Chapter 463 - 461: Rose’s Hypothesis
Hilia’s classmate—Shaline, she took away the cornerstone maintaining the array of the underground base without anyone noticing, not even Rose. Rose, too, was curious about what she intended to do with it.
He can’t sense the divine shards, but Ethel can, because they are his possessions. As long as Rose helps tear open a small gap in the seal, he can project his consciousness into these divine shards.
Of course, projecting consciousness has risks. If the one holding the divine shards is a god, he will certainly be detected, and if he’s not careful, he could be trapped within the divine shards, unable to escape.
Just like when Rose acquired his divine shard, Ethel didn’t dare even glance at it.
Only after confirming through various methods did he call people from the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association to try to take the divine shard.
The result was obvious; Rose caught him and sent him directly to the Sealed Land’s special seat.
"I remember that the ultra-rare Heart of the Magic Puppet can’t be touched casually, even I can’t avoid this, why does Shaline seem unaffected as she can carry it away freely?" Hilia asked.
Rose glanced at her, knowing what she was thinking, and without paying much attention, said, "Because she received the Sea God’s inheritance, and that Heart of the Magic Puppet is related to the Sea God."
"Oh."
Hilia finally confirmed her guess, revealing a satisfied smile.
She had long suspected that the ’ultra-rare Heart of the Magic Puppet’ was actually the divine format of the gods but wasn’t sure whose divine format Rose asked her to search for.
She could only associate the Sea God through the ’Deep Sea’ aspect of the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association but wasn’t very sure.
After Benovia took the divine shard, she confirmed further but still lacked the final proof.
Shaline was this final proof.
If she had just come into contact with the divine shard and known that the Heart of the Magic Puppet was actually the divine format of the Sea God, she might not have been able to accept it.
But now, under Rose’s guidance, she had gradually come to accept it.
After all, even God King Zeus was demoted to a demon.
With the God King in such a state, there wasn’t much that couldn’t be accepted regarding the Twelve Main Gods.
Moreover, she was now closest with the Evil God.
"Should we retrieve that Heart of the Magic Puppet?" Hilia asked.
Although she confirmed that the ’ultra-rare Heart of the Magic Puppet’ was a divine format, she still habitually referred to it as the Heart of the Magic Puppet, because Rose hadn’t explicitly told her, and she feared being ridiculed by Rose if she guessed wrong...
Rose had long known that Hilia was aware of the divine shards matter; since she didn’t ask, he was too lazy to say much.
"Whether to retrieve it depends on the situation; I first want to know what she plans to do with it." Rose stated.
After a pause, he added, "It might be related to the summoning Jonathan mentioned."
Hilia was taken aback, and her heart skipped a beat, "Rose, do you mean that Shaline is backed by an Apostle?"
Rose replied, "Perhaps."
If it weren’t the case, he wouldn’t have much interest in specifically reclaiming the Sea God’s divine format.
After all, it’s only a tenth of the quantity, which doesn’t greatly affect the array to summon him.
Currently, Phil is still in recovery, and the faint connection hasn’t been established yet, making it impossible to attempt a summoning, so Rose wasn’t in a hurry.
During their casual conversation, Hilia slowly landed for rest and to replenish energy.
"This place is still quite far from the Blue Dragon Empire’s border, it’ll take around three more hours to fly there, so exhausting." the girl sighed.
Rose chuckled lightly, "Why not let me speed you up, turning three hours into at most thirty minutes?"
Hilia immediately shook her head in refusal, "I’ll pass, I want to experience the scenery along the way, not the feeling of nausea..."
As she spoke, she suddenly sensed something and quickly stuffed bread into her mouth, grabbed her magic staff, and gazed deep into the forest across the small river.
"Seems like there’s something..."
Hilia said, yet she showed a customary expression.
Even with closed eyes, one could guess what it was.
Isn’t it just a heretic base?
Hilia indicated she was already used to it.
The girl picked up her magic staff and went straight over.
Two hours later.
She returned with some items in hand.
Boom!
An explosion sounded behind her; the ground shook as though something had collapsed.
"Here are a few materials that I was missing. Of the 300 materials, there are only 122 types left. I’m getting there!"
However, these 122 types are much harder to obtain compared to the over 180 collected; they are rare materials with high prices, poor versatility, and only available in some places.
Traveling to the Blue Dragon Empire is also to incidentally collect materials.
The base just blown up was a remnant of the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association, where the highest mage was only third level, tackled easily.
Hilia didn’t pay attention to it and continued her journey.
Before nightfall, she entered the Blue Dragon Empire’s border, following the map toward the first stop—a city named Fanar City.
This city located amidst mountains is a crucial path for the Ista Empire to enter the Blue Dragon Empire, though the mountain road is rugged, mages can fly through, and those who can’t fly either walk or go to another city to enter through a flatter city.
As she approached Fanar City, she occasionally passed other mages, whose speeds were faster than Hilia, quickly overtaking her.
Hilia didn’t mind and leisurely landed at the city gate.
This border city, like Southern Border City, also has surrounding walls.
The difference is, the Southern Border City’s outer residential areas are on both sides of the city; there are no residential areas along the road leading into the city, maintaining better urban aesthetics.
While Fanar City is surrounded by residential areas, its environment is similar to Kost City, just on a much smaller scale.
Hilia landed outside the gate, disguising herself as a normal girl, slowly advancing with the queue.
She looked at the checks ahead, frowning slightly.
"Something seems off; this check is too strict." the girl muttered.
A person in the nearby queue heard her and laughed, "Clearly, you haven’t come in a while; otherwise, you’d know what’s going on?"
Hilia looked over, curious, "Hello, friend. Could you tell me if anything happened in Fanar City?"
The person smiled but didn’t speak; Hilia immediately understood his implication.
He wants money.
Just as she was about to take out money, a burly man who appeared to be a mercenary behind him snorted, "How could you charge for such trivial information? It’s about Fanar City receiving death threats from heretics."
Hilia realized, "Oh, so that’s why the strict checks."
The person asking for money glared at the man behind him, but seeing his solid build, his anger instantly dissipated, grumbling, "Things aren’t as simple as that, there are deeper secrets involved."
"What secrets, mumbling nonsense. Hurry up, you’ve left two spots empty ahead, move along already." the mercenary man said.
Hilia thanked the big man, "Thank you."
"No problem, we mercenaries out and about, should help each other." the man said boldly.
Hilia was stunned and then realized she had shown the mercenary guild’s emblem.
She intended to use the mercenary guild emblem for ID to sneak through.
"Heretics’... death threats?"
Heretics again.