Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Eventually, the group stopped by a mountain stream, where they set up camp on the pebble beach. This time, without Shard using arcane techniques, the Miss Maids had already arranged the temporary campsite. The horses were tethered nearby, while the werewolf was put under a coma effect again. Above the stream, there were no trees, and the weather outside the city was fine. The clear moonlight illuminated Shard, who was supporting the witch to sit on the cushion by the fire:

"Take a rest first, don’t worry."

Miss Belindel softly said "hmm" and leaned against Shard’s shoulder without speaking. Miss Matilda felt as if her mistress had deliberately chosen this posture, but since she couldn’t see the expression covered by the blonde hair, she couldn’t figure out exactly why it seemed odd.

"Mr. Watson, do you really have a way?"

She asked anxiously, and Shard nodded:

"You need some time to wait for people at the council, so it would be better to let Miss Belindel go directly into the council. Maybe she could use their power..."

"No, I won’t go. I won’t let them see me like this."

The semi-transparent right shoulder was covered by the coat draped over her, and the loose hair concealed the glowing right cheek. Even though she was still weak at the moment, she would not allow such a thing:

"I look so hideous like this."

Miss Matilda looked to Shard for help, and Shard shook his head:

"No need to go, I have a solution. But I need to leave for a short while. Please wait for me to come back."

But the witch, who had a crimson birthmark on her brow, suddenly grasped Shard’s hand:

"No... don’t leave, please."

The voice was weak, and when the surprised Shard looked down at her, Bella Belindel, whose face was partly covered by hair, was also looking at him.

In her golden eyes, there was an indefinable meaning, and at this moment, the fragile lady’s gaze at Shard made her appear more delicate than ever.

"I’ll be back soon, probably in half a minute."

He promised, looking at Miss Matilda. The Maid Miss then reached out to help her mistress up from Shard’s arms, but Miss Belindel gently pushed her before reluctantly allowing herself to be supported.

Without Shard’s "Calamity Cards", they couldn’t have effect, so he indeed couldn’t leave for long. Until Miss Matilda helped her sit down again, Miss Belindel was still looking at Shard.

"I’ll really be back soon, and when I return, there should be a solution."

Although it sounded absurd, not only the witch, but even the three maids believed he wasn’t lying. Not to mention he had just repelled a Circle Sorcerer of Nine Rings with the level of a Seventh Ring, but Miss Belindel’s attitude upon seeing part of "Miss Charlotte’s" data also indicated that Shard was absolutely reliable.

After promising once again that he would soon return, Shard hurriedly entered the woods. By the fireside, the witch once again spoke to her maid:

"Matilda, my divination cards."

"Miss, even at a time like this..."

"Only through divination can we never give up at any time."

The maid retrieved the deck of cards for the witch, as Miss Belindel no longer had the ability to shuffle or cut the cards. She casually opened the top card of the deck and saw the card face of the "Pocket Watch":

"Is he going to use the power of time to heal me? Is he going to prepare secret spellcasting materials?"

From the bushes, a sound came once more, for Shard had indeed returned in half a minute as he had said, as if he had returned from a battle.

(Mia running amidst...)

Thirty seconds earlier.

"May the World Tree, bless me in the infinite moments."

Click~

Confirming that the ladies at the Creekside Camp couldn’t see him, Shard took out the [Yggdrasil’s Key] and inserted it into a lock styled as a door. The bulky key seemed to shrink and entered a keyhole just slightly larger than a pin, and as Shard turned the key, it opened to reveal the familiar white mist.

He reached out to touch the mist—

[Outlander, please note. A message from the "Father of the Infinite Tree": You are allowed to carry one additional relic this time.]

"Only one this time?"

Thus he chose the [Perfume Bottle of Desire] without hesitation, and when Shard fully extended his fingers into the mist, as the mist surged out and engulfed him, the rest of the relics from his body and the door fell onto the leaf-covered ground.

[Outlander, you have entered the "Time Corridor."]

[Message from the Ancient God "Father of the Infinite Tree":]

[Bygone Era: Sixth Era, Old Continent, Apocalypse City: Tobesk.]

[Event: Tobesk, The Final Era.]

[Duration: Any (4/∞).]

[You have obtained additional information.]

[You have stepped into nonexistent history.]

[The Father of the Infinite Tree gazes upon you.]

[Note, during this exploration, you cannot leave the range of Saint Delan Square.]

[Note, you are allowed to bring any spellcasting materials into this period of time.]

[Note, using the Time Key to defeat any formidable enemy allows you to return to the "present" time.]

