Chapter 4118: The Sea of Origins

【Outsider, you have obtained the miracle art "Life Fire Form": fuse the "Fire Seed Source" with yourself, using the life fire seed to ignite flesh and blood, transforming the flesh-and-blood body into an elemental-like body. In this form, fatal points vanish, and you will not die until the life fire seed's energy is exhausted; it enhances the effects of "Life"-series miracle arts and Zhou Fa. Immune to negative effects and attack damage targeting flesh and blood, but more susceptible to the influence of death power. Corresponds to the 【Life】 spirit rune.】

"Ah, this..."

The "fusing the fire seed source with the body" required by this miracle art is actually just embedding the fire seed source into one's own flesh and blood, but the brand on Xia De's right palm can directly contain the fire seed source, so he doesn't need to harm himself.

This power sounds extremely powerful—after transforming into a "fire person," even if injured he won't feel much pain, and the enhancement to Life-series miracle arts and Zhou Fa can greatly boost Xia De's combat ability.

But instinctively he didn't much like this miracle art. In the Outsider's view, this flesh-and-blood body of unknown origin was already the most perfect; he didn't need to rely on elementalization to gain other traits. The traits this flesh-and-blood body already possessed were sufficient for him.

"But it's a free miracle art anyway, so if necessary, I can try it later. Still, this should also belong to constructing a body from life force purely from an energy standpoint—neither flesh and blood nor mechanical."

Besides obtaining the miracle art, background information about this miracle art was also acquired by Xia De.

Although this is a Ring-Witch miracle art, its power actually originates from a very distant past. "Fire Seed Sources" are indeed quite uncommon, but in the Mythological Era, the number of fire seed sources held by believers of the ancient gods was greater than in any other era.

It was a holy relic permitted only to the most devout priests among the Gushen Sect, and the priests who held the relic developed a series of divine arts that required holding a fire seed source based on the characteristics of the "Fire Seed Source."

Among them, "Life Fire Form" was not a divine art developed for combat; its essence was a pre-death dedication ritual. Life comes only once—both worshippers of the God of Death and worshippers of the Creator God believe this. And for those who came after, the soul may go toward death, but they hope the flesh will not be annihilated.

And so "Life Fire Form" was born. In ancient times, holders of fire seed sources, when about to die, used "Life Fire Form" to transform their flesh into fire seeds. Once the soul departed, the fire seed source would absorb all the fire seeds, and the flesh would thus endure forever in the form of life energy.

"The ancients really were impressive. The fire seed sources of antiquity carried the life energy of generations of priests, so they must have been far more powerful than those held by modern people."

Xia De sighed inwardly. He didn't try the new miracle art here directly, but when tentatively probing the miracle art's power, he clearly felt that after obtaining the new power, his control over the "Life Fire Seed" had strengthened considerably.

With this, he could try imbuing more Red Moon miracle arts with fire seeds.

"Found something, did you?"

The petite witch Young Lady asked. Xia De nodded and told Miss Félianna about the miracle art and the related information.

At the same time, the three witches had each finished digesting their own gains. Miss Breidevi and Gina both obtained new miracle arts and ancient knowledge related to them; only the old witch obtained pure information.

Lady Gustav's complexion was somewhat pale—clearly that knowledge was an enormous burden even for a twelfth-order witch—but fortunately, since there had been no combat just now, the old witch's condition was actually still acceptable.

She did not share further details of that knowledge with everyone, but before the four set out again, the old witch asked Xia De a question:

"Have you heard of the 'Sea of Origins'?"

Xia De shook his head:

"No."

Miss Félianna sounded somewhat surprised:

"I have read about it in ancient texts, but those records are only legends. From the materials passed down since the Second Era, one can see that even for people living in the Mythological Era, the so-called 'Sea of Origins' was merely a place that could not be confirmed."

But the pale-faced old witch said very firmly:

"I received a myth concerning the creations of the ancient gods. I obtained new power from the miracle, so that myth is very likely true."

The stories of the gods bring miracles—this is the most orthodox way to obtain miracle-type spirit runes in the Sixth Era, so Lady Gustav's judgment was sound.

"So, what is the Sea of Origins?"

Gina asked curiously, but the old witch gestured for the pink dragon Miss and the halfling Miss not to listen. Seeing her so serious, the two witches temporarily moved away, and only then did Lady Gustav explain to Xia De:

"It is the place where the ancient Creator God created life at the beginning of the world, the origin of all races, and the origin of all myths related to 'the birth of life.'"

Her complexion grew paler still, but the old witch insisted on sharing this information with Xia De:

"My knowledge is not as broad as Miss Félianna's; I had never even heard of this myth before. But just now, when I received this knowledge, my consciousness saw a beam of light amid the chaotic disorder—the Light of Fate."

