Chapter 98: THE PRIESTESS’S REQUEST AND THE STARLESS NIGHT

My preparations finished faster than expected.

In the underground workshop of the "Waterwheel" base, I reloaded ammunition. Twenty new lead balls were cast, black powder was measured again using the brass Powder Measure, and several Stamina Regen potions were brewed by my own hands. As an Advanced Alchemist, mixing potions of this class was already as easy as steeping tea. All highly explosive materials were left in the storage chest, except for the quota of five pieces per slot permitted by Patch 1.05a. I had already died once because of my own weapon that was enough.

After my bag and weapon storage were neat, I stood at the mouth of the base’s staircase and weighed the route.

My initial plan was simple: go straight to the Forest of Discard, find Mirror Lake, then drip blood. But the longer I considered it, the more holes I saw. I did not know how far the lake was from the nearest city. I also did not know whether the ritual had a time limit or traps. Lastly, the ancient text mentioned silver blood of those who are cursed, and I did not want to make guesses about that.

Entering a legendary instance without complete information is a waste of resources. And if anyone knows the history of the Moon Goddess, it has to be the church.

"Turn back," I muttered to myself. "We’re stopping by the church first."

The journey back to StoneBrook took less than an hour. The afternoon sun was already leaning westward when I arrived in front of the Main Church, a white stone building with a tall bell tower and six stained-glass windows on its fa?ade. I happened to notice something that had previously escaped my eyes. The colors of the glass were different: golden yellow, silver, emerald, deep purple, sky blue, and clear white. Six goddesses, six colors, and all of them installed side by side without any one higher than the others.

The large wooden door was open. The soft scent of incense and beeswax candles greeted me. At the end of the main corridor, beneath the statues of six female figures standing in a circle, a woman in a silver-white robe was lighting candles one by one.

She turned before I could speak. The High Priestess, the middle-aged woman who had once welcomed me with a gentle smile, smiled widely.

"Miss Syl. I already felt you would return." She set down her candle lighter and spread her arms, as if welcoming her own grandchild. "Your face looks more tired than last time, but your eyes are sharper. Has the library given you answers?"

"Partially," I answered while giving a short bow. Courtesy toward key NPCs was always advantageous in the long run. "Enough to know where I have to go. But not enough to know what is waiting for me there."

She nodded slowly, then pointed to the row of wooden pews in the front row. "Sit. You must have many questions, and I have all day for a guest like you."

I sat. The priestess sat beside me, both hands folded in her lap. The dusk light from the stained glass fell on the marble floor in shards of six colors.

"The book in the library said that the Main Temple of the Moon Goddess was sealed during the Dark Era," I said, choosing my words carefully. "But this church worships all six goddesses without distinguishing one from another. In that manuscript, the followers of Selene were hunted by the Cathedral of Light. I want to know how this situation changed."

The priestess’s smile dimmed, not from anger, but like an elder opening a box of old memories.

"You read carefully," she said. "True. It was not like this before. The Church of the Sun considered itself the most sacred. They believed that strength, order, and muscle were the single path to heaven. Magic was regarded as a deviation, and the wisdom of Goddess Selene was regarded as a threat."

She looked at the statue of Soleis standing on the right side of the circle. The statue’s face was serene, and her hands were open as if receiving, not punishing.

"But our goddess herself never taught that child. Not a single one of the six goddesses ever asked to be elevated above her sisters. Those who taught hatred were humans, the priests of the Sun Temple of that time."

"And they received the consequences?" I asked.

"In full measure," she answered firmly, and for the first time her voice contained steel. "Goddess Soleis herself intervened. Not humans, not kingdoms, not armies. She herself delivered the punishment upon them, and that punishment did not end even after their bodies became dust. Those who misused her light were cursed to bear endless regret without limit of time."

I remained silent. As someone who had already studied the six pillars of the lore, I immediately caught the implication: even the pure physical pillar did not allow abuse in its name. Or more precisely, the lore designers ensured a moral lesson was embedded in this world.

"The root of their error," the priestess continued softly, "was not faith, child. Those priests never truly wanted to expand the worship of Soleis. They only desired power. Faith was merely the ladder they climbed, and destroying the Temple of the Moon was merely a way to eliminate rivals."

"That is why the church is now led by women," I said, realizing the pattern I had noticed since my first visit.

The priestess chuckled briefly, as if she had often heard this question. "You catch on quickly. Since that time, there have been no more male church leaders. Not because we hate them, please do not misunderstand. It is not a matter of race or gender. It is simply that history records that male leaders were more easily tempted by greed compared to female priests. The elders decided, after everything that happened, it was wiser not to repeat the same risk."

A decision based on historical data, I thought. Cynical, but it makes sense. I will not argue with that conclusion.

I nodded. "I understand."

"Now," she said, lightly patting her knee and looking at me with a different gaze, "because you are seeking the Temple of the Moon, there is something I wish to ask of you."

I immediately became wary. Gaming experience taught me that an NPC’s request after a long monologue almost always meant one thing.

