"Miss Hevnia, we have arrived."
The boat docked beside the pier.
Hevnia stepped out of the cabin and was instantly drawn to a towering mountain that lay before her.
Although this was her first visit, she knew that this mountain was the "Holy Mountain" of the Holy Sound, and the First Academy was built midway up this sacred mountain. From her position, she could only just make out the outlines of ancient city walls through the swirling mists.
"Is this your first time at the First Academy, Miss Hevnia?" inquired the butler of the Lawrence family.
"Yes," Hevnia nodded slightly, her eyes filled with longing, "I've heard many people say that to ascend the Holy Mountain is to enter the Lord's Gaze... Is that true, Mr. Delin?"
"You are half right, not Gaze," Delin chuckled, tapping his ear, "The Lord does not 'gaze,' but listens, and He listens to every corner of the Holy Sound. Although He pays a bit more attention to the Holy Mountain, after all, it is the closest place to the Lord."
Hevnia nodded, then spoke with some concern, "I hope the Lord won't dislike me."
"Why would He?" Delin laughed, "Miss Hevnia, your music is definitely one of the Lord's favorites."
"If that were true, it would be wonderful," Hevnia said, still looking somewhat uneasy.
After a day's rest, Hevnia's body had not fully recovered, but her spirits were mostly restored.
As she conversed with Delin, she also listened distractedly to Bai Wei's exclamation.
"Have you noticed that the vast majority of believers think their Lord lives in the heavens?"
"...The vast majority?" Hevnia asked, "Are there other places?"
"Lyra, haven't you been there?" Bai Wei said with a smile, "Isn't there a tower there that's said to reach the heavens? But it seemed to have collapsed when you were there."
Hevnia reflected briefly on that fleeting experience before shaking her head, "I don't remember it very well."
"Oh?" Bai Wei sounded surprised, "Forgetting isn't like you. And you didn't take any interest in Lyra's ecosystem structure that is so different from that of the Holy Sound?"
"I did want to take an interest, but I couldn't," Hevnia responded calmly, "The events that transpired those days were probably more concerning to me than Lyra itself."
"The special events you encountered in Lyra..." Bai Wei pondered for a moment, then realizing, "Oh, you mean me."
Before Hevnia could respond, Bai Wei laughed again.
"It seems, in this case, I am indeed more significant than the Lyra God."
Hevnia wasn't sure how to respond and hesitated briefly before steering the conversation back to the prior topic of "where gods reside."
"Don't gods live in the heavens?" Hevnia asked.
"It depends on how you interpret 'the heavens,'" Bai Wei replied with a smile, "If you take it literally, meaning above our heads, up in the high skies, then certainly that isn't correct. Otherwise, how could we see the sun but not the gods?"
"This way, Miss Hevnia," Delin led the way, "We're preparing to ascend the mountain. I believe the young master is already waiting for you."
Hevnia nodded slightly and followed Delin while listening seriously to Bai Wei's leisurely lecture.
Most knowledge related to gods is unverifiable legend; not even the professors of the Three Colleges can claim with certainty that what they say is true, so most discourses begin with "we speculate."
But Bai Wei was different.
He had truly interacted with gods.
So whenever he spoke of matters related to gods, Hevnia took notes very seriously.
If circumstances had allowed, she would have even liked to write it down in a notebook.
"Gods reside in the 'Divine Country,' and the 'Divine Country' doesn't exist in this world, or at least not in the world as people perceive it."
Bai Wei briefly introduced the concept of two, three, and four dimensions to Hevnia, and she quickly grasped it.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Hevnia asked, "So you're saying that gods can freely reach into the mortal world, but the people of the mortal world find it difficult to touch the Divine Country?"
"You could see it that way... at least it used to be like that."
"Yes, the gods of the past could roam the human world freely. They were a mighty group that people could see and touch," explained Bai Wei, "But later on, they no longer could."
"Why couldn't they later on?" Hevnia asked instinctively.
"Yes, why is that?" mimicking a mysterious tone, Bai Wei led Hevnia to understand he was playing the enigmatic figure again, and she prudently chose not to press further.
After all, this was not the first time it had happened; Hevnia was accustomed to it.
But to Hevnia's surprise, Bai Wei went on to provide an explanation this time.
"Don't think I don't want to tell you," Bai Wei said flatly, "but knowing this would not benefit you, and could harm you."
"In your Gaze, what could possibly harm me in this world?" Hevnia quipped.
"Flattery is of no use," Bai Wei laughed, "I really can't tell you, because the fact itself would trigger a very serious consequence."
Bai Wei paused and then, switching to a serious tone, said,