“It's just like Luvia first told me: the requirement for the final door to appear is that all The Chosen appear, and that the surviving individuals become Thirteenth Ring. It’s not easy to kill us. From the information I’ve gathered, once we acquire our identity through the ritual, fate will favor us. This doesn't mean we can't die, but in most cases, we will encounter good fortune,” Iluna continued to explain.
“That’s truly an enviable ability,” Xia De praised softly. If he could also be favored by fate, his life would be much easier.
“What are you laughing at?” A familiar laugh came from beside him, but Xia De’s question received no answer.
“What if a candidate dies before becoming a Chosen One? Wouldn’t that mean the requirement of all ‘Thirteen Chosen Ones’ appearing could never be met?” Luvia asked again. The short-haired female Diviner was particularly excited at this moment; it was a rare opportunity to gain more information after a long time.
Iluna shook her head. “No, if one candidate dies, another candidate will appear. This isn't a succession through killing; it’s that there was always more than one candidate to begin with.”
“Oh?” Xia De looked at her in surprise. “Someone else possesses an ability like yours?”
“No, actually, this can be explained by analogy with ‘succession’ order. My succession order is the highest, so I possess power closer to that of a true Chosen One. As long as I am alive, other candidates, no matter what, cannot obtain the identity of Balance,” Iluna said, taking a small sip from her teacup. Xia De then understood.
“So, if a formal Chosen One dies, can the candidate corresponding to his identity…?”
“No, for an Old God, there is only one formal Chosen One in the sixth epoch. If I successfully become the Chosen of Balance, then all other candidates corresponding to Balance lose their qualifications.”
“That’s pretty much what I thought. If Iluna died and other candidates could still inherit, then the whispering chapters wouldn’t be an epic of the sixth epoch, but rather the fuse for an all-out war of Ring術士 in the sixth epoch,” Luvia exclaimed. Iluna nodded and continued to explain.
“As for the news about the door, there’s actually not much to it. The appearance of the door should be considered a large-scale ritual. What the opening of that door signifies, I don’t know either.” She pointed to her head. “But what’s certain is that the opening of the door will bring us power and also bring immense changes to the material world. Whether Old God will revive, whether the epoch will change, these have no answers. However, all The Chosen will have to make a world-changing decision after that. Not each person making a decision, but together making one important decision. What exactly that decision is, I still don’t know.”
Although the information Iluna provided was still very vague, it confirmed that everything Luvia had initially told the two about the whispering chapters was correct. Furthermore, even trying to win over The Chosen as much as possible was the right choice.
But it should be noted that, so far, these matters have only just been confirmed by the first The Chosen. The information Luvia obtained, whether through divination or other more secretive means, was unknown.
“Is that all?” the female Diviner asked again. The seventeen-year-old girl frowned in thought, shifting on Xia De’s sofa to make herself more comfortable. “Other scattered pieces of information are mostly related to power… Oh, I almost forgot, there’s one more thing. I can sense a space, a space shrouded in white mist.”
“Hmm?” Xia De was startled, and Luvia was also taken aback. When Xia De had told her about the basement space last time, she had learned about the “Space Labyrinth” and “Time Corridor,” and had even heard Xia De mention the “Creation Birthing Chamber.”
“Is it the mysterious space left by that Old God of Balance—the hanged judge?”
“How did you know?” This time it was Iluna’s turn to be surprised.
“I’ll take you to the basement to see it later. I’ve been through some incidents in the week or so since you left,” Xia De leaned forward slightly, his speech quickening. “These aren’t important for now. Did you enter that space shrouded in white mist? What’s its specific purpose? Where is the entrance? Does it require a special item as a key, or a specific incantation?”
“How do I feel like you know more than me?” Iluna mumbled softly, then said, “That special space is called the Judge's Tribunal.”
“Tribunal?” Xia De said suspiciously, but considering that the “Time Corridor” and “Space Labyrinth” had no actual connection to corridors or labyrinths, the so-called “Tribunal” likely didn't refer to a literal court.
“Entering that space requires a specific incantation: 【May the power of Balance favor me, who holds the scales】. Besides that, it also requires the holy emblem of that Old God. Not a casually made holy emblem, but a truly powerful one.” The time key is suspected to be the body of the Old God, Father of Infinite Trees, and entering the Space Labyrinth requires the strange idol of the Old God, cracks of origin, so it’s understandable that a holy emblem is needed this time.
“Are we supposed to find the holy emblem of that Old God too? That won’t be easy.” Xia De frowned, while Iluna pointed to herself. “Others need the holy emblem to enter, but I don’t. I just need to recite the incantation.”
“We can slowly search for the holy emblem, but what exactly is its purpose?” The short-haired female Diviner asked again. Iluna then remembered she hadn’t finished speaking and smiled apologetically. “The Tribunal is a place for self-judgment. I tried it once; entering the Tribunal is through a white mist door. Beyond the door is a strange space completely surrounded by thick white mist. No matter how you move in the white mist, you always remain in the mist. But as soon as you kneel on one knee, some stone platforms will appear in the surroundings, forming a place similar to a court in the mist. On the platform where the judge should be at the very front, there is a dark golden scale. Adding weights to the right pan of the scale allows you to make changes to yourself.”
“What kind of weights?”
“Everything about yourself,” Iluna’s brow furrowed slightly. “Body, soul, power, possessions, experiences, memories, achievements, and so on. Anything that belongs to oneself can be used as a weight. Once weights are placed on the right pan, adjustments can be made to oneself on the left pan. You cannot change past events, but you can influence the present and future, making yourself stronger, increasing your future luck, causing certain people who wouldn't have met you to meet, or gaining something…” The seventeen-year-old girl glanced at Xia De. “But the more you want to gain, the more you lose. This change can only become reality when both pans of the scale are perfectly balanced.”
