285. Causality

The scratching of the pen against the paper was the only sound in the room, save for the rhythmic patterns of the sunlight. Ravenna sat propped up against her pillows, papers scattered across her duvet like a paper-and-ink fortress. Her brow was furrowed, her eyes darting between the diagrams she had sketched in the morning light.“In the original novel, the 'Great Spawning', the incident where countless high-floor dungeons erupt simultaneously across the continent was supposed to be in the final arcs” Ravenna muttered to herself, her pen hovering over a map of the Ancorna Empire. “The Witch’s army flooded the regions like a black tide. The book never quite answered how they managed to attack so many distant territories at once, or how they moved an entire legion across the sea in a single night.”

She drew a quick, jagged sketch of the Broadleaf Arrowhead door she had seen in the Dungeon. She circled it three times, the ink bleeding into the paper.

“Now, it’s clear. Those teleportation doors inside the dungeons are the entrances for their military. They aren't just spawning magical beasts; they’re building a subway system for the apocalypse.”

She set that paper aside and pulled forward a blank sheet, her mind racing. “Mind control and psychological corruption were always the Cult’s signature moves, but Light’s Conquest never mentioned them being able to create custom dungeons like these ones.”

She paused, tapping the pen against her chin. Her gaze drifted to the timeline she had painstakingly reconstructed from her memories of the text.

“Since the timeline is fractured now. The Saintess was revealed years earlier than she was in the original novel because I interfered. ” She drew a line connecting Marie’s arrival to the early activation of the Witch. “They had to act prematurely. That explains why the number of high-floor dungeons is currently so low compared to the novel's endgame. They aren't ready for a full-scale war yet, but they’re forcing it anyway.”

A blue flicker in her peripheral vision caught her attention.

(New)

User: Ravenna Solarius / Joy Cha Kim

Reputation Level: 90 — (100,499 / 1,00,900 EXP)↑

Current Reputation Points: 105 RP↑

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

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“105 points” Ravenna sighed, looking at the balance. “Not even enough to buy an hour of internet time properly. I know there must be upgrades after that holy light resonance, but I can't afford to go checking them when my head is already full of thoughts.”

She pushed the system panel away and took out a fresh sheet of paper, writing two words in large, bold letters: UNIVERSAL ORIGIN.

“From the conversations with the Witch and the Absolute Being... there is a clear causality between the Saintess and this 'Universal Origin' magic. The Witch said she couldn't kill Marie 'just yet.' But in the novel and this world’s history, the Cult never hesitated to try and assassinate the Saintess. They saw her as a divine pest to be exterminated immediately.” muttering Ravenna held her pen up.

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“To kill her now would be... untidy, for our perfect plans this time”

Ravenna’s hand trembled slightly as she remembered what the witch said as she wrote: Why is Marie necessary for the 'Perfect Plan' this time?

“The cycle of the Saintess killing the Witch, again and again, is the history of this world. It’s a loop. They’ve tried to break it a thousand times and failed. But this time… they are going for a different plan?” Ravenna’s eyes widened as she looked at a sketch of the Rubik’s Cube-like artifact she had found back in the Imperial Palace, the one that had given her the System.

“It was said that universal origin is Hero Luminous’s unique magic that can alter reality… The Magic artifact that I found before my departure somehow gave me that..”

She wracked her brain, trying to find a connection. “But what does any of this have to do with Marie? In the original novel, that artifact was hidden in a treasure room that was only mentioned in the epilogue. Marie would have never even seen it, let alone come into contact with it. I only found it because I was desperately trying to source money for my departure.”

The realization hit her like a physical blow. She dropped the pen, the black ink splattering across her timeline.

“The System isn't the Universal Origin. The notifications always say it is 'attuning' to it. It’s like an initialization program?” Ravenna muttered. “If so..”

She grabbed a fresh sheet of paper again, her hand flying across the page as she listed every major deviation she had caused since waking up in this world.

“Marie was never meant to arrive on Kim Island. In the novel, she was a slave who eventually found her way to the Western Continent after Herptian Priests found her. But my actions changed that.” She paused, a flash of High Priest James’ broken body flickering behind her eyelids. “That choice stopped her from following the path the novel had laid out.”

She drew a jagged line connecting the Hercule Crime Syndicate to the Cult of Absolution.

“In Light’s Conquest, Eugene, the protagonist, always assumed the Syndicate was just a group of high-level criminals hired by the Cult. but we now know they are different branches of the same one organization operating in the shadows in the ruins of the West.”

Ravenna’s eyes widened as she connected the dots to the attack on Serena’s wedding.

“The magical beast attack... the Conley invasion... Eugene thought it was a political maneuver to destabilize the Empire in the novel. But if the Syndicate is the Cult, then that chaos wasn't the only goal, it was the distraction! They didn't just want Serena's wedding to fail; they wanted the Imperial Palace to be left unguarded!”

She began to frantically write, the ink smearing on her palms. “Why would a cult based in the Western Continent trouble itself with the Eastern Empire if their only goal was the 'Silence' of the Saintess.. They found the Witch ages ago. They didn't need to start a war to find her or the Saintess. It makes no sense... unless they were trying to do something else.'”

She circled the sketch of the Rubik's Cube artifact with flower petals in it.

“In the original timeline, during the chaos of the magical beast attack, the Cult must have successfully stolen the artifact from the Imperial Palace’s West Wing Museum. It was never mentioned in the novel because Eugene was too busy fighting on the front lines, he never even knew it existed. But because I arrived... because I was desperate to look for a way to fund... I broke into that treasure room and accidentally took it before the Cult ever had the chance to!”