The reflection in the spring water showed Tethys' true form of the avatar, and the flowers of the World Tree on the water surface shimmered with a serene and soft light.
When the dryads bid farewell to Tethys, they were reluctant and earnestly warned Maia in her ear about the terrifying monsters and humans in this strange world, trying their best to make Maia, who had lost her memory, be vigilant about everything unfamiliar.
Tethys, who had put on a disguise for herself, readily agreed and began to walk in this world in the identity of a Maia from Middle - earth.
The midday sun poked its head out from behind the clouds, and the warm sunlight melted the remaining frost on the grassland.
It had been a night since Tethys and Lambert rode out of the forest. Thanks to the witcher's strong physique, Lambert was still in high spirits and began to ask about the stories of Middle - earth.
"The elven queen of the Vale of Blossoms, Fëanor's daughter, Galadriel, and the elf - sage, Míriel, are both very important figures. They hold an extremely high position among female sorceresses. These two ladies are the founders of the Lodge. They have made this group, which is regarded as a joke by male sorcerers, grow stronger."
Tethys turned her head to look at Lambert, who was trying to start a conversation with a lame topic, and said with a light smile, "Don't beat around the bush. Just ask me directly if you want to know something."
The witcher was not a bit embarrassed and immediately asked along Tethys' words, "Is what the dryads said true? Did you come for these lost remnants?"
"It can't be said that I came for them. They hope to return to their hometown, and I want to figure out the law of the conjunction of the spheres. Although our final goals are different, the results are the same. However, their souls have been tainted by the aura of this world. It's still unknown whether they will be accepted by Middle - earth again."
In the memory of the spring water formed by the death of the dryad, Tethys didn't get any information about the One Ring. By this calculation, these elves and dryads were involved in this world only at the end of the peaceful period. Their homeland, Valinor, had already become a battlefield. These creatures eager to return home actually avoided this world - wide war that swept across the whole world.
Having lived in this world for so long, their souls had been marked and were no longer pure. Usually, the original world wouldn't welcome their return.
"Why do they call you Maia?"
Lambert's curiosity wasn't satisfied, and he widened his eyes and continued to ask.
"That's just an alias for spellcasters, not much different from female sorceresses."
Tethys couldn't help laughing when she thought of that old wizard who was joked about only knowing the Light spell. A mage who could wield a sword and fight a Balrog hand - to - hand couldn't be said to be unparalleled in history, but he was definitely a pioneer.
The horses passed through the sparse shrubs and came to a highland. Purple monkshood flowers were blooming among the sporadic frost and snow marks. In the distance, a magnificent castle loomed, but unfortunately, it was already in ruins. From the collapsed walls, its former magnificence could be vaguely seen.
Lambert whistled, clamped his legs around the horse's belly, and signaled the horses to speed up towards Kaer Morhen on the mountainside plain.
The mountains were layered, and the only path was also covered with weeds and snow. These heavily - loaded horses tried their best but still couldn't reach the castle located on the mountainside plain before sunset.
The exhausted horses were panting and trembling a bit. Tethys raised a hemispherical wind - proof barrier and used apples and carrots to tempt these animals that wanted to stop working before they finally changed their minds.
Lambert led the way in front, leading the horses. The howling of wolves faintly heard in the wind and snow made the horses timid and start pacing in place. The unlucky witcher had no choice but to start hard work.
The seemingly close Kaer Morhen showed a unique desolation in the wind and snow. The ruins buried in the snow added a sense of holy seclusion and loneliness to this desolation.
After passing through the collapsed walls, Lambert skillfully avoided traps and entered the main building; the spacious hall echoed with the howling cold wind, and the roaring fireplace didn't play its due role.
In the firelight, an old man with white hair and beard was wrapped in a blanket by the fire. Hearing the familiar footsteps, the old man, who was pretending to be asleep with his eyes closed, opened his orange - yellow eyes, which were exactly the same as Lambert's, and looked at Tethys, who was covered by a cloak behind his disciple, with a smile.
"Lambert, my child. Although I'm sincerely happy that you're willing to bring a friend back for a visit, I've seen how Yennefer went berserk because of Triss. I really don't want the already rickety castle to withstand the wrath of a female sorceress again!"
Lambert shrugged, unloaded the supplies from the horses and sent them to the kitchen, "Where are Jaskier and Eskel?"
"Eskel is still on his way back. As for Jaskier, he hasn't had any news for a while."
