Chapter 269: Fifth Era 3002

In the home at St. Deran Square, the door Xia De vanished through fell to the floor, but Xia De didn't feel like he had moved.

After his finger reached into the white mist of the pendant door, he thought he was standing still, the door in his hand vanished, and the white mist surging around instantly swallowed the living room on the second floor of St. Deran Square completely.

Looking at the small cat-shaped cloth doll in his hand, it was indeed brought in, and the voice of "her" also came to his ear.

【Outlander, you have stepped into the "Corridor of Time".】

【Message from the Old God "Infinite Tree Father":】

【Autumn, Fifth Era 3002, Western Continent, Forest of a Thousand Trees.】

【Event: God-Summoning Ritual - Contact Old God "Radiant Door".】

【Duration: Thirty minutes (13).】

"Sure enough, this key can be used multiple times again; not only was the number of uses explained for the first time, but the single duration is even longer!"

Xia De widened his eyes, because the following information was the key:

"Does the Old God of Time have a task for me?"

【You have obtained additional information.】

【The figure of the Infinite Tree Father watches you.】

【The Old God of Time gives you a test.】

【Assist mortals in completing the God-Summoning Ritual - Contact Old God "Radiant Door".】

【Infinite Tree Father will give you a reward: The truth of a piece of history (Witch War at the end of the Fifth Era), wonder art - Space Stabilization Halo.】

The voice stopped. Xia De stood in the white mist and frowned:

"Reward the truth of history? Hmm... and there's such a good thing?"

Although there were no spirit runes this time, the truth of history given by an Old God, no matter how you thought about it, definitely had great value. Moreover, the end of the Fifth Era, the Witch War itself, was related to the secrets of the "Whispering Poetry" and the end of the era. Even if it was really useless to Xia De, he thought Miss Galina probably wouldn't mind spending money to get some hidden history from Xia De.

He looked at the white mist around him, his face still as serious as ever:

"But this time the task is to assist mortals in contacting a god, which means, under the circumstances of completing the task, I might be able to see the Old God... this is going to be troublesome."

He originally thought that this time, he would also see a god directly. If he encountered a benevolent god like 【The Innocent Creator】 last time, he would obtain enough knowledge to use divinity.

This time it was helping mortals summon a god; one time travel would probably not be able to complete it at all. But thinking in a good direction, such a task was always better than dealing with a false god from the past, and he also obtained an extra 30 minutes to think about how to do it after going back.

"However, I have never heard of the Old God 'Radiant Door'; is it another kind of unknown Old God?"

Thinking in his heart, he did not continue to waste time, but stepped forward.

The white mist around him dissipated. In the silence, the sound of cicadas became louder and louder, and subsequently, it was the sound of wind blowing through the treetops that was harder to detect. He stepped into the forest at night; everything was silent, as if everything had fallen into a deep sleep.

He did not change Mia back from the cloth doll state. Xia De stood in the forest and looked around; no matter which life, this was his first time coming to a real primeval forest.

The light of three moons was projected onto the ground in a mottled manner from the overlapping dense tree canopy overhead. Those shadows, because the wind blew the tree branches, swayed slightly. The surroundings were really dark, as if there was something peeking at him in the darkness between the trees and weeds.

Once he thought this way, a feeling of panic rose involuntarily in his heart. This emotion was completely abnormal; compared to being watched by a false god a few minutes ago, the strange environment at this moment should not have scared him.

"Forest of a Thousand Trees, it has problems just like Hope Town."

The wind was blowing gently, and the rustling sound in his ears was like countless whispers overlapping together. A feeling of nausea gradually emerged, making Xia De subconsciously raise his hand to cover his head. At the same time, double images and hallucinations appeared before his eyes, but perhaps it wasn't a hallucination at all. He saw that on the trees surrounding him, eyes had opened one by one.

Those eyes were watching him, and the feeling of headache became more and more intense.

"The first time I went to Hope Town, I was also surrounded by strange scenes; why is it like this every time?"

There was some light in the bushes ahead, so he ran forward while enduring the headache. After pushing aside the grass in front of him, the warm light immediately shone on his face.

He stumbled and ran out of the bushes completely. The damp and rotten smell in the forest was swept away. The air was fresh and dry, and he could even faintly smell the scent of high-end spices.

Xia De had only smelled a similar scent on Miss Galina.

After running out of the bushes, before his eyes was a towering giant tree. Compared to this tree before him now, the 【Corpse Tree】 he saw not long ago was simply as short as a weed.

This was a real towering giant tree. There were no other trees under the tall canopy, and Xia De was standing in the open space under the canopy at this moment.

A bonfire was lit under the trunk, and the color of the flame was a dazzling scarlet gold. It was this firelight that dispelled the strange sounds and atmosphere around, making this open space not as dangerous as the forest behind him, but rather somewhat warm.

Beside the bonfire were two simple cloth tents, and beside them were water bottles, small mirrors, wooden bowls, wooden boxes, basins of soaking clothes, and other messy sundries.

