"How do you feel about the consumption?" Miss Sylvia, with narrowed eyes, asked from beside the wall. Xia De, maintaining his casting posture, replied:
"The consumption isn't very high, at least not high when not under attack."
The Divine Radiance state enhances all of Xia De's Miracles and spells. The enhancement for the Heaton Seal doesn't make the previously unmovable Miracle movable, but rather allows the shield, which originally had a fixed protective volume, to expand further.
The Heaton Seal doesn't limit how many people the user can protect besides themselves, but the volume of the shield summoned by the Seal itself is a fixed value. It's barely enough to fully protect two adults hugging each other. However, for Xia De, he can expand the shield's volume by expending additional Ling. This expansion also has an upper limit, but it's more than enough to protect two Xia Des standing side by side.
Therefore, the Divine Radiance's enhancement of the Heaton Seal Miracle makes the Miracle more valuable. When Xia De demonstrated the Miracle, he already made the golden shield's volume exceed the recorded size, but Miss Sylvia seemed to not notice this strange change and continued to say to Xia De:
"Next, let's test the defensive strength. Don't worry, I'll control the force."
She was very enthusiastic about this test.
Next, she used gently thrown pebbles, Mia slowly walking over, Xia De's revolver, pebbles thrown with full force, a fireball summoned by the spell Control Flame, the Document-level relic Anesthetic Pocket Watch that the Witch carried, and the Miracle Space Severance to test the Seal's strength.
Firearms were completely unable to break through the golden shield, only causing slight ripples on the surface;
The cat, Mia, slowly walked towards Xia De and scratched the shield a few times with her claws, but couldn't get through;
The gently thrown pebbles were similar to hitting a wall, while the pebbles thrown with full force shattered into powder upon contact with the shield due to the pebbles' own strength;
The anesthetic needle fired by the relic Anesthetic Pocket Watch was mutually destructive with Xia De's shield, but this relic itself is not known for its attack power;
The fireball, with controlled output by the Witch, had the best effect. If Miss Sylvia hadn't stopped in time, not only would Xia De have almost been blown away, but his basement would probably have a deep pit;
As for Space Severance, the Heaton Seal has no protective effect against spatial power. Miss Sylvia, who is proficient in spatial power, had already anticipated this, so the power of the Miracle Space Severance, under her precise control, only cut Xia De's outer coat, leaving no marks on his skin.
As for the second effect of the Heaton Seal, which is to cancel the spell the moment an attack touches the shield, the broken shield will cause more powerful explosive damage to the enemy. Xia De did not try this effect, firstly because the timing is difficult to grasp and he needs a lot of practice, and secondly because he was worried that the so-called "explosive damage" would directly blow up his basement.
Although the space was cleared, there were still compartments for storing magic potion snow piles in the basement, as well as his rudimentary magic potion alchemy workshop. He didn't want to damage his house for the sake of practicing Miracles. Miss Jialinna's manor had plenty of space for him to practice, and if all else failed, he could go to Coldwater Port to trouble the mermen.
"All in all, apart from not being able to move during casting, this is almost a perfect Miracle."
As he walked out of the basement, Xia De, holding the cat, praised Miss Sylvia. The young Great Witch chuckled:
"This is the Sun Church's signature Miracle, passed down for who knows how many years. But when you use it, you must never be discovered by the Church. Under normal circumstances, this Miracle will not spread, after all, the core material for learning it is the parchment you burned at the end of the ritual. The Sun Church has a number for every parchment."
Of course, the Witch also did not ask Xia De where he got the parchment that recorded the ritual information. But Xia De always felt that Miss Sylvia had already guessed the truth, but just didn't say it.
Just like the first visit last week, Miss Sylvia did not leave Saint Delan Square that night. She discussed the paper that Xia De had already given to the Old God until late at night. Miss Sylvia even planned to publish the paper, with Xia De as the first author.
In addition to discussing the paper, after learning that Xia De was preparing for the final exam week, she also enthusiastically helped Xia De answer some academic questions and helped Xia De analyze the Ring術士 system he had currently built.
Miss Sylvia believed that Xia De's low Four Ring structure, although not centered on a certain Ling Rune, at least had comprehensive Miracle learning and he had also found his own fighting style. For Space Stabilization Aura and Raglai's Leap, she also gave Xia De more application suggestions, and even suggested Xia De try to practice carrying living beings for Raglai's Leap.
"This Miracle is not allowed to carry other individuals, but just as you expand the scope of the Miracle, when you can use your own strength to change the Miracle, you will find that some defects of certain Miracles can actually be avoided.
The spell Blood Echo evolving into the Miracle Blood Echo that you mentioned is an example of artificially changing the casting effect. However, I don't recommend you directly try to carry people. Perhaps you can start with ants. I will give you some casting suggestions and tell you about an auxiliary magic potion. Even if you can't carry living beings and leap at Four Ring, you should be able to learn this technique when you enter Middle-Ring."
Miss Sylvia still seemed to not give up on training Xia De as her apprentice, but she did not actively mention this point, but enthusiastically gave Xia De any help he needed.
Xia De never accepted favors from others for free, but Miss Sylvia just smiled and said that she could accept a breakfast from Xia De tomorrow morning as thanks. Xia De had intended to let Miss Sylvia pick a piece of jewelry from the jewelry box, but he ultimately did not do so, because it would make him seem too utilitarian.
So before the end of this night, Xia De proactively talked to the Witch about his adventure in Huntington City. He did not mention angels, only saying that he had found the Lake Goddess, and then talked about Aiken Ola's Arrow of Knowledge as a second, unrelated matter:
"I snatched it from the Pantanal Voodoo Society and tried to shoot it. But those Ring術士 ran too fast, I only drew the bow and didn't find a chance to shoot the arrow. That feeling was terrible, like tens of thousands of Mia crawling on me."
