A world without daylight.

Beneath the yellow sand lay the resting place of demon gods.

Here existed a peculiar nation, a country built by a race of puppet-like beings called the Demon Spirits.

This country had eight thousand, two hundred, and sixteen people, a number the Demon Spirit King remembered with precision. He spoke it with an absolute certainty and a practiced ease.

It was a number he had clearly repeated many times before.

“But now,” the Demon Spirit King told Elena, “there are eight thousand, two hundred, and seventeen people.”

Though no smile could form on the Demon Spirit King’s metal cheeks, his voice brimmed with joy. The addition of a single person held extraordinary significance for his country.

Elena first looked at him with confusion, then realized she was the additional person.

She offered little resistance and accepted this role as if it were natural.

Perhaps when she learned that he, too, had once been among the People of the Abyss, she had already started to consider herself a part of this place.

They headed toward the ancient temple.

Elena wanted to learn the written language, and this temple held the fastest method for mastering it.

Of course, these were not the characters of the Snake People.

The temple was situated in the deepest part of the inverted pyramid.

Elena followed the king down through the pyramid to its very bottom.

With the Demon Spirit King’s arrival, crystal lamps ignited along their path.

The Demon Spirit King’s metal cheeks gleamed under the light of the lamps.

The patterns on his robe were mysterious, and the sight of a moving metal puppet wearing a crown embodied this mystery to its fullest extent.

The back of his robe bore the images of a scepter, a face helmet, and a crown.

The crown was positioned at the top, with the scepter and face helmet below it.

“We have arrived,” the Demon Spirit King said as they entered the main hall, just as the crystal lamps inside brightened.

He communicated telepathically to Elena before removing the crown from his head.

In the presence of the divine, there were no kings or nobles, and no distinction between high or low status. There were only believers.

The Demon Spirit King knelt with practiced ease, praying to the divine being according to ancient rituals and reciting the King of Wisdom’s covenant.

This prayer ritual originated from the God-Given Land. It was inherited by both the Yinsai Kingdom and the Abyss Kingdom, with some differences but overall similarities.

Once, countless Trilobite People recited the King of Wisdom’s covenant as they set out from the seaside toward the Sacred Mountain, ultimately kneeling and dying beneath it.

Once, generations of the People of the Abyss swam toward the depths of the sea. They crossed the Bottomless Abyss trench and ventured into the deep ocean, continuing until they met their end.

Over time, however, these prayer rituals had vanished.

Yet surprisingly, the scene had been preserved here, remaining intact to this day.

Beneath the yellow sand, within the Abyss Royal City, Elena lifted her head. As she raised her slender neck, the motion made her collarbone more defined.

Her long fingers gripped her face helmet, removing the golden mask from her head. This revealed a face of divine beauty to mortal eyes, carrying the noble bearing of an apostle.

Her eyes gazed upon the divine statue. “God!”

The deity enshrined in the hall was completely indistinct, showing only a vague outline.

It was impossible to tell if time had gradually smoothed away its features, or if the statue had been crafted this way from the very beginning.

The statue was pure white, crafted from some unknown material. Whoever had sculpted it, however, had captured the essence of light to perfection.

The soft light from the crystal lamps shone upon the statue, refracting through its interior to create beams of light that gave the impression the statue itself was glowing.

“Yinsai,” Elena suddenly exclaimed in the wisdom language, “creator of the world, God beyond time.”

The words felt like an instinct, a conditioned response rooted deep within her body.

The Demon Spirit King was somewhat surprised. “You know the God’s name?”

As he spoke, he noticed another issue.

“That was the wisdom language. Have you learned it already?”

“No, that’s impossible.”

“You have not yet seen the Wisdom Script tablets.”

Generally, people who had just awakened in the Demon Spirit Kingdom could not remember things that had happened before. For them, everything started anew, with the past becoming mere history.

But given that Elena had once been an apostle, and Yinsai’s apostle at that, it did not seem so strange after all.

