Seeing Meritellie Again?

"Ailin... five..."

A hazy white light rippled in the darkness.

A faint, indistinct voice, indistinguishable between male and female, came from within.

Five what?

Who's calling me?

The Witcher instinctively shouted.

But no sound came out.

"Ailin... five... five..."

The hazy light grew dimmer, and the sound it emitted grew fainter.

It felt like being swallowed up by an endless darkness.

In response to this.

An inexplicable, extreme fear drove the Witcher to desperately try to get closer, to try and hear clearly.

But the next moment.

He discovered that not only could he not speak, but he was also completely paralyzed, as if he were under a nightmare.

Wrong!

It's not that I can't move...

Rather, he simply doesn't have a body.

Upon realizing this, the Witcher suddenly awoke as if from a dream.

At this moment.

The hazy voice suddenly became clear.

She is saying:

"Ailin... May Festival... Ailin... May Festival..."

These two words keep repeating.

Or perhaps there were some words spoken in between, but he couldn't hear them.

Immediately afterwards.

Before the Witcher could figure out his current situation...

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

At that moment, he also saw his own form clearly.

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

But this light is not as pure as white light.

Patches of earthy brown and bluish-green are interspersed throughout, with silvery-white specks floating on the surface...

A tiny, yet eerily unsettling, blood-red dot sits at the center of a jumble of silver dots.

As the witcher looked closer, he seemed to vaguely see...

The red dot is flashing eerily...

Blinking...

"Ha—hiss—ha—hiss—"

Ailin sat up abruptly, opened his eyes, and gasped for breath.

It took a while before he finally calmed down and stopped breathing, still shaken.

He looked up.

The sky was still dark, but it was a grayish-blue color that was about to break through the dawn.

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

It also dissipated the heat emanating from the Witcher.

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

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

"Blue, earthy brown, wind blue, and silver specks—judging by the proportions of the color blocks, it's undoubtedly Elemental Affinity of water, earth, wind, and space..."

"But that red dot..."

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

"The previous suspicions were correct; the Gaze of the Great Old One has only been dormant, not completely eliminated."

"So that dyed sphere is my soul?"

I pondered for a long time but still couldn't come up with an answer.

"Da da da~"

He got up and walked to the statue of the goddess's three saints.

The young girl is charming and innocent, the pregnant woman is gentle and kind, the old woman is benevolent and compassionate...

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

He was as always, broken yet holy and approachable.

Looking at the Goddess Meritellie, the Witcher remained silent for a long time before letting out a muttered sigh:

"Gifts are indeed not so easy to receive..."

"But it's not May Festival..."

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

The Witcher shook his head helplessly:

"May Festival signifies that the Gaze of the Great Old One can only be dispelled on May Festival, or perhaps..."

"You predicted what great things would happen May Festival. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"But if something really happens to Arland during May Festival, why not inform Ianna instead of sending messages to these faithless people in their dreams?"

"And where is that dark space?"

One question after another came out of his mouth.

The Witcher thirsts for answers.

But the stone statue simply smiled serenely and remained silent.

It seems that it was the same a thousand years ago, and it will be the same a thousand years from now...

Gods have never existed.

What stands there is just a large stone statue.

The Witcher stared at the statue in silence for a long time, his mind churning like a stormy sea.

He remembered that Ianna had said just yesterday that May Festival was the day when the Goddess Meritellie was at her most powerful.

The May Festival celebrations are also a powerful ritual to use positive human emotions to draw upon the power of the goddess and bring peace to spirits and ghosts.

so.

The goddess reminded him to attend the ceremony on that day, which would make it very possible to eliminate the stares.

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

It is understandable that Ms. Meritellie did not inform Ianna.

but...

Is it really that simple?

If it was really just a reminder, why did you give him so much yesterday?

The Witcher frowned.

He had a premonition that something would happen on May Festival.

But if this were truly the case, the High Priest couldn't possibly have been unaware of it beforehand.

unless...

The High Priest was unable to know, or the goddess was unable to convey the oracle to the High Priest...

Neither possibility seems 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 knows, but just hasn't told me?"

"And..."

"The first possibility is more likely..."

After enjoying the sumptuous breakfast brought by Lyra, Ianna arrived as promised.

"Ailin, how did your chat with Margarita go yesterday...?"

Upon entering the icon room, the High Priest brushed past Lyra and chuckled, teasingly saying, "Why are you leaving so soon? We were waiting to say goodbye..."

Are you waiting to be teased by me?

The Witcher rolled his eyes inwardly and offered no explanation.

Let's not talk about Vesemir.

After so many days, he had become quite familiar with Ianna.

Leaving without saying goodbye last night is nothing.

Besides, he even asked Mary to pass on a message for him.

certainly.

None of that matters now.

"Wait, Mother Ianna," the Witcher interrupted quickly, seeing that Ianna was about to say something more, "Before the ritual begins, there's something I need to tell you."

Seeing Ailin's serious expression, Ianna also stopped smiling, took two steps closer, and asked:

"What's wrong? Did you have a dream about something last night?"

The Witcher nodded and recounted the scene from his dream in detail.

The priests of the Goddess Meritellie, or rather, the priests of all righteous gods, possess the skill of dream interpretation.

This is a common skill used by priests of all races since ancient times.

Although he didn't think he was really dreaming last night.

"A pitch-black space, white light, red dots like eyes, and May Festival..." Ianna muttered to herself, her head bowed and brows furrowed.

A few seconds later, she reached out and grasped Ailin's palm.

A surge of heat coursed through the Witcher's entire body.

"I still can't sense any trace of Evil God god within your body," Ianna shook her head. "According to usual practice, you should be 'fully healed' by now, but..."

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

"I was going to keep you here until the end of the month so you could experience the most famous May celebrations in Arland, the Northern Continent."

