The Shopkeeper of All Worlds in the British Wizarding World

Chapter 120

After slowly approaching the centaur who was receiving him, Ryan found that the person who came to pick him up was his acquaintance, Firenze. However, Firenze was different today, as he was wearing a loose white linen robe.

"Welcome, friend of the forest." After saying that, Firenze placed his hands on his chest and bowed slightly, then led Ryan into the village.

When Ryan entered the village, he found that the village of the centaurs was very unique. The buildings in the village were sheds with solid structures, and the size of these sheds was far beyond the human standard.

These buildings are arranged in a circle with the entrances facing inwards. Ancient Viking wizards believed that this was because Centaurs ultimately believed that no one of them was more important than another, and the circular building structure was a clear manifestation of this equality.

There is a huge stone stove in the center of the circle. Its location shows that the centaurs tried to keep it away from the trees around the village. This stove is public and can be used by any centaur at any time, but it is usually only used by women when preparing food. In addition, in cold weather, the stove will be constantly added with firewood to keep the fire burning, ensuring that the whole village can get a constant supply of heat no matter how cold it is.

Of course, on this summer night when the temperature was just right, the fire in the stove was off. After Firenze led them around the stove, Ryan saw the place where the centaurs held their coming-of-age ceremony: the altar.

The altar was on a hill outside the village, connected to the village by a forest path. There was a large lawn in front of the altar, which was now crowded with many centaurs. Under Firenze's guidance, Ryan circled around and came to the place prepared for guests on the side of the lawn.

At this time, Ryan took the opportunity to carefully observe the altar with the torches around him. The altar of the centaurs was different from the circular stepped altar when Ryan released the life magic. Their altar was an arch built of three basically unprocessed tree stumps. Behind the arch was a large tree stump as an altar table for offerings. Behind the table was the dark forbidden forest.

If the circular stepped altar in Ryan's life magic represents the communication between the forces of life and death wandering between heaven and earth, then in the centaurs' natural magic, this archway means the entrance to the natural realm, where nature extends without restraint.

Because the ceremony could not start for a while, the bored Ryan had a sudden idea and used the Feng Shui techniques in the Maoshan Taoist scriptures to observe the Feng Shui of the altar.

The more Ryan observed, the more surprised he was, because the location of the altar was one of the best feng shui he had ever seen, and it could even be said to be second only to Hogwarts. After casting several observation spells on himself, he found that the entire altar was in a natural energy-intensive area, and the barrier between the real world and the Emerald Dream world at the altar was very weak.

It seems that this place was also carefully chosen by the centaurs. Ryan became more and more interested in those non-wizard intelligent creatures that were only mentioned briefly in novels.

After waiting for about half an hour, the sound of horse hooves came from the village entrance. The first centaur who participated in the coming-of-age ceremony had returned. Centaurs are different from humans. They become adults at the age of 12, so you can see that the centaurs running here have childish faces.

At this time, Aunt Betty walked out of the crowd and stood beside the altar. Today, she did not wear the leather armor she usually wore, but also wore a white linen robe. However, unlike Ferentze's robe, Aunt Betty's robe was embroidered with various patterns representing nature.

The first centaur to pass the trial of adulthood has arrived at the altar, holding a rare fluorescent evening primrose in his hand.

Firenze, who was standing aside, said to Ryan: "The traditional trial before the coming-of-age ceremony of our Forbidden Forest centaurs is to find a designated rare plant. Unfortunately, since more than 40 years ago, the Forbidden Forest has changed, and our trial content has become to kill an adult eight-eyed giant spider independently and bring back its fangs. Thank you for your help this time, we can find our precious tradition back." At this time, Betty took the fluorescent evening primrose handed over by the little centaur, respectfully placed it on the tree stump altar, and then chanted a spell. The centaur also bowed his head under the arch of the altar, and then clenched his fists and placed them on his forehead.

A few minutes later, Ryan felt the power gathered on the altar getting stronger and stronger, and finally tore open the barrier separating the real world and the Emerald Dream. The evening primrose on the altar turned into a green light and disappeared into the Emerald Dream, while the same green light shot out from the Emerald Dream and shone on the pony under the arch.

When the green light disappeared, Ryan was surprised to find that the ponyman's body seemed to be stronger, and his overall temperament was more in harmony with nature.

"This is our coming-of-age ceremony. The one who is being baptized by nature is my cousin. I envy him very much." Ferran said with some envy on the side.

"Why, is your natural baptism back then different from this?" Ryan asked curiously.

"It is indeed different. Because we were fighting fiercely with the eight-eyed spiders at that time, our offerings were all the fangs of the eight-eyed spiders. Different offerings are strengthened in different directions when receiving the baptism of nature. Our strengthening focus is placed on the physique and reaction speed related to combat. This makes us have some deficiencies in the natural affinity that the centaurs are proud of. So I want to thank you for helping us regain our glory."

"But this kind of natural baptism only happens once in a living being's lifetime. Doesn't this mean that you will never achieve anything in terms of affinity with nature in your lifetime?"

"Yes, but this is also the sacrifice we should make. Nature raised us, and we should do something for her." Firenze said with emotion.

Afterwards, two other centaurs who had reached adulthood this year also received the natural baptism. Ryan thought that the ceremony was over, but Aunt Betty, who was standing on the altar, suddenly said to Ryan: "Please come up, our friend. Nature tonight told me that you are the last person to receive the natural baptism today."

"Me?" Ryan pointed at himself in surprise. Betty nodded firmly: "This is the will of nature, and you are exactly 12 years old this year, which is the right age to be baptized by nature."

The centaurs made way for the altar. It seemed that Betty, as a shaman, had a very high status among the centaurs. Ryan walked to the altar with trepidation and asked, "This is the centaurs' coming-of-age ceremony. Is it really appropriate for a human like me to participate?"

"I don't know either." Betty said with some confusion. "After all, this has never happened before, but when I communicated with the Emerald Dream during the ceremony just now, I felt that nature wanted to give you this as a thank you gift."

Betty's voice was not small, and several older centaurs in the audience nodded after hearing it. According to Firenze's previous introduction, these centaurs were all able to communicate with the Emerald Dream, and it seemed that they had also received this revelation.

It didn't look like it would be harmful, Ryan made up his mind. "Well, I'm more than happy to accept nature's gift."

(End of this chapter)