Elena did not know how to explain it. She had merely looked at the divine statue, and the words had come to her naturally.

She held her golden face helmet, knelt upon the ground, and pressed her lips to its surface.

Afterward, she closed her eyes.

After a long while, the Demon Spirit King finally finished his prayer and helped Elena to her feet.

“Follow me.”

The Demon Spirit King led Elena to the right side of the temple, where many objects were displayed.

Elena looked up and saw stone tablets enshrined on columns.

These tablets appeared to be sacred objects.

Elena walked over to examine them more closely.

Suddenly, the characters on the tablets began to twist and transform into shadows. Some characters became fish, the ancient and extinct ancestral fish.

Some characters transformed into flames, others into lightning.

Elena merely had to look at the tablets for the meaning of the characters to enter her mind, telling her what each one represented and how to use it.

At the same time, as she received these interpretations, it felt as though she stood upon a vast, starry sea. Countless shadows appeared around her, their voices blending into soft whispers.

The will of these shadows converged into one, creating an indescribable pressure. This pressure, however, was not directed at her and remained carefully restrained.

If others were to view these tablets to learn the Trilobite script, those whispers would become curses crossing time and the starry sea to descend directly upon them.

But what Elena heard were thousands upon thousands of approvals, blessings, and praises.

“She is the apostle.”

“The apostle of the First Era.”

“Yinsai’s apostle.”

“Former apostle, you have finally returned.”

“The Wisdom Script tablets of the King of Wisdom, tablets carved by King Redlichia himself.”

She seemed to be communicating with the Dream Starry Sea, connecting with the will of her former kin from the First Era, the Trilobite People.

Elena still did not understand what was happening. After opening her eyes, she looked toward the Demon Spirit King.

“How strange. The characters seem to show images directly.”

“When I look at them, I can faintly hear someone speaking to me, telling me their meaning.”

The Demon Spirit King replied, “These are the Wisdom Script tablets.”

She viewed one Wisdom Script tablet after another. In just half a day, she had learned most of the common wisdom characters.

“Who left these script tablets behind?”

Elena’s tone was not haughty. While she seemed to be naturally familiarizing herself with everything here, her posture, expression, and speech somehow made her seem aloof.

As she walked, she kept one hand on her Ruhe sword and held her head high.

This unconsciously made people sense her superiority, yet it also felt entirely natural.

Even when she gave an order to a king, it seemed appropriate.

A king was merely a mortal ruler. She was God’s apostle.

She was Yinsai’s apostle.

The Demon Spirit King answered, “According to King Redlichia’s covenant, the Wisdom Script was created by the King of Wisdom under Yinsai’s guidance and then carved by King Redlichia.”

“They appear here because King Yesael placed them here.”

“It is all recorded on these columns.”

Yesael was the younger son of the King of Wisdom.

Ense, the ancestor of the People of the Abyss, was the eldest son of the King of Wisdom.

Both possessed the noblest bloodline and status. Yet one eventually went mad over the King of Wisdom’s throne, while the other was bound by the crown’s covenant for his entire life.

As descendants of Ense, the People of the Abyss held extremely complex feelings toward King Yesael.

This city was once called Yesael City, but the People of the Abyss had gradually forgotten the name.

The name Yesael was preserved in only a few places where stories about him were recorded.

One such place was this very temple.

Elena naturally asked, “Who is Yesael?”

But as soon as she spoke, a strange message surfaced in her mind.

【The second King of Wisdom Yesael, the Moon Prince of King Redlichia.】

The Demon Spirit King started to say something but ultimately said only, “The records state that he was the second King of Wisdom.”

“He must have been King Redlichia’s favorite son!”

Having learned the wisdom language, Elena immediately put it to use. Though mental communication was more convenient, spoken language had its own charm, capable of countless variations when combined with tone, expression, and gaze.

