Chapter 1222

Luvia said with a smile:

"These Ascension Words are really good; the Association's eye is very accurate. Although it's a bit arrogant to say so, it was simply born for me."

Xia De continued to look at the book. The effect of the Ascension Words recorded in the book was "manipulating and rewriting fate, but at a price." The same Ascension Words would also have subtle differences due to the types of spiritual runes that composed them and the difference in core spiritual runes—Xia De's didn't count; he simply changed the effect. Therefore, the effect of Ascension Words was usually not described in great detail, but just from this paragraph, Xia De could also feel the peculiarity of these Ascension Words:

"Manipulating fate is not a good thing; I've already had many lessons."

He said with some worry, but Luvia, who was a diviner, didn't worry about this:

"I'll help you find Ascension Words suitable for you; you want to use the core spiritual rune 【Silver Moon】, right?"

She flipped through the index according to the alphabetical order of the catalog and soon found the corresponding page number. The 【Cult of the Forgotten】 collected only six Ascension Words related to 【Silver Moon】. After excluding those not suitable for Xia De, Luvia finally selected two and told him:

"【Red Sun falls, Silver Moon rises, night descends】. These Ascension Words need 【Sun】, 【Silver Moon】, 【Night】, 【Advent】, and one of 【Falling】 or 【Rising】. This looks quite good; the effect of the Ascension Words is 'Night descends,' and I remember 【Silver Moon Sage】 is also 【Night Goddess】."

She said, and then read the next one:

"【Shadow of the Silver Moon, guiding the final direction】."

Xia De was stunned:

"What?"

Saying this, he stretched his head to look at the book, saying with some disbelief:

"It's truly interesting; at the beginning of the year, when I looked at St. Byrons' 'Ascension Ceremony' at Miss Danister's, I heard Ascension Words very similar to this one—【The initial Silver Moon, guiding the final direction】. The two only differ in 【Initial】 and 【Shadow】."

"Similar Ascension Words are extremely rare, but it doesn't mean they don't exist. However, initial Silver Moon... shadow of the Silver Moon... hmm..."

She looked at Xia De suspiciously, and her powerful inspiration was hinting at something. Xia De looked at the origin of these Ascension Words in the book:

"Not Ascension Words collected, but Ascension Words obtained by absorbing the memories of the earth. This was actually obtained only two hundred years ago; let me see the location... right here in Randall Valley, in the forest stream area in the eastern suburbs of the city."

"Why, do you like this one?"

Luvia asked, and Xia De nodded:

"It looks quite good; yesterday when I encountered the source of the black mud, I had some feelings about 【Shadow】. However, I still have to wait until I truly obtain the spiritual rune. I'm just curious about its origin; you see, the location where the cult obtained these Ascension Words is not far from the urban area of Randall Valley, and it takes no more than half an hour by horse... it's quite close to the Osenfort Manor."

He thought for a moment:

"Have time to go take a look, but no rush."

Xia De always had his own ideas, so Luvia didn't object. The two continued to exchange views on mid-tier Ascension Words, and before long, they heard Miss Benanice calling Xia De's name behind the church:

"Xia De, come look at this."

Miss Benanice's slightly dull voice echoed in the empty church, so Xia De and Luvia walked into the corridor behind. After passing through the wall that Xia De had once destroyed, they followed the intact corridor around the corner, then jumped over from the room window, bypassed the collapsed confessional, and arrived at the entrance to the basement.

This was also where Xia De arrived in Randall Valley.

At this moment, everyone was gathered in the basement, and dozens of summoned light orbs were floating on the ceiling, illuminating the pitch-black interior.

They weren't gathered in front of the wall with the hidden space, but were in front of the east wall, looking at the messy graffiti on the wall.

These

graffiti Xia De had noticed the first time he came, but because they were meaningless, he had never paid attention to them:

"Is the graffiti some kind of code?"

Others made room for Xia De to walk to the wall, and Miss Lathers looked at the wall with sadness in her eyes:

"When I was a child, I played games with my parents, and we designed our own code, using abstract runes to represent language. After my mother passed away in an accident when I was nine, Father and I never used this again... The meaning here is—I found it, but I can't open the door."

Only Miss Benanice, Luvia, and Xia De knew what the so-called "door" was.

"Is there more?"

