Xia De's purpose in visiting Mr. Bernhart so late was, of course, not to boast about what he did at the banquet, but to ask Mr. Bernhart to have his priest friend at the Peace Church use the church's connections to check if anything strange happened in the city around the time Professor Drake went to look for the Lake Goddess more than a decade ago.
This was quite easy for a Ring術士 of the Church, as such basic information was not restricted from being queried. Mr. Bernhart readily agreed and promised Xia De he would have the results by Sunday:
"But, are you still investigating the Lake Goddess? This is a legend I heard as a child, but our family has lived here for generations, and no one has ever perceived the truth of this story."
As he bid farewell to Xia De at the manor gate, the gentleman asked again. Xia De shook his head, swung onto his horse, and said:
"It's something else. Things have happened in Huntington City, things are happening now, and things will happen in the future..."
With that, he waved his hand and then rode off into the night. The middle-aged Vampire looked at Xia De's retreating figure suspiciously, then thought of the series of events they experienced in Middlesburg during the autumn:
"Could something big be happening in Huntington too...? Oh, my Lord above, should I go somewhere else to avoid it?"
After returning home from Huntington City, Xia De projected himself from his home to Saint Byron's Library at the appointed time, met Miss Daniste, and informed her that he had already met the "Guiding Moon."
Miss Daniste attached great importance to this matter. After learning that Xia De had already made contact with the other party and confirmed that the other party had connected with the Cerces Letter-based Ring術士 group in Tobesk, the Thirteenth-Ring Female Sorcerer praised Xia De without reservation.
She had already created the alchemical item capable of collecting spiritual light. Since this matter could not be known by the College, it could not be sent to Xia De through the poetry manuscript pages. The item would be mailed to Xia De's home on the weekend through regular postal service from an industry controlled by the College in Delarion.
What Xia De needed to do was to operate that alchemical item to collect spiritual light when the "Guiding Moon" revealed its Destiny Ring. If the core Ling Rune "Guiding Moon" could truly replace the core Ling Rune "yellow moon," then the 【Silver Moon Library】 left by the Silver Moon Old God might be found before the end of this year.
"Speaking of which, Miss Daniste, when can I personally come to the Library again?"
Xia De did not forget to ask before leaving. This was, of course, for the one-third of the "Time Perception" stone slab suspected to be in the College Library. Although his Miracle 【Library Search】 could not function fully in projection mode, personally coming and casting the spell might allow him to find that stone slab.
"Wait until the effect of the Guiding Moon is confirmed."
The Thirteenth-Ring Sorceress rested her face in her hand, sighing with a hint of annoyance:
"I hope it's really useful, otherwise, we can only hope that the 'yellow moon' core Ling Rune appears before us on its own."
(Mia is running...)
At the end of the adventure in Gaddis Library in Dead Silence Valley, the Knowledge promised by the Old God 【Grey-Robed Sage】 is now suspected to be divided into three parts. After the collapse of the cult, these parts are held by the Saint Byron's Comprehensive College Library, Apner Library, and the Guiding Light Hermitage, respectively.
Among them, the stone slab in the Hermit Order's possession was exchanged by Xia De from Mr. Edmund in Coldwater Port, in exchange for a remnant of a poem from the "Immortal Arts." That stone slab took more than half a week to be delivered to Mr. Edmund, and when Xia De saw the stone slab, it was on Friday morning.
It was rather interesting. Perhaps because he had slept so much on Wednesday at Garina Manor, on Friday morning, Xia De actually defied his usual biological clock and opened his eyes to the familiar bedroom ceiling before six o'clock.
He tilted his head and glanced at the cat beside his pillow. The cat was still sleeping, curled up into a ball, and the "cat ball" was rhythmically contracting and expanding slightly with its breathing. It wasn't until Xia De got up that the alert cat opened its eyes, groggily got up, and realized it wasn't time for breakfast yet—it knew the milkman hadn't arrived yet, so after a "Meow~," it lay back down on the bed.
Because he got up very early, Xia De went to Coldwater Port alone after breakfast. He first went to Aurora Manor to change his clothes, which were soaked with seawater. When he met Mr. Edmund, it was only eight o'clock, but there were already other guests in the old lighthouse who had come for transactions.
Xia De stood on the sea cliff, looking out at the sea and feeling the wind. After the Three-Ring Arcanist wearing a ridiculous monkey mask left, he walked into the tower.
"Good morning, Mr. Edmund, has the stone slab I requested arrived?"
Xia De greeted him as he sat down. The old gentleman seemed to have already had breakfast; there was the smell of boiled eggs in the tower.
"It's here. I thought you'd only come on the weekend. Please wait a moment, I'll go get the item."
