Lea gave Lady Keter a strange look. Tarot? Argonauts? What are those?

  This is the first time she has ever heard those names. She stared at the deity, who took out a cup of tea from somewhere, casually sipping it.

  "Do you want to join my little book club?", she smiled, twirling the liquid inside.

  It is not every day a divine being invites you to her own faction. Even though it is suspicious to the highest degree.

  For some reason, she felt inclined to answer, "Yes..."

  "Very well.", Lady Keter cpped her hands, "While waiting, feel free to browse the Library."

  "I can... do that?", Lea stared at the dy in bck and white.

  "Of course, all of this is forbidden knowledge. But don't worry, you won't be able to pull out the books you aren't qualified for.", she said it casually.

  "With your permission, Lady Keter...", Lea bowed as she got up from the chair.

  Lady Keter nodded and returned to the book she was reading.

  Looking away from her, Lea found a chance to take in the world of bck and white. This pce is eerie, with a constant whisper of a continuous scream; the towering bookshelves that seem to go on infinitely were overwhelming.

  She approached one of the shelves, her steps not making a single sound. Browsing the books, she found all the names on the spine, some titles made her brain hurt - as if these things were bigger than herself.

  "Voidborn", "Great Old Ones", "Harbingers of Life", "Jester of Light", "Star", things too big for her to understand. Proven by not one of them budging when she tried to pull them out.

  But there was a book that made her eyes widen, "Log 133 - Transfiguration"

  She tried to pull the book out and... she was successful.

  Opening the book, Lea found out about an unknown Attribute, its name being Transfiguration. Then she quickly realized this was written by...

  "Charlotte the Heretic...", she muttered in a low voice.

  Lea shook her head, continued reading the content. Transfiguration is an Attribute belonging to the Transformation Series. Those who possess this Attribute have higher adaptability, becoming a Mutant. At the Fourth Step, they can change their form at a biological level, doing things like growing wings or enhancing their vision, even changing gender.

  Flipping through the book, besides the brief introduction, the rest mostly contained experiments with Pathstriders of this Path. Some were horrific, like changing the fetus from a human fetus to that of another animal, contents about grafting others' parts to the Pathstrider to see if it can affect new grafted parts.

  The rest were the rituals needed to become one and advance. Aside from the First Step being to overcome a sickness or heal from a grave injury, the rest of the advancements were about self-mutition, taking out organs, and remaking them.

  Lea closed the book, not wanting to read any further, and put it back where it was previously, all in a swift motion. Looking at the countless books here, she thinks that somewhere in here would be what she needed.

  Since her initial choice of Judgement was dashed away by Lady Keter, Order being her only choice if she does not want to walk the Path of Malediction.

  Taking in a deep breath, Lea continued to browse, seeking for another Log.

  Soon, she found one a few shelves away from the st book.

  "Log 55 - Erudition"

  This was one of the Attributes that interested her the most, as this name implies that this Path is about knowledge.

  Erudition is the Attribute of Knowledge and Wisdom; those who walk on this Path are known as Erudite, forever seeking knowledge and learning. The eternal student, as some would describe. The powers that it brought were decent, as, besides gaining photographic memory and improved cognition, at the Fourth Step, they gain an ability called Mimicry, which can copy other Pathstrider abilities with no drawbacks.

  Seeing the experiment logs are much tamer than Transfiguration, most are about how much knowledge an Erudite can store, and the increase in brain function. Though there is a section about dissecting the brain of Erudites, Lea promptly ignores this part.

  This was a decent Path to become a Pathstrider, but she frowned after looking at the rituals. To become an Erudite person in the first pce, one has to completely memorize and recite a book of at least 100,000 words, word for word, without a single mistake. The Fifth Step was the hardest: read two books of unreted fields and make a connection with a thesis, the thesis itself has to be published and widely agreed upon!

  This is ridiculous!!

  With shaken hands, she put the book back. Lea was not smart or patient enough to walk on this Path...

  She could not take her time here, since tomorrow would be the day she joins the extraordinary force of the church.

  So she continued browsing, looking for the Logs of the Heretic. She indeed found some, but those either sounded way too evil or not interesting to her.

  Why are there so many Paths and why are they so complicated?... with a frown and darkened mood, Lea turned to Lady Keter, who was enjoying a slice of cake from... somewhere.

  Shaking her head, Lea approached, "Lady Keter, may I ask you why there are 142 Paths?"

  Lady Keter gnced at her with a smile, "I shall answer your question with a question. Do you think the universe and existence are simple?"

  "...", Lea has nothing to say. Universe? Existence?

  "My understanding itself is like a bucket of water in an ocean, with your entire life, it may only reach a thin yer of water around your fingertip."

  She decided to give up, leaning against a bookshelf and... immediately regretted it. The whisper of a scream became immediately louder, making her jump and hit the other bookshelf.

