After sighing, Xia De officially began to count all his gains after the second key disappeared.
Besides the unexpected 【Kiss of the Tree】 Ling Rune and the confusing truth about the time key, Miss Feilianna also said that if she could remember Xia De, she would leave him a gift.
Unfortunately, Xia De had been in school for a month and a half and found nothing. Perhaps Miss Felianna had forgotten him, or perhaps the gift was in the Saint Byron's castle, and he would only receive the charming lady's gift when he truly arrived at the college.
However, Miss Feilianna's notebook was successfully brought by Xia De to the present time. Although the pages had yellowed a bit after coming from the past to the present, it didn't stop Xia De from standing by the window and flipping through the notebook, then unexpectedly discovering that a small part of it was blank. The notebook, which had originally been meticulously filled by the Witch, now had a small amount of blank space, probably only about one-tenth of the total.
“Speaking of which, this is my first time obtaining a large amount of Knowledge from the past.”
Although the Father of Infinite Trees was long gone, Xia De could truly feel His presence at all times.
He lowered his head and looked at the remaining leaf. Since the previous leaf contained the Miracle of 【Space Stabilization Aura】, then this one must contain 【The Truth of a Period of History (Witch War at the End of the fifth epoch)】.
Xia De thought for a moment, closed his left eye, and placed the leaf in front of his right eye.
The cat raised its head and looked at him curiously.
Xia De saw some floating light and shadow, and then a long, narrow brick-paved corridor.
The ground was covered with white ash, and two women in ornate long dresses walked one after another along the corridor. It was exceptionally dilapidated, like an ancient ruin that had weathered the ages.
At the end of the corridor was a very familiar white mist gate, and the women walked in together.
Behind the gate was shrouded in white mist. The two women stood together, one displaying a ring on her right hand, and the other holding a golden button.
As the two accessories emitted a soft white light, the white mist gradually dispersed.
This looked like a Sacrificial Ground, and also like a meeting hall. A large, grayish-white stone round table was placed in the open space, surrounded by thirteen stone-backed chairs.
And around the circular open space, dilapidated stone steps ascended level by level, until the view was obstructed by white mist at the highest point.
The two women took their seats. Xia De's vision was always behind them, so he couldn't see their faces clearly at all.
“The fifth epoch should be over.”
One of the voices said, using a language that was naturally not delarion common language.
“Yes, Witches are the product of failure, it's time to start the next epoch.”
Another voice said.
“But the other eleven won't agree.”
“They betrayed their promise, abandoned the Council, and forgot what mission they bore. Now only the two of us have voting rights, that's enough.”
“Do we really have to do this?”
The tone was very anxious.
“Yes, if we drag this on, the people of the sixth epoch will face even greater problems. For the future of this world, it's time to end it.”
After a moment of silence, both of them said together:
“In the name of the Witch Council, the thirteen-seat vote begins. Thirteen present, two actually present, two with voting rights, meeting the minimum requirements. The 3419th meeting of the Witch Council vote begins. The content of the vote: whether to agree to the participants borrowing the power of the Council, in the form of the Witch War, to forcibly end the fifth epoch.”
“The sixth seat agrees.”
“The thirteenth seat agrees.”
“Two valid votes, zero invalid votes. Two votes in favor, zero votes against. The resolution passes.”
Some flames shot out from under the round table, igniting the two women on the old stone-backed chairs. But not only were they not injured, they seemed to grow stronger with their vigorous breathing.
Xia De put down the leaf, and all the scenes ended. He tried to look again, but he couldn't see the repeated scenes from before.
His brows furrowed even more:
“So, there really is an ancient god's remaining space called the 【Witch Council】? The Witch War was started by two Witches to end the fifth epoch? Since the 【Witch Council】 has been passed down, the current Witches most likely still control that space.”
Holding two 【youthful immortality leaf】 in his left hand and patting the cat standing on the windowsill with his right, Xia De stared blankly at the halo of the gas street lamp outside the window. The halo was ambiguous and blurry, illuminating his profile but unable to illuminate the confusion in his heart:
“More unknown things have appeared.”
He was not in a good mood, of course, this was not just because of the eternal farewell to the two Witches who were very kind to him.
It seemed that every time he went to the past to witness history, he would discover more unknowns upon returning.
The grandfather clock in the corner ticked and tocked:
“So, is it the sixth epoch now? Speaking of which, it's Monday again. What will the gift box give me this week?”
(Mia running)
“So, is it the sixth epoch now?”
This was the first thing Xia De said when he saw Dorothy at his doorstep on Monday morning.
