As Shad focused all his attention on the notebook before him, striving to recall and organize his language to complete a full logical framework, time seemed to slip away with incredible speed.
Even "she" did not disturb Shad in his deep concentration during this quiet afternoon in the woods. For the first time in a long while, Shad found himself engaged in mental labor outdoors; he actually felt that writing in the wind within this undisturbed forest was quite pleasant.
He planned to use the contemporary mathematical knowledge of the Sixth Epoch to complete a proof and several extensions of what his hometown called "Euler's Formula." However, halfway through drafting the outline, he felt that the subject involved far too many issues and that existing mathematical tools were still lacking in several areas. Consequently, he had to manually supplement things like mathematical induction—concepts that, to him, were mere common sense.
Although this was knowledge Shad had acquired in his hometown, he wasn't simply reciting from memory; moreover, he couldn't remember the exact wording of the original papers or the proofs. Omissions were inevitable. Shad could only say he was doing his best to reconstruct the bridge connecting complex exponential functions and trigonometric functions.
"Now that I've started writing, I realize there is so much to cover."
Thinking this, he used his fountain pen to circle the chapter titles he had just listed, writing the word "TBD" next to them. He then intended to briefly write down the contents of mathematical induction, but just as he finished the second letter, a sharp pain hit his head—he had been struck by something falling from the sky
"Oh!"
Covering his head, he reached out to catch the object that had bounced off him and landed to the side. Looking closely, it was a tart, green apple
"Hmm?"
Looking up, he saw the sun had dipped slightly toward the west, and the empty black treetops were devoid of even withered leaves. Shad was certain that before he sat down, there had been absolutely no apples on this tree
"Where did this apple come from?"
He looked down at the apple in his hand; the green fruit seemed unripe. Gripping it tightly, he felt no trace of the Four Elements. After a moment of hesitation, Shad rubbed the apple on his clothes and took a bite.
The apple was somewhat sour, but it had a faint sweetness and was very crisp. As he chewed slowly and swallowed, he felt the tension in his head—built up from an afternoon of work—clear up significantly.
He moved to take a second bite, but suddenly stopped
"Does that lake always have to appear in such an interesting way?"
Still leaning against the tree trunk, he raised his left hand to signal the bay-colored horse. As the horse lowered its head, he offered it the apple.
The horse bit off nearly half the apple in one go. After a few chews, it extended its long red tongue to lick away the remaining portion, snorting as it savored the taste.
【Do you know what will happen?】
"Her" voice drifted through the wind. Shad stood up with his notebook, stuffing it and the fountain pen into his coat
"Isn't that how fairy tales always go?"
He stretched, unfastened the reins, and stepped into the stirrups to vault onto the horse's back. Shad gave the horse no direction, yet the apple-fed animal automatically began to stroll leisurely toward the left.
Shad remained silent, holding the reins as the horse carried him deeper into the woods. The shadows of the setting sun had already begun to appear on the horizon. Braving the chilly winter wind, the man and horse moved forward in silence past rows of bare apple trees, as if they both knew exactly where their destination lay.
Suddenly, ahead in the not-so-dense forest, a cluster of tall shrubs appeared—vegetation that should not have existed in this season. As the bay horse carried Shad through the shrubs, he saw a calm lake rippling under the sunset, and in the center of the reddened waters, an island with lush green grass.
【Outlander, you feel the Miracle and the Whisper.】
"Yes, exactly. The Whisper means this is an unrecorded relic. The Miracle means I've found the right place."
Guided by "her" prompt, Shad smiled and dismounted, patting the horse as it returned to grazing. He walked to the water's edge.
Unlike what Old Grayford of Lower Luther Village had said about the lake being frozen, and unlike what the poet Roland had said about a small boat waiting for him, there was only the reddened water of the sunset before Shad.
"Water Walking!"
Stepping carefully, he planted his foot on the surface of the lake. Once he felt stable, he slowly walked forward.
Shad was now entirely certain that the "Lake of Cherub" in the Sixth Epoch was absolutely not the Lost Lake located in the 【Broken Isles】 in the year 5177 of the Fifth Epoch. Currently, the scenery of this mysterious lake was beautiful, and the water beneath his feet contained only swimming small fish, with none of those strange things.
The Lake of Cherub was not large—at least not as large as the Lost Lake. Treading on the water, Shad soon reached the island in the center.
The first to greet him was the "resurrected" wild wolf from yesterday. It still carried the Whisper element and seemed to recognize Shad; upon seeing him, it was frightened and immediately bolted away.
Shad walked across the grass into the island, passing standing stones and sparse trees. In the center of the island, he discovered a shallow little pond. The water was crystal clear, with red and black fish the size of tadpoles swimming freely within.
In the center of the small pond stood a massive grey stone. Although irregularly shaped, every side was incredibly smooth and engraved with dense golden runes, looking as if several long, rectangular monoliths had been spliced together.
