Joel carried the suitcase in one hand and held the wand in the other. The tip of the wand emitted a faint light. He walked slowly through the woods in the dark night.
Looking down at the surface, he did not miss any clue. It had been 1,200 years since the writing of the seven ancient books. Joel did not expect the clues to be complete, but since the system had issued the task, it proved that there must be traces to follow.
After walking for an hour on dead branches and rotten leaves, the moonlight was now also obscured by the tree branches that blocked the sky, and there was a rustling sound in the forest.
Joel stopped as three fat squirrels jumped over his head.
He shook his head slightly, feeling that he was a little overly sensitive.
Waving his wand to drive away the flies around him, he continued to move forward.
The soles of his feet stepped lightly on the wet grass, and there was a sudden muffled sound. Joel felt as if he had stepped on something hard, and his body sank slightly.
He quickly lifted his feet and stepped back.
Looking down, Joel found a round stone slab in the wet grass, the surface of which was covered with dirt, weeds and other decayed matter.
He waved his wand gently and cast an identification spell on the stone slab. The spell hit the stone slab and stirred up a burst of flying dust, but the stone slab remained unchanged.
Upon seeing this, Joel let out a sigh of relief. He used the Cleansing Charm to sweep away the moss and dust on the slate, and finally saw the entire slate.
There is a line of runes carved on the top of the stone slab, and a lithograph in the center takes up most of the stone slab. Nine beautiful girls wearing war robes and helmets, holding spears and riding horses, are standing outside a long staircase.
The end point is a magnificent palace. In front of the palace, the figures of the nine girls are extremely small.
ásgarer…
Joel looked at the words below the lithograph and was stunned.
Asgard? The lithograph depicts the Hall of Valor? Is this connected to Norse mythology again?
Before he could think more, the system had already prompted: World Tree Slate Puzzle (1/9) leading to the secret realm.
This tip is classified in the task of finding ancient secrets. That is to say, if you collect the remaining eight stone tablets, you will find important clues to ancient secrets.
Joel put the slate into the suitcase, held the wand and continued forward.
In the middle of the night, a cold rain fell from the sky. Although Joel protected his body with a waterproof and moisture-proof spell, the rain fell on the ground, making his progress more difficult. One foot was deep and the other was shallow, splashing all over his trousers.
It's muddy water.
How about we stop here today? Anyway, there is plenty of time during the Christmas holiday. Wouldn’t it be nice to go back to the hotel and take a hot bath and sleep?
The lazy soul instantly achieved an overwhelming victory in Joel's heart. In the final analysis, he is still a lazy dog.
He extinguished the light of his wand and was about to apparate out of the forest. He spun half a circle on the spot, but felt the magic power in his body stagnate. When he opened his eyes again, he found that he was still in the same place.
What's the situation? Joel was confused. He called up the system panel and made sure that he had learned how to apparate.
At this time, he heard faint voices coming from the vast rain curtain.
Joel's heart palpitated and he became suspicious. He quickly transformed into an Animagus raven form and flew towards the source of the sound. After a period of continuous practice, his flying skills are now quite proficient and he can fly anywhere and anytime.
Take off in any kind of bad weather.
"The anti-Apparition restrictions are in place. No other wizards will disapparate into this forest tonight. Now you do as I say..."
Joel was perched on a branch. Not far ahead, two people were plotting and discussing something. The English they spoke had a rough taste. They were stout and wore brown mink coats. Their muscles were hidden under the coats.
Among them, another person was wearing the same clothes. He was concentrating with his eyes closed and did not participate in the discussion.
This image is very familiar.
Joel was no stranger to the Far North Eternal Night People. He had dealt with them in the first grade. At that time, they wanted to capture Professor White's father, Constantine, and seek the secret of a powerful spell. Joel took them with him.
Professor White injured Andre, the leader of the Evernight people, and the operation was interrupted.
Joel originally thought that the Eternal Night people would fall apart after the collapse of the Soviet Union and then be banned by the new organization. Unexpectedly, this mysterious organization still existed very strongly.
"William!" A voice was low and urgent. The man had a beard, "Why not use a silencing spell! What will happen if someone hears this secret?"
"Lermontov, what are you afraid of?" William was a young man, and his words were somewhat nonchalant. "The anti-Apparition spell has been cast, so who would stay in the forest full of food in the middle of the night?
