The roasted boar leg they enjoyed at dinner was something Philip asked for with a bare face—it was of course the dinner that Iss had prepared for himself and the little dragon. Maybe it's because he's in a good mood, even though he knows that the paladin's severed hind legs will be taken to the people he hates, Iss didn't stop it.

But Philip didn't "enjoy" with Ed and Sean...... Quinn, not even Icabard.

Ed and Sean sat quietly on either side of the table, and Ed quickly understood why it was just the two of them - the white-haired paladin straightened his back even when he was eating, and his every move was serious, serious, and silent, as if he was performing some sacred ceremony. Ed, who hadn't paid attention to any dining etiquette for a long time, was so uncomfortable that his stomach was twitching, and no amount of delicious food could save him.

Dinner with Sean Flache was definitely not a pleasure.

When Sean put down his knife and fork, he immediately sat upright.

Sean glanced at him and stood up.

"Come with me. He said.

.

They walked slowly along Lake Xi'an. This small lake, known to the elves as the Mirror Lake, is surrounded by lush vegetation and is hazy under the starry sky. In the distance, the low roar of the leopards that had settled in Grivar came with the wind, and the wild chrysanthemums blooming by the lake bloomed freely. The smell of water and flowers on his face made Ed's somewhat apprehensive heart gradually calm down.

Whatever Sean would decide, at least he had tried.

“...... Do you know why we are building a temple here, so close to both Stonebutch and Grivar?"

After a long silence, Sean finally spoke.

Ed shook his head - he hadn't thought about it before, and he had only known that there were many secrets hidden here, but why was it here...... He really didn't know.

"Whether it's here, or Ston Butch's Temple of Water, or Collins...... Most of the temples that were built after Felicity became a saint were located at some 'point'. "And some of the older temples, in fact, are the same, but it's hard to tell whether the people who built them were intentional or ...... Just because of some kind of intuition. ”

He looked at Ed, "Don't you feel anything special?"

Ed hesitated for a moment before replying, "It's ...... here Pure. ”

Not intense, but pleasant and relaxing purity, like many other places that are quiet and beautiful, off the beaten track...... Without deliberate guidance, it's hard to notice what's so special about this place. In contrast, the Shrine of Collins feels much more pronounced.

"You have cast your eyes on the stars," said Sean, "and you think that the stars hide the greatest secret, but in fact, heaven and earth are one. There was indeed a huge circle of magic laid over the starry sky...... As part of a larger circle. The power of magic flows in some form between the circles, like a network of water that is dense over the earth, and Xi'an Lake is one of the points of convergence. Since a long time ago, the Sage ...... Felicity began to look for these points, trying to restore the circle, because if you want to protect it from destruction, you must at least understand what it really is...... At least I thought it was. ”

"But she didn't ......," Ed blurted out, swallowing the second half of the sentence in shock.

"She didn't tell you. "I thought it was a test for you, and you're getting closer to the final answer." But now I think it might be a test for me—she should have wanted me to tell you that. ”

"It's just...... Let's just hope for it. Ed whispered, "I don't think she likes tests or anything......"

Sean seemed to smile. Under the starlight, even the resolute and stubborn lines on his face softened a little.

"She also told me to believe in you. Ed continued, "But I ...... Didn't do it. ”

Felicity will probably be a little disappointed...... Or maybe she'd just be glad that they were finally open to each other at the moment.

.

In the space connected to the small temple, Felicity's restored circle was hidden, not completely—to be precise, it was not "restored".

She, along with her friends, came to realize that it was almost impossible to restore the entire circle. "It's too big, and therefore too complicated, and eventually, with what they have at their disposal, and the ultimate purpose of this circle, they create more than one smaller, much simplified circle, and what is hidden here is just one of them." ”

And the one who protects the Archmage Tower may be another one.

"We spent a lot of time studying this circle. At first we hoped that it would be able to hold up another when the original barrier of this world was broken, but it was too difficult, and even if the circle itself was fine, when it got too big, we couldn't find enough strength to make it work. ”

They had to think of a more conservative approach – to protect the original circle.

Felicity hid the dragon egg at the bottom of Lake Starnestle to protect the temple and as an attempt. She tried to see if a new power, a sufficiently stable and powerful force, could make the entire circle more stable if it was injected into the point where the forces in the circle intersected. Because the same method, on their simplified circle, works.

But until she died, her "experiments" did not come to fruition. The world was too big, and she could find the most powerful source of magic, and it wouldn't stir up many ripples in it.

As a bright pillar of light rises from the Temple of Nesses in the northern wilderness...... When the unfamiliar stars in the night sky were lit up, they at first thought that Scott was changing the circle itself. But Scott's goals are irregular, and the "materials" he uses seem to be traceable. When they discovered that the so-called "Godbones" were in fact more like vessels that could store extremely powerful powers, and that the magic power of this world was rapidly weakening at an unprecedented rate, they finally reacted and began to understand what Scott and the other Nesses followers were doing.

"They're just draining the power out of the circle little by little...... It's like draining water out of a river. ”

Without the support of power, even the most powerful circles are useless - this is the simplest and crude, but perhaps the most effective method of destruction.

"So I dug up the dragon egg from the bottom of the lake. Sean said.

Ed blinked blankly. The jump was so big that he couldn't react for a while, where did this "so" come from.

"You...... Did you deliberately lure Scott here?" he could only guess with his intuition.