At night, in the simple and quiet courtyard, Atalanta sat comfortably on a wicker chair, feasting with satisfaction.
Even though the food had cooled sowhat, she still enjoyed her al imnsely.
Leaned against the grapevine, Luo En sipped the newly brewed wine while taking an interested look at Atalanta's cat ears which seed to twitch with contentnt.
It must be said, keeping a cat was a very pleasant thing.
Especially when the cat could also transform into a Cat Lady, that sense of satisfaction was multiplied.
After Atalanta had eaten her fill, Luo En stepped forward proactively, offering her a chilled cup of grape wine.
The huntress downed it in one gulp, washing the food down into her stomach, then spoke in a deep voice.
"Just like you said, I've inquired around. There are only a dozen or so Divine Blood Heroes who've successfully reached the Arcadia Royal City, and almost all of them have suffered attacks from Magic Beasts."
Almost?
Does that an the attacks from the Magic Beasts that erged from the Arcadian Mountains were not coincidental?
Upon hearing this adjective, Luo En frowned slightly and murmured to himself.
"It seems that Arcadia holds deep waters..."
"How about I help with so divination?"
Seeing her senior brother's face turn solemn, the nearby dea volunteered eagerly.
Divination?
That's right. Hecate is the goddess of roads, possessing the Authority to guide people's directions.
Since there are no leads at the mont, it wouldn't hurt to try.
After a brief consideration, Luo En agreed internally.
Then, dea deftly opened up the Magic Circle Diagram to reveal a round oak board.
This object was composed of twelve segnts, each with a Greek nural at the bottom. Correspondingly above were simple drawings of animals or Divine Monsters like bulls, sheep, crabs, centaurs, and others.
Moreover, each segnt was inlaid with three gemstones along its borders: from 1 to 12, there were garnet, athyst, aquamarine, diamond, erald, moonstone, ruby, peridot, sapphire, opal, topaz, and turquoise.
Luo En touched it and felt the texture under his fingertips, prompting him to look closely, and he vaguely made out the marks of the Sun, Moon, Venus, and other primary celestial bodies, along with other stars.
In the center's recess, a crystal ball the size of an adult's fist was placed.
This seed to be a rudintary Greek Star Disk, and the composition of celestial patterns and the zodiac already had the basic outline.
The eighty-eight constellations were not entirely composed of deceased heroes and ethereal legends but essentially existed since the creation of the World. It was only later for ease of mory that constellations were connected to different people or things through storytelling.
And for this reason, the eighty-eight sets of Sacred Robes corresponding to these constellations would exist even before those heroes.
As Luo En was getting sowhat distracted, dea who stood up stealthily pulled out one of his hairs.
"Borrowing this!"
dea placed the strand of Luo En's hair into a crystal goblet prepared in advance, then proceeded to extract several bottles and jars from the Magic Circle Diagram and poured the multicolored solutions into the crystal goblet.
After sequentially adding various strange and quirky powders, the solution reacted violently, producing intermittent bluish and purplish light pollution, and the strand of hair stripped of its Divine Power also blended into the solution amidst shaking, erging as a freshly concocted Witchcraft Potion.
"Each person's 'Spirit' is unique, and taking sothing from the inquirer can steer the Star Disk to the correct position, conveying a more precise ssage," dea patiently explained while pouring the purple-black solution from the crystal goblet into the indentation of the Star Disk, illuminating each star and making the Divine Patterns flicker and sparkle.
"Now is the ti. Close your eyes, clear your mind, and ask the deepest question of your heart to Hecate, the goddess who guides our paths."
Seeing the Star Disk fully activated by the unique spirituality of Luo En, dea took his arms with both hands and solemnly guided them towards the crystal ball.
With a try-it-and-see attitude, Luo En obediently cleared his mind for ditation and asked out loud,
"Tell , what is the origin of this 'Beast Disaster'?"
After absorbing the Divination Potion from the Star Disk, the crystal ball began to vibrate with a humming sound, with black, green, and blue lights flashing intermittently inside, resembling the dazzling night sky.
Colors of at least three Divinities?
Could it be that there were at least three, or perhaps even more, deities involved in the Beast Disaster?
Hum...
As Luo En pondered, the Aether in the air trembled more violently, and Aether Magic rippled out in circles under the rhythm of Divinity, with the crystal ball at the center starting to bounce uncontrollably up and down out of the recess.
dea, who had never seen such a situation before, swallowed nervously at the sight of the crystal ball beginning to radiate dazzling light.
Things didn't feel quite right.
Crack!
The next mont, a crisp shattering sound was heard, and web-like fractures spread instantly from the inside to the entire surface of the crystal ball.
Without a word, Luo En swiftly pulled dea behind him, and with a kick, he sent the crystal ball flying into a nearby pond. He then rapidly sketched over a hundred sigils of Hers Script around the pond, sealing it tightly.
Boom!
