Chapter 3154

Xia De held the tea cup and pondered. His time adventures had already traversed the five main continents of the Fifth Era—east, west, south, north, and middle. In the past, he had also looked for traces of those adventure companions, and coupled with what he saw and heard during the story of the Space Chosen, he also had his own conclusions about the material world that changed with the change of eras:

"In my opinion, the main part of the Old Continent in the Sixth Era we are in now is the Middle Continent of the Fifth Era. And St. Byrons, which was originally located in the permafrost north of the North Continent in the Fifth Era, did indeed become the edge area of the north of the Old Continent starting from this era. Doctor, your guess should be correct; at the end of each era, only part of the area can exist."

He shook his head:

"Let's talk about this later; this is not the focus of today. Let's continue; you said you found the demon sealed in the Third Era? Then did you devour it?"

The doctor shook his head with regret:

"It's a pity; although the traces of the seal are still there and the power of the seal is still there, the demon has disappeared."

Xia De was not surprised; if the doctor succeeded directly with his luck, that would be the surprising thing.

"I stayed in that ice cave and carefully investigated the traces left behind. I won't go into the process in detail, but in short, it was finally inferred that the demon should have broken free earlier in this era, no later than 700 of the Sixth Era."

"In other words, it has been out of the seal for at least a thousand years?"

The doctor nodded, put down the tea cup, and his expression was a bit serious:

"I also figured out the means by which it broke free. It should be that someone broke into that seal, and then I don't know if they were greedy for the demon's power or were deceived by the demon, and actively let the demon attach to him or her, thereby letting the demon break free from the seal under the glacier at the cost of losing two-thirds of its power without almost destroying the seal."

This was probably another story about greed and lies:

"Then can we try to track the other party?"

"I tried to do it after returning to Wintercastle. Those seals had imprisoned the demon from the Third Era to our era. Even if the demon tried to eliminate its own traces when escaping, the seal itself still retained its aura."

"Although I haven't obtained the 【Lightless Path】 compass yet, I still have the ability to search for demons based on their aura. It's just that the range I can give is very large, and I cannot pinpoint it accurately."

Xia De didn't hang a map of the Old Continent in his home as decoration, so the doctor took out the map he brought in his suitcase:

"At least when I used the ritual to assist in the search on the day of the Year-End Festival, I found that the demon's location was near Star Fall Bay in the southwest of the Lagson Principality. The next search will be next month; after all, the range is the entire Old Continent, which is really exhausting."

Xia De was not surprised at all by the reappearance of the place name "Star Fall Bay." Now the traces of the First Fire, the Chosen of Fate, and the demon all appeared there. He even felt that this was fate urging him, telling him not to go on vacation and set off quickly.

The outsider even suspected that if he continued to stay in Tobesk safely, maybe after a while, Priest Ao Gu Si would also say "I sense the other eye of the angel on Fatumonster Snow Mountain," and if he still didn't move, one of his friends or family members around him would probably disappear in that area at random.

"It just so happens that after the festival, I also have things to go there and take a look... Speaking of which, what exactly is that demon? Does it have any characteristics?"

Before setting off, the doctor didn't mention the specific information about the demon to Xia De because he wasn't sure if the clues he found were true. But since the existence of the seal had been confirmed, there was no need for him to continue to keep it secret:

"Demons have different appellations in different eras, and the appellations given by mortals will have different changes in different eras, but this does not affect the power of those ancient evil spirits."

"The Demon of Weapons, the Demon of Slaughter, these are all titles it possesses, but I am more accustomed to calling it Black Hand - Tifuron."

The doctor folded his hands together and placed them on his lap, slightly narrowing his eyes:

"It represents the human nature of being brave and fierce. The power it possesses allows it to easily use any weapon, allowing it to easily provoke any two harmonious friends to immediately engage in slaughter."

"It is not the Demon of Slaughter, nor is it the Demon of War; what it represents is just fighting and death. In that ancient Third Era, what it did most often was to attach itself to a certain weapon, waiting for people to hold it. Then the holder would gain victory and honor in one fight and struggle after another, until they were completely reduced to an evil spirit who only knew how to fight, controlled by that weapon."

"It is a complete lunatic, not even minding that the demon-man using its power challenges other evil spirits and demons, but it is also almost one of the most powerful demons in combat."

Xia De asked hesitantly:

"This kind of fighting lunatic actually has the ability to coax humans into letting it attach to them?"

