Whispering Poems

Chapter 3899 Moon Egg

Ms. Helena Carter's soul had separated from the Cursed Tree, which her body had become, in the form of a "seed" through a ritual performed by the Tree Father. But just as Shad had predicted, a seed in the form of an egg could not yet be considered a true life.

Even so, the two are already very satisfied with the current outcome.

Shad then went to start a fire and cook, while Daniste, who was tightly clutching the egg and refusing to let go, told Shad about her dream from the previous night:
"After you resonated your spirit with the spirit within the tree, both you and the Cursed Tree remained still. Then you and the tree glowed together, and all the tree's curse surged towards you, allowing me to complete the ritual. Of the eight dragon eggs, only this one succeeded."

After you absorbed the curse, the Cursed Tree shrank to about twenty meters tall and lost its ability to move, its roots firmly planted on the spot. Your body, however, returned to its original size and fell from the sky, which I quickly caught.

Daniste sat by the fire, gently stroking the shell of the giant egg:
"I don't know what happened after that. When I regained consciousness, I just sat up in the tent. You know what happened after that."

After she finished speaking, she asked Xia De with concern:
"So, you freed the teacher's soul by absorbing the curse of the Cursed Tree, right? Although I don't sense any trace of the curse on you right now, are you really alright?"

"Of course it's fine, it's not like it's the first time I've absorbed the curse of time."

As Shad teased the cat drinking goat milk, the "she" beside him had already given the answer:

[Stranger, the shadow of the Old God—Father of the Infinite Tree—has helped you alleviate the curse of time.]

The activation time for the Time Key has been postponed by one month.

As before, Shad wasn't surprised; he picked up his soup bowl.
“Dannister, don’t keep holding that egg. Let’s eat first. What I’m more concerned about now is what’s going on in that dream world. Can we go back in? Last night we only solved the tree problem. I still want to go inside the tower. Maybe we can find the door to the Silvermoon Library.”

The tree roots that appeared with the egg should be the [Roots of the Teacher, Cursed Remains] needed in the "Rebirth Ritual" to transform the core spirit rune. However, Shad learned through the "Falling Ritual" that there are actually two other materials:
"How about we go in again tonight?"

Daniste shook her head, still refusing to put down the egg:

“When I woke up just now, I had a feeling that no one would be able to enter that place for a while. Our actions greatly disrupted the order of that moonlit world, and it is now completely sealed off.”

"I see. So when can we go back in?"

Although the ultimate goal has been achieved, there are still many things involved with that tower. Moreover, the fact that the Cursed Tree directly absorbs curses from that world also makes Shad quite concerned.

He had some guesses about the purpose of the Moon Tower, but he would have to go inside again to find out.

The sorceress shook her head:
"I don't know. But aren't there people here who know about that world?"

She showed a loving expression and continued to hold the egg in her arms. Shad understood what she meant:
“Once Ms. Carter recovers, we can ask her, ‘Could you put the egg down and have breakfast first?’”

"No! We finally found the teacher, I'm not letting go!"

Shad hurriedly finished his breakfast and then forcefully snatched the egg away. Daniste looked at him reproachfully, and only after confirming that Shad wouldn't return the egg did she reluctantly eat her breakfast.

"How do we hatch this egg, or rather, this seed?"

Shad then raised new questions. The knowledge the Tree Father had given him after the War of Time only concerned how to make the Cursed Tree bear seeds containing souls, but did not cover the subsequent steps.

Theoretically speaking, Helena Carter had indeed been reborn at this point; one could even say she had been "resurrected." But clearly, neither her students nor their students wanted to see an egg.

The soul remained dormant within the egg, unresponsive to any external stimuli. Shad believed they were searching for some method of incubation, but unfortunately, neither the cats nor the unicorns he knew were oviparous.

"Chocobos seem to lay eggs; I wonder if Miss Elizabeth, who also contains 'dragon' elements, will incubate the eggs."

"I'll need to study the hatching of the eggs when I get back to the academy."

As she spoke, Daniste looked at the egg that Shad was holding:

“What we did last night, while not strictly speaking ‘creating life,’ was close enough. But neither you nor I are true gods. What we obtained through the knowledge given to us by the Tree Father, though outwardly an egg, is still essentially a seed.”

