"I'm sorry, Mother, but right now I can't learn that kind of power at all." Waking from her slumber, Xilutaiya looked at her hands with a helpless, amused smile.
Such power and technique—even though her mother had intentionally displayed every technical nuance that day and fully engraved the training method into her memory, she was still far too weak, nowhere near able to match the miraculous spectacle preserved in her recollections.
If she was not mistaken, her mother must possess the favor and blessing of the 'aster,' unlike her own 'cornflower.' Furthermore, their family bloodline seemed to carry an innate affinity for the 'Radiant Moon'—many of the techniques and abilities her mother had displayed manifested the Radiant Moon attribute.
Crossing time and space, manifesting fantasies into reality, shifting between substance and illusion at will, ruling over dreams—the Radiant Moon was truly formidable, a higher attribute.
Yet mastering the Radiant Moon was also exceptionally difficult. It was not an attribute one could easily comprehend simply by piling up resources; whether one could sense that bizarre rhythm lingering on the edge of illusion depended entirely on one's spirituality and talent.
Xilutaiya floated quietly in the pure water. Thoughts coursed through her mind, and a bright luster flickered in her eyes.
Though she could not achieve a miraculous result like her mother's, simplifying it countless times over to break out of her current predicament seemed entirely possible.
Closing her eyes again, she gradually adjusted her posture. Her hands slowly came together before her chest, palms and thumbs forming a faint triangle.
Within the opening of that triangle, flecks of starlight emerged. At the same time, on the card within her Fate Board, the silver shooting stars began to fade and diminish one by one.
[Maiden Beneath the Starry Sky] (First-Order · Alien Star) → [Sleeping Maiden] (None)
The first-order attribute she had worked so hard to condense vanished once more, and the precious attribute power gathered within it converged drop by drop into Xilutaiya's palms, forming a tiny yet mesmerizing vortex of star-sand.
"O power of the Stars, manifest in this moment."
"Manifest as the shape I desire."
The swirling star-sand gradually took on the silver hue of the Radiant Moon within the pure water, expanding bit by bit, continuously drawing in and absorbing the energy...
Until finally, a massive vortex took shape beneath the surface. Emitting a faint silver glow, the swirling current surged upward, carrying countless shimmering flecks of starlight as it erupted from the pool.
In the temple ruins, the black mist and the white bees were still locked in a mortal struggle, but by now little of the black mist remained, while a substantial number of white bees survived.
Water surged outward, rushing into the high sky along with the swirling waterspout before gently draping downward like a curtain.
A transparent curtain of water, shimmering with a silver halo, adorned with stars.
The descending curtain of water trapped the white bees within it one after another. Then, the flecks of starlight darted swiftly across the surface, sketching and painting until stalk after stalk of blooming cornflowers emerged. They were not real, but thanks to her Talent, Xilutaiya was able to control this arduous secret art with relative ease.
Finally, the silver-glowing water curtain came to a complete halt in midair, and the painting traced by the traveling starlight froze in place with one final ripple of moonlight.
Xilutaiya stepped slowly out of the pool and gazed up at the flowing giant painting of water in the sky. Radiance swirled in her eyes as she poured her last ounce of energy into bringing it to completion.
Before long, the giant painting descended slowly, shrinking smaller and smaller until it turned into an illusory card, hovering before Xilutaiya.
[Bees and Night Thicket] (First-Order · Alien Star · Insect Moth)
"At night, white bees weave like fireflies through a thicket of illusory cornflowers, like a dream." (The thicket of starlight seals the bee swarm, their powers locked in a fragile balance.)
Phew... Xilutaiya breathed a sigh of relief. She had finally dealt with these bloodthirsty bees.
Still, this had been her first time using the art, and she had simplified it countless times over. All she could achieve was sealing the swarm. Had her mother cast it, she would not only have retained the Radiant Moon attribute but could also have bent those bees to her own will, bestowing the blessing of starlight upon them.
She was still far too weak—probably incapable of besting even the maids back home. She vaguely remembered that the family's maids were almost all third-order or above, proficient in all sorts of skills and techniques, virtually omnipotent.
Though she still could not recall her own full name or her mother's, judging by the multitude of clues she had gained from this dream, uncovering her true background was only a matter of time.
"Yilixiya..." She recalled the name mentioned in the dream.
Even though she did not know her mother's name, she had inexplicably remembered the name of her best childhood playmate. Had their bond been so deep back then that she could forget her own mother's name yet still remember "Yilixiya"?
Yilixiya—she seemed to be a mischievous girl with golden hair and eyes like polished gold and jade.
...
Tidying her dress once more, the girl returned to the edge of the fountain pool. The clear water beneath the white stone sculpture had been completely drained by Xilutaiya; the pitcher that had once poured forth clear water had run dry and fallen still, leaving only the sculpted stone woman standing in the center of the pool.
Even without an expert's eye, Xilutaiya could tell that such a statue was a timeless masterpiece. Approaching the sculpture on tiptoe, she examined it closely, searching for anything out of the ordinary.
By now, however, she had relinquished her previous attribute and returned to the zeroth-order. The effectiveness of her Appraisal Eye had dropped considerably as well, leaving her unable to discern anything unusual.
Ah well. If there had truly been any conspicuous secret here, someone would have unearthed it long ago. She hopped down lightly into the drained pool.
Now the pool did not even reach her waist, bearing none of that bottomless sensation from before. It seemed this pool was also a creation endowed with wondrous properties, capable of holding far more pure water than its apparent depth suggested.
Putting that aside for now, Xilutaiya left the fountain to search the rest of the temple ruins.
Along the way, she actually found something: a stone stele fallen in a corner, inscribed with a brief fragment of history.
Deducing from the passage, this temple had once belonged to a certain church whose influence had spanned the entire continent. During the Eighth Era, they had clashed with various factions, vying for the legacy of the Silver Moon Dragon.
The Silver Moon Dragon? Wasn't that the dragon of law who had governed the Radiant Moon attribute during the Sixth and Seventh Eras? It was said that during the Sixth Era, dragons rose to prominence, elevating the 'Serpent Lizard' attribute into 'Dragon Eye' and seizing authority from the Fae Monarchs to become the overlords of this world.
Later, after the Silver Moon Dragon fell, the Hour of the Radiant Moon attribute became a mysterious existence, so much so that the Fae Monarchs now held the laws of the Radiant Moon attribute in proxy. After all, they had been its previous masters and possessed intimate experience in wielding the Radiant Moon.
Who could have thought such a unique secret history was hidden here? In a sense, knowledge was power; if she could master this history, she might draw upon the legendary power embedded within it through rituals.
Having read the inscription on the stele, Xilutaiya found nothing else of use, and exhaustion was catching up to her.
In this world, the sky seemed perpetually shrouded in low, gloomy dark clouds, with no distinction between day and night. She wasn't even sure how many days she had spent here.
Still, since it was safe here, she might as well sleep for a while.
Wandering back, she made her way to the central fountain plaza and lay down on a stone bench to the side.
Gradually, her breathing grew even, and tranquility once again settled over the ancient temple ruins.
Long after, a faint, almost imperceptible moonlight gently rose from the young girl, ushering her once more into a distant and fantastical dream.
Chapter 81