Vesemir friendly signaled Tethys to come and warm herself by the fire and handed her a cup of mulled wine with apples heated in the fireplace to keep her warm. Then he turned his head and said carelessly, "Who knows in whose bed he's sleeping now. Anyway, it must be more comfortable than the cold Kaer Morhen."
Lambert hummed a song and got busy. Kaer Morhen was the home of all witchers of the Wolf School. They received training and grew up here. Witchers who couldn't integrate into human society would always spend the winter here and set off again when spring came.
"You don't seem to be a female sorceress I know."
The old witcher's wise eyes had just the right amount of inquiry and curiosity, which made Tethys not feel offended.
"Indeed." Tethys picked up a piece of apple with a fork and ate it, then said with a smile, "I'm a mage, here for information about the conjunction of the spheres."
"Oh, that's quite rare."
The old witcher looked at Tethys in surprise, "Sorcerers should know more than we do. They have achieved certain results in studying the phenomenon of the conjunction of the spheres and have developed the spell of the portal based on it."
"Maybe you can find relevant records in the Sorceresses' Lodge and the library on Cidhna Island. Kaer Morhen hasn't had a sorcerer stationed for a long time, and those documents haven't been carefully preserved. You'll need to spend some time."
Vesemir's meaning was obvious. He didn't refuse Tethys to enter the library to consult materials. Since the old witcher had shown goodwill, Tethys couldn't show no response either.
A drop of dew dripped from Tethys' clothes and splashed on the stone slab, creating a layer of mist. In an instant, the dilapidated building was restored to its original state at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The broken window frames had brand - new colored glass; the holes in the hall ceiling were repaired, and the cold wind finally stopped blowing into the room; even the tattered and dirty carpets and curtains were restored to their original state, as if they had just been taken from the tailor's table.
Lambert poked his head out of the kitchen and was dumbfounded at the brand - new castle, "Vesemir, don't you always want us to inherit Kaer Morhen? I'm willing to take on such a arduous responsibility!"
The shabby food was served on a dining table covered with an exquisitely embroidered tablecloth. Lambert scooped up a bowl of mulled wine, broke the frozen black bread hard and soaked it soft, and started his first meal after returning home.
The meat jerky, whose raw material was unknown, had lost its original color. A layer of salt crystals precipitated at least ensured that it hadn't gone bad, but its taste was indescribable.
Watching Lambert, who had traveled a long way in the wind and snow, wolf down this food that made people decline with thanks, Tethys made white light bloom from her fingertips on the dining table, and all kinds of delicacies appeared on the tablecloth! The silver pot was filled with fine wine, and the crispy roasted suckling pigs and roast chickens exuded the tempting aroma of grease, filling the wide dining table!
Lambert blinked, put down the bread he hadn't finished eating yet, picked up the crystal - clear jam in the silver jar and tasted it, and looked at Tethys with a look of disbelief.
"This is really not an illusion?"
Tethys picked up a grape still with water droplets from the fruit plate and peeled it, "Hero's Feast. This spell can conjure up a sumptuous feast. The only limitation is time. These foods will disappear in two hours. During this period, the food we eat is real, and the feeling of fullness will last."
The silver pot automatically filled the wine glasses with wine, and the knives and forks cut the food into evenly - sized slices according to the users' wishes. The meat slices jumped into the sauce dish, were evenly coated with sauce, and then flew into Tethys' bowl.
After taking a few bites, Tethys put down her knives and forks, signaled the two witchers to help themselves, and got up and went to the high tower to look through various documents stored there.
Flying light clusters provided lighting for Tethys. This spell, called Everlasting Flame, was very convenient. It brought light without causing a fire, similar to electric lights.
The content recorded in the documents was very complicated. Due to the lack of proper preservation, some text content had been damaged and disappeared, and a musty smell filled the library.
There wasn't much information about the conjunction of the spheres, but it was all very valuable. Witchers, who were at their peak in hunting monsters, had also tried to prevent the phenomenon of the conjunction of the spheres from occurring. Monsters emerged one after another due to the conjunction of the spheres, which made the witchers' steps never stop.
The sorcerers who created the witchers had spent a lot of time on this, but to no avail. There were no omens before the conjunction of the spheres occurred. Even the name "conjunction of the spheres" was told to the sorcerers by the elves who were involved in this world.
