Eldrin nodded vigorously and hurried back to his room, his excitement evident. Elaine smiled warmly and shook her head, then climbed up to the attic with the magic lamp.The attic was usually where the laundry was stored, but it was also clean and tidy.Elaine moved a box, revealing a small altar behind it. The altar was made of stone, and the base was outlined with a delicate and precise brushstroke, creating a complex magic circle.However, the place where the statue should have been placed was now empty.Elaine cleaned the altar meticulously, wiping away even the tiniest specks of dust.Then, she stood up, and her eyes fell on a thick book casually placed on a box beside her. The book was impressively thick, with almost a thousand pages, and it was as big as four regular magic books, weighing at least ten kilograms.The bronze cover shone with a luster and was spotless, clearly having been read often.Elaine was surprised; she hadn't touched it in a long time, so it was obviously Eldrin who was reading it.But she didn't expect that the little guy would read it so often and so enthusiastically.
Elaine strolled over, her fingers long and elegant, a far cry from her usual appearance. The men in the village had often discussed her hands in hushed tones.The book's cover, crafted from genuine bronze, felt heavy and cold, as if it had been there for centuries. Elaine knew that within its bronze pages, countless crystal particles lay scattered like stars. When they were all activated simultaneously, they would create a miniature altar. If the reader was pious and strong enough, they could even hear the voice of the moon goddess Elucia!On the title page, there was a long poem praising the Moon Goddess Elusia in beautiful ancient Elvish. Elaine remembered every syllable of this hymn.She flipped through it casually, and the textured pages felt like flowing water as she passed them through her fingers. The pages were filled with not only long passages of Elvish text but also vivid illustrations.Unlike human scriptures, the teachings of the Moon God only accounted for a small part of its content, but there were many deeds of the Moon Goddess Elusia before she became a god.Therefore, in addition to the Norland continent, it also contains content from many other continents and even other planes.Little Eldrin probably regarded it as a complete collection of customs and geography, so he read it with relish.
This big book, which might not seem like a big deal, is actually a treasure from the Elf King's Court. It's the Holy Book of the Moon Goddess Elucia.
The book is special because it has seven different divine arts from the Moon Goddess. But only those who are recognized by the goddess can see and use them. She could use five of them back then. Apart from the great druids in the royal court, she was the priest who had mastered the most divine arts, which represented both strength and the recognition of the goddess.But now, even at a huge cost, she could only activate one divine art, and that was with the help of the power of the sacred book itself.
The seven magic arts flowed through her heart like water."Elucia's Destiny" Divine Art: Enlightenment;
"Favor of Elusia " magic: healing;
" Elucia 's Fury" Divine Art: Sanction;
"Sword of Elucia " magic: Silver Moon Armament;
" Elusia 's Will" Magic: Judgment
There are two more divine arts, one of which is the "Heart of Elucia " divine art that she has not been able to master: Foresight.
