Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1003 The Sealed Stone Tablet

"Is this the stone tablet you talked about?"

The box that Shard retrieved was placed at one corner of the dining table. When the box was opened, a rectangular stone tablet lay inside, cushioned by soft lining.

The size of the stone tablet was identical to the one Shard had obtained from Mr. Edmund, except that the corners of this one were not silver but red jade. Additionally, the tablet that floated automatically under the Spiritual Light of the Silvermoon Spirit Rune had an ancient numeral "2" carved on its surface, while the rune on this tablet was "1".

After breakfast, Shard also retrieved the first stone tablet from the basement. It floated mid-air above the head of Mia, who was still eating. The newly acquired "Red Moon Tablet" had been unsuccessfully tested by Shard using the Spiritual Light of the Silvermoon and Yellow Moon Spirit Rune.

The Old God Gray Robed Sage had left the stone tablet for him, requiring his own rune’s Spiritual Light to unlock its mysteries. Thanks to the Vampire God’s encounter at the Sicarl Mountain battle, Shard possessed the Desecration of the Red Moon, though the Spirit Rune was currently sealed. He had yet to find a method to unseal it, not for lack of effort, but because the reasons for its sealing were uniquely incomparable to other cases.

His initial thought was to attempt to use divine power while in a deified state at the next burning of divinity to unseal it, but now it seemed other methods would be necessary.

The Old God The Undefined Sage from the Year 5177 of the Fifth Era guided him to seek higher-level moons, using the same power to unseal the Spirit Rune, thus adding another item to Shard’s search.

Since arriving in this world, the Outlander seemed to be perpetually searching for things.

"May I take a look?"

Lecia asked curiously, reaching over to pull the box containing the stone tablet closer. She merely intended to touch it, but as soon as her finger made contact, a large plume of steam surged behind her.

The Ring of Fate of the Circle Sorcerer manifested, with a dazzling display of sound and light observable only in close proximity, and Shard, along with Mia, were indeed close by.

The cat, startled by the subsequent steam whistle and bell sound, leaped from the table. Forgetting the Silvermoon Slate still hovering overhead, the cat collided with the tablet.

"Meow~"

For an instant, Mia’s plaintive cry was even louder than the steam whistle and bell behind Lecia. Once Lecia recovered her senses, she noticed not the new Spirit Rune she had acquired, but Shard comforting the pitiful Mia, ignoring her entirely.

The blonde girl discreetly pursed her lips, though she wasn’t angry over a cat:

"It appears the legend you spoke of is true. Touching the stone tablets, if one’s inspiration is strong enough, can indeed yield Spirit Runes."

Shard looked up at the fading Brass Life Ring of the Five-Ring Sorcerer behind Lecia, gradually blending into the steam mist. Despite the kitchen’s cramped space, the ring adjusted its size as necessary. Its highest point nearly touched the ceiling, yet cautiously maintained a distance. It was a large presence for the indoor setting. Before it completely vanished, Shard glimpsed the Miracle—the Library in the Age.

"Such highly specific Spirit Runes are hard to associate with corresponding Arcane Technique, but acquiring a new Spirit Rune is a good thing nonetheless, representing a step closer to the Six Rings."

Lecia said with a smile, glancing at the cat slumped in Shard’s arms before faintly rising to kiss Shard’s cheek:

"Thank you for your help, Shard."

"What do you think would happen if Dorothy directly touched this stone tablet?"

Shard asked curiously.

"That’s quite simple."

The blonde girl leaned back slightly, closing her eyes. After a few seconds, amidst the cat’s meow, she sat upright again.

"Good morning, Shard."

Dorothy greeted Shard with a smile, picking up the fork with her right hand to lift fried eggs from her plate while reaching out to the new stone tablet with her left:

"No reaction whatsoever."

Miss Writer remarked before taking a bite of the egg, helplessly saying to Shard:

"Lecia’s cooking skills are still inferior to mine; hopefully, this breakfast doesn’t spoil your day."

Shard didn’t comment, choosing instead to keep his mouth shut and simply eat.

As expected, like Shard thought, Dorothy didn’t anticipate Shard to critique Lecia’s culinary skills. She reclined back again, pausing a few seconds, and as Mia meowed once more, Lecia returned:

"Apparently, it indeed doesn’t work."

Their soul exchange allowed them to know each other’s short-term memories, so she knew what had happened:

"Nevertheless, is it really so much worse than Dorothy’s skills?"

She asked suspiciously, then saw a person and a cat both staring at him with wide eyes.

"What’s wrong?"

"I just didn’t expect you to come back so soon. I remember frequent exchanges in a short period will cause severe mental damage."

"Occasionally exchanging frequently doesn’t have much impact."

