Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1540: Arcane Technique - Dream of the Moon
In the glimmer of the Silvermoon, Grace didn’t need Sister Delphine’s reminder to take Helen’s hand voluntarily.
As the two sisters embraced, resting their chins on each other’s shoulders, beneath the star river, their bodies gradually became transparent. A vast swarm of red butterflies scattered crimson light spots as they flew from their bodies into the glowing ritual.
The originally semi-transparent red butterflies, as they filled the ritual site, surprisingly took on a delicate silver arc glow. And the two butterflies that represented Helen and Grace themselves had already entered Shard’s body, subsequently flying together into the depths of his dream.
Shard sensed someone invading his dream, but knowing Sister Delphine’s ritual steps in advance, he didn’t resist this peculiar force.
Soon enough, the two fluttering butterflies appeared on the wild field embankment under the massive silver Moon Disk. The Red Butterfly Maidens were seeing Shard’s strange dream for the first time. The moonlight in the dream seemed to have a magical power, and before they guided Shard to explore the deeper layers of the dream, the moonlight first "assimilated" them.
Under the moonlight, the color of the red twin butterflies faded until almost completely transparent. But then, the transparent butterflies seemed to absorb the hue of the moonlight, so the semi-transparent silver twin butterflies danced around Shard.
Shard watched them, watched them fly toward the vast Moon high above. And he himself, at that moment, seemed to gradually ascend towards the Silvermoon following Helen and Grace, until his consciousness, clear in the dream, also became blurred.
He seemed to merge with that Moon in the dream, or perhaps the Moon melted his spirit and soul. At this moment, it seemed whatever was important no longer was; deep sleep broke the rational state of deep meditation, and chaos blurred mind and spirituality.
In the dream, he closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
This was an incredibly reassuring sleep, as if held in someone’s embrace, or cradled back to an unmemorable childhood. In the end, Shard wasn’t woken by anyone deliberately but awoke of his own accord.
Upon opening his eyes, he saw the Myriad Phenomena Starry Sky atop the mountain peak, stars dotting the deep blue canvas. But when Shard moved his eyes to capture the three Moons at the edge of his vision, he realized that the side of his view was covered by gray fabric.
"Hmm?"
Only then did he realize he was lying on something very soft. Supporting himself to look around, he found he was still in the center of the ritual at the Firekeeper Cemetery. The moonlight illuminated the area; Sister Delphine was kneeling on the ground, and Shard had just been resting on her lap.
The silver eye mask with intricate patterns, shaped like a crown, was "looking" at Shard as well, as if puzzled by his current confusion.
"Did I fall asleep?"
He said something for the sake of talking, then stood up from the ground. He then extended his hand towards the blindfolded nun, helping her to stand as well.
[Outlander, you have learned the Arcane Technique "Dream of the Moon."]
[You experienced a complete four-hour sleep. Your spirit and stamina have fully recovered, and your psychic resistance is moderately enhanced for half an hour.]
"She" whispered gently in Shard’s ear, as if soothing a child who had just woken from a nightmare.
And the effect of the Arcane Technique "Dream of the Moon" should be, after six hours of sleep, to remove curses, dispel negative states, restore condition, heal damaged spirit, and mildly heal soul damage. Once fully mastering the technique, every completed lunar cycle can enhance the spirit’s limits and recovery speed, and strengthen all arcane techniques related to the Moon.
In other words, under the influence of the "Divine Afterglow" state, the time requirement for "Dream of the Moon" is reduced to four hours. While there is no significant enhancement in the technique’s effects, it does lower the casting requirements.
"It seems everything went smoothly."
Sister Delphine didn’t bother to dust off the white ashes from her robe, willingly letting go of Shard’s hand, folding her hands as she stood beside him:
"The Red Butterfly Twins have returned ahead of time. They thought you would sleep for a long time, so they left first. They asked me to let you know that they hope to spend more time with you whenever you’re available."
"I understand."
Shard resisted the urge to yawn; he was immensely curious about how he ended up sleeping on the nun’s lap, but instinct told him it was best not to ask.
[You fell asleep sitting down, and after the Red Butterfly Twins left, she repositioned you to sleep more comfortably.]
"She" said with a sudden quiet laugh. Shard discreetly glanced at the nun, but Sister Delphine, as always, had few expressions. And with the eye mask obscuring her eyes, Shard couldn’t discern her thoughts.
"Thank you so much for today."
That’s all he could say, and the nun merely shook her head gently, then gestured for them to leave.
