Chapter 3574: Snake Eye, Coin, and Luvia

"Bella, wait a moment. Although your anomalous divination cards can display card faces different from regular divination cards, isn't directly pointing out a direction a bit too much? And wasn't the direction of that card something you set yourself when you flipped the card face?"

Odelle, who was nearby, asked this, and Bella raised her chin with considerable pride:

"After the twelfth ring, my divination ability has been greatly enhanced. This is my divination method. Megan, although you are a descendant of Laplace Howard, you didn't inherit his talent. You don't understand the ways of a diviner~ so don't question me."

So the Miss Edwardses decided that next time they went to find Xia De for some intimacy, they would change their hair to blonde and have Xia De call them Bella—this way the countess could feel more involved.

Seeing that it was only just past ten o'clock, Xia De set out again to search for clues. He didn't let the others follow, but told them to prepare well for tomorrow's action. Xia De himself took the 【Night Watchman】 and rode Elly out. Little Lianna stayed on the ship to bestow blessings on a batch of light-enchanted weapons that Heidi had made, which also counted as strategic reserves.

The young ladies on the ship had originally expected Xia De to return soon, so they all planned to have lunch together after he came back. But by half past twelve there was still no sign of Xia De and Elly, and they grew worried. Fortunately, when it was nearly one o'clock, they finally returned.

It was obvious at a glance that Xia De had been in a fight, but Elly was uninjured. However, he looked quite pleased, clearly having gained something:

"Didn't find the snake fang, but found something else. Elly and I went to a cave northwest of the snow mountain, and ran into a big snake inside. Not an Infinite Serpent—one of those snakes of unknown origin that sometimes pop up in this snow mountain.

After killing that snake, its body disappeared, but it left behind a yellow gemstone that looked like a snake's eye, the same as the one Mr. Motis traded out of the temple a few days ago. This one is worth 15 points, even more valuable than the snake fang."

On the night Jia Lin Na obtained the "Space" spirit rune, the group had been transported directly from Tobesk to the snow mountain because of a snake, and obtained a shed snakeskin from that snake. Xia De guessed that the birth of those snakes was also related to Mr. Ring, though he didn't know the reason for the existence of these great snakes with strange abilities—perhaps they were "treasure chests" prepared by the god of destiny for the performers.

In any case, although he hadn't found the snake fang, Xia De was quite happy to have obtained the snake eye with a higher point value. Bella, on the other hand, felt a bit embarrassed—after all, before Xia De set out she had been fully confident in her divination results, but no one "blamed" her, since there was still some gain.

During lunch, the witches asked Xia De whether he still planned to look for the snake fang in the afternoon, but Xia De shook his head:

"Let's wait until we've dealt with the Fallen Star Beast tomorrow before considering it. We can't spread our focus any thinner—I need to concentrate on dealing with tomorrow's enemy."

Claire also planned to concentrate on dealing with tomorrow's enemy. Originally the elders had scheduled a ritual for Stela this Thursday, to let her feel the power of the snow mountain and thereby enhance her talent, but although the materials for the ritual were prepared, the ritual procedure was very complicated, so this matter was also postponed until after the "Fallen Star Beast" incident.

That afternoon, however, news reached Xia De that the excellent diviners the Prophets' Association had gathered from various places had landed on the island from the Time Wheel City docks. This meant Jia Lin Na had also arrived on the island, and he was already impatient to share with her the news from these past few days about "forging rings," "shattered rings," and "the Edge of Destiny."

Of course, also the little trick she'd divined before leaving Tobesk about using the Fate Ring steam mist, and just how much help it had given Xia De.

Although the Association hadn't required the diviners not to go out casually, Jia Lin Na obviously couldn't have just arrived locally and immediately run to the town or the Radiant Envoy. So Xia De waited the entire afternoon without Jia Lin Na showing up. When the sun set, Miss Little Aurora finally came to notify Xia De:

"Miss Annette has come to the ship."

Half a week's journey hadn't brought Jia Lin Na any sense of fatigue. She greeted the witches who had come to welcome her, and upon seeing Xia De gave him a simple hug:

"Half a week apart, it feels like it's been ages. Has anything happened recently? I asked around when I was in Romarey City—besides the Association having a big mess, it seems everything here has been fine."

She stayed on the ship and ate dinner with everyone, during which she listened to Xia De tell of everything that had happened over the past half week.

But compared to topics related to the "Ring of Destiny," Jia Lin Na was more concerned about those other matters:

"A woman with extraordinary charm? The demon who obtained the Ring of Destiny is looking for a one-shot kill pistol? The message left by the ancient witch you found in the underground waterway said there's another guardian of the snow mountain, right?"

