novelonline Chapter 3619 The Power of Curves
Chapter 3619 The Power of Curves
Chapter 3619 The Power of Curves
In the spring of the Fifth Age 2358, I came to this island in search of the path of destiny, intending to complete my pilgrimage. Unfortunately, I was unlucky and stayed for two months without any success. I guessed that the end of the pilgrimage was not above but below, so I went underground on the island until I discovered this place.
This place was so strange that I dared not proceed. I spoke with the locals and learned of some ancient secrets. I contacted the religious community to ask the gods how to proceed. The oracle instructed me to build a shrine here and left a gold coin for offering.
Future witches, remember, this path is impassable. The oracle foretold—the ancient gods buried destiny here, awaiting the final drama to unfold. The story's final act will be a game of cards on this island, the sealed guardians awaiting the arrival of the main characters. Sadly, I will not see it.
After reading it, Xiad blinked:
"In the seven acts of the story, was that card game really the final act? But the sealed guardian... is there still a guardian here?"
Claire nodded:
"Yes, isn't it this snow-capped mountain?"
Flora and Shad both didn't understand:
“I’ve heard you say that this snow mountain has a spirit and can respond to your prayers and worship, but Mount Fatumunst shouldn’t have a personified consciousness, right? How are the candidates going to play cards with the mountain?”
"We don't know. Perhaps at the end of the ritual, the ancient god will use some method to make the snow mountain appear in a physical form."
Claire is quite looking forward to it:
"Let's not tell Grandpa and Grandma yet, or we'll scare them."
This explains why the Prophet's Association said the story of the card game might be related to "Origin and Destiny." In most card games involving supernatural elements, the Myriad Manifestations cards can play a rather magical role.
Although Shad had managed to repair some of the writing on the silk, he no longer had enough Moon Ashes to restore the shrine there.
Of course, even if it were restored, it wouldn't be of any use. The shrines that the believers were instructed to build by the Old Gods' oracles were meant to strengthen the seal, but now the Old Gods' order is long gone, and the gods have departed, rendering the shrines ineffective.
"The demon's appearance here is certainly no coincidence. Is it also searching for this shrine? Is it for the coin or for this silk?"
Flora speculated further, but neither the contents of the coins nor the silk should be related to the demon. As for why it hadn't taken these items despite having found the approximate location, Claire strongly suspected that the demon was completely unaware of the shrine ruins.
“Even though the shrine is destroyed, the power of the water veins still exists, and it cannot break through this power.”
"I do have a guess."
As the three surfaced from underwater, Shad gazed in the direction where the demon had vanished:
"Assuming the demon is indeed cooperating with Mr. Snake, then what it's after is definitely that weapon. It already knows that the weapon was hidden in the snow mountain by the witches of the Fifth Age, so is it possible that Mr. Snake is constantly providing it with the locations where the witches of the Fifth Age buried things?"
This place, except for not being the place the demon is looking for, perfectly meets the demon's needs.
"That snake, I wonder where its 'weapon' is?"
"Maybe it knows, maybe it doesn't, but for it, it's definitely not a bad thing to have the demons run around to those locations that strengthen the seals."
In short, although the snake fangs were not found, the initial clues given by the [Prophet's Association] were quite accurate; there was indeed a significant discovery here.
None of the three wanted to stay there, so they decided to leave now that everything was alright.
First, they returned to the underground passage via the underground water vein, then quickly ascended until they returned to the hidden cave at the foot of the mountain. Because they had passed directly through the wall when they entered, the brick wall that had sealed the cave there at some unknown time remained unchanged.
Before leaving completely, Claire looked back one last time, feeling that her hometown was becoming more and more unfamiliar.
(Mia is running.)
Wednesday, night, 10:30 pm.
The March sunlight illuminated the silvery-white woodlands of the Randall Valley. On the cliff face of the nameless mountain, Vanessa stood beside the stone pillar of the last archway of the Temple of the Night, looking at Shad at the center of the ritual array of the sun, moon and stars at the end of the temple, her right hand raised high, holding the black curved object.
This place was very special to Vanessa Bennett, where she performed the "Dance Under the Moon" for Shad, breaking through their final bond and successfully becoming the first thirteenth-ranked among her sisters.
Although her eyes were still fixed on Shad, her mind was preoccupied with what had happened that night:
"I was really bold back then, thanks to Hillis."
The moonlight seemed to shine entirely onto the ritual base beneath Shad's feet. He closed his eyes, letting the silver flames rise under the moonlight, then clenched his right hand tightly—
Click!
Vanessa, regaining her senses, saw the black arc being crushed to pieces in the moonlight. After the arc shattered, specks of black light fell downwards. Some of them transformed into a black coin that clattered down at Shad's feet, while others adhered to Shad's body, which was now glowing.
