Chapter 4160: Dragon Egg and Tree-Hole

"Counting it up, the angel-level and sage-level relics I have on hand now total nine pieces—melee weapons, ranged weapons, support gear, casting foci—I'm not lacking anything for the moment.

Besides, you've said it yourself: it's best not to hold too many high-danger relics, because just containing them is a huge hassle."

Xia De summarized, and Dac Dac Nisi nodded:

"That is indeed the case. Then let's set aside this opportunity for now; come find me again when you've thought of what relic you want. Of course, if you wish to pick out a relic for the young ladies by your side, I won't object either."

"Everyone seems to have quite a lot of relics on them."

Then Xia De looked at Eliel, who was reading seriously. Since the unicorn miss had awakened from the ice and been driven out of the castle by demons, she had no possessions at all. Although she could use everything in that ice castle, and although she had recently earned a batch of apples over the past few months by helping the church, she truly had no suitable weapon to defend herself.

"Eliel, would you like a relic?"

He asked, and Eliel's little head peeked out from behind the book:

"Apples!"

Everyone laughed. Amelia contentedly capped her fountain pen and blew on her thesis once more, slightly accelerating time so the ink on the paper would dry through.

She explained to Xia De:

"Unicorn misses don't need to use weapons. They are sacred beasts and prefer to rely on their own strength."

Xia De asked Dac Dac Nisi again:

"Then among the sage-level relics on the Academy's selectable list, is there a sage-level apple?"

Eliel also looked expectantly at the librarian miss, who shook her head:

"Xia De, you really do spoil her. No, there isn't. And even if there were, I couldn't give it to Eliel—none of the sage-level relics are something one can eat. If it's merely for collecting, it would be better off stored in the Academy."

So the sage-level relic Xia De could choose was left unpicked for the time being; he planned to come find Dac Dac Nisi again when the need arose.

Now that Amelia had finished her thesis, the four of them set out for the Academy's central courtyard. While passing among the library's bookshelves, Eliel excitedly shared her recent plans with Xia De:

"Plant apple trees!"

The elven miss translated on her behalf:

"Eliel feels that since apples grown by others taste delicious, perhaps apples she grows herself would taste even better. She's also been studying tree-planting lately, and plans to plant apple trees in batches in the ice castle's greenhouse and along the southern forest edge of the unicorn habitat before spring ends."

Xia De reminded her:

"Eliel, apple trees don't bear fruit the same year you plant them."

Eliel had already thought it through:

"Amelia~growth spell~"

The little fae continued translating on her behalf:

"Eliel plans to water, fertilize, and tend the apple saplings herself through the whole summer, and then in autumn have me cast the growth spell to make them bear fruit all at once."

So the little unicorn merely wanted to experience the feeling of planting a tree; she had no intention of actually standing beneath the tree waiting several years to eat her own apples.

Although Saint Byron's lies in the far north, during spring the Academy's temperature is regulated to be not much different from the weather around Cold Water Port. Now that spring is drawing to a close, it is the perfect season for evening strolls and dates. Walking along the courtyard path lit by crystal street lamps on both sides, Xia De thought that once the matter in Arcadia City was settled, he could come wander the Academy on idle evenings with Dac Dac Nisi or Amelia.

Dac Dac Nisi didn't want anyone to notice what she was doing, so she took on the appearance of an eighteen-year-old and put on a student's uniform before going out with everyone. She didn't even need to borrow that uniform on the spur of the moment—she had worn that very outfit not long ago when she and Xia De played their nighttime game.

There weren't as many people in the Academy's central courtyard as Xia De had imagined. When they arrived beneath that ancient dragon-blood tree, Dac Dac Nisi had already shared with Xia De the information she had gleaned from that ancient novel manuscript:

"That book was simply too long, and the number of major witches who appeared was too great. Although I could speed-read it, to avoid missing details I still focused on reading every chapter that had anything to do with trees."

The eighteen-year-old red-haired miss looped her arm through Xia De's:

"After filtering, I found several plot points that might relate to the answer here. I'll skip the middle process and get straight to the conclusion—I suspect this tree has a 'Tree-Hole Spell' on it."

The "Tree-Hole Spell" is a chronospatial wonder-working that can create a tree-hole with frozen internal time on a living tree, used for storing ordinary items.

During the Vesta Woodlands incident, Amelia had taught Xia De this very basic time-type wonder-working, so both Xia De and Amelia knew it. The little fae had used this wonder-working in the past to hide snacks that spoiled easily, so she was also quite skilled in its use.

