Whispering Poems

Chapter 2669: Temple in the Forest
"I see. If Iluna and I can return before the evening, I will attend the party."

Shade nodded, then looked at Iluna, and the eighteen-year-old girl also nodded:
"I'll join in too. I've taken a full day off today, so I'm available during the day and evening."

The acorns soaked in Shad's blood were already on him. As for the secret place in the forest marked by Luvia, it was located in the southwest of the city, near the city of Willendel.

"What is the relationship between Shade and this Miss Beas?"

After the two were sent downstairs by Miss Bell, the witch asked questions as usual. The red-haired girl, who was about to look through the local information, was stunned for a moment before asking:

"Are you asking me?"

The witch was even more surprised:

"There are only two of us here. I'm not asking you who you're asking. Look at that young girl. She doesn't look like she's going on an adventure into the woods with Shade. Instead, she looks like she's going on a picnic outside the city."

"Why do you think I know the answer to this question? Don't be surprised. One thing I need to clarify is that although I am Xia De's nominal teacher, I don't know all his secrets."

Miss Danister was quite frank:
"Although I know more than you, it's obviously only part of it. As for Miss Bei Yasi, all I can tell you is that she has a very good relationship with Shade, very, very good."

The witch turned into an owl and stood on the back of the sofa again:

"Don't tell me that Carina can't even control her own man. That Miss Beatrice is his lover."

Thinking about what she had learned, the red-haired girl smiled strangely:

"Lover? Maybe it's not Miss Beatrice's turn yet."

"What did you say?"

"I mean, why don't you go and ask yourself? Miss Bei Yasi is more naive than Shade. If you show enough kindness, she shouldn't mind complaining to you about Mr. Knight of Tobesk."

Iluna was still very interested in this strange southern city, but the two of them had to do their business first, so Shade did not take her to visit landmark buildings such as the Golden Music Hall.

The carriage took them to the southern edge of the city, and then Shad took Iluna's hand and activated the magic "Forest Trail", and walked with her into the depths of the woods.

It was obvious that Iluna was in a good mood. Shade talked about recent events as he walked forward. Iluna also shared recent interesting things with Shade. She was a little disappointed that the church had not yet received the answer to the question that Shade asked the gods - in fact, the oracle had not yet come down, and then talked about Vesta City.

"The Holy See has written to me, explaining the situation here. But this time the Holy See said that they don't plan to let me come here right away."

She held Xia De's hand and stepped on the withered yellow leaves under their feet, watching the big-tailed squirrel on the tree nearby busy carrying pine cones picked up from the ground.

Somehow I thought to myself that if Mia were here, she would definitely shout at the squirrel, and scare it so much that it would drop the pine cone and run away immediately. Therefore, a smile appeared on the corner of my mouth unconsciously:
"The Vatican said that once I'm involved in a big time-related trouble, it will be difficult for me to protect myself even if I'm the Chosen One. So the church's plan is to first dig into the Church of Nature to see what they know, and then make a support plan.

The only local support team currently is the 13th-ring 'Master Constructor' of the Creation Church you mentioned and the reorganized high-ring warlocks, so although you won't get much help from the church this time, at least you won't run into people from the church too often."

Xia De turned to look at her:

"Miss Danister also said that the academy will not send anyone here at the moment, and the Witch Council also has no plans to have other witches come to support us in the near future. But speaking of it, it seems like we haven't been out for a walk together like this for a long time, right?"

"Yes."

Iluna obviously had a lot of resentment, and she didn't hide it:
"Originally, the three of us agreed to go on together, but after your relationship with Luvia made great progress, I often felt like an outsider."

As he spoke, he gently shook the hand he held with Xia De:
"Besides, everyone is usually very busy, and I don't have the heart to bother you all the time. And with my current status, if I go to see Luvia too often, it will probably arouse suspicion. But I'm glad you still think of me, Shade, I don't ask for much at all."

When she said these words, she didn't even look at Shade, but pretended to be very interested in the scenery ahead. The stranger was no longer the ignorant guy last summer. He gently squeezed Iluna's hand:

"Luvia and I have not forgotten the promise we made. We have come this far, and we can handle every incident without Karina or other witches, but we cannot handle any of them without you two."