  Lea rubbed the back of her head in pain. Then she stiffened, looking at Lady Keter, who merely chuckled with amusement. Embarrassed, she turned to the side and... she found another Log.

  "Log 1 - Regression."

  She was curious about the seemingly weakest Attribute. Why is it the first one The Heretic researched?

  She reached for the book—

  Lady Keter's voice echoed, "The others will be here soon, get ready."

  Lea jolted up, trembling slightly before hurriedly getting back to her seat.

  Soon, three people appeared from thin air, two men and a woman. Just like Lady Keter, they were covered by a cognition hazard.

  A gruff-looking man, wearing a robe Lea recognized. Although without color, she realized this man belonged to the Church of the Goddess of Madness, or simply, the Church of Sacrifice, one of the four religions of the Empire, along with her own Church of the Three Rings, the Church of War, and the Temple of Fire.

  Her only impression of him is... Dangerous.

  The next man was wearing thick clothes and had his face covered; he seemed like a traveller or adventurer, there are always a bunch of them loitering around. The only impression she got was... Lost. He was definitely lost, and she somehow accepted that he just stumbled upon this pce.

  The woman surprised Lea the most, dressed so fancy but in a mismatched style that didn't belong to the Empire, yet the aura of nobility was unmistakable, despite looking younger than Lea herself. She quickly concluded that this was a noble from outside of Renlou Empire. The impression from this noble woman was... Aloof.

  The noble woman noticed Lea first and gracefully welcomed her with a jovial tone, "Welcome to the Argonaut, my codename here is Bathory!"

  Codename?

  Seeing the wonder on Lea's face, the adventurer chuckled, "Everyone here doesn't use their real name. Lady Keter gives us codenames to use. Mine is Zorro."

  The priest nodded, "My codename, bestowed by the Lady, is Rasputin."

  Bathory, Zorro, Rasputin... those names were weird and unfamiliar to Lea; this was the first time she ever heard about them. Perhaps these were ancient families before the Bckout? She wondered.

  Lady Keter chuckled, "And my dear Avenger, your Codename shall be... Dantes."

  "Dantes...", Lea mulled over the name.

  Bathory spoke up, "The first thing we do is offer up something to Lady Keter, and she will answer us!"

  Offering to a god... what does Lady Keter want? Lea was tense, wanting to know what could be offered.

  But the entire exchange baffled her even more.

  "Lady Keter, I have with me the limited edition Royal Fruitcake from Shinemight Bakery!", Bathory put a bag with a cake box on the table.

  "I have with me an emblem from an ancient temple.", Zorro put a rusted emblem of an eye with two swords crossed over it on the table.

  "Respectable Lady, I offer to you a wax figurine of my Goddess.", Rasputin up the figurine of a woman wrapped in thorns on the table.

  With a smile, Lady Keter nodded, "Thank you for your offerings."

  With a snap of her finger, all the objects on the table vanished. Lea can only stare in amazement at how absurd the offerings were.

  Was this how a god operates? With such mundane and casualness to it? Or is it that Lady Keter is the exception?

  "Think about what you want.", she cpped her hands, "You are now free to talk and exchange amongst yourself."

  Immediately, the trio began to look at each other. Lea shrank back, observing their exchange.

  Rasputin started, "Mr. Zorro, I've got what you needed for your advancement to the Fourth Step."

  Zorro nodded, "I have your payment ready, sedatives made from a Redbeak Robin, correct?"

  Rasputin nodded in response, pcing a staff covered in thorns on the table, while the other man put a few bottles containing liquid on his side. Automatically, both were swapped.

  The two men smiled at each other, and an agreement between them was silently made. While both Lea and Bathory looked at them with confusion.

  "Bathory, I also have your weekly order of energy pills.", the priest stated, looking at her with a somber expression, "Being an Erudite must be hard..."

  In response, Bathory let out a dry ugh, "Haha... I thank you..."

  Lea looked at Bathory with sympathy; she had just read the rituals for Erudition not long ago, after all.

  Bathory looked at Lea helplessly. There was a silent plea in her eyes, "Please, no matter what, don't choose Erudition!! I'm halfway through the Fourth Step and it's driving me crazy!!"

  The ritual required for Erudition's Fourth Step was to make a breakthrough on any research topic that could revolutionize that specific research direction. With the modern era, it is hard to find a topic for this Path.

  "I... will keep that in mind.", Lea has no intention of touching upon this Path; in fact, she wants to run away from it as far as possible.

  Bathory solemnly nodded.

  Everyone was silent for a moment, sympathizing with Bathory; even Lady Keter looked at her with pity.

  Zorro then spoke, "Do any of you have information on the recent activity of Akasha Monodrama?"

  Lea jolted up, her eyes widening. This was about the organization she wanted to destroy!!