Chapter 2881: Long Journey and Return

"My friends, I am watching you from the other end of time, blessing you. Even if I have been dead for many years, I am still with you."

The girl smiling at the flames intended to leave this sentence for Xia De and the others to see if they could find this piece of bark, and she was very much looking forward to them showing moved expressions.

The wolf ears twitched again. She heard footsteps again. But this time she didn't ignore them; instead, she stood up with a serious expression. They were human footsteps. The girl who lived alone didn't think it was normal to encounter humans in this kind of place.

Pushing aside the withered grass, three women wearing stiff black formal suits came to the periphery of the camp bonfire. The three had uniform attire and hairstyles, but none of the three were human.

Elf, vampire, and dwarf—this combination was rarely seen even by the well-traveled werewolf girl.

"Good night, Xibeier Bisi Te."

The leading high elf greeted. She used the greeting method only used by elf clans that revered the moon, so even the very alert werewolf girl had to respond:

"Good night... Are you here to find me? What are you?"

But the tall elf did not introduce herself:

"Memories of that destroyed world should not be retained by witches beyond the thirteenth tier. Even if they could be retained, they should absolutely not be recorded on the bark of the World Tree. Miss Bisi Te, you have violated the rules of time."

The gray wolf girl looked at the three and frowned slightly:

"So you are here to punish me? Or do you want to reclaim this piece of bark?"

While speaking, she prepared for battle. She had heard secret legends about these people, but this time she clearly misunderstood.

"We are the guardians of time. After the Tree Father departed, we have been responsible for maintaining the stability of time in the material world. You did not do anything wrong. Every event that happens in the long river of time is inevitable if it can happen. It's just that this piece of bark and your existence will affect many things later. So, we want to invite you to join us."

The high elf reached out to her. The gray wolf's beautiful eyes blinked a few times:

"Join?"

"Become a guardian of time like us, leave the timeline you are in, and walk through all time from beginning to end... some special destroyed time cannot be reached."

The wolf-eared witch couldn't understand the last half of the sentence yet, but she considered it and did not agree:

"I don't want to take on such responsibility, and I still have many things unfinished in the current timeline. I am a free werewolf who pursues the moon. I admit that the mission you shoulder is great, but I don't want responsibility to bind my freedom."

The guardians of time did not insist on her leaving with them:

"That's fine, but you must promise not to show that piece of bark to others."

"No problem."

She also understood the importance of maintaining the stability of time.

"I also want to remind you that if you are unwilling to leave with us at this moment, the road ahead of you will be even longer than you think."

The vampire among the three spoke again at this moment. The gray wolf girl thought for a while:

"Does this mean that I can rely on this piece of bark to become a thirteenth-tier, or even a demigod witch, and then live for a long time?"

The guardians did not answer again, but said goodbye together:

"Perhaps we will meet again someday in the future. I hope you won't regret today's decision then."

"If I can have more time to pursue the moon, why would I regret it?"

The werewolf girl said, waving goodbye to them. Afterward, she sat down in her small camp again and began to plan whether she really wanted to go to Saint Byron's next.

(Little Mia is running...)

The phantom of the giant tree seemed eternal in the white fog. In the windless space, there was still the rustling sound of the canopy swaying. Xia De, who raised his hand, caught the green leaf drifting down from the sky. He gazed at the giant tree:

"Tree Father, can you grant me the power to fight against the remains of the World Tree?"

The tree still did not answer him, but the rustling sound became denser and denser. Xia De and the cat under the tree looked up together. Before their figures disappeared into the white fog, both the man and the cat saw the golden yellow that was being scattered down.

【Outlander, you have returned to the current time.】

"Although you only left for three seconds, you both look like you've experienced many things... Xia De, why didn't Mia turn into a toy this time, but came out with you?"

Luweiya's voice came to his ears. When he came back to his senses, he was already in the banquet hall of the "Radiant Messenger."

Yiluna stood by his side, the eighteen-year-old girl having a lost expression:

"Now I know how Xia De feels. Going from strangers to acquaintances with a group of people, experiencing wonderful adventures together, and then parting ways never to see each other again—this feeling is indeed very hard to bear... Emilia is not here, it seems she should have succeeded this time."

"Emilia?"

The red-haired girl who was also waiting for Xia De here asked in surprise:

"Wait a minute, you two met Emilia? Isn't the Academy of Strange Trees where you went?"

