She thought to herself that these must be scriptures similar to a bible in Otherworld. After all, rounding things up, she was now a kind of clergy. Carrying a few books at least made it look convincing, and it helped to have something in your head when fooling people.
With that thought, Alba felt that Elvin was cold on the outside but kind inside. Seeing that grateful look, Elvin almost covered her face, realizing that without the reminder, this girl might never have noticed the problem herself. At least when it came to being foolish, she really matched the kind of annoying noble girl she remembered.
Frowning, Elvin spoke coldly again. "Remember this. If you do not want trouble, stop using Holy Light so casually, and at least recite something to keep up appearances." "Do not think you can do whatever you want just because you have a holy relic, or you will not even know how you die."
"Ah?" So her behavior really had looked strange to the other side. That explained the reaction, though she had no idea what holy relic they meant. Did she even have something like that?
Elvin assumed that this girl probably carried some rare holy item, since otherwise those anomalies were hard to explain. Alba looked suspiciously at the hammer in her hand. Was this ugly thing it? Hard to say.
She ended up using the ugly hammer as a walking stick, stuffing the two new books into her chest. After walking a bit farther and getting exhausted again, she finally had a short rest and flipped through the books. She was surprised she could read the words, but the long, winding myths only made her feel strangely tired.
It felt like staying up for days doing the same endless task, with no end in sight and barely any reward. She closed it after a few pages and opened The First Chapter of the Sun instead, which was about her own Dawn, so she tried to read it more seriously.
"…Duty is to break the egg with light? That is vague. And what is this about ringing a bell at the hour of the clock every day?" "Waking up early is bad enough, but ringing such a loud bell before six in the morning is not very polite."
She did not say this out loud, but she wondered if becoming a Saintess meant she would have to copy what Goddess did in the book and get up before six every morning to ring bells. That sounded exhausting. As someone who saw herself as lazy, Alba felt she could not do it, and if possible, she would rather take it easy.
Unfortunately, she could not rest at all. Before long, she was back on the road with a pack on her back, and it got worse when she asked how far they still had to go. Elvin casually replied that it was about one hundred and fifty kilometers.
One hundred and fifty kilometers. Just kill her now.
She was already half dead from the physical strain, especially while running with the pack. Even though they could take a carriage once they reached a transfer station, there was still a long stretch to cover. With no other choice, they pressed on, and Alba soon discovered a small trick with her Holy Light seed.
She could use it on herself to restore stamina. It made her head feel more tired, but it greatly increased how long she could keep going. Elvin watched with twitching eyes but said nothing, and she answered a few questions along the way, though the more she did, the more she felt this girl was overly simple and naive.
After much struggle, they finally reached the nearest transfer station. Following a simple meal and rest, they boarded a carriage, and Alba felt truly freed at last. "We should be within range now. Can I start the Simulator?"
"Mm, it should work now. Let me check. Ah, it really can." To be honest, Alba did not think this mysterious Simulator was that powerful.
It was just a simulation tool and nothing like the traditional ones that could do great things with a few added traits. It did not give rewards after every simulation either, and true System rewards only came from completing its goals. So far, that was just a Holy Light seed and a hammer.
The only real gain from simulations was a kind of prediction of the future, and Alba did not believe it was always accurate. After all, the Simulator had suddenly changed results midway once. She had been worrying about how to deal with the Scar Cultists in the simulation, and then they all just died out of nowhere.
Every cultist died suddenly, with no warning at all. That was the first time Alba felt that maybe this so-called System was not truly all-knowing. "Simulator… you are not some big shot from Otherworld grabbing a random passerby from another world for entertainment, are you?"
"Hey, System, if you are alive, can you respond?" Alba stared at the chibi dragon logo on the Simulator.
As expected, there was no response at all.
"I just suddenly felt something strange."
"What do you mean? Which wire is acting up again?"
Bella held her head. "No, it feels even stranger than that. If I have to describe it, it is like one component of the air increased a little, and another decreased a little, that kind of difference?"
The feeling was extremely odd, and the change was so small it could almost be ignored. If Bella's instruments had not been monitoring precise values in real time, it would have gone completely unnoticed. What could be confirmed was that the change happened in an instant, and the affected range was enormous, covering everything within Bella's detection field.
Should they take a look at Forbidden Archive? It somehow felt like something there had changed.
"If you think it is unimportant, then put it aside properly. You are not the only one under load right now."
Lilith did not use the Magic Staff to knock her on the head this time, because she was just as busy. Her entire body was glowing, her hair lifting and shining as pale blue Magic light flowed through her, so strong that even the veins beneath her skin were faintly visible.
Behind her, Floating City unfolded a massive ring-shaped energy-gathering array and activated multiple fusion cores. An unimaginable amount of Magic passed through Lilith's domain and body, and was finally transmitted into the Magic Staff in her hands.
"Oh, alright, give me a moment. I need to tweak a few detector parameters, but it will be quick. About 7.5687 seconds."
Bella adjusted a strange spherical object floating in midair, its surface wrapped in a seamless metallic membrane. To adapt to flight within Void and maintain structural stability, this peculiar detector used a portion of Nanometal personally made by Belial.
By releasing gravity and attraction both outward and inward, it achieved flight in the nothingness of Void. As for the deeper layers filled with resentment and rule corruption closer to the true Abyss, there was no need to worry, since it was mixed with Belial's power.
As for locating the true body and transmitting information, that depended on Lilith nearby. Through the connection between the Magic Staff, they could glimpse information from the main body. The goal was to try to call back the Belial who had opened instances at random, or at least understand what was happening on the other side.
After the adjustments were complete, Bella looked toward the Rift left behind by Belial. A Spatial Rift would usually repair itself over time, even one leading to a place like Abyss. The Void connected to Abyss was not the same as the Void that connected directly beyond the world.
According to Ham's explanation, the Void linked to Abyss was more like layers of overlapping parallel spaces. The path between them was made of countless stacked spaces, where traces of Laws could also be observed.
The danger, however, was extremely high. Dozens of Abyss Evil God lurked there, always looking to cause trouble, and anything thrown in would be lucky not to be twisted into something unrecognizable by their Authority or chaotic Laws.
Fortunately, this detector's configuration was far from ordinary. Belial and Bella provided the materials together, Lilith handled long-range communication, and Ham supplied technical support. That was the only reason they dared to send it in.
"By the way, Ham, where did the technology for this detector even come from?"
"I have scattered tons of detectors all over The Continent, and I have never found any Nanometal like mine, let alone technology that can actually use it."
"Uh… an old friend's?"
Ham said it casually. After all, plenty of things over at the Demon King's hall were no longer in use, so taking some apart should not be a problem.
Looking at Bella's eyes, now a completely different shade of red than before, Ham hesitated inwardly. Should she probe further? She looked fine for now, but vigilance could not be dropped. After all, there was always the risk.
"Alright, the detector is adjusted. Let it fly in and take a look."
The silver metal sphere rose into the air, spun flexibly in two quick circles, and then shot straight toward the opening of the Rift. That was the breach Belial had entered, and the reason it still existed was simple.