The elves who accidentally came to this world also brought their own knowledge and civilization. In order to find their way home more quickly, they taught everything they knew to the ignorant humans. And the result was not unexpected by Tethys. Almost all the existing magnificent palaces were the residences of elves, and the rest were mostly built on the ruins of elf buildings.
Before the humans launched an attack on the elves, their research had made progress.
And this couldn't but mention the Blood of the Elders. This bloodline was naturally affinity with spatial power and could shuttle freely between the world barriers. Relying on the ancient blood, the remaining elves came to another world to live. But spellcasters and astrologers discovered the hidden dangers of doing so!
Frequent world - shuffling seemed to cause some irreversible damage. A frost that extinguished heat seeped through these gaps and attacked the world. The terrible low temperature turned the world into a dead silence!
This was the origin of the White Frost!
In order to delay the arrival of the White Frost, humans and elves stopped fighting and devoted their time and energy to studying the White Frost, and didn't care about the conjunction of the spheres anymore.
Closing the document in her hand, Tethys pondered. If her guess was correct, the real culprit of the White Frost was the conjunction of the spheres!
This world had plundered the population of other worlds. Most of the world consciousnesses that lost this part of the material wouldn't let it go easily and would follow the connection in the dark to find the sinner who had taken away the world's origin. And the fluctuations caused by the Blood of the Elders' space - traveling were just a signal. In this sense, the emergence of the Blood of the Elders seemed to be pushed by the world consciousness?
Most sorcerers thought that the ancient blood was a rare magical source characteristic. People or elves with a magical source talent could become powerful sorcerers after being taught. This was a rule that didn't exist in the original world of the elves, the world of the One Ring, and could only be explained by the gift of the world consciousness. Carefully thinking about it, the Blood of the Elders and the conjunction of the spheres were essentially the same, both were spatial - attribute abilities, which was undoubtedly further proof that the world consciousness was behind it.
Was that lazy - looking world consciousness playing a double - faced game? Tethys' first reaction was that it was good that she had descended in the form of an avatar for insurance instead of her true self, otherwise she would have been delivered right on target!
It was the first time she had seen such a scheming world consciousness. This world ran around and contacted other worlds not only to plunder material resources but probably also had the intention of diverting trouble!
This formed a closed loop. The world consciousness went around robbing, and the robbed worlds took the White Frost as revenge. In order to avoid the White Frost, the world consciousness ran around robbing more diligently from time to time, and occasionally sent a White Frost gift package to some tough nuts! After all, most worlds couldn't move independently. After exceeding a certain distance, their perception of the White Frost would weaken, which would slow down the speed of the White Frost and give the world consciousness a chance to catch its breath.
As for those elves called the Wild Hunt, the ancient blood they pursued couldn't help them find their homeland but would instead make them big scapegoats for the world consciousness to cover up. They brought the disaster of the White Frost to every world they found, which actually reduced the pressure on the robbers.
This was really taking the exploitation of workers to the extreme! Squeezing the workers to death without paying overtime pay!
How could Tethys tolerate such a tragic situation happening in front of her? If the world consciousness was sensible, it would give her a share. Otherwise, don't blame her for being unkind.
On the periphery of the world in the Chaos Sea, Tethys opened her eyes from the branches of the World Tree. The World Tree shook its leaves and covered the world that was speeding by with a layer of clear light.
This was the function of the World Tree to conceal the position of the world. Tethys thought it would never be useful, but it played an unexpected role in this place.
The seemingly dead world consciousness also found that the White Frost had lost its direction. The scheming lazy - looking fish took the initiative to contact Tethys and generously launched an invitation for win - win cooperation.
The two sides had a heated discussion on the profit - sharing issue. Finally, the cunning world law, with the divine wisdom of a certain unknown world that it had picked up as a price, got Tethys' concession.
The contents of the deal between the two sides are as follows: While Tethys provided an invisibility effect for the world, two - tenths of the original power produced by the world would be used as the rent for borrowing the World Tree, and another one - tenth of the original power was for commission; this was acceptable to both sides, and the two sides quickly reached a deal, fearing that the other party would renege and raise the price.
Tethys held the incomplete and magnificent divine shard in her hand and smiled without saying a word. Now she understood why this world, where the world consciousness played so happily without being punished, hadn't been dealt with. This world had grown from a bubble - like illusory interface into the current material world, and this divine shard must have played a decisive role. The production of the White Frost was also closely related to this divine shard!
The incomplete divine vocation in this divine shard was exactly Entropy!