On the surface of the water beneath the stone stood a young lady leaning on a cane, smiling as she watched Shad approach from a distance. She was not the old woman mentioned by the one-eyed fisherman Mr. Grayford, nor the middle-aged woman mentioned by the poet Mr. Roland. She was a young lady of about twenty-five or twenty-six, dressed in a white robe like a hermit. The long staff in her hand was made of white oak, and together with the white robe, it emitted a pure white radiance.
"The heart-lake of the heart-island?"
Shad muttered softly to himself. He attempted to step onto the water again to enter the final central pond, but as he extended his foot, he stepped straight into the water
"Hmm? Water Walking is prohibited?"
Slightly surprised, he took out the extract of the Windvane Bluegrass and dropped it on the tip of his tongue. He then tried to leap across the surface in one bound, but the power of Space could not be used here either.
The young girl in the center of the lake watched him with a smile. Shad looked closely at the shallow water; in truth, even if he waded in, the water wouldn't even reach his knees. However, he felt that wading across would be undignified. Thus, he first took out a frog leg and used the spell 【Frog's Leap】, then activated the spell 【Power of the Red Dragon】.
He retreated a few steps and suddenly sprinted forward. With a leap from the shore, he glided across the surface of the pond and landed steadily beneath the giant stone. The area of water where the white-robed lady stood allowed the "Water Walking" spell to take effect, and thus Shad arrived before her.
The concentration of the Miracle element here was as if one were standing beneath the holy emblem of a cathedral in a Great Diocese, but Shad was certain that the young lady before him—wearing a pure white hooded robe with silver-white hair—was absolutely not a deity.
She was considerably ancient; her youthful appearance could not hide the sense of antiquity that came from traversing time.
"Hello."
Glancing at the sunset on the horizon, Shad, standing on the water, bowed to the white-robed lady. She did not recoil, responding softly in Delarion
"Hello. Congratulations on finally arriving here."
Her tone was gentle, somewhat reminiscent of Grandma Cassandra.
Shad looked up at her with anticipation and asked bashfully
"May I ask if you know why I have come here?"
"Oh, of course I do."
The white-robed lady smiled and nodded. Under the sunset, she, her white robe, and her white oak staff emitted a pure white glow, much like how Shad himself glowed in the dark
"You have come for the power of a god."
"Yes, so..."
Shad let out an embarrassed laugh. The Ancient One seemed to understand his current mood
"There is no need to say the word, but what you desire, I do indeed possess."
Shad's eyes widened. He wasn't surprised that she knew he was seeking Divinity. Although this "Goddess of the Lake" was not a god, she was very close to one.
What surprised him was how easy she was to talk to
"Then... what organ do you wish to take from me? I have met three mortals who once made wishes here; they all lost parts of their bodies—not a physical loss, but erased from the past to the present."
The white-robed lady smiled and shook her head
"Yes, to gain is to pay. But you are different from them; your body is of no meaning to me. What you wish to obtain is a treasure beyond a mortal's imagination, so you must pay more."
"You don't want my body? Fine. What do I need to do?"
Shad inquired. The "Goddess of the Lake" held up four fingers. Shad noticed she wore no rings
"You must complete four trials to prove that you are worthy of that power."
"Four?"
Shad was stunned. In the year 5177 of the Fifth Epoch, the trials of the gods were three; the trials of the Secret-Keeper of the Poetic Fragments were five; and now the Goddess of the Lake proposed four
"No problem. What are the tasks?"
Forget four tasks—even if it were forty, Shad would have to agree.
"Not tasks, but trials," the white-robed lady corrected, then added with a smile
"Do not be anxious; we can take them one by one. These trials are also a process for you to verify yourself; they will prove your capabilities. At the end of the four trials, you will reignite the power of the Great Ones. And whenever you complete one of the first three trials, I can grant you an additional gift. After completing the fourth, you may have what you desire."
"Yes, no problem!"
Shad nodded rapidly. The lady pointed toward the angular giant stone in the center of the heart-lake. Originally, the golden runes had written virtues such as wisdom, kindness, and sacrifice, but now a new line of text had appeared.
Shad read it aloud
"The first trial: in the upcoming wedding banquet, prove your own wisdom, strength, and charm. Hmm? A wedding banquet?"
"Yes, you know what it is," the white-robed lady smiled, then sprinkled some white light toward Shad
"Once you have successfully proven yourself, you will know. Therefore, do not worry about being unable to measure your own actions."
Shad wanted to ask more, but the lady spoke first against the backdrop of the sunset
"Yes, it is that simple. You need not defeat a terrible enemy, nor search for special materials. Outlander, go prove yourself. At that grand wedding feast, prove yourself. You have only one chance; if you fail, I will not give you a second."
The sunset stretched the shadows of the two long across the grass beside the heart-lake. Upon the water, Shad committed these requirements to memory, then closed his eyes and bowed slightly
"I accept your trials, solely for the sake of that greatest power."
(End of Chapter)