Luvia smiled and said:
"This is a really good word of sublimation. The association has a very good vision. Although it may sound a bit arrogant, it was born for me."
Xia De continued to look at the book. The effect of the sublimation words recorded in the book was "to manipulate and rewrite fate, but at a price". The same sublimation words would also have subtle differences due to the types of spiritual runes and core spiritual runes that made up them - Xia De's didn't count, he simply changed the effect. Therefore, the effect of the sublimation words is usually not described in great detail, but just from this paragraph, Xia De could feel the peculiarity of this sublimation word:
"Manipulating fate is not a good thing. I have learned this lesson many times."
He said with some concern, but Luvia, as a fortune teller, was not worried about this:
"Let me help you find a suitable word of sublimation for you. You want to use the core spirit rune Silver Moon, right?"
She searched the catalog by the first letter of the index and soon found the corresponding page. The Forgotten Order had only six words of sublimation related to Silver Moon. After eliminating those that were not suitable for Shade, Luvia finally selected two and told him;
"The red sun falls, the silver moon rises, and night falls. This word of sublimation requires the sun and silver moon to fall at night. You can choose between falling and rising. This looks good. The effect of the word of sublimation is 'night falls'. I remember that the Silver Moon Sage is also the goddess of night."
As she spoke, she read out the next one:
"The shadow of the silver moon guides the final direction."
Xia De was stunned:
"What?"
As he spoke, he stretched his head to read the book and said in disbelief:
"It's really interesting. Earlier this year, when I was reading St. Byron's The Book of Ascension at Miss Danister's place, I heard a passage of ascension that was very similar to this one—the initial silver moon, guiding the final direction. The only difference between the two is the beginning and the shadow."
"Although similar words of sublimation are extremely rare, it does not mean that they do not exist. However, the original Silver Moon... the shadow of the Silver Moon... hmm..."
She looked at Xia De suspiciously, the powerful inspiration was hinting at something. Xia De looked at the origin of this sublime word in the book:
"It's not a sublime word that was collected, but a sublime word that was obtained by absorbing the memories of the earth. It was actually obtained two hundred years ago. Let me see the location... It's in the Randall River Valley, in the forest stream on the eastern outskirts of the city."
"Why, you took a fancy to this one?"
Luvia asked, and Shade nodded:
"It looks good. When I encountered the source of the black mud yesterday, I had some feelings about the shadow. However, I still have to wait until I actually obtain the spiritual rune. I am just curious about its origin. You see, the place where the cult obtained this sublime word is not far from the city of Randall Valley. It only takes more than half an hour to get there by horse... ... It is very close to Oxenfurt Manor."
He thought about it:
"Go check it out when you have time, but there's no rush."
Shade always had his own ideas, so Luvia did not object. The two continued to exchange their views on the Central Ring's Ascension Language, and soon they heard Miss Benanis calling Shade's name from behind the church:
"Shad, come and look at this."
The witch's slightly muffled voice echoed in the empty church, so Shade and Luvia stood up and walked into the corridor at the back. After passing through the wall that was destroyed by Shade, they walked around the corner along the intact corridor, then jumped through the window of the room, bypassed the collapsed confessional, and came to the entrance of the basement.
This is also the starting point for Shad to reach the Landal Valley.
At this time, everyone gathered in the basement. Dozens of summoned light balls floated on the ceiling, illuminating the room where there was no light.
They did not gather in front of the wall with the hidden space, but in front of the east wall, looking at the messy graffiti on the wall.
These were the graffiti that Shad had noticed when he first came here, but he had never paid much attention to them because they were meaningless:
"Is graffiti some kind of code?"
The others made way for Shade to walk to the wall. Miss Lathers looked at the wall with sorrow in her eyes:
"When I was a kid, I played games with my parents and we designed our own codewords, using abstract runes to represent language. After my mother passed away in an accident when I was nine years old, my father and I never used this again... ... The meaning here is - I found it, but I can't open the door."
Only Miss Benanis, Luvia and Shad know what the so-called "door" is.
"Anything else?"
