In a dark, empty space, a stranger floated silently. An eternal stillness and peace enveloped her, soft whispers echoing in the space. But the stranger seemed to ignore the subtle words, remaining still, enjoying the rare silence. A faint light suddenly appeared, rapidly expanding into a dazzling sun, engulfing her figure.

Selene abruptly sat up, gasping for breath from the dream. After calming down a bit, she looked around.

The thick fog that had enveloped her vision had somehow dissipated, and a deep blue sky met her eyes. She first noticed a bright object in the sky—a golden sphere, radiating a dazzling, but not blinding, light. She could clearly see the magnificent light and heat emanating from the sphere hanging in the sky. It was very similar to the sun in her memory.

But there shouldn’t be a halo around the “sun,” emanating from the sphere and engulfing it in a circle of brilliance, the faint lines shimmering on the halo, moving slowly in the dissipated light stream. The twisting shapes, like the tentacles of a sea creature, were wrapped around the sphere and the “halo” around it. Hardened tentacles burrowed into the patterns on the halo, moving with the entire sphere.

This wasn’t the star she recognized.

Selene didn’t know how long she stared at the sky, until her eyes began to ache unbearably. She finally looked away, but the radiant sphere, the halo around it, and the strange tentacles wrapped around them lingered in her mind, making her heart pound.

Countless suspicions and thoughts flooded her mind. She suddenly remembered the pattern on the knight’s armor—a sun split by a crack. The sun depicted there was exactly the same as the one in her memory.

“Ah! You’re awake!”

A sudden voice interrupted Selene’s racing thoughts. She turned her head and saw a small boy, who looked very happy, staring at her. Behind him, an old man was holding what seemed to be a very luxurious staff… riding a powerful creature that looked like a mix between a bull and an elephant.

The creature lying on the ground trembling. But the old man, with his virtuous nature, continued to wave his staff around. Noticing her gaze, he smiled at her kindly.

This surreal scene left Selene completely confused. She stared at the pitiful creature, then suddenly raised her hands and shouted,

“Don’t kill me!”

...

It took a long time before Selene finally understood what was going on and believed that these two were kind people who had saved her. The creature wasn’t a victim, but a magical beast that had attacked her. And what she had seen when she woke up was indeed the “sun” of this world.

This world wasn’t currently in winter. Though it was autumn, there was still some time before the heavy snow. The reason she had been struggling to survive in the snowy wilderness was because that place was the Forest of Divine Punishment, where anything could happen… She also learned that these two were heading to Alorn, the second largest city in Lanstier. They would be making a brief stop there before departing for Lanstier’s Holy City.

Selene wrapped herself in a blanket, holding the teacup the old man had given her, taking careful sips. The old man called himself “Delight” and said he was a mage. He even enthusiastically told her that what she was sitting on was actually a high-level treant. After she lied and said she had amnesia, the boy called Richter, explain the basic world view to her, including that she might be a “Regressor.”

She also told them about her experiences after waking up—there was nothing to hide, except for the slightly fantastical experiences she’d had before passing out. Her life in these few days had been nothing special, and the old man claimed to be a “mage,” so he was probably no stranger to fantastical experiences.

As for their questions about her identity, she used amnesia as an excuse. With the “Regressor” setting, they quickly accepted it. And it wasn’t far from the truth…

Selene sipped her tea, pondering.

Though Delight and Richter hadn’t said they were going to abandon her, she was very uneasy about her current situation, dependent on them. She had no resources to change it, and if they made things difficult for her, she couldn’t resist. And she owed them her life. Even if they abandoned her in the wilderness, she couldn’t blame them. She’d even have to thank them.

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It wasn’t that she was being malicious towards her saviors. These were just things she had to consider. Whether they were good or bad, relying on them wasn’t a good idea… She had trusted that plane wholeheartedly. The results were obvious.

There was no other way. She had transmigrated as a weak and frail girl. Selene sighed.

As if sensing her low spirits, the treant beneath her shook its leaves and offered her a fruit.