The terrifying Aether Tide created by the surging Divine Power exploded, with a dark purple surge carrying crystal fragnts shooting in all directions, violently dissipated by layers of Defensive Charms, erasing its terrible potential.
After the shockwave, dea looked at the shattered remains of the crystal ball on the ground, on the verge of tears.
"My crystal ball..."
In terms of bloodline, although she was a princess of Colchis Kingdom, she had been brought to Aiaia since she was little, living a life of alternating hunger and satiation under the care of her aunt Circe.
Moreover, Circe loved to stir up trouble, either making a ss that required a large sum for compensation or squandering valuable resources on useless experints.
As the Great Witch herself had faced major adversity and was also penniless, aside from a few magic tools, she had no surplus wealth. Thus, it was dea, her niece, who always had to clean up the ss.
This caused her and her aunt Circe to beco increasingly impoverished, to the point where they were nearly unable to make ends et.
Therefore, the sowhat overwheld dea accompanied Atalanta to Arcadia to participate in the Beast Disaster.
On one hand, it was to eradicate a hazard to the people; on the other, she planned to make so extra money to subsidize their household needs.
But before she had seen any of the bounties from Arcadia, the last of her magic tools had been rendered useless.
Looking at his junior sister's face, which was on the verge of tears, Luo En felt guilty and imdiately opened the Magic Circle Diagram, passing two items to her.
"You didn't receive any welco gift when you beca my apprentice, so consider this a belated one," he said.
He then introduced the two items to his junior sister, explaining their nas and uses.
The first one was the Sigil of All-Encompassing Destruction.
This purple Cursed Blade with a lightning-shaped blade was seized from the Goddess of Conspiracy, linoe, and it was one of the three Divine Artifacts of the Goddess Hecate, specializing in dispelling curses and breaking barriers. It also increased the efficiency of casting magic, making it well-suited for a spellcaster like dea.
The second one was the Tooth of Python.
This was a reward Luo En had obtained from the 'Dice Mini-ga'. The dragon tooth soldiers summoned by it were sturdy and resilient, making them top-notch battle servants for a mage.
Now that Luo En himself no longer needed it and since dea had revealed her lack of combat experience and her vulnerability when needing a serene environnt for casting spells in the last battle, it would be best entrusted to her to maximize its value.
Looking at the two items in her hands, dea was overjoyed.
Especially with the Cursed Blade called the Sigil of All-Encompassing Destruction, she couldn't put it down.
Overwheld with excitent, dea found it hard to believe: "Are these really for ?"
Luo En nodded and said gravely,
"Thank you, Senior Brother!"
Upon receiving a definite answer, dea was ecstatic, and in her excitent, she threw her arms around Luo En's neck and planted a kiss on the forehead of her senior brother.
Compared to her aunt who kept making her life difficult, this senior brother who had taken good care of her was her true family!
Suddenly taken by surprise, Luo En ca back to his senses, touched the wet mark on his forehead, and smiled wryly.
Atalanta, watching from the side as dea happily ran back with her gifts, had a teasing glint in her eyes.
"Teacher, I can't pretend not to see this, and you wouldn't want Lady Tethys hearing about it…"
"Stop, stop, what gift do you want? Just say it, and I'll give it to you!"
Luo En quickly put up his hands in surrender, showing a willingness to make peace at any cost.
"A gift? You already gave one, and that's enough," Atalanta said, lifting the Sky Vault Bow in her hand and speaking with a light chuckle.
"So, I'd like to take this opportunity to ask a question."
"What is it?"
"Who are my parents?"
Atalanta's smile faded as she looked seriously at her teacher, her green eyes filled with intense longing.
~~
anwhile, at the Arcadia Palace.
The King of Arcadia lying on the bed coughed violently as if he were about to expel a lung, beads of sweat the size of peas seeping from his forehead as blue veins pulsated beneath his skin. His hands, clenched tightly around the bedsheets, were white to the bone, and his nails unknowingly pierced the flesh of his palms, the radiant red blood soaking into the sheets.
Clearly, he was enduring imnse pain.
"dicine... dication... give my dicine!"
Accompanied by suppressed, low growls, a maid walked hurriedly into the bedroom and carefully presented a dark red Dan Pill.
Upon seeing it, the King of Arcadia, like a ravenous dog, snatched the Dan Pill and swallowed it whole, then tilted his head back to gulp it down.
After a mont, the King of Arcadia breathed a sigh of relief as if unburdened, and settled back into bed, his pale face gaining a healthy hint of red.
Even so, the sense of powerlessness lingering on the brink of death, coupled with the progressively worsening symptoms, still filled him with dread.
"Bang!"
The King of Arcadia slamd his fist onto the bed, his face twisted in anger.
Why? Why could the deities live eternally while he had to endure the agonies of pain and illness?
It was unfair! This was unjust!
"Go, call the Priest here…"
The King of Arcadia gestured solemnly, his gaze flickering as if he had resolved himself to a certain decision.
The trembling maid by the bedside, as if granted a reprieve, hurriedly left the oppressive and gloomy hall with her tray.
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