In Ciel’s sight, the number of available activations twisted from 1 to 0. Following this, Ciel’s system panel began to undergo changes she had never seen before.
The originally silver-white border began to be stained with deep black. Low-visibility dark red font replaced the original text and surfaced before Ciel’s eyes, as a massive amount of distorted characters scrolled continuously in front of her.
「Old Days」
「Searching for target...」
「Altar beacon activated...」
「Anchoring space-ti node...」
「Corroding target’s faith...」
「Detecting companion eligibility...」
「Warning... Host detected as Tier 0...」
「Warning...」
The scrolling of this information lasted for a full 30 seconds before gradually stopping. The next mont, the black panel before Ciel expanded continuously until it completely enveloped everything in her sight.
Buzz——
A faint buzzing sounded in Ciel’s mind. A weak red light, like a burning fla, surfaced in Ciel’s mind, and the black system panel before her vanished completely.
Opening the system interface again, there was no longer any information about the Old Days, only Future and Past Days.
"What is this? What were those warnings?"
Ciel asked directly in her mind.
「Oh... those warnings can be ignored. They are early-stage fail-safe warnings; the current host does not need to heed them」
Ciel: "..."
Where was the Old Days?
Where was the entry thod?
Was it the red light in her mind?
Ciel tried to focus her attention on that fla in her mind, but there was no response, and the blurry voices within didn't sound very clear either.
「To allow the host to adapt to the simulation in advance, there are still so necessary operations to perform, please wait...」
The system panel before Ciel flickered, and a long progress bar advanced steadily.
1%... 5%...
17%...
99%...
Only when the progress bar reached 100% did Ciel’s mind suddenly experience a sharp pain.
"Ugh..."
Ciel subconsciously raised her hand to her forehead. Along with the sharp pain, she felt a tiny sliver of the knowledge the system had always kept sealed in her mind leak out...
Though it was only a sliver, the massive amount of information and text still hamred at Ciel’s brain. Cold sweat broke out on Ciel’s forehead. The violent impact of that knowledge forced her to rely on "Calm Mind" just to keep from fainting outright.
Characters... characters... all aningless characters...
A massive combination of characters flooded into Ciel’s mind, but these characters also gave Ciel a bizarre sense of familiarity...
The flood of characters was only temporary. The next mont, a massive amount of whispers erupted in Ciel’s mind. The pronunciations corresponding to those characters exploded in Ciel’s mind, nearly causing her vision to go black.
After an unknown amount of ti, as the throbbing in her brain gradually faded, several sets of scripts appeared in Ciel’s mind.
Ciel could find corresponding vocabulary for them in modern Ansu, but she had never seen these scripts in reality.
These were... scripts of the Old Days?
The system seed to have infused Ciel with several sets of Old Days scripts, including their pronunciation. It was as if Ciel had taught herself several new languages.
The system panel unfolded before Ciel once more. In the simulation interface, a brand-new entry appeared.
「Old Days」
「Altar Count: 3」
A ball of burning red fla flickered quietly beneath the altar count. Just by placing her gaze on that fla, Ciel felt as if her ntal energy was being sucked in.
The next mont, a system prompt popped up before Ciel again.
「The system has corroded three altars and three believers for the host for free」
「Warning: Everything the host does in the Old Days, every choice, may cause irreversible changes to reality」
「Warning: Host, please leave more imprints in the Old Days to ensure the altar count does not cease」
「Warning: In the Old Days, host, please cherish your authority」
Ciel: "Altars... what are they?"
「These are the host's anchors in the Old Days, and the host's beacons in the Old Days」
「You can understand them as an advanced version of 【Omniscient】」
「Each ti the host enters the Old Days, they must rely on an altar」
「If all altars are destroyed, the host will lose access to the Old Days. Re-activating it next ti will require either a massive amount of Fate Points or waiting for the next collection unlock」
Next collection unlock... collecting the Tier 2 of all 16 paths again?
That wouldn't be an easy task...
It seed that protecting the altars was the primary goal in the Old Days.
After linking together all that she had seen, an unrealistic thought suddenly surfaced in Ciel’s mind.
"System, those altars... and the believers, do they exist solely to summon ?"
Ciel asked internally.
After all, they looked far too similar.
The only difference was that in reality, church transcendents tried everything to pray to a god, while in the Old Days, believers tried everything to pray to .
「Precisely」
The system gave a blunt response.
"Is this related to creating a path?" Ciel continued to ask.
「Precisely」
Ciel gradually understood.
She was being sent to the Old Days... to start a church or a cult? To absorb more believers? To use these to create her own path?
This sounded like sothing those old gods would do...
However... creating a path was fundantally not sothing a transcendent could do.
"Then what are companions?"
Ciel rembered seeing "Companion" in the constantly scrolling information earlier.
Could she bring others to the Old Days with her?
「All Ascended Ones from the Other Side can beco companions, provided the other party’s consent is obtained」
「The cost to bring a companion is 100 Fate Points per instance」
There was a fee for this too?
100 per instance?
"What exactly is the Old Days? The Chaos Era?" Ciel asked the question that puzzled her most, one that had bothered her for a long ti in the last simulation.
This ti, however, the system did not reply. No matter how much Ciel inquired about the Old Days, the system acted as if it had crashed, giving no further response.
Ciel still had many things she hadn't clarified.
What was her authority? How was she supposed to create a path? How would she obtain the ability to defeat Sadhana within the Old Days?
What was the relationship between the Old Days and the Other Side? Was the Old Days the Chaos Era? If so, were the entities trapped in the Other Side the Ascenders or Ascended Ones of the Chaos Era?
If they were, for what reason were they all bound in the Other Side?
If so... would she see Sadhana before Her godhood when she went to the Old Days... or the true Goddess of the Savior Goddess Church?
If the Old Days truly could affect reality, and she killed them there, would their existence in reality be directly erased by her?
Would her every move in the Old Days, due to the butterfly effect, whip up a massive storm in reality, even modifying it beyond recognition…?
Questions surfaced in Ciel’s mind one after another, but the system clearly had no intention of answering now. It seed everything would have to be answered by Ciel herself through exploration within the Old Days.
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