Chapter 262: Meet Meritelli Again?

"Alin... five..."

A hazy white light fluctuated in the darkness.

A vague voice that couldn't be distinguished between male and female came from it.

Five what?
Who is calling me?

The demon hunter shouted subconsciously.

But no sound came out.

"Alin... five... five..."

The hazy light became dimmer and dimmer, and the sound of the fluctuations became smaller and smaller.

It was like being swallowed up by endless darkness.

In this regard.

The inexplicable extreme fear made the witcher try his best to get closer and hear clearly.

But the next moment.

However, he found that not only was he unable to speak, but he seemed to be possessed by a ghost and could not move at all.

wrong!

It’s not that I can’t move…

But he has no body at all.

When he realized this, the witcher suddenly woke up from a dream.

At this time.

The hazy voice suddenly became clear.

She is saying:
"Alin...Mayday...Alin...Mayday..."

These two words keep repeating.

Or maybe there was some conversation going on, but he couldn't hear it.

Followed by.

Before the witcher could think clearly about the current situation.

The dim light went out, and then the view suddenly and rapidly zoomed away.

At this moment he also saw his own form clearly.

He was also a ball of light, a light as blue as the ocean.

But this light is not as pure as white light.

Blocks of earthy brown and blue are interspersed in the space, and silvery white dots of light float on the surface...

A tiny but extremely evil and uncomfortable bloody red dot is located right in the center of the complexly arranged silver dots.

When the demon hunter looked closely, he seemed to see...

The red dot is flashing strangely...

In the blink of an eye...

“Ha—hiss—ha—hiss—”

Aelin sat up suddenly, opened his eyes, and gasped loudly.

It took a long time before he calmed down his breathing despite being still in shock.

He looked up.

The sky was still dark, but a gray-blue color that was about to break dawn.

A cool breeze blew from the sky, passing through the lush green oak trees and blowing into the old carved wooden windows.

It also blew away the heat from the demon hunter.

"It's still early..." he thought to himself.

Then he, the witcher, began to recall the dream he had just had.

"Blue, earthy brown, windy green, and silver dots. Judging from the proportions of the color blocks, it should be the affinity of the elements of water, earth, wind, and space..."

"But that red dot..."

Ailin shuddered involuntarily as he recalled the feeling of being stared at by a small red dot.

"My previous suspicions were correct. The evil god's gaze has only been dormant, and has not been completely eliminated."

"So that dyed orb is my soul?"

I thought about it for a long time, but still couldn't come up with an answer.

"Da da da~"

He stood up and walked to the three holy statues of the goddess.

The young girl is naive, the pregnant woman is gentle, the old woman is kind...

Cracks and gaps are all over the gray-white stone.

He is as usual, broken but holy and near.

Looking at the Holy Lady Meliteli, the demon hunter was silent for a long time before he murmured and sighed:
"Gifts are not so easy to receive..."

"But May Day..."

"What exactly did you want to tell me in your dream?"

The demon hunter shook his head helplessly:
"May Festival means that the evil god's gaze can only be eliminated on May Festival, or maybe..."

"You predicted something big would happen on May Day. Is there anything I can do?"

"But if something unexpected really happened to Elland on May Day, why didn't he inform Ianna, but instead sent a message to the unbelievers in their dreams?"

"And where is that dark space?"

……

Questions came out one after another.

The witcher wanted answers.

But the stone statue just smiled holy and remained silent.

It seems that it was like this a thousand years ago, and it will be like this a thousand years later...

God never existed.

All that was standing there was a large stone statue.

The witcher looked at the statue in silence for a long time, with many thoughts surging in his mind like the sea in a storm.

He remembered that Ianna had said yesterday that May Day was the day when the goddess Meritelli was most powerful in the year.

The May Day carnival is also a powerful ritual to use people's positive emotions to draw in the power of the goddess and put evil spirits and ghosts to rest.

and so.

The goddess reminded him that it would be possible to take part in the ceremony on that day to eliminate the gaze.

And in this way, the matter would only concern him.

It was understandable that Ms. Meritelli did not inform Ianna.

but……

Is it really that simple?

If it was really just to remind him, why did he give him so many gifts yesterday?
The demon hunter frowned.

He had a feeling of what was going to happen on May Day.

