Whispering Verse

"How do you feel consumed?"

Miss Sylvia, who squinted her eyes, asked from the wall. Shade, who maintained his spell-casting action, replied:

"The consumption is not very large, at least not when it is not attacked."

The "Divine Afterglow" state enhances all of Shade's thaumaturgy and incantation. The enhancement of [Seaton's Seal] does not allow the originally immovable thaumaturgy to be moved, but allows the shield with a fixed protective volume to be expanded. bigger.

[Heton's Seal] does not limit how many people the user can protect other than themselves, but the volume of the shield summoned by the seal itself is a fixed value. It is basically difficult to completely protect two adults hugging each other. But for Shade, he can expand the shield volume by paying additional spirits. This expansion also has an upper limit, but it is more than enough to protect two Shades standing side by side.

Therefore, the "divine afterglow" enhances the thaumaturgy [Seaton's Seal], making the thaumaturgy even more valuable. When Shade demonstrated his thaumaturgy, the volume of the golden shield had already exceeded the recorded scale. However, Miss Sylvia did not seem to notice this strange change and continued to say to Shade:

"Next, try the defensive strength. Don't worry, I will control the strength."

She was very enthusiastic about this kind of testing.

Next, she used the gently thrown stones, the slowly walking little Mia, Shade's revolver, the stones thrown with all his strength, the fireball caused by the spell "Control Flame", and the clerical-level weapon the witch carried with her. The relic [Anesthesia Pocket Watch] and the thaumaturgy [Space Cutting] were used to test the strength of the seal.

The firearms were completely unable to defeat the golden shield and only caused some ripples on the surface;

The cat walked slowly towards Shade and scratched the shield a few times with its claws, but was unable to pass through;

A stone thrown gently is similar to hitting a wall, while a stone thrown with full force will break into powder when it contacts the shield due to the strength of the stone itself;

The anesthetic needle fired by the relic [Anesthesia Pocket Watch] and Shade's shield were destroyed together, but this relic itself is not known for its offensive power;

The fireball controlled by the witch has the best effect. If Miss Sylvia hadn't stopped in time, not only would Shade have been nearly blown away, but there would also have been a deep pit in his basement;

As for [Space Cutting], [Hiton's Seal] has no protective effect against space power. Miss Sylvia, who is good at space power, had already expected this, so under her precise control, the power of the thaumaturgy [Space Cutting] only cut open Shade's coat without leaving any mark on the skin.

As for the second effect of [Heton's Seal], the spell is released the moment the attack touches the shield. The broken shield will cause more powerful burst damage to the enemy. Shade did not try this effect, firstly because the timing was difficult and he needed a lot of practice, and secondly because he was worried that the so-called "explosion damage" would directly blow up his basement.

Although the space has been cleared, there are still compartments in the basement for storing magic potion snowdrifts, as well as his simple potion alchemy workshop. He does not want to harm his house in order to practice thaumaturgy. Miss Carina's manor has plenty of space. He practiced, and if it didn't work out, he could go to Coldwater Harbor to cause trouble for the fish people.

"Overall, this is almost perfect thaumaturgy, except that you can't move while casting it."

When walking out of the basement, Shade held the cat and praised Miss Sylvia. The young witch chuckled:

"This is the signature thaumaturgy of the Church of the Sun, which has been passed down for countless generations. But when you use it, be sure not to be discovered by the church. Under normal circumstances, this thaumaturgy will not be leaked. After all, learn its core materials. It’s the parchment you burned at the end of the ceremony, and the Church of the Sun has a number on each piece of parchment.”

Of course, the witch did not ask Shade where he got the parchment describing the ritual information. But Shade always felt that Miss Sylvia had already guessed the truth, but she just didn't say it out loud.

Just like her first visit last week, Miss Sylvia did not leave Saint Teresa's Square that evening. She and Shade discussed the paper that Shade had given to the Old God until late at night. Miss Sylvia even planned to publish the paper and let Shade be the first author.

