Xia De appeared at the side of the three-person round table, so the three of them only needed to turn their heads slightly to see Xia De.
They all remained silent, apparently waiting for Shad, who had emerged from the butterfly, to speak first. However, Shad was not sure what language was used in this era.
"Um... hello?"
So in the end, they used the Draerion language, but unfortunately the worm cave did not have a field effect that allowed everyone to communicate normally. Fortunately, the middle-aged witch understood after a brief confusion. She tapped the table in front of her lightly, and with a slight sound, a small drawer popped out from the side of the table, with a wooden test tube inside.
The test tube was thrown to Shad. After pulling out the stopper, Shad took a sniff and smelled the same foul odor he had just smelled in the corridor. He was almost certain that this potion must be made with insects as raw materials.
After confirming that there was no poison, he suppressed his nausea and drank the potion in one gulp. Afterwards, he was able to temporarily speak in a way that these people living in the Fifth Age could understand.
"Excuse me, are you the Great One - the Butterfly God?"
The witch who looked to be in her forties asked hesitantly and softly. Shade shook his head and walked towards the three people:
"Although I'm not sure what the current situation is, I'm sure I'm not a member of the God's family... Why do you think so?"
"Because I can't understand why a man has the ability to cast spells. And we all came here to win the favor of the butterfly girl, the scroll of the Thousand Eyes Illusion Butterfly. Didn't you just transform into a group of butterflies?"
The seating arrangement of the three was that the witch sat on the far left, with the middle-aged lady on her right, and the man sat on the far right, with some distance between him and the two ladies.
Xia De then sat on the round stool to the right of the witch, and placed his hands on the table. The sky was bright, enough to illuminate everyone at the table:
"No, no, although I can transform into a butterfly, I really don't have the honor to become a member of the God's family."
"And what are you?"
The witch asked with a slight frown.
"Before I introduce myself, could you please introduce yourselves?"
Shade answered the question with a question, but the witch didn't get angry, but nodded, thinking it made sense:
"Maggie Blachette came here to gain new powers."
The thirty-year-old lady wearing a clergy robe on her left looked at Shade seriously:
"Oli Perry. She came here to gain the favor of the Butterfly God and the power of a witch."
Finally, the man in his thirties:
"Fred Lehman. To marry the Butterfly Goddess... That's it."
"So who are you, sir? Are you a competitor too?"
The witch asked the question again, and Shade pointed at himself:
"I can't explain my origins very accurately, but I definitely didn't come here to gain anyone's favor. By the way, do you know how to leave here? All I want is to leave here."
The witch frowned slightly:
"After the festival, one of us will have the honor of being favored by the Butterfly Girl. At that time, the Divine Scroll Master will lead us away from this horrible place where there is no concept of time and space."
Only then did Xia De realize that the three people sitting here were actually competitors.
"I just want to get out of here."
Xia De repeated that since he didn't know anyone there, he didn't rashly suggest that he was here to help them.
He looked each one in turn:
"I swear on my soul that I am not your competitor. On the contrary, I am happy to help you hold that so-called festival and let the Divine Scroll Lead us out of here... I have never experienced the terrible scene of insects falling like raindrops, and I don't want to experience it again."
Shade's description seemed to remind the witch of bad memories. The corners of her mouth twitched, and the clergyman, Miss Ollie Perry, also showed a slightly horrified expression. Mr. Leman's expression was even more exaggerated. His face immediately turned pale and his whole body couldn't help shaking.
The witch quickly adjusted her mood, but suddenly asked again:
"Yes, we all went through this. However, you still haven't explained clearly why you, as a man, can use extraordinary powers."
Xia De hesitated for a moment, and whispered in the midst of "her" laughter:
"Actually, I... am not necessarily a man."
The witch, Miss Blackett, stared at him for a long time before she nodded slightly. Ms. Perry was still looking him up and down. The eyes of this middle-aged lady were very powerful. Mr. Laiman was a little afraid to look at the witch, so he didn't dare to look past the witch to see Shade.
"I see there is only one table and you guys here. How are we going to hold the so-called Butterfly God Ceremony? Is there anything we need to prepare?"
