"Luvia and I are basically certain that the guardians are most likely the chosen ones of the earth. But we don't know why the guardians didn't clear the crazy earth in the cave if they had been here according to the content of the newly discovered poem fragments... What I am even more uncertain about is the current form of the guardians' existence."
After Shade finished speaking, he looked at Miss Lathers in the light of the bonfire:
"If the guardians are really the chosen ones, you will need to communicate with your father then."
Miss Lathers nodded:
"no problem."
Shade stroked the cat that was dozing on his lap after eating its fill, and was about to suggest that they go through the ritual of extracting the earth's memories, but he suddenly looked at Miss Lathers again:
"Also, can you promise me one thing?"
Miss Lathers blushed inexplicably. Of course, that could be an illusion under the bonfire:
"Okay, you've helped me so much, I owe you... What is it?"
"Until this is over in Randall Valley, no matter what anyone says to you, you can't give up your life."
"What?"
Instead, Miss Benannis asked Xia De in surprise:
"What do you mean by that?"
"When I came into contact with the earth this afternoon, I saw some strange hallucinations. I'm not sure if it was me predicting the future, reading the earth's memory, or if it was really an illusion. Anyway, Ms. Lathers, please cherish your life."
The young blonde girl nodded somewhat at a loss:
"I see."
She actually didn't understand what Shade wanted to do, and Luvia looked at Shade with an inexplicable look. She was almost the girl who knew Shade best, so she naturally knew that Shade had definitely not told the truth just now.
"Are you ready for the ritual? Let's get started now. Oh, I really should take a shower soon."
Shade said, standing up first, and then looked at the brilliant starry sky in the cloudless night sky on the side of the cliff. The last time, on a night in the Sixth Epoch, Luvia and Miss Lathers saw the same charming scenery as tonight.
If the appearance of the Chosen One of the Earth requires the death of Sirius Lathers, what will you do
"She" suddenly asked.
Xia De did not hesitate, but asked softly in his heart:
"I came here to change all this, didn't I?"
"She" just chuckled and stopped talking, but Xia De understood that "she" knew what he was thinking.
Miss Lathers's divine rituals needed to rely on the patterns of the sun, moon and stars on the ground. Because this was the Night Temple, a ritual related to the "earth" required some additional symbols related to the moon, so Shade provided some "moonlight water".
Shade and Luvia stood against the cliff, and Shade held Mia to prevent her from running away. Miss Lathers stood on the sun pattern on the ground, and Miss Benanis stood on the moon pattern on the ground. As the young girl began to cast a spell, the ritual array on the ground flickered again.
Under the night sky, tiny dots of light gathered from the bottom of the mountain to the higher places, and finally passed through the ritual formation under the feet of the two ladies, allowing the light to gather in front of Miss Lathers, who had her eyes closed and her arms slightly outstretched in front of her.
Even Shade couldn't tell what those pure white spots were, but he clearly felt the heavy and ancient power, which became more and more obvious because of Miss Lathers's spell.
The ceremony was originally expected to last about ten to fifteen minutes, but the lights only lasted until the seventh minute before disappearing little by little.
Miss Lathers opened her eyes and watched the light of the ritual array under her feet gradually disappear. The witch, shaking the silver bell in her hand, asked in confusion:
"How come I remember that the ceremony would last for several more minutes? Did it fail?"
“It was successful, but not completely successful.”
Miss Lathers opened her clenched hands, and in her palms lay a smooth white pebble:
"This is a crystallization of memory extracted from the memory of the earth."
"What's wrong?"
Xia De and Luvia also came over, and Miss Lathers shook her head at him regretfully:
"I sense that someone has left a memory in the land that does not belong to this land. That should be the memory you are looking for. But I'm sorry, I can't extract it now. The weight of that memory is really surprising. With my current strength and the number of ring sorcerers in the cult, the divine ritual is not enough to extract such a memory."
Xia De thought about it:
"Just because you don't have enough strength?"
"Yes, and the earth also refused to let me touch that memory. Someone made a contract with the earth to store that extraordinary memory here."
Xia De even knew that the sacrifice to fulfill the contract was the girl in front of him:
"In other words, if you get closer to the earth, you might be able to extract that memory even without increasing your level?"
"Yes... like the power of the earth."
