"What about this?"
Perhaps to let Cysper eat humble pie, Judith finally decided to go all out. Gritting her teeth, she flipped open her palm to reveal a brownish-yellow pebble.
"This is..."
To outsiders like us, we naturally didn't know what it was. But in Reed's eyes, it was like seeing a treasure, immediately captivated.
"The legendary Sage's Stone?"
"Hahaha, didn't expect the angels to be such connoisseurs!" Judith laughed proudly, full of admiration for Reed.
"Exactly, this is the Sage's Stone. There are no more than three across the entire continent that can flawlessly convert different elements!"
"Then we can use angelic light elements to power this array?"
I was a bit surprised - angelic light mana was immense, resolving the fundamental flaw of Reed's transfer array! If we contacted Elara through the Spiritual Network, we could immediately open a gateway back to Edenmere.
"But why would you give me something so precious?"
Reed hesitated, glancing at the Stone in Judith's hand, not reaching out to take it. They weren't that familiar, unsure of Judith's motives.
"Hehehe! My profession is elemental research too. Your insights into arrays are right up my alley, so giving this to you is no waste at all!"
Judith laughed again, while Cysper looked sourer the more she grinned.
"After hundreds of years it's probably just an abandoned relic anyway. Making that immortal old fart unhappy is profit enough!"
"Immortal old fart..."
Mia's face also soured, but thankfully she knew it wasn't aimed at her, so stayed silent.
"But why though?" I shook my head, sipping the now cold fish soup nonchalantly. At this point, anyone could see Judith's grudge against Cysper went deeper than the surface, with shady motives. But strangely, even Cysper himself seemed oblivious to the reasons, as clueless as me.
"Hehehe, I know why, I already looked into it secretly!"
At that moment, the gossip lover popped out again, leaning over to smugly reveal to me:
"Judith used to visit the Holy City too and met the Pope there. As for their relationship, just think of Teacher Aetna and you'll understand. Too bad Cysper seems to have completely forgotten her now..."
"Pfft—" I nearly spat out my fish soup. What a cliched soap opera plot - I thought one Aetna was outrageous enough, now there was a human version with a fatal attraction. Looked like Cysper was more popular than expected!
"But why are you so well-versed in this? The gossip just keeps coming."
Seeing everyone's eyes on me, I quickly wiped my mouth and whispered my question to Cyra.
"What can I say, angels are so trusting. Just had to ask and they spilled everything..." Cyra shrugged helplessly, giving me an exaggerated wink that sent shivers down my spine. Alright, seemed she was really enjoying this.
Cyrus always loved digging up inside scoops back in high school - exam dates, transfer student arrivals, this was his forte. Becoming Cyra only made that tendency worse.
After the meal, everyone took a free break. Judith, Reed and Mia were busy studying how to integrate the Sage's Stone into the transfer array. Cysper idly strummed his lute, still playing that age-old "City in the Sky." Brennan and Yulanda snuck off into the woods, who knows what they were up to.
As for Cyra and me...
"Want to go take a look?" Cyra tugged my clothes, trying to drag me over.
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"Are you crazy? You'd be better off practicing magic instead of that nonsense!" I pulled her back, scolding. Since Elara warned this trip could be dangerous, I had to urge this slacker on. Otherwise, when real danger struck, she'd regret not being prepared.
"Did you master that source magic last time?"
"Um...maybe...kinda..." Cyra stammered unconvincingly, clearly making excuses instead of practicing.
"It's just my light mana feels a bit lacking to keep up, not much I can do as a two-winger!"
"Two-winger my foot!" Could she really fool me with that? The source magic used one's innate light mana to resonate with external light elements for attacks, requiring little internal mana. In theory, a two-winger's mana should be enough!
Alright, maybe the two-wing mana level wasn't ideal for triggering resonance and fully controlling external elements. But Cyra's lack of progress left no choice!
If she could ascend to four wings, the situation might improve dramatically.
I sighed, wondering if I was asking too much. Haste makes waste - nobody rushed Reed despite her also being a two-winger.
After resting overnight, everyone's spirits had recovered nicely. But early the next morning just as we prepared to set out, we received major new intel.
"The Parristol uprising succeeded - the Parristol Liberation Front has taken full control of the city!"
The messenger was naturally Mike. We didn't see him last night, as Cysper had specially sent him to gather information.
This news was a bombshell for everyone - some surprised, some pleased, others at a loss.
"How could this happen? What should we do?"
Brennan and Yulanda were Astralrealm citizens, naturally hoping the kingdom's suppression force would succeed. Otherwise, just passing through to get home would become far more troublesome, not to mention other complications.
But it seemed unrealistic for them to head north now, with only about a day's journey left to our original destination to seek Alfreed's aid. Who could say if that plan was still viable?
Those surprised were me, Cysper and the others. We all knew the kingdom's military force sent to suppress the rebellion - a proper army able to confront monsters head-on. Yet they were defeated by residents of a small border town and an underground movement? It didn't add up.
"Hehehe, awesome, way to go Parristol!"
The one clearly pleased was, of course, Judith. This troublemaker had taken the rebels' side from the start. Luckily she wasn't a kingdom citizen, so couldn't be accused, though her loud cheering was rather disruptive.
Come to think of it, our little group had quite complex political leanings...
"What are the specifics, why did the kingdom's suppression force fail?"
Once everyone settled, Cysper voiced the question on everyone's mind.
"Well..." Mike looked troubled, glancing at the assembled crowd before finally relenting with the answer.
"It's mainly because Parristol's 'Divine Punishment' appeared again!"
"Huh, Divine Punishment?"
Those unfamiliar thought he meant actual divine retribution! Everyone turned towards Cysper, as the largest religion on this continent was the True Church, whose main deity was Yahweh.
"You're mistaken - that Divine Punishment probably refers to the ancestral power of Parristol's royal family!"
I ended up explaining for Cysper, having heard the legend from Nicola, and relaying it to the group.
The legend went that Parristol's ruling Loren family possessed a special divine power to manipulate the "Divine Punishment" through the city's Chromos Tower, punishing and repelling their enemies. This manifested as one or more beams of light raining down at extreme speed to instantly strike the condemned target, blasting huge craters in the ground!
For thousands of years, surrounding nations studied these light beams in vain, only observing that they showed no elemental aura and seemed to originate from beyond the sky.
It was this "Divine Punishment" that initially prompted Nicola's trip from the capital to the frontier, though she made no major discoveries before dropping the matter. Yet the legend had quickly reemerged!
"I see...so if the Divine Punishment returned, it must mean there are surviving Lorens involved, right?"
Cysper frowned in inquiry. As a Pope of thousands of years, he was well-versed in this legend about neighboring Parristol. Though not openly shocked, it was clear this was no simple matter.
The Loren dynasty originally declined and lost control of the Divine Punishment, which led to Astralrealm's king Galahad ordering their extermination. But nobody expected that the royal family ordered exterminated by King Galahad would actually have survivors still living, and capable of regaining control of the Divine Punishment!
This was an immense development. Having grasped the power of revenge, who knew what extreme actions Parristol might take.
"Yes! The local resistance, now the Parristol government forces, have officially put forth their new king. By descent, he should be the direct descendant of the king two generations before the last Loren ruler, possessing a relatively legitimate bloodline. His name is..."
Mike suddenly glanced over at me for some reason, before continuing with great deference:
"His name is Adrian Loren!"