For the rest of the week, Shad had nothing to do in Midhill Castle, so he spent the following Friday and Saturday morning preparing for the sealing ceremony.
Sister Develyn gave the whole process of the ceremony. The materials were purchased by Shade at Coldwater Harbor, and the alchemical items were sought from Old John. The ceremony was assisted by Dorothy, Luvia and Doctor Schneider, but it would probably have to wait until next week.
Taking advantage of the time, in addition to reading the Pink Book at home and trying to learn useful spells, Shad also took Mia to the lighthouse outside Coldwater Port to visit Mr. Edmund of the Guiding Light Hermitage who lived there.
A few days ago, Shade came here once and asked this gentleman to help collect knowledge about the old gods and gray robe sages. The knowledge of the monastery costs money, but for the sake of acquaintance, Mr. Edmund only charged Shade a symbolic fee for the cost of work and transportation, a total of 1 pound.
This is in stark contrast to Father John, who is also a member of the Guiding Light Order.
"Yes, we also know that the third chosen one is in Fort Midhill."
The sea breeze blew over the cliffs, and Mia squinted her eyes and looked at the sea. During the chat, Shad mentioned Middleburg. Because he had asked Mr. Edmund about the knowledge of the narrow space between life and death before, the old man who was cooking fish soup knew that Shad was hanging out in Middleburg.
Mr. Edmund loves fishing. Shad even thinks that he has lived here instead of moving into the city, not only because it serves as a local black market, but also because it is really convenient for fishing here.
"Someone from the Priory has already gone there, but we are not a church or a college. We have neither the ability nor the willingness to allow the chosen to join us. Therefore, the Priory just wants to know who will be qualified."
The old man stood up from the fire and shared the fish soup with special seasoning to Xia De, who was standing on the cliff looking at the sea view in the distance.
Mia, the orange cat at Shade's feet, smelled the fish soup and immediately began to squirm restlessly.
"You should be careful in that city recently. You never know when the whole city could be gone."
The old man, also holding a bowl, stood beside Xia De and warned him that the sound of the waves meant that they had to talk louder.
"I have great trust in the Five Gods Church. If they can stop the Scarlet Cult from flooding Coldwater Harbor, they can also stop Midhill Castle from falling into ruin."
"This is different. The former is just mortals making trouble, while the latter is a natural phenomenon. The world is collapsing, and abnormal natural phenomena will become more and more numerous and more and more intensive."
He began to talk about the Guiding Light Hermitage's view on the end of the world. Although Shade didn't quite believe it, he still talked a little more:
"Perhaps the narrow space itself is a natural phenomenon, used to balance life and death."
"You actually think so?"
The old man asked in surprise, and then asked:
"Although the change of eras has caused a lot of data to be lost, it is certain that there are five main continents in the Fifth Epoch Material World. In our era, not counting the strange new continent, the current material world only has one main continent, the Old Continent, which corresponds to the Middle Continent in the Fifth Epoch records. Excuse me, young man, where do you think the other four continents went?"
Xia De looked out at the sea in the distance. In autumn, there was a constant stream of ships at Lengshui Port. This was the most important seaport on the west coast:
"... and merged with the current Old World?"
"No, no, no. The old continent under our feet is almost exactly the same as the middle continent of the Fifth Era. The history and natural environment are all corresponding. The three major colleges will not open such information to correspondence ring sorcerers, and even the Five Gods Church has completely banned such information. And the fact is that the other four continents have most likely collapsed. This is also evidence that the world is heading towards decline."
But Shade thought that it was also possible that the war at the end of the era shattered the continental shelf, or that terrible relics tore the land apart. However, he didn't want to debate such an unanswered question, so he changed the subject:
"Speaking of which, Mr. Edmund, do you know about the Primordial Fire? I recently encountered the Fire Cult in Middleburg, and I saw this when I was looking up information in a book."
This is the flame controlled by Sister Develyn. In order to keep it secret, Shade did not ask any acquaintances about this relic. Mr. Edmund had no contact with the nuns of Midhill Castle, and he did not know that Shade knew the nuns, so Shade raised this question.
"Of course I know."
Looking at the sea view, the old man nodded slightly:
"That flame symbolizes the power of the world, the First Fire. Legend has it that before the beginning of the First Era, thirteen ancient gods controlled this flame and illuminated the endless void."
This sentence immediately raised the status of the primordial fire a little higher.
"It is a relic from a very ancient era, and its rating is unknown..."
But the nun said it was angelic.
"The Priory has been searching for it for many, many years, because the prosperity and scale of this flame can allow us to infer how far away the end of the world is."
He seems to be able to relate anything to doomsday theory.
Xia De recalled the flame he had seen. The flame was very strong and showed no sign of dying out. Sister Defulin took good care of it.
"Is that flame powerful?"
He inquired curiously and took a sip of the fish soup, which tasted very delicious.