Through this process of learning and remembering, she seemed to be quickly re-familiarizing herself with this world.

Though she could not recall many things, she quickly understood their purpose. Many words she had never formally learned somehow made perfect sense to her.

After touring the temple, Elena looked outside.

“Let’s go take a look outside!”

They walked through the Demon Spirit Kingdom, passing through buildings as complex as a labyrinth.

Figures that had previously hidden in the shadows all emerged, gathering around the Demon Spirit King and Elena.

They, too, were metal puppets.

Their attire varied greatly. Some wore elaborate clothing and were the nobles and priests of the Demon Spirit Kingdom.

Others wore armor and carried ceremonial weapons as members of the king’s guard.

The Demon Spirit Kingdom also had commoners, including merchants, blacksmiths, tailors, and masons, their identities immediately apparent from their appearance and dress.

But this country was truly extraordinary.

Every being belonged to a transcendent race. Even the most ordinary commoners possessed the ability to perform divine techniques.

When they saw Elena, they became incredibly excited.

“Lady Elena,” a noble immediately approached and knelt before her with the highest courtesy.

“Welcome back, great knight who created the Demon Spirit Kingdom,” they called out from both sides of the street.

“Apostle of Yinsai! Look, the sword at her waist is identical to the one in the painting,” a blacksmith exclaimed, looking excitedly at the Ruhe sword at Elena’s side.

“Lady Elena, long ago, I must have been part of the temple. Perhaps I once studied under you,” a puppet with truth symbols said with immense respect. Though he had forgotten, his innate divine technique proved he had once been a student of the Temple of Truth, which had accepted many from the People of the Abyss.

“Great descendant of Sal,” commoners called out. They regarded the Sal family lineage as sacred, believing that Sal’s testing of the saint was also Yinsai’s arrangement. They even thought Elena becoming an apostle was predestined, her story written when the saint passed through Sal’s domain.

They crossed long bridges, dark corridors, and narrow passages, walking through numerous dark chambers, tall buildings, and underground markets.

In this shadowy world, a mysterious city emerged.

The Demon Spirit puppets had crafted a peculiar realm governed by their own rules and order.

Elena was very curious.

How did the Demon Spirit race survive down here?

“What do you all eat?”

The Demon Spirit King replied, “We do not need to eat. We are Demon Spirits. As long as the pyramid remains, we can continuously restore our power.”

Elena asked, “Then what about the things you use? The clothes you wear, the items sold in the market?”

“Where does it all come from?”

The Demon Spirit King led Elena to a miracle ritual workshop.

Piles of materials were displayed before the workshop, mostly discarded items like damaged crystal lamps, broken armor, and tattered clothes.

Several Demon Spirit puppets performed a ritual, transforming a heap of waste into new objects.

Elena was amazed. “This is…”

The Demon Spirit King told Elena, “The spirit’s miracle technique.”

The Snake People and Winged People of the new era were unfamiliar with the concept of miracles. With the extinction of the Trilobite People, the previous era had come to a close.

In this era, no one could form contracts with spirits or rely on the power of miracles.

However, some here still upheld their former contracts and, with Yinsai’s return, brought back the miracles of the past.

After the third Sage of Truth, Vivien, merged with the Trilobite People to become a symbiote and lost the wisdom ability, these priests took on the role of Spirit Realm priests.

They were the last of the Spirit Realm priests.

“Spirit Realm priests.”

The Demon Spirit King told Elena, “With the power of miracles, we can continuously collect damaged things and reforge them into new ones.”

“We need not leave this place. We can have everything we desire in this country.”

Elena felt this was an almost perfect world.

“What a magical place.”

“This is a paradise, a paradise that should only exist in myths.”

“How was this built? Who constructed it?”

But she overlooked a critical question. Without any external input, how could this internal cycle be maintained?

The miracle technique could reshape and reforge materials on a large scale, but it could not create something from nothing.

The Demon Spirit King said, “It was you, Lady Elena!”

