Chapter 1858: [The Rift]

The news of the agreed-upon meeting time between the 【Dragon Feast Sect】 and the "God-Awakener" arrived on the morning of the brand-new Monday, the day after the assassination and the border conflict.

At that time, Xia De was yawning, holding a newspaper and two bottles of goat milk, with Little Mia, who was staring at the milk bottle, perched on his shoulder as he walked out of the hidden space in the basement of the Green Lake Hotel. He was greeted by the sight of Luvia standing in the basement, talking to Iluna.

He hadn't expected to see them so early. The large-scale divination ritual of the Diviner Association had temporarily come to an end, allowing Luvia some leisure time locally. But Iluna was the protagonist of the Green Lake Battle on Wednesday; Xia De hadn't expected her to still find a way to come here under such tense circumstances.

"As a Chosen One, my freedom is limitless."

The girl with beautiful brown long hair said with a smile, then invited Xia De to have breakfast together.

Because they were worried about being seen by others, the three of them had breakfast in Xia De's room. The Witches' Council had not yet received news from the 【Dragon Feast Sect】 because of the delay in message transmission, but Iluna had obtained first-hand information:

"Time is very urgent; we meet tonight. It can basically be confirmed that it is that Nadia Folen who is inviting you to meet."

Xia De had mentioned during the Saturday ball that the 【Dragon Feast Sect】's main force of Ringed Ringed Shushi had mostly left Green Lake because they had discovered other fragments of the poem, so Iluna had more guesses:

"On one hand, Nadia Folen is indeed dissatisfied with her ancestor; on the other hand, the 【Dragon Feast Sect】 no longer has the heart to focus on the Diafu area, so they want to form a certain degree of tacit understanding with the Zhengshen Sect. That matter should be a trap; he cannot go with that."

Luvia asked with concern:

"You understand; in a while, you will give that to Miss Duo Luo Xi and let her put that together with the angel feather."

"Speaking of which, Xia De, the church contacts you directly through the Witches' Council. Won't the other witches who don't know you feel suspicious about this?"

"But in fact, few people know that the origin of this item can be traced back to the early Seventh Era, which is also the time when the Old Gods left one after another. This was once a part of the eyes of the statue in the temple of the Old God of Space, 【Primordial Rift】. After the statue was broken in an unknown era, it was a top-tier divine artifact. Subsequently, its power gradually dissipated over thousands of years, and it turned into a relic in the long passage of time, until it came into your hands."

【The world is a rift.】

"It doesn't matter. Miss Miss Jia Lin Na reported to the council a long time ago that the God-Awakener and I have some shallow friendship, and I can contact him, but the God-Awakener does not necessarily answer every time."

Only then did Xia De put away the lens, understanding in his heart that they actually did not want to destroy the impression he had of them.

"Although the main function of this item is to discover rifts, such as detecting entrances to secret rooms that are almost integrated with the walls, it actually has the effect of significantly reducing the power of magic eyes, curses, and Ringed Ringed Shushi that must use 'eye contact' to be effective after being placed in front of one's eyes."

Luvia continued, thinking Xia De would show displeasure, but Xia De only revealed a melancholy expression, then nodded and pushed Little Mia's head, which was reaching toward the plate, to the side:

Then she also used a fork to pick up a slice of food and handed it to Luvia. The Diviner Miss naturally would not refuse. The atmosphere of breakfast was very good. The three people who had gathered together from the beginning set off with a good mood, ready to face another challenge.

Green Lake asked worriedly, and Xia De shook his head:

Xia De finally raised his head, and the purple-eyed girl also smiled:

Green Lake said, and Xia De nodded knowingly:

Xia De looked down at the lens in his hand and placed it in front of his left eye, wanting to look at Green Lake and Luvia, but was immediately grabbed by the arm by both of them:

"That Old God of Wealth and Trade told me three ways to use the Philosopher's Stone. Using it as a consumable item to achieve maximum spell efficiency will come in handy this time. Even if it is used to follow Edwards to the island, or used to confront that diviner, using it at the end to seal that island with the Ringed Ringed Shushi 'Tree Kiss' is also good. I carefully studied it when I went back last night. That knowledge is very chaotic, but for some reason, I seem to be very talented in using the Philosopher's Stone, and using it to cast spells is very simple for me... What kind of talent is this?"

Only the cat was confused for a long time, wondering why no one gave it food.

Luvia continued, glanced at Xia De, and stated her true intention:

"Although it is not a special item, it is not a very useful thing either. A bunch of white flowers, probably sprayed with some potion, seems to be able to stay in bloom for many days, but the flowers are just ordinary species. The task is to give flowers to friends around me. I plan to wait until after Saturday to complete it."

"An item related to the Old Gods?"

Green Lake's ears behind her hair moved, and she carefully noted down the matter of Xia De's birthday.

"I just heard Priest Ao Gu Si say that you took Mia home early last night to rest. Are you preparing?"

