"What did you think would happen?"
It was five in the afternoon, and the Witch on the train asked Xia De. They had been traveling for a while and expected to return to Aurora Manor before half-past six in the evening.
At this moment, Xia De was holding the orange cat, which had been slightly startled by the Town's Vibration, though Xia De suspected it was mostly faking it.
"Before we left, I was worried we might run into Darkness in the Town, or that old Mrs. Iral hadn't given up and was trying to sacrifice us to the Gods," Xia De replied.
"Darkness left Coldwater Port a week ago; there's no way he could be here. As for Iral, she's only a Two-Ring Arcanist; are you underestimating me too much?" the Witch asked with a smile. Xia De shook his head.
"I just didn't expect it to go so smoothly this time. I thought obtaining every Ling Rune would require a thrilling adventure."
"Most of the time, that's true, but not every time. How dangerous do you think your life is?"
Xia De gave an embarrassed laugh.
"However, when I touched the statue, I saw some illusions. That Old God seemed to be just a powerful, strange creature that roamed underground in ancient times, but later became a God by devouring the power of the Ancient Gods from the Earth. So, what exactly are the Old Gods? The Ancient Gods are the original Gods; do the Old Gods become Gods by acquiring the power of the Ancient Gods?"
Such discussions about Gods would not even be undertaken by a Thirteen Ring Sorcerer. But the Witch was more powerful, and these women, whose power system originated from the previous epoch, were clearly bolder.
Miss Aurora's expression was serious: "The answer to this question cannot be spoken. The weight of Knowledge cannot be ignored, but since you've figured it out yourself, I can tell you some things I know. Yes, I once read the secret texts of the Worm Cult, and although it wasn't explicitly stated, the most secret information hinted that the power of the Earthshaking Worm originated from the Ancient God Earth Mother Goddess, who presided over the Earth, the four elements, and the foundations. Yes, Xia De, most of the Old Gods' power comes from the departed Ancient Gods. In the distant ancient epochs, they were already powerful, strange existences, and for various reasons, they acquired remnants of the Ancient Gods' power, thus becoming Gods. Of course, according to the Witch Council's records, only some Old Gods are like this. There's even a saying that even the Five Orthodox Gods—"
She suddenly closed her mouth, cautiously looking up as if fearing a lightning bolt would strike down.
Xia De, surprised, even forgot to continue stroking the feigning Mia. He had always been curious about the source of the Old Gods' power and hadn't expected to uncover it with a casual question.
The brown-haired lady sat up straight, looking somewhat regretful about what she had just told Xia De.
"Let's change the subject. Ever since I saw that statue, I've had the illusion of worms crawling on my arm. Let's not discuss Gods anymore. Xia De, what do you think of this cult that is about to perish?"
Xia De cooperatively didn't ask further, but he also knew that organizations like the Witch Council must have a lot of information he needed.
"Some people always leave, and some people always come back. The demise of anything is part of the natural order. I just lament that the Evil God's followers looked very benevolent—they just looked that way."
"The things she did when she was young were enough for the law to hang her ten times over," the Witch said, glancing at Xia De. Seeing no reaction from him, she added, "I thought you'd suggest going back and killing her now."
"Lady, do you think I'm a stereotypical knight from a classical knight novel?" Xia De asked, holding the cat, and added, "There are so many bad people in this world. I'd even bet that at least half of the civil servants in Tobesk City Hall have committed crimes, but am I going to judge them one by one?"
Miss Aurora laughed.
"Am I wrong?" Xia De asked, embarrassed.
"Half? Oh, you're giving the City Hall too much credit for its integrity."
The Witch's point of concern was completely different from Xia De's.
In any case, the Two-Ring blasphemy Ling Rune 【Vibration】 was probably the easiest Ling Rune Xia De had acquired so far. Moreover, he didn't even have to bother finding the corresponding Miracle to learn himself; old Mrs. Iral directly gave him a related Miracle, and this Miracle was very powerful.
Mind Blast is a rather classic extraordinary ability. According to Miss Aurora, the prototype of this Miracle can even be traced back to the Second Epoch, or even the First Epoch.
The effect of the Miracle is also very simple: by casting it, it causes a Vibration in the enemy's soul, causing their Miracles and spells to be temporarily disrupted. For those with weak soul power, it can directly damage their soul. And skilled use of this ability can, to a certain extent, master the technique of memory cleansing.
Of course, because the Miracle's effect is too crude, if one wants to cleanse memories using Mind Blast, one must be prepared for the target to become an imbecile.
This Miracle can only be mastered by Ling Runes corresponding to the concepts derived from 【Soul】 and 【Vibration】. The effect varies depending on the user's level and the amount of Ling.
As a Miracle that affects a single target, when used at high ranks, it can even turn ordinary people into lunatics or imbeciles with a single glance. When used by a low-rank Arcanist like Xia De, interference and soul damage are the primary effects.
After all, this is just using Ling and elements to vibrate the opponent's soul, not using one's soul to vibrate the opponent's soul. Otherwise, Xia De, with two drops of divinity in his soul, would even dare to challenge Ivan Darkness to a duel directly.
As a Miracle mastered through self-study, its casting not only requires fingers but also casting materials. Because the Ling Rune is 【Vibration】, the casting materials must compensate for the lack in the "soul" aspect.
The casting material mentioned in the Knowledge provided by old Mrs. Iral is "Mind Crystal," an expensive and rare alchemical product created by Arcanists proficient in alchemy and psychology, who transform nightmares or beautiful dreams into real-world products when exploring others' dream worlds.
Although expensive, this is not a consumable casting material. As long as Xia De can find it and let it touch his finger every time he uses the Miracle, it will suffice.
Old Mrs. Iral did not have such a thing, and Miss Aurora did not have it temporarily either. If Xia De wanted to find a New World specialty, she could help, but for such precious material from mind alchemy, the Witch also needed to make arrangements to find it.
However, Xia De didn't ask the Witch for further help; she had already provided enough assistance this time. He planned to ask Doctor Schneider for help, as the doctor happened to be good at this, and even if he didn't have it on hand, he certainly had connections to acquire the goods.
"But I thought old Mrs. Iral would give me Miracles like 【Earthquake Spell】," Xia De mused during the boredom of the train journey.
"If it's just to cause small-scale ground Vibrations, many Miracles can do that, and they have no practical value whatsoever. If you try to stomp your foot on the ground and cause a real earthquake, that kind of Miracle cannot be learned until you reach a high rank."
Miss Aurora said.
"Why at a high rank?"
"Do you think an earthquake is just the transmission of underground Vibrations to the surface? While theoretically that's true, nature and the world itself possess power. Therefore, it's simple for a Summoner to call forth wind and snow, but it's incredibly difficult to genuinely alter the reality of celestial phenomena. Guess how much time and pounds the merfolk spent to summon that red ocean?"
From this perspective, Xia De still had a lot of common sense to learn.
Upon returning to Coldwater Port, Miss Hivi Aurora invited Xia De to stay for dinner at the Manor, after which Xia De departed to return to Tobesk.
Not disturbing Doctor Schneider at night, and after reading for a while after returning home, Xia De rested in the guest room on the first floor that had not been painted. The style of the brass four-poster bed and the design of the curtains chosen by Miss Tifa Servett were very much to Xia De's liking, but the mattress was too soft, and he slept uncomfortably.
However, the orange cat really liked the soft mattress.
