Girl Hero: Revenge on Goblins!

Chapter 1183 1183: Recognition of Substance and Existence

"The Dungeon contains everything you could ever desire."

In the world of Adventurers, this phrase, akin to "Adventurers cannot take risks," is one of the most well-known maxims.

Many outsiders believe this refers to treasures, wealth, Strength... and so on; in short, anything that can be exchanged in a worldly sense for desired objects.

This understanding isn't entirely wrong. Dungeons do indeed offer these things, often so generously that it becomes an addiction.

But that's not all.

"Everything you could ever desire," is not a metaphor or an exaggerated statement.

Everything in this phrase refers to the objects themselves.

Dungeons are entities that respond to human Desire.

Their mission upon creation is to be conquered. Thus, to lure humans from the surface to step in and explore, they nurture various temptations within themselves.

What they can prepare is far beyond mere treasures and Magic Creatures.

Artifacts lost in the river of history, the texts of fallen ancient Kingdoms, and even arts and crafts from the Otherworld...

Even forgotten memories, emotions, and connections can be reclaimed in the Dungeon.

Among Adventurers, countless stories of uncertain truth circulate just like this.

For instance, an illiterate crude Adventurer opens a treasure chest in a hidden room and finds an incomprehensible abstract painting.

After getting it appraised, it's discovered to contain encrypted Spell Chants for a forbidden grand ritual. The creator of these chanted spells turns out to be his ancestor, who suffered from knowledge addiction, conducting bloody research leading to execution by the Judgement Court...

Or, for example, a strong Legendary team, after much arduous effort, finally conquers a Wilderness Underground City, only to find an old doll in the leader's treasure chest on the final floor.

It wasn't until the captain saw the stitches of the doll that he realized it was a handmade gift to his childhood friend, who left without saying goodbye, forgotten in his agony. Yet, the friend left due to an incurable disease, and the team's mage was this childhood friend's sister, who personally placed the doll in her arms at the end. Despite fighting side by side for years, they never discovered this connection...

Such a wide array of stories prove that what Dungeons can prepare goes far beyond just gold and silver treasures.

There's even been someone who claims to have seen the figure of a loved one within a Dungeon, yet often that person isn't deceased but actually living well.

Even today, the mechanisms of Dungeons hold many unsolved mysteries, but this doesn't stop scholars from making conjectures and constructing theories about these phenomena.

The most widely accepted explanation for the phenomenon of "everything you could ever desire" is the "Earth Spirit Demon Element Reincarnation Theory."

In this world, the Magic Element is ubiquitous, flowing among all things.

The origin of Dungeons is solidified Otherworlds formed from Arcane Surges trapped deep within the earth, unable to erupt or release.

However, this "inability to erupt" is only in relation to the surface, as it doesn't unleash Magic Disasters like on the surface. This doesn't imply it won't cause catastrophes.

In reality, many large Dungeons cause varying degrees of earthquakes upon their creation.

But the "Earth Spirit Demon Element Reincarnation Theory" doesn't focus on these secondary disasters; instead, it discusses a more abstract issue: in the cycle of Magic Elements, does the "Spirit of humankind" participate?

It's well-known that the elements composing the human soul disintegrate upon physical death, reverting to the most basic spiritual elements, plummeting into the Reincarnation Realm and reconstructing into new souls.

Thus, theoretically, the cycle of the Magic Elements in the Material Realm doesn't involve spiritual elements.

Therefore, simply using Magic to create a soul is considered an impossible technique. Magic Mind of an Artificial Soul is an accidental product that modern Magic Engineering cannot create, belonging to the domain of Ancient Method of Forging.

The descent of souls is a world principle. Unless one steps into the Divine Domain and directly interferes with Reincarnation, human wisdom finds it hard to touch that boundary.

However, on the other hand, primarily based on the Church's theory, it is believed that even without immense Magic Power, the "heart" of Humankind can somehow influence the Magic Element externally.

Simply put, an item cherished by someone will gradually bear his "lingering thoughts."

These lingering thoughts are considered dispersed spiritual elements, seen as fragments of the soul, which don't weaken the original body.

Though people die just like lights going out, even if one's soul entirely disperses, the lingering thoughts on an object do not disappear immediately.

The deceased are remembered by the living, and the living retain the thoughts of the deceased.

However, the items with lingering thoughts will eventually decay, rot, or be abandoned, buried.

And to make these lingering thoughts, which cannot constitute a soul and thus won't plummet into the Reincarnation Realm, cease to linger in this world, some kind of special decomposition phenomenon quietly occurs.

Over time, once the living forget the deceased or no longer keep these items, don't touch or cherish them anymore, those items will vanish unconsciously or get damaged due to various accidents.

Scholars believe that materials harboring the lingering dead will attract Magic Elements equivalent to "decomposers," triggering special phenomena to return those residual spiritual elements to Reincarnation.

This is the Earth Spirit Demon Element Reincarnation Theory.

And the burial items of the dead are thus quenching.

The reason why burial is prevalent in most regions of the Kingdom is that people in the past found that the burial items placed in the earth disappear much faster than the flesh and blood of the corpse itself.

Hence, people believe that this means the cherished items of the dead have also been sent to Reincarnation, making burial naturally become the traditional burial method.

Conversely, direct cremation, although yielding seemingly similar results, holds different meanings for the living.

