In the ga that defies all possibilities, gods are not uncommon,
Li Ang himself has encountered various forms of deities.
From the fragnted indigenous reindeer deity, with only traces of divinity remaining,
to Elsa, the demigod who rules an entire world,
and to the divine malford octopus, drained and captive for countless years, yet still supporting the entire Lost World.
However, none of these are truly complete gods in the true sense, let alone creator gods with infinite might.
Li Ang swiftly leafed through the diary of Thelisa Caslana, feeling a torrent of thoughts and emotions.
In this script world, the nations are separated by deep seas and oceans,
at least according to the village chief of Guardian Village, whose ancestors heard tales from various heroes,
all speak of ancient human civilizations jointly giving birth to the belief in the goddess,
with no precedence or instances where a civilization spread the goddess's faith through military or cultural superiority.
Most civilizations describe the goddess as a supre, sacred being,
she is the origin of everything, spending seven days creating the world, defining ti and space, separating light and darkness, creating mountains, rivers, lakes, seas, birds, and beasts,
and on the last day, using her accumulated creation experience, she crafted her most perfect work—humans.
This creation theory is extrely popular, theologians and believers have even found all sorts of evidence for it,
for example, fossils of giant creatures like dinosaurs occasionally unearthed in the strata—these are the goddess's earliest creations, collectively destroyed for angering her.
Also, travelers falling from the sky—perhaps carrying so vital mission capable of influencing the world's direction,
sotis, these foreign travelers bring new technologies to the script world, seen as gifts from the goddess to human civilization.
Additionally, the largest church in the world where Thelisa Caslana belongs,
regards the Sacred Mountain capable of realizing any wish as strong evidence for the goddess's real existence—
no matter how incredible the event, under the Sacred Mountain's power, it can be achieved, a miracle only gods can perform, belonging solely to the creator's rights.
During her first six years in the church,
Thelisa Caslana gradually learned the doctrines, becoming increasingly devout towards the goddess,
this transformation is clearly visible in her diary,
particularly when she turned sixteen, she encountered an apocalypse—Thelisa's palm naturally revealed a cross stigma, granting her extraordinary powers to cure diseases and heal injuries.
The surrounding clergy were amazed and shocked, self-awakening stigmas are quite rare in this world,
Thelisa was assigned by the church's higher-ups to a larger diocese to learn the techniques of using the stigma's power,
and in the diocese church, began her work in healing and rescuing lives.
Whether intentional or pretentious or not, according to Thelisa's accounts, the church in this world appears righteous, always playing the role of saving lives, aiding those in need,
when war breaks out between nations, the church strives for peace or at least sends dical teams to gather refugees, care for orphans.
Thelisa spent another two years in the large diocese, continuously healing and rescuing people, witnessing countless people and events,
people in that city sincerely called her "Lady Saint" due to her benevolent deeds.
However, as ti passed, Thelisa's connection with the stigma grew stronger,
she began seeing visions, illusions connected to the goddess.
The contents of these visions aren't detailed in the diary, but one thing is certain,
these visions left the devout Thelisa feeling indescribably shocked and horrified,
the diary describes it as
[I can hardly believe the sight I witnessed! That goddess, the supre being, she is one, yet many. She is a mont, yet eternal. She is the creator, and the ruler. From childhood to now, I've constantly basked in her glory, she bestowed upon
the stigma, and I devoutly believe she has a certain destined arrangent for , making it my life's goal. But those visions, those visions...no, that surely cannot be her, she would never utter such words!]
The following dozens of entries in the diary express Thelisa's inner struggle,
clearly unable to bear the ntal tornt, she confided the visions she saw to trustworthy clergy,
resulting in the leak of this information to the church leaders.
The church leaders were extrely shocked and enraged by the heretical rumors Thelisa spread,
imdiately removing her from her duties in the diocese, instructing clergy there to watch her closely, placing her under house arrest,
awaiting the church leaders' appointed personnel to personally deal with Thelisa.
Fortunately or unfortunately, during her house imprisonnt,
an adventurer team she previously treated heard the news,
the team leader harbored romantic affection for Thelisa, impulsively overpowered the guards, stord the church, and rescued the detained Thelisa.
Curiously, Thelisa along with this Hero Team, after escaping the church, were not listed as major wanted criminals, did not face bounties in various nations.
The church did not publicly announce, instead deliberately suppressed the news, dispatching professionals to secretly capture the Hero Team,
officially announcing Thelisa's death due to illness.
The Hero Team, unsure of the church's intentions, traveled incognito through nations, undertaking epic adventures, experiences described as magnificent and grand.
Finally, after completing a legendary mission slaying an evil dragon, the Hero Team decide to embark on their final journey—to the Sacred Mountain.
The Hero Team consists of six mbers,
the leader, Ramont·Jones, a handso young man with red hair, brave and steadfast warrior with a cheerful and carefree personality, the pillar of the team.
Ken·Jones, Ramont's brother, equally brave and skilled, but with a more refined and gentle deanor.
Elf Archer, Hunter Oak, an exceptional archer, previously a wilderness rcenary, joined the team after being rescued by Ramont during an accident.
Elental Mage Solomon, a genius young mage, the shortest, who flies into a rage whenever his height is ntioned, saved by Ramont from an Ogre's iron cage holding food.
Necromancer Finn, origins unknown, always wears a hood, the last person to join the team, has an odd personality; apart from the carefree Ramont, others feel peculiar interacting with him, though reliable in battle.
These five, along with Thelisa, after various adventures, their combined strength ranks among the top worldwide,
even when faced with the church's pursuit, they remain confident, unafraid of capture.
Their journey to the Sacred Mountain serves both Ramont's wish to witness the world's peak and to resolve Thelisa's doubts.
