“It really works!”
Xia De finally breathed a sigh of relief, and then suddenly kissed the cat on the head in his arms:
"Mia, you've been a great help this time. I'll take you out for some delicious food when we get back!"
The cat then realized that it had been kissed by Shade, and stretched out its claws to grab Shade.
Just now, I only used one tube of paint to exchange for the golden needle, but this time I traded both tubes of blood before I finally saw the number and location of the dragon shell book.
Shad covered Mia's eyes and mouth, and went back into the art gallery with the cat. After finding the huge stone slab that was half a person's height, he tied the stone slab to his back with a chain and carried it back.
This eggshell fossil came from the First Age, and when Shade carried it back, the ancient sound of thaumaturgy was triggered.
The lifespan of the first ancient dragons in the First Era was close to 10,000 years, and the lifespan of the most powerful ones could exceed 10,000 years. When the First Era ended, the age of the dragons was affected not only by the deterioration of their own bloodlines, but also by the changes in the Era. No ancient dragon could successfully survive to the next Era.
The description was light and concise, but the reality was quite cruel. Shade still didn't know what the change of eras meant, but every change of era was a systematic genocide for the dragons.
"So, how powerful were the ancient dragons of the First Age..."
He returned to Fiona with the cat in his arms and the stone slab on his back. He also understood the strange words on the stone slab with his ability to know all languages.
Although the number of letters that can be recorded on the half-man-high stone slab is limited, the amount of information in this strange text is extremely huge. Shade only took a quick glance at the ancient knowledge about dragons, and he felt a headache for the first time in a long time because of reading knowledge.
So he could only skip the description of the dragon's sexual knowledge and reproductive details, and directly read the content about the dragon's sleep growth. After a lot of effort, he finally found the method of using rituals to shorten the sleep growth time. After reading it completely, the voice in his ear immediately reminded him:
Stranger, you have some understanding of "dragon".
The ritual recorded on the stone tablet required extremely complex ritual materials. Although Shade had some miscellaneous things on him, they certainly did not contain what was recorded on the stone tablet.
But fortunately, this magic was for real dragons from the ancient era, and Fiona was a dragon from the fifth era whose bloodline had deteriorated again, and she was also a half-dragon. Shad thought that the inferior quality of the ritual materials should not be a big problem.
Besides, his grades in Potions and Ritual Studies were quite good, so he could make some changes to the ritual without affecting the final effect.
"Let me see. Ambergris... a special herb born in the dragon's lair. It is said to be the nutrient extracted from the saliva of a dormant dragon, which is rich in ether and spirit."
Shade took out a piece of celery from his pocket, took some saliva from the corner of Fiona's mouth and smeared it on the leaf, and also smeared her blood on the knife. This still seemed a bit too hasty, so Shade took a small piece of residue from the eggshell fossil, ground it into powder and smeared it on the celery leaf.
"Then, the sacrificial bronze vessels must have dragon patterns on them."
Xia De took out a metal wine glass from his pocket, took out the blood wine and filled it up, then raised the glass to pay tribute to the ancient god, the Shining Dragon, whose name he had only heard of. Then, he used a knife to carve a cute dragon maid sketch on the wine glass, imitating the sketch of a big-tailed dragon maid he saw on a piece of paper when he was having dinner at the Night Temple a few days ago.
Isn't that a bit too hasty
she asked with a chuckle.
Xia De agreed with this, so he selected a prayer from the eggshell fossil slab and carved it on it.
"I also need the blood of a strong one. I need the blood of a powerful prey that can rival my own."
He looked around and made sure that there were only Fiona, Mia and himself here. Fiona's blood was definitely useless, and although Mia had recently learned to charge a small flame with her tail, she was just a weak little animal.
"I can only use my blood."
There is nothing we can do about this.
Think about it carefully.
"She" reminded gently, Xia De blinked and suddenly realized:
"When we left the watch shop, we got 1 ounce of 'Sands of Time Soaked in Dragon's Blood' (Chapter 1339)!"
The sand and dust were in Fiona's small bag, but Shad was unable to separate the dragon blood from the sands of time. He hoped that the sands of time could be involved in the ceremony and that nothing would go wrong.
Of course, because he was worried that the blood was not enough, Shade finally took some of his own blood and mixed it into the sand of time. During the blood collection process, the cat really came over and licked Shade's wound a few times.
