[Identity Card: Taboo Scholar] [Effect: You can more easily discern the forbidden knowledge of the world you inhabit. When upright, you can wield the pen to alter the course of this world's history; when reversed, you will gradually lose your sanity and descend into madness.] [Note: Knowledge is contamination; erudition is madness. Buried pasts, erased chronicles—any retelling is taboo, and scholars are thus accused of blasphemy.]
Asakura Yuko was awakened by a crunching sound. The moment she opened her eyes, she saw a bizarre idol quietly emerge from among the ceiling murals. Its marble-like fangs tore into flesh that clearly belonged to a human being, while its scarlet eyes watched her with malicious intent.
Her expression did not change. She quietly watched the idol gnaw on the arm in its mouth, while what surfaced in her mind was everything she had seen and heard in the Eastern District.
Because of her Identity Card, she could see far more than the other Players. After recording enough of what she witnessed, the effect of [Taboo Scholar] activated on its own. A vast amount of "forbidden history" belonging to the Holy City surged before her eyes, transcribed into abstract scenes.
During the two months since obtaining her Identity Card, she had grown accustomed to hearing chaotic whispers with every step and receiving overwhelming amounts of information. As a result, she had learned quite a few secrets about the gods and the underlying Rules.
Practice made perfect. By the end, she could even divide her attention in two—one half processing information, the other dealing with Instances and interacting with people.
But her experiences in the Holy City were completely different from those in previous Instances.
Asakura Yuko had walked the streets with Vede during the day, where countless