344. Confusion Rather Than Answers

“It... it’s Joy...” Ravenna whispered, her voice trembling in the dark. Junior Priest Finn peered closer, adjusting his grip on his glow-flower. “A lady? That’s a first…”

“Who is this woman?” Dame Aisha asked, her eyes narrowing as she looked at the modernly dressed lady with long dark hair.

The manifestation held a particularly blurry object in its hand, which flickered erratically as it tried to take a solid form. After a few tense seconds, the haze slowly morphed into a sleek, dark raven.

“The altar has always just showed animals or basic shapes before. This is truly bizarre,” Junior Priest Finn said, staring at the projection of Joy with absolute bewilderment.

Ravenna finally shook herself out of her daze. Her heart was pounding violently against her ribs. “What if I summon the system right now?” she thought frantically. “If the altar can somehow read that I am from another world, the system might be able to interact with it. It should be able to detect it, right?”

With a silent command, she willed the interface to appear.

[ Reputation System v2.0 ]

User: Ravenna Solarius / Joy Cha Kim

Reputation Level: 91↑ — (611,095 / 1,010,000 EXP)↑

Current Reputation Points: 54,782 RP↑

Titles Unlocked: Raven of the Sun Palace, Unruly Princess, Beast Slayer

{ View Reputation Log } { Spend Reputation Points }

{ Exchange Items } { Enter Origin Domain }

Thud!

A sudden, deep vibration reverberated across the entire underground cavern. In an instant, all the blooming bioluminescent flowers throughout the ruined castle city snapped dark. The spectral projection of the 'shape of the soul' vanished without warning, plunging the platform back into dense shadows.

[ Reputation System v2.0 ]

[ Notification ]

Tracking Prevented

Ravenna stared at the flashing alert. It was the exact same system notification that had appeared when Goddess Herptian tried to peek into her soul.

“How?! It turned off on its own...!” Junior Priest Finn panicked, his voice cracking in the dark.

Dame Aisha raised her rifle to her shoulder, holding it tight as she swung her magic lamp in a wide arc. She scanned the surrounding darkness for any signs of hidden hostilities, her combat instincts telling her that the sudden power failure was a potential trap. Both of them were on high alert.

Ravenna let out a slow, controlled sigh, masking her inner shock. “Like you said, Your Holiness Finn, it has never forced itself to show a whole person before. Presenting a soul like that must have taken an immense amount of energy from the ancient mechanism. It likely just shut down after hitting its absolute limit.”

She turned and began walking down the steps of the altar.

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“T-that... that could very well be the case,” Junior Priest Finn stammered, eagerly accepting the logical explanation to calm his racing heart.

Just as Ravenna was about to take her final step down the staircase, a tiny, sharp glint caught her eye. Right at the center of the platform, precisely where the feet of her soul's projection had rested, something small was sparkling in the dim light of Aisha’s lantern.

Curious, Ravenna stopped. She turned back around, walked up to the spot, and kneeled down on the cold stone to see what it was.

“Your Highness? What are you doing?” Dame Aisha asked, instantly climbing the stairs herself when she saw Ravenna ascending the altar once more.

“A ring...?” Ravenna muttered to herself.

She reached out and picked it up. It wasn't a fading illusion or a magical hologram like the soul projection. It was a solid, physical ring, completely real to the touch. As she held it up to the lantern light, she felt the unmistakable thrum of power vibrating within the metal. The design and the dense, concentrated energy it radiated were deeply familiar.

“An Odyssey Ring?!” Ravenna muttered aloud, her voice a mix of amusement and sheer disbelief.

“My, it really is,” Dame Aisha added, stepping up right behind Ravenna and tilting her magic lantern to cast a clearer light over the object.

Junior Priest Finn rushed up the steps as fast as his robes would allow the moment he caught those words. When his eyes fell upon the intricate, shadowy metal resting in Ravenna's palm, his jaw dropped. “That’s... that’s God Umbra’s Odyssey Ring!”

Ravenna stood up, closing her fingers tightly around the cool metal as a sharp smirk graced her lips. “At least we gained something from this, I guess.”

Even if the burning questions regarding this random underground city remained completely unanswered, and even if seeing the phantom projection of her original soul left her thoroughly shaken, she was more than satisfied with this sudden development. A tangible artifact was always a welcome prize.

“It makes sense that something like this would be hidden here,” Ravenna added, rolling the ring between her fingers. “After all, this entire facility was built by Goddess Herptian and God Umbra in collaboration, right?”

Junior Priest Finn nodded rapidly, his eyes still wide with reverence. “Yes, Your Highness! It is rare enough to cross paths with an Apostle of the God of Secrets, let alone stumble upon an ancient artifact blessed directly by his hand. This is certainly an incredible gain for the Dukedom.”

“B-but...” Dame Aisha interjected, her brow furrowing deeply as she looked between the altar and the ring. “Where did the ring even materialize from...? Isn’t the 'shape of the soul' supposed to be a mere magical illusion...?”

Junior Priest Finn nodded, the temporary excitement fading as his own confusion rushed back, prompting him to add another question. “And... who exactly was that lady who appeared as your soul's shape, Your Highness? She didn't look like anyone from the Solarius bloodline...”

“I have my own questions too, but it’s not like we can magically find answers just because we want them to appear,” Ravenna replied coolly, turning her back on the platform. She glanced around the cavernous void before issuing a firm command. “Let’s get back to the surface. We have been down here long enough, and it must be late into the night outside already.”

“Yeah... I don’t particularly want to stay underground in an ancient, dark ruin deep into the night either,” Junior Priest Finn agreed wholeheartedly, eagerly turning toward the exit pathway.

Dame Aisha offered a silent nod, adjusting her grip on her rifle as she stepped into formation behind them. Ravenna cast one final, calculating look at the looming obsidian altar before walking down the steps, the heavy ring safely secured in her pocket.

Though Ravenna was too absorbed in her own thoughts to recognize it, a thick cloud of doubt and suspicion was forming in Dame Aisha’s eyes. As they began the long, silent climb up the steep stone stairs toward the surface, the knight kept her gaze fixed on the back of the princess, wondering if the person serving was truly the princess she has always known.