He had dark circles under his eyes, a pale complexion, chapped lips, disheveled hair, and his eyes even looked a bit dazed.
The Writer, excitedly holding the Steam Bird Daily, stood at Xia De's doorstep and hesitantly nodded:
“Of course it is. Xia De, didn't you say you only went to the past for three seconds? Did you experience more time this time? You can't tell the current time.”
Looking worriedly at Xia De's terrible state at the moment, the red-haired girl in black leather shoes walked through the door. Her long red hair brushed Xia De's shoulder, and she pursed her lips and asked:
“Then let's test it, Xia De, what did you do before we parted yesterday?”
Xia De rubbed his face, barely recovering to normal, and recalled as he closed the door:
“We ate dinner together, and I mixed some expensive cod liver oil into Mia's cat food, using food to make the cat forget about bathing at noon.”
“Meow~”
The orange cat, waiting on the stairs for Xia De to come up, immediately lifted its head and meowed when it heard its name. The upward movement of its head made the fur on its fluffy chest face the morning sunlight streaming in through the still not fully closed door.
Outside the door was lively. On Monday morning, a thin mist hung over Saint Delan Square, and gentlemen in boots were rushing to work.
“Then it's correct, of course it's the sixth epoch, common era 1853. Xia De, what on earth is wrong with you? Losing a correct sense of time is also a sign of a Ring術士 losing control, especially since you also control the power of time.”
At this point, Dorothy became even more worried.
“No, it's not losing control, just curiosity.”
Xia De shook his head. He didn't intend to tell Dorothy the information he had learned from the God, because it was meaningless and would easily involve Dorothy in strange things.
“Then why does your spirit look so bad?”
She asked again.
“I read very late last night. I went to bed at two and was woken up by Mia at seven. I plan to make an interesting alchemical item recently.”
Xia De yawned, remembering the notebook now placed on the dining table. Although one-tenth of the content was missing, the rest was still very valuable.
Miss Feilianna had patiently and meticulously written in tiny, dense script her adventure experiences, ways to gain power, understanding of extraordinary beings, strange and interesting rumors, and some potion and alchemical item formulas.
Currently, there was only one alchemical item whose materials Xia De had heard of, meaning he could make it. Miss Feilianna didn't write the item's name, but its sole purpose was very clear: to detect Witches.
Once the alchemical item was made, as long as it was worn around the neck like a pendant, within half a mile (about 804m) of a Witch, the pendant would automatically heat up. And the more Witches there were, and the stronger they were, the more obvious the heat would be.
This detection distance was much further than a Witch's detection of Xia De, which was very helpful for Xia De to stay away from those troublesome women.
Of course, besides the Knowledge itself, the notebook was also a very valuable antique.
Although it was just ordinary paper, the pages bore Miss Feilianna's own handwriting, which was an extraordinary item for Saint Byron's Comprehensive College. If Xia De were willing to sell it, he guessed the college might even offer a five-figure or even six-figure sum in pounds.
But Xia De would not sell it; he would cherish it forever as a memento of the two Witches who had helped him.
Today, Xia De was going to Coldwater Port again to see Princess Leia as agreed, and Dorothy came again to help Xia De take care of the cat and look through the remaining Detective records.
In this morning's Steam Bird Daily, there was the first short story, “Expired Murder,” from Dorothy's serialized Detective novel, “hamilton detective story collection.” Because it was the first issue, it occupied a large amount of space, allowing her to publish more content.
The appearance of the “Hamilton Detective” was a relatively important part, as it would connect the future stories.
The main distribution area of the Steam Bird Daily was the central Delarion region centered around Tobesk, but it could also be found in large Cities such as Coldwater Port.
If Dorothy's story could succeed, it would mean her career had reached a higher level, which was much more significant than winning a Kingdom Literary Award with 35 co-winners.
Leading Dorothy upstairs, Xia De also shared his experiences from early this morning. The Golden-haired girl didn't want to hear the whole process, so Xia De only told the story of 【Kiss of the Tree】 and its connection to the summoning ritual.
“Miss Felianna.”
When Xia De displayed the notebook and described the story of the college's founder, Dorothy's face showed an expression of admiration.
However, when he mentioned the Old God - Father of Infinite Trees and the Old God - yaobian gate, she couldn't bear it anymore and shook her head, telling Xia De not to continue.
Xia De then summoned his Destiny Ring. Now, the second Ling Rune of the second Ring - 【Kiss of the Tree】 - was flashing with golden spiritual light. After 【greed】, Xia De had once again obtained a rune associated with a fairy tale name, only this time, the story was not one he had told.