The little girl descending from the golden light was none other than the one who always came to greet Alka on his journey to the Kingdom of God.
The one he had been asked to call sister.
When this little girl arrived in reality, Alka finally understood her role.
If he was not mistaken, this little girl's role was exactly the one held by the hand of the Virgin Mary in every picture and statue.
Whether in statues or paintings, the Virgin Mary is usually depicted standing in a wheat field.
She usually holds a baby boy in her left hand and a little girl in her right.
This is the most classic image of the Virgin Mary, and the most widely used.
Barring some special circumstances, this image appears in most statues and paintings.
Is this the child angel?
Alka had never imagined it could be her.
When the little girl's figure appeared, the expressions of everyone present became unusually reverent.
Finally, the girl flew in a circle above the heads of all the believers present, casting a radiant light.
This light fell upon the believers, a gift to them.
As the light descended, they could clearly feel their physical strength improving.
Then the child angel returned to the dome of the church, floating there quietly.
At this time, Archbishop Ann emerged and declared the ceremony over.
Then the entire city began celebrating.
People in the square began to leave one after another.
After almost all the believers in the square and within had left, the gap connecting to the outer square slowly closed.
It was back to the same state it had been when Alka and the others had arrived yesterday.
At this moment, the child angel, seemingly transformed into a statue in the center of the dome, blinked and glanced around stealthily.
After confirming that all the believers had left, she immediately flew towards Alka. "Hehe, Alka, why are you here?"
She floated in front of Alka and asked with a smile.
Then she opened her arms.
Watching this scene, Alka clearly felt countless piercing gazes piercing him.
All around.
Whether it was the church's priests, the Wheat Knights, the Knights of the Guardians, or even Jason Julia and the others beside him, they were all looking at him.
Faced with this situation, Alka could only sigh helplessly.
At least.
At least she didn't run over the moment she had just spread the Blessing or appeared, right? That was already good.
He took a silent step forward and lifted the girl floating in front of him into his arms with one hand.
"So this is the important work you said you would have?" Alka asked.
In the Holy Mother's Kingdom, she sometimes said she had an important job.
It wasn't like she was just idle all day.
Alka had assumed she was just occasionally watching over the babies inside.
Or perhaps, she was occasionally guiding the children.
The girl nodded.
"So? Very important, huh?"
"Yes, it is, but I didn't expect it to be that way."
Then the girl's attention shifted to Alka's companions. She seemed very curious about them.
"Are these your companions?"
Alka nodded.
The girl's curiosity stemmed from Alka's occasional chats with her about her experiences in the Kingdom.
Then her gaze fell on Lucelia.
After all, Lucelia was like a doll now.
Seeing this look, Lucilia somehow silently jumped off Sofia's shoulders and shrank to the size of a normal human soul.
"Hello."
"Hello."
"..."
Hearing the little girl greet them, everyone followed suit.
Then she giggled, flew out of Alka's arms, and flew over to Sofia, hugging her.
"I recognize you. Mom said she likes you very much."
This surprised Sofia, who hugged the little girl and rubbed her cheek against hers.
This behavior delighted the little girl immensely.
"Are you really a jinx?" the little girl asked, looking at Jason.
Jason was a bit stunned by this, but then he immediately reacted and glared at Alka with a murderous glare.
Then she shook her head. "How could that be? It's just Alka's slander."
Then the little girl went around asking questions, mostly about things they'd experienced.
She seemed incredibly curious.
But perhaps it was just childishness.
She kept asking for hugs, now and then.
She even circled around Lucelia, seemingly inexplicably fond of her.
"Ah, have I been out here for so long? I have to go back," the little girl said suddenly, as if finally remembering something.
Then she thought for a moment.
"I still have some energy left in me. I'll bless you all."
She kissed Sofia on the cheek.
The remaining energy within her imprinted itself on her, forming a simple blessing.
She then kissed everyone one by one.
"Goodbye, see you next time."
The girl giggled, then flew toward the dome, disappearing in a beam of light.
