Chapter 2238: Methods of Drawing the Sword

Chapter 2238: Chapter 2238: Methods of Drawing the Sword

"The stars in the photo are very blurry, relying on the starry sky to determine the location is not feasible, as for the divination..."

The Countess took out three dice, tried rolling them a few times, and then regretfully shook her head at Shard:

"This photo has undergone your time reversal, it can be considered an abnormal existence, hence it no longer possesses the possibility for divination. However, on which page of the notebook was it sandwiched just now? Perhaps we can ascertain the approximate date of the photograph by examining the contents of that page."

Shard then went to flip through the notebook full of secret language, although it hadn’t been confirmed yet, he believed the encryption method of this notebook differed from the cryptic text encryption method used when Grey Glove contacted the grey-headed eagle.

Despite the abundance of letters, Shard could glean nothing from them. He quickly flipped through the notebook from beginning to end again, finally confirming there was nothing besides cryptic text, not even any hand-drawn sketches.

Miss Belindel reminded from the side again:

"I remember there’s an arcane technique specifically for decrypting cryptic text, seems to be... Arcane Technique - Cryptic Text Translation. It’s a high rank sorcery that can only be learned by Circle Sorcerers possessing Enlightenment - [Rune] Spirit Rune, and it’s only effective on ordinary text. If you need, I can contact the Council’s Great Witch of Wisdom, Megan and Audrey sisters, who are proficient in this arcane technique.

Speaking of which, although they are still handling matters of Paradise Island Pharmaceuticals, they did mention wanting to visit Moon Bay the last time we met, it’s just the exact time hasn’t been determined yet."

The smiling faces of the Twin Witches flashed in Shard’s mind, and he found himself missing them a bit. He nodded and handed the notebook to Miss Belindel:

"Then please have those two ladies help with the cryptic text translation."

The latter asked again:

"The grey-headed eagle’s safe house in this area is likely more than one, shall we check other places too? Maybe we’ll find more."

"No need, the grey-headed eagle hasn’t returned to Moon Bay for over a decade. According to my investigation, his other safe houses have been assigned to other agents, only this one has remained unused due to its utmost secrecy."

He looked at the photo in his hand again, never guessing a casual walk after dinner would yield such a discovery.

Realizing Shard was preoccupied, Miss Belindel didn’t ask further. They erased traces of their visit to the house, then returned to Belindel Estate. Subsequently, Shard didn’t linger in the area; after bidding farewell to Emilia and little unicorn, he returned home with Mia.

At nine in the evening, when Luviya and Iluna arrived at No. 6, Saint Delan Square, Shard was sitting on the sofa in the living room, the coffee table before him cluttered with various landscape photos.

"Shard, what are you up to?"

Luviya asked curiously, while removing their coats with Iluna and hanging them on the coat rack by the entrance.

"Are these photos from Moon Bay?"

Iluna also asked out of curiosity, and Shard shook his head:

"These are landscape photos left by Uncle Sparrow. Although I’ve checked them, I wasn’t thorough, and now I want to confirm the shooting location of each photo."

Luviya and Iluna exchanged surprised glances, as Shard rarely voluntarily talked about the previous detective. While they knew from Shard that the former detective was a mysterious foreign agent, they perceived that Shard was reluctant for people to delve into this detail; he seemed to prefer letting that detective rest in peace.

"Let me help you determine the locations of these photos."

Luviya offered, without asking why Shard was doing this:

"Bone Reading, photo positioning, blind card guessing, these are basic skills of competent Diviners. Though there are quite a few photos, identifying all their locations should only take two or three days."

"Then I’ll rely on you."

Shard did not refuse. Iluna looked at him with concern, sensing something was off about him today. However, Luviya subtly shook her head, urging her not to inquire, so Iluna had to bring up the main issue:

"Shard, something happened in the city, you haven’t heard?"

"Something happened? What happened?"

He stood up with the drowsy cat in his arms, letting the two women sit down while he headed to the kitchen to fetch the teapot:

"I’ve only been home for an hour, and since then I’ve been here looking at photos, not too aware of things outside."

"In the University District on Priya Street, around seven o’clock tonight, a passing man turned into light and vanished under a gas street lamp. In summer, darkness falls later; at least five people witnessed this scene on the street. According to their descriptions, the man radiated dazzling light like a torch, leaving only his hat which fell during his struggle... among those five people, three are still adamant that they saw the man turn into an angel."

Iluna described, and Shard, while pouring tea, asked in surprise:

"In Tobesk? This is the first case outside of Moon Bay, right?"

