Chapter 3040: The Werewolf Miss's Gift

Although the area of the clearing had expanded several times over since the beginning, facing the varied gazes of her colleagues, the Duchess still quickly arrived before Xia De. She deliberately let her line of sight avoid the lady standing beside Xia De:

"Although it took a long time, we finally found this."

Saying this, she handed the box in her hand to Difa. Thus, the black-haired maid Miss lowered her head, holding the heavy gray stone box with both hands, and handed it to Xia De beneath the sea of stars.

The wind raced through the forest, and the canopy outside the clearing rustled. Snow fell onto the smooth surface of the stone box. Xia De did not reach out to take it, but instead brushed away the snowflakes with his right hand, looking at the simple sketches carved on the surface of the stone box—already somewhat blurred—of an angel, a werewolf, an elf, a dragon maid, a human female, and a human male. The six patterns all surrounded a symbol representing fire in the center.

Four millennia had passed since the end of the six-person adventure.

"We tried to open it, but we couldn't."

The witch said softly.

The stone box itself seemed to be a single-piece structure, without any gaps. Xia De stared at the box in a daze, and after nodding gently to indicate he understood, he took out from his pocket the silver crescent pendant tied with wolf hair rope that the werewolf girl had gifted him before he left the "Ash Valley."

After hearing that the 【Missing Moon Secret Society】 was looking for something, he had kept this on his person ever since.

Carefully placing the crescent pendant on the fire symbol at the very center of the box's surface, as the crescent drew near the symbol, the six simple sketches surrounding the fire all emitted a silver radiance.

The stone box did not open because of this; instead, fine sand spilled out from all six flat sides simultaneously. In just a few seconds, the entire box was scattered by the night wind. Difa gently shook her hands, discarding all the sand in them, which revealed the ancient piece of tree bark buried within the dust.

It looked like a piece of bark that had been newly peeled off, larger than two palms put together. The texture of the outer surface facing upward was rough, and the color of the bark was intertwined with shades of light brown and hints of golden yellow, with tiny cracks occasionally snaking across it, resembling ancient symbols.

"This is it."

A faint golden light adhered to the bark. Xia De covered it with his right hand, and after confirming there were no problems, he let the bark float beside him. After nodding gently to the black-haired maid Miss, he turned again to face the old man before the throne:

"Adding this at the end, is it enough?"

The old man recognized what it was at a single glance, and even though so many things had happened over these two nights, he was still astonished by this:

"World Tree bark? The witch who chased the moon back then actually stored this underground?"

But after the astonishment, he still hesitated:

"But this piece of bark alone is still not enough."

"This is not just simple bark. The original story of my Mythical Lock, that story about the Eternal Crystal, is recorded here. Someone once told me that the original version of a story has a very strong amplification effect on the Miracles and Curses originating from that story, and can even cause the effects of the Miracles and Curses to undergo a complete qualitative change."

Xia De looked at the floating, rotating bark. At this moment, the inner side of the bark happened to be facing him, and it still retained the story he had written back then about the forest, the crystal, obsession, and eternity using "Thought Writing." Only, beneath his story, there were simple sketch symbols carved with sharp claws, identical to the patterns on the surface of the stone box from just a moment ago.

This was content carved by Miss Bister after she left the "Ash Valley" in order to hold onto fading memories. Xia De did not know about this; he only guessed that the girl with wolf ears wanted to permanently commemorate that adventure of the group.

"If that is the case..."

The old man before the throne stroked his beard and hesitated for a moment, finally giving an answer different from the one just before:

"Perhaps it can, perhaps it cannot. I have never thought of this possibility, nor has anyone ever tried such a thing. You can try it, but I must warn you: if you fail, you need to immediately have the elf or yourself sit on that chair. Once it begins, there is no turning back."

"Then, to complete the Chosen One ritual, must one become a tree?"

"No, you can choose not to become a tree, just simply inherit the power; becoming a tree is only one possibility after holding the ritual... I understand. Let's hold the Chosen One ritual first. With the help of the Chosen One of Time, your attempt might go a bit more smoothly."

Thus, those gazes that dared not fall upon Luweiya all fell upon Emilia. The elf Miss was still in a state with red-rimmed eyes, and seeing everyone look at her, she hurriedly wiped away her tears.

And Miss Jia Lin Na had by this time already led the "Chocobo Riders" to join the Council's team, and only then learned the general situation from Grandma Cassandra.

"Do I need to hold the ritual now? Okay, no problem."

Emilia said, and the old man reached out his hand toward Xia De again:

"Since you have already made your decision, give me that gnome's bomb. While she holds the ritual, I am going to completely blow up the transit station existing inside the wreckage of the World Tree; that thing should not be left behind either. By the way, this bomb was also something I deliberately left in the city."