In addition to discussing papers, she also enthusiastically helped Shade answer some academic questions after learning that Shade was currently preparing for the end-of-year exam week, and helped Shade analyze the ring warlock system he was currently building.

Miss Sylvia believes that although Shade's low-level fourth-level structure is not centered on a certain spiritual rune, at least he has learned thaumaturgy comprehensively enough, and he has also found his own way of fighting. She also gave Shade more suggestions on how to use [Space Stabilizing Aura] and [Rag Lai Jump], and even suggested that Shade try to practice and carry a living body to [Lag Lai Jump].

"This thaumaturgy is not allowed to bring other individuals, but just like you expand the scope of thaumaturgy, when you can use your own power to change thaumaturgy, you will find that some of the flaws of thaumaturgy can actually be avoided.

The spell [Echo of Blood] you mentioned was sublimated into the thaumaturgy [Echo of Blood], which is a manifestation of artificially changing the effect of spell casting. However, I don’t recommend that you try to bring people directly. Maybe you can start with ants. I will give you some suggestions on casting spells, and then tell you about an auxiliary magic potion. Even if you can't jump with a life form in the fourth ring, you should be able to learn this skill when you enter the middle ring. "

Miss Sylvia still seems to have not given up on training Shade as her apprentice, but she does not take the initiative to mention this, but enthusiastically gives Shade any help he needs.

Shade would never accept favors from others for nothing, but Miss Sylvia just smiled and said that she could accept a breakfast from Shade as a thank you tomorrow morning. Shade had the intention to let Miss Sylvia choose an accessory from the jewelry box, but in the end he did not do so because it would appear that he was too utilitarian.

So before the night ended, Shade took the initiative to talk to the witch about his adventure in Huntington City. He did not mention angels, but only said that he had found the "Lady of the Lake", and then talked about [Iken'ora's Arrow of Knowledge] as a second unrelated matter:

"I grabbed it from the [Pantanar Voodoo Order] and tried to shoot it. But the ring warlocks were running so fast that I just drew the bow and didn't get a chance to shoot. It felt really bad. , as if tens of thousands of little miyas are crawling on me.”

[Isn’t it a few thousand? 】

"I can understand this feeling. After accumulating strength and forcibly stopping it, if you use thaumaturgy instead of using relics, it may be very harmful to your body."

The witch on the sofa late at night looked at the young stranger and suddenly grabbed his wrist:

"Well, what's wrong?"

Shade asked, Miss Sylvia smiled and shook her head:

"Nothing, I just got interested in your story."

In short, the young witches seemed to be completely familiar with Shade's character. After breakfast on Wednesday morning and saying goodbye to Miss Sylvia at the door, outsiders had to admit that the wisdom and talent of the witches were really impressive. People marvel.

Since [Jack the Thief] was still not caught, when Shade went to Fort Midhill that day, he took little Mia with him.

Walking out of the ruined tower in Sikal Mountain, facing the knife-cold winter wind in the mountain, he was surprised to see the mountain forest covered with white snow, and saw snowflakes falling from the sky, dyeing the entire mountain white.

"It's snowing at Fort Midhill too! Oh, the snow has actually covered the ground."

Not only was Sikal Mountain covered in heavy snow, but after descending from the mountain, we discovered that the inner city of Fort Midhill had also become covered in snow. Shade inquired about it from the newspaper seller wearing an old cotton coat, and found out that this was not the first snowfall this week.

The falling snow dresses the city in silver and truly heralds the arrival of winter.

Shade first went to the Home for the Blind in Rufu Lane to deliver a letter to Sister Devlin, and then went to Cassandra Auction House to wait for news about the nun.

The snow will not affect the auction house's business. People are still coming and going on Santa Carla Avenue in the city center, and there is an endless stream of gentlemen entering and leaving the auction house. When Shade stepped out of the carriage, someone was melting snow at the door. People of this era certainly did not have the luxury of using salt to speed up the melting of snow, nor did auction houses attempt to use pure manpower to shovel away ice and snow.