Everyone glanced at each other.
Alka said silently, "Since we've already participated in the celebration, I think we'd better leave the church and take a walk around before leaving."
Everyone, sensing the gazes around them, nodded in agreement.
Then they fled the church.
Archbishop Ann sat not far away.
As one of the three highest-ranking archbishops, he knew Alka wasn't some kind of Son of God.
It was just that, compared to the Church of Our Lady, he was a bit special. He wasn't as mysterious as outsiders, or even some insiders, had made him out to be.
But today.
Today was different.
He had also been to the Kingdom of the Holy Mother and personally met her.
He certainly knew who the child angel, summoned annually to bestow Motherly blessings upon the faithful, was.
Almost every member of the three-person council encountered this child angel upon their journey to the Kingdom of God.
But today.
What he saw today.
He couldn't help but sit there and ponder.
So.
Was Alka really the Son?
He couldn't guarantee or confirm it. After all, even though they knew Alka wasn't the Son of God, the Mother hadn't denied it, hadn't she?
He began to have a slight lingering doubt.
"Archbishop?"
An assistant nearby called out.
The Archbishop finally came to his senses, shook his head, and cleared the strange thoughts from his mind. He nodded and continued to work.
Outside, Alka and his companions left the cathedral and headed for the town below. Along the way, the festival celebrations were clearly visible. The most striking feature was the various foods and delicacies on display at the surrounding vendors. After all, the theme of the Harvest Festival, besides the ceremonies related to the Virgin Mary, was naturally all about eating.
After enjoying some of their favorite delicacies while waiting for Juanlu to purchase some ingredients, they returned to the ship as night fell.
"This Trial Island is within the island chain. At our current speed, it will only take half a day, meaning we'll reach our destination by midnight tonight."
Sofia glanced at the map, calculating the distance and time, and said.
"Really? Then, full speed ahead!"
With that, Dawn Voice stepped onto the waves, swiftly heading off into the distance.
...
Tonight.
No one slept.
Thanks to that damn blue moon in the sky.
Finally, they saw the tower-like shadow in the distance, emerging from the darkness, illuminated by the moonlight.
Trial Island, with Trial Tower No. 11, appeared before them.
Looking at the island.
Everyone was watching from the deck.
"Ah, how many years has it been?" Jason suddenly asked.
"What?" Juanlu didn't react.
Alka said softly, "How many years has it been since we left the World Scar and began collecting Trial Towers?"
"About eight years..." Sofia continued calculating.
Not much different from their estimate.
In fact, they could have gone faster, but the time Alka was advancing slowed them down a bit.
"Yes, it's been so long. We've finally arrived at the 11th Trial Tower."
This was the last of the unknown Trial Towers they had collected.
Trial Tower 12 was the first one they had encountered.
From now on, they would begin their return journey to the World Scar.
And on this straight return route, they could also collect Trial Tower 12.
As the ship slowly approached,
On the Trial Island, they could see that the once abandoned houses had long been demolished and replaced with brand new buildings. It had long since become a small town.
A group of Wheat Knights were already waiting nearby.
After handing it over to them, Alka lifted the Trial Tower and placed it into the small world.
At this point,
The 11 Trial Towers had almost completely formed a circle, with only one gap remaining. By then, the 12 Trial Towers will be perfectly formed.
"Honestly, entrusting this mission to you may be the best decision I've made in tens of thousands of years." Naphtos said with a smile as he watched Alka complete the placement of the 11th Trial Tower.
Hearing this, Alka looked at him and teased, "You have good judgment."
"Only the last of the 11 Trial Towers remains. After tens of thousands of years, the final legacy and glory of our god will be revealed at that moment," Naphtos sighed.
Even though his face and expression were gone, Alka could sense a strong sense of anticipation for the future from him.
Alka left the small world and returned to the Voice of Dawn.
"Come on, everyone. The final leg of the journey. Let's begin our return journey!"
"Oh!"
Jason screamed.