The doctor corrected Xia De's idea:

"All demons represent the purest malice; don't think that they are really without reason. Moreover, the power of the Demon of Slaughter and Weapons - Black Hand Tifuron is relatively special; as long as it manifests in the form of a certain weapon, it is difficult for ordinary people to control themselves not to grasp it."

The doctor gave Xia De a very vivid example:

"Think about it, a young man fell into a hole under the snow surface to avoid a blizzard, walked for a long time in the maze-like cracks under the glacier, tired, hungry, and cold, then broke into a hidden ice crystal cave, and then discovered a silver long sword with its blade locked by dozens of iron chains, inserted into the ice in the depths of the cave."

"We sorcerers who have seen more things of course know that this is not normal, but for ordinary people, it is difficult to control themselves not to try to pull it out."

So Xia De understood:

"Weapons and disputes, huh? This kind of power sounds quite primitive; is this also one of the oldest batch of demons?"

"Yes. However, although it once claimed that it was born from the first duel of intelligent life, I can be sure that it is not that ancient. The specific birth time of this demon should be in the late First Era; from then on, legends about it have been circulated."

"So what we are looking for this time is a demonic weapon?"

The doctor shook his head:

"I don't know its current form either; after all, so many years have passed since the Third Era, and it has also walked for at least eight hundred years in the Sixth Era. Maybe it is an axe, maybe a pistol, a steam cannon, but it could also be a hermit living in seclusion in the mountains and forests, but actually sleeping in a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood."

"The other party should have spent most of the time in this millennium recovering its power; escaping from the seal caused great damage to it. If you really encounter it, then absolutely do not fight it while holding a weapon."

"Not even 【Night Watcher】?"

Xia De asked, and the doctor shook his head:

"No, although it also fears the power of that witcher's sword, that sword will also be restrained by it."

"Not even spiritual weapons like 【Moonlight Greatsword】?"

"No, spiritual weapons are not power that only exists in our era; this kind of supernatural power already existed in the Third Era and was restrained by it."

Xia De nodded gently; he also had means such as "Moonlight Slash," "Moonlight Wheel," "Moon Fire," and "Chaos Residue" without using weapons, which was not a big problem:

"Then after I arrive at Star Fall Bay, how should I find it?"

"You first go to understand the local legends and see if there is any trace of the other party in the local legends. I brought back some seal fragments from the glacier seal; I will make detection alchemy tools as soon as the exam week ends."

"Still the same as before, you first go to find its traces, determine the other party's current power, identity background, and what it is doing, and then I will set off and meet up with you."

This was also the safest plan. Now the doctor not only had the power of a demon but also the power of a witcher. While he could detect the demon, it was also easier for the demon to discover him.

After Xia De asked about some more information about the demon, the plan to hunt for a brand-new demon was finalized. Seeing that others hadn't come yet, he thought of another thing;

"Doctor, when I visited friends at Green Lake before the Year-End Festival, Miss Helena Green asked me to bring a letter to you."

He got up and went to the study, took out the letter from the drawer, and handed it to the doctor.

The doctor sat on the sofa and looked at the text on the envelope, then tucked it into his pocket:

"I know."

Just like when he left Green Lake City back then, he chose to ignore Miss Helena Green's letter again. Bill Schneider knew his fate, and therefore he was unwilling to implicate anyone else—except for people like Xia De.

The two then chatted a few more words in front of the fireplace about their respective experiences during the Year-End Festival. The doctor even joked about whether Xia De had a more tiring festival than usual. Soon Luweiya, Duoluoxi, and Priest Ao Gu Si also arrived.

Because the year-end exam was an upgrade exam, it was more important than the summer exam week. And after last year's upgrade exam, the doctor, who was now at the Tenth Ring, was actually in the sixth grade; Duoluoxi and Luweiya, who were promoted to the Ninth Ring before the Year-End Festival, were in the fifth and fourth grades respectively, and Priest Ao Gu Si, who was promoted to the Sixth Ring before the festival, was only at the second-grade level.

And for this winter exam week, only Xia De planned to skip from the sixth grade to the eighth grade—although in fact, he was already at the Ninth Ring.

However, when the Month of Slumber began, Xia De heard from Dannister that the upgrade speed of both in-school students and correspondence students had been getting faster over the past year, and the academy, considering that having only one upgrade exam a year would delay many things, launched a new policy:

Large-scale opening of skip-grade exam applications for correspondence students, and after correspondence students pass any level of upgrade exam in the winter of 1854, they can submit proof that their own level exceeds their grade to the academy in 1855, and are then allowed to participate in corresponding courses that match their actual level.

(End of chapter)