Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

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As if the arrival of exam week had heralded a temporary pause, the following week passed without any other incidents occurring.

The descent of the Evil God upon Tobesk seemed to become a turning point. Before that event, various incidents occurred frequently, but after the Evil God was defeated by a deity summoned by the City's Circle Sorcerer rumored to be a "God Summoner," it appeared that all the evil in the city vanished with it...

Of course, that couldn't be possible; it was merely Shard's illusion. The brief period of peace was purely because he had hardly gone out recently.

Iluna left Tobesk temporarily on Monday to attend an inquiry at the Papacy of the Sun Church regarding the "Whispering Verses," not only an inquiry but seemingly some sort of reward as well, which would be known upon her return next week; Luviya was busy with divining the next Chosen One and had no time to bother with Shard; Miss Luisa and Dr. Schneider were both troubled by exam week, the former struggling with ancient script as a major issue, the latter's "Aether Mechanics" nearly causing a professional psychologist to develop a mental disorder; Priest Augustus was entangled with both exam week and preparations for Holy Prayer Day, making him the busiest person of the week.

As for Miss Galina, it was unclear whether she was recuperating or doing something else, but she also didn't contact Shard all week.

Moreover, with bad luck, not a single client came by from Monday to Friday, so Shard experienced a relative calm in this world for the duration of the week.

Daily routines of reading at home, organizing old documents from Detective Sparrow, and cohabiting with Mia made Shard, who had been busy recently, feel a sense of relief.

The appraisal of "Genesis: Balance" went smoothly on Sunday, but on Monday, Shard used the page from the Poem Chapter he possessed to proactively contact Miss Danester, hoping she could find some materials related to the Old God "Blazar Gate" from the Academy Library according to the list he acquired from the past.

He didn't know if Miss Mana Feliana had left any information for future Circle Sorcerers when she established Saint Byrons Integrated Academy, but judging from Miss Danester's reaction, there likely wasn't any.

Just as with the first time-travel exploration, which left almost no trace of Shard, even if there were traces from the second journey through time, it would only be minimal ripples. Traveling through the Time Key does not trigger a temporal paradox, and even if Shard's travels differed from others, it would not allow him to take advantage of repeated journeys to influence the past.

In this regard, even if the Ancient God "Father of the Infinite Tree" had departed, His power genuinely existed across all continuous timelines in the material world.

The materials provided by Miss Danester arrived via the Poem Chapter paper on Tuesday night, but Shard chose not to use the Time Key for the year 3002 of the Common Era Calendar on Thursday night for a second time.

On one hand, he didn't want to be distracted before the exam on Saturday; after all, exams were not just about memorizing textbooks and filling in blanks - even if the "other me" in his head never forgot what he saw, he still needed to prepare on his own. On the other hand, the first opportunity with the key of 3002 of the Fifth Era had already been "wasted," and before determining what exactly had gone wrong with the ritual involving the Old God "Blazar Gate," Shard wanted to prepare seriously before facing it again.

This wasn't just out of fear of failing the mission and missing out on the rewards from the Ancient God. More so because Miss Feliana had aided him last week, and Shard wished to make the utmost effort to reciprocate.

Therefore, he didn't use the key when he was supposed to. Shard planned to use Sunday, after exams, to seriously organize the materials he had obtained from the Red Moon Witch, Priest Augustus, Luviya, and Miss Beyas, and then embark on his second journey of 3002 at twelve o'clock on the Sunday night following the exam.

Of course, the entire week's time wasn't solely dedicated to preparing for the written tests. Shard's application to advance to the second grade in summer had already been submitted to the Academy through the doctor. The message from the Academy was to finish all compulsory subjects first, without rushing the practice credits. Whether the application would be approved would be announced on the day of the exam.

Thus, on Tuesday afternoon, Shard spent half a pound for tuition and seven shillings for materials fees to learn the complete method of crafting the alchemical item "Eternal Candle" from Old John. This was the most complex alchemical item involved in "Introduction to Elementary Alchemy." One could learn to make it by self-study using only the book, but certainly not in half a day.

Actually, choosing a simpler alchemical item as the final project would suffice, but Shard was also aiming for a higher grade evaluation, which was why he chose the Eternal Candle.

The creation of alchemical items didn't run into any trouble, and neither did the mixing of magic potions. On Wednesday morning, Shard visited Priest Augustus as agreed; because it was early, he managed to nibble on a few cookies as communion before meeting with Bishop Owen.

Holy Prayer Day was scheduled for Tuesday after the exam week, the thirtieth day of Thunder Moon. Not having it before the exam on Saturday really relieved the recently overwhelmed Priest Augustus.

