novelonline Chapter 3599 The Ring of Fate
Chapter 3599 The Ring of Fate
Chapter 3599 The Ring of Fate
The scroll is not very long, and probably due to poor preservation, the ink has faded significantly, and there are many signs of insect damage. However, the content written in an unknown script is still barely legible. It is worth mentioning that the script here resembles earthworms.
It's a snake.
They look like little black snakes.
"Is this knowledge about rings?"
The scroll records a special item called the "Ring of Fate," a product formed from the condensation of a complete segment of destiny. If the ancient god "Mr. Ring" represents the destiny of the entire world, and the dice everyone holds represent a tiny segment of destiny condensed from a particular experience, then the "Ring of Fate" represents a truly existing destiny.
Of course, although the name is very similar to the Ringwitch's "Ring of Fate", the two are completely different things.
"Hmm? Isn't this what Luvia mentioned last night? The Ring of Fate? So the first star to fall was actually that ring? There really were people who came into contact with something like this before? Luvia said that ancient diviners had the custom of branding rings on their chests."
The scroll's description is very similar to the information Luvia received during her divination: the appearance of the Ring of Fate signifies that a certain destiny in that area is frozen in place, and only by shattering the Ring of Fate can destiny flow again.
If one embeds the Ring of Fate into their body, they can become a "Destined One." In this state, all their encounters will align with the destiny revealed by the Ring of Fate. Anyone or anything that obstructs their path will suffer inexplicable misfortune; and any action taken by the individual to actively move closer to that destiny will surely succeed.
The scroll's writer even cited several examples that Shad had never heard of to illustrate the horror of the "Ring of Fate."
During the Third Age, someone embedded the "Ring of Death" within his body, thus transforming himself into an undead being and becoming a messenger spreading the plague of death. In the end, he carried the "Undead Scourge" in a final battle against evil spirits and demons on the wasteland, and miraculously, the evil spirits and demons, who originally had no concept of "death," never appeared again throughout the Third Age.
In an unknown era of the Fourth Age, someone discovered a sealed "Ring of Wealth" in an ancient Temple of Destiny. After integrating it into himself, he lived a life of wealth and honor, eventually becoming the richest person in the world despite being an ordinary person.
However, this is not without its price. The owner of the "Ring of Death" dies almost immediately after receiving his destiny, and his soul is rejected by death from then on.
The wealthy merchant himself paid no price, but his vast family almost immediately fell apart after his death. The infamous "War of the Successors" of the Fourth Age nearly destroyed half of the southern continent in the struggle for the merchant's wealth, and all of his direct descendants perished in the later stages of the war, with the wealth ultimately falling into the hands of outsiders.
The scroll's writer believed that in the time when the ancient gods still existed, Mr. Ring would bestow the "Ring of Fate" upon his chosen ones or those selected. However, under the control of the ancient gods, the effects of these Rings of Fate were not yet so powerful, and the price to be paid was not unacceptable.
But in the era after the ancient gods departed, fate was no longer controlled by the "Ouroboros," which is why these "rings of fate" are so powerful, and the "rings" themselves may even give birth to powerful "ring beasts."
The scroll even mentions a strange black serpent that can evolve infinitely upon contact with fate. The writer of the scroll regards it as a "ring beast" evolved from a "circle of erroneous fate," and believes that such things are a manifestation of the world's impending collapse. However, he also believes that these strange "ring beasts" do not evolve from a complete "ring," but are fragments of erroneous fate, and their true form is most likely just a part of the ring, a curved arc.
The scroll's writer concluded by saying—In the Third Age, to combat evil spirits and demons, mortals made initial attempts to harness the power of the Ring of Fate, even discovering some ways to utilize it beyond embedding it within their bodies. But the Ring of Fate is not something to be touched; mortals' destinies should be grasped and controlled by themselves, not directed in a single direction.
Shad cautiously examined the contents written in these strange "serpentine" letters, feeling as if he had discovered some astonishing secret.
The signature at the very bottom of the scroll is written in the more ancient Carsennerick script:
"Chanelm Rhodes".
Shad read out the name, then looked in the direction Luvia had left:
"Wait a minute, doesn't this name sound familiar?"
She smiled gently. The name was certainly familiar to outsiders, for the great Chanem Rhodes, the president of the Prophet's Guild, was the creator of the Rhodes cards. He was inspired by the "most fortunate mortal," Mr. Riddle, who left behind the "Founding of Destiny," and found the person of the "Founding of Knowledge." He was the most crucial figure in the Prophet's Guild's rise to its peak in the Sixth Age.