Confirming that the familiar information hadn’t changed, Shard took a step in the white mist and returned to his dilapidated home. Holding his forehead to adapt to the environment for a while, he then staggered, supporting himself against the wall, and walked out of the room, heading down the creaking stairs covered with black stains and mold to the first floor.

Gravel piled into small mounds next to the door in the foyer. With an ear-piercing sound, after laboriously pushing open the door stuck by the deformed frame, the sand blown into the door by the gale from the gap made Shard squint. The pain of the gravel hitting his face surprisingly made him feel more awake.

This door couldn’t be completely opened, so Shard had to sidestep through the gap. The dim sky, the square rolling with gravel, the half-destroyed buildings of Saint Delan Square, everything remained the same as if time had never flowed here.

Looking once more at the strange black sun, Shard took out the silver pocket watch from his pocket and then looked at the palm-wide glowing rune engraved on the ground beneath his feet:

"Adel Isabella."

He uttered the name, then stepped back two steps, watching as the Grand Witch of Time, lifting her gown hem slowly rose in the gentle white light radiating upward from the rune, transforming from a phantom to an entity.

For Shard, it was just a week since they last met, but for the witch in the apocalypse, time seemed to have passed in a blink and an eternity. She raised her head, allowing Shard once more to see the teardrop mole at the corner of her eye. Holding back the joy of reuniting with this peculiar man, the witch showed a gentle smile to Shard:

"Shard Hamilton, the one chosen by Annette, the man blessed by time, you have indeed appeared again."

The dress she wore was left behind by Shard the last time he was here. Although he didn’t leave much in terms of daily necessities, this time Miss Isabella’s appearance was noticeably better:

"It’s good to see you again, Miss Isabella."

Shard greeted as well:

"I need your help!"

The witch tilted her head slightly and then smiled:

"My time has come to an end, and the only remaining significance of my life is to stop Luviya Annette and assist you. What help do you need?"

Like Long-Haired Luvia, she couldn’t casually disclose stories of the already destroyed bygone eras, so Shard also needed to avoid this in his inquiries:

"Enveloped by abnormal light, to the extent of being assimilated into the light. A certain unfortunate young lady encountered such a problem, is there any solution?"

"You’ve arrived at Moon Bay?"

She immediately understood Shard’s question, nodded after frowning slightly:

"There is a way, the power of the Council can dispel such abnormalities, but it requires a collective meeting of the witches, needs time to summon at least two-thirds of the members, and the treatment process takes at least a week and is quite painful. Besides this method... let’s discuss it in the house after you solve this challenge target."

"Alright."

Shard said and was about to take action, but Miss Isabella called him again:

"You once said you cannot take items from this time period except cards."

Shard had tried it.

"So I cannot write down the knowledge I know and pass it to you, although I’ve learned arcane techniques for knowledge infusion, I have always opposed such learning processes. In the future, every time you appear, I will try to teach you some new temporal magic onsite and then have you practice it for a month. Did you master the ’Adel’s Time Stasis’ from last time?"

She didn’t know about the "Witch Echo" matter and only thought she had imparted part of her knowledge to Shard, who still needed to study arcane techniques by himself.

"Yes, I did."

Shard slightly squinted at the gravel floating between them, a small fragment stopping in mid-air.

Miss Isabella smiled:

"Very well, you indeed have great talent. It’s a pity I never met you in my own time; otherwise, I’d have been glad to take you as my apprentice."

She shook her head, her disheveled golden hair dancing in the air with the yellow sand:

"This time, I will teach you a new arcane technique. As you are currently only of the Seventh Ring, high-consumption arcane techniques like time stasis aren’t suitable for you. But before officially starting, please answer me one question: What do you think the categories of the power of time can be divided into?"

"Progress, regression, stasis, control of flow rate."

Shard replied, though the basic course at Saint Byrons Integrated Academy might not have included much on the study of time power, he had read some books, and his theoretical knowledge was spot on.

"This answer isn’t wrong, but in my view, it should be: affecting the past, affecting the present, affecting the future. These represent the three fundamental sources of temporal magic: returning to the past, stilling the present, foreseeing the future. But foreseeing the future isn’t divination; divination is about aligning the threads of fate, while we are peeping into time."

Noticing Shard’s deep contemplation, she chuckled softly:

"With the power of a Thirteenth Rank Witch, I can use these three foundational temporal magics. After the Apocalypse came, amidst time collapse and universal silence, I advanced to becoming a demigod..."