Chapter 1281: Earth Rune Stone and the Panicked Old Man

Xia De looked at the black stone in his hand in surprise. He clearly felt that holding this thing, his "Earth Power - Healing Aura" was significantly enhanced. And more importantly, the power of this rune stone was extremely heavy and ancient, and combined with the rune on it, this was clearly a divine art item contaminated with the power of an ancient god, and it was a ritual item that could be held by the Chosen One to hold a ritual.

This morning was truly full of surprises.

"This is truly... thank you."

Even though the other party was a humanoid relic, Xia De still expressed his thanks. The merchant shook his head, looking at the two vigilantly:

"This is useful to you, so can I leave now?"

"Meow?"

Little Mia poked its head out from Xia De's arms again:

"Oh, there is also a cat, right? You are too greedy."

He threw another conical bottle to Xia De again. This time there were soil-colored pills inside:

"Cure earth curses; as long as it is not completely petrified, it can be saved."

Using the method provided by the witch, combined with Xia De's soil Holy Grail to prepare 【Universal Earth Panacea】, it could also cure people affected by black mud, but since it was a free pill, Xia De would definitely not refuse.

He snapped his fingers, the moonlight thorn bushes disappeared, and Iluna also put away the dark gold balance she was holding.

Shadows appeared behind the merchant. He carefully took a step back, determined that the two didn't catch up, and then disappeared into the alley.

"What a magical morning."

Iluna bent down to pick up the spell she dropped, intending to leave the alley with Xia De.

"Yes, a month and a half has passed in 1854, and this is the first time I have encountered a relic walking around randomly..."

Xia De said, glancing at Iluna, feeling that the fate of the Chosen One was truly peculiar.

He handed the small bottle containing the black pills to the seventeen-year-old girl:

"Take this and hand it in to the church. Although letting go of that guy who can release the plague is a helpless act, you still have to submit something to the church. I have Healing, Sweetness, and Gold-Stone Holy Grails, so I don't need this. Give the pills to the church; the church can also have one more chance to save people."

Judging from the current situation, except for the 【Universal Earth Panacea】 prepared with the Holy Grail, there was no way to save people contaminated by black mud. The church might have other ways, but it must be expensive and complicated.

"Alright then."

Iluna then took the small bottle and asked curiously:

"Gold-Stone Holy Grail? You have harvested a new cup? What is the effect... turn soil into gold?"

"Oh, speaking of which, I get angry. I originally thought it was slowly converting soil into precious metals. I thought that even if the speed was slow, I could accept it; it counts as a stable way to make money. Unexpectedly, that cup converts soil into exceptionally hard black stones. Yes, truly very hard; I can't smash it with my hands, only sorcery attacks are effective... If the stones weren't too heavy, making them into a set of armor would be good. I don't know what kind of stone that is; the conversion efficiency is not high."

The two talked, leaving the alley facing the newly born sunlight of the morning. This was another brand-new day.

After parting at the entrance of the Three Cats Hotel, Iluna returned to the Black Stone Security Company to hand over the mission, while Xia De took Mia and returned home, and then went to Randall Valley city.

Mia was still taken by him. Today was just to visit the City Statue Art Exhibition Gallery; there probably wasn't any danger, so it didn't matter to take the cat.

Due to the relic 【Rain-Praying Golem】 that appeared last night, the continuous blizzard actually hadn't stopped until this morning. When Xia De came to the front hall from behind the Church of the Forgotten, he happened to encounter the Old God believers of the Golden Dawn, who were sweeping away the fallen snow and trying to repair the roof.

Although in Xia De's view, the hole in the roof made the church look more like it had the beauty of the vicissitudes of time, the believers wouldn't keep the big hole in the church roof just because of the so-called beauty.

Xia De greeted them and walked out of the church gate facing the heavy snow, seeing the city that had been dyed silver-white again:

"It's cold again."

He sighed, stuffed the cat in to prevent it from catching a cold, and then walked toward the courtyard.

The Randall Valley City Statue Art Gallery was also located in the city center, but compared to the Abundant Earth Hotel, the Diviner Association, and the Randall Valley City Hall on the same street, the location of the Statue Art Gallery on "Academy Street" was a bit more to the east. And the naming of this street was because the most important "Randall Valley Port Trade Academy" was here.

The City Statue Art Gallery was also a paid entry system. If you didn't want to pay for a ticket every time, you could join the "Randall Valley Statue Art Club" through an annual fee, so you could enter the Statue Gallery for free every time.

