The Lone Star's Epilogue

I walked through the tunnel of the gate among the many teenagers strolling alongside me, which led to the outside beyond the land of the cathedral.

However, the entire floating island was still owned by the Church of Divine Light.

The world inside the cathedral and the outside world were vastly different. The rules, values, architecture, and morals were blurry in comparison. But I had grown accustomed to it, just like the other orphans or more commonly known as children of light within the cathedral.

We had learned to adapt to the outside world while still upholding the discipline and principles of the Gospel. Even though I questioned the existence of God, it was undeniable that the Church of Divine Light had spread positive vibes throughout the Solar system.

As I strolled alongside hundreds of orphans, some gazed at me and gossiped, others sneered, and some stared at me intensely with hatred and envy, even though I never knew them. I was used to it, so I let it slide.

At this early hour, only orphans were allowed to exit the cathedral. While walking, I looked at the numerous holographic displays aligned in a row, hovering just below the ceiling made of black carbon fiber reinforced concrete, at a height of ten meters tall.

These holographic displays showcased various events, historical moments, and information related to the cathedral. On one of the displays, I saw an image of a kind-hearted woman. She wore a white fabric mask that slightly distorted her face and a tight white robe.

The image depicted her offering assistance to homeless people near a ruined building on what appeared to be an artificial stationary planet around Saturn or Mars. This scene was set during the year 2075 in Yaturian, 25 years ago when the second galactic war took place, a time still plagued by wars and famine.

This woman was none other than the High Saintess of the Divine Light Church. At that time, she was not a well-known figure, but it was widely recognized that this marked the beginning of her journey. After witnessing the ravages of war on the people, she made the decision to initiate a movement known as Divine Light. It was rumored that she possessed supernatural abilities to heal using light magic, a notion that almost seemed too fictional to believe.

This was why she had gathered so many followers by the age of 43, as she stands currently.

Came to think of it, after establishing the Divine Light movement to aid people across the Solar system for nearly eight years, at the age of 26 in SE 3, she founded a guild named after the movement, Divine Ray. With her existing thousands of followers becoming members of the guild, it swiftly ascended from a common guild to an elite and prestigious one, achieving the highest rank of Legendary within just two years.

In the solar system and the world of Dawn, there were four ranks of guilds. Progressing from common to elite required a substantial amount of resources, manpower, connections, and economic investment, akin to building a giant corporation. Moving from elite to prestigious was deemed nearly impossible, achievable only by the most influential elites who possessed their own military power.

However, reaching the legendary rank was on another level altogether, it signified that a guild held the same rights and power as an independent nation.

In a sense, she could also be considered in the same high regard as a queen, president, or any other highest position out there.

Although her name remained a mystery for many decades, she went by the nickname, Eureka and even her appearance was unknown to almost everyone as she always concealed her face and hair underneath a fabric and hood.

The high saintess's acts of kindness had inspired humanity. Her reputation spread throughout the solar system, earning her the title of a saintess, and more people began to join and follow the Divine Light Church because of her actions.

However, she wasn't as famous as The All-Mother, who was the first android to give birth to human children and bring an end to the war between humanity and androids.

Thought, both of her children died in the war between humans and androids in the great global disaster. 

But if you were to ask me which one I preferred, I would say I have no preference. The All-Mother might just be a myth, as the great global disaster had ended almost six decades ago. On the other hand, the high saintess remained surrounded by mystery, which made me suspicious of her acts of kindness.

I couldn't help but feel suspicious, considering the common trope in many web novel plots where those with a savior complex often turned out to be the main character's final enemy to defeat. It has become a recurring theme in modern literature.

It seemed like my life mostly revolved around web novels. Whenever I experienced unbearable pain or found myself in a stressful situation, I would usually stay in my room and ask the cathedral for permission to skip class.

Thankfully or hilariously, mental illnesses were now recognized as serious and life-threatening conditions, so the cathedral and my school allowed me to take breaks when my stress levels were high. It was a convenient excuse to skip class or work in this era.

