Whispering Poems

Chapter 3268 Snow Mountain Gathering and "Crown of Glory"

The hall was bustling as never before. More than 20 priests from different villages and tribes, of different ages, were standing together and talking about something. The air was filled with the smell of beer. Shade even saw the old priest Kane, who had shown him around the town, setting up a stall here, apparently selling his own spells and potions.

"The Snow Mountain Hall Gathering usually gathers all the ring sorcerers of the Fatu people. Even those who cannot attend the meeting are happy to come to visit friends or trade."

The witch explained quickly, and after leading Shade through the bustling hall, the white-haired witch apprentice and two high-ring witch followers were waiting for the two to arrive in front of the door leading to the banquet hall.

"Isn't the density of your Fatu people's ring sorcerers a bit too high?"

Shade quickly scanned the area and found that half of the twenty or so people here were ring sorcerers. Considering the total population of the Fatu people, this number of ring sorcerers was truly astonishing.

The only family that can be compared to it is the "Cavendish Family". In one generation, there are four ring wizards, of which the twins are candidates for the Chosen One (time), Leicia is a quarter of the Chosen One (space), and Ajelina is a suspected Chosen One (chaos).

“The snow-capped mountains give us strength.”

Miss Reinhart said simply, and then motioned the three sorceresses to follow her and continue forward. However, although the proportion of high-level sorcerers among the Fatu people is relatively high, there are actually not many high-level sorcerers. She appeared with two high-level followers this time, and she also wanted to gain the right to speak for herself.

The door leading to the banquet hall was closed at this time, and two middle-aged priests wearing traditional Fatu costumes were in charge of guarding the door. In the banquet hall behind the door, all the lamps were lit, illuminating the entire hall clearly.

The huge fireplace in the deepest part has been lit. The two sides of the long table in the banquet hall are still empty. In front of the fireplace with a blazing flame, five old men wearing ox-horn hats, deer-horn hats, sheep-horn hats, feather hats, and coral hats are talking in low voices.

Among them, Elder Harald wearing a horned hat, Elder Wilda wearing a sheep-horned hat whom Shad had seen before, and the old lady wearing a feather hat were all eleven rings, and the remaining two were ten and nine rings respectively.

In addition to them, there were three tribal priests here. The highest level was eight rings, and the others were all seven rings. These were candidates for elders, qualified to participate in such meetings but not qualified to speak.

The eight people here should be considered the elite of the Fatu Ring Warlocks. It seems that although the probability of Ring Warlocks appearing among the Fatu people is higher, it is still not easy to be promoted to a high ring.

The sound of the door opening and closing attracted the attention of people deep in the banquet hall. They turned around and saw Claire Reinhart walking side by side with the young man from outside, followed by three other strange girls.

"It's been a long time, Elder Wilda, Elder Ursa, Elder Solin, Elder Ule."

She greeted everyone in order of their ringmaster rank, and each old man she mentioned by name gave her a slight nod.

After the greeting, the steam behind the witch dissipated, and the complete eleventh life ring was revealed. Xia De glanced at it and saw the core spirit runes [Sun] [Ice] [Gem] [Hope]. She was only one rune short of the four spirit runes required for the eleventh ring, so she was not far from the twelfth ring.

All the ring sorcerers also looked at her life ring. Among them, Elder Ursa, who had a feather decoration on her hat of the eleventh ring, couldn't help but sigh:
"It seems like a good thing that you left the Snow Mountain that year. You have reached the eleventh ring at such a young age. This talent is considered talented even compared to the ring sorcerers trained by the Orthodox Church."

The witch successfully gained the right to speak for herself:
"This Stella Larson with the sixth ring is my student, and the other two girls with the ninth and tenth rings are my subordinates. I won't introduce Mr. Watson here, as my grandfather should have mentioned his identity."

Elder Wilda of the eleventh ring nodded. The old man had met Shade on Tuesday.

"Harald said he had agreed to our employment."

Shad corrected:
"No, to be precise, I was hired by Miss Reinhardt, and then she entrusted me to complete the task assigned by Elder Harald."

The witch smiled and stood with the five elders at the position closest to the huge fireplace:

"Mr. Watson is a ninth-ring sorcerer, but he is very powerful in combat. He also provided the information about the magic sword. He will be active in the town for a long time."

"Mr. Watson."

Elder Wule, whose hat was decorated with coral, spoke to Shade:

"Harald said that you have been blessed by the Snow Mountain. We all trust Harald, but please show us the power of ice and snow that you use, so that we can confirm it one last time. Please also understand that this is the first time we have allowed outsiders to participate in the gathering in the Snow Mountain Hall, so we must be cautious in everything."

