"Why are you interested in this organization? If you want to join an interest club, wouldn't the drama club suit you better?"
Sonia watched Felix slide into the driver's seat. After thinking for a moment, she chose to sit in the back. Stretching out comfortably against the leather upholstery, she answered offhandedly, "I joined the drama club last semester. It was just a playground where a few mid-tier girls engaged in petty scheming, serviced by a dozen low-tier guys buzzing around them like lapdogs, with the prizes being one or two high-tier guys... But last year's prizes didn't quite suit my taste, and once it got boring, I quit."
"You only quit after you got bored playing along...?"
"Since you know about the Four Pillar Cult, then you definitely know it isn't some boring club where teenage boys and girls look for excuses to mate." Sonia pulled out a wet wipe to dab the sweat from her neck and added, "Or rather, it's far more dangerous than that sort of frivolous club."
Felix lightly tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. "In theory, there shouldn't be any information regarding the Four Pillar Cult in the Starry Country... Do you mind telling me where you heard that name?"
"From a sorcerer manual in the Void Realm."
"...If you mind, you can just say you mind," Felix said flatly. "There's no need to offer proof that is completely unfalsifiable. Information obtained from a sorcerer manual has no legal validity, and its credibility is severely compromised. You must have watched *The Legendary Treasure*, right?"
"Of course! I've watched the adaptation starring Daidalos five times!" Sonia perked right up at the mention of it. "But I really did see it in a sorcerer manual."
*The Legendary Treasure* was a household fable in the Starry Country that had been adapted for the light screen many times. Its plot was straightforward: somewhere in the Void Realm lay a legendary treasure, but no one knew where. The protagonist was a novice sorcerer who, while adventuring through the Void Realm, found a gleaming golden sorcerer manual detailing the proper ritual to claim the legendary treasure. To perform the ritual, however, the protagonist had to study the required sorcery factions and summon the necessary sorcery spirits.
When the protagonist set up the ritual and activated the miracle, the legendary Gate of Treasure appeared. But behind the door lay no treasure—only tens of thousands of tentacles and boundless, abyssal darkness. The protagonist tried to fight back, only to find that their own sorcery spirits willingly defected, rushing into the embrace of the Gate of Treasure.
It turned out that the sorcery factions and sorcery spirits needed to complete the ritual were meant solely to make the summoner more "palatable." The Gate of Treasure was not especially powerful, but to every summoner who meticulously studied the ritual, it was the perfect natural predator, reducing the summoner to an utterly helpless meal to be taken at will!
The story concluded with a young sorcerer newly arrived in the Void Realm who, after a grueling fight to defeat a sorcerer projection, had a gleaming golden sorcerer manual drop as loot...
Naturally, this fable was meant to teach people to work hard and not covet windfalls. But for sorcerers, the story carried an additional warning: the knowledge and information contained within sorcerer manuals was exceedingly dangerous.
"If you only learned of this organization from a sorcerer manual, there'd be no need to investigate it in such detail, would there? The fact that you came to me means you already checked the library. Since when were you cursed with such boundless curiosity? Or has Professor Trozan not given you a full enough schedule of sword training?"
"Tsk. If you don't want to tell me, then don't. Just drive me back to my dorm."
"Questioning you isn't the same as refusing. I hate that presumptuous way of thinking of yours." Felix pressed the accelerator and backed out. "That said, I don't know much about the Four Pillar Cult either. After all, as I mentioned, it's impossible to learn about this organization from any written records. The empire thoroughly eradicated all traces of information.
"I've only heard about the cult occasionally while mingling in noble circles, and even then, mostly out of morbid curiosity. From what I understand, the four pillars of the Four Pillar Cult represent four codes of conduct: the Tyrant who rules through violence, the Treacherous Minister who manipulates through conspiracy, the Loving Father who torments through despair, and the Prince who wallows in pleasure... As you can probably guess, the only one among the four pillars favored by nobles is naturally the Prince of Pleasure, who symbolizes hedonism."
Sonia rested her hands on the back of the front seat and leaned forward to ask, "So... does the Four Pillar Cult exist in the Starry Country?"
"It doesn't." Felix shook her head. "The prerequisite for any cult's existence is the people's need for spiritual sustenance—or rather, that reality leaves them dissatisfied, driving them to pray for salvation from some great entity. Starry is a great country; the soil for heresy to take root simply does not exist here."
"Didn't you just say some nobles worshiped the Four Pillar Cult in pursuit of cheap thrills?"
"At different stages of life, everyone holds ideas they believe to be correct. Naivety is a phase everyone must go through, and nobles are no exception," Felix said. "However, nobles are nobles because the glory of their peerage protects them from the intrusions of naivety and evil.
"'*Without a peerage, none may serve as minister; without nobility, none may govern a county*'... You've memorized the *Nobility Act*, so you must know why nobles possess status and rights above ordinary people, right?"
"The Blessing of the Stars," Sonia said. "It is said that every noble who is officially conferred a peerage is bestowed a blessing by Her Majesty the Empress, becoming wise, valorous, just, and impartial from then on... And in fact, that really is the case."
Starry's class barriers were extremely strict. If you were not a noble, no matter how gifted a sorcerer you were, you could never hold real imperial power.
Yet the restriction was strictly limited to being "noble." If you could inherit a peerage through marriage, or perform meritorious deeds and be personally ennobled by Her Majesty the Empress—no matter how you became a member of the nobility—you obtained a ticket to the ruling class. As for whether you could become a high minister of state, that depended on your own capabilities.
