Chapter 3707

The carriage door closed, and the curtains on the windows were drawn. As President Lenorman pulled the control lever, without any other operations, this locomotive actually began to move forward along the tracks in the underground tunnel.

The whistle sounded overhead, and the friction between the wheels and the tracks made a rhythmic sound. Because the curtains were drawn, only the area ahead could be seen. Although President Lenorman said the underground tunnel was less than two hundred meters long, Xia De clearly saw the tunnel and tracks ahead extending into the depths of the darkness.

Xia De felt that this relic was not like a spatial relic, because he did not feel any traces of spatial fluctuation while the locomotive was running.

Ten minutes after the locomotive started, the darkness of the tunnel receded, and the light of the gas lamps on the platform appeared ahead. The Keepers of the Prophecy Society headquarters, who had been waiting here, immediately prepared to welcome the train's arrival and guarded against the possibility that the person walking out of the carriage was not someone familiar.

But fortunately, this trip went very smoothly. Compared to the spatial movement relics Xia De had used in the past, the stability of this relic was indeed very high, but building an underground station was indeed very troublesome.

The current location was the Prophecy Society headquarters in the city of Lomari on the south coast of the Old Continent; this was also Xia De's first visit to this city. As he stepped onto the platform, he thought about how 【Omniscience and Omnipotence - Fate】 was not far from him, but President Lenorman had no intention of taking Xia De to visit the Society's headquarters.

After leaving the underground platform, the two followed an old Keeper who looked even older than Priest Ao Gu Si along the platform to the east, and then entered an iron door. Behind the iron door was a familiar-looking elevator, and this elevator actually moved downward amidst a rumbling vibration.

The Prophecy Society had its own means to prevent being probed, so Xia De's 【Enhanced Spatial Perception】 could only sense the approximate distance from the ground, but could not precisely locate the position.

"Perhaps it's similar to the underground part of the Academy's library."

After all, the Prophecy Society's headquarters moved here long before Miss Miss Feilian and Blaney first built Saint Byron.

The elevator stopped after descending for ten minutes, and the old Keeper then opened the door on the right side of the elevator. Behind the door was a wall; after the old man pressed his palm against the center of the wall, the wall melted away like an illusion.

Behind the wall was a spacious circular hall. After the three entered the hall, the kerosene lamps on the walls lit up together. Including the door they had just walked out of, there were a total of 13 iron doors on the walls, and the style of each door was exactly the same.

The old Keeper led the two to a certain door with a clear goal, took out a small key to open the door, and then made a gesture of invitation. Behind the door was pitch black, likely some means to prevent viewing from the outside in.

"Come this way."

President Lenorman said, walking in first, and Xia De followed.

He had thought about the scenes that might appear behind the door: perhaps a room filled with shelves, and the shelves filled with crystal balls; perhaps an endless grassland where a mysterious person was waiting for them; Xia De even thought that behind the door was a fate casino, and President Lenorman wanted to use the power of the casino to obtain the means to create an "Artificial Ring of Fate."

But he guessed wrong on all counts. After passing through the door, they entered a narrow, dark room without lights. The dark room was divided into inner and outer parts by iron bars. Xia De and President Lenorman stood outside the bars, and inside the iron bars, which were engraved with ancient runes, a glowing figure sat on a high stool.

The space inside and outside the bars was not even as large as the washroom in Xia De's house; even Little Mia, who had no requirements for living space, would probably feel it was cramped. It looked like a prison, and that blurry-looking figure inside the prison...

"Whose shadow is this?"

Xia De asked suddenly, his heart stirred. President Lenorman was a bit surprised:

"You can tell this is a shadow? Yes, this is indeed a shadow. There is no record in the Society's archives of the specific time it appeared here; it's as if it had been here from the beginning.

It's not that we imprisoned it; it chose to live here itself. We call it the 'Prophet.' It occasionally speaks some prophecies, and generations of diviners are only responsible for recording those prophecies. Most of the time, it won't answer any of our questions, and only in very rare cases will it converse with us about some things."

"Then, why bring me here..."

"After the War of the Lovers, the Prophet said it wanted to see someone who might know about the 'Angel of Death'."

Xia De nodded:

"I understand."

He moved a little closer to the bars. The ancient runes on the bars didn't look like they were for imprisonment; they looked more like runes for blocking and suppressing power. As for the shadow on the high stool, Xia De could only feel pure miracle elements:

"Hello, do you want to know about the 'Death-Announcer'?"

