Upon hearing the name all things are impermanent, Xia De inexplicably felt a special sensation.
He looked down at the card depicting a woman sitting on a high stool, holding up the moon.
“Suren… Silver Moon.”
He whispered, and then felt his Miracle factor actually increasing.
Miss Annette opposite him looked at him in surprise:
“What did you say? Suren? Isn’t that your middle name?”
“Nothing, just marveling at my wonderful connection with the Silver Moon.”
Xia De said, then asked Miss Annette:
“So the Prophet Association also doesn’t know what these cards are really for?”
“Yes, but the Association at least created rhode cards based on these cards.
The pounds the Association has earned in the past few hundred years are more than all the other times in the entire sixth epoch combined.”
Miss Annette said, then became interested in Mia, who was lying next to Xia De, but the lazy cat wasn't interested in her.
“Thirteen ancient gods, Thirteen Witch Emperors, thirteen Chosen Ones, is there any connection among them?”
Miss Annette smiled:
“Good question, Detective, you are very perceptive.
To be precise, it really shouldn’t be a coincidence.
There is clear evidence that the Thirteen Witch Emperors of the fifth epoch and The Chosen Ones of the sixth epoch have commonalities, but also differences.
The biggest similarity is that they all possess the power of ancient gods; you can understand it as they are all humans favored by fallen ancient gods.
But why this is the case, I cannot explain.
Ancient gods are the oldest and most mysterious deities; their affairs are probably only known by organizations with ancient inheritances.”
“Then, does the Witch Council organization know these secrets?”
Xia De asked while stroking Mia’s back, and the cat glanced at him, Miss Annette was stunned:
“You even know about the Witch Council?
Ancient gods you might have heard from a History Academy professor, but who told you about the Witch Council?
The Witch Council is very mysterious, and all its members are Sorceresses.
As the name suggests, they inherited the power of the last Thirteen Witch Emperors of the fifth epoch, and the thirteen most powerful Great Witches of the Council correspond to this.”
“Is it really related to those Witches from the fifth epoch?
But Witch Emperors, that was 1500 years ago.”
Xia De was very surprised; he originally thought the other party just wanted to pick a nice name, or was just lucky enough to obtain a relic related to the Witch Emperors.
“Those Great Witches of the Witch Council can all advance to High Ring at a very young age.
One or two could be a coincidence, but when all thirteen Great Witches throughout history are like this, it’s hard not to suspect whether they truly inherited power from the previous epoch.
Perhaps it’s a special way of initiation that allows for rapid leveling up.
But only the thirteen Great Witches have such power; the other Sorceresses of the Council are still normal.”
Miss Annette’s tone was a bit unnatural when talking about this organization.
“Are you also a member of the Witch Council?”
Xia De asked.
“Detective, what foolishness are you speaking?
I’ve only dealt with them before, and that experience was very unpleasant.”
The Diviner asked, leaning on the sofa and wiggling her fingers.
“Is the Witch Council also a wanted illegal organization?”
Xia De suspected that Duchess Galina Cavendish was a Great Witch of the Witch Council; this way, all the information he heard while wandering around Lakeview Manor would make sense.
He was almost certain of this guess.
“This organization… is very complex, and it’s hard to define good or bad.
The Church only opposes a few of them, not the entire organization.
But unlike lunatics like the Blood Spirit School, they are only keen on relics and books related to the last thirteen Great Witches of the fifth epoch; otherwise, they are quite peaceful.
The thirteen most powerful members of the Council are all Sorceresses above Ten Ring, and one of the strongest Witches even has the power of Thirteenth Ring.
Compared to the Witch Council, organizations like Mercury Blood are simply not worth comparing.
However, the Witch Council itself is not united; the thirteen Great Witches all have their own factions, those women, hmph, although they won’t try to kill each other, their infighting skills are first-rate.”
“Speaking of which, they must also understand whispering chapters.”
This was a statement.
“Of course, besides the Church and the Academy, they are definitely the most knowledgeable.”
Xia De nodded; Miss Jialinna promised that if he could win the card game this weekend, she would reveal her identity to him.
At that time, he might be able to learn some secrets from the Duchess.
“But when she saw the Founding · Silver Moon card, she seemed to have no reaction.
Does the Witch Council not know the secret of rhode cards? Or is she acting?”
He pondered silently, while Miss Annette wanted to hug the cat that had moved to lie on the coffee table, but Mia pushed her hand away with her small paws.
The coffee table was cooler than the sofa, and the small cat didn't want to leave.
Entering July, which is commonly known as the thunder moon, the weather suddenly became hot.
Thinking that this world had no air conditioning or fans, the Outsider felt a little uneasy about the even hotter days to come.
“Detective, since Founding · Silver Moon chose you, there must be a reason.
Although you are outside of Destiny, you clearly cannot remain aloof in the coming chaotic era.”
Miss Annette summarized their conversation, seemingly intending to end the visit, but Xia De’s next sentence made her sit down again:
“Speaking of which, I saw Miss Bei Ya Si yesterday.”
“Oh? Is that so? Tell me in detail.”
Miss Annette gave up trying to tease the lazy orange cat and listened attentively to Xia De’s account of yesterday’s events, raising an eyebrow when she heard “Sunlight Gun”:
“Iluna Bayas did this not for any credit.
