RNP Chapter 3990 "Giant Eye"
Chapter 3990 "Giant Eye"
Chapter 3990 "Giant Eye"
The Astley family wields considerable influence in the area. Besides their ancestral home in the Upper Town, they own a resort estate, a racetrack, factories, and a host of other family assets in the suburbs. While their wealth certainly cannot compare to that of the Bellendall family of Moon Bay, the name "Astley" does indeed carry significant weight in the community.
Taking this opportunity, Miss Rowling gave Shad a detailed account of the Astley family's current situation; she truly was a loyal and devoted housekeeper. However, at 3:30 PM, as Miss Rowling was laughing and recounting the amusing story of thirteen-year-old Viggo swinging on the swings, a sudden clap of thunder rang out from outside.
Both Shad and Miss Rowling looked outside. Shad asked in confusion:
"The rain was light today, and there was no thunder. The thunder just now didn't sound like normal thunder; it sounded more like...a sun gun?!"
【Sunlight Gun】is Iluna’s favorite and most familiar magical technique, equivalent to 【Moonlight Slash】in Shad’s hands, so Shad is very familiar with it.
Miss Rowling shook her head and walked towards the study's balcony to check on the situation, but just then—
Boom!
The deafening roar and the intense tremors made Xia De almost think the mountains were about to collapse. The windows of the entire mansion shook from the noise, and tea spilled from the cups on the coffee table.
Although the loud bang had subsided, a rumbling echo lingered in the sky, far louder than the explosion in Tobesk on Saturday. Miss Rowling looked outside in astonishment, too afraid to continue towards the terrace. Shad had already stood up.
"Judging from the voice, it's coming from the East—the Church of Creation!"
The Church of Creation is not located on a cliff like the city of Arcadia. Its actual location is in the mountains of the Rommel Mountains, but it is very close to Arcadia in a straight line.
After the loud bang, the rain continued to fall softly outside the window, and Xia De and Miss Lorraine hurried to the study's terrace.
The rain wasn't heavy, and looking down from above, many people on the city streets below were also looking around, just like them. The sky, covered with dark clouds, didn't change at all, but Shad felt something warm in his pocket.
It wasn't the [Witch Detection Badge], but rather the Spark Source.
Its surface temperature kept rising even when it was not activated. If it weren't for Luvia's special divination that led Shad to complete the forging in a more ingenious way, Shad even thought it might have gone out of control on the spot.
"Why do I feel a huge life force surging and stirring around me?"
As Shad gripped the metal eye, he thought to himself, and besides the surging, restless life force, the four elements inside and outside the city also became agitated after the explosion. The five churches in the city reacted very quickly, activating their defensive rituals one by one, but after the city shield, visible only to ring mages, appeared, nothing dared to invade.
"What happened?"
Miss Rowling's voice rang out from beside Shad. Although Viggo went to the City Hall instead of the Church and Vatican in the afternoon, she was still a little worried.
Xia De couldn't give a definite answer, but he knew very well that something major had happened that was related to the mutation of the "Spark of Life." He keenly sensed the immense yet strange life force he felt in the rain; it wasn't that the rainwater was trying to revitalize the plant, but rather that the explosion had unleashed some powerful force.
[By grasping the "Spark" and activating it, you can try to sense the location of the same source of power.]
Her voice suddenly appeared at that moment, so Shad and Miss Rowling went back inside. While Miss Rowling hurriedly told the maid to get Shad a dry towel, Shad had already grasped the silver metal eyeball.
The moment the "Spark" was activated in Shad's hand, Miss Rowling at the door turned around because she sensed the immense life force, but could only see a strange crimson light seeping out from between Shad's fingers.
Shad closed his eyes, trying to use the "Spark" in his hand as his eyes to perceive.
This wasn't difficult; in fact, he sensed the surging, powerful force not far away almost instantly. Even though Xia De was still standing in the study on the second floor of the "Fragrant Residence," he felt his consciousness travel to a distant place.
Perception at the level of consciousness is a rather abstract experience. In the dark and boundless space of consciousness, Shad first "saw" the huge fire in the distance, but when he actually got closer, he clearly saw a huge fiery eye that was more than twenty meters tall.
"This isn't what appeared in my dream last night."
The enormous eye formed from the "flame of life" seemed to "look" at him as if it were some kind of intelligent life. Their consciousnesses touched, and Shad immediately knew what it was:
"This is also a source of fire?! It's so big? What is the [Church of Creation] doing?"
The essence of this enormous eye was no different from what Shad held in his hand. However, compared to the "Spark" in Shad's hand, this thing was exceptionally powerful and also exceptionally unstable.
The explosion just now was clearly related to this thing, and its power is still being released into the surrounding area. Although Shad could only sense it and could not know exactly what was happening on the scene, he could vaguely sense that external forces were trying to regain control of this huge "Spark".
Although the contact of consciousness was extremely brief, at the same time that Xia De became aware of the giant eye of fire, the giant "source of fire" immediately reacted to Xia De.
This was no friendly greeting; in that abstract realm of consciousness, a blinding red ray suddenly shot out from the giant eye towards him. However, Shad reacted even faster in the realm of consciousness, and the Nightfall Seal instantly took shape.