The seventh divine art is only recorded in the scriptures, but no one has ever been able to use it. That is "Elusia's Confusion," the divine art: Dark Side of the Moon.Elaine placed her hand on the holy book, quietly feeling the trace of sacred breath left in it.The fifth moon was hanging in the middle of the sky at this moment, and the cold moonlight shone on her body through the skylight on the roof. The divine power hidden in the moonlight gently touched her, building up and getting ready for the ceremony in just a few days.Divine Art: Enlightenment was the gift that the divine beings gave to little Eldrin for his tenth birthday.On the day of Eldrin's birthday, at midnight, he was called up, taken to the attic, and made to kneel in front of the altar. The holy book in front of Eldrin had been turned to a specific page, and on it appeared a few lines of prayers he had never seen before. It was the ancient Elven language, a difficult and obscure language that Eldrin had mastered as fluently as the common language. The prayer was all about praising and asking for the Moon Goddess's help. But as Eldrin was reciting it, he had a weird feeling. It was like his body was becoming transparent, and something dark was wandering around, and then it suddenly spotted something and flew right into his body. Eldrin felt a stream of ice between his chest and stomach, and it spread to his arms and legs. This feeling was short-lived, and although it was quite clear, it was common to have special feelings during sacrifices or magic rituals, and many rituals even required enduring intense pain.So Eldrin didn't say a word, but he continued to gradually empty his mind as his mother asked."My Eldrin, you will soon enter the temple of the goddess Elusia and receive enlightenment about your destiny. You will most likely have two or three choices. If so, you can choose..." At this point, Elaine suddenly shook her head and changed her words: "My Eldrin, choose whatever you want. Listen carefully to the voice of the goddess and follow your heart's choice."Eldrin nodded in confusion.As Elaine's gentle prayer sounded behind him, his consciousness gradually became blurred, as if he was being pulled away from the world in front of him.When he regained consciousness, Eldrin found himself in front of an extremely wide and high temple. He was standing in a huge square that was several thousand meters in radius, and standing in it, Eldrin felt as small as an ant.The square was paved with silver-gray stone, shining with a faint mysterious light.He looked around and saw an endless starry sky, the stars so close that they seemed to be plucked with his hands.The square and the temple were hanging alone in the starry sky.
The vast expanse made little Eldrin feel a gentle, almost imperceptible pressure, his heart beating a little faster. He dared not look around, but hurried towards the temple.After running for what felt like an eternity, crossing the whole square and climbing a thousand stone steps, he finally stood at the temple's entrance.If it weren't for the fact that children in the mountains are strong and have long endurance since childhood, Eldrin would have surely collapsed from exhaustion. He couldn't stop running, even though it felt like he was running into the ground.The square was huge, and it felt like it was moving. It was like the whole world was spinning, and Eldrin was trying to hold on for dear life. He was afraid that if he stopped, he would fall.
When Eldrin stood at the temple door, his heart started pounding as he struggled to catch his breath. After taking a deep breath, he looked up at the temple, remembering his mother's instructions.The temple was unique; it didn't have a dome, but it was surrounded by a circle of tall, white stone pillars.In the center, there was an altar with three goddess statues standing around it. They were in different postures and at different distances from the altar. There were supposed to be six goddess statues nestled beside the altar, each one representing a unique ability. As Eldrin looked around, he felt a sense of wonder at the thought of all the possibilities he could tap into.Little Eldrin was quite the sponge, soaking in all the information like a good student. He quickly picked out the abilities represented by the three goddess statues. They were the 'supernatural power' that could grant powerful strength to the enlightened, the 'life stream' that had a strong vitality and could perform healing, and the 'wind speed' that increased speed and agility.Eldrin was a little disappointed, but in fact, he had already made a choice in his little heart: "wisdom," which greatly improved his intelligence. Because a real man needs wisdom.
It was nice to have three options, and Mom wished there were more.What Elaine didn't tell little Eldrin was that most enlightened people saw only an empty temple.Little Eldrin walked towards the altar, trying to open his eyes wide, wanting to see wisdom. But this temple, along with the entire starry sky, wasn't real.No matter how hard he tried, what could he see? His hesitation and wavering caused the three goddess statues to blur.Then, out of nowhere, a voice sounded in his ears, "Do you want more power?"Little Eldrin jumped and looked around, but he saw nothing.The voice was cold, mechanical, and monotonous, like metal, which made him feel very scared."Who... who are you?" Eldrin gathered his courage and asked in a trembling voice. His voice echoed back and forth in the hall, and the repeated echoes startled him again."It doesn't matter who I am, and I won't appear in the future. Strictly speaking, I am the other half hidden deep in your heart," said the voice."Impossible!" Little Eldrin shouted. His mother had told him that his heart was pure and full of good thoughts. After talking to the voice for a while, Eldrin's fear slowly faded away.Children in the mountains are very brave. He was just scared because he didn't know what was happening and it was unexpected.But the voice didn't seem to be affected by Eldrin at all. It said in the same friendly tone, "Now, choose what you want."
