Hearing the sound at the edge of the clearing, Miss Feliana and the Giant Tree Witch raised their heads together. They first saw the Moon Witch appear with a torch, and then saw Shade following behind her.
There was almost no change here since Shade left last time. Circles of powder were scattered on the ground with the bonfire as the center. Next to the red-gold bonfire were two small tents, a kettle, a small mirror, a wooden box, a basin for soaking clothes, and other miscellaneous items. However, there was more wood this time, which seemed to be stored for the bonfire.
"You're back."
The witches beside the campfire stood up and smiled when they saw Shade appear.
"Good evening, Miss Felina. I am back alive, thanks to your advice. Oh, here is the information I found."
Shade followed the Moon Witch to the campfire and handed the briefcase with documents to Miss Felina. The text inside was all from the Sixth Era, but the witches should be able to translate it:
"Excuse me, how long have I been gone? Hours? Days? Weeks?"
Xia De asked curiously, but Miss Felina shook her head and said with some regret:
“We can’t answer that question either.”
"Why?"
"Because this forest is a special place in time and space, the time here is not fixed, and the speed of time you feel is not correct, so I can't answer your question."
When he asked the old gods about the situation in Hope Town, he got the same answer, which meant that this place was similar to Hope Town. Shade immediately used his time perception to find out the time, and the answer he got was just a vague result like "Autumn of the Fifth Era 3002".
“Is this some kind of large location-type relic?”
Shad was curious about this.
“It can be said to be a relic, but it can also be said to be something else. It’s complicated to explain, but it’s okay to think that this is 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 materials into our language and then transcribe them. The originals cannot be left behind. I don't want to cause time instability."
The witches still don't know that Shade came here through the Time Key.
The students were copying information by the campfire with bitter faces, but they were not actually writing it by hand. Instead, they were controlling the quills to move themselves, as if they were puppets. Miss Feliana said that this was the ability of the undead.
Miss Felina herself explained the current situation to Shade. The three of them went deep into the "Thousand Tree Forest" of the Western Continent not because they were lost. The conditions for the summoning ceremony were harsh. To succeed, it must 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 could no longer hold on.
The "Forest of Thousand Trees" is eroding their strength, corrupting their spirits, and devouring their souls. They must complete the summoning ceremony as soon as possible before they can leave.
"Why do you want to contact that god? Since the situation is so dangerous, why don't you give up the ritual and leave immediately?"
Shade asked quietly as he sat down by the campfire. The shadows of the witches and Shade moved away into the distance. The crackling sound of burning wood almost drowned out the voices of the two people talking.
If this place wasn't so dangerous, Shade would actually like similar environments.
"I can't reveal the original purpose of contacting that god, but it was definitely not for doing bad things. We didn't leave because we couldn't leave. This is the center of the Thousand Trees Forest. I admit that I underestimated the danger here."
Miss Feliana glanced at Shade, who was twitching his nose. He smelled the perfume on Miss Feliana that the maid called "the scent of the witch", but this one had a hint of rose in it.
"Now we can only call upon that god. Only with the god's help will we have a chance to leave."
Miss Felianna concluded.
The Old God Yaobianmen 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 has the ceremony encountered now? Is the necessary ritual materials missing? Is the ceremony itself incomplete? Or are some harsh ritual conditions not met?"
Shad asked again. Although he had experienced it twice in Tobesk, strictly speaking he did not know the details of this super-large ceremony, but he knew it would definitely not be simple.
“All the difficulties you mentioned exist.”
The information revealed by Miss Felina was even worse than Shade had imagined:
"The basic ritual formation has been set up in this open space. But the process of entering the Thousand Trees Forest was not smooth. We lost some key ritual symbols on the way. We stayed here for too long, and the Thousand Trees Forest gradually erased our memories. In addition, the notebook that recorded the ritual information was damaged, so we forgot what to do in the last step of the ritual. To start the summoning ritual, a witch with the power of time, space, and nature must be present. 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 Thousand Trees Forest. It was not the swallowing of the body, but the power was drained by the forest. When we woke up one day, they were already two ordinary antiques."
There is no day here, only eternal night, so Miss Feliana did not say that she woke up early in the morning.
She asked her students to dig out an antique hourglass pendant and a cube that seemed to be made of glass from the tent. Xia De also took them in his hands to examine them, and indeed, he could not sense 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 the hourglass and cube back.
He summoned his life ring and pointed to the core spirit rune in the center. The witches could not recognize this ancient rune:
"This represents time and space. Because of this, I have the ability to perceive time and jump short distances."
"That's good. I knew that since you can travel through time without paying a price, it's impossible for you not to be favored by time and space."
Miss Feliana smiled:
"It doesn't matter if she's not a witch. I just used the term 'witch' because there were only witches in our time. 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 the strange red-gold flames more vigorous. The Giant Tree Witch and the Moon Witch listened to the two people talking while directing the quills to copy. Shade was actually very curious about this technology, but after 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. Besides wanting to find some firewood, this is also the reason. But the forgotten ritual conditions cannot be conjured out of thin air. You need to go back to your time to look for them."
"But I can only find information about that god. The time I was in may be a little different from what you imagined. The times of that era..."
The Sixth Age has lost too much knowledge from past ages.
"No, don't go on."
Miss Felina stopped him softly, her bright golden eyes looking at Shade in the firelight:
"Don't tell us anything about your current time. If I really want to know about the future, the most important thing I should ask is why you know me when witches won't leave offspring. Now, answer a question. Why don't I want to hear about the future?"
This tone sounded like a teacher asking a student a question, so Xia De 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 afford the price of obtaining future information."
"Yes, then answer my second question. Why don't I choose to let my future self find a way to leave the answer to you? Since you know me, it means that I will not die here and will definitely leave the Thousand Trees Forest successfully."
Miss Feliana asked again. This time, Shade took some time to think. He looked at Miss Feliana's face, and 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 tell us its power. I would rather die in the forest than be involved in chaotic time events."
"It's like don't manipulate fate!"
As Xia De blurted out his words, Miss Feliana's smile became even more intense:
"Yes, that's 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 there will be problems."
Although the witches had not experienced time exploration, what she said gave Shade a lot of inspiration.
Miss Felina changed the subject:
"Although I cannot ask you directly, I can obtain limited information through indirect means, and thus find a way to help us. So now I will ask you again, and you will answer. You must not give any answers other than my questions."
After the witch finished speaking, she looked at the two students beside her. The young witches shook their heads at their teacher in dissatisfaction, but under the gentle gaze of Miss Feliana, they still stood up and moved to a farther place to copy.
"Excuse me."
Shad and Miss Felina moved closer, the tree canopy swaying in the wind. Shad realized that he still didn't know what this amazingly large tree was, but Miss Felina didn't give him time to ask questions.
"First question, do you belong to an organization that originated from the Fourth Era or even earlier?"
"No."
Shade shook his head. The founder of the organization he belonged to was right in front of him.
"Then the second question is, are you aware of any organization in your era that originated from the Fourth Era or even earlier? Give a name."
Miss Feliana asked again. Although the other two witches were sitting a little further away, they could actually hear a word.