Whispering Poems

Chapter 4074 Flower Field Under the Moon

Luvia was very interested in Winnie's ability to freeze life, and she asked again:

"Then Winnie, can your power affect the activity of the 'Twisted Life Spark'? Besides the powers of death and decay, extreme cold should also be the nemesis of life."

Winnie thought for a moment:
"Her Majesty Chloe's coldness can even freeze time. If Her Majesty were here, her coldness could freeze any form of life force. I do not have the power of a demigod witch. With my current level of twelve rings and the characteristics of my race, if I were to take action myself, I could indeed suppress the activity of life force to some extent, but the effect would not be better than 'withering'."

Luvia was very satisfied with the result:
"Then let's give it a try."

She gestured for Shad to activate the AllSpark, allowing it to levitate in the air. Winnie then gently exhaled a breath of frost towards the fiery eye. The white frost hissed upon touching the "flame," but no water vapor was produced. The AllSpark remained suspended in the air, but the flames around the eye were noticeably suppressed.

Iluna reached out and touched it:
“I can feel the chill, so Winnie’s power can indeed suppress the life force. In that case, Winnie, you should also be prepared to go to the Arcadia region to help Shad at any time.”

The loyal maid nodded with a smile:

"Yes, I am ready to be called upon at any time."

Then Shad took out the eyeball he had obtained from the ring sorcerer of the Blood Spirit School. Because it was a living organ, it could store life force. The eyeball had been modified so that the life force stored within it could dissipate more slowly.

Shad's original intention was to bring it back so that everyone could study it, but the girls didn't want to touch it.

“Shad, this is just an eyeball. You can turn it into a toy card and put it away. When it’s inconvenient to use the Fire Source or the Mark, you can use this to collect life force. Or you can give this to the witch’s followers. When you’re not around, at least they will have a way to preserve their life force.”

Iluna had just returned from out of town and could take a day off tomorrow, so she wasn't in a hurry to go back. Instead, she stayed with Winnie and discussed the events of the night with everyone.

At nine o'clock in the evening, footsteps came from the basement, and then Denise entered the house. She wasn't surprised by the large number of people in the house. Seeing that Shad had changed into casual clothes, Denise asked:

"Shad, do you have time now? I've prepared the learning ritual for the [Flower of the Rotten Moon]. The moon phases for today and tomorrow are both suitable for learning this magical art."

This extraordinary skill was learned at Miss Feliananna's request, and Shad stood up:

"Now that I'm ready, I'll go study tonight. I can tell you about what happened in Arcadia earlier."

This time, Luvia didn't mention that Shad hadn't had a moment's rest all night. She, along with Iluna and Winnie, escorted Shad and Daniste to the basement. Mia, probably in a good mood because she had a delicious late-night snack and received a new ring, followed Shad along.

After the two people and the cat left, Luvia asked Iluna:

"You don't have anything else to do tomorrow, are you planning to stay here tonight?"

The eighteen-year-old girl asked shyly:

"Shad isn't coming back, is he? He's living in St. Byron?"

Luvia raised an eyebrow:

Whether or not Xia De comes back has nothing to do with whether you stay or not.

Iluna glanced at Luvia again, then, with her hands behind her back, looked even more embarrassed.

"If Shad comes back, aren't you going to live with him?"

Winnie laughed beside her, and Luvia laughed too:
“What are you talking about? Although I often stay here, I don’t go to see Shad every night. Whether Shad comes back or not, you should stay here with us tonight, and we can have some private conversations.”

"Winnie, don't leave. We'll need you to make breakfast tomorrow morning anyway. Neither Iluna nor I can cook as well as you. Stay and spend the night with us. You've never stayed in this house before, right?"

The three girls left the basement together, while Shad and Daniste had already arrived at the school library. The ceremony wasn't held there. Daniste led Shad through a teleportation array in the library hall, first arriving at the edge of the "Unicorn Forest." Then, Daniste summoned two unicorns that were strolling there, which carried the two of them towards the northern grasslands.

The unicorn that Danestra was riding was clearly not enthusiastic about her at all.

After a five-minute flight, the unicorns landed beside a stream in the grassland. Two unicorns nuzzled Shad's hand together before returning to their roost. Daniste watched them disappear into the night with a touch of melancholy.
“In the past, the unicorns in the academy also liked me very much.”

Shad had already released Mia. The cat looked around curiously. The spring night breeze was very comfortable, and both Mia and Shad felt very pleasant.

"So will you blame me for this?"

“What are you saying, Shad? What’s there to blame?”