The witches also gathered around. Everyone had originally just watched Xia De and Yiluna go on an adventure after breakfast, not expecting to get such news.

So Yiluna explained from her perspective how she returned to the Academy of Strange Trees earlier than Xia De and encountered the little elf who looked like she was about to be scared to tears. Although this matter involved two intertwined timelines, everyone could understand it.

"So Emilia was finally brought back to the middle of the Fifth Era by that green dragon maid, right?"

The little princess asked worriedly at the end, while Luweiya asked Xia De:

"None of us expected such a thing to happen... Do you have a way to confirm Emilia's current situation?"

Her original intention was probably to let Xia De ask the elf in the forest, but what Xia De thought of was that since Miss Weierde could write to him through notes on refreshments, she should also be able to write about Emilia's situation.

But he immediately thought that if communication between the two times could really be achieved in this way, Fiona would have done so long ago. It should be that the power of the contract bound the dragon maids to only complete the work of maids.

"No need to confirm. Since the god promised to provide help, Emilia's destination this time cannot be wrong."

"I'll return to the academy to confirm it. Perhaps she left some traces, and Granny Qishala might know something."

Miss Dannisite said and left in a hurry. Thus, the adventure of the Ash Valley time key officially ended.

And at the end of this adventure story, the experience of Miss Luo Si Meizi becoming an angel made the witches sigh quite a bit.

"A mortal becoming an angel is a much smaller probability than becoming a demigod."

Granny Cassandra sighed. The old witch's words made a lot of sense. Xia De had seen many demigod witches so far, but he had only seen two... three mortals who became angels. He had also met one when listening to the god tell the story of the seven-day journey in the Lost Forest, but he knew nothing about her background story.

"Currently, it seems that to become an angel, one needs a long time to show one's loyalty and piety. Miss Gina Angela Sewell under Tobesk and Miss Luo Si Meizi of the Academy of Strange Trees are both like this."

Yiluna summarized, and then happily showed everyone the faint angel wing mark on the back of her right hand. She had a huge harvest this time:

"Look at this!"

So the ladies' gazes focused over:

"What is this?"

"This is the power lent to me by that angel."

"Then can you summon the angel?"

Miss Jia Lin Na asked, Yiluna shook her head hurriedly:

"This shouldn't be possible, but while it exists, it can significantly increase my vitality and the recovery speed of my spirit, and it can give me a probability of obtaining wonders related to the god to whom this angel belongs in my dreams. If I consume the mark at once, I can..."

"Incarnate as an angel?"

The little princess asked with envy, which made Xia De think of the one-time alchemical item created by Priest Ao Gu Si during the Green Lake incident.

"Not incarnate as an angel, but briefly transform into the thirteenth tier. I am currently the ninth tier myself. Using this power, the spirit runes of the tenth to thirteenth tiers allow me to choose from the knowledge I have learned and fill them into my life ring until the power level reaches the thirteenth tier.

In such a state, I can even use the sublimation words, but it will accelerate the consumption of power. After all, this is a one-time thing."

"But haven't you still not chosen the sublimation words for the high tier?"

Luweiya asked her again, Yiluna nodded, she was still considering. However, with this opportunity to briefly incarnate as the thirteenth tier, she could try the effects of different high-tier sublimation words first.

So the purple-eyed diviner looked at Xia De again:

"How come our knight gentleman has become so silent after returning? In the story Yiluna told, you didn't encounter anything that would make you feel depressed... Did that god say something to you?"

"No, no."

Xia De, who was petting the cat, shook his head. He was just still thinking about the maze.

The power of "temperance" had now turned into another opportunity given to him by the ancient god 【Lord of the Black Robe】, but he felt he would never use it. As for the fairy tale maze, which had always symbolized positive spirit, it now had new components composed of negative traits. He actually still had some small concerns in his heart:

"That god said a lot of things I didn't understand, but the general meaning was that the remains of the World Tree are not the World Tree after all, so I shouldn't be under so much pressure. Anyway, this journey has come to an end, and the new time key will wait until the matter in Weisi City is over before being opened.

Let's deal with serious matters today. I chatted with the demon last night, which basically answered the final doubts. Emilia has arrived at Saint Byron's Comprehensive Academy and will definitely be back within four days. So, before she returns, let's deal with those blocking troubles." ===== CHAPTER 2882 =====