In an era where the exchange of information was highly developed, Sonia acting just slightly arrogant would get her blasted for a dozen pages on the Curtain forums. Yet such glaring class discrimination caused not the slightest ripple in the Starry Country.
Even Sonia, who had grown up convinced society owed her an imperial throne, thought the noble system was wonderful.
Because the nobles were genuinely good.
Impartial and strict, undaunted by hardship, diligent and studious, dedicated to the point of utter devotion—such was the world's impression of nobility. Whether a libertine who frequented brothels or a hothouse flower who had never even seen a mosquito, the moment they inherited a title and became a noble, they would instantly mature into steady, reliable pillars of society who contributed brick and mortar to the Starry Country. They would wholeheartedly uphold the interests of the masses, showing no favoritism, seeking no personal gain, indulging in no scandals, and harboring no laziness.
All of this was because of the "Blessing of the Stars."
Textbooks contained only a single sentence describing the Blessing of the Stars: *"Awakens the nobility to their responsibilities."* Sonia used to think it was mere empty rhetoric, but only after arriving in Jialesi and learning in detail about the flawless integration between the aristocracy and the bureaucracy did she realize the statement was actually true.
"Everything you mentioned is just peripheral detail. The core effect of the Blessing of the Stars is only one thing." Felix glanced at the stars in the distant night sky. "It keeps the nobility absolutely loyal to Starry."
"Absolute loyalty?" Sonia was taken aback. "Brainwashing and subjugation?"
"You can't really call it brainwashing." Felix considered it for a moment, then said, "For example, Sonia: you value your mother deeply, you love making money, and you're willing to make some contributions to the Starry Country. But if you had to rank them, your mother is probably more important than making money, and making money is more important than benefiting Starry, right?"
"Of course." Sonia paused. "Actually, making money isn't that much more important than benefiting Starry... unless it's a huge, huge amount of money."
"So in your heart, your mother has the highest priority, followed by making money, followed by Starry. Absolute loyalty simply elevates the concept of 'benefiting Starry' to the absolute highest priority, nothing more," Felix said. "If it were total brainwashing and subjugation, the nobility would have rebelled long ago. No one wants to become a puppet slave stripped of their sense of self.
"The power of the Blessing of the Stars lies in how it merely makes nobles regard Starry as the most important thing to protect, without stripping away their other emotional attachments—such as their family, their lovers, their children, or their hobbies. During statutory holidays, nobles are virtually indistinguishable from normal people, all while enjoying entertainment and social standing unattainable by ordinary folk."
Felix glanced at the country bumpkin in the rearview mirror. "Even knowing this secret, if given the opportunity, would you be willing to become a noble?"
Sonia pondered for a moment. "I probably would."
Even though the Blessing of the Stars involved a form of mental manipulation, if it merely elevated "benefiting Starry" to the top priority, Sonia felt she could accept it. After all, it was the land of her birth, the soil where she was raised; if possible, Sonia naturally hoped Starry would become better and better too.
In truth, most people surely would be willing. After all, benefiting Starry was already an admirable life goal in itself. This question was like asking, "If you want to become a good person, the catch is that you also become exceedingly rich"—who wouldn't want that?!
"So you should also understand why the Four Pillar Cult doesn't exist in the Starry Country," Felix said. "Under the impartial and selfless rule of the nobility, the people live in peace and contentment, and living standards improve year after year. The Four Pillar Cult has no way to influence any social stratum.
"The reason you can't find any information on the Four Pillar Cult is partly due to the empire's eradication, but also because no one needs the Four Pillar Gods.
"A cult that isn't needed by the people will naturally be swept into the dustbin of history."
The car pulled up to the main road outside the dormitory area. Felix pressed a button to unlock the rear doors and said, "That's all I know about the Four Pillar Cult. Is there anything else you want to ask?"
"No." Sonia shook her head. "I was really just curious."
"I don't care where you heard that name, but as a friend, I'll give you a piece of advice: stop looking into the Four Pillar Cult."
"Why?"
Felix turned around, meeting Sonia's gaze.
"Because it's a huge waste of time," she said. "You're a genius sword sorcerer; you don't have free time to squander on such nonsense. Seems to me your training schedule isn't packed enough. Looks like I'll have to report to Professor Trozan tomorrow that you're neglecting your duties..."
"I feel like you've gotten awfully cocky today," Sonia retorted, not shrinking back in the least. "Is it because you don't have to duel me tomorrow? How about tomorrow during the day I apply to the professor to test your study progress? I can fight you using a rolled-up newspaper..."
"You are so annoying! I hate you!"
Sonia giggled as she got out of the car, leaning toward the window to say, "Thanks. See you tomorrow."
Watching Sonia skip playfully toward the women's dormitory building, Felix let out a long sigh of relief, feeling as though talking to this country bumpkin for another moment would make her brain boil over.
"Hm?"
The steering wheel was smeared with blood. Looking closely, she discovered that blood was seeping through her left glove.
Felix's palm had been slashed by Sonia earlier, but she had not dared to remove her glove to treat it until now. With the country bumpkin gone, she could finally take it off. Yet she did not rush to heal the injury; instead, she held her left hand in front of her eyes.
In the center of her left palm was a perfectly round hole... just large enough to frame an eye.
Her already beautiful, pale purple eyes, framed by the circular aperture, took on a kaleidoscopic sheen.
Peering through the circular hole, Felix watched Sonia walk into the distance and enter the dormitory building.
"Just who mentioned the Four Pillar Cult to her?" she murmured softly. "I hate unpredictable variables like this."
Chapter 175