Bernadette swiftly caught hold of Alice.
Alice had never dreamed that introducing the Internet to Bernadette would draw the Hidden Sage's gaze.
—She was no stranger to those eyes belonging to the Hidden Sage. The last time she had seen them was behind Old Neil.
She could barely suppress the fear in her heart. After they held their breath and waited for the Hidden Sage to leave, her legs gave out beneath her.
"Sorry." After helping Alice steady herself again, Bernadette apologized. "I didn't expect this would draw the Hidden Sage's gaze."
Still shaken, Alice shook her head and asked with lingering fear, "Why did the Hidden Sage suddenly... suddenly turn Its gaze upon us?"
Bernadette looked at Alice and replied in an unreadable tone:
"Only knowledge that truly exists, is exceedingly rare, and remains hidden can draw the Hidden Sage's gaze.
"In other words, what you said was true. A civilization without Supernatural Power, like the one you described, really did exist in this world, and it had long since vanished into the river of history without anyone knowing."
Yet Alice did not look as though her words had just been proven true—rather, her expression revealed a terror even deeper than the instinctive fear she had felt upon seeing the Hidden Sage.
Bernadette heard Alice's incredulous voice. "A Technological Civilization without Supernatural Power, like the one I described, really existed in this world?"
"Were you lying to me just now?" Bernadette asked with a frown.
"No." Alice closed her eyes and said softly, "We really did come from such a civilization, but we all thought that civilization didn't exist in this world."
Bernadette was slightly stunned, but Alice continued, "I should have thought of it long ago... There are twelve months and 365 days in a year, twenty-four hours