novelonline Chapter 3778 The Apple Lock and the Countdown
Chapter 3778 The Apple Lock and the Countdown
Chapter 3778 The Apple Lock and the Countdown
Neither side would release the list of participants in the gunfight, and two sailors from each side were killed. In addition to these four dead, a merchant from Lomari who was on the dock at the time was also killed by a stray bullet; his nationality was from the Duchy of Lagersen.
Shad knew without a doubt how much trouble this would cause Grand Duke Lagerson. He had only heard about it that afternoon after helping to deal with the two "pre-apocalyptic" landscapes that had appeared on the island, but he didn't have any good solutions at the moment.
Dealing with the "pre-apocalyptic" scenario requires spatial power, and Dorothy is here to help, while Ellie and Leona serve as their mounts.
Seeing that the little unicorns didn't seem to have had enough fun, Shad took them back to the ship. When he sat down with Dorothy in the banquet hall, the little unicorns still followed behind him, while the cat perched on Ellie's head.
"Shad, what methods have you prepared to fight against the end of the world? Is it only possible to rely on the chosen ones of fate?"
Dorothy asked the question again.
“Even those chosen by fate are probably powerless to change this, but I do have a way.”
He thought of his encounter with the barefoot, brown-skinned woman in the fog on Monday, who reminded him how to deal with the encroaching landscape:
"At present, we only have preliminary ideas, which are related to the new Maze Lock."
Snow White?
Dorothy asked, waving her right hand in the air, and a poisoned apple fell into her hand. This was a magical technique similar to the "Divine Berry Technique." Although the apples created were poisonous, the strength of the poison could be controlled at will, so the apples Dorothy created were perfectly edible.
Ellie, who was standing to the side, was completely stunned. She looked at Dorothy and then at Apple with her bright blue eyes, and then rushed over and rubbed her cheek against Dorothy's right hand.
"Don't get so agitated, you can have this apple. What's wrong with Ellie?"
Dorothy asked with a smile, and Shad immediately understood:
“She’s after the magical technique you used to create the apple. Ellie probably knows that she has a unique talent for connecting with others and gaining their power, and she wants to get that talent from you.”
Because Allie's mind was no longer stable, Mia jumped onto Shad's lap with a look of disgust. Dorothy cut the apple in half and gave it to Allie and little Leona, then smiled and promised Allie that she would visit her often in the near future.
The conversation continued, and Shad nodded:
"Yes, Snow White. Although the spirit runes have been obtained, the Enchanted Lock is only in a semi-finished state. When I first used this power in the God's Inn, I used the fairy tale world to corrupt the 'kingdom' controlled by the witch, so the characteristics of the Enchanted Lock should be related to this."
"Eroding the world?"
"It probably isn't that powerful, but the meaning is very close."
Shad summoned his Life Ring and then attempted to activate the [Snow White] rune. But just as he said, the illusion lock hadn't fully formed; Dorothy only saw a pure white light. She reached out to try and catch the light, then exclaimed in wonder:
"I can sense from this light that this illusion lock originates from your pure character, and once it takes shape, it will surely be your strongest illusion lock to date."
Ellie, standing nearby, also saw the white light. The pure white light was extremely similar to the light emanating from the unicorn. She felt she understood something from the light, but unfortunately, the conditions weren't right yet, so Ellie simply kept the light in mind and continued to think about how to master the ability to create apples independently.
The gunfight at the dock reminded Shad of his old friend Major Raders. After returning to his cabin from the banquet hall, Shad began to write the letter he was going to send to the major.
As he wrote down the location and time of his visit, Luvia, who was preparing to return to the city inn with Shad shortly afterward, frowned.
"Shad, what's wrong?"
She noticed that Xia De suddenly froze, and Xia De shuddered violently before looking at his two hands:
“I had a strange feeling just now. Luvia, try to imagine this scene—the background behind me turns pure black, and then a beam of white light pierces through my head at a certain angle to the horizontal.”
He meant to describe the feeling of a "flash of inspiration," but Luvia interpreted it as:
"You mean you were attacked by some kind of magical magic?"
No, no, that's not it.
He put down his pen for a moment and explained to Luvia who had come over:
"Just as I was about to write down the time and place of my meeting with Major Raders, I suddenly had a premonition—that my meeting with Major Raders would be the very moment when Act VII officially begins."
The major isn't a participant in Act 7. I'm just saying that I'll step onto the Act 7 stage because of meeting him, and encounter four other players who happen to be there for different reasons.
Luvia then placed her hand on Shad's forehead and asked:
"That Major Raders, the friend you said had his fate changed, right?"
"Yes."