Her Highness the Princess appeared very nonchalant. She sniffed the food on the plate, still in self-doubt:

"And it’s been a long time since we’ve had time alone. Dorothy agreed to give these two days to me. I remember you’ve had nothing much going on recently, right?"

"Yes, I’ve temporarily handled everything at hand."

Shard nodded. The Time Key of Year 5177 of the Fifth Era had ended, and matters in Huntington City were temporarily concluded due to the final test of the Lake Goddess. Today is the first day of December, the Slumber Moon, and he planned to walk around the city to deal with matters at hand:

"Would you like to go out with me later? Just take a walk in the city."

The blonde girl immediately beamed:

"Of course, I would love to accept your invitation."

She slightly lowered her voice:

"However, tomorrow, Monday night, I hope you’ll keep your schedule open. Princess Lecia and Princess Angelina are going to an opera, and you can wait at the alley corner on Hunter Street to get on the carriage. Tomorrow night’s opera... is still in the box."

Princess Lecia Cavendish blushed slightly but remained gracefully looking at Shard:

"Dorothy isn’t feeling well this week, and Luviya is busy with her Magic Potion course assignments. I suppose your evenings are quite lonely, aren’t they?"

"Hmm..."

In fact, it wasn’t lonely at all, and the Outlander wasn’t some lustful ghost. He was busy reviewing, flipping through books, and checking information recently; he didn’t have a free evening.

"Don’t have anything come up last minute tomorrow night. My soul is often by your side but never forgets its own body. Besides, you said on Tuesday you were troubled by not being able to shoot that arrow, and now it’s already Sunday, and you still haven’t found a suitable way to relieve it. Knight, your princess wants to help you, so try to push aside any unimportant matters."

She slightly tilted her neck, as if discussing a rigorous academic topic, rather than a bizarre scenario found only in illegal publications.

"Yes, yes."

Shard nodded, and only then did Lecia smile.

Since it was decided to handle his salary, advertisements, gas bills, and other daily trifles in the city since today was the start of the month, Her Highness the Princess happily went to the room to choose clothes.

Shard didn’t need to be particular about his attire when going out, just as long as he wasn’t cold. So while waiting for the blonde girl to finish her makeup, he took out two newly acquired leaves of the Ever-Youth Leaf this morning.

Before this, the leaves in his hand were all consumed by directly receiving the "Thunder of Divine Punishment." The new two leaves symbolized new knowledge, and Shard was eager to place them before his eyes, one by one.

As the leaf veins were stained gold, golden essences flowed into Shard’s eyes, and the knowledge of the "Water of Moonlight" and "Sunfire" rituals successfully entered Shard’s mind.

Compared to the racial knowledge of elves and the vampire kind, the information of these two rituals wasn’t vast. Although they went by different names, their functions were remarkably similar; both were used to obtain certain special substances.

Ritual: Water of Moonlight, arranged at a position higher than the horizon, when the midnight moonlight shines on the ritual, it can produce a small amount of "Water of Moonlight." It’s a liquid formed by the mixture of Spirit, elements, and other concepts, having extremely broad applications.

Ritual: Sunfire, arranged at a position higher than the horizon, when the noonday sunlight shines on the ritual, it can produce a small amount of "Sunfire." It’s a flame formed by the mixture of Spirit, elements, and other concepts, having equally broad applications.

It could even be said that the "Water of Moonlight," representing pure Moon Power, and the "Sunfire," representing pure Sun Power, could be effective in nearly any aspect.

Directly consuming them benefits both body and soul; adding them when configuring a Magic Potion or making Alchemical Items can impart the final product with some special effects; even drinking some prior to spellcasting can enhance the power of Spirit Runes like "Moon," "Night," "Lightning," and "Sun" to some extent.

In the distant ancient eras, "Water of Moonlight" and "Sunfire" were the highest-grade offerings to the Deities. The transcendent beings and mystic scholars of ancient times depended on vast, complex rituals and paid the price of extended time to extract small amounts of moonlight or a faint spark.

But the two rituals provided by the Father of the Infinite Tree to Shard could be constructed with just some expensive gemstones. Aside from the gemstones and common materials like "Moon Night Grass" and "Sunflower," the ritual itself didn’t require particularly precious materials, just Shard’s blood.

The scale of the ritual limits the production of "water" and "fire," and Shard can only set up each ritual once. From the ritual knowledge obtained through the Ever-Youth Leaf, there were two special runes that needed to be engraved on the gemstone as the Ritual Core.

These two special runes could only be inscribed by Shard once, as they would automatically vanish—a blessing of the Deity from the most ancient times. Therefore, Shard couldn’t construct the rituals infinitely to obtain these extremely precious materials infinitely but could only collect them as time passed.

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