Shade asked, and Miss Lathers nodded, struggling to translate the language she had learned in her childhood from the scribblings that concealed the secret language:
"Someone must guard this land. I followed the figure of the previous guardian and came here. His relics are behind the door, but I cannot touch them... Sirius, my dear child, if you saw these..."
Miss Lathers tried hard to control her emotions:
"Please do not feel sad for me when you see these messages. Forgive me for leaving the responsibility to you, because I have more important responsibilities, and a new guardian must appear."
Miss Benanis placed her hand on her shoulder, and Miss Lathers shook her head slightly to indicate that she was fine.
"So, Mr. Thomas Granger, who disappeared seventy years ago, left some clues before his death. More than ten years ago, Mr. Lathers discovered those clues and found this church with them, but at the last step, he couldn't get the box that I found?"
Shad concluded.
"That should be the case. Moreover, among the clues Mr. Lathers found, there should be information about the so-called 'Guardian of the Earth'."
Miss Benanis also said.
Miss Lathers nodded:
"Here are some more words. Please let the light move down a little... My dear Sirius, please forgive my father for leaving. I don't know how long I can hold on, and I don't know how long I can protect this city even if I become a guardian. I leave clues here. If, if you find this place, and the madness of the earth has begun to appear in more places outside the Randall River Valley, it means that a new guardian is about to be born."
The current situation should be what Mr. Lathers considers to be the worst case scenario.
"People's footsteps trampling the land of the Randall River Valley will bring this madness to more places.
If things really develop as I expect, please send people to follow my clues and walk all over the land of Randall Valley, just as I am doing now. My daughter, for the land, for the world, for everything, there must be a new guardian. I hope it is not you, but if there is no suitable candidate... I will wait for you in the land... The first step of the clue is where the eyes are looking. "
Miss Lathers read this and sighed sadly.
Luvia pulled on Shade's sleeve:
"So, the clue is..."
The group returned to the main hall of the church. The metal emblem had not yet been hung. Following the direction of the stone statue's gaze, Shade used the "fossil to mud" spell to melt the wall with fragile vines clinging on it. After groping in the mud for a while, he really touched a thick package made of brown paper.
Layers of waterproof brown paper wrapped the innermost contents, and the item that was so well concealed was, unsurprisingly, a notebook.
Out of respect, the notebook was first handed to Miss Lathers, who flipped through it briefly and confirmed that it was her father's handwriting before handing it to Shad.
"Let me see... Oh, this is it."
There were only ten pages of content written in the notebook. The first part stated that Mr. Lathers accidentally bought a rather old box at a small auction, and found a letter left by a man who called himself "Thomas Granger" in the box.
The letter explained that the land of the Randall Valley was gradually heading towards madness, and Mr. Lathers, who was half-believing and half-doubting, acted according to the instructions in the letter. In the end, he confirmed that everything "Thomas Granger" said was true.
Mr. Lathers had not yet decided whether he would take on this responsibility. After all, a natural "saint" does not appear casually. But after personally witnessing the "Heart of the Earth", the deepest secret of the Randall Valley, he changed his mind and decided to pass the test of the previous guardian "Thomas Granger" and become the new guardian of the earth.
The rest of the notebook explains how he passed various tests to prove himself, and how he accidentally got infected with the curse of the earth. Although he finally found the church, he was unable to enter the hidden wall.
Therefore, he left clues on the wall and buried the notebook deep into the wall. He spent the last part of his life in the church of the god he believed in.
“But he still succeeded.”
When Shade finished reading these carefully for more than half an hour, Miss Benanis immediately said:
"So, the so-called test does not necessarily have to go to the end, as long as the previous generation of guardians are satisfied."
"I suspect that the things that can trigger this kind of 'test' are not just the letters my father found. The guardians left many clues in the local area. The box that Shade found can also be regarded as a token that triggers the test."
Miss Lathers also said.
"But what's interesting is that, according to what's written in this notebook, this kind of 'guardian' heritage for dealing with the madness of the earth has appeared locally since the beginning of this era. But why have they never thought of seeking help from the church during this period? Or, why did they keep this secret so strictly?"
Luvia was confused, while Shade once again flipped through the contents of the notebook.