The Voice of the Dawn departed from the Trial Island.
On the deck, Alka and Sofia studied the world map in their hands.
The world map of the Infinite Sea was clearly one of those maps that only marked waypoint islands.
They replaced the guidance flag on the rudder, which had never been used.
This guidance flag pointed not to Southern Cross Island, but directly to the World Scar.
Just as they had planned long ago.
Now they only needed to head straight for the World Scar from here.
On the way, they would pass through the Broken Sea, the first place they had arrived when they arrived in the Infinite Sea.
After passing Southern Cross Island, they would reach the Trial Island and obtain Trial Tower No. 12.
Finally, they would head for the World Scar.
This final leg of the journey was also the longest.
It would take over a year to get from Trial Tower 11 to Trial Tower 12.
After that, they would need another year or so to reach the World Scar.
After all that, it still took a total of ten years.
…
As Jason entered Stage 8, Urulius underwent his final hibernation and fully grew into an adult dragon.
From this point on, it was time for everyone to gradually advance towards Stage 8.
As they left the Trial Island, where Trial Tower 11 was located, Sofia had already begun his advancement to Stage 8.
However, this time, Sofia's advancement wasn't in the outside world.
As usual,
The best time for Sofia to advance was on a completely dark night, with only the stars or the moon hanging in the sky.
But now it's no longer possible.
Because the traitorous Moon Goddess has returned.
Since that time,
The moon hanging in the sky has completely transformed into the blue moon.
It's not that the old moon no longer appears in this world, but it still does.
However, relying on its own understanding and its distance from the vast ocean, the blue moon has superimposed itself in front of the old moon, moving along with it.
It completely blocks it.
You must know that the Moon Goddess, who once betrayed the world, is no pushover.
Especially since Alka and his companions have had some conflicts with this deity.
Alka has also witnessed the Moon Goddess's actions throughout history.
To be honest, it's somewhat disgusting.
Under such circumstances, advancing to the eighth stage in the real world would be tantamount to attracting the Moon Goddess's attention, looking for an opportunity to target them.
So, Alka had Sofia's advancement take place within the small world.
The small world was a fragment of space located near the World Scar, but this fragment was large enough to accommodate a massive island.
Under Alka's management, the small world had long since transformed into a normal continent, complete with diverse landforms.
Under Alka's control, he could already control this fragment, moving it along the vast ocean to find a suitable location, allowing the former moon's light to shine upon the world.
And, incidentally, he blocked that damned blue moon.
Today, the World Scar could finally see the moon's light.
Early on, Alka had infused sufficient magic power into a region, the last area where the moon could be seen, for Sofia's advancement.
Because it was Alka's world,
Sofia's advancement within it had minimal impact on the surroundings.
Even the storm brought by the magic power was nonexistent.
Because, under Alka's control, the magic power had completely gathered in that area, making the air there thick as if it contained an invisible liquid.
The moonlight of the past still favored Sofia.
After sensing Sofia's advancement in this direction, he generously cast his moonlight over, focusing it on Sofia.
This resulted in Sofia's overall advancement being relatively quiet.
Over time, he quickly advanced to the eighth stage.
Looking at the Sofia who had completed his advancement before him.
Aside from his long silver hair that once shone with a faint moonlight,
Her eyelashes had completely and utterly changed to the same color.
It looked like they couldn't change back.
She exuded the cool, elegant aura of the moon.
"Congratulations."
Hearing this, Sofia smiled and gave Alka a hug, and the two returned to the deck.
"Calculating the time, Pororo will be next."
It should be less than a month or two away.
If the timing was right, they might all advance to the eighth stage at Trial Tower No. 12.
At this point, he seemed to understand the uniqueness of Alka's small world.
The pure white moon was still obscured.
However, intentionally or unintentionally, he focused his light in the direction of Alka's small world, allowing his moonlight to nourish it.
What a good man.
The Voice of Dawn continued to sail on the sea.
Sailing on this final stretch of the journey.
Waiting for the final destination.