As the beam of light from Ice and Fire pierced through the Dome, Luna was on her tiptoes, searching for the Northern Frontier Crop Compendium on the top floor of the Library of Hidden Books.
The hexagram-shaped snowflakes collided with the Colored Window, casting flickering shadows on her delicately sculpted face like a small Milk Dumpling.
Her chubby fingers paused at a certain spot on the parchment, where the icy blue of her Pupil reflected the scorched edges of the Yellowed Pages, a warning of the devastation depicted in the original text.
"It’s coming too soon..." Luna bit down on her Crystal Pacifier, making it creak, as she pulled three Ice Spirit Crystals from the swaddling embroidered with a Star Moon Pattern.
These were what she had plucked from a rampaging Ice Elemental Sprite while helping her Second Brother repair a Magic Circle last month.
Suddenly, the castle shook violently, and Luna rolled beneath the shelf of Magic Potions.
Amidst the toppled Liuli Bottles, she spotted fragments of Aelia's shattered Ice Crystal Staff seeping into the Peacock Stone Tiles, resonating with the Contract Power emanating from the direction of the West Tower.
A faint silver Magic Pattern emerged on the infant's forehead, as the soul perception of the Great Mage penetrated through the stone walls of Twelve Rays, capturing the withered spores gushing from cracks in the South Wing Granary Liang Zhu.
"Wah!" Luna intentionally knocked over a dark green vial filled with Moonlight Grass Juice.
The corrosive liquid burned into the ground, forming a rudimentary shape of a Teleportation Array.
As the midnight bell tolled, Aelia burst into the Cellar, clutching a blood-stained Contract Parchment.
She did not notice a round figure in the shadows, using a saliva-moistened thumb to draw a Transference Spell on the surface of an Oak Barrel.
Watching her mother’s trembling back, Luna suddenly reached out and tugged at her Alchemical Robe, whispering in a mix of baby language and curses, "Grain... Northern Merchants... trade!"
In her moment of distraction, Aelia was caught off guard as Luna activated the magic woven into the swaddling’s Star Moon Embroidery.
Silver Thread outlined the transactions of the Northern Black Market: twelve carts of Winter Wheat were up for auction, starting at three Ice Spirit Crystals.
When she saw her daughter stuffing a magic stone into her palm, tears suddenly fell onto the baby's head, evaporating into Ice Mist.
"Madam, an Urgent Report from the Southwest Territory!" Qin Si burst in, holding a Messenger Scroll that was emitting green flames, just as Luna was leaning against Aelia's shoulder nibbling on a Teething Biscuit.
The seemingly random flailing fists of the small baby precisely shattered a Confusion Spell that had altered the data on the scroll.
Aelia gasped as she scanned the real disaster data, but turned to see her daughter arranging Honey Biscuit Crumbs into the shape of a Horse-drawn Carriage, using melted Honey to draw a route map through the raging Wind and Snow.
Moonlight streamed through the cellar skylight, illuminating the Moonlight Crumbs stuck to Luna's eyelashes like sprinkled Gold Dust.
"Have Lucius take my Ice Phoenix Ring to the black market." As Aelia unfastened her necklace, Luna suddenly tugged at the Magic Bell around her ankle.
At the moment when the bell collided with the ring, triggering a Teleportation Circle, everyone saw the Ancient Magic Rune swirling in the baby's pupils.
On the seventh day of the raging Wind and Snow, Leonard anxiously tugged at his silver chain collar.
The Secret Letter from Leonard's Concubine burned to Ashes in his palm, while outside the Assembly Hall, the cries of Famine pierced through the barrier.
Irritated, he kicked over a Copper Brazier, sending sparks onto the Wheat Spike Emblem on the wall, igniting the Rose Tattoo on his lover's neck.
"My Lord! The Northern Merchants have arrived!" The shout from a Knight caused Leonard to knock over Liujin's ink stand.
As he rushed to the terrace, he saw fifty frost-covered Grain Carts crushing through the raging Wind and Snow as they approached the castle.
The leading Icefield Horse suddenly reared up, and the ice crystals falling from its mane formed Luna's nickname in the air.
Aelia appeared at the Watchtower, holding her daughter as the morning sun pierced through the clouds.
Luna, wearing an oversized fluffy hat, struggled to lift her short, chubby arms to wave at the crowd.
When the Famine discovered that each bag of wheat was embedded with moonstones that dispelled Spore, cheers erupted, shaking the snow from the roof of the South Wing Granary.
"It was Young Miss who exchanged magic stones for food!" Qin Si shouted, holding Luna's Crystal Baby Bottle high.
At just the right moment, the baby released a Rainbow Magic Bubble, and when it burst, Healing Rain fell, causing the wilted wheat seedlings to stand tall again.
Leonard stood in the shadows, watching Aelia kiss her daughter's Ice Flower Birthmark on her forehead.
He crushed the Outside Room Earrings he had secretly hidden in his cuff; the emerald dust mixed with a charm woven from his lover's hair burned into a pungent black smoke in the pure magical aura brought by the Grain Cart.