But if this is really a possibility, the high priest could not have known about it in advance.

unless……

The high priest didn't have the ability to know, or the goddess didn't have the ability to pass the oracle to the high priest...

No matter which possibility it is, it doesn't seem good...

"I don't want to think about it anymore," Ailin shook his head. "Let's wait for Ianna to come and ask her. Maybe she already knew it, but she didn't tell me."

"and……"

"The first possibility is more likely..."

……

After finishing the sumptuous breakfast brought by Lisa, Ianna arrived as promised.

"Alin, how was your conversation with Margarita yesterday..."

As soon as they entered the icon room and passed by Lisa, the high priest joked cheerfully: "Why did you leave immediately? We were waiting to say goodbye to you..."

Are you waiting to be teased by me?
The demon hunter rolled his eyes in his heart and did not make any excuses.
Not Vera.

After so many days, he has become very familiar with Ianna.

Leaving without saying goodbye last night was nothing.

What's more, he asked Mary to convey his message.

of course.

None of this matters now.

"Wait, Sister Ianna," the demon hunter interrupted Ianna as she was about to say something, "Before you learn the ritual, I have something to tell you?"

Seeing Ailin's serious expression, Ianna also put away her smile, took two steps closer and asked:
"What's wrong? What did you dream about last night?" The witcher nodded and told the whole story of his dream.

Priests of the goddess Meliteli, or in other words, priests of all righteous gods, have the skill of dream interpretation.

This has been a common skill for priests of all races since ancient times.

Although he didn't feel like he was really dreaming last night.

"The dark space, the white light, the red dots that look like eyes, and May Day..." Ianna lowered her head and frowned, muttering to herself.

After a few seconds, she reached out and squeezed Ailin's palm.

Heat flowed through the witcher's body.

"I still can't sense any evil spirit hidden in your body," Ianna shook her head. "According to the usual practice, you should have been 'healed' by now, but..."

She paused, looked at Ailin's face gently, and said soothingly:

"I was going to keep you until the end of the month so that you could experience the most famous May carnival in Elland in the northern continent."

"So it's nothing..."

The witcher could hear some doubt in Ianna's tone.

This is not to suspect him of lying.

Instead, I think this is just a normal phenomenon that what you think about during the day will appear in your dreams at night.

It was normal for Ailin to suspect during the day that the curse had not been completely removed and to dream at night that it had not been completely removed.

This was true even though Ailin had been meditating instead of sleeping.

At least this is more believable than the fact that the high priest of the Meliteli religion, the most popular religion in the northern continent, could not detect any remnants of the evil god.

Ailin could understand this.

Even if he was not familiar with Ianna, he would just nod and stop trying to convince her of the existence of another possibility.

But not Ianna.

So the demon hunter organized his words and looked at Ianna:

"Aunt Ianna, is there a possibility..."

"Goddess... uh... the May Day that the white light refers to may not refer to the curse that may exist on me..."

"But something bad might happen on May Day..."

When Ianna heard this, she didn't speak immediately, but looked carefully at Ailin's face.

After looking for a long time, she stood up straight and asked seriously:

“Is this a prophecy?”

"Just like the dream you had that predicted the fall of the Ancient Sea Fortress?"

Ailin was stunned for a few seconds, then thought of the news about the predictive dream, which might have been told to her by Vera.

"I'm not sure..." The demon hunter said truthfully, and then asked tentatively, "You... have no way to contact the goddess?"

Ianna shook her head.
"As I told you a few days ago, we haven't listened to the oracle of the goddess for decades."

After a pause of one second, she continued softly:
"In fact, the day after you arrived, when I heard the voice calling you in my dream, I had already prayed with divine magic..."

"The divine arts can be used normally, but the oracle..."

Ianna shook her head slightly.

The demon hunter was stunned when he saw this.

The high priest of the Meliteli Cult could not hear Meliteli's oracle...

If the believers outside knew about this, I'm afraid it would cause a chaos no less than the Farga Rebellion...

Is this something I can listen to?
Aelin shrank his head.

"Hehe..." Ianna guessed the demon hunter's thoughts, smiled softly, and said, "Didn't I tell you? We are a family."

We're already a family after only knowing each other for a few days?
Ailin wisely did not refute and changed the subject:
"What about dream interpretation?"

"I heard that the priests all have..."