Xia De took the initiative to bring up this topic, and the clergywoman Ms. Perry nodded slightly:
"Coming here is the last step of the ceremony. I don't know if you are familiar with this cave, but the followers of the Butterfly God have lived here since ancient times. If you want to see them, you must please the gods first, so the ceremony must be held. According to legend, the Butterfly God once used this table to hold a grand banquet with his followers, so this table has magical powers. If you strike it, it can provide the food, water and even magic potions we need... Of course, these are all made of insects. What we need to do is to hold the banquet again. This is an ancient ritual to call on the gods of the earth."
"Earth God?"
Xia De frowned slightly. He understood the hidden meaning of this sentence:
"That butterfly god is related to the ancient goddess Mother Earth?"
"Do you know the ancient gods?"
The witch raised her eyebrows, while the two ordinary people had already consciously covered their ears:
“Remember—the trees belong to the Father Tree, and the flowers, grass, and butterflies belong to the Earth.”
It seems that the Father of the Infinite Tree and the Mother Earth Goddess also have some overlap in their duties in terms of the power of nature, just like the Silver Moon Sage and the Secret Keeper. The source of Helen and Grace's power seems to be related to the Mother Earth in addition to the original rift. But Shade has never seen them use the power of the earth, and perhaps the appearance of the red butterfly is just a coincidence.
"So what do we need to do to perform the God-summoning ceremony? Are there any necessary conditions missing?"
Xia De asked again, thinking to himself that maybe this time, he would go back to his own time to find the missing materials for the God-summoning ritual. This was very similar to his experience in the Thousand Trees Forest, but he liked this kind of mission that was not fancy at all and just involved finding things.
"We have everything. Since the three of us have come here after going through so many hardships, how could we be missing any ritual materials?"
The middle-aged witch said with a smile, and Xia De thought about it and felt that it was right.
Although he could not stay for long at this point, he did not urge the three to call on the gods immediately, but said:
"I am happy to help you perform the ceremony. I think you also need another person with extraordinary powers and mystical knowledge to participate in this ceremony."
The three of them nodded slightly, and Xia De raised a finger:
"But before the ceremony begins, I need to ask each of you a question. I... have been through many adventures, and in those adventures, my companions may not just be companions. So, I want to make sure that each of you is normal. You know how strange this place is. You have doubts about me, and I have doubts about you too."
The witch thought this kind of caution was necessary, and her power was suppressed in this worm cave, so there was no need to have conflicts with irrelevant people, so she nodded in agreement. Miss Maggie Blackett and Mr. Fred Lehman were obviously unable to refute the choice made by the witch.
This middle-aged witch was not a thirteenth-level witch, nor a demigod, but she was a twelfth-level witch who was very close to the thirteenth-level. If Xia De guessed correctly, her so-called pursuit of a breakthrough was to seek a breakthrough from twelfth to thirteenth.
"First, Ms. Maggie Blachette, you came here to seek power, which is a normal purpose. However, since you are a competitor with others, why didn't you... eliminate your opponent first?"
Xia De pointed at himself:
"I don't like to assume ill will towards others, but this is indeed questionable."
The middle-aged witch smiled:
"It's an interesting question, but I can answer it. Entering this worm cave is like entering the church of God. Sir, have you ever heard of anyone killing people in the church of God? Besides, I'm not sure if I can successfully hold the ceremony. If I don't succeed, and there are no other people, how can I get back?"
"Yes, you have the right idea."
Shade blinked:
"Okay. Then next up is Ms. Ollie Perry."
The middle-aged lady looked at him as if she were looking at some rare animal.
"Excuse me, as an ordinary person, how did you get here? When you introduced yourselves just now, you didn't mention that you and this witch were already familiar with each other."
"I am a nun of the Church of the Sun and the Earth. In order to seek the power of the witch, the church gave me a chance to seek power myself."
Ms. Perry said, closing her eyes and drawing the holy emblem of the old man with the lantern, who was very familiar to Shade, on her chest. In the fifth era, the Five Gods Church has not yet obtained the absolute religious rule it had in the sixth era, so the current Sun Church should only be regarded as a slightly stronger Good God Church.
However, this should be the first time that Shade has met a priest of the Five Gods Church in the Fifth Epoch. Although Miss Perry is not a witch, perhaps Shade can rely on her identity information to ask Yin Luna of the Sixth Epoch to find relevant records of this incident. As long as Miss Perry can walk out of the worm cave alive, even if her memory has changed, at least Shade can find some relevant clues.