The sturdy servant is pushing a small-power steam engine to the door. After connecting it to the indoor pipes, he uses the hot steam generated by the steam engine to sweep to the ground. Before the hot steam mist cools down the liquefied water and is frozen by the low temperature, he uses tools. Quickly clear melted snow from the ground.

Probably only wealthy people like Grandma Cassandra could use such a luxurious way to clear snow. But people passing by seemed to be accustomed to this scene, and only a few of them looked around like Shade, watching the black smoke from the steam engine floating into the sky in the snow.

The spray of hot steam makes the temperature at the entrance of the auction house a little higher than the surroundings, but the real warmth is inside the auction house. After Shade, who was wearing a thick coat, walked in, he even felt a little hot. The heating in Cassandra Auction House was definitely not the city's unified heating standard.

On this snowy day, the owners of the auction house are here. Shade first saw the witch apprentice Miss Rita Swift with beautiful flaxen hair who hurriedly came downstairs after hearing about his arrival. Then he saw Helen and Gerard who were attending the auction on the second floor. Lace.

However, Granny Cassandra did not show up until about lunch time. The time came to the end of 1853. Although the old witch did not have to check the accounts in person, she still had to meet in person the representatives sent by the auction houses from various branches in the Old World. This was a One of the most important tasks of the year.

At noon, the blind nun also came in the heavy snow. The six of them had lunch together. During the meal, Shade heard that Sister Devlin's "Snake Heart Hospital" was being organized in the big cities around the Pantanal with the help of Cassandra Auction House. Establish.

Relying on the already existing Snake Heart Hospital, Sister Devlin plans to expand the power of the [Spiritual Order] to the entire area around the Everglades. Therefore, not only Huntingdon, the city of red wine, but also more cities including Willondale, the capital of the Kingdom, are the next key development targets of [Snake Heart Hospital].

Since the end of the Battle of Fort Midhill, the mountain city has restored its former peace and tranquility. After passing through the dangerous and turbulent autumn, the city in winter returned to order dominated by ordinary people.

Snow is falling outside the window, and the atmosphere in the restaurant on the third floor is cheerful. Sister Devlin mentioned the strange dark clouds that appeared in Huntington yesterday, but no one could explain this. The old witch heard about Tobesk, so she also asked Shade about the progress of the search for the fourth chosen one.

Seeing that the first snow of the year had fallen, the twin girls asked Shade together if they could visit No. 6 Saint Teresa Square today.

Whether it was Grace in a white dress or Helen in a black dress, the two fifteen-year-old girls were quite excited. But Shade regretfully told them:

"I'm sorry, girls. Something is going on in my neighborhood tonight, and a humanoid has invaded and is trying to steal mine and my neighbors' property. I can't involve you in this. If you want to visit my house, actually, girls, as long as it’s not today you can.”

Helen, who was wearing a black dress, glanced at her sister. The two identical delicate faces had different expressions. Grace seemed to accept Shade's statement, while Helen asked curiously:

"Sir, what level of relic is it?"

"Sage-level relic [Jack the Thief]."

"Oh, that's just the Sage level, sir. We can help guard the house."

Grace said while tugging on Shade's sleeve, and Granny Cassandra looked at this scene with a smile.

"No, no, girls, your injuries haven't healed yet, and [Jack Thief] gets stronger when it comes to strength. I know you are more powerful than it, but you are not at your peak yet. It would be hard to imagine if I asked you to help me guard my house. What will happen then.”

Shade explained patiently. Although Grace pretended not to care, she still sighed softly, while Helen looked unhappy. But there was nothing he could do. Shade really didn't want the Red Butterfly Twins, who had finally gained freedom and a peaceful life, to get involved in conflicts again because of him.