The stream meandered beside him under the moonlight, and when he stood on the grassland and looked up at the starry sky and the three moons overhead, Xia De even felt as if he had returned to the dream of the silver moon.

The stream was shallow, its bottom covered with pebbles, and in the night it looked like a silver ribbon. Animals living on this grassland would drink by the stream, and Shad saw two fawns with antlers that shimmered with blue starlight drinking water from afar, but he didn't recognize what kind of animals they were.

Before them, a sea of ​​silver-blue flowers swayed gently in the night breeze, twinkling lights dancing among the blossoms. Daniste stood smiling in the flower field, gazing up at the starry sky:
"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Xiad recognized this flower:
“It is indeed very beautiful. Is this a peacock flower? I remember when Emilia lived in the treehouse in Vista Woods, in addition to raising those chocobos, she also created a large field of peacock flowers.”

"Yes, she barely passed her herbalism exam last year thanks to that flower field."

Daniste nodded, gesturing for Shad to lie down in the sea of ​​flowers:
"No matter what happens, don't move. Wait until the ceremony is completely over before getting up."

"no problem."

Shad then carefully walked into the flower field and lay down in the very center. Mia immediately jumped onto Shad's chest. Shad tried to get her away, but Daniste told him it was alright.
"After you lie down, you can move your hands. Just make sure that Xiaomia doesn't touch the flowers."

"Ok."

Shad then tried to hug the cat to his chest, but Mia had already lay down and clearly had no intention of running around.

The ritual array, already set up on the flower field, gradually lit up as Danist chanted incantations. Runes illuminated the earth under the night sky, while a sudden gust of wind made Mia's beautiful golden-white fur sway even more violently.

Shad really didn't need to do anything; the ritual didn't even require him to close his eyes. He initially stared at the moon overhead, pondering how to invite Daniste to his home, then noticed the silver-blue flowers around him gradually turning crimson, like the red moon.

Daniste seemed to be reciting poetry, and Shad listened carefully and realized that the poem was praising a city that had been afflicted by the curse of the Red Moon and had become a bloody mutation.

The people of that city desecrated the moon on the first night, revelled all night on the second night, developed sores on their hands and feet on the third night, their flesh rotted on the fourth night, their bodies became deformed on the fifth night, wept and repented on the sixth night, and left the city on the seventh night, embarking on a pilgrimage of repentance under the red moon.

The ancient poem vividly describes the city's descent into the Red Moon curse and praises the cursed red moon with great fervor.

When Denise was halfway through her recitation, all the sapphire flowers turned crimson; and when she reached the end of the poem, in addition to the ritual squares on the flower field being fully activated, the crimson flowers began to change color to resemble blood.

Moreover, Shad was certain that he could smell blood.

The poem concludes with the confessions of cursed sinners under the red moon. As this ending is recited, countless tiny bubbles appear on the surface of the vibrant, blood-red flowers in the flower field. Then, one by one, the bubbles on the flowers and stems burst, releasing thick, putrid blood onto the ground.

The wind carried the mournful song of a young girl, a voice that sounded like a confession, or perhaps a simple lamentation before the crimson moon.

The flower field, which had looked beautiful just moments before, was now covered in putrid blood. The putrid red liquid quickly gathered towards Shad in the center. After Denise finished reciting the poem, when she looked up again, she saw huge, closed, crimson flower buds enveloping Shad and Mia.

The flower buds radiated an ominous red light, yet under the night sky they were exceptionally mysterious and enchanting.

"That went so smoothly. Is there absolutely no possibility that Shad could fail in learning the Moon-themed magical arts?"

The sorceress thought to herself, watching the colors on the flower bud gradually fade, and poured all her power into the center. Then, the corrupt red color reappeared on the bud, and as the "Rotten Moon Flower" slowly bloomed in all directions, Daniste slowly retreated.

The crimson, decaying petals fell to the ground, then scattered into red specks of light and disappeared. At the center of the bud, Shad had already stood up, holding Mia in his arms. In his hand, he held a Rotten Moon Flower, a symbol of "flesh mutation/corruption."

[Stranger, you have acquired the wondrous spell - Flower of the Corrupted Moon: Under the crimson moon, you summon moonlight to condense a Flower of the Corrupted Moon. After casting, a certain area will be afflicted with the 'Crimson Moon Curse,' causing flesh-and-blood creatures to undergo decay and mutation, while non-flesh-and-blood creatures will also be affected to varying degrees. Corresponding rune: [Crimson Moon].]

PS: The illustration in this chapter is titled "Danistre in a Sea of ​​Flowers".