"
William was born in the United Kingdom and came to Durmstrang to study at the age of 11. After graduation, thanks to the support of his mother who lived in the Soviet Union, he joined the Evernight People after the collapse of the Soviet Union and worked as an assistant to the special envoy in Norway.
He is not authentic and usually communicates in English, so forget it. He also behaves in a sloppy and arrogant manner and has no organization or discipline in his actions.
As an old man who joined the organization during the Soviet period, Lermontov was obviously very dissatisfied with William's attitude, "This is our code of conduct! You must abide by it if you join us!"
"Chief," Lermontov complained to the man who was sleeping with his eyes closed, "look at him..."
Joel's eyes also moved to the man's face, his pupils shrank slightly, obviously a little surprised.
The leader Joel is very familiar with, Andrei Ulyanov, who was the leader of the Evernight People of the Ministry of Magic of the Soviet Union three years ago. Compared with three years ago, his body has become much thinner, and his originally strong body has collapsed.
As he went down, a lot of white hair was added to the top of his head. He now looked like a dying old man, his eyes were dim and dull, and the candle of life no longer favored him.
"It doesn't matter," Andre coughed twice, "Don't use the silencing spell if you don't need it. I'm more concerned about the secret treasure in his mouth."
"Chief Ulyanov, I collected this from a Norwegian. It is absolutely worth a city, no, a country!" William looked extremely excited and took out a stone slab from his arms and presented it to Andre and Joel.
After transforming into a raven, his eyesight is amazing. He can easily see the details on the stone slab from less than five meters away.
Niflheimr, Niflheim.
Another country in the world tree of Nordic mythology, the slate painting is filled with mist and ice and snow all over the mountains. At the bottom of the painting lie several humans who have been frozen to death. The breath is chilly and desolate, and everything is silent here.
"That's it?" Andre took the slate and looked at it twice, but didn't find anything fishy. "Is it priceless?"
"This is a painting of Nordic mythology..." William had obviously studied this lithograph specially, and he and Andre described it in detail.
"Well, what next?" Andre prides himself on being very patient, but the current situation no longer allows him to act recklessly, so he had to suppress his impatience and listen to William's words, "What are you saying is priceless?"
"There are nine tablets in total," William said. "As long as you collect the nine tablets, you can find the secret books left by ancient Nordic wizards. There are many powerful secrets in them that can help you revive the Soviet Union...
…”
"Where did you hear this legend?" Andre received news from Norway's permanent envoy William this evening, and set out with his confidant Lermontov. It took him a long time to arrive in the Norwegian forest.
Mentally and physically exhausted, my mental state was very poor.
"Seller, this slate is the property left by his ancestors. It takes extremely deep magic power to fuse the nine slates together to open the secret treasure. Unfortunately, he is a squib. There is no use in keeping this thing in his hands. He plans to sell it in the market.
"Good price, I just happened to see it," William told the whole story, "I used Legilimency to read his memory. The other eight stone slabs are in this forest. We can find them all tonight."
"
"Well..." Andre turned the wand in his hand, "How did you deal with that squib?"
"Kill." William's eyes revealed a scarlet light and his tone was sinister.
Andre nodded with satisfaction, "Then you go look for it, and I'll see what kind of patterns can be made by putting a few stone slabs together."
William and Lermontov beside him began to explore and search for the slate step by step. Joel stayed behind them, trying to keep a safe distance while imprinting the contents of the slate they found in their minds.
He didn't expect that the Eternal Night people also came to the Norwegian forest to look for secret treasures.
Although the Yongye people are powerful, Joel does not intend to give up the secret treasure. Compared with the first grade, he now has more trump cards and stronger strength. Three years ago, Andre was able to return with serious injuries without success.
, it can certainly be done today.
William and Lermontov were making rapid progress, and they focused all their attention on their feet. Andrei had been tired for a day, and the anti-Apparition ban had been put in place, so he was inevitably a little relaxed. He never expected that a wizard would transform into a warrior.
The crow followed them.
When the sky was dark and the shower was about to stop, the two Yongye people discovered the remaining seven stone slabs. They didn't know that the last stone slab of the Hall of Valor was in Joel's hands, and they were still looking for it in circles in the forest.
