Chapter 629 - 536: Shire Reappears

Chapter 629: Chapter 536: Shire Reappears

The flicker of doubt that had quietly emerged was like a stone tossed into the center of a calm lake, sending ripples across the pool of devotion that had been still in Vanessa’s heart for four years.

She stood frozen on the spot, her violet eyes losing focus. Holland’s words—heretical, yet seemingly tinged with a cruel realism—echoed and clashed within her mind.

"Miss Vanessa..."

"I—I’m here!"

The clear, steady call yanked her wandering thoughts back to the present.

What met her gaze was a pair of black eyes, as deep as an eternal night, yet devoid of any coldness.

Only now, in that moment of subconscious, direct eye contact, did Vanessa truly "see" the face of the man before her.

It was not a rugged or sharp-edged handsomeness, but a quiet, harmonious beauty, with profound contours that seemed to have been naturally polished by the passage of time.

His skin was pale but not frail, his nose was straight, his jawline well-defined but not overly harsh...

Especially his eyes, which, beneath their calm surface, seemed to hold endless stories and a great weight.

For a moment, an almost blasphemous thought flashed through her chaotic mind.

’How...’

’...breathtakingly handsome.’

’Even the legendary incarnations of the Deities, with their perfect forms, could hardly be more so, could they?’

Roland saw that the Apprentice Witch’s gaze had refocused, but a suspicious blush had inexplicably appeared on her fair cheeks. Though a bit puzzled, he didn’t press the issue.

He simply smiled faintly and steered the conversation back on track.

"Don’t mind what Holland said earlier. Everyone has their own understanding of faith and their own path."

He paused for a moment, his tone shifting to one of gentle inquiry.

"About repairing the damage to my soul... did you find a viable method in the book?"

"Y-Yes!"

Like a startled quail, Vanessa ducked her head, her gaze flitting away from Roland’s face to land back on the heavy, open book.

She took a few deep breaths, trying to cool the heat on her face and forcing herself to focus on the ancient text and diagrams.

"According to the fragmented records of an ancient Soul Weaver ritual in *Mason’s Travelogue: Records of Strange Lands*, combined with my teacher’s notes on the ’three-layered structure’ hypothesis of the soul’s essence..."

Her voice trembled slightly at first, but as she entered her familiar academic domain, it grew steady and focused, taking on a rhythm that blended recitation and deduction.

"We’ll need a base of Soul Calming Grass ash mixed with the powdered, dried wing membranes of a Moon Shadow Bat to draw the initial Stabilizing Rune Array... The core requires drawing out the subject’s own Spiritual Spark, supported by external force but guided primarily by introspection, to slowly smooth out the ’creases’ and mend the ’dissipation’... The process might require a Resonating Crystal for precise guidance, supplemented by Soothing Incense to maintain stability on the conscious level..."

While softly and rapidly reciting the key steps and required materials, she was already mentally cataloging the storage locations throughout the room.

"Please wait a moment. I’ll go prepare the basic materials and set up the preliminary ritual space!"

Before her words had even faded, she turned around. It was as if a switch had been flipped; her earlier shyness and awkwardness vanished, and her entire being seemed infused with new vitality.

She began to move quickly and precisely through the cluttered room, her movements as light as a butterfly charting its course. ℴ𝒗ⅇ𝑙.

She tiptoed to retrieve a sealed ceramic jar from a high corner shelf and bent down to rummage through a bottom drawer for a flat tin box. Then, nimbly navigating the clutter on the floor, she brought out a fist-sized, milky-white crystal from a hidden compartment under her workbench, one in which a mist seemed to slowly swirl.

Her movements were fluid and purposeful. She knew the location of every item by heart, completely unaffected by the surrounding clutter.

In just a short while, she had already arranged several key materials neatly in a small area she’d cleared on the workbench. ⅇℯ𝚕.

She then began to use a small silver spoon and a special rune pen to carefully mix the powders, sketching the first complex and esoteric symbol onto a piece of dark velvet cloth she had laid out on the tabletop.

After just a moment, Vanessa set down her silver rune pen.

On the dark velvet cloth, a complex geometric pattern drawn with fine, grayish-white powder had taken shape. Its lines were precise, its Runes nested in an orderly fashion, and a space was left in the center, just large enough to hold the Resonating Crystal.

The edges of the pattern were dotted with several smaller, auxiliary nodes, apparently for placing other materials or for fine-tuning the Energy.

She let out a soft sigh, raised a hand to wipe the fine beads of sweat from her smooth forehead, and turned to face Roland.

Her violet eyes shone with focus and solemnity.

"Mr. Rudolph, the basic Stabilizing Array is ready. Once the ritual begins, you’ll need to sit here..."

She pointed to a spot just in front of the pattern’s center.

"Try to relax your Spirit, but remain conscious. I will use the Resonating Crystal as a bridge to guide the Power of the array and establish a connection with your Spiritual Attribute... uh, I mean, your Soul Spark."

"The entire process should be gentle and gradual. It’s designed to smooth over the damage, not forcefully repair it."

She paused, putting on her most reliable-looking, serious expression as she added,

"Although this is the first time I’m actually performing this, please rest assured. I have studied every step of the ritual repeatedly, and my teacher also emphasized the contingency plan for aborting it."

"If any unexpected fluctuations occur, if you feel any unbearable discomfort, or if the array shows signs of instability, I can immediately and safely terminate the guidance. I assure you, the termination procedure itself is designed so that it won’t cause any additional damage to your body or soul."