Dorothy’s Forbidden Grimoire

“Knowledge?”

In the underground tomb’s chamber, the last surviving member of the Sacred Relic Recovery Team, Vania, stared in bewilderment at the word imprinted in her copy of the Radiant Scripture. She was certain she had never written such a word in her bible.

The Radiant Scripture were a staple for every clergy member of the Radiant Faith, often carried personally. Many devout followers also kept a copy at home, frequently reading and reflecting upon its teachings. Given its importance, writing or marking anything on the Scripture was strictly forbidden. Vania had adhered to this rule and never scribbled such a word in her copy.

So… how did this word suddenly appear?

“Could it be… a revelation from God?”

This was Vania’s immediate thought. She had been praying fervently for divine guidance to escape her predicament before opening the book. Shortly after, she saw the word.

“Is this what the elder monks meant when they said, ‘The devout may find revelations within the Scripture’? I never imagined the revelations would be so direct… I always thought they involved interpreting divine intent hidden between the lines of the text…”

As she looked at the suddenly appearing word, Vania reflected in awe. She had never considered that a “revelation” might manifest in such a manner.

Initially elated by this revelation, Vania soon grew puzzled. While receiving guidance was undoubtedly good, she couldn’t discern the meaning of this particular word.

“Knowledge? God’s guidance for my salvation is… knowledge? What does this mean? Holy Son, Holy Mother, Holy Father, Savior… whichever of you has sent this revelation, could you… be a bit clearer?”

Vania was deeply confused. Meanwhile, voices of complaint echoed from outside the chamber.

“Damn it… This room has so few things? So many jars and bottles! Searching through them one by one is such a hassle.”

“Then don’t bother looking carefully. Smash them all. Stop dawdling—we need to finish this quickly!”

“Okay…”

As the conversation carried on, the sound of shattering objects filled the air. Hearing this, Vania grew both anxious and furious.

“Don’t smash them! Those are artifacts! Damn it… At this rate, they’ll come in here soon! Oh God, how can knowledge save me? Can you make your revelation clearer? What use is this knowledge?”

Gazing at the word in her Scriptures, Vania questioned inwardly. The more she focused on it, the more she felt a peculiar sensation.

This sensation planted a strange thought in Vania’s mind: she should write a response.

“Write a response…”

Murmuring softly, the desperate Vania decided to follow this sudden intuition. She pulled out a pen she carried with her and wrote below the mysterious word in her Scripture.

“Lord, please enlighten me. How does knowledge help?”

The words she penned sank into the pages like water soaking into soil, disappearing completely. Meanwhile, the lone word on the page emitted a faint, otherworldly purple glow.

…

Nightfall, Igwynt City, in an apartment at Southern Sunflower Street.

Having finished dinner, Dorothy sat at her desk, illuminated by the warm glow of a desk lamp, reviewing a list of potential social practice projects.

After much deliberation, Dorothy made her decision and marked her chosen project with a check.

The project was titled: Orphanage Tutor.

“Hmm… After weighing all the options, this is the only one that fits. Dorothy, you’ve been a private tutor before, so this should be manageable, right?”

Looking at the list, Dorothy thought to herself. In her memories, she had learned to read at an early age and always excelled academically. She often used her knowledge to earn small amounts of money by helping villagers write and read letters or tutoring the children of wealthy families. With her experience as a private tutor, she decided to choose the orphanage tutoring project for her social practice.

“Phew, it’s finally settled. I’ll visit the place this weekend. Hopefully, I won’t run into any troublesome kids.”

Satisfied with her choice, Dorothy filed away the list and stretched lazily, preparing to go out for a walk.

But at that moment, her system unexpectedly spoke in her mind.

“Prayer detected, channeled through a medium. Please verify the content of the prayer.”

“A prayer channeled through a medium? What does that even mean?”

Dorothy, startled, straightened in her chair and questioned the system. It promptly replied.

“A prayer has been transmitted via a medium.”

“A medium… What kind of medium?”

“Locating the medium’s position.”

Following the system’s response, Dorothy mentally pinpointed the item—it was in her wardrobe, inside the suitcase she used to store mystical items.

Dorothy immediately walked over, opened the wardrobe, and retrieved the suitcase from its depths. Placing it on the floor, she unlocked it with a password and key. After searching for a while, she found the object pinpointed by the system.

It was a book with an embroidered copper cover—The Literary Sea Logbook.

“So, it’s this thing…”

Taking the book, Dorothy placed it on her desk and began flipping through its pages. She stopped at one page where unfamiliar handwriting had suddenly appeared.

“Lord, please enlighten me. How does knowledge help?”

“So… this is the prayer? Why has a prayer appeared on this book all of a sudden? What’s going on?”

Staring at the text, Dorothy recalled the word she had written on the book a few days prior.

Knowledge.

Connecting this with the current message on the book, an idea began to form in her mind.

“Could it be that the words I sent out somehow reached someone else’s text, and they responded to me? Does this mean the words and the book remain interconnected? That anything written in response to the words is relayed back to this book? But there was no mention of this feature during the appraisal!”

Pondering this, Dorothy cast an appraisal spell on the book again. She realized her earlier appraisal had been incomplete because the book wasn’t infused with Revelation at the time. With Revelation spirituality infused, its full functions might now be revealed.

Sure enough, this time, the appraisal revealed more details about The Literary Sea Logbook.

[Literary Sea Logbook]

[A harbor for words, allowing them to sail across the Literary Sea. Powered by Revelation, the words navigate through the Sea. Once the Revelation is depleted, they will anchor at their current text and establish a connection with the logbook, enabling written exchanges. Words anchored on the text provide enlightenment, guiding the observer on the text’s usage.

Infusing more Revelation increases the distance words can travel. Upon mastering the logbook, the user can direct the words to specific texts with precision.]