Furthermore, the school wasn't very strict, as in modern times, people relied more on training camps rather than traditional schooling. Most individuals would engage in self-study and then choose a major to pursue in a training camp, which would eventually lead to admission into a university that lasted for three years.

Returning my mind to the present, as I walked, I took out my tablet, which projected a holographic display into the air. I quickly navigated through the various apps and opened one called "Universal-Novel." It was a website where self-published novelists could share their works and directly earn income from readers and sponsors.

A random idea crossed my mind - I wished I could read a novel using augmented reality (AR) vision.- Unfortunately, the world government didn't allow such a function to exist.

Even though I could potentially modify my Bio-Data-Chip to enable various apps to work with my AR vision by accessing the darknet, doing so was considered illegal since it could be used for criminal activities. If I were ever caught attempting to modify my Bio-Data-Chip, the world government would swiftly track me down, as the chip would send a signal to the security headquarters in the Singa sanctuary dome if I managed to bypass the chip's initial safety system.

Upon entering the app, I saw a selection of novels, including a newly released one. However, I chose to ignore it and instead went to my library section, where I continued reading the novel that I had paused the previous night.

I came across a sentence in the novel that caught my attention: [Through countless nights, she searches for the murderer of her father and finally finds a clue at a local inn on the outskirts of the ancient Angkor imperial city. There, she overhears about a rising corrupt leader working for the Tei people, who have been sending assassins to eliminate faithful servants of the empire.]

The novel was becoming more intriguing as it delved into world-building, geopolitical conflicts, and the vulnerable side of the emotionless female lead. This made it different from most reincarnation novels.

The female lead's name was Davy, and she worked as a battalion member in a female military camp created to counter the rebellious Tei tribe. This tribe had allied with the Dei Riet kingdom to overthrow her empire. The story was set in a historical kingdom in a continent known as Golden Land, spanning from the 9th to the 13th Yatarian and into the 21st Yatarian, where Davy reincarnated multiple times in her quest to lift the curse of the dark god upon her fallen empire, which had decayed over time.

Currently, I have reached 30 chapters, with 239 chapters left to read. My friend Shan, who also enjoyed reading web novels, had recommended this story to me, so I decided to give it a try.

As I continued reading, I overheard some teenagers chatting about a recent incident that had occurred early that morning. They were discussing the explosion in TWOD, which had caused casualties in real life. One boy spoke with concern to his friend about it.

"Yes, I've seen the news too. It's absurd that the explosion in the VR game is causing actual brain damage for those involved," another boy responded, sounding shocked.

As I continued walking past them, I noticed that many other voices around me were also discussing about the explosion. It had become a hot topic for everyone in the cathedral. I wondered how the world government would explain this problem.

Maintaining a neutral expression to avoid drawing attention, I continued strolling towards the holographic barrier at the end of the tunnel, which led to the exit of the cathedral.

Meanwhile, I paused my reading after a few more sentences and turned off the holographic display, neatly tucking the bendable pen-like device back into my jacket pocket. The whispers of conversations about the explosion filled my ears from all directions as I reached the holographic energy barrier. People were walking through the faintly lit barrier, which resembled glass but served the purpose of keeping outsiders out and allowing the people inside the cathedral to easily pass through it.

I didn't fully understand how it worked, considering that most of the technological information was classified and kept hidden from the public. There was a fear that the Velderik or the Free Alliance Galactic Federation might possess and use the same energy barrier technology. In reality, they had a similar technology that generated energy shields, but it was less durable and of lower quality compared to the one we had on Tellus.

Orphans and cathedral workers were allowed to pass through, as the barrier identified their Bio-Chips. However, ordinary people had to wait until 9 am for the cathedral to open, and they had to leave before 6 pm when the holographic barrier closed, alongside the carbon fiber gate that provided an outer layer of protection to the barrier.