Before he finished speaking, Ianna waved her hand and interrupted:

"The kind of dream interpretation you mentioned is fake. It's used to cheat some nobles out of their money."

what?
The demon hunter was a little confused when he heard this.

Dream interpretation is fake...

But in the original book, when Meliteli was teaching the future high priest Nenneke, didn't she always insist on having the gifted priestess Aurora interpret Geralt's dream?
Is it that talents like Aurora's are harder to find, or is this also the difference between the two worlds?

"Do you really think there will be a problem on May Day?" Ianna asked suddenly after a few seconds of silence.

"I'm not sure..." Ailin said truthfully.

"But you feel uneasy?" Ianna asked.

Ailin thought about it and nodded.

Although I don’t know what Goddess Meritelli will have to pay for last night’s good luck.

But it really wasn't worth it to pay so much just to remind him to attend the Cinco de Mayo revelry.

"I understand." Ianna let out a long sigh, "I will inform Mason and ask him to make more preparations."

Although I don't know how much more preparation I should make.

But it is obvious that the cost must be high, and if nothing happens, it will inevitably cause dissatisfaction among the Elland nobles towards the temple.

"Do you trust my feelings?" the witcher asked doubtfully.

"Don't underestimate yourself..." Ianna said meaningfully, "You are a child of miracles. Just knowing this is enough for me."

"Besides, it's no big deal to ask Mason to spend a little more money..."

"As long as May Carnival can start and end safely, it will all be worth it."

"Okay, there's no rush to prepare. Let's learn today's ritual first..."

……

【Name: Magic Ritual】

【Type: Magic Ritual】

[Requirement: Ritual Studies Level 4]

[Materials: Chalk*2, Glass*2, Sulfur*2, Magic Dust*1]

[Function: Create a magic circle that can increase the magic capacity. The magic limit of the first target who enters the magic circle, has magical abilities and focuses on the magic circle will be increased. The duration is five hours.

The caster can also drain the power of the magic circle and obtain the fifth element in equal proportion.

[Note: Every warlock who has arranged a magic ritual is a glass cannon! ]

The magic ritual is the same as the life ritual learned the day before, both are large-scale rituals that require a whole day to prepare.

And there is no danger if you fail.

So after teaching Aelin the basic construction methods in the morning, Ianna left the icon room with peace of mind and informed the old Duke about the changes to May Day.

As for Aylin.

After successfully setting up the magic ritual, I experienced it.

It was discovered that this magical ritual was not just a battery that automatically absorbed free magic in the air.

Under the enriched magic power, the Ice Spear Spell, which was most similar to an ordinary spell, not only became thicker and longer, but was almost catching up with the scale of the one released by the Ice King.

The speed of chanting spells is also cut in half.

The speed of releasing an ice spear every two seconds allowed Ailin to experience the rare joy of a wizard.

Less than five minutes after the ceremony was completed, the open space in front of the sanctuary was filled with fluorescent blue icicles at an angle.

The temperature around dropped by at least ten degrees.

Moreover, under the reinforcement of the ritual array, although the degree of enhancement of the seal was not as much as that of the Ice Spear Curse, it was at least increased by 30%.

"Chalk, glass, sulfur, and magic dust. The materials are not expensive, and..."

The demon hunter had an idea.

The circular ritual array suddenly flashed with a white light, and as the connection with the ritual array disappeared, a thumb-sized emerald green dust appeared at the center of the circle.

"Well, is this the amount of the fifth element?" The demon hunter filled an empty glass bottle with dust and shook it. "If you don't count the time for setting up the ritual and absorbing magic power, it's still a little bit of a loss."

"But it's rare that there is a ceremony that not only doesn't swallow up the gold, but can actually make money back..."

After cleaning up the remains of the ceremony, the witcher had no intention of entering the sanctuary and went straight to Vera's residence.

It's still early.

It's time to refine all the recipes obtained last night.

He had endured for most of the day in order to learn how to set up the magic ritual.

Now I can’t wait to create a “blizzard” and try out the bullet time in reality to see if it’s as powerful as in the game.

and……

The demon hunter touched the prickly beard on his chin:

"After all, it's related to the curse of the evil god. Since the May Day carnival could cause big problems..."

"I can't just rely on Ianna and the old duke's 'preparations'..."

(End of this chapter)