"All who worship the gods shall receive salvation after death!" — This was essentially the foundation inscribed into the doctrines of every deity.
It was precisely because of this that faith in the gods had spread throughout the entire world of the divine, giving rise to countless fanatics who would sacrifice their lives for their beliefs without hesitation.
And any research related to the soul was absolutely forbidden here, regarded as blasphemy against the dead and the gods alike.
"Pinning your hopes on another person — what a foolish thing to do!"
Leylin sighed, though he had no intention of trying to force a change. He understood all too well how difficult it was to overturn concepts that had been taken for granted over hundreds of thousands of years.
It was for this very reason that his teacher Anthony appeared so calm and serene in the face of death, not even letting it interfere with his daily work.
"If... one day in the future, your name is to be inscribed in the Temple of Knowledge, and my name appears in the biographical notes beneath it, then I will have no regrets whatsoever..."
Anthony spoke his hope aloud.
Within the Temple of Knowledge, there was a dedicated Wall of Honor, inscribed with the names of those who had made great contributions to the spreading of wisdom — regarded as the highest glory a scholar on the entire continent could achieve.
And Anthony's hope was that when people beheld Leylin's glory, they would discover his own name in the biographical notes — appearing as Leylin's first mentor.
"I'll do my best, Teacher!" Leylin felt somewhat exasperated deep down, but could only give a vague promise.
"Wonderful! Let us begin today's lesson! Turn your textbook to..."
Once he heard Leylin's promise spoken aloud, Anthony's entire face lit up with a radiance, as though oil had been thrown on a flame, making what little life he had left burst forth once more with a fervent vitality.
Leylin turned to the page as instructed, and an ancient map appeared before him, its lines worn so faint from countless fingers tracing over them that they had become barely legible.
Black charcoal lines sketched out the shape of a fractured continent, surrounded by numerous small islands scattered like stars.
Along the edges of the ocean, vast expanses of darkness stretched out, marked with characters denoting the unknown and the dangerous.
"The history of our Primary Material World is a history of great discoveries. From the first written records in the Year of the Redbud to the present day, the area of the continent has expanded hundreds of times over through geographic discovery, taking on the shape you see before you..."
Anthony spoke slowly. "The rise and fall of countless nations have brought even more changes to this land. As for the shifting of those borders, you can see them on the next page... Now, I need you to find our current location on this map!"
"That..."
Lei Lin stared at Mentor Anthony with a helpless expression, the latter's face carrying a hint of mischief, while he mentally rolled his eyes.
"The location of our Faolan Territory lies within the sea domain of the Danbress Kingdom, in the southeastern part of the continent. It is a newly acquired territory that the kingdom claimed during the Third Age of Maritime Discovery..."
Lei Lin's finger traced to a corner on the southeastern edge of the map, where the faint outline of the words "Danbress" could just barely be made out.
"But... compared to the entire continent, Danbress is nothing more than a single sesame seed, and our Faolan Territory doesn't even register as a speck of dust, so it isn't marked at all... unless you have a far more detailed royal map..."
Due to the scale of the map, the entirety of the Danbress Kingdom was nothing but a drop in the ocean.
Though Lei Lin said this aloud, there was a faint glimmer of excitement and burning passion in his eyes.
The entire World of the Gods was vast beyond measure. There were even kingdoms established by beastmen and elves, and beneath the surface lay subterranean structures similar to those of the Wizard World, home to legions of dark races.
Across the continent, hundreds of kingdoms and duchies stood in profusion, with countless villages and settlements dotting the landscape in endless succession.
Humans, beastmen, elves, dwarves, gnomes, goblins, gnolls, the undead — races of every conceivable variety, along with deities from different divine pantheons, wove tales of immortal legend across this vast land!
There were adventures that set the blood racing, conspiracies shrouded in mystery, and above all, wars and periods of peace between different races, different civilizations, and even different pantheons!
Beings from every plane of existence — whether devils and demons or other entities beyond naming — all cast their greedy gazes upon this place, hungering to claim a share of the spoils under the very noses of the gods.
"This... is where legends begin..."
A fire kindled deep within Lei Lin's heart. He could barely contain his eagerness to set out and explore the continent, to live the life of an adventurer.
Of course, that surge of desire was swiftly reined in by the cautious nature hardwired into his personality.
With his current strength as a Fifth-Level Wizard, he could certainly pass for an elite among adventuring parties on the dangerous continent — but there were still far too many existences capable of snuffing out his life in an instant.
"Now then! Let us turn our attention to the Lionheart Kingdom at the center of the map. In the year 37,628 of the Divine Calendar — thirty years ago — King Charlie of Lionheart..."