Xia De didn't have the need to join the club, so he bought a ticket. He originally thought the doorman wouldn't let the cat disguised as a dog enter, and even prepared to pay half-price for Mia to follow, but the doorman didn't care about the dog at all. There was no rule in this era that pets were not allowed to enter public places.

But no matter which era it was, those who could appreciate so-called art were a minority, not to mention that it was a workday morning now, and the weather was so bad, so there were only a few people in the huge Statue Art Gallery, most of whom were art academy students who came to copy and paint.

This exhibition gallery covered a large area, but it only had two floors in total. Both the first and second floors were exhibition areas, while the office area of the exhibition gallery was located in the corridor on the right side of the first floor.

Xia De didn't rush to find Curator Mr. Fernandez, but took Mia to stroll around the gallery. The first floor of the exhibition gallery was all modern sculptures, each with a label indicating the author's identity. There were both world-renowned masterpieces and works by local artists who were not famous.

Randall Valley, known as the City of Stonemasons, had produced sculpture artists since ancient times. Walking quietly among them, and appreciating these works with Mia, even Xia De, who was not very good at the art of this world, could feel the history and thickness of the city.

The second floor exhibited ancient sculptures, arranged in chronological order, each with its history and creative background. Because the exhibition gallery needed it internally, the gas lamps were on even during the day. But because the snowy day itself made the sky look dim, the bright indoor area inevitably felt a bit gloomy.

Xia De also found some works with interesting shapes among the ancient sculptures on the second floor. Although the colors of the cat-shaped painted sculptures were peeling off, they still looked very peculiar. Among the human sculptures, several depicted elves bending bows and shooting arrows; I don't know if they were imaginary sculptures, or if the artist had truly seen elves in the dense forest.

Besides sculptures, a holy emblem of the Orthodox God 【Lantern Old Man】 was hanging in the corner of the second floor. This god was the "God of Sun and Earth."

When Xia De saw the holy emblem, an old man wearing a brown cashmere vest in the heated room was bowing his head and praying under the holy emblem. After he finished praying, Xia De walked up to talk to him.

"Mr. Fernandez?"

He called out the old curator's name. Xia De had already seen the other party's photo at Miss Bernice's place.

Zoff Fernandez, 53 years old. He didn't look tall, and his figure was at a medium level. He wore a pair of round-framed glasses and would subconsciously bend over when standing, probably because of a problem with his spine. Although he was in his fifties, he looked like he was in his seventies or eighties.

"Oh, hello."

Although he didn't know the young man with the strange northern appearance in front of him, the old curator still greeted him enthusiastically.

Xia De looked up at the holy emblem and asked curiously:

"I know that nobles will specially set up prayer rooms in their manors, and I also know that prayer places will be set up in regular schools, but this is the first time I know that exhibition galleries also need prayer places."

"For the respect of God, we must keep it at all times."

The old curator said, and asked curiously:

"Young man, I haven't seen you here before. May I ask if you have something that needs my help? Or, do you need me to help introduce the collections here?"

"I do need your help, but it has nothing to do with these items."

Saying that, he extended his hand, and the old curator shook it with him:

"Then you are..."

"Hela Osenfurt introduced me to come here."

Xia De's words hadn't even fallen yet. Just hearing the woman's name Xia De mentioned, a very vivid expression of terror had already appeared on the old curator's face, which originally carried a kind smile:

"Osenfurt?"

It seemed it wasn't because of the woman's name, but because of the fear of this surname.

"Shouldn't we go to your office to talk?"

Xia De made an inviting gesture, but the old curator shook his head immediately:

"No, right here."

Saying that, he put his hands together again and bowed his head and closed his eyes, praying in a low voice toward the holy emblem. After the old man's another round of prayer, Xia De asked curiously:

"It seems that you and Osenfurt have had some... conflicts?"

"No, no, young man, you wouldn't want to know. I can't tell you. If I tell you, you will also be targeted. While there is still time, leave this city and never come into contact with those people!"

He advised Xia De, but Xia De shook his head regretfully:

"According to Mrs. Hela Osenfurt, I have already been targeted by Stone Osenfurt. The reason I came to find you is also to seek help. Don't look at me as young; actually, I am quite a capable person. I am actually..."

He thought of his friend, Mr. Sean Asmont, whom he often bumped into in different cities:

"I am actually a writer, and my side job is a demonologist. Yes, studying anecdotes and legends about demons in various parts of the Old Continent. But I really didn't expect that just winning a game of Luo De cards against Stone Osenfurt would lead to such a mess." ===== CHAPTER 1282 =====