She wanted to know whether the illusion she saw was true or false and to clear her na.
According to the diary's description, Thelisa was already ntally prepared,
even if the final result was unsatisfactory, she would accept it calmly.
This small-scale Hero Team sailed through perilous fields and oceans, defeated Pirates and deep-sea Magical Beasts, crossed layers of fog barriers, and finally reached the island where the Sacred Mountain stood.
The last clear scene described in the diary was Thelisa and others receiving a warm welco from the villagers of the Guardian Village and staying at a local inn.
They prepared to take the village chief's commission to go to the Underground Palace the next day.
The date in that diary was July 12, 1035 in the goddess's calendar.
"Warrior Ramont·Jones, Ken·Jones,
Elf Archer Hunter Oak,
Elental Mage Solomon,
Necromancer Finn,
and the Priest hunted by The Church, Thelisa Caslana.
This six-mber hero team should be the characters depicted in the murals we saw inside the Underground Palace, right."
Li Ang murmured to himself, "Both the character settings and their appearance match.
The scene in the mural shows these six entering the Underground Palace, ending up being surrounded by Magical Beasts,
the warrior in Blue Armor suffered heavy injuries, receiving treatnt from the Priest,
while the warrior in Red Armor attempted to pull out a sword embedded in stone under the protection of the other mbers.
Considering the village chief's description,
that should be Thelisa and others who cleared all the Underground Palaces in one go, thus commorated and engraved into a famous mural scene.
Hmm... Based on the diary content, the ti Thelisa and others entered the Sacred Mountain Island and tackled the Underground Palace wasn't too late,
back then the village was still thriving and hadn't erupted into premature aging disease,
there were also Adventurer Teams from other regions in the village.
So it seed to be at least fifty years ago, when there hadn't been the unforeseen incident of Shadow Monsters plundering away the Holy Mountain Gate Stone."
Li Ang lightly tapped the heavy diary's cover with his finger and continued to flip through it.
The content after July 12, 1035 in the goddess's calendar jumped directly to July 16.
[After coming out from the Underground Palace, we stayed at the inn for three days. We accomplished an unprecedented feat, overcoming all the Underground Palaces at once, but paid a hefty price for it.
Solomon's forehead and scalp were sliced off by a trap, I treated him with Divine Therapy, but in the future rainy season, he might suffer quite a bit.
Hunter's right arm was scratched by the claws of a Demon Lizard, the wound got infected and suppurated, emitting a sulfur sll; even with Divine Light Technique, I could only slow the injury's progression. A complete cure might take who knows how long.
Finn's chest was bitten by an oddly-shaped Magical Beast, the wound seed to have been poisoned.
We couldn't identify the type of that Magical Beast and had no choice but to raid three Underground Palaces consecutively,
find that beast, kill it and bring it back to the village for the villagers to recognize, but before we approached the village, the beast inexplicably disappeared—according to villagers, this was due to the inherent refresh attribute of the Underground Palace.
The native species of the Underground Palace, whether alive or dead, cannot be taken away too long or too far.
Fortunately, Solomon knew a spell to draw mories into paintings, and after giving the villagers the beast's painting for recognition, their feedback was that they also didn't know its type.
That night, Finn's chest showed slight decay, though it seed under control.
The worst was Ken—injured too severely in the third Underground Palace, even with
present, it was hard to restore his strength in a short ti, let alone accompany others to continue climbing the Sacred Mountain.
The village chief of the Guardian Village said, the Hero Team must head to the Sacred Mountain within five days after completing the Underground Palace trial, else they would permanently miss the chance to ascend the mountain and fulfill their wish.
That night, we had a fierce argunt, Ken insisted on being brought along at all costs, Ramont firmly demanded Ken stay at the inn and wait for us to return from the mountain.
Solomon and Finn sided with Ken, while Hunter agreed with Ramont.
In the end, they wanted
to decide, whether to take Ken up the mountain...
I didn't know how to choose either,
leaving Ken here would cause him imnse grief and disappointnt,
but taking him along, with no one able to assure the trial might not lead us to The Abyss...]
"In pursuit of the peculiar beast that bit Necromancer Finn, they trespassed into three Underground Palaces,
and despite nearly failing in the third Underground Palace, their overall strength may not be much weaker than our player team."
Li Ang silently thought, "Ken's serious injury in the third Underground Palace corresponds to the mural's scene of the Blue Armor warrior being injured."
Based on the diary's account,
Ken seed like a gentle, reserved young man, forming a sharp contrast with his brother,
from a few small details, it appeared both brothers had feelings for Thelisa Caslana;
Ramont showed it more obviously, while Ken, upon realizing his brother's affection for Thelisa,
voluntarily gave up, suppressing his own affection for Thelisa.
However, this ti, Ken, outwardly gentle yet internally steadfast, refused to stay alone at the inn, waiting for other mbers to complete the Sacred Mountain trial.
The final decision of the team remains unknown,
after the entry of July 16, 1035 in the goddess's calendar, many diary pages were torn, sared, and edited, making it completely impossible to discern what happened.
"Based on the outco, certainly nothing good happened."
Li Ang glanced at the bed where a long-withered corpse lay, sighed, and flipped over the corpse's arms.
On the palm of the corpse's hands, one could see a blurry cross scar, which should be Thelisa Caslana's stigma.
Strangely, the edges of the Cross Stigma bore layers of cut marks,
careful observation revealed these cuts weren't made by a sharp blade,
but by sothing more blunt.
As if... soone felt imnse hatred and animosity toward this stigma.
"What exactly happened to this hero team? Why did Thelisa end up dying alone, appearing elderly here? Did they complete the trial and make their wish? Where did the other team mbers go?"
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