Luvia's purple eyes seemed to flash for a moment. After tossing two ordinary coins for divination, she pondered for a moment:
"You changed his fate, so your perception of his destiny is stronger than others. Yes, the higher the level of a ring sorcerer, the stronger their inspiration. You just touched a corner of destiny, which is quite rare."
This is a rare occurrence even for prophets, suggesting that possessing the Ring of Fate can enhance one's talent in matters of destiny.
She glanced at the letter that Shad had already written, which was more than halfway complete. Because it was just a simple invitation, Shad hadn't written it very formally.
"No matter what time and place you write down now, will it cause Act VII to happen when you meet?"
Shad immediately shook his head:
"Of course not."
"Then what about adjusting the range?"
"Luvia, I just had a sudden flash of inspiration, it's not like I can actually clearly interpret fate."
As he spoke, he summoned the "Handbook of Destiny," which indeed contained a new piece of information:
You have touched destiny, and learned the vague time and place when the seventh act of the story of destiny begins.
In the seventh act, fortunes improve slightly.
"To be specific, the location I originally chose to meet Major Rades at the Drowned Tavern is absolutely not going to change."
Shad said that the tavern was located at the Time Wheel City docks, and the owner, who suffered from a hereditary heart condition, was connected to the [Cult of the Drowned].
"As for the timing, I have a vague feeling that Friday night is fine, as long as I meet with Rades before midnight, the specific time will not affect the outcome."
"It's Wednesday afternoon. Is time really that tight? Ms. White said that the final act of fate will begin immediately after the seventh act. We really don't have much time left."
Luvia pondered:
"If your intuition is correct, the final battle of destiny will surely erupt on Friday night."
"If it can end after a whole night, we can still make it to the group study session on Saturday afternoon."
Shad made a little joke, but Luvia didn't find it very funny:
"Do you have to finish writing this letter now?"
Shad had to emphasize it again:
"I just had a sudden, wonderful inspiration; I didn't really understand fate. I don't know if not sending this letter immediately would have affected what happened next."
Luvia then reached for her waist and pulled out three coins of different sizes.
These are three relic coins that the witches brought back from elsewhere this morning when Shad was still at the Yordle Palace. The blue one is the Poet-level - [Coin of Wisdom], and the grayish-white one is the Poet-level - [King's Egg]. Shad had already come into contact with these two coins before.
As for the last gold coin, the one Luvia had been playing with all afternoon, it has quite a history—
The Sage-level relic, the Sage Token, features a sun and moon pattern on one side and the number "1" surrounded by an ouroboros and tree branches on the other.
This gold coin possesses remarkable properties; its use can forcibly raise a being with a transcendent level by one level and at least fulfill the minimum requirements for advancement. While it cannot achieve a promotion from twelfth to thirteenth rings, nor allow mortals to touch the transcendent realm, everyone knows the coin's value.
The Sage's Token is a relic recorded in countless documents since the First Age. Its origin is quite clear: it was a special divine item forged by the Old God Silvermoon Sage to reward believers.
In the current Sixth Age, this relic can be used to complete the missing runes of a Ring Sorcerer, allowing them to directly advance to the next level. Although the completed runes are often quite poor, and there is a high probability that they will not provide the Ascendancy runes that Ring Sorcerers desire, it is still a treasure for Ring Sorcerers who have already lost their talent to progress further.
Sage-level relics have no set price, and this [Sage Token] will absolutely not have any market reference price. Neither the Church of the Five Gods nor the three major academies will allow this coin to circulate; it is a treasure capable of igniting a war among ring mages.
The negative properties of the coin have different effects on the extraordinary systems of different eras. As for the Ring Sorcerer system, according to the records of the Witch Council, if a Ring Sorcerer who uses this relic to advance kills someone, the person may be regarded as "suicide," thus triggering a suicide reversal.
Therefore, classifying this relic as a Sage-level artifact is absolutely correct.
The coin bears a clear inscription: "The wise do not give gifts, but give the opportunity to pay the price."
The artifact originated from Flora. The girls under Miss Owl's command discovered new ruins while stationed in the Vista Grove—a common sight in that area. During their investigation of the ruins, one of them found a secret box locked with runic locks.
Shad had encountered far too many rune locks since the year-end holidays, and Megan and her team had accumulated ample lockpicking experience. Therefore, when faced with this simplified version of the rune lock, Megan opened the box in just three days, and this coin was one of her spoils.
To be honest, even Luvia herself didn't want to use such a valuable coin for divination so easily; she preferred to keep it. Any eleventh-ring witch follower advancing to the twelfth ring would be quite valuable to the current "Hamilton family power."
Fortunately, there were two other coins that could be obtained through other means this time, and Luvia used the [King's Egg] instead.