“Uh… thanks.” Selene took the fruit. After a moment of hesitation, she didn’t eat it but put it in the bag Delight had returned to her after she woke up.

The treant beneath her immediately perked up, walking with its head held high. Delight, sitting on the subdued magical beast, sighed inwardly.

This treant was becoming more and more of a simp… In a few days, would it abandon its master and switch sides?

Delight rode the beast closer to the treant and said to Selene, “Young lady, did you say that the knight had a special pattern on him? A sun split in two?”

Selene quickly snapped back to reality and nodded. “You can call me Selene. There was. But it’s not quite the same as the sun. It doesn’t have the… halo or tentacles.”

She still wasn’t used to this strange sun. The halo was easy enough to explain. She’d seen plenty of Dyson spheres and artificial suns, but what were those tentacles?

“That’s not called a halo. The proper name is ‘corona.’ And those tentacles… well, everyone calls them tentacles, but they also have a proper name.” Delight first corrected the mistake in her words, then, seemingly lost in thought, asked, “Do you know about the Church of True Light?”

Selene shook her head. She was practically illiterate when it came to this world. She turned to Richter, who was sitting near her, but only received a blank stare.

Well, two illiterates.

“In the first year of the Fifth Era, the Divine Punishment destroyed the old church. The nations cleansed the remnants of the old church throughout the Divine Construct. The saints from Wilmoth established the Divine Glory Church in the north of the old church, once again worshipping the Lord of Glory. But a dying ember still burned. The ideals of the old church, and a few of its priests, survived the purge, establishing the Church of True Light in the 268th year of the Fifth Era.

“It’s a heretical cult. They practice bloody sacrificial rituals and worship an unknown Evil god, calling him the True Sun, the source of all light in the world, the true creator of this world. They hate the Divine Glory Church and believe that the Lord of Glory stole the power of the ‘True Light’ to deceive the world and become one of the four Primal Gods.”

Selene nodded in understanding. Although she had just received a brief explanation of the world’s mythology, she knew that the mythological system of this world was very unified. Though there were many different faiths, and they often argued, they only argued about minor details. No one dared to challenge the fundamental, established myths—

The world, in the First Era, was created by the four Primal Gods. The Primal Gods established the foundations and rules of the world. The Lord of Glory gave it light and warmth, Mother Earth created the land and the water that sustained life, and the Night Lord granted the cycle of life and death to the beings of this world.

After the creation of the world was complete, the four Primal Gods chose ten deities to manage the world on their behalf. The deities were the guardians of the rules, the protectors of life, eternally managing this world from their residence in the “Starry Halls”…

The various churches had been arguing for thousands of years, but only about minor details within this framework. For example, which of the two gods had won in a battle. A faction that directly denied this framework would naturally be considered a cult.

And of all the gods to challenge, they should have choose the Night Lord, a Primal God with very negative connotations and almost no believers, and yet they challenged the widely respected Lord of Glory. The Lord of Glory’s faith was prevalent throughout the Divine Construct. Almost everyone was his follower. Any church that dared to agree with them would definitely be destroyed immediately.

With such an insane doctrine, it was no wonder that the old church had provoked the combined forces of the Divine Construct…

But this also meant that the old church had truly believed in this doctrine, and that they were all devout believers of the “True Light.” Otherwise, they wouldn’t have dared to wage war against all the countries of the Divine Construct, and even after abandoning their faith in the Lord of Glory, they were still able to use divine spells…

Selene pondered, looking up at the strange-shaped sun.

Bright streams of light were still flowing in the halo, and the sun, as it had done for millions of years, shone upon this world, providing precious light and warmth to the beings on the land.

Even if the “True Light” actually existed, even if that chaotic doctrine was truly the truth about the gods, to the people of the Divine Construct, it was simply slander against the Lord of Glory.

And compared to the Church of True Light, which captured people for bloody sacrifices, the Divine Glory Church, which cared for the wounded, supported equality among races, and treated nobles and peasants equally, had a better image and was more popular.

As she was pondering, she suddenly remembered that the knight had called her a “servant of the False God,” and had called out the name “Shinten” in his final moments… What exactly was her identity?