"The 【Tree-Hole Spell】 can only store ordinary items; relics and living things cannot be stored. Of course, the demigod great witches of the past must have had ways to develop this wonder-working further."

Amelia looked up at the canopy:

"In its most basic form, the 【Tree-Hole Spell】 is opened by poking the location of the tree-hole with a branch from the very tree the spell was cast on."

Dac Dac Nisi nodded, opened the cloth bundle she had prepared, inside which were four very short branches:

"This tree is a protected plant of the Academy, so its branches cannot be casually collected. I had someone collect these this afternoon in the name of the Library Management Academy. Go on—try and see if you can find the tree-hole."

The four of them each took a branch and began poking at the enormous dragon-blood tree. Dac Dac Nisi very methodically divided the bark's surface area into four equal parts, so each person was responsible only for a specific region.

Of course, to prevent passing students from finding the four of them acting strangely, Dac Dac Nisi had applied that afternoon for an additional "Dragon-Blood Tree Maintenance" work placard to be set up around the great tree's fence.

And while Amelia was poking about with her branch, another interesting question occurred to her:

"If that novel really is a clue left behind by Miss Feliana and the others, then who wrote the book?"

Xia De answered:

"It definitely wouldn't be Miss Feliana or Blannie—they're usually very busy. This matter couldn't be entrusted to outsiders either, given how important it is... It was probably written by Fiona and the others. Even though the novel is long, with the dragon maids working together, they should be able to finish it fairly quickly."

So Amelia and Xia De together imagined the dragon maids crowded into a bedroom—some sitting at a desk, some sprawled on the bed—all writing furiously together.

Both Xia De and Amelia smiled.

But facts proved that solving the secret was of course not that simple. From the Academy's founding to the present, there must have been no small number of people bored enough to poke at the bark with freshly fallen branches. To prevent any possible tree-hole from being discovered by accident, Miss Feliana and the others had most likely improved upon the original method of Gao Jie Zhou for the Tree-Hole Spell.

Amelia, as the Chosen One who understood the "Tree-Hole Spell" best and wielded the great power of time, was entrusted by Dac Dac Nisi with the crucial task in the subsequent puzzle-solving.

The little fae therefore, based on her own understanding, took out her tree-staff and tried multiple Gao Jie Zhou methods on the dragon-blood tree. She even pulled Eliel over to have Eliel poke at the bark with her unicorn horn, but of course that had no effect either.

"Xia De, think carefully—if Miss Feliana left the 'safe's' key to you, then what might the key be?"

"I've inspected every item in that suitcase; there is no so-called key inside."

Xia De said:

"You should have also inspected those chests at the entrance of the 【Spatial Maze】 that stored the novel manuscripts, and there were no other clues inside either. No matter how cautious Miss Feliana was, she probably wouldn't scatter the puzzle's elements across so many different places in this one event, so I believe we already have the clues in hand—we just haven't realized it."

He looked at Amelia, who was busy at work:

"Dac Dac Nisi, did that novel manuscript mention anything about a key?"

Dac Dac Nisi shook her head:

"That novel is too long; I'm afraid I'll have to read it through once more before I can be sure."

Xia De once again took turns using his investigative abilities such as "Edward's Eye," "Blood Echo," "Stone Heart," and "Life Spark," but aside from discovering once more—as he had that morning—that this tree's vitality was simply too strong, he found no other clues.

But he had an inspiration:

"Based on Luvia's divination result 'Tree, Dragon, Moon' (4118), the normal spark source from the Fifth Epoch is most likely together with Ms. Carter right now. So this tree's powerful vitality is also because the spark source is inside the tree hollow."

Dac Dac Nisi nodded:

"Perhaps the divination card 'Tree' you flipped doesn't only refer to the teacher, but also that the spark source is within the tree."

"What if the key to solving the puzzle isn't Ms. Carter, but that spark source?"

Xia De opened his palm:

"Miss Feliana must have done very in-depth research on that spark source, and if she wanted to set a puzzle targeting that spark source, and find a unique solution for the puzzle that I could obtain, then that solution is most likely the spark source mark on my palm.

This mark itself was born because of that spark source; the two are completely of the same origin. Using the resonance of same-origin power, even I can think of many ways to hide objects."

An eye-shaped burn scar lit up in his palm. Amelia and Elly both stepped back a little, letting Xia De press his palm against the tree.

The instant the bark touched his palm, every fire-red leaf on the treetop lit up, but only for a second. Fire-red lines burst forth from Xia De's palm, flowing along the cracks in the bark, and quickly outlined an area the size of a washbasin beneath his hand.