedral in Ivengard. For shamanic rites, this might be the venue of the “Wilderness Ritual.” One of the Abyssal Church’s temples is located on White Tears Island. Incidentally, the Temple of Heaven’s Arbiter in Yadith also qualifies as a temple-grade site.

Sacred Land: the highest tier—sites touched by divine presence in the mortal world. For the Radiance Church, this includes the four great holy lands like Holy Mount and the Cathedral of Redemption, associated with the Savior and the Three Saints. Cult headquarters of other mystic sects are often located in their respective sacred lands. The site of the shamanic “Great Wilderness Rite” is also suspected to be a sacred land.

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Divine artifact rituals were clearly religious ceremonies and required these specific venues. Worse yet, the ritual in question demanded a temple-grade site—not a trivial bar to meet. At minimum, it had to be on the level of a major diocesan cathedral.

“Temple-grade? Where the hell am I supposed to find one of those? I’ve been stumbling through the mystical world for over a year and don’t even have a fixed base, let alone a temple…”

Dorothy’s frustration deepened. Her so-called Rose Cross Order was essentially a shell group; the God Aka was a hollow deity. Where was she supposed to get a temple? And building one from scratch was essentially impossible.

Constructing a temple with mystical significance wasn’t just about bricks and mortar. It required professional mystical knowledge, immense resources, and manpower. The entire building process was itself a grand ritual—not something you could just whip up.

Setting aside whether Dorothy had the hundreds of thousands of pounds needed (she didn’t), the construction alone would take years. And such temples couldn’t be built inside Radiance Church territory—if discovered, the temple might be destroyed, and she could be eliminated. But if she chose some remote area far from Radiance control, the lack of development meant a construction project might drag on for a decade or more.

All in all, building her own temple was absolutely not an option—not with no money, no time, and no support. She had to find another way to fulfill the fourth requirement.

Thinking this through, Dorothy picked up her Literary Sea Logbook, flipped to Beverly’s communication page, and wrote:

“Hey? You there? That mystical text you sold me says the divine artifact ritual needs a temple-grade site. Is that strictly necessary? What if I don’t have a temple—are there any alternatives?”

She paused her pen and waited. Not long after, Beverly’s reply appeared.

“No temple, huh… It’s not impossible. There is a way to get around that.”

“What way?”

“You can borrow another deity’s temple to perform the divine artifact ritual for your god.”

“What? You can borrow someone else’s temple?!”

Dorothy was stunned and hastily wrote back. Beverly responded promptly.

“Yep~ Divine item rituals aren’t hyper-strict about the temple itself. You just need to make a few minor adjustments—change some of the symbolism and meaning—and then perform a separate ritual to temporarily substitute the temple’s patron deity. Once that’s done, you can proceed with the divine artifact ritual.”

“The substitution ritual isn’t especially hard either. I’ve got a copy of it if you want to buy it. Just be warned—it’s a very high-profile process. Definitely not something you can do stealthily. So it’s best to coordinate with the temple’s owners first… or, you know, seize it outright.”

“Oh, and the temple you borrow must be ‘original’—you can’t use one that’s already been substituted before. A lot of cabals outside the Radiance Church like to recycle old temples of dead gods and retrofit them for their own use. But once that kind of temple has been through a substitution ritual, it’s done. You can’t use it again. So be picky.”