Throughout history and even today, this theory has intrigued countless mages to research. Some have even proposed that since these lingering thoughts do not immediately fall into Reincarnation, can they be intercepted?

Even if unable to directly interfere with the Reincarnation Realm, perhaps using this as a material in another dimension, one might construct a Spirit Realm composed solely of lingering thoughts—

However, without exception, scholars delving deeply into this research have succumbed to knowledge addiction, either having to seal their memories and halt their research or plunging into madness, ultimately disappearing unknown to the world.

Aside from the mages' tragedies, according to many folklore scholars' investigations, an interesting fact has emerged.

That is, in certain areas where earth burial is not popular and cremation or other burial methods are practiced, there is almost a common point—

A Dungeon has once emerged near them.

The "Earth Spirit Demon Element Reincarnation Theory" suggests that when a Dungeon forms in the depths of the earth, it acts like a vortex, engulfing the lingering thoughts that have yet to enter reincarnation from a wide surrounding area.

After absorbing these lingering thoughts, the Dungeon does not allow them to proceed to reincarnation but instead stores them within its own "interlayer."

When the living step into the Dungeon, a special judgment mechanism is activated, identifying suitable candidates and reconstructing treasures that most move the Adventurer's Spirit using magic elements, infusing the thoughts into them, and placing them in treasure chests.

This is the mechanism of creating those special treasures within the Dungeon.

Folklore scholars discovered after further investigation that those regions where earth burial isn't common have experienced instances like "finding burial objects of the deceased in the Dungeon."

In the past, it was believed that the evil Dungeon had stolen the deceased's treasures, hence people in areas where Dungeons appeared avoided earth burial.

But after the Mages' research, it was confirmed that they were only "identical replicas."

But if they are identical, and even the thoughts within are indistinguishable, does it matter if they are real or false?

Relics consumed by flames, memorials damaged in accidents, things unknowingly forgotten, even the individual was unaware of, perhaps insignificant yet precious to the extreme…

This is the bait prepared by the Dungeon to make people risk their lives.

Humankind ultimately relies on material to recognize life, but Dungeons also use thoughts unseen by the five senses as reward, packing them into treasure chests.

However, until suitable Adventurers enter the Dungeon, those thoughts remain untouched and are secretly preserved in unreachable places.

This is the "interlayer" speculated to exist today, though no Adventurer has found its entrance.

The "Land of Oblivion."

Since even thoughts residing in objects can be collected and preserved by Dungeons, used as material for treasure…

Then, "forgotten memories," naturally wouldn't pose any problem either.

In the fifth layer of the Land of Starlessness, the Sanctuary, darkness slowly faded, moss and mushrooms emitted a faint glimmer again, and the Divine Basin believers gradually regained their sight, hurriedly gazing towards the center of the dueling arena.

Then, they all displayed expressions of astonishment.

At some unknown time, a massive gateway, nearly four meters high, appeared there.

[Appearance of the gateway (influencing the peace of the Shield Woman's original world, with dump truck +20, 30 - wasteland, 40 - biohazard, 50 - eerie, 50+ normal)]

D80+20=（61）=81

That enormous gateway carried a faint transparency, discernable as an illusory transparency, its surface devoid of intricate patterns, only an understated metallic hue, displaying a heavy armor texture.

Behind the gateway, vaguely connected with an even more illusory, stylistically distinct fortress, like a princess's castle miniature tenfold, becoming the size of an ordinary residence, encompassing that pure white Holy Stone.

And at the center of this fortress, also the center of the Holy Stone, the Shield Woman was curled there.

She remained immobile, no longer trembling, like a baby in amniotic fluid.

The Shield Woman's body also appeared transparent, and as time passed, it grew increasingly illusory.

Unlike the Divine Basin believers who just regained sight and couldn't comprehend the situation, the Catcher who's been watching the duel naturally saw the changes just now, yet his face equally reflected undisguisable amazement.

Earlier, at the moment the Mute Girl made contact with the Shield Woman, it seemed to trigger some mechanism; the Shield Woman's strong magic power erupted once more, but not for attack, it resonated in some way with the Dungeon—more precisely, with the Holy Stone behind her.

If he hadn't seen the Mute Girl praying before, he might not have judged so accurately what transpired.

The adventurer noble wasn't simply worshipped as a goddess by the Divine Basin because of her status as an Otherworldly person.

She possessed a special ability of her own, capable of influencing the Dungeon itself.

After being repelled by that Magic Power, the Shield Woman was then protected by the illusory fortress, merged into the center of the Holy Stone, and is becoming increasingly transparent now.

Ultimately, the fortress nearly completely faded, leaving behind contours of lines, with only a hint of a shadow remaining of the Shield Woman.

Yet the towering gateway continued to exist in its original place.

Witnessing this scene, the Divine Basin believers looked at each other, breathing became rapid and chaotic.

Finally, someone trembled and spoke, his tone laced with dreamy disbelief and faint fervor.

"The teleportation gate to the Land of Oblivion—"

[Memory modification of the Winged Boy is—]

1.5. The girl who was saved

2.6. The sister who lived depending on each other

3.7. The only two survivors in the class

4.8. One-day reincarnation of the suicide

9. I can't discern!

10. Critical Success/Extreme Failure

D10=3

♛: The only two survivors in the class