The book Sandora and I received from Celine is not an important religious scripture; it is more like a periodical that records various events from around the world and the latest instructions from the "Lost God Sect." However, all its content revolves around its own religion, so it can be considered a special issue of the church.

Thus, we can’t possibly gain a comprehensive understanding of the "Lost God Sect" from such a periodical, but we can still learn a lot from it indirectly.

Firstly, it can be confirmed that the Lost God Sect holds a very high status on this planet. According to the information in the publication, the sect is widespread across the entire planet and has a vast number of followers among all races. Moreover, the church holds supreme authority in any zone with a church present: this authority even allows them to command the rulers of a city-state.

Secondly, the Lost God Sect simultaneously possesses two gods (at least two, possibly more "minor gods" not mentioned in the publication). These two gods are interesting, being referred to as the "God of Technology" and the "Magic God"—a divine position unknown in the empire’s True God system. Since technology and magic are both processes leading to truth, they cannot represent truth itself and thus are unlikely to be titles of True Gods. Sandora and I both believe these two gods represent the lost technologies of this planet, such as the "God of Technology" corresponding to those mysterious standby space stations in the sky, though what the "Magic God" corresponds to is still unknown. The space stations we’ve discovered in outer space may not encompass all of this planet’s ancient civilization.

The God of Technology and Magic God belong to the same sect, each having a Pope as their spokesperson and possessing equivalent-sized groups of followers. Surprisingly, these two groups seem to get along quite well—an unexpected situation; besides the empire, it’s truly rare to find a world where technology and magic coexist and develop in harmony without conflict. It’s unclear how this "peaceful coexistence" emerged, perhaps related to the ancient disaster mentioned in church edicts? Did a great war lead both sides suddenly to an epiphany and shake hands for peace?

In any case, before acquiring concrete evidence, it’s best not to let one’s imagination run wild.

The last piece of information is also the most crucial: the church seems to control "knowledge," whether it is technological or magical knowledge, with all activities related to their inheritance and research strictly limited.

We now speculate that the "Lost God Sect" is linked to the planet’s ancient high-level civilization, or perhaps it is in fact the very inheritance of that ancient civilization, with relics left by the ancient civilization likely scattered across the planet (and filling outer space as well), yet the church’s power seems insufficient to control all relics, so they control the revival of knowledge by controlling adventurers and various societies. The adventurers mentioned by Alu and Celine now appear to be quadruple threat powerhouses encompassing explorers, archaeologists, grave diggers, and ancient culture scholars. On Earth, they would likely be figures capable of leaving a lasting impact at academic summits, whose job is to seek out ancient sites worldwide and report them to the church before civilians discover these sites (the church rewards them with some monetary compensation during this process). Simultaneously, the church seals and monitors most relics, yet a small portion is reopened for adventurers to freely explore, locating ancient equipment or scrolls within the relics (which might also involve a life-and-death struggle against rogue security systems, so they are quite the tough combatants), using their knowledge to identify these ancient items while ensuring they do not accidentally damage any delicate devices, with most of their discoveries eventually handed over to the church (though this can still be exchanged for money). 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

The book lent to me by Celine mentioned transactions of ancient relics between adventurers and other civilian organizations, transactions seemingly permitted within certain boundaries. However, the permitted trades are limited to items such as ancient alloys, non-content artistic pieces, discarded containers, and other such peculiar non-technical items. The third mimeographed volume includes an appendix containing a chart of the latest "Civil Exchange Permit List," listing a lot of items that appear numerous yet have very obvious restrictions: anything that could entail knowledge inheritance or direct usage is strictly forbidden for civilian possession. Besides ancient equipment being absolutely prohibited, all types of ancient books and certain "recording devices" are banned from civilian possession as well, which I suspect refers to another dimension’s version of USB drives.

Overall, adventurers are indeed in a high-demand profession, but they also receive lucrative income and hold a very high status, unlike the daredevil adventurers seen in other worlds. Adventurers on this planet can even be regarded as "nobles without any titles." They delve into matters beyond the understanding of the average civilian, working for the planet’s largest power institution, with their primary revenue source being the church, each gold coin "shining with divine-blessed light." Though they are often required to risk their lives (brandishing blades, spears, and staves while digging up the graves of space civilizations absolutely requires risking lives), even priests must show respect to these versatile powerhouses, and the Pope has explicitly declared in the Bible that adventurers are "founders of the New Era," destined to stand alongside saints when the gods once again bestow their blessings—of course, provided the rules are followed.

Those who do not follow the rules, such as adventurers who disclose forbidden knowledge without authorization, are still pursued by the church, but as long as they are willing to repent and vow not to repeat their offense, they can be forgiven, further proving their exceptional status.