Xia De nodded to show his understanding. The blessing of the snow mountain allowed him to gain power when casting any spirit rune related to [Ice and Snow] within the range of the snow mountain. So he thought about it and pointed his finger at the jumping flames in the fireplace:

"Thaumatology - Freeze Ray!"

Ice-blue light shot out from the fingertips, and after hitting the jumping flames, it actually froze the flames directly. This new magic came from the ashes left after the ancient evil creatures turned into firewood, and its power was indeed amazing under the amplification of the snow mountain.

After several elders nodded in praise, Xia De continued to cast the spell:

"Thaumatology - Solar Ray!"

The warm yellow light passed through the air, even warming the room by several degrees. The light hit the frozen flame, and then the ice disappeared, and the flame in the fireplace continued to jump.

The witch was very satisfied with Shade's performance, and couldn't help but smile as she took a step closer to him. The elders and priests had no other questions, and after a few more pleasantries, the oldest elder, Vilda, began to preside over the meeting.

There was no need for a conference table or other furniture. The five elders and the witch sat around the fireplace on round stools, and the others stood behind them. The firelight illuminated everyone's face, and because they were gathered together, their voices did not need to be too loud for everyone to hear:

"You have all heard about Harald's injury. I'm afraid he won't be able to preside over this year's All Souls' Day. While everyone is here, I would like to ask for your opinions. In addition to me and Elder Ursa, should the third person to preside over the All Souls' Day celebration in 1855 be chosen from Thorin and Uller, or should Claire, who is not a priest, be chosen?"

He looked at everyone in turn:

"Five people voted and swore by the snowy mountains that all decisions are made for the tribe. Then - Thorin."

No one raised their hand, including the old man with ten rings himself.

"Ule."

Still no one raised their hand.

"Claire."

Elders Wilda, Harald, and Uller all raised their hands. But Elder Thorin, who was wearing a deer horn hat, and Ursa, the only female elder, did not raise their hands.

"Ursa, what do you mean?"

"It would be too risky to have Thorin of the Tenth Ring and Uller of the Nine Rings replace Harald. Claire's rank is sufficient, but she is not a priest after all. Claire, are you willing to hold a formal ceremony to become a priest before All Souls' Day?"

She asked the platinum-haired girl, who immediately shook her head. She had encountered this question many times before leaving the island.

"Since Claire does not agree to become a priestess, I propose that Claire perform the 'Crown of Glory' ceremony. If she successfully passes the ceremony, she can be allowed to replace Harald and participate in this year's All Souls' Day as a non-priestess."

"I agree with that idea."

Elder Thorin, who had not raised his hand to express his agreement just now, also nodded. The witch's grandfather knew that Shade didn't know what they were talking about, so he briefly introduced it:
"The 'Crown of Glory' ceremony is one of the traditional ceremonies of the Fatu people. It requires challengers to start from the Snow Mountain Hall at the foot of the mountain and climb up to the main peak of the Fatumonster Snow Mountain without any help, following a strictly planned dangerous route. This is different from the Fire Transmission Ceremony during All Souls' Day. The route of the Fire Transmission Ceremony is arranged according to the current situation of the snow mountain and the planning made in advance, and will not deliberately embarrass the participants; but the Crown of Glory Ceremony only selects the most difficult climbing routes.

Fatu people who pass this ceremony can be called "warriors", and Fatu people who are born with strong inspiration can increase their success rate of awakening through this ceremony. "

But Shade had a question:

"But Miss Reinhardt is a high-level sorcerer. The journey, which is extremely dangerous for ordinary people, should not be a problem for her. Even if she is restricted from casting spells, with the physical fitness of a high-level sorcerer, I can hardly imagine anything that can stop her."

But the five elders all knew what to do:
"In addition to proving one's courage, the 'Crown of Glory' ceremony also allows sinners to prove their purity in this way. There have been precedents of ring sorcerers challenging the ceremony in the past. The tribe has special relics in their hands. The relics combined with herbs can temporarily reduce the level and physical fitness of the ring sorcerers, but this has limited effect on high-level sorcerers."

The five elders discussed it again, and finally decided to increase the difficulty of the "Crown of Glory" ceremony through artificial arrangements. In this way, even if Claire Reinhardt's level was only reduced to the middle or low ring, it could be considered that she had accepted the test.

Of course, there is no need to worry about the danger. She can recover by throwing away the relics on her body that suppress her power, but this also means that the ritual has failed.

The witch had no problem with participating in this kind of ceremony, as she was confident that she could pass it safely. As the "Crown of Glory" still needed some preparation, the ceremony was scheduled to be held next week.