"Powerful? Oh, young man, you have no idea what that means."
Mr. Edmund smiled and said:
"Only a few people are qualified to see the First Flame, and even fewer are qualified to watch over it. Watching over it is an ancient honor in itself. Although the ring sorcerers of this era have almost forgotten the history of the past, the First Flame still has an extraordinary status. It is said that it has been divided into several parts, but the hermitage believes that in this era, there are still keepers who have been passed down from generation to generation to watch over it."
Perhaps the fact that the First Flame was divided into several parts was the reason why it changed from the unknowable level to the angelic level.
Mr. Edmund thought for a moment:
"In the Church of the Thirteen Ancient Gods, the modern branches of Death, Sun, and Light may all possess it, but no one knows where exactly. Oh, those crazy women in the Witch Council may also possess the First Flame, and they may even be in the Council."
"It sounds like a truly remarkable flame."
Xia De nodded, drank the fish soup and said goodbye to the old man. Today was Saturday and he had to go to the doctor for a meeting in the afternoon.
Mr. Edmund packed up the soup bowls and campfire, preparing to go into town to pick up the goods at the dock. As a local ring sorcerer of the Guiding Light Priory, he had the task of purchasing materials.
But when he put out the flame, the old man thought of the records of his ancestors that he had seen when he was young:
"At the end of the Fourth Epoch, the ancestors of the hermitage last saw the flame before it split. The scale of the primordial fire was... ... With so many strange things happening since this summer, maybe the flame will also appear."
(Mi Mia is running...)
It is now the middle of the Dead Leaf Moon. Although it has not been too long since the summer exam week, for the correspondence ring sorcerers who are far away from the academy, it is time to think about the winter exams at the end of the year.
In particular, Dorothy, Luvia, Shade, and Dr. Schneider all planned to pass the winter exam week and move on to the next grade.
Although no one mentioned the winter exams a while ago, once the others started to take action, the ring wizards in the same group all felt nervous. The four of them borrowed some books from the college library this week. Dorothy even planned to use the winter time to take a course called "Alien Fairy Tales (Intermediate Class)" because of the abundant royalties.
This course will tell famous fairy tales of alien races, and the course requires correspondence ring sorcerers to pass the college's mental stability test. According to Dorothy, the stories involved in this course are themselves powerful enough to serve as spells.
In recent weeks, Shad has been focusing on Midhill Castle, so he doesn't have many experiences to share. Luvia is busy with night astrology, waiting for the arrival of the Star Sea Whale, and Dorothy's new book is about to be printed and published. These days, she is busy with the final proofreading with the editorial department.
Only Dr. Schneider has had plenty of free time recently to "adventure" in the city, and this time he also shared his story.
It was not a new story. It all started two weeks ago when a doctor received a 16-year-old boy with suicidal tendencies. During the two-hour conversation every day for a week, the doctor gradually discovered that he seemed to have split personality.
But after another week of intensive treatment, the doctor gradually discovered something was wrong, because in his dream, he actually dreamed of the terrifying monster described by the teenager and was being chased.
Therefore, the doctor, who was good at dream power, killed the monster in his dream, sneaked into his patient's home late at night, searched the house thoroughly, and then used magic potion to make the patient fall into a deep sleep, took him to a cemetery in the suburbs for a ceremony, and finally summoned the evil spirit attached to the boy's body and fought with it in the cemetery.
“That’s really not easy.”
Talking about this while sitting on the sofa, the doctor sighed:
"That evil spirit is actually the patient's twin brother. But when they were born, one was alive and the other was dead. Their souls became entangled. Sixteen years of resentment, coupled with the influence of the whispering element that they came into contact with from somewhere, created a terrible undead spirit."
"Doctor, the burglary at Wilde's house mentioned in the news on Thursday, was it you who did it?"
The blonde writer suddenly smiled and asked:
"I heard that the police at Redwich Field regarded this incident as a major flaw in the law and order management of the capital in autumn."
"That was something we had to do."
The doctor explained, his voice a little quieter.
"Then on Thursday night, the public cemetery outside the city was vandalized. Was that also done by you? The church referred the matter to the association and asked the association to investigate whether the ring wizard was involved, but divination yielded nothing. It is currently being treated as an ordinary case and has been transferred back to the Redwich Field."
Luvia also asked with a smile.
“This is also a last resort.”
The doctor stressed again, trying to avoid further questioning by changing the subject to Shad.
Dr. Bill Schneider is only a middle ring, but he is already an almost unstoppable strongman for ordinary people. Even though it is the steam age, the civilization created by ordinary people's hands has overshadowed the light of extraordinary people under the dust of history. But the world is still very dangerous for ordinary people who are not exposed to the mystery. Not all ring warlocks are as kind as Dr. Schneider... ... even if there is a devil in his heart.
Chapter 717 Leisure