His body seemed to be engulfed in black flames, but the phantom of those flames quickly vanished in the moonlight. Shad opened his eyes, staring at his hands, and said incredulously to Vanessa, who had accompanied him:
"You might not believe it, but after crushing this arc, I felt my spiritual limit, mental strength, vitality, and the intensity of my magical spells all increase, and the power related to [End] and [Mistake] was greatly enhanced—although I don't have the latter. Most importantly, this arc can actually reduce the spiritual energy I need to use the Lock of Confusion."
The enhancement and reduction of various basic stats using the Spirit of the Mystic Lock seems to be a common power of all types of arcs, while the enhancement of specific aspects depends on the nature of the arc. But what is the principle behind this? What is the relationship between my Mystic Lock and fate? Why is only this magical technique receiving a special boost?
Vanessa smiled gently:
"Although I'm not a spellcaster as skilled in enlightenment as a writer, I know that fate is most clearly reflected in fairy tales. Perhaps this is related to the fact that your Enchanted Lock is also related to fairy tales, but is this enhancement permanent?"
"No, it's only three days. If you use your senses to contact me now, you should be able to 'see' the black arc of light on my body. Once this arc of light disappears, this power will also be gone, but it will just be enough to cover the time we have to fight the Fallen Star Beast. If I'm lucky, I might even be able to take this power to the Fifth Era."
Shad was quite pleased with this, as he had found another way to eliminate the Infinite Serpent, and although this method was the most troublesome, it also yielded the greatest benefits.
He bent down to pick up the black coin from the ground; the number on it was "6," a number larger than the gold coin Shad had received when he changed little Beren's fate.
"When you eliminate the Infinite Serpent normally, you get a black six-sided die. So, using the shattering arc method is equivalent to maximizing the number of points on the die?"
But there was still one thing Vanessa didn't understand:
"Isn't it said that when a bend or ring is shattered, the soul will be struck by the ring beast? I saw you receive the favor of fate, but I didn't see you attacked."
Shad then looked up at the moon overhead:
"When I crushed the arc in the moonlight, I did sense a black serpent lunging at me, but it was dissolved by the moonlight before it could even touch me. In this light, the final power of the Infinite Serpent after fate was shattered was really nothing at all."
“But I think this is the Moon Goddess’s favoritism towards you; others shouldn’t receive this treatment.”
Seeing that the matter was over, she walked towards Xia De:
"Afterwards, you can cooperate more with the church to deal with the Infinite Serpent. Even if it's not for the points, the Curved Arc can enhance your power, which is a good thing."
She stood at the spot where she and Shad had held their "sacrifice ceremony" and kissed him. Although she had spent the night at Shad's house the day before, it was common knowledge that witches were never satisfied.
Since he couldn't find the Serpent Fang on Wednesday, Shad continued his search on Thursday, as the Prophet Association had provided three more clues. Even if he couldn't find it in the end, he could still go back to the association for an explanation.
Iluna had already boarded the steam-powered airship and set off early Thursday morning, while Luvia should have arrived in Lomari City by Thursday or was about to leave from there. Shad missed the girl with purple eyes.
As for the troubles in the Prophet Association, they have been quelled. Although Shad had his eye on the snake in the Prophet Association's library after learning about the "benefits" of the broken arc, the snake was too powerful, and the association did not dare to keep it. Instead, they had the prophets who possessed the snake's molt completely destroy it.
Shad's side has five people holding snake skins: Stella, Claire, Emilia, Agelina, and Dorothy. Moreover, he also has a blank snake skin. The Prophet Association will only have more, not less.
That morning, he rode Ellie alone to the seaside cave marked by the association, returning empty-handed. Bella had already arrived and was on the boat inquiring about Matilda and the others. Thus, aside from Granny Cassandra, Galina, and Sylvia, who wouldn't arrive until next week, six of the nine great witches Shad knew had arrived.
The boat girl seemed very happy; she preferred the lively atmosphere on the boat to the empty cabin.
"Of course, this will also allow us to see more interesting stories between Shad and the witches."
This was her own thought, but she wouldn't say it aloud.
With the help of Bella, a professional fortune teller, many things became much easier. She learned that they would be setting off to deal with the "Fallen Star Beast" the next day, and then used her Sage-level relic, the [Alternate Painting Divination Card], to help Shad divine which of the remaining two clues would lead to the Snake Fang.
The card that was turned over only had an arrow pointing forward. Shad didn't understand what it meant, so the Countess explained:
"Look, this arrow is pointing southeast, so you should look for clues in the southeast."