Even Megan/Audrey's ancestor, that genius fortune teller, spoke highly of the president, whom she never had the chance to meet, in his private notes.
When Shad and Laplace Howard met for the last time, Shad even learned that the design and release of the Rhodes cards were themselves an attempt by the Prophet's Guild to save the world—a massive ritual woven from the power of civilization and enlightenment, attempting to reunite a crumbling civilization with the elements of enlightenment.
The various series of Lode cards contain stories from the past, ancient legends, folk tales, and modern civilization. These are all means by which prophets use enlightening elements to try to weave together all the information of past, present, and future civilizations into a net in order to gather the light of civilization.
The initial conception and construction of this ceremony were certainly inseparable from the involvement of President Chanem Rhodes.
From any perspective, this guild master, who became the originator of the name "Rhodes Cards," is an indispensable figure throughout the Sixth Age. His impact on this era of the arrival of outsiders is immeasurable.
"So, the Prophet's Association already knew about the 'Ring of Fate'! Tiny fates, broken fates, complete fates, dice, arcs, rings—they knew even more than Luvia's divination. They probably also knew about the ring beasts of Falling Star Bay long ago?"
Almost everyone was telling Shad that the Prophet's Association must be hiding a lot of things, and Shad believed it too, but he didn't expect that they would hide even such an important matter.
However, Shad wasn't particularly angry. According to Chairman Rhodes, the matter of the "Ring of Fate" was indeed not suitable to be discussed.
"But if, according to Luvia, the fragments of the Ring of Fate can all be turned into dice of fate, then how many dice does the Prophet's Association actually have?"
Stella had always been ranked second among the candidates, and Shad now fully understood why.
This week's "gift mission" requires reading at least 20 pages of a book, which shouldn't be difficult for Shad. And if the [God's Gift Box] hadn't provided such a gift, he probably wouldn't have known about it until Luvia arrived at the Association, or even until the final battle with the "Fallen Star Beast," when the Association members would be willing to reveal anything.
Having learned about the more complete "arc" and "ring of fate" than the "dice of fate," both "Mr. Snake" and "Fallen Star Beast" can be categorized as "rings." However, the former is more special, and it is also the cause of the "infinite snake," which is the "erroneous ring of fate."
But the real cause of the error lies with the ancient gods who have sustained the world to this point.
She offered this reminder, but Xia De disagreed:
"Saving the world is not wrong, but the wrong itself needs to be defined. The ancient gods allowed the world to continue for so long after the end of the mythological era, and even left behind what appears to be a method to save the world again. They are absolutely not wrong."
He thought to himself, calculated the time it would take to pick up Adelina, then took the scroll with him, told Mia that he would be back soon, and went out again.
Half an hour later, Luvia, sitting in her private compartment on the special train, was holding a teacup and looking at the "itinerary schedule" prepared by the association for the fortune tellers when she suddenly looked out the window as if she had a premonition. Beside the railway were silvery-white farmlands covered in snow during winter, and on the distant ridges of the fields, a silvery shadow seemed to be rushing forward rapidly.
The figure's color was so similar to the snow that Luvia wasn't sure if she was seeing things. She stood up and went to the window to look closely, then confirmed that she wasn't mistaken. The silver figure had already left the field ridge and was rapidly approaching them through the snow, following the train.
Luvia then realized that it was a silver wolf that didn't look very old.
Silver Wolf didn't reach the train completely; when he was still two hundred meters away:
"Lagray's Leap!"
"Oh!"
Luvia immediately grabbed the little wolf that had appeared out of thin air in front of her, and then almost let him fly away because of the difference in their inertia.
"Shad, what's wrong with you?"
Then she remembered that the entire train was full of fortune tellers, so she lowered her voice and asked with a hint of surprise:
"Did you find me using the fire mark? How did you catch up with me? I don't remember leaving any luggage behind. Did you miss me that much?"
I will always miss you.
Shad, now back in human form, smiled and spoke, but knowing the risks of his sudden appearance on the train, he took out the scroll again:
"This is this week's gift, please take a look."
Luvia then opened the scroll and read it through. When she saw the contents and the signature, she was just as surprised as Shad had been half an hour earlier:
"The Ring of Fate, the Ring Beast? The Association has been hiding so many things?"
"I think you need to know this; telling you on Thursday would be too late."