"So it's nothing..."

The Witcher could detect a hint of doubt in Ianna's tone.

This is not to suspect that he is lying.

Instead, they felt it was just a normal phenomenon of "what you think about during the day, you dream about at night."

It's normal that during the day, Ailin suspected the curse hadn't been completely removed, and at night he dreamed that it really hadn't been removed.

Even though Ailin has always replaced sleep with meditation.

This is at least more credible than the fact that the High Priest of the Meritellie religion—the most widely practiced religion in the Northern Continent —could not detect any remnants of Evil God.

Ailin could understand this.

Even if he and Ianna weren't familiar with each other, he would simply nod and stop trying to convince her of the existence of another possibility.

But Ianna is not.

So the Witcher organized his thoughts and looked at Ianna:

"Mother Ianna, is there any possibility..."

"Goddess... uh... the May Festival that the white light pointed to might not refer to the curse that might be on me..."

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

Upon hearing this, Ianna did not speak immediately, but instead looked carefully at Ailin's face.

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

Is this a prophecy?

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

Ailin paused for a few seconds, then realized that the news about the Precognitive Dream might have been told to her by Vesemir.

"I'm not so sure..." the witcher said honestly, then tentatively asked, "You... have no way to contact the goddess?"

Ianna shook her head:

"As I told you a few days ago, we haven't heard the goddess's oracle for decades."

She paused for a second, then continued softly:

"Actually, the day after you arrived, when I heard that voice calling your name in my dream, I had already prayed using Divine Art..."

"Divine Art can be used normally, but divine pronouncements..."

Ianna gently shook her head.

The Witcher was momentarily stunned upon seeing this.

The High Priest of the Church of Meritellie could not hear Meritellie's divine pronouncements...

If the believers outside knew about this, it would likely cause chaos no less than the Falga's Rebellion...

Is this something I can hear?

Ailin shrank back.

"Hehe..." Ianna guessed what the Witcher was thinking, chuckled softly, and said, "Didn't I tell you? We are family."

We've only known each other for a few days and we're already family?

Ailin, being sensible, didn't refute, but changed the subject:

"How about dream interpretation?"

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

Before she could finish speaking, Ianna waved her hand to interrupt:

"The kind of dream interpretation you're talking about is fake; it's just a way to swindle money from nobles."

ah?

The Witcher looked somewhat bewildered upon hearing this.

Dream interpretation is fake...

In the original story, didn't the future High Priest Nannick, taught by Meritellie, always insist that Geralt be interpreted by the gifted priestess Aurora?

Is it that talents like Aurora's are harder to find, or is this simply a difference between two worlds?

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

"I'm not so sure..." Ailin said honestly.

"But you feel uneasy?" Ianna pressed.

Ailin thought for a moment and nodded.

Although we don't know what Goddess Meritellie will have to pay for last night's incredible luck.

But it's really not worth going to such lengths just to remind him to participate in the May Festival celebrations.

"I understand." Ianna breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll inform Mason and have him make more preparations."

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

But it is obvious that the cost will be considerable, and if nothing happens, it will inevitably cause dissatisfaction among the nobles of Arland with the temple.

"Do you trust my intuition?" the Witcher asked doubtfully.

"Don't underestimate yourself..." Ianna said meaningfully, "You are the Child of Miracle. That's enough for me."

"Besides, it's not a big deal for Mason to spend a little more money..."

"As long as the May celebrations can begin and end safely, it will all be worth it."

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

[Name: Magic Ritual]

[Type: Magical Ritual]

[Requirement: Ritual Studies LV4]

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

[Function: Creates a magic circle that increases magic capacity, raising the maximum magic capacity of the first target to enter the circle, possess magical abilities, and focus on the circle, lasting for five hours.

The caster can also drain the power of the magic circle to obtain a proportional amount of the Fifth Element.

[Note: Every warlock who sets up a Magic Ritual is a glass cannon!]

The Magic Ritual, like the Life Ritual I learned the day before yesterday, is a large-scale ritual that requires a whole day to set up.

And there's not much danger in failing.

So after teaching Ailin 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 the May Festival celebrations.

As for Ailin.

After successfully setting up the Magic Ritual, I experienced it for a while.

It was discovered that this Magic Ritual was not merely a battery that automatically absorbed free magic energy from the air.

With the concentrated magic, the Ice Lance Spell, which is most similar to an ordinary spell, not only became thicker and longer, but also almost reached the scale of the spell cast by the King of Ice.

The speed of chanting incantations was also reduced by half.

The speed of casting an ice spear every two seconds allowed Ailin to experience the joy of being a mage for the first time.

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

The surrounding temperature dropped by at least ten degrees.

Moreover, under the enhancement of the ritual array, although the increase in the sign was not as great as that of the Ice Lance Spell, it was still at least 30 percent higher.

"Chalk, glass, sulfur, and enchanted dust—the materials aren't expensive, and..."

The Witcher had a thought.

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

"Hmm, this little bit of the Fifth Element?" The Witcher filled an empty glass bottle with the dust and shook it. "If you don't count the time spent on the ritual setup and absorbing magic, we're still losing a bit."

"However, it's rare that a ceremony not only doesn't swallow gold, but actually results in a return of money..."

After cleaning up the remnants of the ritual, the Witcher decided not to enter the Sanctuary and headed straight for Vesemir's residence.

It's still early.

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

He had been holding back for most of the day in order to learn how to set up Magic Ritual.

I can't wait to create a "blizzard" and test real-world bullet time to see if it's as powerful as the one in the game.

and...

The Witcher stroked his prickly beard:

"After all, it involves the Great Old One's Curse, May Festival celebrations could potentially cause serious problems..."

"I can't rely solely on Ianna and the Old Duke's 'preparations'..."