The aged witch looked utterly exhausted:

"Fate gave me this chance to glimpse the secrets of the beginning of the Mythological Era, but it also gave me the duty to tell you this myth—the Sea of Origins, the place where the ancient gods created life. I don't know whether it is a real location, or merely a scene projected from a higher dimension onto a lower one.

But you need to know this, be aware of this—it is very important for you."

Xia De is Heavy nodded:

"I understand, Lady. I will remember it firmly. Are you alright? I still have Star Dewdrops here."

The old witch shook her head:

"I'm fine. To be able to guide the young in fate in old age—what opportunity that is something many people couldn't even dream of. If we can return safely this time, I definitely..."

"No, no—before we successfully get out, please don't say such things."

Xia De hurriedly stopped her. Miss Félianna and Lady Gustav both laughed.

Passing through four safe rooms took a total of half an hour, and that was only because everyone's search speed was very fast.

And when they opened the final door concealed by shelves and saw the "Life Furnace" suspended in the air and connected to the blood pool on the ground, all four let out a long breath:

"No matter what, it's almost over."

On the regular dodecahedron pieced together from twelve carved red-copper-colored cast-iron plates, the requirements for the twelve organs were clearly visible. Although this was the final furnace, the rules here were no different from before.

Once everyone was prepared, after deciphering the symbols, they checked one by one the various flesh-and-blood organs in the small bucket that Miss Breidevi had been protecting all along.

Everyone had assumed at least one or two would still be missing, but after checking they found that this time all twelve organs had been collected. The 【Myriad Things Blood Essence】 serving as fuel had already been in the witches' hands before Xia De appeared—in other words, the factory adventure had reached its end.

Filling in the materials and igniting the furnace was not difficult, but everyone understood that once the final furnace was activated, no one could predict what would happen afterward. There was still plenty of time remaining, but Xia De once again briefed everyone on what was to come:

"No matter what happens, don't separate—this is the most important point. In extremely critical situations, Miss Félianna's puppet might self-destruct, but I will do my best to ensure that doesn't happen.

If that does happen and we still haven't escaped or defeated the enemy, then I will stay behind to cover the retreat."

Xia De explained the reason for doing so:

"When my time is up I'll leave, so spatial restrictions can't bind me."

Gina and the others nodded, but Xia De added:

"To prevent whatever happens next from lasting a long time, there's something I want to tell Miss Félianna in advance."

He turned his head slightly to look at the puppet Young Lady on his shoulder:

"Regarding the Dragon Maid Contract—how much do you know about it?"

The petite witch pretended she understood nothing:

"I don't know."

"Alright then. It's possible that in the next few years I'll find a way to use this contract to send a dragon egg to your side—please take good care of it. It's the moon egg I mentioned before; the egg was originally a fossilized black dragon egg, and now that it's become like this, I'm not sure what race it actually belongs to."

"A black dragon?"

Gina suddenly blinked; Xia De had not mentioned before which dragon species the moon egg originally corresponded to:

"The year I enrolled......"

Her words had only just begun when she met Miss Feliana's gaze, so what came out of the pink gemstone dragon's mouth became:

"If that egg really does reach the Academy, I will take good care of it."

Xia De nodded, then reminded her:

"Also the 【Leather Hall】. I saw the traces of battle left by Brey inside the 【Leather Hall】, which is why I chose to return here ahead of schedule without having run into trouble. For the sake of the temporal closed loop, we must make sure......"

"Just leave it to us, we'll handle this kind of thing properly."

Miss Feliana said gently:

"The matters of the Fifth Epoch, leave everything to us. Although the Leather Hall is disgusting, I don't think finding it will be difficult. You want to contain it completely, don't you?"

"Yes, I saw too many revolting things inside it; I don't want it to continue to exist."

"I understand, I will help you think of a way."

She had found another "temporal overlap location"; this time the opportunity should be able to be properly utilized.

Seeing that Xia De seemed to have the intention of saying goodbye early, the old witch spoke up from the side:

"Mr. Hamilton, I'm afraid we won't have the chance to meet again in the future, will we?"

Xia De nodded:

"Although it's possible I may come to this era again, the time and place are both uncertain; the odds are I won't be able to meet you again."

"May the merciful 【Lady of Creation】 protect the road ahead of you. I have no gift to give you either, I can only offer you my verbal blessing. Young man, may everything go smoothly and peacefully for you in the future."

The old witch said. Xia De thought of the coincidence that her surname was the same as Dac Dac Nisi's, and said with a smile:

"In the distant future, I also know a...... Miss whose surname is Gustaf. If we can leave here smoothly, Miss Feliana should have a way to preserve our memories; you could leave a message for your descendants — perhaps the Miss I meet in the future really is your descendant."

Although witches cannot bear children, witches also have their own families and relatives; there is a very small probability that Dac Dac Nisi really is a descendant of Lady Gustaf's family. But the two eras are too far apart, so Xia De actually did not hold out much hope.

The old witch said with a smile:

"Of course; Actually Quite the Era our fate can continue in the future."