Right in front of Eldrin, the altar lit up again, and three more goddess statues appeared!In addition to 'wisdom', there is also 'element affinity', which is crucial on the path of magic.This ability can make it easier for the mage to communicate with the external elements, so as to cast magic with less consumption. Intuitively speaking, a magician with the 'element affinity' talent can have one to three more spell slots than a mage of the same level.This is a terrifying talent that becomes more powerful the higher the level.Another ability is 'nature's messenger', which can make people have a more intuitive and thorough understanding of nature. It can improve your hiding ability and speed when traveling through complex terrain, and it makes all natural spells more powerful and gives you higher resistance to poison.
At this point, Eldrin had all six powers of enlightenment laid out before him.
"This... this..." Eldrin was at a loss for words. His mind was reeling, and he couldn't understand what was happening. The only reasonable explanation was that everything he saw was an illusion, which was different from what the book and his mother said.Eldrin finally remembered the purpose of this trip, so he stretched out his hand, his fingers quivering, and walked towards the goddess statue representing "wisdom." In front of the goddess statue, which was more than ten meters high, the little Eldrin could only touch the goddess' feet.This was also part of the meaning of the ceremony. Bending over to touch the goddess' feet represented a humble attitude.When Eldrin's hand touched the goddess statue, a crisp cracking sound suddenly sounded in his consciousness, and the whole world seemed to become more real and clear."Wisdom allows people to see the world more clearly." This is a sentence from the holy book, and now Eldrin finally understands the meaning of this sentence.
When Eldrin touched the Statue of Wisdom, all the goddess statues disappeared at the same time, which should have been the end of the initiation ceremony, but the temple did not disappear.Eldrin looked around in confusion, and suddenly saw a new goddess statue appearing in front of the altar. Her expression was that her hands were crossed in front of her chest, her face was slightly tilted to one side, and her expression was melancholy and focused. Unlike the other goddess statues, this one didn't have a texture, as if it were made of shadows.Could this be an ability?Eldrin tried to remember what this goddess statue represented, but he couldn't recall. Even in the scriptures, there was no record of the Moon Goddess having this form, although she was indeed the statue of Elusia.
"Don't you want an extra ability?" the voice sounded again."What power is that?" Eldrin paused, then spoke loudly, "I do not want to give up wisdom."
"You can call it reality. It allows you to see the world from another perspective, and at the end of this road, maybe you'll see something else."
"Something else? What is that?" Eldrin asked curiously.
The voice fell silent, and there was no answer.
Eldrin wanted to leave. He now knew that as long as he wanted, he could completely leave here and return to the real world.This temple was actually a world built by the power of rituals.Its function was to allow gifted people to see their own abilities and choose their future path.But on the other hand, this world was not completely empty.The temple floating in the starry sky was filled with the power of the goddess, and all six abilities could not be obtained without the favor of Elusia.
But then, a voice popped into Eldrin's mind, and a statue spoke up, too. These were things that weren't in the holy scriptures. Eldrin felt like this was like the devil tempting him, but how could that be possible?
Eldrin looked at the seventh statue, and he wasn't sure what to do. Two different voices were arguing fiercely in his mind, neither of them wanting to give in.Eldrin hesitated, but he walked towards the seventh statue step by step, thinking, "The world is balanced, and everything has its price." He remembered this teaching in the Holy Scripture, and balance is one of the core of Elusia's teachings. So what price would he pay for gaining the second ability?
The young boy was uncertain at first, but he eventually took the plunge and reached out to the statue.His mother had said that he could decide for himself, but he was determined not to miss out on this chance and was ready to pay whatever price might come his way.Little Eldrin was brave and eager to seize unexpected opportunities.He was smart too, and he understood that deep down, his mother wanted him to become a hero, someone truly significant.
And who can blame her? Who wouldn't want their son to be bigger than Baron Tucker?