"Here, this is for you."
Inside Green Shade Town No. 37, Beverly places a thick, bulging envelope on the table in front of Dorothy. Dorothy’s eyes light up as she picks it up, feeling the stack of papers inside with her hands.
“The largest denomination of pound is 50 pounds per note. 5,500 pounds would be 110 notes. The thickness checks out!”
Without opening the envelope, Dorothy judges the approximate number of banknotes inside just by looking at it. After confirming it’s correct, she smiles and puts the envelope away, then says to Beverly.
"Pleasure doing business~"
"Pleasure doing business. If you have any more information in the future, remember to come to me."
Beverly waves her hand in response, and Dorothy, after casually glancing inside the envelope, puts it away and continues to ask Beverly.
"By the way, do you have any information about other Star Numerology Scriptorium ruins? If so, I’m willing to pay for it," Dorothy says.
Currently, she plans to accumulate spirituality while searching for a method to advance to White Ash. Such a method can only be found in other Star Numerology Scriptorium ruins.
"However, I’m sorry to say that I don’t know where other Star Numerology Scriptorium ruins might be. While we do receive items dug up from ruins, we don’t personally go down to excavate them. If you want information about such places, you’ll have to look elsewhere."
Beverly shrugs as she speaks. Hearing this, Dorothy continues to ask.
"Do you know where I might be able to find such information?"
"Many places. For example, the Serenity Bureau’s Archives contain records of many anomalous locations within Pritt, some of which are ancient ruins. I imagine there are records of Star Numerology Scriptorium ruins there as well. Then there’s the church. They have specialized relic recovery teams that search the world for ruins and tombs to excavate treasures. While they mainly target Radiance-related ruins, they probably know about other ruins to some extent.”
"But if you’re looking for the group with the deepest knowledge of various ruins and tombs, it would have to be the Tomb Raider Societies. These groups of thieves roam across the three continents, appearing wherever there are ancient sites. Seventy percent of the earthen things we receive each year come from them. If you can find a large enough one, you might be able to learn something."
Beverly explains to Dorothy. After hearing Beverly’s words, Dorothy ponders.
“Tomb Raider Societies? So, they’re Beyonder organizations made up of tomb raiders? That makes sense... In this world, various ruins and tombs are filled with mystical influences—undead, traps, curses, and the like. If tomb raiders weren’t Beyonders themselves, it would be far too dangerous.”
"Tomb Raider Societies? There are Beyonder organizations made up of tomb raiders? Do you have any connections that could introduce me to them?" Dorothy continues to ask Beverly.
In her impression, Beverly should have quite a few connections.
"Well, sorry, but while I do have many connections, I don’t have any with Tomb Raider Societies. Since Pritt has relatively few ancient sites, Tomb Raider Societies aren’t very active here. Due to their lack of presence, I haven’t had much contact with them. They’re much more active in places with abundant ancient ruins, like North Ufiga."
Beverly waves her hand as she speaks. Hearing this, Dorothy’s eyes light up.
“North Ufiga? That’s right. If I remember correctly, Nephthys’s grandfather was a tomb raider, wasn’t he? A tomb raider who was active in North Ufiga. He dug up artifacts with cognitive poison and even gave Nephthys items to resist it... That suggests he was likely a Beyonder himself, affiliated with some Tomb Raider Society.”
“Perhaps... when I have the chance, I can ask Nephthys about her grandfather. I might be able to get some information about Tomb Raider Societies.”
Dorothy thinks to herself. However, since she’s still far from accumulating enough spirituality, she’s in no rush to start searching for other ruins. For now, she plans to focus mainly on accumulating spirituality.
After that, Dorothy, who has just received a large sum of money, starts buying more items from Beverly. She spends 860 pounds to buy 3 Lantern storage items. Since the Eight-Spired Nest has been buying up Revelation storage items as well as Lantern and Shadow, the prices of these have also been driven up. Dorothy, fearing that the prices will continue to rise, doesn’t buy too much.
Dorothy buys Lantern storage items not only for her daily divination needs but also to stockpile some for the next time she cuts leeks. Currently, the Revelation storage item inventory at the Craftsmen’s Guild in Tivian is almost sold out. They’ll need to slowly collect more and transport them from other locations.
Once the Craftsmen’s Guild has enough Revelation storage items in stock and the price drops, Dorothy can use her stockpiled Lantern to cut leeks again. This is part of her plan.
In addition to Lantern storage items, Dorothy also spends 840 pounds to buy two mystical texts. One is themed on Shadow, and the other, which Dorothy originally wanted to be Lantern, isn’t available, so she settles for one themed on Silence.
In truth, from the perspective of accumulating spirituality, buying mystical texts is far more wasteful than buying storage items. However, compared to storage items, the origin of mystical texts is much less stable, and merchants don’t always have them in stock.
Before leaving, Dorothy spends a total of 1,700 pounds to buy 3 Lantern storage items and 2 mystical texts. After calculating her revenue, expenses, and the cash she already had, Dorothy now has 4,450 pounds in cash.
Then, with the largest sum of money she’s ever had, Dorothy leaves No. 37 and returns home. She immediately sits down at her desk in the study and takes out the two mystical texts she acquired today.
First, Dorothy starts reading the Shadow mystical text. After flipping through a few pages, she becomes intrigued.
The title of this mystical text is "The Poem of Suffering". Although it appears to be a poetry-themed mystical text, it actually tells the story of a poet’s experiences.
The protagonist of this book is a poet who lacks talent and is unrecognized by the public, leading to a life of constant frustration and unhappiness.
One day, the poet accidentally offends a gang and is beaten. In the midst of the pain inflicted on him, he suddenly feels a surge of inspiration. After returning home, he writes a poem that becomes a hit when published in a newspaper.
From then on, the poet begins to actively seek out pain. He has others inflict suffering on him, and even inflicts it on himself. His mental state deteriorates, and he even claims to be able to talk to spiders.
Branding irons and whips cause the poet to scream in agony, but he becomes addicted to it, unable to stop. He inflicts more pain on himself than others ever could. The more his body is broken, the more inspiration flows, and he produces masterpiece after masterpiece.
In the end, the poet dies from self-inflicted torture at home. Before his death, his body is covered in fine needles, his nails are all pulled out, and his entire body is covered in blood. In his final moments, he writes one last poem, a poem to the Deep Web Spider Queen.