“Old God—Earthshaking Worm?”
Xia De was quite surprised to hear this God's name, because he had actually heard of this Old God before.
The Old God, the Earthshaking Worm, also had another well-known name: the “God of Earthquakes.” Unlike the Old God “World Serpent,” which was related to dust and earth and had been mentioned by the doctor, the main power of the Old God “Earthshaking Worm” was earthquakes.
Xia De had once read in his textbooks that in the old days, when civilization was not yet enlightened, once an earthquake occurred, the local people would find followers of this God and organize large-scale prayers and sacrificial activities.
But this Old God had already departed, just like Xia De's acquaintance, The Innocent Creator; it had left in the fifth epoch. Moreover, the Earthshaking Worm was not a benevolent God; it was a genuine Evil God, and live sacrifices were required to appease the “Wrath of the Earth” through rituals.
Xia De glanced at the kind old woman in front of him; she looked very different from those fishmen who also worshipped Evil Gods.
“Not only the last member of the cult, but I think also the last generation of priests.”
Old Lady Ilal smiled and shook her head, and Miss Aurora also returned a smile:
“The purpose of our visit this time was made clear in the letter. It is this one, Hamilton...”
She pointed to Xia De, who was holding the cat:
“I want him to feel the power of the great one you believe in.”
“Oh, the young people from the City are all quite handsome.”
The old woman praised Xia De’s appearance, then reached out and took his hand, nodding after a moment:
“No problem, he has no conflict with our Lord's power.”
Ring術士 cannot master any Ling Rune; conflicts with their core Ling Rune, or the nature of their soul, can lead to rejection of certain Ling Runes.
Old Lady Ilal probably used some divine art to confirm Xia De's affinity for the power of the Old God, the Earthshaking Worm. This kind of divine art is very common; the Orthodox Church also has similar divine arts, used to confirm whether Ring術士 are suitable for learning divine arts when cultivating them.
“Very good, I can feel that this Mr. Hamilton is very suitable to become a priest of a God. If he had appeared fifty years earlier, I would have made him join the cult no matter what.”
“Oh, that won't do.”
The witch still maintained that smile:
“Mr. Hamilton is my person.”
“That's too bad.”
The old woman shook her head, and the two maidens finally boiled the hot water and began to pour tea for the three. The maids had washed the teacups, but there were still stubborn yellow stains on the surface of the teacups. Xia De noticed that Miss Aurora didn't even touch her cup of tea, so he only symbolically picked it up without drinking.
During the subsequent conversation, Xia De also confirmed that his understanding was not wrong. Old Lady Ilal was the last believer of the long-departed Old God—the Earthshaking Worm—at least, for the cult, she was the last believer, excluding individual believers.
As the last priest and Keeper, she was responsible for guarding the cult's property and Knowledge. Since it was almost impossible to find new believers, and she was not comfortable leaving the position of priest to strangers, she decided to end the entire cult's history in her generation.
Miss Aurora met her five years ago, and after consideration, Old Lady Ilal decided to leave the cult's property and secrets to this powerful witch.
Aside from helping to guard the temple and the murals depicting the cult's history, and preventing strangers from intruding and destroying, the old woman made no other demands on the witch. She believed that rather than letting those properties be buried deep underground and those Knowledge forever sealed, it was better to let more powerful Ring術士 acquire them and inherit the cult's power.
This could also be considered an alternative way to continue the cult's history.
And for the witch, this meant that after the old woman in front of her died, she could gain a large amount of property and all the Knowledge and secrets of an entire cult for free.
Xia De was very envious of Miss Aurora's fortune.
After a few more words, the old woman confirmed that Xia De wanted to obtain the Vibration Ling Rune, and after simply asking him some of his views on “earthquakes,” she told Xia De that they were going to the Old Temple.
The true temple of the God of Earthquakes was underground, specifically beneath the ruins outside Herkils Town.
The Herkils Town ruins were left by an early civilization of the sixth epoch. When the Delarion Kingdom's archaeological team came to investigate decades ago, Old Lady Ilal even served as a guide. When she spoke of that event, she happily showed Xia De and the witch the photos taken at the time, and Xia De actually saw an acquaintance in the photos: Professor Manning, who lived in Cat Tail Lane in the Tobesk University District.
Professor Manning from decades ago looked less aged than he did now. He and his companions stood together, leaning on shovels, grinning foolishly at the camera. And Old Lady Ilal from back then also looked younger than she did now; at least in the photo, she didn't use a cane and could stand there to be photographed by herself.
And when she heard that Xia De actually knew the person in the photo, the old woman actually pulled out all the photos related to that archaeological activity from the album and handed them to Xia De:
“Give these to your friend.”
This was simple for Xia De, but he hesitated and asked:
“Don't you want to keep them? These are memories.”
“Memories are here, not in the photos.”
The old woman smiled kindly, pointing to her head, and then said:
“After I die, these photos will probably be thrown away as garbage. Rather than that, it's better to give them to someone who can keep them properly.”
Miss Aurora gave Xia De a look, and only then did Xia De take the photos:
“Okay, I will deliver them to Professor Manning. I'm sure when the professor sees these photos and recalls his experiences in this Town, he will be very happy.”
Old Lady Ilal opened her mouth and laughed, revealing a row of yellow teeth that were almost all gone.
The departed Gods still had believers in the material world, and Xia De could not fully comprehend what kind of feelings these believers held to continue believing in the Gods.
He had seen the last believer of the Old God, The Innocent Creator, but that person had transformed into an angel and flown away on the spot. The situation Old Lady Ilal faced was even worse; when Ms. Gina Angela Seville decided to seal the underground ruins of Tobesk, she at least had two companions with her, while Old Lady Ilal was alone.
But she at least did not seem sad or unable to accept it because of this. After chatting with Xia De and Miss Aurora for a while, she got up and took them to the ruins.
The Town did not have a City taxi system, so the group walked on foot. Fortunately, the Town was not large, and the ruins were not far from the Town.