But at that moment, a flame also ignited in his raised right hand. As the two flames converged, Shad in the Fragrant Mansion suddenly opened his eyes.
He was unharmed. He opened his right hand, and the "Spark" floated up automatically, the flames on its burning eyes burning even brighter than before. The power emanating from that giant eye was actually directly devoured and absorbed by Shad's "Spark."
The two are essentially similar, differing only in their stability. Furthermore, the power of that ray is inferior to the spark source in Xia De's hands, so Xia De was not surprised by this absorption phenomenon.
He was simply shocked by what he had just seen:
"According to Danist, the Church of Creation's 'steam-floating island' experiment failed and they began controlling the [active metal] seven years ago. In just seven years, they actually created such a large spark? Could the explosion just now have been caused by that spark going out of control? I have a feeling that it has already become intelligent?"
He then immediately recalled what Mr. Finch had said that morning:
“‘Master of Construction’ Gerald Delon, ‘Scarlet Sage’ Miguel Conti, and ‘Sister of Sorrow’ Sofia Lopez—these three thirteen-ringed individuals are all currently in the Vatican. Could it really be because of this?”
Fortunately, nothing else happened after that deafening explosion. Shad's perception of the giant spark completely disappeared seven minutes after the explosion, presumably because the Church had suppressed it again.
But the matter did not end there. The power that spread when the source of the fire was agitated had already profoundly affected the entire region, centered on the Church of Creation, and Arcadia City was the nearest city to it.
Shad even dared to assert that for a long time to come, Arcadia City would frequently see activated metal devices and revived "living corpses." That attack just now was equivalent to radiating that giant spark source at full power in the surrounding area; Shad's estimate was only the best-case scenario.
"What exactly is the Church of Creation doing? But after what happened this afternoon, other forces have a reason to get involved."
And Xia De even considered another possibility:
"The Church of Creation created a 'Spark' so close to Arcadia City. Even though it has been safely contained, such a large amount of energy will probably still affect this area in some way. The black market dealer told me that the local birth rate has suddenly increased in the last three years. Could this be the reason?"
She responded with a smile:
It's highly likely that the vigorous vitality radiates outwards, promoting reproduction; this makes perfect sense.
The black market dealer said that the local newborns were very healthy, so the rising birth rate was a good thing brought about by the "Spark". Xia De was somewhat surprised by this, but he was more worried.
Feeling quite uneasy, Xia De met Wei Ge, who had rushed back, at four o'clock in the afternoon. The black-haired witch's face was as pale as ever. When she entered the study and saw Xia De standing up to look at her, she almost immediately threw herself into Xia De's arms.
Miss McDonald and Miss Rowling, who were about to follow her in, exchanged a glance and left the study in tacit agreement.
Although Xia De was somewhat confused, he still gently patted her:
"What's wrong?"
"The explosion just now"
She lifted her head from Xia De's arms, her delicate face showing fear and unease:
"When the explosion happened, I felt something looking at me from a distance. It was a very, very large eye of fire. Although I only sensed it flash by, that thing..."
Shad was quite surprised, then gestured for her to look at his right hand:
Is it something like this?
The spark was reignited, and upon seeing the fiery eye, Vige tightly hugged Shad's left arm and nodded rapidly:
"Yes, similar to this, but yours is very stable. The one I sensed was simply a collection of chaotic life force. I have never seen such chaotic, disordered, and violent life energy."
Xia De frowned deeply. Even he was able to sense the huge "eye" in the distance only because of the spark in his hand. If others had no connection with the "Spark of Life", it would be impossible for them to sense it out of thin air.
Even if Vige were the Great Witch of Chaos, she wouldn't possess such perceptive abilities. Not to mention, because she wears the limiter created by Megan and the others, her perception over extremely long distances is even inferior to that of a Ring Mage of the same level.
Therefore, Xia De considered one possibility:
"Wei Ge, did your mother's research notes mention 'the spark of life'?"
Wei Ge shook her head:
"No."
Xia De's unconventional thinking led him to another possibility:
"Wei Ge, is it possible that your mother actually hid the Jade Record within your soul?"
This speculation is actually baseless. Xia De only came up with this idea because of Wei Ge's perception of the giant "source of fire," after all, it was an unknowable relic.
Viggo blinked suspiciously, but didn't complain that Xia De doubted her mother's love for her, because many people had mentioned this suspicion:
"The Speaker had speculated about this back then, but she checked it and found no problem; the Jade Alchemy Association also speculated about this possibility, but I checked myself many times and found no problem either."
Xia De hesitated for a moment, then asked somewhat embarrassedly:
Would you feel offended if I wanted to check it again?
Wei Ge shook her head:
"It's alright. You've already shown so many unique characteristics; perhaps your examination will be fruitful. But how will you examine my soul?"
Shad intends to take the most direct approach:
"Let's enter the dream. I'll hold your hand and enter the dream, and we can make contact in the dream. It's a little more troublesome, but it will allow my senses to play their maximum role."
Wei Ge blinked, trying hard to understand what Xia De had said:
"So, we're going to sleep together—I mean, dream together, okay, cough cough, cough cough."
She waved to indicate to Shad that he didn't need to worry about her sudden cough:
"I'll arrange it right away! Right away! Don't you dare leave. Eve! Laura! Are you outside? Come help!"