He also looked ahead:

"Anyway, we've already gone out today, and no one knows what we're doing. If things go well, we can just walk around in the woods and go back in the evening, right? There are a lot of fun things to do in the woods in autumn. How about a picnic by the stream, or chasing deer in the woods, or seeing the brown bears preparing for the winter?"

"There are brown bears in Vista Grove? Oh, I mean, that's not good, it's a waste of time."

"Then I'll take it as your acceptance of my invitation."

Iluna bit her lip, trying hard not to smile too obviously.

Although they no longer had the convenient "Owl Air", they still reached their destination at 11 a.m. that day by relying on magic. This place was just like the hermits' settlement in the north of the city, deep in the woods, and even hunters would not come here on weekdays.

Shade took the map marked by Luvia and used "Strong Spatial Perception" to determine the location. Finally, he and Iluna stopped beside an unnamed mountain stream:
"Follow Luvia's instructions. Cross this stream and the south bank is where we are looking for."

He raised his head and looked towards the forest on the south bank of the stream with Iluna:

"But haven't we walked past this place twice? With our perceptions, plus my thaumaturgy, it's impossible that we didn't notice anything unusual nearby."

"Then that's where it's hidden! This requires a puzzle!"

Iluna seemed very interested:
"Shad, are there any markings on the map those hermits sold you?"

"No, I checked before we set out. The main activity area of ​​the hermits is north of Ximu Town. They rarely come to such a place so far south."

The two crossed the stream again and came to the south bank. Iluna suggested using magic to solve the puzzle, but Shad's "Crystal of Truth" still had no effect.

After that, the two used the spell again, but still got nothing. Iluna suggested:
"Shad, use the 'Crystal of Truth' again, this time with extreme casting."

Steam mist appeared from behind the two of them at the same time, and the nine-ring and eight-ring life rings appeared together, and Iluna's life ring was quickly transformed into the dark golden scale. On Shad's life ring, Whisper-Prejudice emitted a dazzling black aura, and then a white transparent crystal appeared in his palm.

"Don't move, but if you feel any discomfort, tell me immediately. I just want to try it."

Iluna reminded, then gradually raised her dark golden scale until it flew out of her hands and behind Shade.

As soon as the dark gold color of the scale came into contact with the spiritual light on Shad's life ring, the powers coming from different souls did not conflict with each other at all. Instead, they seemed to attract each other, causing Iluna's scale to finally stop in the center of Shad's life ring.

A huge brass wheel revolved around the sacred scale, and the runes of [Time and Space] and [Silver Moon] surrounded the ancient scale. The dark golden light gradually infected Shad's life ring. Shad clearly felt that his spellcasting ability had been miraculously enhanced.

Iluna looked up at the scene and was quite satisfied:
"I had this idea after we merged with each other at Green Lake last time. Your soul is much stronger than mine. Since you can perfectly accommodate my power in the maze state, theoretically it should be possible in the normal state. How do you feel now?"

"It feels weird, but this should work - the Crystal of Truth!"

As he cast the spell again, the white transparent crystal was actually stained with Iluna's dark gold. The spirits of the two people flowed away at the same time, and Shade even felt that Iluna, who was standing beside him, was clinging to him from another dimension. This feeling was indeed very strange.

When the dark golden light emitted by the crystal formed ripples and expanded in all directions, the originally narrow distance between the two big trees at the eight o'clock direction of the two people suddenly expanded to the size of an open space, and in the open space was the ruins of a temple with broken walls.

The degree of integrity of this relic is at least better than the one where the "space maze" is located, not only because one of the four walls of the temple is still intact, but also because there is an altar in the center of the temple.

The most intact wall that remains is the wall at the entrance of the temple. There are steps covered with weeds in front of the wall, which makes this broken and ancient stone wall look like an arch.

The altar behind the arch is made of huge stones, whose surface has been eroded by time and covered with a thin layer of moss. In the gaps between the stones that make up the stone steps, walls and altar, small wild flowers and vines grow even in autumn.

It was unknown how much time had passed since the last time someone left this temple. Spring, summer, autumn, winter, wind, frost, rain, and snow had ingeniously merged this place with the forest. The ingenious connection between desolation and holiness made the scene at this moment look like a static landscape painting.

PS: This chapter's map is "The Temple of the God of Order"