This treatment would leave adventurers in other worlds who scrape by amid peril while being denounced as barbarians by upper society crying in every major restroom.

However, I truly did witness for the first time that "adventurers" can serve as the second-largest knowledge group in the world (the first, of course, being the Lost God Sect). They could be said to wield both power and knowledge, knowledgeable in astronomy while skilled in combat, akin to martial arts scientists or scientifically-savvy old gangsters, naturally deserving such treatment.

Of course, the treatment of adventurers and how awesome they can be isn’t the focus for Sandora and me right now. We’re more interested in the peculiarities of this "Lost God Sect."

"They definitely have ancient technology, you can tell from the laser-printed books they distributed," the Sandora Ball lay limply on my chest, even its shape had turned into a soft mochi. "Their goal seems to be suppressing technological revival. I’ve seen many similar examples before, where in civilizations that have undergone a cultural severance, a small group of elders and remnants retain knowledge, and then they construct privilege with that knowledge, ensuring their interests by prohibiting the technological resurgence of the whole race... it’s a short-sighted and foolish behavior, but not uncommon. However, this Lost God Sect seems a bit odd; they’ve almost completely sealed away the ancient technology. So far, there’s no sign of them using this technology to improve their own lives, nor any city on the planet more advanced by seven or eight epochs compared to others. The people of this sect live in the same houses as ordinary people, eat the same food, and even their transportation is limited to horseback, even though they could have used small high-tech gadgets. There’s really no sign they’re exploiting their monopoly on ancient knowledge."

What confuses Sandora is also what puzzles me: What good does this Lost God Sect gain from collecting and sealing ancient technology alone? We’ve seen similar phenomena of cultural severance and remnants in other worlds, but in those cases, the "remnants" monopolize technology to enjoy a transcendent life themselves, like building a bunch of spaceships, rockets, tanks, and cannons, proclaiming themselves as gods and ruling their degraded primitive former comrades. Even if they’re not that extreme, they’d use old technology to improve their own lives, at least residing in a city more advanced than others. But the Lost God Sect didn’t seem to do that.

The Imperial Admiral is hanging in outer space, circling the planet every three hours, so we can be sure there’s no city on the planet surpassing the average advanced level, nor any large-scale operating technological facilities observed. Even though the Lost God Sect seems to have a grip on ancient technology, they haven’t made extensive use of it on themselves. And there’s a priest from the sect right in front of us: Celine lives the same life as everyone else despite being clergy.

Well, taking into account her husband’s death, her life might actually be a bit harder.

Additionally, we’ve seen the "Traveling Priest" adventurer in the tavern, who doesn’t seem to enjoy any special privileges either.

It seems the Lost God Sect truly seals away forbidden knowledge, as they claim, "with caution and prudence," not allowing others to use it and not daring to use it themselves either.

Speaking of the "Traveling Priest" in the tavern during the day and that muscular man Leon, I suddenly remembered something, so I poked the mochi-shaped Sandora Ball on my chest: "The clergy from this Lost God Sect can also be adventurers and act with other adventurers. I think I know how Alu’s parents met."

Hmm, and I also learned how Celine’s unique noble demeanor came about: they’re clergy, even if they live frugally now, they received higher education back then.

"Let’s not worry about other people’s family affairs," the Sandora Ball lazily wiggled a bit, "but Alu is quite an interesting little girl; growing up in such an environment without developing psychological issues is remarkable, and Celine’s ability to make up stories for her daughter is quite magical too..."

Before Sandora finished speaking, I suddenly heard a creaking sound of wood under stress outside. Since my room is adjacent to the stairs, I could immediately tell it was someone going upstairs, and it sounded like they were tiptoeing?

The footsteps passed by the door, then slowly faded away, seemingly heading toward the deeper part of the hallway. I immediately gestured for Sandora to be quiet, then the two of us (or rather, one person and one ball?) cautiously opened the door to look outside.

The light from the two moons shone through the high, continuous series of window slits on the outer wall, making the corridor not so dark. In these intermittent moonbeams, a slender figure briefly flashed in my line of sight, swiftly slipping into the second-to-last room in the hallway.

Was it Celine? What was she doing so late on the nearly abandoned second floor? And looking so sneaky.

Curiosity drove the Sandora Ball to bounce vigorously on my head: "Quickly, go follow, go follow! I can feel Celine’s emotions are very tense, as if she’s hiding some secret."

"Okay, okay, can you stop bouncing—you’re supposed to be queenly, not cutesy."

I agreed while rapidly activating the soundproof barrier, hurriedly arriving at the door of the second-to-last room at the end of the hallway. The door was not closed, and the interior scene could be clearly seen from the half-open doorway:

This room was quite different from the others; there was no bed, a usual fixture for a bedroom, but instead it was filled with piles of large and small wooden boxes and some miscellaneous items concealed in shadows, which made it feel like a derelict warehouse.