Only when a seed continues to germinate can it be considered a true birth of life; no one would consider a handful of beans or sunflower seeds as life.

Xia De understood:

"So, if we want the egg to hatch, we need to find a way to create life?"

"That's about right, but it's much easier than creating life out of thin air. Leave this to me; the academy will provide assistance."

She ate her breakfast with joy and satisfaction, watching Egg and Shad:

"The situation is much better than I expected. I was searching for my teacher's final destination, but instead of witnessing the passing of life, I saw the beginning of a new life."

Since Daniste herself was so confident, Shad was no longer worried; he thought of something else:
"When the seed sprouts and the egg hatches, will the life that emerges from it still retain its original memories?"

"It should be possible, after all, you removed most of the curse from her. Even if her soul is still damaged by the decades of hardship and the remaining curse, it will only mean that she has lost some of her memories."

Xia De nodded:

"So, when the life hatches, will it look like the original egg, or like a baby that is the same size as the egg?"

Denise thought about what her teacher might look like when he was young, and a smile immediately appeared on her face:

"It's more likely that he'll look like a little kid. After all, even if the seed of hope sprouts, it won't immediately grow into a towering tree. We don't know if the teacher's power will diminish by then. If it really does diminish, it would be good to let the teacher go back to school like Ellie and the others."

"Be careful, she can hear you now."

Shad warned, but the red-haired sorceress paid no attention. She tilted her head, looking at the egg, thinking about many things in the future.

The appearance of this egg was so different from the dragon eggs that the two of them had brought that they were not sure what kind of bloodline the egg originally had, since the original bloodline of the egg would also affect the life that "hatched" it.

However, the original fossil had no power after all. Now that a soul carrying power had taken over, and with the combined effects of the power of the silver moon, time, and the tree, Shad suspected that what would eventually hatch from this egg might not be a dragon, or at least not a pure dragon.

Of course, Daniste didn't mind that her teacher had dragon blood. As for the egg's current lineage issue, she planned to examine it carefully after returning to Saint Byrons, and if all else failed, she could seek help from the dragons on Dragon Island.

"Let's call this egg the 'moon egg' for now, and hopefully it will hatch soon."

The world where the Moon Tower was located was temporarily inaccessible, so after breakfast, the two did not linger in the area, and their adventure was thus successfully concluded.

The campsite and tents were packed up, and then Daniste used illusion magic to conceal the tower in the real world, which had been restored by reversing time. Although it could be taken down again, neither Shad nor Daniste wanted to do so.

There's no need for a long journey back. Before leaving home, Shad had already fixed the blessing as the Creator of Innocence at the White Chapel. Therefore, he can temporarily turn the cat and Daniste into toys, then throw the glass slipper to take them and the egg directly home.

But while packing his luggage, Shad thought of something else:

"Speaking of which, the town of Karas at the foot of the mountain is the only large-scale human settlement in the vicinity, right?"

"Yes, there might be another village in the nearby mountains, but they are all very remote."

Xia De hesitated for a moment:
"Now that everything is settled, I'd like to make one last trip to town before I leave, as there are some things I need to confirm."

"No problem, but what do you want to do?"

Shad did not hide his intentions:
“I’ve told you about my uncle Sparrow Hamilton’s true identity before; he’s Carsonrick’s top agent, ‘Grey Hawk.’”

Last year, in the summer of 1854, while in Moon Bay, I unexpectedly discovered a safe house once used by Detective Sparrow, where I found photographs and notebooks he had burned. The landscape photographs were taken in the Callas Mountains, and the notebooks recorded that Detective Sparrow would regularly meet with Agent 'Big-Toothed Sparrow' in the Callas Mountains to exchange information (2237, 2242, 2257).

Daniste was somewhat puzzled:

"Your detective uncle has been here too? It feels like so many people have been to Mount Karas around you?"

“I’d like to know that too. Anyway, since the town of Karas at the foot of the mountain is the only town in the vicinity with a train, if Detective Sparrow and Big Mouth Sparrow really do come here to meet regularly, I think they’ve most likely stayed in the town.”

Xia frowned and recalled:
"Judging from the season, those landscape photos were probably taken in the spring."

Do you think the big-billed magpie will come again this year?

(End of this chapter)