According to my preliminary investigation, she has a conflict with Mercury Blood; that was before she was transferred from the Sun Church’s papacy to Tobesk.
Some time ago, she had me Diviner whether what she was doing recently was going smoothly; it turns out she was referring to this.
Your actions yesterday were perfectly fine; do not expose your Ring術士 identity, and even more so, do not get involved in anything with Iluna Bayas.
On my end, I will accelerate my contact with her, striving to make her a true Chosen One as soon as possible.”
“Sorry, what does that mean?
She’s not a Chosen One yet?”
Xia De looked at her, asking somewhat surprised; he really liked the color of Miss Annette’s eyes.
“The power of The Chosen One is not just what she is currently displaying.
There are manifestations of truly becoming a Chosen One; the biggest manifestation is that she can turn her Destiny Ring into a weapon.
According to my Diviner, The Chosen One corresponding to Balance should eventually be able to transform her Destiny Ring into a golden scale.”
Xia De tilted his head and imagined the scene:
“Since a metal ring can appear behind a Ring術士, then a metal scale doesn’t seem too strange either.”
“She has only touched the edge of The Chosen One’s power, yet she can, to a certain extent, suppress a Four-Ring Warlock, and even use Miracles like Sunlight Gun beyond her own level, but this is not the true power of The Chosen One.”
Miss Annette shook her head:
“The method of becoming a Chosen One is very complicated, and I don’t think even the Sun Church necessarily knows it.
The probability of them coincidentally finding that part of the whispering chapters is very low.”
“What is the method?”
Xia De asked curiously, and Miss Annette did not conceal it.
She held up a finger:
“Three requirements.
First, one needs to obtain a relic that possesses the power of the corresponding ancient god.
The scope of relics here is very broad; it can be a relic, a statue, or a damaged holy emblem, or even an ancient temple in the wilderness, but it must possess the power of an ancient god.
The ancient god representing the power of Balance is called the hanged judge by mortals.”
The card face of Genesis · Balance is the image of a man hanging upside down under a tree.
“Such relics should be hard to find.”
Xia De commented, but if it were a relic of the time ancient god, then it would be too easy to find.
“But I already have clues, and the Sun Church probably also thought of similar things, so this is not difficult.”
She then held up a second finger:
“Secondly, The Chosen One must deeply understand the meaning of the corresponding Chosen One qualification.”
“This can only be understood by Miss Bei Ya Si herself; we can’t help.”
Xia De said again.
Finally, she held up a third finger:
“Lastly, and most difficult, The Chosen One needs to complete a ritual.
The ritual doesn’t require any materials; it only requires doing something.
This ritual should be in a certain part of the chapters.
I am trying my best to Diviner, but because the cost is too great, there has been no progress yet.”
“May I ask what the cost you are paying is?”
Xia De asked, Miss Annette shook her head, her short brown hair swaying behind her head:
“It’s not convenient to disclose at the moment; wait until you advance to Two Ring, and I will tell you then.
In short, I will handle these matters; you still need to gain strength as soon as possible.
The epic composed of the thirteen Chosen Ones has just begun, and I think we still have plenty of time.”
She sighed, her expression momentarily a little sad.
Xia De didn't know what to say, so he refilled Miss Annette’s teacup.
Before the Diviner left, she remembered the sealed first floor and offered to help Xia De Diviner about the house.
Of course, it was just a normal Diviner.
She carried a Diviner pendulum crystal with her and borrowed a basin from Xia De, and after a while of busying herself, she sat in front of the basin, letting the purple crystal float above the water.
Miss Annette could probably see some images in the water and combine them with the different perspectives of “another me” to Diviner, but Xia De couldn’t see anything.
“No results, or rather, everything is normal here.”
Miss Annette said after a long while, explaining the reason for her statement:
“I saw your house in the mist; a veil covered it, but the house itself didn’t show any strange colors.
This means that even if there’s a problem here, it won’t be related to mysterious factors.
Of course, it’s also possible that my Diviner is flawed, after all, I’m only a Three-Ring Arcanist.
However, when you apply to the Dawn Church to use other parts of the house, they will inspect it again, and the Church’s inspection should be more reliable than my Diviner.”
She said this, putting away her purple crystal pendant, and Xia De breathed a sigh of relief; he could now finally rest assured and utilize Sparrow Detective’s deceased bedroom.
“Detective, I’ll leave you my address; you can contact me anytime if something comes up.
Be careful with everything recently.”
The Diviner said, Xia De opened the door to see her downstairs, hesitated for a moment, then urged:
“Miss Annette, you also be careful with everything.
If there is truly a major insoluble danger, such as an evil god, inconceivable-grade relic, or similar matters, you can come to me and treat me as a last resort… the power of Lakeview Manor can be used one more time.”
He truly regarded Miss Annette as a friend, and also greatly admired people like Miss Bei Ya Si.
Although he was reluctant to part with his divinity, he would not be stingy if necessary.
After all, it was still a long way from One Ring to Two Ring.
“Xia De, don’t underestimate the power of ladies.
You’re not the only one with secrets.”
Miss Annette said, a smile in her purple eyes; this was the first time she had called Xia De by his name.