"You see, Luvia, I just said that Xia De would definitely understand the necessity of doing this."

Xia De understood now. The first-rank diviner must have made preparations, the item of the second-rank Lu Se was prepared by the Witches' Council, and the third-rank Miss Jia Lin Na already had that red orb in her hands. So, this was prepared for Miss Duo Luo Xi and Lei Lei Qianya.

"There is one more thing to tell you. I want to give you something, and I hope you can accept it."

Among them, making old medicine is the most difficult, refining gold is the second most difficult, and using the Philosopher's Stone as a consumable item for spellcasting is the most chaotic.

As for Luvia, she took a deep breath:

The cat eating breakfast suddenly raised its head and looked at Xia De vigilantly. Seeing that Xia De made no move, it lowered its head and continued to eat its meal.

"Since it's Monday, Xia De, what did you get for your gift this week?"

"Yes, Xia De has always known what should be done."

Green Lake nodded with relief, actually hoping that Xia De could stay away from those strange women.

"It's unclear. They gave a special consumable alchemical item that can only be viewed by one person once, and then it is immediately destroyed. That thing will be sent to the Witches' Council this afternoon, and Xia De should be able to get it at noon. Although the church also has the ability to bypass the restrictions by other means, it must give the 'God-Awakener' some face."

Luvia pursed her lips, looking at Xia De without speaking further.

"However, you can use this to take a look at Little Mia."

He planned to give this bunch of flowers when he gave Green Lake her birthday gift; otherwise, just having the scales and the golden apple would be too monotonous.

She carefully took out a red jewelry box. The box was very small, only enough to hold small items like earrings or rings. After opening it, a round transparent glass was embedded vertically inside, but looking closely, one discovered that this was a monocle.

Xia De was thinking in his heart, but saw Luvia use her own fork to pick up the apple she had just chopped and placed it in front of her. Xia De was a little surprised, and seeing the purple eyes staring at him, he bit the apple down. Then, he cut a small piece of bacon from the plate and handed it to Green Lake.

Luvia suggested with a smile again.

"Meow?"

"You know he loathes that kind of outcome, but you must make plans for any possibility that might arise."

"A relic?"

The three people continued to eat around the small tea table. Xia De touched the cat licking goat milk with its head down, thinking there were no other matters. When he raised his head, he actually saw Green Lake winking at Luvia. Discovering that Xia De was looking at them, Green Lake immediately pretended to be very interested in the bacon on her plate, lowering her head and not looking at Xia De.

"You want to give me something, what can I not accept? However, the birthday I consider is the day the doctor met me, which is next month, the 22nd day of the Sun Month. It's still a month away. Do you want to give me a birthday gift in advance? But traditionally, people don't care much about birthdays after eighteen, and I am not an unmarried noble lady like Lei Lei Qianya or Jia Lin Na, so you don't need to give me a birthday gift."

Xia De blinked:

"Yes, I went to see that old witch and also met the Red Butterfly sisters privately, confirming that they are the third rank. However, their items, presumably, don't need me to prepare; this is for..."

"Xia De, you must know that there is nothing perfect in this world. Therefore, by observing the world through it, you will see that there are actually many flaws you haven't noticed on objects you originally thought were 'beautiful'. We are eating breakfast now, don't look at that."

"Yes, poet-level relic - 【Rift】. The characteristic is very simple: place it in front of your eyes to more easily peek at the subtle cracks that are not easily noticed on objects. The containment method is to sandwich it between two identical objects, and the negative characteristic is that once you see eyes that shouldn't exist from the rift, eyes will also grow on your own body."

Xia De took out the curved glass and found that the surface was not empty, but had cracked traces. There was a line of extremely hidden small characters on the edge. Xia De had to rub it with his fingers to let "you" interpret it—

He planned to wait until he had time to translate the text on the bronze bell into the text of the Eighth Era and transcribe it to share with the girls around him. Although the text on the bronze bell was rare, that kind of text, whose era was unknown, contained a huge amount of information. After translating and transcribing it, it could probably be written directly into a book.

Xia De asked again.

"Oh, the other witches treat you as a woman."

Luvia asked again, and Xia De nodded, taking the large bronze bell he had obtained from the 【White Fog Camp】 out of his inner coat pocket:

"It's not a gift for him. Actually, I was preparing this thing before I even left Tobesk. Old John helped acquire the target item, but the matter dragged on for a long time. It wasn't until I arrived in Dyafu City that Old John's friend there, Mrs. Natalie, finally gave it to me."

"No problem, I'll go tonight. I hope Nadia Follen can provide it directly, allowing me to follow Megan and the others to the island."

"Where are the specific meeting time and location? Is it still the City of Glass?"

Grace had just seen the two's intimate actions and lowered her head, pretending not to care. But when Xia De's fork reached over, the eleven-year-old girl raised her head immediately. She pursed her lips with some anticipation, and seeing Luvia looking at her with a smile, she blushed and ate the food on the fork.

PS: This chapter's illustration, "The Crack."