Celine was standing amidst a pile of miscellaneous items. She opened a long crate and took out a dazzling +13 limited edition Fire Qilin anniversary model laser-aim mega particle rifle—well, I don’t know what that thing is, the long string of names was all made up nonsense, based on its appearance, it’s undoubtedly high-tech!

It was a weird weapon about a meter long... at least it looked like a weapon, with its black alloy and dark green crystal construction. It boasted a streamlined design, resembling beam rifles used by aliens in many sci-fi movies, with one end having a handle and an intricate structure similar to a trigger, and the other end having a launch opening. Its craftsmanship level was far beyond this planet’s current industrial capacity could produce. This object seemed much lighter than it appeared, as Celine, a slender and frail ordinary woman, could leisurely hold it; it seemed no heavier than a wooden stick.

"Look at that swollen acceleration segment and the constraint mechanism; it resembles a sort of primitive particle jet weapon," Sandora professionally remarked while observing the strange weapon in Celine’s hand. "Particle weapons usable in the atmosphere indeed require some unique technology. Perhaps we should reevaluate our estimation of this planet’s ancient civilization. However, this thing doesn’t match the style of those space stations among the stars... This object lacks the ostentatious plant decorations, and its internal mechanics seem somewhat different."

Sandora mentioning this made me notice as well: the weapon in Celine’s hand had a black shell with small dark green crystal inlays at the end, without any other decoration, whereas those space stations considered ancient relics were entirely covered with silver shells adorned with floral patterns. We even checked the interiors of those stations, confirming their builders adored and revered such plant patterns to the extreme—all their creations were decorated with them.

The weapon in Celine’s hand contrasted drastically in style with those space stations, and Sandora discovered its internal mechanics were distinctive, suggesting it might hail from a different civilization system. Or... could the ancient civilization on the surface have nothing to do with the entities in space?!

I find this planet genuinely fascinating; mysteries seem to follow one after another. Meanwhile, Celine made new movements:

She temporarily set aside the black long "spear," bent over to inspect other items within the wooden boxes, and after some rummaging, revealed some cubes looking like energy storage devices. She placed one "battery" into the slot at the end of the long spear, which immediately emitted a subtle sizzling sound, indicating it’s still functional!

Meantime, Celine began praying softly: "Blessings of the God of Technology upon this weapon, enabling its normal operation and to scorch the enemy. May my actions not invite ancient disasters; may my words not call forth doomsday adversaries. God above, shelter the earth, seal all beings; humans below, gratefully acknowledge divine grace, act with caution. Knowledge above all."

This seemed like a formal and solemn (albeit peculiar) invocation. I immediately thought this might be the "pre-departure blessing ritual" mentioned by the counterpart, or at least something related. Subsequently, Celine removed many items from the boxes, which seemed like weapons, protective gear, or high-tech equipment whose purpose was unclear. I hadn’t expected such a powerful arsenal to be hidden so nearby, regardless of their use, Celine now appeared armed like a female marine warrior prepared for a showdown with aliens—though her medieval attire with guns and cannons was somewhat incongruous.

Having completed so much preparation, Celine didn’t immediately don these items and head out to perish with aliens, but instead piled them aside, seemingly to retrieve them shortly, and then proceeded towards the door.

Sandora and I immediately entered invisibility mode, watching Celine slowly walk past and finally vanish toward the staircase direction.

"What was that just now?" After Celine left, I scratched my head and started murmuring to Sandora Ball, "Is this single mom suddenly transforming into a TX series Terminator?"

"Not sure, but it looks like we need to re-evaluate our understanding of the Lost God Sect’s clergy," Sandora Ball floated towards the door, "Looking at those equipments, either Celine is a believer violating religious laws, having privately hoarded so many intact ancient devices, or every clergy in the Lost God Sect has these items, they haven’t truly sealed all ancient technology, merely using them rarely in private—these clergies clandestinely possess high-tech devices to arm themselves to the teeth."

Not yet clear on what this Lost God Sect intends, but so far, their impression hasn’t been very positive.

However, Sandora seemed unconcerned about this issue; she merely hovered in the air lazily muttering: "Sleep, sleep, it’s not related to us much, restoring energy is most imperative for now!"

Indeed, sooner or later we’ll uncover what’s going on with this planet, and Celine’s actions may not necessarily be abnormal, so I decided not to overthink, embracing the Sandora Ball heading inside.

"Sandora, can we discuss something..."

"Yeah?"

"Is it okay to use you as a pillow today? So fluffy..."

"I’ll smash your head!"

"..."

(Feel free to guess; you’ll absolutely not figure out where this world is or what exactly is going on = . =) (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets, your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)