Joel watched them search around the forest twice, braving the pouring rain. The night's search work made them very tired and impatient. A string was about to break before their eyes.
The timing is right.
Joel began to implement the plan he had been planning all night. He flew far away from the Eternal Night people and returned to his human form. He used his wand to cast transformation spells on nine dead branches. In order to avoid being noticed by the Eternal Night people, he deliberately spent a lot of money, spending 2400 plus.
Long upgraded the object transformation technique to the perfect level.
He performed a flawless deformation spell based on the stone slab in his memory, and Joel believed that it was no different from the original stone slab.
He first tried to piece together the nine stone slabs. They fit together perfectly. The curves at the edges of the stone slabs were connected crookedly, forming a very wonderful shape like an ash tree, reaching up to the sky. The nine pairs of stone slabs were each located on one side.
Representing the nine kingdoms of Norse mythology, three thick tree roots divide the World Tree into three parts. One root goes deep into Asgard (the country of the Æsir), and the other goes deep into Jotunheim (the country of the giants).
The last root goes deep into Niflheim (the land of fog).
There was no change after that, and Joel scratched his head in distress. Sure enough, there was no way for transfiguration to truly imitate the charm of these stone slabs. He had to get the original bodies of the nine stones.
Joel cast a disillusionment spell on himself and rushed non-stop towards the direction of the Eternal Night people with nine stone slabs.
"Where's the last slate?" William was anxious. There were eight pieces of slate that had been put together in front of him. Only the last slate of the country of Asgard was left. This slate puzzle was completed.
"Could it be picked up by someone else?" Lermontov asked. He leaned against the tree trunk and panted heavily. He took out a bottle of water from his pocket and had just rested for a while after searching hard all night.
"It's not impossible," Andre, who had been following the two of them, said, "After all, these stone slabs are very old, and it's normal for them to be picked up in the forest."
After not sleeping all night, Andre's mental state was not good. His originally straight waist was slightly stooped, and dark circles appeared under his eyes.
Lermontov felt depressed, as their efforts that night seemed to be in vain. He hit the tree trunk hard, and the branches and leaves trembled. Suddenly, there was a sound of breaking through the air above his head, and he subconsciously dodged to the side.
A stone slab fell from among the branches and hit Lermontov at his feet.
"This..." Lermontov was dumbfounded. William on the side saw the stone slab and immediately took it over, aligning it directly above the eight stone slabs to form the canopy of the Sky Tree.
"It's done!" William was extremely excited. He shouted loudly and asked Andre to come over and watch.
"What should we do next?" Andre asked, looking at the nine perfectly matched stone slabs.
"Next..." William scratched his head. He didn't know what to do next. The memory read by Legilimency did not include this.
"Try to transport the magic power to the roots of the tree?" William tentatively suggested, "I think the magic power will flow along the roots to every corner of the World Tree."
The tip of Andre's wand gently touched the thick root of the lowest stone slab, and the light blue magic power visible to the naked eye spurted out from the tip of the wand.
The stone slab showed no response.
"Is this what you call priceless?" Andre's voice turned cold. He still had a lot of things to deal with in Russia. William kept him up all night with just one sentence. He was so angry now that he wanted to kill William.
Cut it into eight pieces.
"Chief Ulyanov, I..." William couldn't argue. The secret treasure was absolutely true, but the slate in his hand was not a fake. How could he explain this?
Lermontov snorted coldly, "There is no need to report such uncertain things from now on. Our leader has many things to do all day long and has many things to solve. You cannot bear the responsibility for delaying important things."
"Go back to Moscow, Lermontov," Andrei ordered.
Andrei didn't plan to stay here for a long time. He didn't even bother to deal with William. He just wanted to go back to his residence in Moscow and have a good sleep. Since he was seriously injured three years ago, his health was getting worse day by day. He had to ensure that he had enough
You need a lot of rest to complete your daily tasks.
After the restriction was lifted, William could only watch Lermontov and Andre disappear into thin air.
"Damn it!" William picked up the stone slab of Asgard's Hall of Valor and smashed it on the ground hard, splashing muddy water. He originally expected to get promoted and make a fortune by offering the secret treasure, but now Andre is willing to keep his head.
Even that’s good.
Frustrated, he pulled out his wand and fired a spell at the stone slabs in the mud to vent his hatred.