A voice came from the glowing shadow:

"I will only talk to you alone."

Xia De then turned to look at President Lenorman, who hesitated for a moment:

"Then I'll leave first. God-Awakener, just use this door when you leave; I'll wait for you in the hall outside."

He nodded at Xia De and then left directly from there.

The door closed. Here, only the shadow behind the bars had a faint glow. It sat motionless, and its voice was neither male nor female, with no discernibility at all:

"You have the aura of the Cherubim, the Angel of Wisdom, on you. If you want to seek help, why not go find it?"

Xia De raised an eyebrow, didn't answer the question, but asked back:

"You wanted to see me because of the Angel of Death, and now you know I've been in contact with the Angel of Wisdom. Could it be that you are the shadow of an angel? Do you come from the Angel of Fate?"

That figure also didn't answer Xia De's question:

"The Death-Announcer should never have appeared in the world at this moment. Even if it only appeared for a few minutes, it has already exceeded the trajectory of fate. I was originally curious about what kind of power could allow that angel who announces the end of the world to return early, and I suspected this was a special arrangement by Mr. Ring. Seeing you, I understood."

"What did you understand?"

But that figure still didn't answer Xia De's question:

"My doubts were answered when I saw you, so please state what you want to know."

Xia De frowned as he looked at it; the other party really had the demeanor of a prophet:

"Using arcs, is it possible to create an artificial Ring of Fate?"

"Yes, this requires materials—two arcs that do not conflict and are not the same,

this requires power—the power of the sun and the moon to complete the final third of the arc,

this requires tools—the best choice is the Unknown-level relic 【Moon in Water】 or the Unknown-level relic 【Sun and Shadow Twin Wheels】; this requires a location—a sacrificial site that is close enough to the sky and old enough; this requires a ritual—a ritual to convert the non-ring into a ring."

Xia De stood outside the bars and asked again, hesitating slightly:

"Since President Lenorman brought me here, it means he thinks there's a high probability I can get the answer here, but are you just going to tell me this information like this?"

"Since you have already asked the question, I must, of course, answer."

"I see... do you have anything you need to ask me? Or, is there anything you need me to do?"

The figure spoke after a few seconds of silence:

"No. Seeing you standing here, most of my questions have been answered. Go now. Even knowing this information, truly forging a fake Ring of Fate is still not a simple matter.

Arcs can be found; Unknown-level relics are in the hands of mortals; sites, although rare in the current era, must exist; the power of the sun and the moon can be borrowed through external objects. But only that ritual—

The Cherubim will give you the answer; the Unknown-level relic 【Book of All Laws】 must contain the answer; the Mad Omniscient has a probability of answering your question; in the ruins on the peak of Mount Fatumunst, there may be data that has not yet disappeared; in the Fate Casino, you can obtain this knowledge in the form of a bet.

Or, fate will deliver the answer to your hands in an unexpected way. Mr. Ring always arranges unexpected plays."

It didn't stop its words:

"The order of appearance of the thirteen Chosen Ones will also affect the direction of all stories. If the Chosen One of the Sun or the Moon has already appeared, with the assistance of the Chosen One of Knowledge and Wisdom, most steps can be omitted to directly forge a fake Ring of Fate.

But everything is already destined; even our conversation right now may have become inevitable at some moment many years ago."

It gave a total of five ways to find the ritual, and most of them were quite feasible.

"What exactly are you?"

Xia De asked. The figure behind the iron bars replied:

"When the Ancient Gods left, the fate of the world became completely chaotic after dusk. A prophet once went mad because of this, and I am a shadow of that prophet."

"Is that prophet the Angel of Fate?"

The figure asked:

"Are you the Moon?"

It seemed to like answering questions with questions... but Xia De was the same. He thought for a while longer and thanked the figure:

"Thank you for this information. Can I come to see you again in the future?"

The figure behind the bars replied:

"In the whole world, if you want to do something, no one can stop you. But meeting me again is meaningless. I am just a shadow, a shadow discarded by a madman. No one can fully understand fate, and no one can know all the futures... God-Awakener, where will you lead this world?"

Xia De replied:

"At least not to that worst future."

The figure nodded silently and said no more. Before leaving, Xia De asked again:

"Do you need me to say anything to Ms. White, oh, the guardian of the mountain seal?"

The shadow replied:

"No need. Regardless of how this story ends, its mission has already reached its end. I have nothing to say to it; after all, I am just a shadow."