Xia De asked, and Miss Lathers nodded, laboriously translating the language she had mastered in her childhood from the graffiti that covered the code:

"Someone must guard this land; I followed the footsteps of the previous guardian to this place, his relics are behind the door, but I cannot touch them... Ciris, my dear child, if you see these..."

Miss Lathers tried hard to control her emotions:

"See these messages, please don't grieve for me. Forgive me for leaving the responsibility to you, because I have a more important responsibility; a new guardian must appear."

Miss Benanice put her hand on her shoulder, and Miss Lathers shook her head slightly to indicate she was fine.

"So, Mr. Thomas Granger, who went missing seventy years ago, left some clues before he died. More than ten years ago, Mr. Lathers discovered those clues and used them to find this church, but at the last step, he couldn't get the box I found?"

Xia De summarized.

"It should be like this, and among the clues Mr. Lathers found, there should have been information about the so-called 'Earth Guardian'."

Miss Benanice also said.

Miss Lathers nodded:

"There are some more words here, please let the light move down a bit... My dear Ciris, forgive Father for leaving. I don't know how much longer I can hold on, nor do I know how long I can protect this city even after I become a guardian. I left clues here; if, if when you discover this place, and the madness of the earth has already begun to appear in more places outside of Randall Valley, then it means a new guardian must be produced."

The current situation should be the worst-case scenario Mr. Lathers had anticipated.

"People's footsteps treading on the land of Randall Valley will bring the madness here to more places.

If things really develop as I predicted, please send someone to follow my clues and tread across the land of Randall Valley, just as I am doing now. My daughter, for the sake of the earth, for the sake of the world, for the sake of everything, there must be a new guardian. I hope it's not you, but if there is no suitable candidate... I will wait for you in the earth... The first clue is where the gaze is fixed."

Miss Lathers finished reading these, sighing with some sadness.

Luvia tugged on Xia De's sleeve:

"So, the clue is in..."

The group returned to the main hall of the church again, and the metal holy emblem hadn't been hung up yet. Following the direction of the statue's gaze, Xia De used the "Turn Stone to Mud" spell to melt the wall covered with fragile vines, groped in the mud for a while, and sure enough, found a thick parcel wrapped in kraft paper.

Layers of waterproof kraft paper wrapped the innermost thing, and the item, which had been so well concealed, was unsurprisingly a notebook.

Out of respect, the notebook was first handed to Miss Lathers, who flipped through it slightly, confirmed it was her father's handwriting, and then handed it to Xia De.

"Let me see... oh, this is it."

The notebook only contained ten pages of content. The beginning part stated that Mr. Lathers had accidentally bought a rather old box at a small auction and found letters left by a man calling himself "Thomas Granger" in the box.

The letters

explained that the earth of Randall Valley was gradually heading toward madness, and Mr. Lathers, who was half-believing, acted according to the instructions in the letters, and finally confirmed that everything "Thomas Granger" said was true.

Mr. Lathers hadn't decided at the time that he wanted to shoulder this responsibility; after all, a natural-born "Saint" couldn't just appear casually. But after witnessing the "Heart of the Earth," the secret in the deepest part of Randall Valley, with his own eyes underground in Randall Valley, he changed his mind and decided to pass the test of the previous guardian, "Thomas Granger," and become the new Earth Guardian.

The subsequent content of the notebook explained how he proved himself by passing various tests, and during the process, he accidentally became infected with the curse of the earth. Although he finally found this church, he ultimately failed to enter that hidden wall.

Therefore, he left clues on the wall and buried the notebook deep into the wall, spending the last part of his life in the church of the god he believed in.

"But he still succeeded."

When Xia De finished reading these contents carefully after more than half an hour, Miss Benanice said immediately:

"So, the so-called test doesn't actually have to go to the end; as long as the previous guardian is satisfied, it's enough."

"I suspect that the things capable of triggering this 'test' are not just the letters Father discovered; the guardian left many clues in the area, and the box Xia De found also counts as a token to trigger the test."

Miss Lathers also said.

"However, what's interesting is that according to the statement in this notebook, this 'guardian' inheritance for dealing with the madness of the earth has been appearing in the area since the beginning of this era. But why, during this period, did they never think of seeking help from the Church? Or rather, why did they strictly keep this secret?"

Luvia was a bit puzzled, while Xia De flipped through the content in the front of the notebook again.

--Proceed to view