"Star Spirits?!"
Rhode and Lucy said in unison.
"What Star Spirit?" Carla asked puzzled, "Is there a Star Spirit called Hell Three-headed Dog?"
"Yes, I remember there's a constellation called Cerberus, but its image on the star map isn't a Cerberus." Rhode frowned and thought, "It seems to be depicted as a Three-headed Snake?"
Lucy confirmed, "Yes, it's a Three-headed Snake wrapped around an apple tree. However, that's a constellation that was abandoned long ago, not among the 88 constellations."
Carla, not knowing much about constellations, asked curiously, "Can constellations be abandoned?"
"They can, the books say it's because some ancient constellations don't conform to modern astronomical rules, or there were ancient observational errors and the star maps were drawn inaccurately." Rhode explained some basic knowledge, "Maybe the constellations that exist now might be redefined someday in the future."
Lucy curiously asked, "Why is Mr. Rhode so knowledgeable about astronomy?"
"I referred to Celestial Spirit Magic during my study of magic and consulted a lot of materials related to it," Rhode said,
"But those matters of abandoned constellations, I just regard them as interesting anecdotes, I'm not very clear about their relation to the Star Spirit Realm or what happens to Star Spirits after a constellation is abolished."
He looked at Lucy, hoping for an answer from her.
Lucy thought carefully and replied, "I seem to have heard from my mother that when a constellation is abolished, the Star Spirit Key will disappear, and the corresponding Star Spirit can no longer be summoned by mages.
"Compared to the chaotic division of constellations in ancient times, the current setup is more conducive to astronomical research and more favorable for the distribution of power among Star Spirits.
"But I don't know what happens to Star Spirits after a constellation is abolished, and how the star maps of the Star Spirit Realm and Human Realm are kept consistent."
Semus suddenly felt that strange knowledge was bombarding his brain.
Weren't we talking about monsters? How can you talk about such high-end topics like the rules of the Star Spirit Realm just from a monster's transformation?
S-Class Mages and the Ten Wizard Saints tackle world-affecting tasks every day?
Rhode raised his hand to give Loka another Healing of the Ocean, to prevent the situation from deteriorating: "How about we ask a Star Spirit?"
"No problem!" Lucy took out a rarely used Silver Key, "Open the gate of Crux Constellation, Crookes!"
Even though she was already very tired, using a Silver Key posed no problem.
An emaciated old man sat cross-legged, suspended in mid-air, his head was as big as his body in the shape of a cross, even his beard (or nose hair?) was cross-shaped.
Carla and Wendy had seen this old man before, and he seemed to be the librarian of the Star Spirit Realm.
'This looks like a tombstone...' Rhode thought impolitely.
"Old Crookes is an expert in Celestial Spirit Science, you can ask him anything about the Star Spirits!" Lucy briefly introduced him and expressed the earlier doubts.
"This..." Crookes mumbled, hovering cross-legged in the air, and soon gentle snores filled the air.
Rhode smiled, "The old man has a good quality of sleep."
Lucy denied, "No, he's searching for the related knowledge."
"Ah ah ah—oh!!!" Crookes suddenly opened his eyes, letting out an alarming shout.
Lucy quickly asked, "How is it?"
Crookes' voice was ancient yet clear, "The birth of new constellations and the abandonment of old ones as said by the Human Realm corresponds to historical issues in the Star Spirit Realm.
"That was ages ago, simply put, the Star Spirit Realm once also experienced an era of war. Conflicts and battles between Star Spirits often led to changes in star power, causing the stars seen in the Human Realm to change too.
"In other words, the abandonment of old constellations is not entirely due to observational errors by astronomers, but also a result of changes in the star map caused by battles between Star Spirits.
"Until the current Star Spirit King unified the Star Spirit Realm ending the wars, reassigning the power of the Star Spirits, forming the stable 88 constellations we know today, uniting Star Spirits like one family, and fostering cooperation and friendly exchanges with the Human Realm through the Star Spirit Mages.
"And, the Cerberus you encountered today should be the ancient Cerberus Constellation's Star Spirit.
"But according to records, it was violent and fierce, so after a certain defeat, it was stripped of the power given by the stars and exiled to the barren regions of the Star Spirit Realm, supposedly unable to be summoned by anyone."
Lucy asked, "Since that's the case, why has it appeared here?"
Though she had a few Star Spirits that could come to the Human Realm on their own without summoning, Lucy always believed these were exceptions.
A proper Star Spirit shouldn't have that privilege.
Crookes said, "This is an unusual situation that I do not understand, we need to report it to the Star Spirit King as soon as possible."
Though he talked about reporting it soon, he had no intention of leaving.
"Then what about the bees?" Rhode, seeing that Crookes hadn't left, continued to ask, "Wouldn't the Asterion be the swarm of bees we encountered today?"
"Hmm~~" This time Crookes only gave a brief snore, without yelling, and said directly,
"A long time ago, Apis of the Asterion was an opponent that gave everyone a headache. Because it possessed 33 major stars and countless hard-to-observe dark stars.
"So it always appeared in swarms, with an almost infinite number. No army could stand against it.
"But now Apis has also been exiled, replaced by the harmless Fly Constellation."
Carla doubted Crookes' last statement, "Flies... Are they really harmless?"
Crookes affirmed, "Although Mask of the Fly Constellation can also have an exaggerated number, it doesn't have lethal stingers, and its temperament is much milder, so it is almost harmless."
Lucy asked, "But how can bees turn into daylilies?"
Crookes pondered for a moment, then replied, "Eight hundred years ago, in the Human Realm, daylilies were called forget-me-nots."
"Ah—it's the Forget-me-not Flower Constellation!" Lucy suddenly understood, "The Asterion was also once called the Forget-me-not Flower Constellation!"
Rhode also suddenly realized, no wonder the Void Divination couldn't see through the disguise of the bees.
It turns out that it wasn't Concealment Magic, nor Transformation Magic, those daylilies, or forget-me-nots, were their true form.
Following this logic, the Void Divination probably couldn't see through the apple tree and Three-headed Snake changed by the Cerberus Constellation either.
"Since you know even this, you must also know their weaknesses, right?" Carla asked Crookes, "Can you tell us how to deal with them?"