Iluna accepted the teacup with a soft thank you:

"No, we received news this afternoon in our parish of a similar incident occurring in Southern Carsonrick early this morning. Just now, I and other Circle Sorcerers from the Church went to Priya Street to confirm the situation, then to find Luviya, and that’s when we came here."

She glanced at Luviya while speaking, the girl with violet eyes nodded as well:

"Iluna took me nearby and we looked at it from afar. Now that area is still glowing, which is definitely the product of order and rules being twisted."

Shard sat down with Mia in his arms and then spoke about how he encountered a similar situation earlier this afternoon in Moon Bay City, but attempted to expel those abnormal glimmers. Iluna was relieved, as long as those areas wouldn’t remain permanently, though Luviya was worried about other issues:

"The appearance of abnormal glimmers outside Moon Bay means they will soon spread throughout the entire material world. This is different from the Crazy Earth in Randall Valley; at least the Church had a complex but effective method to expel the Crazy Earth. This time, even the Church is temporarily powerless."

"Two directions: either suppress the glimmers with darkness or absorb the glimmers like I do, transforming them into other powers."

Shard said, but this was merely theoretical.

"There’s one more thing, I might soon head to Moon Bay. This time the Church plans to use a steam hover zeppelin. The weather along the current arranged route looks good, and there’s no need to cross mountains, which means it’ll take just one or two days to get there."

Iluna said again, feeling a bit excited about it, as she never shied away from challenges:

"Luviya, I won’t specifically say goodbye to both of you. Once I reach Moon Bay, I’ll contact Shard proactively."

"Let me give you an address, you can send letters here."

Shard gave the address of "Princess Trading Partners" to Iluna, hesitated for a moment, and mentioned another important piece of information he received that afternoon:

"I can’t reveal the source of the information for now, but the primary requirement for the ceremony to draw the ’Sword of Light’ seems to be to draw the sword towards a strong enemy."

This was information revealed by Miss Adel Isabella, which immediately excited Luviya:

"Since it’s the primary requirement, there must be more than one requirement. It’s perfect that both of you are here, I’ll perform a divination based on this clue, maybe we’ll gain something."

Currently, there is one each of "Feeble Healing" and "Wrath of the Thunder God." After Shard brought them out, Luviya hesitated for a moment before choosing the former. The coin was flicked away and acquired mottled rust at its highest point. After the coin disintegrated into flying ash disappearing in the air, Luviya opened her eyes:

"Interesting, now we can indeed perform a divination. The information provided by Shard is correct; the Sword of Light can only be drawn when facing a formidable foe. This is the basic requirement, but actually, the ’drawing’ of the Sword of Light can be divided into two situations."

The purple glimmer in her eyes lingered for a long time:

"First situation: a one-time draw, after using the sword, it will disappear;

Second situation: permanently acquiring the usage rights of the ’Sword of Light,’ which requires complicated rituals and qualification identification. The first situation doesn’t require dragon blood lineage, while the second situation requires the dragon strength just like the fragment of the poem Chapter Shard saw in Moon Bay."

"So, is the upcoming Chosen One ceremony the second situation?"

Iluna asked, and Luviya shook her head:

"That’s what’s interesting, my divination won’t be wrong: regardless of the method of drawing the sword, as long as one possesses more than two types of dragon strength, draws the Sword of Light first in the Moon Bay region to complete the ceremony, and fulfills the ’understanding brightness’ and ’carries an artifact related to the Ancient God,’ then that person is the Chosen of Light."

"But the first situation seems clearly simpler than the second situation..."

Shard stopped halfway and shook his head:

"It might not necessarily be simpler than permanently acquiring the usage rights of that sword."

"Indeed, not simple, I’ve already learned all the requirements for the first method of drawing the sword."

The girl with purple eyes said with a smile, and was pleased to see Shard and Iluna looking at her with astonishment. Shard was even so surprised that when petting the cat, he applied too much force, making the cat meow in dissatisfaction.

But Shard couldn’t care to comfort Mia at the moment:

"Luviya, you used a single coin to divine such complex content?"

"This information isn’t considered confidential, expressed in a way you can understand, it’s as if the ancient Dragon God deliberately placed this information in the course of fate, waiting for a Diviner to interpret it."

She revealed the method of temporarily possessing the "Sword of Light":

"[When civilization faces the threat of an evil dragon, the righteous person holding the Holy Sword will surely draw the sword against a strong enemy.]

In other words, the method for temporary use of the Sword of Light is actually a shortcut left by the Ancient God:

1. Some sort of enemy potentially threatening current civilization, the requirement is looser if related to dragons, extremely strict if unrelated;

2. Possessing a Holy Sword capable of bearing the Sword of Light;

3. A Heart of Justice;

4. Facing a strong adversary."