Elena suddenly recalled the images she had seen in the palace, the ones recording stories about the former Elena.

“So, it was the former me who built this place.”

The Demon Spirit King explained, “When the God-Forsaken Era came, both the Trilobite People and we sought new paths.”

“We did not have the foundation of the Trilobite People. All we had was you.”

“It was you who secured all of this for us.”

The Demon Spirit King looked at Elena, his voice filled with sincere gratitude.

Elena nodded. “It seems I succeeded?”

She looked at everything around her, genuinely delighted by this miracle.

A race, a civilization.

What a miracle it was, to extend from the previous era into this one.

Even if a price was paid, it was worthwhile.

Another question arose in Elena’s mind. “Then why?”

“Why did I end up outside in the end?”

The Demon Spirit King simply said, “That must have been an accident, or perhaps something you arranged yourself. The specific reason has long been forgotten.”

“But none of that matters. The murals say you would definitely return. Perhaps that, too, was arranged by your former self.”

Elena agreed with this assessment. “So, I have returned.”

“What can I do now?”

Elena stepped forward, her tall figure and confident gaze holding the Demon Spirit King’s attention.

“What can I do for you?”

“For the People of the Abyss?”

But the Demon Spirit King said, “Your return is what is most important.”

“Everyone here is born with an identity: king, queen, soldiers, priests, merchants, and commoners. This is innate.”

“Your identity is the Golden Helmet Knight, God’s Apostle.”

“What you must do is guard the pyramid and guard God’s temple.”

This city existed in a perpetual twilight.

When the bell tolled, the crystal lamps throughout the city began to fade, casting everything into a softer glow.

Elena held her golden helmet, standing before the temple.

Guarding the temple. Guarding the divine.

Indeed, this seemed like what an apostle should do.

Elena rested her hand on the hilt of her sword, her fingers brushing against the sheath.

She lifted her gaze, her eyes fixed on the distant horizon.

Everything here seemed perfect, but now that her mind had calmed, she felt something was strange.

The unchanging king and queen. The eternal soldiers and generals.

This was a country like a chessboard.

Everyone was born with a predetermined identity. Their fate and life were prescribed, their direction already set, like pieces on a board.

Each person’s destiny could be seen at a glance.

A question suddenly surfaced in Elena’s mind, one she had not considered before.

“Why?”

“Why don’t these people ever leave?”

Elena looked out at this city, the last Royal City of the People of the Abyss.

“Is this truly the path the former me wanted?”

“Is this the future I designed for the People of the Abyss?”

But Elena had her own thoughts. “Since I have come back, I must have wanted to do something. This must be the reason for my return.”

Yinsai Temple

Elena slept on a bed, dreaming restlessly.

In her dream, she stood before the ancient, primeval sea.

In that era, the Trilobite People dominated the land, while the People of the Abyss controlled the ocean.

The two sides harbored unresolvable grudges. Due to long-standing misunderstandings, they engaged in wars for years without any communication.

She saw a large ship approaching from afar. A male Trilobite stood at its bow, accompanied by a child.

She intercepted the ship and demanded his name.

He told her his name was Sandean.

And the child was called Haru.

She was shocked. From her own words in the dream, she knew this Sandean was famous, the inheritor of the saint’s will.

The Trilobite People built a temple on the island, which he called the Temple of Truth.

Because of the saint’s name, she felt a strong desire to follow him and learn.

At that time, she seemed to ask him a question.

Sandean did not answer but asked in return, “If there are stones blocking the path of progress, does that mean we stop walking?”

Sandean told her that he, too, did not know the answer, but he would continue to move forward nonetheless.

“I don’t know where this path will lead in the end, nor can I truly predict what the distant future will be like.”

“After all, I am not a god.”

“But I know that we will only know if this path is viable after we’ve walked it.”

“Hesitation and uncertainty don’t bring the future.”

