Doctor Schneider and his accompanying friend were heading in the direction of Schluch Lake. It was already half-past seven in the evening, and many young men and women in formal attire and pretty long dresses were strolling by the lake.
The miraculous three-wheeled Full Moon and the stars were jointly reflected in the lake, the shimmering lake surface seemingly merging with the night sky. This scene made Xia De, who had emerged from a small flower path and suddenly came into the Moonlight from a dark environment, pause.
He had never seen such a sight in any period of his life. Under the cool Summer night breeze, the Outsider actually felt some emotion from this scene:
He hurried through civilization, and an accidental glimpse seemed to touch the power of great nature. In this relatively idealistic world, such a wonderful feeling represented power.
“Don’t you want to say something?”
He stood on a high place away from the lake, looking at the calm lake surface reflecting the Moonlight and stars, feeling the Summer night breeze, with only faint continuous mountains visible in the distance. This scene was truly beautiful.
【You are hoping for a small feeling to gain power? No, not yet to that extent.】
“I am quite curious, to which element should the power gained from nature belong?”
【That is your inspiration.】
As the two talked, the Destiny Ring in their soul slightly rotated, and brass-colored particles attached to the Destiny Ring. As it rotated, the elements transformed into Ling, stimulating the enhancement of the body and soul.
Every wonderful feeling has meaning, even if it is an insignificant power.
【Active and deep contact with the four elements will enhance your Ling, and temper your soul and body.】
As he gazed at the lake, a whisper sighed softly in his ear, like a woman resting her head on Xia De’s shoulder and whispering.
“In other words, theoretically, even if I remain a Ring Sorcerer, if I can frequently contact the four elements, I can defeat a High-Ring Sorcerer with physical strength?”
Xia De asked, then heard the woman’s laughter. The sound was quite pleasant; he might have misunderstood the meaning of her previous laughter, but this time it was definitely mockery:
【Outsider, you still haven’t understood the strongest part of the Ring Sorcerer system, the power of Elemental Ling Rune, you still don’t understand.】
“What is that? How do you know?”
【My vision is different from yours, what I see is different from what you see.】
“So, was the sudden feeling a continuation of that good luck just now?”
Xia De still hadn't forgotten about this.
【The result of the dice of Destiny will clearly appear before you, you just need to wait patiently.】
The woman chuckled:
【I thought you had already noticed, do you remember what I said when I asked you to roll the dice?】
Xia De thought for a moment, then repeated while looking at the lake with his hands behind his back:
“‘Through my vision, I saw something interesting for you.’”
【Yes, at that moment, I saw someone trying to kill you through means of Destiny.】
“Who is it? Oh, it must be Mercury Blood. Is this the failed retaliation using a keeper-level relic that the short mouse Peter mentioned? What did you do? Can you affect reality?”
He was a little surprised.
【Of course, I cannot affect the world. But you are outside of Destiny, I just used your peculiar Destiny, and counterattacked with the power of that die. You can consider this my unique power, a power born from you. Currently, this is the only power I possess, this is what makes you unique.】
“So, you can help me resist all attacks from Destiny?”
Xia De frowned, actually curious if the other party had other abilities. It was not uncommon for his “other self” to possess some special abilities, but most of these special abilities were very weak and not worth mentioning, they were “special functions” produced when the “other self” as the other side of the soul passively accepted the elements and Ling after the ego became a Ring Sorcerer.
However, the power displayed by Xia De’s “other self” was truly astonishing.
【Your power is just power, it still needs tools, like that die.】
Xia De nodded slightly, letting out a long breath, still worried that someone wanted to kill him. His eyes noticed a pleasure boat on the distant lake swaying slightly, but he couldn't see the people on the boat, nor did he know what was happening.
But he had no mind to care about that:
“Tonight’s good luck is because of this? But it’s still unclear.”
【Then wait, the person who tried to kill you will eventually appear before you, this is destined by that die.】
“How can you make me believe that you are me?”
