Whispering Verse

Hearing the sound at the edge of the clearing, Miss Feliana and the Giant Tree Witch raised their heads together. First they saw the Moon Witch appearing holding a torch, and then they saw Shad following behind.

There is almost no change here from the last time Shade left. Circles of powder are sprinkled on the ground with the bonfire as the center. Next to the red-gold bonfire are two small tents, a kettle, a small mirror, a wooden box, and a basin filled with clothes. and other random debris. Only this time there was some extra wood, which seemed to be reserved for the bonfire.

"You're back."

The witches beside the campfire stood up and smiled when they saw Shade appearing.

"Good evening, Miss Feliana. I'm back alive, thanks to the advice you gave me. Oh, this is the information I found."

Shade followed the Moon Witch to the bonfire and handed the suitcase containing the documents to Miss Feliana. The words inside were all from the Sixth Age, but I guess the witches also have ways to translate them:

"Excuse me, how long was I gone? How many hours? How many days? Or how many weeks?"

Shade asked curiously, but Miss Feliana shook her head and said with some regret:

"We can't answer this question either."

"Why?"

"Because this forest is a special place in time and space, time here is not fixed, and the somatosensory time flow rate is not correct, so I cannot answer your question."

When asking the old gods about Hope Town, they got the same answer, that is to say, this is a place similar to Hope Town. Shade immediately used [Time Perception] to learn the time, and the answer he got was only a vague result like "Autumn of 3002 in the Fifth Age."

"Is this some kind of large location-type relic?"

Shade was curious about this.

"It can be said to be a relic, but it can also be said to be something else. The explanation is complicated, but it can be considered a location-type relic."

Miss Feliana said, and then confirmed:

"You can still only stay for half an hour this time?"

"Yes."

"Then we don't need to waste time, sit down. You two, translate these information into our words, and then copy them. The originals cannot be kept, and I don't want to cause instability in time."

The witches still don't know that Shade came here through the time key.

The students were copying information by the campfire with a grimace, but in fact it was not handwriting, but like puppets, operating the quills to move on their own. Miss Feliana said this was a necromancy-like ability.

Miss Feliana herself explained the current situation to Shade. A group of three people went deep into the "Forest of Thousand Trees" in the Western Continent not because they got lost. The conditions for the God Summoning Ceremony were harsh. To be successful, they had to be held in a similar out-of-control and unstable area.

The instability of time made it impossible for them to tell how long they had stayed under the tree, but even the thirteenth and twelfth-level witches were almost unable to hold on.

The "Forest of a Thousand Trees" is eroding their power, corroding their spirits, and devouring their souls. They must complete the god-summoning ritual as soon as possible before they can leave.

"Why do you want to contact that god? Since the situation is already so dangerous, why not give up the ritual and leave immediately?"

Shade sat down by the campfire and asked in a low voice. The shadows of the witches and Shade were drawn into the distance, and the crackling sound of burning wood almost drowned out the sound of the two talking.

If it wasn't so dangerous here, Shade would actually like a similar environment.

"The original purpose of contacting that god is difficult to disclose, but it is definitely not to do bad things. The reason why we don't leave is because we can't leave. This is the center of the Forest of Thousand Trees. I admit that I underestimated the danger here."

Miss Feliana glanced at Shade, who was twitching his nose. He smelled the kind of perfume that the maid called "the smell of a witch" on Miss Feliana, but this fragrance contained a slight smell of roses.

"Now we can only call out that god. With the help of the god, we have a chance to leave."

Miss Feliana concluded.

The old god [Flame Gate] itself is a god who controls the power of time and space, so it should not be difficult to help the witches leave this strange place.

"What difficulties are encountered in the ceremony now? The necessary ceremony materials are missing? The ceremony itself is incomplete? Or are some harsh ceremony conditions not met?"

Shade asked again. Although he had experienced it twice in Tobesk, strictly speaking, he had not learned about this super large ceremony in detail, but he also knew that it would definitely not be simple.

"All the difficulties you mentioned exist."

