Chapter 980: Poetry and Pre-Exam Anxiety

Xia De lowered his head to check the text Iruna copied:

"First, Angel-level relic 【Fountain of Youth】, controlled by the Witch Council, lost;"

"Second, liquefied Sage-level relic 【Philosopher's Stone】, the Church of Creation and Destruction, the Church of Sun and Earth, Zaras Sorcery Academy, St. Byrons Comprehensive Academy, and other few organizations retain precious samples and cannot be borrowed;"

"Third, Moonlight Water, liquid condensed from the purest moonlight;"

"Fourth, the water pool of the World Tree, which could be traded with the Elf race in the 5th Era, but the water pool has dried up in the 6th Era;"

"Fifth, event-level relic - Unknowable-level 【Holy Rain】's rainwater. The occurrence of this event has a probability of leading to the end of civilization, suspected to be related to the end of the 3rd Era."

Xia De paused:

"What kind of relic is this?"

Iruna added:

"The event manifests as golden rain falling from the sky. This liquid has huge lethality to any evil power. Any creature that touches this water will turn into a cannibal monster with wings on its back within two to three hours. This creature cannot be eliminated. After being killed, even if the corpse is burned to ashes, it will resurrect within 24 hours. There is no way to reverse this effect."

Xia De looked over this paragraph of text with some unease. Every Unknowable-level relic is directly related to gods. Although "holy" can expel evil, "too holy" is obviously not right either.

"Sixth, Water Pool No. 13. Huh? Why is there no description of this?"

Xia De asked suspiciously, and Iruna shook her head regretfully:

"Although I have high authority, I cannot see any information. I wrote to ask the teacher I followed when I was at the Holy See, and she told me that 'Water Pool No. 13' is like the relic 【Itching Disease】. Knowing the specific information will be cursed or entangled by things even more terrifying than curses. I only have five rings now, and the Holy See does not open this type of information to me... but Mr. Hog Lundell of the Sun Great Sword told me that Water Pool No. 13 is related to demon trading, and told me not to be interested in it."

"Demons, indeed need to be cautious."

Xia De nodded:

"Seventh..."

He just read out the number, and then saw a row of sentences covered by fountain pen ink behind it. Those letters were covered by standard rectangular black ink marks of equal height, even if Xia De deliberately drew them, he couldn't draw such standard rectangles.

"What does this mean?"

"Restricted content, only those allowed to read the information can know. When I want to say, write, or spread the information in other ways, this information will automatically hide. The seventh sacrifice involves some secrets of the Church, and I don't have the authority to say it."

Iruna said, adding with some regret:

"I know the content, so I am very sure that even if I tell you, we won't be able to find it."

"So there are only two left."

Xia De continued to look down with concern:

"Eighth, morning lake water soaked by the Keeper-level relic 【Water Cube】."

"This relic can infinitely produce clean water sources. As long as it is not drunk in large quantities continuously, the water produced will not even cause too much harm to the human body. The negative trait is that although the relic effect can be turned on at any time, stopping the relic effect requires sacrificing at least 1000 living people. Yes, 'at least', you know what this means."

Iruna continued to inform Xia De of the characteristics of these strange relics.

"Where is this relic now?"

Xia De asked again:

"I don't need it to produce water sources, just need it to soak some water."

"In the crater of the Fatis volcano between the New Continent and the Old Continent, used to suppress the ancient evil things sealed in the crater..."

She hesitated and didn't say the real name of the evil thing:

"Even if we can think of other ways to seal the sealed evil things in other ways, coming and going between the islands and the Old Continent will take several weeks."

Iruna knew Xia De wanted to solve this matter as soon as possible.

"Ninth, lake water of the Mysterious Lake."

This sentence had been written at the bottom of the paper page of the notebook. Xia De continued to turn the page and found a short poem behind it, written in the language of the end of the 5th Era that Xia De had learned.

"'Mysterious Lake' is not a name, but the members of the ancient god cult did not tell the Church the true name of the lake. It is said that it is a lake hidden in an unknown space. After meeting certain conditions, even ordinary people can enter directly from the material world. This short poem behind is a description of that lake. My ancient literature is not very good, I hope I didn't copy it wrong."

The seventeen-year-old girl said embarrassedly. Xia De shook his head and read the short poem:

"Lake in the forest,

Island in the lake,

Water in the island.

Pave the way with wisdom,

Prove with courage,

Lead with talent,

The wise man in white robe,

Waiting for the arrival of the soul."

Xia De read it and looked at the words on the notebook suspiciously. Iruna asked carefully:

"Why, is there a clue to this description? If there is no clue, I'm afraid we need to check more information. Compared with the first eight, at least the ninth sacrifice seems possible to find."

"Is this the original text?"