【But this indeed originates from your power, and you will soon understand that I am with you.】
Walking along the side of Lakeview Manor’s backyard closest to the lake, he did not see any trace of Doctor Schneider. When he gave up searching and wanted to return to the front yard of the Manor, it was probably because his good luck was truly still continuing, so he saw Priest Augustus in the garden hedge maze.
The Priest was wearing a white robe with the holy emblem pendant of the Orthodox Church’s 【Mr. Dawn】 hanging on his chest, which was clearly the attire of a clergyman.
When Xia De saw him, the Old Priest was talking to an old gentleman leaning on a cane. The old gentleman was wearing a somewhat outdated brown suit, and the large gold ring on his finger made Xia De’s gaze linger for several seconds.
Because he didn't want others to discover that he knew Priest Augustus, Xia De did not approach rashly. Instead, he pretended to walk by the two casually, allowing Priest Augustus to discover him on his own.
Ten minutes later, Xia De, standing beneath the statue of a knight on horseback holding a raised long sword, successfully waited for the Priest to approach.
“Mr. Hamilton, why are you here?”
Priest Augustus was very surprised. He strode over, his agile movements showing no sign of an aging Old Priest.
“This is complicated to explain, simply put it’s for the rhode cards... that’s not important, I just saw Doctor Schneider.”
He immediately got to the point.
“What, is Bill here too?”
The Old Priest took a few steps closer, allowing the circle of candles placed beneath the statue to illuminate both of them. The cool night breeze of the Summer night made the candlelight flicker, and the gentle breeze rustled through the garden grass. It was not yet midsummer, so the sound of silkworms was not yet heard, making it seem like a very peaceful night.
“You didn’t know?”
Xia De was even more surprised than Priest Augustus:
“Just now I also saw two Ring術士 teams from the Orthodox Church, one team I didn’t recognize, and the other was from the 【War and Peace Church】.”
He briefly described the characteristics of the first Ring術士 team, and Priest Augustus immediately understood that it was a Ring術士 team under the Orthodox Church’s 【Lantern Old Man】’s 【Sun and Earth Church】. This sentence also reminded Xia De that he vaguely remembered the owner of Violet Iris Lane mentioning the identity of the young lady with long brown hair.
“What’s going on? Is something going to happen at Lakeview Manor?”
Priest Augustus asked with some unease, looking up at the Lakeview Manor mansion with Xia De, but nothing was happening yet.
“Something is probably going to happen. Just now I even saw Lawrence and his mistress, Mrs. Lasoya.”
Xia De added, believing this was the key, and therefore suspected that his ability to meet so many acquaintances was also part of tonight’s inexplicable good luck.
Indeed, speaking the correct “keywords” allowed him to get new information from Priest Augustus. The Priest suddenly understood:
“So that’s it, now I understand. Mr. Hamilton, although I am not a Ring術士 of the Church, I can still get some news about the Church’s Ring術士 actions. You mentioned Mrs. Lawrence’s intentions at the study session yesterday. Last night, when I went to see the Doctor, I heard him talk about this. Can you guess where Mrs. Lawrence found a Ring術士 to help?”
The Old Priest asked, and Xia De thought for a moment, then asked incredulously:
“She found the Orthodox Church?”
“Yes.”
Priest Augustus nodded:
“Your former client, a noble lady she met at a tea party, had experienced a mysterious event and therefore knew about the Church’s power. She introduced Mrs. Lawrence to the Church. That somewhat reckless lady, without confirming whether Lasoya truly had a Ring術士 background, directly told the Church her information. This is probably similar to a false alarm; Mrs. Lawrence just wanted revenge… Subsequently, Lasoya’s information was thoroughly investigated. He is indeed a member of Mercury Blood, and the Church has been looking for him for a long time.”
“Mrs. Lasoya is a man?”
Even though he had already guessed, Xia De couldn’t help but click his tongue.