The information revealed by Miss Feliana was even worse than Shade thought:

"The basic ritual array has been laid out in this open space. But the process of entering the Forest of Thousand Trees was not smooth. We lost some key ritual symbols on the way; if we stayed here too long, Qian The forest of trees gradually erased our memories, and the notebook recording the ritual information was damaged, making us forget what to do in the last step of the ritual; starting the god-summoning ritual requires a witch with time, space, and natural power. At the scene, we originally prepared two angel-level relics to replace the witch with the power of time and space, but those two relics were actually swallowed by the Forest of Thousand Trees. It was not that the body was swallowed, but that the power was drained by the forest. One time When we woke up, they were just two ordinary antiques."

There is no day here, only eternal night, so Miss Feliana did not say she woke up early in the morning.

She asked her students to rummage through the tent to find a primitive hourglass pendant and a cube that seemed to be made of glass. Shade also took it in his hands and inspected it. Sure enough, he couldn't feel any elements.

"The power of time and space may be solved by me. In fact, I control these two powers, but I am not a witch."

he said as he handed back the hourglass and cube.

He summoned his life ring and pointed at the core spirit rune in the center. Even the witches could not recognize this ancient rune:

"This represents time and space, so I have the ability to perceive time and short-distance space jumps."

"That's good. I know that since you can travel through time without any cost, it's impossible not to be favored by time and space."

Miss Feliana smiled:

"It doesn't matter if you're not a witch. It's just because there are only witches in our era, that's why I use the term 'witch'. In this way, one of the three problems will be solved."

She waved her hand to the side, and the stacked firewood automatically flew into the bonfire, making those strange red-gold flames even more intense. The Tree Witch and the Moon Witch were listening to the two people talking while instructing the quills to copy. Shade was actually very curious about this technique, but thinking about it carefully, Miss Louisa's [reading and writing] was more convenient.

"We can look for lost ritual items. We leave the campfire and go deep into the forest again and again. In addition to looking for some firewood, there is also this reason. But the forgotten ritual conditions cannot be conjured out of thin air. You need to go to your time to find them."

"But I was able to find only information about that god. The time I was at may be a little different from your imagination. The time of that era..."

The Sixth Age has lost too much knowledge from past eras.

"No, don't go on."

Miss Feliana stopped her softly, looking at Shade in the firelight with bright golden eyes:

"Don't tell us any news about your time. If I really want to know the future, the most important thing to ask is why you know me when the witch will not leave any descendants. Now, answer a question, Why don’t I want to hear about the future?”

This tone was like a teacher asking a question to a student, so Shade also became serious:

"Because... although I myself will not bear the cost of traveling through time to obtain information and will not cause large-scale time chaos, you cannot bear the price of obtaining future information."

"Yes, then to answer my second question, why don't I choose to let my future self figure out the answer directly for you? Since you know me, it means that I will not die here and will definitely leave Qianshu successfully. forest."

Miss Feliana asked again. Shade took some time to think this time. He looked at Miss Feliana's face. There was some expectation in the latter's eyes:

"Because...you don't want to manipulate time?"

The witch smiled:

"Yes, don't try to manipulate time, otherwise time will show us its power. I would rather die in the forest than be involved in chaotic time events."

"It's like don't manipulate fate!"

Shade's words blurted out, and the smile on Miss Feliana's face became even stronger:

"Yes, a very good example. It seems that you have a deep understanding of this. All actions that go against time must be completed by you, not us, otherwise problems will definitely occur."

Although the witches have not experienced time exploration, what she said gave Shade a lot of inspiration.

Miss Feliana changed the subject:

"Although I can't ask you directly, I can get limited information through indirect means and find ways to help us. So now I ask again, and you answer. You must not give any answers other than my questions. "

After the witch finished speaking, she looked at the two students on the side. The young witches shook their heads at their teacher in dissatisfaction, but under Miss Feliana's gentle gaze, they still got up and moved to a farther place to copy.

"Excuse me."

Shade and Miss Feliana also got closer, the tree crowns above their heads swaying in the wind. Shade realized that he still didn't know what this amazingly large tree was, but Miss Feliana gave him no time to ask.

"The first question is, do you belong to an organization originating from the Fourth Era or even before?"

"No."

Shade shook his head, the founder of the organization he belonged to was in front of him.

"Then the second question is, do you know that in your era, there are organizations that originated from the Fourth Era or even earlier? Name a name."

Miss Feliana asked again. Although the other two witches were sitting a little further away, they could actually hear a few words.