“Each generation does what it must. What my generation should do is to pass on the knowledge given by God and the ideals of the saint to everyone.”

“If one day my actions truly bring disaster, I believe that era will also have more people who have benefited from the knowledge and ideals I’ve imparted, standing up to save us from that disaster.”

As this Trilobite named Sandean spoke, his eyes seemed to glow. Everyone could feel the passion and yearning in his heart.

“I teach you divine techniques not hoping for any reward, but hoping that one day we can use the power God has given us to create a truly great civilization.”

“Although we still have many shortcomings, my teacher, Saint Stan, once said before God…”

“Even in the darkest depths of our hearts, we still have a heart that yearns for goodness and looks forward to the future.”

“Even after experiencing the darkest moments, even if it costs him his life, he was willing to believe in the possibility of the Trilobite Men until the very end.”

“Like my teacher, I believe that if one day our civilization develops to be truly prosperous and powerful…”

“When we no longer lack food, when each of us can read books, when each of us can understand the wonder of knowledge and philosophy…”

“When we, each of us, can master the power of divine techniques…”

“We will surely become beautiful.”

“Just as God hopes we will be beautiful.”

At that moment, Elena was completely moved by his words. From that moment on, she seemed to change.

Before, she did not understand what truth was, nor what the saint’s will meant.

She had wanted to follow him simply because he was strong, and she wanted to become stronger.

Strength above all else was the only truth in the Deep Sea Abyss.

But from that moment, she began to realize that true strength was not necessarily holding the best sword. There were other elements to it.

She understood that the person standing before her had the potential to bring hope, not only to the Trilobite People but also to her and the People of the Abyss.

Sandean asked her, “What is your name?”

She replied softly, “Elena.”

“My name is Elena,” she repeated.

This time, she called out to him with heartfelt emotion, “Teacher!”

The scene changed.

By this time, she had become very powerful, a third-rank ability user.

She rushed down from a ship, charging onto an island.

The island was filled with Trilobite People in priest robes. A lighthouse emitted a steady light, enshrining Saint Tito’s bone book.

She saw her teacher, Sandean, who now lay upon a stone bed, dying.

The child who had always followed Sandean, treated like his own son, was nowhere to be seen.

She was deeply saddened, prostrating herself before the bed to look at her teacher.

Her teacher, Sandean, barely had the strength to speak. He merely called her name with a sorrowful gaze and nodded at her.

“Make way!”

“Make way!”

“I’m here!”

“Teacher Sandean, I’m here! I succeeded!”

A young Trilobite priest rushed over anxiously, handing a stone to Sandean on the bed.

The young Trilobite’s face showed a smile. He looked as if he had gone without rest for many days just to create this stone, and the sage lying on the bed had been waiting for this moment.

The God’s Grace Stone.

That was the world’s first God’s Grace Stone.

A glimmer of light flashed in the dying sage’s eyes as he named the stone in a hoarse voice.

He shakily said, “The wisdom given by the divine, the bloodline bestowed by the divine, the imprint gifted by the divine.”

“Let’s call it the God’s Grace Stone.”

As the aging sage spoke, another mouthful of blood spilled from his lips. He grasped the young Trilobite priest’s hand.

The once vigorous, eternally hopeful first Sage of Truth, Sandean.

In his final moments, he too was so powerless.

His lifelong faith had been shattered by Haru, the boy he had raised like his own son. This left him completely uncertain about the future. Would it truly unfold as he had once envisioned?

If even Haru could not inherit his will, could not inherit the saint’s will, then who could do so in the future?

Two generations later, or three, what would become of everything?

His teacher, Saint Stan, had once said they were different and would surely not disappoint Yinsai. Would that promise be fulfilled?

“Find Haru. Tell him… we were wrong.”

Several kneeling Trilobite People approached, anxiously asking Sandean.

“Sage!”

“What of the Temple of Truth? What becomes of its future?”