"Everything else is easy. The last ritual item missing is the prayer ointment. Put the ingredients into the cup and mix them with the ointment. Then write the ritual symbols on the dragon's body... the prayer ointment."
This ointment is usually required to be prepared by clergymen. It itself has only a slight effect in expelling curses and plagues, but it is often used as one of the ingredients of other more complex healing potions.
Although Shade could bring holy water to the past, he could not use the prayer ointment. But he thought about it and realized that the preparation process of "Night Paint" used the method of prayer ointment (Chapter 1343). Except for adding ore and twilight dust, and replacing holy water with "Pure Water of the Elves", there was not much difference between the two.
Xia De brought three tubes of paint, and he used one tube to exchange for the golden needle, so there were two tubes left. So he dissolved one of the tubes with holy water and then added the eggshell fossil dust again.
After doing all this, Xia De began the ceremony.
The ceremony is not complicated. After preparing the materials, the most important step is to write the ritual symbols on the dragon's body with the mixed ointment.
Although Shade had a fountain pen in his pocket, he didn't have an oil brush. He originally wanted to use the cat's tail to write, but Mia's fierce resistance made Shade give up the idea and he could only use his fingers to write.
The symbols do not need to be written all over the body, but only on the forehead, throat, back and tail.
The forehead, throat and tail were easy to deal with, after all, these were exposed areas. When it came time to write on the back, Shade hesitated for a moment, and used a knife to cut a small hole in Fiona's clothes on her back, first releasing her two newly grown small wings with red skeletons, and then writing on the white snow back.
"Mia, you have to testify for me. I only did this out of necessity. I'm not a bad guy who casually cuts girls' clothes."
He also spoke to the cat who was watching the fun nearby.
After all this was done, Shade knelt at the entrance of the tent holding Mia, watching as Fiona's even breathing gradually lit up the ritual symbols on her skin. Then, traces of light flowed across her body until they overshadowed the red moonlight produced by the Moon Dream.
In just half a minute, she was completely wrapped in a translucent eggshell made of light. The small flame at the tip of her tail gradually filled the inside of the eggshell, causing Fiona's entire body to be burned by the sun's flames. Although her clothes and Shade's coat were not burned in the fire, they had turned into rags. Fortunately, her body was intact.
This phenomenon was even better than what was described on the stone tablet. Perhaps the "sun fire" that had not been completely absorbed also played a catalytic role. But at the same time, this also showed that the "inferior version" of the ritual prepared by Shade was actually useful.
He didn't have to wait long before the raging flames inside the eggshell faded away little by little, and finally even the flame on the tip of the tail disappeared, which meant that the sun's flames were completely absorbed by Fiona.
Then, there was a cracking sound. The girl curled up in the translucent eggshell moved a little, and then Shade heard a "hmm" sound in her sleep.
As a small hole appeared in the eggshell facing Xia De, the soft and charming red-gold eyes looked directly at Xia De who was smiling from inside the eggshell:
"It really worked! I told you I passed the basic ritual studies with a very high score, so it really works like this!"
Xia De was as excited as if he had just bought a new special rule Rhodes card.
Fiona seemed not to hear Shad's happy voice. Her two white arms with cloth strips pierced through the thin eggshell. Then she hugged Shad and pulled him towards her without any preparation.
The eggshell was completely broken, and Shade fell into the layers of bedding in the tent with the girl who seemed to be glowing all over. The passionate girl kissed him, and her body temperature, which was higher than that of a normal person, gave Shade a very different feeling.
Fiona held him tightly in her arms, not wanting him to get up. The two of them fought for five minutes before Shade struggled to sit up, wiping his lips as Mia screamed:
"Fiona, time is running out, we have to get out of here!"
The girl lying in front of him was breathing heavily, looking at Xia De above with her red-gold eyes:
"Long time no see, Shade."
"Long time no see, hurry up and change your clothes so we can get going. I only have twelve minutes."
Xia De calculated the time and spoke anxiously. The red-haired girl pursed her lips and nodded, but she did not sit up. She looked at Xia De, then stretched her arms upwards, and when she saw Xia De looking at her, she shook her hands in dissatisfaction.
Xia De finally understood, and after bending down slightly, he let Fiona hug his neck, and then they sat up together in the pile of bedding.
Mia was still shouting.
Fiona didn't stand up immediately, but continued to hug Shad, put her head towards Shad's neck, and took a deep breath, as if she was smelling something.