When a bag of grain suddenly split open, revealing aged grain mixed with Purple-Black Spore at the bottom, a fleeting cold smile crossed his lips.
The Crystal Chandelier in the Council Chamber Dome rattled under Leonard's furious Magical Fluctuation. Three of the twelve Ice Crystal Lamps suddenly burst, sharp shards blooming like Bing Hua at Aelia's feet.
"Letting a nursing baby meddle in fortress affairs is enough to disgrace the Glorious Demon Fortress and throw its face into the Northern Ice Cave!" Leonard's Fingertip was entwined with Emerald Color Contract Thread. Those threads that were supposed to bind Leonard's Concubine were now slithering like snakes toward Luna's Cradle.
The moonstone embedded in the stroller's handle suddenly lit up, freezing the Contract Thread into Ice Shards that fell away.
Aelia cradled her daughter protectively in her arms, and the Ice Phoenix Pattern on her Alchemical Robe glowed with an Eerie Blue Glow. "Face?
When you adorned your lover with Jade Earrings in the rose garden, did you ever think about the face of Magic Castle?" She lightly tapped her Fingertip, causing Purple-Black Spore seeping from the bottom of the Grain Cart to emerge in the air. "It is Lord who should explain why Northern Merchant mixed products from Withered Marsh into Wheat Sack."
Luna suddenly burst into laughter, her small hands grabbing the drifting Ice Shard and popping it into her mouth, perfectly interrupting the escalating argument.
The baby's tongue unfurled, and the Purification Spell went unnoticed as the Ice Shard dissolved into fine starlight, silently seeping into the gaps of the floor tiles.
At this moment in the West Tower's Training Ground, the eldest brother was trembling as he held the newly repaired Ice Crystal Staff.
The Staff Tip was embedded with the Starfall Stone that Luna had gifted him on her full moon. As Healing Magic coursed through his previously corroded Meridian, he saw his reflection on the ice wall standing tall once more.
"Second Brother, you cannot..." a Servant's exclamation was cut off by an explosion.
The Second Brother tore off the eye mask embroidered with Cursed Runes, a smile emerging on his face marred by Magical Burns.
He held the colorful ribbons meant for Luna's First Birthday Celebration, using an Ice Spirit Crystal to trace a new Track on the Curse Array Diagram left by his dear friend. Suddenly, a scream from an enemy echoed from the Underground Chamber.
At that moment, Brother San's Alchemy Laboratory was showered in rainbow rain.
He stared blankly at the Talent Testing Crystal Ball he had neglected for three years—half a Teething Biscuit that Luna had secretly stuffed inside was now spinning into a dazzling Nebula within the sphere.
As the Nebula revealed his true Elemental Affinity, the boy accidentally knocked over thirty-seven potion vials, and amidst the colorful smoke came sounds of both laughter and crying.
In the kitchen, Qin Si clanged Luna's Silver Milk Pot, exclaiming, "Look at this Mai Li! Each one is embedded with shards of moonstone!" The cooks gathered around the Magic Water Mirror, which replayed a scene of the little baby drawing a Teleportation Circle with drool during Leonard's Last Night.
When Qin Si "accidentally" knocked over a Honey Jar, the thick golden liquid automatically formed an Ancient Demon Pattern of "Daughter of Divine Blessing" on the ground. The Servants knelt in reverence towards the Cradle, their knees thudding against the floor.
Deep in the Cellar, Lucius wiped frost from his brow as he counted the Grain Cart.
The young boy suddenly struck a particularly swollen sack with the hilt of his sword, shattering it and causing three rose-shaped Amethysts to roll out.
As he used a fragment of Luna's bell to freeze the Toxic Crystals, the crystal core emerged, revealing the Magic Mark of Father’s lover.
As Twilight descended, Aelia walked through the corridor holding Luna in her arms.
The Moonstone Lanterns lit up one by one, casting large and small shadows of Xingyue and Light and Shadow on the walls.
The infant suddenly reached out to grab the icy dust that brushed past her nose. The Withered Spores drifting from the South Wing Granary coalesced into an ink-black pearl in her palm.
"Tomorrow, you'll be wrapped in a new Snow Ferret swaddle," Aelia said, gently tapping her daughter's nose, unaware that Luna was staring intently at the Bing Hua in her Hair Tips.
When Mother turned around, the baby quietly tucked the Black Pearl into the Hidden Layer of her swaddle, where seven similarly sized Curse Crystals were already hidden.
At the highest point of the castle, on the Astrology Platform, only Great Mage Remnant Soul could see the Magic Silk Thread weaving through the night sky.
The Dark Red Star Trail representing Disaster intertwined with the Silver Blue Light Band symbolizing rebirth, forming a cocoon. Within that cocoon flickered the Countdown Shadow for Luna's First Birthday Celebration.
Suddenly, the Ice Spikes hanging from the South Wing Granary's eaves broke off simultaneously, their brittle sound startling Han Ya.
In a certain place in Ankeli, a magically sealed grain sack began to seep Purple-Black Slime, corroding into Abyssal Serpent Parasite Holes that resembled a curled-up infant's silhouette.
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