Miss Lathers said with certainty.
It seems that the Miss Lathers that Long-haired Luvia knew was definitely not the current Seventh Ring. The time when they talked was in 1857 of the Sixth Era of the Past, and now it is only 1854. Needless to say, Long-haired Luvia must have done something to allow Miss Lathers to obtain the power of the earth, otherwise she, as the third candidate, would not be qualified to hold the ceremony.
"Shad, are the memories you are looking for left to you by the witch from the previous era?"
Luvia asked from the side, and Shade nodded immediately:
"Yes, a long-haired witch from the last era."
This time he wasn't lying at all.
But Miss Lathers's ritual was not without results. Although she failed to extract the memory that Shade wanted, at least she gained the memory of the land itself. The smooth white pebble in her hand was a byproduct of the ritual, the "memory crystal", which could be interpreted in a special way.
The method of interpreting memory is very simple. Miss Lathers put the stone into boiling water. After the stone completely melted like sugar crystals, she immersed her face in the basin of water and read the content of that memory.
"I saw a witch from the Fifth Age."
The young girl raised her face from the basin and said the first words.
"Is it the Witch Emperor?"
Miss Benaness perked up and handed her a towel to wipe her face.
"No, she is a member of the Forgotten Order in the Fifth Era. Although she is not the Witch Emperor, her power is also quite terrifying. I just took a look at her in my memory, and I felt my soul frozen. I didn't expect that there was such a powerful lady in the Order in the last era."
Miss Lathers pressed her temples with a headache. Reading the memories of the earth would put a heavy burden on the mind.
Luvia helped her sit up, and Shade used his own magic, Scindia's Silver Moon Gift, to help her recover.
"But she's not a stranger. She's the witch that Shad once mentioned, Maggie Blachette."
She looked at Shade:
"That lady left a memory here, and only a ring sorcerer who belongs to the same order can extract it. That memory contains only one thaumaturgical spell."
"What magic?"
“The power of the earth. The memory of the land.”
This is the magic that Ms. Blackett obtained at the Butterfly God's banquet.
She had promised to pass on this magic through the Forgotten Order, but Shade failed to find any trace of this magic in the Sixth Era. Unexpectedly, she kept her promise, just like Sister Perry promised to leave the "Butterfly Summoning Flute" to Shade. Even though they had crossed the change of eras, they both did what they promised.
"Have you learned this magic now?"
Miss Benanis asked in great surprise, but Miss Lathers shook her head:
"No, I just know how to learn it. This magic is quite complicated, and it requires me to contact the power of the earth. This is a necessary condition for the 'Power of the Earth'. I need to prepare. The traces left by my father that we found recently should guide me to contact the power of the earth."
In this way, it only takes some time for Miss Lathers to master this strange magic. Therefore, the third candidate of the Earth's Chosen Ones is fully qualified to perform the ceremony after the death of the first two.
Leaving the city and going deep into the mountains this Thursday, it was not a waste of time. Even though he still couldn't get the time key, at least Shade knew more.
Everyone packed up the camp and prepared to return to the city. They hadn't received any news from the city for a day, and they didn't know what the petrified disease was like.
Miss Lasser and Miss Benanis were a little slower than Shade and Luvia because they had to wipe off the traces of the ritual on the ground. So Shade stood side by side with Luvia on the edge of the cliff waiting for them, and the two looked up at the starry sky together:
"It's strange to say, but I always feel like this isn't my first time here."
The purple-eyed girl said, and Shade looked at the stars and asked softly:
"You feel this way often, don't you? Not just here."
"Yes, you really do understand me. This is probably because the fortune teller's perception of fate is too strong."
Luvia said with a smile, turning her head slightly to look at Shade who was holding Mia and looking at the sea of stars:
"Recently, I always feel that you look like you have a lot on your mind... Well, you always look like you have a lot on your mind. I know there are some things you can't tell me or anyone else, but at least remember that I am always with you."
She held Xia De's hand, and Xia De nodded and looked at her. Under the starry sky, the pair of purple eyes were so charming that they almost drove people crazy. He suddenly kissed her cheek, and the purple-eyed girl blushed immediately, and looked at Xia De with shining eyes:
"Did you forget something?"
"What is it?"
Dusk dust.
So, Xia De almost forgot the most important thing.