Three women wearing hoods sat by the bonfire, like silent statues. Hearing the sound of Xia De walking out of the bushes, the women took off their hoods and looked up.

【Did you forget one thing?】

The whispering voice in his ear asked softly.

Xia De stood at the edge of the open space, which was also the edge of the bonfire's light. His shadow, because of the swaying firelight, was projected onto the grass behind him that was a full person's height.

Listening to the sound of wood crackling in the fire, Xia De revealed an ugly expression on his face:

"Damn it!"

Last time he encountered a god in the Fifth Era, and this time, he encountered mortals in the Fifth Era. And the characteristic of the Fifth Era was that only women could use supernatural power, and witches had a special feeling of disgust toward men. Since they could perform a god-summoning ritual, the three women before him must be witches.

"How am I supposed to explain the reason for my appearance now?"

He was a bit troubled.

The three witches by the bonfire had already stood up. The young lady on the far left said:

"Teacher, someone has come, oh, it seems to be a man. Something is wrong, I don't feel any anomaly on him; is it an illusion?"

It was a language he hadn't heard before, but fortunately, Xia De could understand it.

The young lady on the far right said:

"Teacher, he actually dared to enter the depths of the Forest of a Thousand Trees at night; even we don't dare to do this. Teacher, I understand, this is a monster transformed from the malice of the forest; this is not a human."

The woman holding a book in the middle looked at Xia De. She looked to be twenty-three or twenty-four years old, her skin was as white as milk, her golden long hair was exceptionally dazzling, and her golden pupils were truly glowing. Nearby was the bonfire, and the witches' shadows were projected onto the giant tree behind them.

For some reason, Xia De actually thought that the face of the woman in the middle who was called "Teacher" seemed somewhat familiar.

This lady appeared exceptionally calm:

"I have said many times, don't look at the appearance, look at the essence. I see the spiritual light of life on him, normal spiritual light, which shows that he is a normal human. I also see the ether flowing in his body, although weak, but exceptionally dazzling, which shows that he is a mortal who can use supernatural power. There are no traces of illusion, and witches are not allowed to perform gender transformation, so this is a normal man who can use supernatural power."

Xia De did not speak. He looked at the woman standing in the middle and intended to listen to what she wanted to say.

Since the Old God asked him to help mortals complete the god-summoning ritual, the difficulty would definitely not be gaining the other party's trust; otherwise, three half-hour trips would definitely not be enough. But even if the other party was a stranger with good intentions, it didn't mean he could relax his vigilance.

"Teacher, is this normal?"

The young witch on the far left asked inquisitively, and the woman addressed as "Teacher" posed a question to her students:

"What else do you see on him?"

"The light of the silver moon."

The witch on the right answered.

"The breath of the tree."

The witch on the left answered.

"Teacher" shook her head:

"His ether does not exist in the form we have, but in a strange form I have seen in the Southern Continent. Ringed Ringed Shushi, this man is not a witch, but a supernatural being of a quite mature sorcerer system, he—"

The witch's golden eyes met Xia De's. Xia De understood what the other party wanted to say. Being able to hold a god-summoning ritual, and even letting the Old God - Infinite Tree Father send a helper, the witches were indeed extraordinary:

"Comes from the future."

Having his identity seen through so easily, but this was actually more convenient for Xia De, so he didn't have to work hard to explain his identity.

Moreover, the other party's extensive knowledge and powerful strength also showed that their god-summoning ritual was very likely to succeed, and it wasn't starting from scratch for Xia De to build it himself.

"Yes, I do come from the future."

He did not quibble, but immediately saw the witches reveal a look of doubt. Only then did he remember that he was using the Sixth Era's common language, which the other party couldn't understand at all.

He wanted to express his meaning with gestures, but saw the witch called "Teacher" say something to the young lady beside her. The latter drilled into the tent behind her and took out a small box.

"If you trust us, and don't have malice, just come a little closer."

The witch said. Xia De nodded and approached the bonfire vigilantly. He noticed that with the bonfire as the center, circles of golden dust were sprinkled on this open space. Every time Xia De crossed a line, those dusts would make a sharp whistling sound or glow and shine; this should be some kind of warning means.

He came to the bonfire. The witch called "Teacher" handed him that box, inside which was a brooch. Silver, the shape itself was the ancient rune meaning "language." After touching the brooch and confirming it was a relic, Xia De pinned it to his chest:

"What is the use of this?"

"We can understand what you say."

The witch on the right said, and then introduced:

"This is the relic 【Translation Brooch】; I didn't expect it to be useful for future languages too. The future should still have a relic system, right? You should know what I'm talking about."

They signaled Xia De to sit down and talk. As for the man before them being a future person, they seemed to accept it completely all at once.

The three witches must have seen more magical things, so Xia De nodded and sat down with them.

Even if he didn't directly contact a benevolent god this time, this kind of opening was not bad.