Saying that, he went up the spiral staircase to the upper level of the lighthouse. As Xia De looked at the newly appeared fish specimens in the tower, the old man returned, holding a mahogany box. The box had a hinged design, and a small brass lock hung on the clasp.
This design seemed unnecessary, as breaking a wooden box was not difficult. But Xia De, whose Knowledge of mysticism was gradually growing, could discern that the lock itself and the patterns on the wooden box formed an intricate ritual. Without opening the lock, even if the box was destroyed, one could absolutely not "take" what was inside.
Mr. Edmund opened the box with a key and pushed it across the table to Xia De. Xia De opened it and immediately raised his eyebrows. Inside the wooden box, which was larger than a palm, was a very thick lining. Lying on the lining were four stone slabs, each with silver corner protectors, and only the size of an adult's palm. These could probably be used by Mia as surfboards.
Specifically, they were about the size of a portable small book people would carry for long train journeys. The Guiding Light Hermitage had preserved it very well; there were almost no traces of age. The stone surface was smooth, with only a few hard-to-observe scratches.
"Mia wouldn't like surfing."
Xia De thought to himself, then said with a smile:
"Even just based on its appearance, this is a very good piece of art."
He reached out and took the stone slab out of the box. He had expected the side facing up to have no text or patterns, and the other side to have some, but the result was completely unexpected; the other side only had an ancient rune representing the number "two."
"Since this item came into our hands from the disintegrated Old God cult, apart from a few lucky fellows who obtained Ling Runes or Miracles by touching it, no other more specific function has been deciphered so far. We can only confirm that this is a book. If you can figure out its function, don't forget to tell us the method of interpretation."
Mr. Edmund said, while Xia De frowned. He had originally thought that this kind of stone slab, like the first epoch ancient books in Gaddis Library, would reveal its content by simply uttering its name. Now it seemed he had thought too simply.
Hurriedly returning home with the stone slab, he was originally worried about how to acquire the Knowledge within the stone slab. However, when he swam from the bottom of the sea to the cave below the sea cliff and saw the statue of the Old God 【cracks of origin】 behind the hidden wall, Xia De had a new inspiration.
The great Grey-Robed Sage had personally said that although he seemed to have inherited the power of the Old God 【Guardian Mentor】, in reality, the power of this great sage came from the moon's Old God 【Silver Moon Sage】, because this Old God possessed the authority of a "recorder."
Furthermore, when summoning the god in Gaddis Library, the stone slab in the shrine that recorded the "Poem of God Summoning" also had symbols representing the moon phases (Chapter 672).
"Could it be that what is needed to unlock the content of the stone slab is..."
With his thoughts, Xia De, completely soaked, returned home. He first took a quick shower, then sat on the sofa and solemnly opened the wooden box.
"Meow~"
Mia, as usual, curiously stretched her head to sniff. After the cat, no longer interested, walked away, Xia De summoned his Destiny Ring. Amidst the sounds of steam whistles and bells, the Destiny Ring emerged from the scorching steam. The spiritual light radiating from the enormous Destiny Ring made the orange cat's fur reflect a strange glow.
Xia De controlled his core Ling Rune "Silver Moon" to emit light. When the inspiration light shone on the stone slab with silver corner protectors, the stone slab, which had been lying in the box, responded to the spiritual light by emitting silver light particles around its body, and automatically floated up amidst the cat's surprised expression:
"Oh, it really is like this!"
Xia De excitedly grabbed the cat from the coffee table and placed it on his lap:
"That old sage also saw that I possessed the power of the moon, which is why he set up this activation method, just like the spiritual light of 【Time-Space】 activating the hidden wall... But for so many years, has no one tried to illuminate it with spiritual light?"
He thought suspiciously, and "Her" murmur answered his doubt:
"Perhaps, it's just because other people's spiritual light isn't enough."
"Yes, 【Grey-Robed Sage】 prepared this gift for me."
Under the inspiration light of 【Silver Moon】, the stone slab emitted a faint silver Moonlight. Originally, it had only very faint Miracle elements, but now the overflowing Miracle elements were almost like divine artifacts in a church.
"Very good, now for the answer. Does this truly contain the Knowledge of time?"
Xia De tried to reach out to the stone slab. When his hand touched the glowing stone slab, a silver light current surged into Xia De's fingers, and at the same time, Silver Moon markings suddenly appeared on the originally smooth surface of the stone slab.
Encircled by an olive branch pattern was the clearest silver full moon. The markings only flashed once and then disappeared. The light traces that surged into his fingers had already delivered the complex and chaotic Knowledge into Xia De's mind.