Following the nun through the archway, then under the starlight and moonlight, they walked along the ancient, crumbling staircase towards the Ritual Site on the mountain’s peak.
Sister Delphine said nothing, and Shard wasn’t sure what would be appropriate to say. It wasn’t until the nun escorted him to the site linked to the Serpent Heart Hospital in Milestone that he finally remembered another matter:
"Sister, this is the Holy Grail I promised you."
After Iluna returned to Tobesk City, she returned the "Preservation Holy Grail" to Shard while he was bedridden and resting from illness.
The trait of this Holy Grail is that when pure water is added and left for some time, the pure water transforms into a Magic Potion with "fetal protection" effects. This is quite useful for the "Serpent Heart Hospital" run by the Spiritual Practice Order, as childbirth is still considered a dangerous medical procedure in this era.
Sister Delphine did not thank Shard but said after accepting the Holy Grail:
"If you have time, you can come here and sit for a while. The Order’s large library is always open to you."
"Alright."
Shard nodded, wanting to say something to the nun, but not knowing how to start. The two were silent for about ten seconds before Shard finally said goodbye:
"So Sister Delphine, see you next time. I still need to recuperate in Tobesk for a while, and I won’t be moving around until mid-next month. If I find more firewood or exotic flames, I’ll let you know."
The nun also nodded, watching Shard turn and step into that picture frame.
Shard, Helen, and Grace headed to Milestone at seven in the evening, so even though Shard had slept for four hours, it was still not midnight when they left the Ritual Site.
Although it took some time to return from the Serpent Heart Hospital to the ruined tower in the Sicarl Mountain range, Shard actually walked out of the hospital and returned directly to his home in Tobesk by discarding Lecia’s Crystal Shoes. After all, it was close to midnight now, with very low consumption, and he had just recovered, without other travel plans for today.
He didn’t do this at the Ritual Site in the mountains because Shard felt it was better to walk with Sister Delphine. Moreover, he didn’t want Sister Delphine to find out he was carrying a woman’s shoes and using them as spellcasting materials.
Using the arcane technique "Cinderella" to return home, the landing point was entirely random. This time, Shard appeared in the third-floor corridor.
The cat, hearing sounds upstairs, almost immediately darted over, and surprisingly, the corridor on the third floor was already lit with a gas lamp.
Before Shard could feel puzzled, Luviya came out of Room 1 on the third floor. The purple-eyed girl had rolled up her sleeves, revealing pale wrists and forearms, and was wearing a white dust coat.
Upon seeing Shard, she greeted him with some fatigue:
"Good evening, Shard, you’re back? I’m stargazing here at your place, and this star map needs to be submitted as an assignment. I’ll probably be busy for a while, so you go ahead and rest."
"Working this late?"
"Can’t help it; after ’vacationing’ in Randall Valley for over two months, I have too much backlog of work. You go rest; I’ll rest later. Oh, this is for you; the identification is done."
Luviya took out the "Genesis: Earth" card from her pocket and handed it to Shard, who was surprised:
"Why is it with you?"
"Don’t you remember? While you were ’struggling on the sickbed’ and talking nonsense, not only did you talk about your will — dividing this house into five parts for the girls close to you and your cat, but you also entrusted me to identify this card. You have no idea how surprised Vice-President Mark of the Association was when I took out this card... Though he wasn’t that surprised after hearing it was yours."
"Did I really remember this when I was feverish and muddle-headed?"
Shard thought suspiciously.
"Yes, that’s exactly how it was."
"She" whispered softly in Shard’s ear, so he took the card.
Seeing Luviya was really exhausted, Shard, holding the spirited Mia even late at night, went to the kitchen to prepare hot tea for her. When he brought it to Luviya, he found her focused on the telescope recording the star map, so he went ahead to rest.
Luviya was busy until three in the morning when she finally came downstairs. Because Shard had slept too well in the first half of the night, he found it hard to fall asleep at home. With closed eyes, he heard Luviya’s heartbeat enter the washroom, then move towards the guest room.
"She doesn’t want to wake me."
Shard thought, as he flicked his finger and a red transparent butterfly flew from his fingertip. The butterfly, glowing faintly in the dark bedroom, quickly flew out of the room.
The heartbeat in the living room stopped in place, then moved towards the bedroom door.
Soon, the figure of the purple-eyed girl in pajamas appeared at the doorway. Shard lifted the quilt, beckoning her over in the dark. Luviya, originally tired, saw him like this and smiled with relief, then walked toward him.