She didn't immediately offer her views on this—the matters were too many, and Jia Lin Na needed time to think. However, her trip hadn't been entirely without gain. Conversing with diviners from various places on the steam airship had let her learn about the current state of those small corners people usually didn't pay particular attention to in this day and age.

And during her stop in Romarey City, Jia Lin Na had also relied on her past connections and some "little tricks" to obtain some intelligence from within the Association:

"I can confirm that the Association headquarters should currently have two complete Rings of Destiny.

One of them seems to be 'Civilization,' representing the destiny that intelligent races will eventually move from chaos to order, and create more material and spiritual achievements. It is hidden deep beneath the Association, and has been functioning all along as an important component of some grand plan—it absolutely won't leave the Association headquarters lightly."

Although there was no evidence, Xia De instinctively felt that ring was related to the Luo De Pai plan.

"I don't know what destiny the other ring represents, and besides these two, all the 'Rings of Destiny' the Association has come into contact with over the years have been shattered. Although the Association provided Xia De with a method of using dice to drive rings, the fate dice within the Association are also finite. Only by shattering rings can one obtain dice, and only with dice can one use rings—to use rings one needs more dice."

She explained it this way:

"So although Mr. Charroux is currently ranked first, the total points on the dice he holds definitely aren't several times more exaggerated than Stela's. The Association won't stake everything just for the Chosen One qualification. After the story of destiny's chosen one ends, the Association still has to exist and develop, so Stela isn't actually that far behind."

Bella asked in confusion:

"You only stopped in Romarey City for a day—how did you get such secret intelligence? Is this really something you can just casually inquire about?"

Jia Lin Na smiled and said:

"I originally wanted to divine whether there was any way to get into the Association's forbidden books area and sealed area, and the divination was a great success—it told me a secret passage and how to open the rune lock at the end of it."

It seemed the long-haired girl was at work again. Besides the above information, Jia Lin Na had also genuinely managed to acquire two coin-type relics in Romarey City.

The cold coin wasn't made of metal—its crystalline, translucent appearance was clearly solid ice. One side bore a giant snowflake symbol, the other a number "1" held up by a hand. The edge of the coin had letter engravings—

【May my heart no longer be cold.】

"Document-grade relic 【Cold Heart】, effective during all seasons except summer. When thrown, it can put oneself into a prolonged emotionless state, thereby avoiding the effects of some mental attacks and allowing one to think with relative rationality.

Of course, there's also the interpretation that this coin actually represents the right of transaction—tossing the coin means selling off one's emotions in exchange for calm."

New coins meant new things to divine. Jia Lin Na had to train with the prophets tomorrow and couldn't participate in the "Fallen Star Beast" subjugation. So after dinner she had originally wanted to divine for Xia De the actual abilities and current state of the "Fallen Star Beast," but was refused by Xia De:

"We can't rely on divination for everything—we've divined enough times on this matter already. Besides, this act of the story is about to end, and other things will soon become more troublesome. Let's save these two coins. That woman with extraordinary charm gives me a rather ominous feeling."

The group would set out at dawn on Friday, so after dinner that evening Jia Lin Na left. By the time she saw Xia De again, the Fallen Star Beast story should already be over.

"Now that you know two methods of utilizing the Ring of Destiny, will you forge a Ring of War?"

Before parting, Jia Lin Na asked this question again, and Xia De shook his head:

"We'll see how things stand then—no one knows what will happen tomorrow. But shattered rings yield more points, so if there's a chance... we'll see."

When Jia Lin Na left, she didn't take the snake eye Xia De had found that morning—the snake eye should have uses beyond viewing the temple murals. Bella had already begun researching it, so Jia Lin Na didn't intervene.

Because they had to act early tomorrow morning, Vanessa and Megan didn't go to Xia De's place tonight. Miss Jia Lin Na also didn't visit Number Six Saint Delan Square. Thursday night Xia De spent with Dorothy.

He didn't practice the silver flute again, but sat on the sofa chatting with Dorothy about recent matters.

"Do I need to go with you all? Tomorrow happens to be Red Butterfly Day. Although we said we'd postpone it, if real danger comes up, Princess Lei Lei Qianya and I can act immediately."

She asked, and Xia De shook his head:

"This afternoon we already decided to have Flora and Miss Elaeth stay behind on the ship. Tomorrow you come with me to the island, and also stay on the ship to guard against attacks from other enemies. I'm carrying the Butterfly-Summoning Flute, so Grace and Helen can find me anytime—it'll be fine."

For the same reason, he didn't go call Sister Sister Daifulin, who was preparing to advance to the thirteenth ring. Since he was taking the vast majority of the witches with him, he couldn't also bring Dorothy and Sister Sister Daifulin, who could provide support at any time—this was to guard against the demon attacking Time Wheel City and Kyle-Todd Town again. Xia De truly had no shortage of enemies on the island.