Ermu
Chapter 388: Divine Intent Rune
"Apart from the Chaos Beasts, has the Mystery Society not found any way to transform magic stones?"
Agatha shook her head. "It's not easy. The Union has also had witches who could turn God's Punishment Stones into ordinary stones, but that was just simply erasing the magic structure of the God's Punishment Stone itself. To transform it into a magic stone—even the simplest glowing stone—is far from enough." She looked at Sylvie, "You can see the form of magic power, so you should be able to observe the true appearance in the crystal."
"A wisp of...cloud," Sylvie hesitated.
"This is one of the ways magic power condenses," Agatha nodded. "The Mystery Society has observed and statistically analyzed nearly ten thousand witches and magic stones, and found that before promotion, most magic power takes the form of clouds, cyclones, flying sand, light balls, and flame seedlings. They seem the same, but in reality, the changes in details are almost infinite, which is why we believe that no two abilities are exactly alike. As for the further condensation of abilities after high-level awakening, the shapes are even more different."
"Its light has dimmed," Tilly suddenly pointed to the glowing stone in Roland's hand.
"Because I only injected a small amount of magic power," Agatha explained.
"But I've seen long-lasting light stones in the fjord ruins," she said puzzledly, "If that underwater ruin was also made by you, it means the light stone has been lit for at least four hundred years. Is that also possible?"
"Underwater ruins?" Agatha asked in surprise, "Could it be that members of the Union went to the Whirlpool Sea?" Then she shook her head, dismissing the question, "It is indeed possible to keep the magic stone lit continuously, but that requires the assistance of more than ten witches."
"More than ten..." Anna pondered, "Is it magic power transfer?"
"That's right. Some witches can replenish the magic power of others, or directly exchange the magic power condensed by the two. In this way, the injector is equivalent to having power far beyond their own, allowing the magic stone to continue to function." Agatha restored the glowing stone to its original brightness, "However, this method is not effective for every type of magic stone. Generally speaking, only fog-shaped magic stones with the simplest magic form can be used in this way, such as glowing stones and echo stones. Unfortunately, these are of no help in battle."
"But they are extremely useful for the castle," Roland said excitedly, looking at a box of glowing stones.
Before entering the electrical age, this thing was simply an excellent lighting tool. He was already tired of the faint and unstable candlelight. Winter was fine, but working in the office in summer was simply a form of torture, and the dim light was also very harmful to eyesight. Now with these magic stones, the castle could be brightly lit even at night.
"Is that so?" Agatha said dismissively, "I think it would be more useful in the laboratory. After all, it's too unsafe to use open flames if you want to continue producing liquid oxygen at night."
Uh... the working hours during the day are not enough, and you plan to work overtime voluntarily? Roland turned his head, "Ahem, let's take a look at the magic stones in the other boxes first."
After checking around, in addition to various glowing stones with different shapes and brightnesses, there was also a box and a half of miscellaneous magic stones. According to the Ice Witch, although these are priceless treasures to outsiders, they are all of the lowest grade among magic stones, such as warning stones that send signals and pathfinding stones used for positioning. "The experimental products in the Holy City Stone Tower obviously couldn't be carried by me alone. Plus, I had basically left the Mystery Society at that time, so the ones responsible for transporting them were also some unimportant things."
"What about these books?" Roland pointed to the black leather books in the other boxes, "Are they all experimental records?"
"There is also a part that is 'The Universal Principles'," Agatha's cheeks flushed slightly, "I wanted to leave a copy for the new witches who are pioneering the wilderness as a guide for promotion."
What's so embarrassing about that? Roland gave her a strange look and continued to rummage through the remaining boxes.
"This wooden box... is a bit strange," Sylvie's words made his hands tremble, and he quickly retracted them.
"Is there a mechanism?"
"No... there's a hidden compartment inside." She examined it, "At the very bottom. I didn't notice it before. I thought it was just a normal partition."
After Roland cleared out all the books in the box, the thick bottom was revealed. Anna easily cut open the sealed wooden planks on top and took out a cast iron box from it.
"What is this?" He curiously lifted the lid of the iron box and saw a thick metal plate lying flat inside, inlaid with four brightly colored crystals. Just looking at the shape, he knew they were unique. "Perhaps the Mystery Society also left you some good heritage."
Agatha gasped. "This... impossible!"
Her exaggerated reaction surprised the four of them. Roland quickly put the metal plate back into the box. "What's wrong?"
"This, this is the Sign of Divine Will!" The Ice Witch said in disbelief, "How could Kargoth get his hands on something like this?" She repeatedly checked the wooden box several times. "Could it be that he stole it from other witches in the Mystery Society?"
"It's also possible that the convoy was attacked and someone entrusted it to him," Roland casually fabricated. "It's been four hundred years, it doesn't matter who the box belongs to... What exactly is the Sign of Divine Will?"
"Some magic stones connected together can produce additional effects, either changing the nature of magic power or amplifying the effect—this is also the main research content of the Mystery Society," Agatha carefully held up the silver-white metal, "These magic stones connected as a whole are called Seals, and the Sign of Divine Will is the most powerful one. Its magic stones all come from high-level demons, and there are only three or four of them in all of Taqila."
Roland couldn't help but whistle. "How powerful is it?"
"Enough to raze your castle to the ground."
The prince choked.
"But don't worry, the magic power it requires to consume is also extremely astonishing—the more magic stones a Seal contains, the harder it is to activate," Agatha closed her eyes, and two magic stones on the metal plate slowly lit up, but the third one remained dim. After a moment, she gasped for breath as if she had exerted a great deal of effort, and let go of her hands. "Back then, only the top two members of the Union could use the Sign of Divine Will."
"Are you saying... beyond extraordinary?"
Agatha nodded.
Roland thought for a while, "Let Anna try."
"It's useless," she shook her head, "The extraordinary's use of magic power is completely different from ordinary witches. They are equivalent to training all the time. Once they advance, their body's ability to accommodate magic power will inevitably greatly exceed—what?!"
Everyone clearly saw that almost in the blink of an eye, all four magic stones on the Seal that Anna took lit up one by one, and then golden light began to flow on the edges of the metal plate, like dancing lightning. The golden light became more and more intense, and the entire Seal was like a newborn sun!
"Let go of it quickly!" Agatha exclaimed.
The light disappeared in an instant, as if it had never appeared. Anna exhaled and gently put the Seal back into the iron box. "It does consume a lot of magic power. I can probably only use it twice."
The basement was silent for a while.