The aging sage’s gaze still fell upon the young man. “I originally wanted to entrust it to Haru. I know you love your homeland, and the Ice Temple is also a good starting point.”

“There, you can also create your own career.”

“I don’t want to interfere with your choices. Between you and Elena, whoever is willing to become the second-generation sage of the Temple of Truth, let them do so.”

“If neither of you is willing, then find someone else to do it.”

“Even if in the end…”

“The Temple of Truth vanishes like a midnight meteor, it doesn’t matter.”

“Let it be that my empty imaginings, those day-after-day dreams, were punctured by time!”

The Sage of Truth introduced rituals and the power of miracles to the mortal world, marking the beginning of the third-rank priest era.

And so, it came to an end.

In the Yinsai Temple of the Demon Spirit Kingdom, Elena woke abruptly, tears streaming down her face.

She stood up in her white nightgown and wandered barefoot through the spacious temple, unable to sleep.

She did not know why. Just as she had confidently decided to do something, she had this dream.

Was there some meaning to it?

She walked out of the temple, intending to leave the inverted pyramid to see the entire Demon Spirit Kingdom.

However, she suddenly sensed a shadow appear in the temple behind her.

She turned back to look.

Extending her hand, a sword materialized in her palm.

“Who dares intrude upon Yinsai’s temple?”

But in the dim light of the crystal lamps, she saw a shadow.

Someone stood behind a column with their back to her, looking up at Yinsai’s statue.

In that instant, Elena’s expression changed completely.

This shadow was so familiar. She had just dreamed of him, weeping for his passing. He was the greatest mortal in her heart. She had never met the saint, but in her eyes, he was the saint of the mortal world.

Elena stood rigid at the temple entrance. “Teacher… Sandean?”

In her intense emotional state, she heard his voice.

It was the same as when she had last seen him, somewhat hoarse.

“Elena!”

“If I did something wrong and brought disaster to this world, would someone truly save us from it?”

The shadow sighed. “If you do something wrong, is there truly a chance to make amends in the future?”

She finally rushed forward, passing by the column.

She exclaimed excitedly, “Teacher Sandean!”

However, there was nothing beneath the crystal lamps.

She looked around in confusion at the empty temple.

“Teacher!”

“Teacher!”

“Teacher, where are you?”

She moved through the Yinsai Temple, calling out loudly.

She searched excitedly for the shadow but could not find it.

It was as if the vision had been a trick of her memory.

Or perhaps her instinct was warning her of something.

Dream Realm, Pyramid Temple

This place was entirely distinct from the peculiar replica in the Abyss Kingdom, representing two opposing extremes with different purposes. This place served primarily as a divine residence, whereas the inverted pyramid seemed to be an attempt to mimic and recreate the original God-Given paradise.

“Are the monsters also about to undergo some change?”

A figure inside the temple held a spirit’s magic mirror, constantly examining all news and information related to the monsters.

Dream Sovereign Hila felt that Yinsai’s words held a deeper meaning, so she came to investigate.

She soon noticed the movements of all monsters on Ruhe Beast Island as the inverted pyramid came into view.

“An inverted pyramid?”

“Monsters?”

Looking at the inverted pyramid, Hila felt that while it was strange, it also seemed like some kind of tool.

She immediately called up the artifact sequence numbers and discovered this divine artifact’s name.

【Divine Artifact: Demon Spirit Pyramid】

【Sequence Number 10】

【This is a divine blood artifact created by the People of the Abyss. It combines the monster secret technique, pioneered by the first Sage of Truth Sandean and the fire monster progenitor Haru, with Anhofus’s Bone Demon Transformation Secret. It was originally conceived by Abyss Knight Elena as a vessel to survive the God-Forsaken Era and enter the next, but she never successfully built it. In the final stage of her life, Abyss Knight Elena asked everyone to abandon the idea. However, the king and queen of the Abyss Kingdom inherited this concept and, after many generations, finally created it.】