Chapter 2791: Present and Future

The ritual looked very simple, and the main body of the ritual array should be underwater. The elf girl took the 【Flute of Time】 from the flower pot and followed everyone to come here. Emilia was very surprised by the appearance of the familiar long sword, and she thought this sword had always been in Xia De's hands.

"This sword is temporarily placed in her hands, and it will still be yours after you come back."

Xia De explained to Emilia. The little elf nodded ignorantly, actually thinking that in this way, she didn't seem to be the only elf by Xia De's side. Then she remembered what the red-haired little princess had said, and she no longer had the only scarcity.

"Xia De, give that jar of umbilical cord to this girl. Miss Sianod, you drink this potion, and then jump into the pool holding the umbilical cord."

The relatively mature elf girl said, and handed the prepared potion to Emilia. The little elf drank it after seeing Xia De nod. She didn't hate this strange "sister," but felt a very familiar intimacy:

"Mint flavor, I like this flavor."

Emilia said in a low voice, then took the jar of umbilical cord, looked at everyone, and jumped into the pool after holding her breath.

The water splashed to the shore, and seeing the "feeder" fall into the water, the fluffy Chocobos gathered around the pool wanting to drink the pool water to save her, but were blocked by Miss

At this time, the ritual had been activated, the runes on the shore lit up with emerald green light, and the originally clear pool water began to boil and emit emerald green light rich in vitality. Vibrant life force spread from the pool in all directions; not only did the forest feel this power, but Xia De and the others on the shore also felt the ancient power boiling.

The elf girl carrying the sword waited for a moment, then stood by the pool holding the sword with both hands, and pierced the tip of the sword into the water:

"Don't be too surprised in a moment—Thaumaturgy: Crystal Touch."

"What?"

Xia De certainly knew this thaumaturgy; Dorothy and Princess Lei Qianya had already given lectures for two months revolving around that fairy tale and thaumaturgy.

"I told you not to be so surprised; this thaumaturgy itself is actually not some alternative petrification spell. Its essence is a genuine time-type thaumaturgy, it just happens to be able to be resisted by petrification resistance."

The elf girl explained while casting the spell; the water surface touched by the sword tip was rapidly crystallizing, but she did not intend to turn the entire pool of water into crystal, because before long, in the increasingly boiling water, a crystal the height of a person was lifted up by the spray.

Xia De, the sword-wielding elf, Luweiya, Miss Dannister, and Ajielina could all see that inside the crystal, which was shining with brilliant light under the sun and the sky full of emerald green spots, was Amelia, who was curled up with her eyes closed, holding that jar of umbilical cord.

She herself had not turned into crystal, but that jar of umbilical cord presented a color close to crystal; this looked as if Amelia had been sealed in transparent amber.

"Amelia is so beautiful right now!"

The little princess even said this.

"Xia De, do you know how to reverse this kind of thaumaturgy?"

The sword-wielding elf asked again, and Xia De remembered Dorothy's explanation at the time:

"Gods have the ability to reverse the effects of mortal thaumaturgy, and a few Angel-level relics should also be able to. Other than that, either the caster forces the spell to be broken at the cost of their own severe injury, or time is reversed."

The elf then waved the long sword in her hand:

"This sword is one of the so-called 'few Angel-level relics'."

Saying this, she took out another jar of green ointment, and then asked Xia De and Luweiya to help apply specific ritual symbols on the surface of the crystal with these ointments—not letting Ajielina help because she was afraid she would do more harm than good.

After finishing these, the elf girl activated the ritual again, letting the crystal slowly sink into the pool water. After she was ready, she gave a light shout and leaped forward violently; the crystal, which had been dyed translucent green, immediately flew out from the bottom of the pool, and the elf also happened to swing a sword at that crystal at this moment.

After a crisp "Ding~" sound, the crystal and the semi-crystallized umbilical cord exploded together in the air into a large cloud of crystal powder, while Amelia, who was curled up, remained floating in the air and her whole body began to glow.

As for that cloud of exploded crystal powder, they first scattered in all directions, but soon returned along the same path as if time were flowing backward. But the crystal powder did not gather back into a crystal, but instead entered Amelia's body together.

At the same time, on the back of Amelia's hand, the green leaf vein mark automatically emerged. In the emerald green light, the already dense leaf veins continued to extend toward the blank area of the back of the hand, making the leaf vein mark become more complex and realistic.

