[Vol. 8] Chapter 159: The Power of Knowledge, the Ring of Insight
As the priestess lifted the soundproof barrier, the noise of the outside world rushed in again like crashing waves. She gave a subtle look to the Dragon God, who was walking beside her. She instantly understood her signal and headed straight toward the backstage area of the banquet, while the priestess continued walking and chatting with Ayla.
“So, how do you feel using that artifact? I more or less understand how it works. If anything doesn’t feel right or you don’t understand something, feel free to ask me.”
After all, even though she wasn’t the only one who worked on its creation, Violet had played an essential role in its development. She knew these artifacts very well. Even though each one had been shaped differently to suit its user, giving some guidance wouldn’t be a problem at all.
“An artifact, huh… That word still feels like a dream to me.”
Ayla gave a helpless smile and lowered her head, looking at the plain-looking white ring on her finger. It had a soft, unusual metallic glow. She gently rubbed its surface with her fingertip, clearly treating it with great care and importance.
“The [Ring of Insight]… Honestly, this ring is one of the reasons I started thinking maybe my selection as a chosen hero was planned in advance. It fits too well with what I’m good at. It’s hard to believe it’s just a coincidence…”
“...But you’re right. When I really think about it, what kind of mere mortal like me would be worthy of being chosen by the Goddess, or have a custom-made artifact prepared even before the trial started? Maybe… this is just proof of Her all-knowing, all-powerful greatness.”
She sighed softly, and when she saw the black-haired girl walking beside her just smiling without saying anything, Ayla quickly continued.
“I only received this artifact earlier today, so I haven’t had much time to fully understand it. Right now, my knowledge of it is still very limited. But so far, it seems like the ring has formed a sort of binding contract with me. Even I would find it hard to remove it or give it to someone else. It’s a truly personal artifact in every sense.”
“I’m guessing all six of the chosen heroes probably have the same kind of artifact.”
“As for the powers of the [Ring of Insight], I can sum them up into three main parts. First, its basic ability seems to be deep analysis. Anything I touch with it can be thoroughly examined. It helps me understand how it works, how it’s built, and all related knowledge. It even automatically saves the information inside the ring so I can look at it again later, kind of like… a growing library with no storage limit.”
“Just this ability alone already goes beyond any magical tool or weapon I’ve ever heard of. It really lives up to the name artifact. If I had this ring from the start, maybe I wouldn’t have needed your help to uncover the truth about faith-based magic, I might have been able to do it all on my own.”
She shook her head, as if remembering something or quietly sighing. But she quickly pulled herself together and went on.
“The second ability is even more unbelievable. Once I fully understand how something is built and how it works, I can use the special energy stored in the [Ring of Insight] to bring it into reality out of thin air. It’s almost like… creation.”
Still clearly shaken by how powerful this ability was, Ayla hesitated for a moment. Then she glanced at the calm, listening Violet beside her. In the end, she didn’t hold back and just said it directly.
“But this power comes with big limits. First, I have to completely understand the structure of the thing I want to create, every detail of it, no matter how small. That’s fine for simple objects, but if we’re talking about something massive and complex, like the Austre Empire’s [Graeme] units, even with the ring’s help, I’d need an extremely long time to fully analyze them. In the end, things like that weren’t made by just one person.”
“As for those more complex and mysterious holy relics or artifacts… trying to create them out of thin air is just wishful thinking. Even when using the [Ring of Insight] to make simple tools, the time it takes to fully analyze how they work is so long that I might as well just buy the materials and build several of them myself. After all, personal energy is limited, you can’t just wish for something and make it happen. That’s not realistic at all.”
“And then there’s the most important issue, energy. I still don’t understand exactly what kind of strange power is stored inside the [Ring of Insight], the one that can seemingly turn into anything. But it’s clear that this energy is not endless. Every time I create something new with the ring, depending on how complicated or powerful the object is, some of that energy is used up. And the natural recovery rate is extremely slow, so this ability has very clear limits.”
After thinking for a moment, Ayla added one last thing.
“As for the third ability of the ring… I haven’t been able to figure it out yet. I can kind of feel it exists, but for some reason, I just can’t seem to activate it… Honestly, it’s a bit embarrassing.”
“That’s basically all I’ve discovered so far, Miss Violet.”
After hearing Miss Scholar Hero’s detailed report on her first day using the artifact, the artifact’s co-creator, Violet, nodded in satisfaction.
“To reach that level of understanding in such a short time just by figuring it out on your own, you really do have a strong connection with the Path of Underworld. Don’t put yourself down. You’ve done really well.”
The reason the [Ring of Insight] ended up being such a good fit for Ayla wasn’t because it was specially made just for her. In fact, before bonding with the chosen heroes, all six artifacts were simply shapeless masses of special energy, nothing more than raw power representing the laws of the [Six-Line Array Palace], refined through a special process.
While Violet herself wasn’t a blacksmith or a crafting class user like in the game Illusory World, she was no longer bound by the limitations of that world. Just like how a god can shape a divine artifact using the laws of creation, [Reincarnation], which represents the six rotating paths of yin and yang in the world, already contains elements close to creation itself. It’s a mysterious, infinitely flexible power.
That’s how Dawn was able to shape so many lasting miracles on her own, the Spirit Veil tribe, the Celestial Guardians, the floating island known as Spirit Veil Immortal Island, and even that entire strange-yet-real “world”.
Even Hen and Xiao Kong, and also Xiao Guang and Light, are proof of this potential, duplicating a unique god’s essence into two separate beings may sound impossible, but with the right method, it can be done. Infusing parts of those laws into physical items follows the same logic.
Many of Violet’s powers from Illusory World already aligned with the Six Paths, and when she thought about it now, it was likely all tied back to a certain fox.
For example, one of her most used general skills, [Information Detection], was very similar in nature to what Ayla’s [Ring of Insight] could do, which represents the Path of Underworld.
The Underworld Path, as one of the foundational forces of the world, symbolizes the destruction and reconstruction of basic materials in the cycle of life and death. It’s also one of the most well-known powers used by Spirit Fox Shrine Maiden. Violet had taken the general concept of the [Information Detection] skill, and with careful adjustments and upgrades, made it more refined and much more versatile in how it could be used.