[21] [YOU DIED.] [YOU ENCOUNTERED THE “PLAGUE OF OSIRIS,” “BREATH OF SET,” “BIRTH PANGS OF GEB,” AND “BLOOD OF ISIS” AMONG THE CALAMITIES OF THE ENNEAD!] [NITOCRIS PERSONALLY GRANTED YOU PEACE.] [SETTLING RESULTS…] [CURRENT LOSTBELT]: [DREAM OF GOLDEN TRUTH: THE LOST KINGDOM OF THE SEA OF SAND.
[CURRENT PROGRESS: 25%.] [ACHIEVEMENTS]: [NINE CALAMITIES OVERHEAD]—YOU DIRECTLY FACED MULTIPLE FORMS OF THE “CALAMITIES OF THE ENNEAD” AND, THROUGH YOUR OWN EFFORTS, AVOIDED DEATH BY DISASTER SEVERAL TIMES.
[PRIEST]—YOU MASTERED ALL RITUALS AND INCANTATIONS OF THE HERMANUBIS SCHOOL, THEN WENT ON TO STUDY SIX SECRET RITES, INCLUDING THE SONG FOR SEALING THE SHRINE AND AUDIENCE WITH SPIRITS, THE PAPYRUS SCRIPTURE OF SILENT MYSTERY…
AND THE BOOK OF THE GATES OF THE SUN-CROSSING TOWER.
YOU EVEN RECEIVED PRAISE FROM HERMANUBIS HIMSELF.
[LEARNED AND VERSATILE]—YOU NOT ONLY MASTERED THE KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR OWN SCHOOL, BUT ALSO CAME TO UNDERSTAND THE VARIOUS SECRETS OF OTHER SCHOOLS.
ALL OF ANCIENT EGYPT’S SECRET TRANSMISSIONS LAY BARE BEFORE YOUR EYES.
[REMEMBRANCE]—YOU WITNESSED THE END OF MEMPHIS AND LEARNED HOW ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION MET ITS END, BURIED BENEATH SAND AND GRAVEL IN A SINGLE NIGHT.
[MASTER ARTISAN]—YOU PROPOSED MANY DESIGNS IN THE TEMPLE OF THOTH AND, DRAWING ON THE EXPERIENCE OF YOUR PREDECESSORS, PERSONALLY CRAFTED AT LEAST ONE CURIO.
[DELIVERANCE FROM SUFFERING]—YOU INVENTED MANY SALVES AND POTIONS, AND COMBINED INCANTATIONS WITH TREATMENT, EFFECTIVELY EASING THE SUFFERING OF PATIENTS.] [OVERALL EVALUATION]: B.
[COMMENTARY]: YOU ENTERED THE HERMANUBIS SCHOOL TO STUDY AND BECAME A PRIEST DEVOTED TO SCRIPTURE.
IN YOUR BRIEF LIFE, YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTH THE SCHOOL AND THE TEMPLE WERE IMMENSE.
YOU DESIGNED NUMEROUS BLUEPRINTS, ALLOWING THE MILITARY NOBLES OF MEMPHIS TO MAKE NO SMALL GAINS IN THEIR STRUGGLE AGAINST THE NATURAL DISASTERS.
THE CURIO YOU DESIGNED CAN GREATLY INCREASE AN ORDINARY PERSON’S CHANCES OF SURVIVING THE CALAMITIES OF THE ENNEAD.
YOU SECRETLY STUDIED THE SIX GREAT SECRET RITES OF THE HERMANUBIS SCHOOL AND, FROM THEM, SUMMARIZED SIX EVEN MORE EFFECTIVE SECRET INCANTATIONS.
THESE INCANTATIONS CAN BE APPLIED TO DIFFERENT MEDIUMS, ALLOWING AN APPRENTICE OF DAWN RANK TO BRIEFLY ENTER THE DAYLIGHT STATUS.
YOU ALSO STUDIED THE KNOWLEDGE OF OTHER SCHOOLS.
YOU HAVE ALREADY MASTERED ALL TEACHINGS OF THE TEMPLE OF THOTH.
YOU BROUGHT LATER MEDICAL IDEAS WITH YOU AND ATTEMPTED TO COMBINE INCANTATIONS WITH TREATMENT.
THE RESULTS WERE EXCELLENT.
THE COMMONERS OF MEMPHIS HAVE ALREADY BEGUN TO SECRETLY PRAISE YOUR MERCY AND BEAUTY.] Line after line of golden text flashed into view, like fireworks bursting across the sky.
[REWARD DISTRIBUTION IN PROGRESS.] [BASIC REWARD]: [PAPYRUS OF HERMANMHAT]—A HANDWRITTEN PAPYRUS COPY BLESSED WITH SIX DIFFERENT SECRET RITES BY A PRIEST WHO MADE A DEEP STUDY OF SILENCE, REMEMBRANCE, AND DECLINE.
[THE ABOVE REWARD MAY BE USED IN ALL LOSTBELTS.] Hebe clicked confirm without the slightest hesitation.
Cobalt-blue starlight descended from the sky, and Hebe felt her hands grow heavy.
A neatly folded papyrus scroll appeared intact in her hands, its edges bound in gold and its cover rubbed with spices.
Hebe looked down at the papyrus and reached out, brushing her fingers over it.
The familiar texture stirred a thousand feelings in her.
Over those seven years, she had proposed many different blueprints and ideas, but this was the only curio she had truly made with her own hands.
On this papyrus, Hebe had transcribed six secret rites of the Hermanubis school and numerous secret incantations.
The six secret incantations reinforced one another, completing a cycle within the papyrus.
