After revealing the logos on the gloves and the pendant, Angel’s entire story was more or less complete.
However, for the sake of rigor, Angel added: "All of the above are deductions I’ve made based on the clues I’ve found, and whether or not this is the case still requires the Wood Spirit to explain itself."
After speaking, Angel knocked on the vine on his staff again, indicating it should say a few words.
However, the Wood Spirit remained in a state of pretending to be dead.
Angel said: "Think about it, clearly it’s your own little crown, clearly it’s a beautiful pendant worn on your body, yet it was snatched by the Ghosteye Witch. Doesn’t it bother you?"
The Wood Spirit trembled slightly, but then calmed down.
Angel continued: "Do you know, when I saw that Ghosteye Witch, it placed the pendant in the most conspicuous position on its body, making it the most eye-catching existence among all Ghosteye Witches? It was a sight at first glance, and at the same time, that beautiful pendant could be seen at first glance. Though a Ghosteye Witch, it was unusually beautiful; with the pendant, it was beyond compare..."
The more Angel praised the Ghosteye Witch, the more violently the vine trembled, though the Wood Spirit still remained silent.
But the Wood Spirit expressed its weak protest in another way.
It extended a slender vine, spelling out a word on the table—"Mine."
Perhaps to strengthen its tone, the Wood Spirit let three buds with a faint glow sprout at the end of the vine, like three exclamation marks.
The expression of words was full of mystery. If viewed simply from the word on the table, "Mine!!!", one might feel how domineering the Wood Spirit was.
But in reality, it still left everyone at a loss for words.
However, the Wood Spirit dared to respond in writing, which was already considered a kind of progress.
Taking advantage of the situation, Angel said: "I know this pendant is yours, the crown is also yours, everything is yours. But now I want you to answer: is there a discrepancy between the story I just told and the facts?"
In Angel’s view, any life form actually faces some degree of dilemma. This dilemma could be survival, inferiority, environment, social interaction... etc. Some of these dilemmas are inherent to the species and are insurmountable; but more are spiritual, and they can be overcome.
Once the first breakthrough is made, the second one becomes relatively easy.
This is also what Angel expected from the Wood Spirit.
Since the Wood Spirit had expressed itself in writing for the first time, the second time should follow naturally, right?
Angel looked at the Wood Spirit enthusiastically, but he still underestimated its character flaw. Time passed second by second... two minutes later, the Wood Spirit still gave no feedback.
Instead, the "Mine!!!" on the table slowly retracted.
Just as the vine was about to coil back around the staff, Angel seized the end of the vine: "Don’t forget our agreement."
The so-called agreement, of course, was for the Wood Spirit to meet its "master," Sanders.
Although Angel mentioned the agreement, he said nothing, it seemed like a simple, emotionless statement, but the Wood Spirit heard the threat within.
After hesitating for a long time, the Wood Spirit reluctantly extended the vine again, spelling out a word on the table: "Discrepancy."
"Discrepancy? Where’s the difference?" Angel continued to ask.
Perhaps the threat was still effective; the Wood Spirit hesitated for a moment but still continued to answer. However, the Wood Spirit seemed very dissatisfied with Angel’s threat, and its answers always came out word by word.
After a long time, Angel finally pieced together where the so-called "discrepancy" was.
Actually, the story Angel recounted was already almost complete. However, there were some differences in detail: the crown and the engraved pendant had indeed been snatched by the beauty-seeking Ghosteye Witch. But the Ghosteye Witch looked down on the remaining two rings, so it didn’t take them. It wasn’t as Angel described, taking them and then discarding them.
To the Wood Spirit at the time, the remaining two rings were naturally treasured. For this reason, the Wood Spirit gathered the courage to shift to a hiding place.
But unfortunately, there were too many Ghosteye Witches in that area. Later, the Wood Spirit encountered another Ghosteye Witch, and perhaps that Ghosteye Witch wanted to please the beauty-loving Ghosteye Witch, so it took another ring from it.
Now, the Wood Spirit had only one ring left.
Treasured possessions were snatched away, but upon reflection, the Wood Spirit finally resolved to leave. As a result, it encountered Cicia...
The whole story was summarized like this. To others, it sounded almost identical to Angel’s speculation. However, to the Wood Spirit, the difference was huge, after all, it was the one involved, and the four lost ornaments were its heart’s treasures.
The Wood Spirit recounted its experience word by word using the vine, and seeing that Angel had no further inquiries, it immediately shrank back onto the staff, once again serving as the entwined vine decoration.
Angel lifted his head and looked at the wise sovereign opposite him: "Now the story is clear, I don’t have foresight. I collected these ornaments only because of my mentor; initially, I didn’t even think they were related to the Wood Spirit. But later, when I got the last silver ring from Miss Cicia and compared it with the other silver rings, only then did I make the connection. I guessed that they all belonged to the Wood Spirit."
"At the same time, I had another guess."
Angel didn’t state his other guess, but the wise sovereign spoke up: "The Wood Spirit emerged from the staff, and the staff belonged to your mentor."
Angel nodded: "That’s right."
The wise sovereign fell into thought, as this matter, in his view, was just too coincidental. But after the Wood Spirit’s account and Angel’s review, the logic within indeed held up.
Most importantly, if it really wasn’t a coincidence, then this would be at least a hundred-year-long arrangement, even considering the birth spirit, the beauty-seeking Ghosteye Witch... and so on.
A hundred-year arrangement isn’t a difficult feat. But accomplishing such a thing certainly requires support from a powerful Prophet Wizard. Among today’s Southern Domain Wizards, probably only "Immortal Coronastar" Lapuye and "The Judge of Olden Days" Hastar could manage it.
But what reason would such high-level Prophet Wizards have to arrange this here?
As the wise sovereign’s thoughts grew ever deeper, Angel spoke: "Does the wise sovereign find it very coincidental? I do too. Who would have thought that hundreds of years ago, my then-apprentice mentor, on his first visit to the underground aqueduct ruins, would face the pursuit of Ghosteye Witches and lose his staff."
Angel intentionally mentioned that when his mentor lost the staff, he was an "apprentice."
What kind of arrangement could an apprentice make, what kind of energy could he harness to affect developments hundreds of years later?
Moreover, Angel also mentioned the loss of the staff was due to the pursuit by Ghosteye Witches.
And who nurtured those Ghosteye Witches there? ... The wise sovereign himself.
So, if it were to be called a coincidence, the wise sovereign should be counted in too.
"Even more coincidental, the staff actually birthed a spiritual body." Angel sighed: "All of this is indeed very coincidental, but it really is just coincidence."