Xia De gave the bomb directly to him. The old man certainly had a way to lift the time stasis, so Xia De did not lift his own Miracle.

"I will go with you."

Luweiya said, and then her voice appeared in Xia De's heart:

"I am going to recover the seventh tree heart."

"Is the 【Staff of Yggdrasil】 made from this?"

"Not entirely; it can only be considered one of the main materials, and also the most important material."

The old man nodded, and a white fog barrier unfolded before them. He stepped inside, and the long-haired Luweiya holding the staff followed into it as well. Also leaving together was that shadow transformed from Xia De's shadow. The moment she left, the stars and moon in the night sky suddenly brightened, but only then did people realize that this was what the starry sky should look like.

The light of the giant tree also recovered at the same moment, and the glowing runes on the four smaller seats also lit up. Except for Xia De, everyone felt as if the boulder in their hearts had disappeared, the sound of the wind became less low, and the sounds belonging to nature from the outskirts of the forest finally arrived; this place was no longer silent.

It was just that in the distance, one could still hear some sounds of fighting in the direction of the city, but those sounds were no longer dense or frequent; the fighting in the direction of the city should also be coming to an end soon.

"Emilia."

"Okay, I am ready."

The elf girl, having wiped her face clean of tears, hurriedly said. Thus, the people under the tree gradually retreated toward the outskirts of the clearing. As Emilia walked alone toward the center of the clearing, Xia De joined the girls of the Witch Council, following beside little Liana as he also retreated toward the outskirts of the clearing.

He reached out wanting to pat the restless cat on his chest, but his wrist was suddenly gripped by another hand reaching out from the side. Turning his head, he saw it was Adele. The golden-haired great witch with a tear mole at the corner of her eye glared, looking at him with a pouty expression. Xia De knew this was naturally because of the appearance of the long-haired Luweiya.

"I didn't expect it either before."

He expressed his meaning with his mouth, but the witch remained unrelenting; it looked like she was determined to make Xia De provide a reasonable explanation right now.

The other great witches just watched the two interact like this. Miss Jia Lin Na and the little witch Fanni were huddled together communicating, pretending not to see, and Grandma Cassandra, supported by Miss Swift, also ignored it. Flora, however, cast a glance toward Silvia:

"What is the situation with them?"

The young space great witch blinked:

"How would I know? Why don't you ask?"

Flora hurriedly shook her head. She had great confidence in Xia De, so she wasn't worried about whether he would be able to succeed in sealing it later, so she pondered instead about the sixth oil painting—the very last one—that she had promised to Xia De once this matter was over, and what exactly she should paint:

"There shouldn't be a bigger scene than just now tonight, so what should I paint? Him casting spells under the moon with the three moon sorceresses? This could be painted a bit more religiously... Him welcoming that unseeable woman in the palm of an Ancient One? This could have some stream-of-consciousness content added, after all, I don't know who that is either... Wait, why are they all scenes of Xia De with others?"

She then thought it would be better to paint herself dancing under the moon with the Moonlight Dragon after she turned into an undead dragon. The spiral of life and death could be set as the theme, although this matter hadn't actually happened, she could completely have Xia De do this once after this war ended.

"In any case, there shouldn't be anything else happening, right?"

After everyone had retreated to the edge of the clearing, only Emilia was left standing alone under the starlight. The Chosen One ritual of time required a special venue, and there would never be any place in this woodland more suitable than this.

The giant tree rustled in the night wind at this moment. After the Ancient One and that daughter of time destruction left temporarily, this place belonged to the era of "humans"; snowflakes danced all around, and the pure white snow represented pure white souls; starlight projected down from the circular gap in the canopy above, and people of the past, present, and "future" watched her together, expecting her to complete the final ritual.

Being watched by so many people, Emilia was actually a bit embarrassed. She thought in her heart that if Xia De failed later, she would step up, coughed to clear her throat, then lowered her head to tidy up her clothes, and straightened the crown on her head.

The 【Flute of Time】 was temporarily stuck in the snow. Having prepared herself, Emilia summoned her Fate Ring once again. Only this time, she did not trigger the power of the crown, so the Fate Ring remained at eight rings.

"In the name of the World Tree—Yggdrasil—"

She extended her right hand, first with the back of her hand facing up, letting the complete leaf pattern appear. After the light was bright enough, the elf girl extended her left hand as well, holding both hands together with palms facing up:

"Appear, newly born sapling, tree of the future, axis of time." ===== CHAPTER 3041 =====