"Wasn't it thousands?"
"I can understand that feeling. Forcibly stopping after accumulating power, if it were using a Miracle instead of a relic, it would probably be very harmful to the body."
The Witch on the sofa late at night looked at the young Outsider and suddenly grabbed his wrist:
"Hmm, what's wrong?" Xia De asked. Miss Sylvia smiled and shook her head:
"Nothing, just got interested by your story."
In short, the young Great Witch seemed to have completely familiarized herself with Xia De's personality. After eating breakfast on Wednesday morning and seeing Miss Sylvia off at the door, the Outsider had to admit that the Witches' wisdom and talent were truly astonishing.
Since Jack the Thief still hadn't been caught, Xia De took Mia with him when he went to Middlesburg that day.
Walking out of the ruined tower on Sicar Mountain, facing the cold winter wind like a knife in the mountains, he was surprised to see the snow-covered mountain forest, and saw snowflakes falling from the sky, turning the entire mountain white.
"Middlesburg is snowing too! Oh, the snow has already covered the ground."
Not only was Sicar Mountain covered in heavy snow, but after descending the mountain, he found that the urban area of Middlesburg had also turned into a world of silver. Xia De inquired with a newsboy wearing an old cotton coat and learned that this was not the first snow of the week.
The falling snow draped the City in silver, truly heralding the arrival of winter.
Xia De first went to the House of the Blind in Lufu Lane to deliver a letter to Sister Devlin, and then went to the Cassandra Auction House to wait for news from the Sister.
Snowfall did not affect the auction house's business. Saint Carla Avenue in the City center was still bustling with people, and gentlemen entering and leaving the auction house were constant. When Xia De got out of the carriage, someone was melting snow at the entrance. People of this era certainly wouldn't luxuriously use salt to accelerate the melting of snow, nor did the auction house try to remove ice and snow purely by human effort.
Sturdy servants were pushing a low-power steam engine to the entrance. After connecting it to indoor pipes, they used the hot steam generated by the steam engine to sweep the ground. Before the hot steam and water mist, which had cooled and liquefied into water, froze due to the low temperature, tools were used to quickly clear away the already melted snow on the ground.
Perhaps only wealthy people like Grandma Cassandra could use such a luxurious method to clear snow. But passersby seemed accustomed to this scene, and only a few people, like Xia De, looked around, watching the black smoke from the steam engine drift into the sky in the snow.
The spraying of hot steam made the temperature at the entrance of the auction house a bit higher than the surroundings, but what was truly warm was the interior of the auction house. Xia De, wearing a thick coat, even felt a bit hot after walking in. The heating at the Cassandra Auction House was definitely not up to the City's unified heating standard.
On this snowy day, the owners of the auction house were all here. Xia De first saw the witch apprentice, Miss Lita Swift, with beautiful flaxen hair, who hurried downstairs after hearing of his arrival, and then saw Helen and Grace attending the auction on the second floor.
Grandma Cassandra, however, only appeared around lunchtime. As the end of 1853 approached, the Old Witch, though not needing to personally check the accounts, had to personally meet with representatives sent by the auction house's branches across the Old Continent. This was one of the most important tasks of the year.
By noon, the blind Sister also arrived despite the heavy snow. The six of them had lunch together, and during the meal, Xia De heard that Sister Devlin's Snake Heart Hospital was being systematically established in major cities around the Pantanal Great Swamp with the help of the Cassandra Auction House.
Relying on the already existing Snake Heart Hospital, Sister Devlin planned to expand the influence of the Spiritual Cultivation Order to the entire Great Swamp surrounding area. Therefore, not only Huntington City, the City of Red Wine, but also more cities, including Weilandale City, the capital of the kingdom, are the next key development targets for the Snake Heart Hospital.
Since the battle of Middlesburg ended, the Mountain City has returned to its former peace and tranquility. After a dangerous and turbulent autumn, the City in winter returned to an order dominated by ordinary people.
Snow was falling outside the window, and the atmosphere in the third-floor restaurant was joyful. Sister Devlin mentioned the strange dark clouds that appeared in Huntington City yesterday, but no one could explain it. The Old Witch had heard about Tobesk, so she also inquired with Xia De about the progress of finding the fourth Chosen One.
Seeing that the first snowfall of the year had already fallen, the twin girls both asked Xia De if they could visit Saint Delan Square No. 6 today.
Whether it was Grace in the white dress or Helen in the black dress, both fifteen or sixteen-year-old girls were quite excited. But Xia De regretfully told them:
"I'm sorry, girls. Something will happen in my neighborhood tonight. A certain humanoid relic has invaded there and is trying to steal my property and that of my neighbors. I cannot involve you in this matter. If you want to visit my house, in fact, girls, any day but today is fine."
Helen in the black dress glanced at her sister, and the two identical delicate faces showed different expressions. Grace seemed to accept Xia De's explanation, while Helen asked curiously:
"Sir, what level of relic is it?"
"The sage-level relic, Jack the Thief."
"Oh, that's just Sage-level, sir, we can help guard the house."
Grace said, tugging at Xia De's sleeve, and Grandma Cassandra smiled as she watched the scene.
"No, no, girls, your injuries haven't healed yet, and Jack the Thief gets stronger when faced with stronger opponents. I know you're better than it, but you're not at your peak, and if I let you help me guard the house, it's hard to imagine what would happen then."
Xia De patiently explained. Grace sighed softly, though she pretended not to care, and Helen looked unhappy. But there was nothing that could be done; Xia De truly didn't want the Red Butterfly Twins, who had finally gained freedom and peaceful lives, to be dragged into conflict again because of him.
