"She's coming." Ivarella was the first to notice Niđhöggr, flapping her wings and calling out, "Niđhöggr is here!"
Flora, Schierke, and the other witches all turned around.
Then Schierke waved excitedly at him. "Quick, we're about to begin!"
Niđhöggr quickly approached. The three little witches—Cuca, Uni, and Tawnie—were delighted and proactively yielded their spots, letting him move to the center of the circle—right in front of a stone table.
On the stone table, an intricate magic circle had been drawn, surrounded by several lit candles.
Flora stood to the side.
Her originally weakened body had greatly improved after a period of recuperation, especially with the aid of spirit-tuning sorcery and golden incantations—at least enough to conduct this ceremony without issue.
When Flora saw Niđhöggr approaching, she smiled and said:
"Niđhöggr, you've arrived just in time. Our preparations for the 'incantation channelling' are complete. The next step is to attempt to establish contact with Dannan and Farnese, who remain in the Dark Valley."
"They are already in position. Is there anything you wish to add?"
Niđhöggr shook his head. "No, I'm here to observe. Please begin."
Without further ado, Flora raised her staff and pressed it against the magic circle on the stone table. She murmured something softly, and the magic circle began to glow.
The so-called "incantation channelling" was originally an idea proposed by Niđhöggr.
He had been inspired by Ranni.
In the game, Ranni summons her knights and retainers to meet Niđhöggr at the Ranni's Rise.
But Blaidd, Iji, and Seluvis had their own affairs and couldn't linger, so they left their spirit clones at the tower.
It was through these spirit clones that Niđhöggr could communicate with Blaidd and the others, receive necessary information, and then proceed to the appropriate location to carry out tasks.
In a sense, this was actually a magical form of video conferencing.
When he arrived at the present-day Junction, Niđhöggr recalled this incident and asked Ranni if this kind of communication could be promoted.
Ranni said it was possible, but only those with the requisite qualifications and abilities in this field could conduct such mental dialogues after leaving a spirit clone.
In other words, this kind of mental dialogue had certain limitations due to the spirit clone. It was like calling from a landline—the calling area was essentially fixed.
This wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
However, Niđhöggr then recalled Flora's words.
The "little witch" Schierke still needed a medium, and Flora's incantations could work directly within the minds of both parties, but the distance between the two communicating sides couldn't be too great.
If they learned from each other's strengths and weaknesses, could combining mental communication and incantations solve each other's shortcomings and transform this fixed landline call into a form resembling a mobile call?
Niđhöggr himself didn't possess such complex magical abilities, but he could tell Ranni and Flora, who did have these abilities, and let them realize it.
They thought about it and decided it was worth a try, and thus the opportunity for implementation arose.
Ranni couldn't afford to be distracted from the affairs of Liurnia of the Lakes, so she simply shared the magical principles and techniques of mental dialogue with Flora and gave Flora full authority over the matter.
Dannan was also interested in this form of incantation and mental communication and later joined in.
Finally, today, they decided to conduct another experiment—to establish an incantation channel between the Cherry Blossom Tree and the Dark Valley, which was neither too far nor too close.
Buzz—
After a humming sound, a spiritual phantom gradually appeared on the magic circle, which then slowly condensed into a somewhat incomplete image of Dannan in her "Snow Witch" form.
Behind her were the even more blurred figures of Farnese, Schierke, Serpico, Isidro, and others.
When everyone saw this scene, they all exclaimed. Mostly because most hadn't expected it to actually succeed, and they were both surprised and fascinated by the novelty.
Dannan's spiritual image flickered in and out, and it seemed this incantation and mental communication was unstable, but one could barely make out the happy smile on her face after a successful connection.
"Flora..." Dannan's voice came through intermittently. "I see you... But it's blurry... Do you see me? Can you hear me?"
"I see and hear you. The situation is the same as yours," Flora said with a slight surprise. "Niđhöggr is here beside me."
Dannan caught sight of Niđhöggr and nodded to him.
Then they attempted to move the stone table with the magic circle to see if it would disrupt the incantation channelling, how far the range limit for the channelling was, how long the connection could last, and so on, before finally declaring the experiment a success.
Everyone applauded.
After this, the magic circle would be further simplified and then engraved onto glintstone, using the glintstone as a medium to establish incantation channelling, making it easy to carry. It would truly meet Niđhöggr's "mobile phone" standard.
Additionally, they needed to improve the quality of the incantation channelling.
Currently, the spirit body images during communication remained quite blurry, the voice was also intermittent, and the calling distance was short.
But in any case, this was the beginning of another technological development, one that Niđhöggr witnessed today.
Over the following period, Niđhöggr remained peacefully in the Roundtable Hold, working with Melina on the affairs of all the Junction and the Fairies' Island.
At the same time, the number of people who could receive blessings and guidance and become members of the Roundtable Hold also increased. Important individuals with names and titles from the foundational Lands Between and the Fairies' Island could all participate in the Roundtable.
Today's Junction and the Fairies' Island were less like a kingdom and more like a closer union of city-states, and the importance of the Roundtable was evident.
This was precisely what Niđhöggr wanted.
If he truly centralized power, his current prestige and authority could certainly achieve it. But then he would have to remain in the Roundtable Hold like Marika and Godfrey in the royal capital of Leyndell, unable to leave.
At least for a long time to come, Niđhöggr still needed to be on the front lines facing the enemy. Commanding from the rear was not suitable.
Niđhöggr actually benefited greatly from this arrangement.
His level gradually improved through feedback from the Roundtable members, and he was now promoted from level 156 to 158, just one step away from reaching the "demigod" threshold of level 162.
It was at this time that Ranni, who had recently reduced her participation in the Roundtable, suddenly arrived at the Roundtable Hold via the guidance of grace, bringing good news to the Roundtable members.
"Yesterday, my elder brother, Radahn, was reborn from the amber egg."
Ranni, dignified with her four hands clasped before her, smiled.
"The ceremony presided over by our mother was a success. The Scarlet Rot infecting Radahn has been cleansed, and his body has been renewed."
Finally, this magical ritual, conducted by Rennala and lasting over half a month, had yielded a positive result. The Roundtable members were all very pleased.
At the same time, this gave Niđhöggr some ideas.
He looked at Kenneth Haight, Kaethin, and the others, as if deep in thought.
However, the top priority was first to go to Raya Lucaria Academy and meet the reborn "Starscourge" Radahn.