A series of Finch's products were ultimately bought out by Ethan for the high price of three million Golden Rye.

This price was far beyond Finch's expectations, as he initially thought one million was the limit.

He underestimated the prospects of sound cinema.

Of course, Ethan didn't just spend this money to buy equipment products; he wanted to buy Finch as a person.

Because he had already found out that the rough film was shot by Finch himself, and the concept of using mirrors was a joint effort with Kevin.

That is to say, both he and Kevin are exceptional film talents.

In this era, such talent is indeed hard to find.

Finch didn't expect Ethan to want to poach him besides the products, but having just been promoted, he definitely didn't want to leave. He only expressed willingness to help with filming, while strongly recommending Kevin to direct.

Ethan did not insist on this, after all, Kevin is also a very talented person.

So, that night, after concluding his dinner with Azertu, Ethan went home and resumed his screenplay writing.

He even began the first round of casting in his mind.

However, with the arrival of the next day, he had to pause his work on the script because his auction was about to start.

He needed to prepare and warm up for it.

Besides relying on newspaper promotions for warming up, he had a big hidden ace up his sleeve.

And that was a paper.

A paper based on an artistic analysis of that flush toilet.

In fact, Ethan started writing this paper after that personal exhibition ended. It should've been finished a few days ago, but there was too much to do.

First, there were issues in the South District, then the film script, so he was rushing to meet the deadline today.

It wasn't until the afternoon that, with coffee, he finished writing the paper and promptly sent it to Jackson for processing.

Speaking of processing the paper, Jackson had quite the connections, as he was the one who got Gustaf's paper published last time.

Though later, Ethan found out that the paper seemed to have been urgently retracted and destroyed immediately after publication.

This suggests that regarding ancient languages, there's always a pair of eyes watching in the shadows.

Thinking of ancient languages, Ethan finally remembered the diary he brought back from Kaster's altar.

Taking the diary out of his alchemy pocket, Ethan also produced the word list left by Gustaf.

He started translating it line by line.

"Earth Calendar year 1340, Month of Sowing, Day seven.

Undoubtedly, the gods are dead.

It's the second day since we discovered the old deities' remains. The only consolation is we haven't found the Mother Goddess's remains.

That is to say, the Mother Goddess should still be alive, just sleeping for some reason.

We can only comfort ourselves this way, as we've done countless years in the past.

However, my heart is filled with despair, and I no longer believe in this reasoning.

Because apart from the old gods' remains, we also found some other things—documents."

He's not completely sure about the word "documents," as he's translating while reading, and many words in the diary don't have precise counterparts. The closest similar word he could find was "documents."

But from the subsequent context, they don't quite seem like documents, as the diary's author says they're used for rituals to mourn the gods' departure.

Some of these liturgies even mentioned the word "twilight" and the like.

Thus, they concluded that the gods are dead.

At this point, Ethan is somewhat puzzled. How can just some documents lead to the complete conclusion that the gods are dead?

With this confusion, Ethan continues translating this diary of uncertain specific year.

In the subsequent diary entries, Ethan learns the name of the diary's owner, Herakles.

Who is a Priest of the Earth Mother Goddess Sect, responsible for tracking the goddess's whereabouts in the mortal world.

In later records, Herakles continued to wander the earth, fulfilling his priestly duties while spreading the Mother Goddess's teachings.

But with the Mother Goddess's silence, the teachings of the Earth Mother Goddess gradually failed to spread.

Because more people began to believe in the Sun God Sect, and the Sun God, though also asleep, would occasionally awaken slightly to showcase its powers.

Thus, the Sun God Sect's influence expanded greatly.

Reading this part, Ethan finally manages to somewhat confirm the timeframe.

With the not-so-shallow historical knowledge from his previous life, he knows that the Sun God Sect indeed had a period of great strength, with domains nearly covering the entire old continent.

Back then, even the king's coronation required the Pope's permission.

The mass preaching of the Sun God Sect started around... the early 1300s Old Calendar.

In this light, the Earth Calendar seems similar to the Old Calendar.

But the earth has long persisted and ancient history is normal.

With the suppression of the Earth Mother Goddess Sect, Herakles's journey of exploration became perilous.

Many regions became forbidden zones, controlled by the Sun God Sect.

In the latter half of the diary, it describes how he discovered a site suspected of burying old god remains and was about to excavate it when he encountered people from the Sun God Sect.

He had to fight against the Sun God Sect.

In the end, he surprisingly managed to defeat the Sun God Sect people and snatch those remains from them.

Then, he successfully escaped.

From this, it seems that Herakles was indeed quite a character.

As for why he had to snatch those remains from the Sun God Sect, the reason was...

He felt those remains seemed to still possess some life, and he couldn't confirm to which deity the remains belonged.

He had to take them back to the Elder Council for research and confirmation.

To escape the Sun God Sect's pursuit, he chose to retreat into the mountains.

He hid in a mountain called Turnafury, where he had a secret hideout.

He planned to wait out the storm before returning to the sect's headquarters.

However, the diary ends soon here.

In the last entry, Herakles writes:

"Earth Calendar year 1346, Harvest Month, Day nine.

I seem to smell the fragrance of mature wheat wafting from the fields—just across the river—I'm starting to miss my hometown.

Tecuili, how many years has it been since I last returned.

After this matter is concluded, I'll apply to end my duties; it's time I went home.

Wait, there seems to be some sound?

Is it coming from the remains?

It... it seems to be calling me?

It must be an illusion, though it's better to take a look."

The diary ends here.

If there's really some authority existing, could it be those so-called old gods' remains?

But even if they do exist, after over a thousand years, what would be left?

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