Bernice was sitting blankly beside him, lost in thought, when Hao Ren's sudden words startled her. This young, far-from-mature Saintess was as easily distracted as any other child her age. After Hao Ren repeated his request, Bernice quickly jumped up and ran into a small room behind the temple. After a clattering search, she carefully carried out a small ceramic jar.

As mentioned before, spices were integral to the daily lives of people in this world. Spices were not only a necessity, but also related to religion, customs, and etiquette. Different types of spices were used on different occasions, some for worshiping gods, some for cleansing oneself, and some for newborn baptism ceremonies. The small jar Bernice brought contained some grayish-white powder, which she had made herself, baked from various herbs and magic. Hao Ren took some of the powder and smelled a strong licorice-like aroma. He took out the data terminal: "Analyze it."

"A small amount of ingredients that can affect brain nerve development can influence early childhood brain development, reducing creative thinking ability and..." The data terminal circled Bernice once to determine the physiological details of humans in this world, "...and the tendency to independently critique reality. But it does not affect intelligence or genetic factors. In short, this is something that can make people 'obedient.' It is not sophisticated, but if applied to everyone, it can almost ensure the stagnation of the entire civilization. Of course, these potions alone are not enough; a complete education system is also needed. I believe the tribes here have already achieved this."

Hao Ren frowned: "Is this a protective measure?"

"If placed on an ordinary civilization, this would be a crime, but here it is indeed a form of protection," the data terminal floated up and down, "The underground space of this world is not abundant, and the entire planet has no energy—no sun, and the energy stored in the planet itself is extremely limited. You should know how quickly a highly developed human society can consume a planet's lifespan, so the human civilization here has been stagnated, probably to extend the life of the entire ecosystem."

"Did the goddess teach you to make this spice?" Hao Ren asked Bernice, pointing to the small jar. The latter quickly glanced at Vivian and nodded vigorously several times. Vivian continued to look bitter and resentful: "...Just consider it as something I taught you."

Hao Ren thought for a while, put the spice aside, and continued reading the diaries left by Beatrice. The witch was a scholar with a spirit of exploration, very different from her contemporaries who only knew how to compete for power and ancient artifacts. She devoted a large part of her records to describing her research findings in this world. She even left drawings: drawings depicting ancient things recorded on stone slabs by the Fire Tribe and the Mountain Tribe. Beatrice believed that these things should still be buried deep underground. She mentioned some of her unrealized exploration plans:

"...There should still be many relics deep in the earth. I found some abnormal fissures around the Eternal Pillars, which are like deliberately left passages leading underground. However, the Eternal Pillars themselves are the 'miracles' of this world. The locals believe that these pillars are the arms of giants, and that going deep into the roots of the pillars will make the giants itchy, thus causing the sky to collapse, so I can only give up..."

"The Fire Tribe seemed to be a magical race called 'Erbissus' in ancient times. They were good at making flame-powered machines and magic-guided equipment. I restored some things from their stone books, and the drawings of these things are in..."

Many of the parchments that followed began to record Beatrice's archaeological discoveries. She also mentioned some ancient legacies that the tribe members still retained. Hao Ren casually flipped through these things, while Bernice next to him began to doze off again. The little Saintess was oblivious to her surroundings, blowing snot bubbles, her upper body swaying back and forth, and a round pendant hanging around her neck constantly refracted the golden light in the light of the burner. Hesper suddenly had her attention drawn to this round cake, she woke Bernice up: "Little girl, let me see your pendant."

The little Saintess quickly took off the pendant around her neck and gave it to Hesper.

Hesper originally thought that this was just a decorative metal cake, but when she got it in her hand, she realized that this was something of unimaginable precision. The perfectly round "pendant" was about the size of a pocket watch, and the surface was laser-etched with complex and delicate patterns. Some ends of the patterns were also inlaid with tiny crystals that had been worn down. When Hesper was looking at this thing, she touched a button next to the metal cake, and the device popped open, revealing its intricate mechanical structure and circuitry. On the inside of its cover, some symbols and texts were engraved. Vivian curiously leaned over and took a look, interpreting what was written on it through a translation plug-in:

"National Grand Library - Erbissus Archive Administrator Key - Replaces Universal ID Card"

"This is an ancient relic," Bernice wiped away the snot bubbles and said very seriously, "Passed down from Saintess to Saintess. The embodiment of the spirit of knowledge and the will of the goddess dwell on this."

"An ingenious alchemical tool, mixing mechanics and magic principles," Hesper gently stroked the lines inside the ancient key with her finger. Although its exterior had been worn, the interior was well preserved, "There's probably a matching relic underground?"

Hao Ren, on the other hand, was flipping to the last few manuscripts, as Beatrice's records were coming to an end. She left these things in the last year of her life, when her body had been suffering from various strange ailments. She realized that her days were numbered, and the more she got to the end of the manuscript, the more frequently and clearly she mentioned that her death was near.

"...My time is running out. The more frequently I use magic and herbs to suppress the pain, the more violently it rebounds. My body cannot adapt to many substances in this world, and now these accumulated 'toxins' are about to kill me. I have already said goodbye to Mobeka (the tribe's Saintess that year). She still cannot accept this fact, but fate is impermanent, who can fight against it?

"...Interestingly, as death approaches, I begin to miss my hometown. Although that world is going through the most difficult period, and witches and wizards are suffering from unspeakable terrifying pressure, dying alone in this remote foreign land does not seem to be a very good thing. I have recently frequently recalled the things and acquaintances of my hometown, so that the work of deciphering ancient documents has also stagnated. I may have become fragile, but in these last days, no one demands that a stranded witch must be strong...

"...Baptiste, please forgive me for mentioning your name only when everything is finally about to end, but I really often think of you, I miss you so much that I don't even dare to write your name anywhere or tell anyone, because every time I hear this name, I can only realize more deeply how far apart we are. Perhaps you are still looking for my whereabouts? How I wish I could talk to you now. The only thing I want to tell you now is—stay away from this place.

"There is no hope here, there is nothing here, this world is a chaotic space of no return, and the knowledge I once taught you is far from enough to cope with the dangers here, so, never come looking for me."

The manuscript ended here.

In the last few chapters of the parchment, Beatrice's records were already a bit messy, and it was even a bit difficult to distinguish between reality and delusion. These things were not written all at once, but she used a year to intermittently review her experiences here in the past ten years, so the last few parchments should reflect Beatrice's poor state at the time. But no matter how messy these words are, its meaning is still clear:

This is why Baptiste would seek the second layer of Purgatory at all costs.

At this time, a burst of footsteps came from outside the temple, and then a tribal warrior with red paint on his face suddenly broke in: "Goddess, Saintess, the sentries caught a person of unknown origin in the wilderness."

(Going out of town to attend a classmate's wedding this afternoon, will be back in about two days, this chapter is updated earlier.)