When holding the Papyrus of Hermanmhat, one could more easily recall relevant knowledge while studying.
When using this papyrus to perform ancient Egyptian secret rites, the caster would receive a blessing, with a chance to raise the incantation’s status to Daylight.
Anyone holding this papyrus would automatically receive protection and would not be disturbed by dead spirits, the deceased, or lingering resentment.
Before the end of their allotted lifespan arrived, they would also be less susceptible to external plagues.
This papyrus was not easily damaged by external force.
When encountering a natural disaster on the level of the Calamities of the Ennead, its secret incantations could be fully released, granting protection at the cost of the papyrus’s self-destruction.
In truth, once Hebe realized it would be impossible for her to advance to too high a Rank in this Lostbelt, she had begun working on a curio for herself.
But seven years was still far too short.
Many of her ideas had not yet had time to be put into practice before the Calamities of the Ennead arrived.
And rather than calling it a calamity from nowhere, it would be more accurate to say that her appointed end had come.
At that moment, Hebe had clearly felt a yearning arise within her body…
a yearning to welcome the end.
Even though she used the knowledge of the Hermanubis school to suppress that desire, she still could not hold it back for long.
In the end, she could only honestly accept the death of that identity.
That was the appointed end.
The inescapable conclusion.
Remembering that white skeleton coiled around the pyramid, seizing and devouring flesh and blood, as well as the mournful cries circling above the pyramid, heavy with regret and despair, Hebe could not help feeling a faint chill in her heart.
Was that the disaster brought about by Ozymandias’s actions, or…
Ozymandias himself?
There was no answer.
No answer at all.
Hebe watched her progress rise, but the mystery only swelled larger with every answer.
“One more time,” she whispered to herself, her green eyes filling with certainty.
“Until everything is ready.” [SIMULATION BEGIN!] …
[YOU DIED!] [YOU ENCOUNTERED THE CALAMITIES OF THE ENNEAD…
CURRENT PROGRESS: 25%.] [YOU ENTERED THE PHOENIX SCHOOL AND BECAME THE APPRENTICE OF CURTIS, THE CURRENT SAINT BENNU.
DURING YOUR STUDIES, YOU WORKED HARD AND MASTERED ALL OF THE PHOENIX SCHOOL’S SECRET TEACHINGS, BECOMING THE SCHOOL’S FOREMOST STUDENT AND THE PERSON WITH THE GREATEST HOPE OF INHERITING THE SEAT OF SAINT BENNU AFTER CURTIS.] [YOUR KNOWLEDGE GREW EVER MORE EXTENSIVE, BUT YOU STILL KNEW TOO LITTLE OF THE DARKNESS BEHIND THIS LOSTBELT.] …
[YOU DIED!] [YOU ENCOUNTERED THE CALAMITIES OF THE ENNEAD…
CURRENT PROGRESS: 25%.] [YOU ENTERED THE LION TEMPLE AND FOUGHT ALONGSIDE DEHYA, THE INHERITOR OF SHESEPANKH.
IN THE COURSE OF BATTLE, YOU MASTERED THE LION SCHOOL’S UNTAUGHT SECRETS…
BUT YOUR EXPLORATION PROGRESS IN THE LOSTBELT NEARLY STAGNATED.] …
[YOU DIED!] [YOU ENCOUNTERED THE CALAMITIES OF THE ENNEAD…
CURRENT PROGRESS: 30%.] [YOU MET A SCHOLAR OF THE SNAKE SCHOOL.
WHILE FOLLOWING HIM TO REPAIR THE ROADS, YOU WERE TAUGHT THE SNAKE SCHOOL’S ESSENTIAL SECRET KNOWLEDGE AND LEARNED THE REASON APOPHIS HAD BEEN DEFILED…
YOUR EXPLORATION PROGRESS IN THE LOSTBELT ADVANCED SLIGHTLY.] …
[YOU DIED!] [CURRENT PROGRESS: 30%.] On the dark-green desktop, there were only two brief lines.
No achievements.
No reward settlement.
Not even commentary.
The Secret Histories Simulator clearly would not give Hebe any chance to farm points.
As she entered the simulation again and again, studying in each school along a fixed track, her score grew lower and lower, while her progress remained stuck at thirty percent.
By the end, Hebe simply entered the simulation, then walked straight into the foehn-ravaged desert.
Once she had gone far enough, she ended her simulated career.
But this was already more than enough for her to verify her idea.
“Now I am ready to stand on the stage and become the player who holds the pieces.” Hebe rose with a smile.
With her hands clasped behind her back, the girl tapped lightly against the floor on the tips of her toes, like a swan leaping across a lake.
Now, in the Egyptian Lostbelt, no one’s intentions were hidden from Hebe’s eyes anymore.
Even Ozymandias, whom she had never met, was no exception.
Hebe sat back down before the desk.
“Let’s enter the Lostbelt” The girl spoke softly.
[BRINGING IN REWARDS.] [CREATING IDENTITY…] [SECRET HISTORIES SIMULATOR.
WELCOME, KNOWER.] [CURRENT LOSTBELT]: [DREAM OF GOLDEN TRUTH: THE LOST KINGDOM OF THE SEA OF SAND.] [CURRENT PROGRESS: 30%.] [CURRENT PROGRESS PERMITS REWARDS FROM OTHER LOSTBELTS TO BE CARRIED IN.
TRUE NAME RELEASE PERMITTED.] [RECORD YOUR STORY.] [IN THE END, WE SHALL JOURNEY TO THE FAR SHORE OF THE SEA OF SAND.]