Ting!

[System: Additional Quest Available!]

[Quest: Cleansing the Forgotten Temple (Sub-Quest of The Moon’s Embrace)]

[Description: For centuries, the Main Temple of the Moon Goddess has slept within a dimensional seal. The dust of time, remnants of the Dark Era, and leftover hatred have defiled that sacred place. The High Priestess of the Main Church asks you to cleanse the temple after you find it.]

[Reward: ???]

[Accept / Decline]

I stared at the question mark in the reward column with furrowed brows. This system loved hiding rewards. But because the temple was already my destination, this quest was practically free.

"You want me to cleanse it?" I asked, confirming.

"Not merely cleaning its dust, child." The priestess shook her head. "Until now we have been unable to reach that place. Its dimensional seal only recognizes those who carry the mark of the Moon. There are priests in this church who pray every night so that the temple can be cared for again. Now, when Goddess Selene herself has chosen you, we know that hope can finally be realized."

The word chosen made me smile crookedly. This was not a choice. This was a curse disguised as an honor.

But the woman’s gaze was too sincere to be answered with cynicism.

"I accept," I said at last.

Ting!

[Sub-Quest Accepted: Cleansing the Forgotten Temple]

The priestess’s face softened with full gratitude. She clasped both of my hands warmly, and her hands were soft, reminding me of the touch of my mother’s hands in the real world. "Thank you, child. May the Silver Mother guide your steps."

I patted the back of her hand for a moment, then stood. "One more thing. The manuscript in the library mentioned the Forest of Discard and Mirror Lake. Does the Priestess know their location?"

She shook her head with a regretful expression. "The church only keeps prayers, not maps. Those names have almost been forgotten. But if the manuscript mentions a forest near the swamp, perhaps you can start from there."

I expressed my thanks, then stepped out into the dusk air that was beginning to turn cold. The church bell rang softly behind me.

Two hours later, I began to question my decision.

I had already swept the outskirts of Murkwater Swamp from the western side to the eastern side. I walked along the dark mangrove forest, pushing aside dangling roots, and nearly stepped on a Level 28 Mud Crawler that was hiding behind the mud. After that, I crossed two small streams and traced the edge of the dense forest on the plain between StoneBrook and Silvergrass. My world map was full of footprints, but not a single lake looked suspicious.

There were three small ponds, one muddy lagoon inhabited by giant frogs, and one puddle that looked more like a monster’s footprint. Nothing that could be called Mirror Lake.

"Zero results," I hissed, leaning against a large tree trunk while gulping a stamina potion. My breathing was ragged. With VIT 2 and 200 stamina, walking long distances was a suffering of its own. "Two full hours. Two hours that I could have used for grinding or mining."

I opened the quest log and reread the second objective:

[Objective 2: Find the ’Mirror Lake’ at the border of the Forest of Discard, and perform the dimensional opening ritual using blood resonance when the starless night arrives.]

I stared at that writing for quite a while, and something in my mind began to turn.

When the starless night arrives.

Until now I had only focused on the words lake and forest, as if those were the only variables. Yet the ancient text clearly mentioned three conditions at once: location, blood medium, and time. Maybe I had not found the lake not because I had taken the wrong path, but because the lake had not yet appeared.

I looked up at the sky. Dusk had already turned into night, and above the canopy of the trees, thousands of stars twinkled clearly against the black expanse. The sky of Second World Online was famous for its detail, and tonight it was clear without clouds.

"Starless..." I muttered flatly. "What does that mean? A cloudy night? Rain? New moon? Or an eclipse?"

Every possibility sounded reasonable, and that was precisely the problem.

I scratched my head under my ponytail hair tie, feeling a frustration I had not felt in a long time. Combat, ballistic calculations, poison chemistry, even manipulating the gunpowder auction all of those were easy for me because all of them had definite answers. But a literary riddle like this?

"I’m an archery athlete, not a literature major," I complained to the trees. "If you want to say ’rain,’ just say rain. Why does it have to be ’starless night’? Why does it have to be ’the door that does not exist’? The writer of this manuscript must love making people suffer."

The only answer was the rustle of wind in the leaves.

I let out a long breath and straightened my back. Complaining would not open a dimension. If this riddle was too vague, I had to solve it in the way I mastered: gather the variables, test them one by one, and eliminate the wrong ones.

First, find out what is meant by a starless night in this game’s logic. Is it a weather condition? A moon phase? Or a time event controlled by Aethelra, the Time Goddess?

Second, find a way to narrow down the location of Mirror Lake, because sweeping the entire forest without a clear clue is only a waste of stamina.

Third, do not forget that this avatar’s body only has 120 HP. Wandering the forest at night without a plan is a recipe for a second death.

"Very well," I said softly, storing the empty potion bottle into my inventory. "Let’s see who is more stubborn, Developers. The riddle or me."

I lifted my face once more toward that star-filled sky. The stars that tonight actually felt as if they were mocking me then began walking back toward the city.