345 Oak Heart
“What happened below? How’s Nehe? Didn’t he successfully reincarnate? Why is he still…”
After the two of them escaped from the underground root system in an extremely sorry state, Remides grabbed Sibylla agitatedly and questioned, “Didn’t you say that the miniature calamity has already subsided? Why did it suddenly become active again? Your eyes didn’t even notice it? The ritual you designed is so…”
“Why are you so agitated?” Sibylla, whose forehead was scratched bloody by the thorny branches, shook off Remides’s hand angrily. Then, she straightened her clothes and took a deep breath to compose herself before saying, “The ritual I designed failed for some unforeseen reason… Why are you staring at me? Is there a need to make such a fuss? Isn’t it expected that a ritual built from a legend that has no circulation will have a similar outcome if you want to complete the miracle of reviving the undead?”
As she spoke, she looked at the densely packed thorny branches under the root system. The exaggerated number looked like it could turn the area around the World Tree into an ocean of thorns if it surged to the surface.
However, at this moment, they seemed to be held back by some force. They kept struggling as if they were about to reach the surface, but they stopped trembling under the root system.
“At the very least, he can still do some corrective work. This can already be considered a fortunate situation.”
“How is this considered fortunate…” Remides gritted her teeth and said.
“To not create a main deity who can’t be controlled while acting on instinct, nor did we cause a large-scale disaster. Isn’t that fortunate? I remember reminding you from the beginning that the unpredictable risks involved in designing a legendary ritual that hasn’t been verified can’t even be predicted by my eyes. However, you had to take this risk and try this plan with less than a 10% success rate.”
Sibylla stared at the squirming thorns below and spoke in an increasingly frustrated tone.
“I can understand Nehe going crazy because of his experiences, but why did you join his madness? Why did you believe that a miracle will happen to you guys for no reason? Do you know why the Presiding Judge hid his phylactery and threw it away back then? It’s because he already expected that if Nehe really took back his soul box, something would happen without him watching!”
Sibylla’s tone became agitated towards the end.
From the beginning, when Nehe approached her, Sibylla rejected the plan with a slim chance of success. It wasn’t until Remides came to persuade her and agreed to help her continue searching for World’s End that she reluctantly agreed.
Now that things had failed as she had expected, the brewing emotions in her naturally erupted.
“Yes, the soul box!”
However, when she heard Sibylla’s complaints, Remides seemed to recall something and looked at the ancient box hanging at the Astral Observer’s waist.
“Although the ritual went out of control, Nehe’s reincarnation is still completed. As long as there’s a soul box, I can sneak down and try to preserve Nehe’s soul again. This way…”
Hope reignited in Remides’s eyes.
However, under the other party’s gaze, Sibylla placed the soul box in her inventory.
“Impossible… There’s a high chance that the ritual failed in this form because there are other secrets to this soul box,” Sibylla said calmly.
“What secrets?” Remides asked immediately.
Sibylla didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she took out a Sealed Magic rune and set up a sealing barrier outside the root system. After applying a simple seal, she slowly said, “We still need to investigate what it is… But during the previous ritual, when the soul box was opened and Nehe’s soul was released to be fed to Earth Mother, I saw two other powerful souls stored in the box…”
…
The out-of-control ritual in the underground root system finally calmed down three days later—the surging sea of thorns and vines seemed to have had all their life force sucked out overnight. They withered to the point that they would turn to ashes and scatter with a breeze.
After resting, Sibylla and Remides made thorough preparations before venturing deeper into the underground root system. However, when they returned to the hall, they realized that it had long been reduced to ruins.
There were no survivors or victims. All the plants in the hall that could have been placed in the Vic Continent’s botanical museums were dead, and the air reeked with a foul smell of rot.
Back then, they didn’t suspect the Lady of Starvation.
Firstly, it was because Sibylla didn’t see any traces related to the Moon Realm. Secondly, all the Moon Realm rifts had been sealed back then, and all the Void Sovereigns had signed a contract with the Presiding Judge at Gray Castle that They wouldn’t actively affect Currere.
In an era when the contract remained rock solid, It was unlikely for Them to cause such a huge commotion in Currere.
In the hall, Nehe was nowhere to be seen. Moreover, Earth Mother, who had almost been awakened, had fallen silent.
Remides searched the underground root system for about a month before she had no choice but to accept reality. During this period, Sibylla had been studying the strange soul box.
When Remides returned to the surface after a month, she only saw the thick stack of research materials Sibylla had left for her.
“Let me give the conclusion first. Nehe’s soul is the child of the first Authority holder who mirrored Earth Mother. As for the true identity of the first Earth Mother, I have a crazy guess, but to verify that guess, I have to find World’s End. But no matter what, I’ll tell you my guess here. She’s…”
…
Although Nizemar didn’t hear what Sibylla said clearly, she could tell from Remides’s expression that it was something extraordinary.
This was because she had never seen such a rich expression on Remides’s face.
For a moment, she almost believed that Ava State’s Shadow Queen was an ordinary person with normal emotions.
Was it guilt, sorrow, or some kind of repentance for something that couldn’t be pursued?
“I never thought…”
Remides snapped out of her daze and said, looking like she wanted to provide an explanation.
However, before she could finish speaking, Sibylla turned around.
“Time is running out.”
As she spoke, she walked towards the end of the root hall, the tunnel that led to the core of the World Tree.
Remides didn’t say anything else and followed behind her.
Nizemar followed and asked in confusion, “What do you mean, time is running out?”
“I don’t have much time left to stay on this side.”
It was Sibylla who replied.
“At the bottom of the tree hole is where the core of the World Tree is stored. Back then, Nehe used Inverse Entropy to set up an absolutely perfect defensive barrier. Without me, you wouldn’t have been able to open it.”
With that said, she turned her head and looked at Remides.
“The so-called core of the World Tree, the Oak Fruit that symbolizes the origin of all life—the Oak Heart—is actually the symbol of the Lady of Starvation, Camilla—the Void Sovereign’s core symbol. It’s also one of the conditions for the Lady of Starvation’s birth.
“Back then, after Nehe reincarnated, he risked everything and even assimilated himself into Camilla’s mother’s body, turning him into a humanoid Moon Realm rift that spread a rotten plague to completely prevent that thing from being activated.”
Remides replied slowly, “I know. In the Moon Realm, this concept is called the Origin of the Moon. It’s the cornerstone for forging a Void Sovereign’s immortal throne…”
The unactivated Origin of the Moon might turn into solid matter, but once it was activated, it would become an illusory concept. If it was activated in Currere, it might even bring a new law to Currere.
“Did the Tacma Church tell you all this?” Sibylla asked.
Remides nodded.
“They told me that every Origin of the Moon can create a true miracle as a consumable. Be it completely killing a person, creating a domain that can restrict all magic, or… reviving a person without any conditions.
“They said that as long as the deal is completed, the Origin of the Moon called the Oak Heart will belong to me. The effect of the Origin of the Moon related to life is most likely to be a miracle of rebirth…”
Sibylla sighed.
“So, what was it?”
Remides regained her expressionless face, but Nizemar felt that she was suppressing her emotions.
Just as they were about to reach the tunnel, Remides said, “The miraculous effect of the Oak Heart is indeed related to life, but its ability isn’t to revive the dead, but to give real life to anthropomorphic dead objects.”
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