The surge of power made the light on Amelia's body even stronger, and those emerald green rays continued to permeate this forest, which remained lush even in late autumn. The anomaly lasted for five minutes before ending, and the six-ring life ring behind her also emerged as a result.

And when Amelia woke up in the air, she first looked around in confusion, then received a reminder from Ajielina, who was carrying the cat, and looked below herself, then let out an "Ah~" scream and fell toward the pool; fortunately, she was caught in time by Xia De and Miss Dannister before falling into the water.

The elf with loose golden hair floated slowly to the shore, and everyone noticed that her pair of emerald green eyes looked brighter, and her golden long hair, which was already like shining light, became even more brilliant.

When Amelia's feet stood on the ground again, Luweiya asked her how she felt now at the first opportunity, and the somewhat dazed elf felt it for a moment before answering:

"I seem to have had a dream just now, dreaming of a small sapling growing into a big tree in the woods... I heard the voice of the forest."

"It looks like the effect is quite good."

The sword-wielding elf evaluated without much emotion, and then instructed Xia De:

"Before Wednesday night, when you have nothing to do, talk to her more about your experiences after coming to the Vista Woods; be as detailed as possible, preferably accurate to the precise date and time."

"Is this also part of the ritual?"

Amelia asked in confusion, but Xia De understood her meaning:

"No problem, then is there anything else we need to do before Wednesday?"

The elf girl shook her head, but reminded them very cautiously:

"Before that, you just need to protect her well."

Since they had come here, Luweiya and Miss Dannister both had things to say to the adult elf girl, so Xia De and the others did not leave immediately.

Taking advantage of Luweiya and Miss Dannister talking to the elf girl, Xia De took Amelia into the woods to try out her new skills; little Liana and Ajielina, of course, also followed.

It seemed that the underage Amelia was more liked by the chocobos, and before they knew it, a large group of chocobos was already following by their side. However, they did not approach, so Xia De did not pay attention.

Amelia's gains this time were mainly divided into two aspects, and the power boost brought to her by the Fourth Candidate was also mainly concentrated in these two aspects: Time and Tree.

The "Tree" improvement referred to her control over trees becoming more proficient; now she could easily urge a small sapling to grow into a towering tree. According to Amelia, this had almost become her instinct.

And the "Time" improvement was mainly concentrated in the "eyes," which was also because the Twin Princes' abilities were mainly concentrated in the eyes.

"I can now see some brief future images; although I'm not yet proficient, in battle, I should be able to see what the opponent's next move will be in an emergency."

The elf girl said embarrassedly, and then added:

"And I can now see the future of something; this doesn't mean I can see through the future, but see the possible future form of something. For example, a tree; if I see a sapling, I can know what it will be like if it grows up; for example, a piece of cake; I can see what disgusting state it will be in if it rots naturally there."

"Then can you see a person's future?"

Ajielina, who was carrying the cat, asked quite curiously, and Amelia nodded:

"Yes, for example, if I see a child, I can know what they might look like when they grow up. But this doesn't work on targets with time resistance like Xia De; of course, it doesn't work on little Mia either. Little Mia's time resistance seems to be very high too."

"Meow~"

"But chocobos are fine; look at this one, its feathers when it grows up will be even more beautiful than they are now."

Amelia said, picking up the little chocobo that had run to her feet, and then placed it on little Liana's back. The unicorn didn't dislike her doing this, but instead turned its head excitedly to look at its own back.

"Then what about me?"

Ajielina then pointed to herself with some expectation again, and Amelia looked at her. There seemed to be light flashing in her emerald green eyes, and only then did she hesitate and say:

"You will also be very beautiful when you grow up... as beautiful as you are now."

So the little princess carrying the cat was happy for a while, but when Xia De and Amelia were discussing the topic of "summoning tree folk," she suddenly realized the hidden meaning of this sentence. She turned to look at the pool on the side, looked at her own figure and height in the pool, opened her mouth in a daze, and immediately became unhappy.

Carrying anxiety about the future, especially the anxiety generated after comparison, before the group left here that morning, Ajielina even quietly found the grown-up elf who was temporarily alone, and then asked somewhat embarrassedly:

"Amelia, can you give me some advice? How did you become... so tall after growing up?"