Dark_Peace
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Chapter 312: Magic Can't Do It, But Fairy Tales Can
🕑 Added 2025-03-03 15:43:39 +0000 UTCThe next morning.
Under the influence of his powerful biological clock, Ino quietly opened his eyes, then disappeared entirely.
In the valley of the Sanctuary, the air was damp.
With every breath, there was always the scent of soil mixed in the air, likely because the Blue Lantern had just finished watering the plants.
After washing up in the house in the valley, Ino arrived at the path that had once been covered in snow and ice.
It had been a long time since he last visited this place. Ever since the valley came into existence, he rarely returned here, but whether it was the ice flower or the icy snake, they had always been his earliest companions.
But today, with nothing else to do, he decided to take a leisurely walk around the area.
The maple trees by the path, their leaves recorded stories from the Arad Continent. As he approached, the leaves, inscribed with words, gently swayed, as if greeting an old friend.
Ino reached out and lightly patted the trunk, a silent response in return.
However, the greetings weren't limited to the maple trees; the ice flower and the icy snake also joined in.
The icy snake, in particular, had grown significantly since he last paid attention to it. Its body now stretched to a length of 70 feet.
Its ice-blue body, with its textured scales and cold demeanor, looked as cold-blooded and emotionless as ever.
Serpentine creatures, while they slither across the ground, give off a different impression when they lift their heads.
The icy snake was no exception. When it stopped slithering and raised its head, the towering height of over six meters gave off an overwhelming sense of dread, a fear of giant creatures that crept in uninvited.
But these feelings were only for strangers.
For Ino, being in the shelter, especially with his control over the icy creations, he had absolute authority over the icy snake.
He didn't pay much attention to the icy snake, intending instead to check on the ice flower ahead.
…
Moments later.
Ino arrived before the ice flower and crouched down to observe it.
The once small seedling with only a few leaves had now grown lush and vibrant, over two feet tall, looking as pure and beautiful as a work of art.
However, unlike before, the ice flower had matured and now bore an ice-blue bud, making it even more pleasing to the eye.
The ice flower's maturity seemed unexpected, yet perfectly reasonable.
After all, during the time spent in Middle-earth, ten years had passed, allowing many of the miraculous herbs in the valley to grow. There was no reason for the ice flower to remain unchanged.
Moreover, as the earliest plant in the shelter, its growth time far exceeded ten years.
…
Looking at the plant before him, as pure as a work of art, a faint sense of familiarity welled up within Ino.
He gently touched the ice flower's leaves, and the moment they connected, a surge of information flooded his mind.
To be honest, after all this time, Ino had developed a certain understanding of this peculiar flower.
He had even speculated that it was likely some sort of miraculous object meant for escaping.
And now, as the ice flower produced a bud, the information it conveyed confirmed this suspicion.
This flower was indeed a tool for resurrection or escape.
The White Witch from the past seemed to have used this method to resurrect herself, but something had gone wrong, or perhaps the method itself was imperfect.
A very clear example was when both Leina and the White Witch appeared simultaneously in the blacksmith shop in Rohan. At the time, Ino had simply assumed it was a magical effect.
Now, understanding the role of the ice flower, he realized the difference.
The most apparent difference lay in their personalities. One was a queen who had ruled Narnia for over a hundred years, while the other, although cold, lacked the dignity of a ruler.
This wasn't a joke but a genuine feeling, like the difference between the same actor playing both Merlin and King Arthur—it was stark and obvious.
At first, Ino thought the White Witch's change in demeanor was due to the Sanctuary's control, causing her to lose her original character.
But now, it seemed that wasn't the case at all.
It was more like the effect of a Muggle cloning chamber—the White Witch was Lina, but Lina wasn't the White Witch.
"Two sides of the same coin, sharing the same memories…"
Ino gently stroked the ice flower's leaves, sighing at the unpredictability of fate.
Despite his slight disappointment with the ice flower after learning more about it, he couldn't deny its effectiveness—it was undoubtedly powerful.
Especially for those who had lost loved ones, lost their partners, or even lost their parents.
Most importantly, the magical world possessed souls.
…
The magical world had souls.
Or rather, wizards retained their souls after death.
This was beyond doubt.
Whether it was the ghosts at Hogwarts, or at the end of the story, when Harry saw Dumbledore at the ghostly station, along with Voldemort's disfigured infant soul, or even during the duel when he saw his parents and the deceased Cedric…
There was too much evidence proving the existence of souls in this world.
Combining souls with the ice flower… it seemed possible to fix the original imperfections, for it was not just shared memories, but also a unity of souls.
Gradually…
Ino's thoughts wandered to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, to Golpalott's Third Law, to the idea that magic couldn't bring people back from the dead.
But just because magic couldn't do it didn't mean fairy tales couldn't.
…
After a brief contemplation.
Ino's mind had already formed a rough idea, and the key point was that the ice flower was not a one-time consumable, as Lina was living proof.
However, after coming up with this plan, he began calculating the time.
"Planted during the first year's summer vacation, the bud appeared after the start of the fourth year, with five entries into the fantasy world in between, plus the final ten years in Middle-earth…"
He didn't realize until he silently calculated that the time it took for the bud to form had reached nearly twenty years, and it still wasn't fully mature.
The length of the cycle could be set aside for now, as he could afford to wait.
But the most critical issue was still the mechanism of the shelter.
No matter what, this was an unavoidable problem, one that even a legendary wizard like the White Witch couldn't escape.
However, on second thought, despite the flaws, they didn't overshadow the merits.
Compared to real regrets, the so-called control was a joke. In the face of life and death, these problems became trivial.
Of course, this required mutual willingness.
…
"This really is a big surprise…"
Ino sighed as he stood up. What started as a simple walk turned into an unimaginable gain.
Likewise, today's discovery made him feel that fate was like eating Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans—you never knew what the next flavor would be.
It really was like that. Just as he had once naively believed that when the ice flower bloomed, a beautiful flower fairy would appear…
But in reality, not everything in life went as one imagined.