Bishop Owen wanted to confirm whether Shard could attend the event next Tuesday. The church planned to arrange for "Rejed's Hamilton" to give a speech, promoting universal love with the story of his experiences through "Mr. Dawn."

Shard would certainly not refuse, and the cheerful Old Bishop then hinted that there would definitely be an appearance fee for this speech.

Beyond Holy Prayer Day, the three also discussed, from the perspective of ordinary people, the events that happened in Tobesk Parish the previous Thursday night. Despite two Circle Sorcerers being present, both pretended to have no knowledge of the so-called Evil God, focusing instead on discussing the poisoning incident.

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"Actually, I used to drink milk from Silver Parrot Delivery as well, but I just forgot to renew it recently, so I narrowly escaped disaster. This once again proves that 'Mr. Dawn' does indeed shelter his own followers."

Shard commented on his experience and then drew the Holy Emblem over his chest with appropriate solemnity.

His performance greatly pleased Bishop Owen, who was satisfied with this new believer:

"Mr. Hamilton, do you not have a regular way to order milk now? No worries, I will have the church's country worker who delivers milk also bring a portion to you."

"Actually, I also ordered goat milk..."

"No matter, I'll take care of that for you as well. Rest assured, the milk ordered by the church is absolutely safe."

Although the use of 'absolute' in sentences made Shard anxious, Priest Augustus reassured him when leading him out of the church afterward:

"The children of the church will have no problems drinking milk. If the church can't guarantee even this much, we might as well donate the church to another order... That simile seems a bit off, pretend I didn't say anything. Moreover, you'd have a hard time finding problematic milk in the entire Tobesk Region even if you searched carefully. Shard, do you know? Since last Thursday, all the milk delivery companies in the city have undergone stringent inspections and restructuring."

In this regard, the disturbance created by the cultists during the Thunder Moon of the summer of 1853 directly ensured that our city wouldn't encounter another milk safety incident for decades, which could be considered a fortunate misfortune.

As Shard was not a member of the church, he could only catch snippets of information about the aftermath of the Godfall from Priest Augustus. The cultists who worshiped the Lord of the Blood Feast were completely rounded up in the truest sense, with nearly the whole organization uprooted, except for a few members who were not in the locale.

What's more, the Silver-Eyed One of "Blood of Mercury" was slain on Thursday night, and while dealing with the cultists, the church incidentally eradicated the already scattered illegal organization as well.

But "Blood of Mercury" hadn't been completely eradicated, as some members of the organization themselves thought it a foolish idea to assist cultists in summoning an Evil God.

Therefore, a group left Tobesk before the Divine Descent Ritual on Thursday night. According to the church's investigation, about a dozen Circle Sorcerers, who split from "Blood of Mercury," plan to travel to the West Coast of the Old Continent and then set sail for the New World, where the Blood Spirit School would welcome them.
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Of course, the news most closely related to Shard was that the moniker "Masked Person under Silvermoon" had become history; his new nickname was now "God Summoner," succinctly summarizing what he had done.

The church was extremely secretive about the news of the "God Summoner." The rumors circulating in the local black market only speculated that the person was a Thirteen-Ring Sorcerer who could summon the power of the departed Old Gods.

But no one dared discuss the matter too much, as the reverence for deities among the people of this world was innate. However, the church did not give up on finding the person who truly saved Tobesk, even releasing information seeking to award him a medal.

Divination and many other methods were used in an attempt to find that Thirteen-Ring Sorcerer, but sadly, the results they ended up with were even more laughable than the people of Coldwater Port City thinking Shard was a "terrifying merman from the deep sea."

"The church now believes that the Thirteen-Ring male Sorcerer, God Summoner, is an astronomy professor in Tobesk City University District, skilled in hand-to-hand combat and criminology, living with a retired, lame doctor."

This was the news Shard heard from Priest Augustus, God only knows how such preposterous news came about.

Besides the church, far in the Far North, Saint Byrons was also investigating the truth of Thursday night, with the Academy Bounty Notice offering enough practical credits to get Shard promoted from freshman to sophomore ten times over.

Dr. Schneider wrote to the group of four on Monday, asking everyone to write letters detailing their observations on Thursday night and mail them to him. Although the church would share information, the Academy wanted to know more details about that night, and the local Circle Sorcerer group naturally became the most important source of first-hand information. Naturally, Shard knew all the theoretical details, but he dared not write too much. So, amidst his review, he wrote about some unimportant details and vaguely dealt with the matter.

Thus, after a week of peace and hard study, Shard finally faced the exams on Saturday.