Xia De asked, and Iruna nodded:

"Yes, the photo of the parchment I saw was written like this, but those photos cannot be borrowed."

"You see, connecting the first letter of this short poem, what is the pronunciation?"

Xia De handed the notebook to Iruna. Under the gaze of Xia De and the cat, the girl who was not good at ancient literature spent a lot of effort to read out:

"Record book?"

"This is the pronunciation of the word in the 2nd Era, Cherub."

If it weren't for Priest Ao Gu Si reading out the name of "Cherub", Xia De wouldn't have been able to see what these letters pointed to. If it weren't for Iruna's pronunciation, it was like Little Mia trying to imitate a dog barking, then Xia De was like a white mouse in Huntington speaking in a human way.

"Lake of Cherub?"

Iruna also knew what Xia De was looking for some time ago. She gave Xia De many clues at that time.

"Yes, the lake water of the island-center lake of the Lake of Cherub. I happen to really have it, it's in the basement, but... is it too coincidental?"

He couldn't believe it and handed the notebook back to Iruna. This time it was Iruna who comforted Xia De:

"Luweiya told me that there is no such thing as a coincidence in this world, only inevitability composed of countless inevitabilities. Is visiting the Lake of Cherub something someone seduced you to do?"

"Of course not."

Xia De shook his head immediately, and the seventeen-year-old girl with brown hair said with a smile:

"When the Chosen appears, it seems that everything around him will be related to him. Cherub, the test of the wise man, wisdom, maybe this is not a coincidence caused by you, but an inevitability caused by the fourth Chosen."

Xia De understood Iruna's meaning. He looked at the latter in surprise, and Iruna moved her gaze away embarrassedly:

"Are you surprised that I would say such things? Xia De, although I don't understand fate like Luweiya, I am also a Chosen... and it's not just Luweiya who can give you guidance."

It could be seen that saying this made her very happy.

The seventeen-year-old girl pointed to her head:

"Wisdom, I also possess it."

"You're right, there's no point in thinking about these things."

Xia De nodded with a smile:

"In this way, the second test of the time key is over... Iruna, how should I thank you?"

Iruna just wanted to say no need to thank, but her peripheral vision swept to the clock in the corner of the room, so she stammered and changed her words:

"Since it's almost noon, how about inviting me to lunch? In snowy weather, there's no need to go too far. I remember there is a good restaurant at the entrance of the street. We can walk on the street together. Today's weather is not..."

Just wanted to say not bad, but her peripheral vision swept to the heavy snow outside:

"This is the heaviest snow I have seen since I came to Tobesk. My hometown is in the inland further south of the kingdom, and it rarely snows in winter."

After saying this, she pursed her lips and looked at Xia De with those lively eyes. At this time, Little Mia probably understood the word "lunch", meowed at Xia De, and was held up by Iruna.

Xia De couldn't refuse the suggestion of Iruna and the orange cat.

This heavy snow, which started on Thursday afternoon, lasted until Saturday afternoon, when Xia De went to Doctor Shi Nai De's clinic before it completely stopped. Although the swaying heavy snow is beautiful in the poet's pen, it actually brings big problems to the city.

Tobesk officially entered the cold winter season, and this silver-clad appearance would last until March 1854. Work in the city would become harder and harder to find, and for the poor living at the bottom of the city, the next period would be another difficult day.

Xia De didn't go out in this kind of heavy snow. After having lunch with Iruna on Friday noon, he stayed at home. And except for Saturday morning, when Princess Lei Qianya sent her maid to bring comfort items to apologize for his coma due to gas poisoning at the Prophecy Society, no one visited No. 6 St. Deran Square during this period.

As for the study meeting on Saturday afternoon, nothing interesting happened. The people in the group didn't talk about what happened on Wednesday night, just pretending that nothing had happened.

Doctor Shi Nai De emphasized again tirelessly that today was the 30th day of the Frost Month, which was the end of the second to last month of the year:

"I haven't received the specific time arrangement for this year's exam week yet, but it's either the last week of this year or some day during the Year-End Festival holiday. This year is crucial for our group. Although we have agreed not to set off for St. Byrons in these few years, the promotion exam is still important. This will determine our group's status in the local area and the Academy's training intensity for us. Gentlemen, ladies, please be sure to pay attention to it!"

The doctor looked more anxious than anyone else, but everyone else in the group was used to it.

"He is like this every winter."

Except for the doctor, Xiao Miya, who had the highest grade, whispered to Xia De:

"After Priest Ao Gu Si gives the doctor sedative potions, it will be fine. Doctor Shi Nai De is a psychiatrist himself, but he is always so anxious when facing exams."

This phenomenon is called "pre-exam anxiety" in the psychology of this era, which is a problem that even Ringed Shushi cannot avoid. ===== CHAPTER 981 =====