Chapter 660: Yellow Moon, Red Dragon, and Glasses

This yellow-haired witch, who looked only twenty-two or twenty-three years old, was the very lady who assisted Miss Mana Feilian in holding the ritual to summon the Old God 【Yaobian Door】 in the Thousand Trees Forest. At the same time, she was also Miss Feilian's first-generation student and the future first librarian of Saint Byrons, which had not yet been established.

After 22 years, from the Thousand Trees Forest on the Western Continent to the Dead Silence Valley on the Central Continent, Xia De had encountered this witch again. This was also the first time he had encountered the same person consecutively in the past time, and Miss Olanode, who shouldn't have had memories of him, clearly still remembered the person named Xia De Hamilton.

"Teacher, who is this... is he a man?"

The girl with crimson hair on the side asked carefully. Only then did Xia De notice that the tail behind her was actually a real tail, not him seeing things wrong. It was a... very thick and heavy tail, with deep red traces on the surface like scales on a lizard, and this kind of scale seemed to belong uniquely to a powerful alien creature.

"Fiona, this is an old acquaintance of Miss Feilian and me, Mr. Xia De Hamilton."

The half-elf witch came back to her senses, reached out and held Xia De's hand, and then introduced him to her student.

"Xia De, this is Fiona Delage; she is my student. Don't be surprised by her physical characteristics; she is a mixed-blood dragon, and can even be considered to have the bloodline of the Red Dragon royal family."

She introduced her to Xia De again. The crimson-haired girl nodded to Xia De somewhat cautiously:

"Hello, um... sir?"

She still hadn't figured out Xia De's gender.

Finally, she introduced the witch wearing round glasses who was looking at them curiously. The latter sized Xia De up with an inquisitive expression. Among the three, she looked the most like a scholar:

"This is Becky Samuel, an Eleventh Tier witch of the Zhalas Society, and our companion for this adventure."

"Zhalas Society?"

Xia De showed an expression of sudden realization, quickly recalling the origin of the Zhalas Literature Academy, one of the three major sorcery academies. To be precise, the history of Zhalas was much longer than that of Saint Byrons; the establishment of Saint Byrons was started from scratch by the legendary Thirteen-Tier Ring Mage Miss Mana Feilian, while the Zhalas Literature Academy originated from the Fifth Era witch academic organization 【Zhalas Society】. And the information about the Zhalas Society, just like the information about Miss Mana Feilian, was left with only vague names.

Coincidentally, the three major sorcery academies were established in almost the same era. In other words, this witch wearing round glasses was very likely one of the founders of the future Zhalas Literature Academy.

"Hello."

Xia De nodded politely. Although the other party couldn't understand Xia De's words, she understood that this was a greeting, so she also nodded to him:

"Hello, sir."

This witch was quite clear about Xia De's gender:

"Do you mind introducing your background? I am very curious about this."

As she spoke, she was about to reach out to grab Xia De's wrist. This seemed to be a habit of witches, but Becky Samuel did not succeed; her hand was slapped away by Miss Olanode, who already had snowflakes on her shoulders. The latter said somewhat reproachfully:

"Becky, he is a friend of Miss Feilian and me, and is here to help us now. If you have questions, you can wait until we return safely and ask Miss Feilian."

Miss Olanode blocked the Zhalas witch's mouth with one sentence, then signaled for everyone to change to a place to talk.

So the group of four returned from the entrance of the ruins to that exuberant campfire. Miss Olanode sat in the position facing the door, with her student with giant dragon bloodline on her left, and that Zhalas witch on her right. Xia De sat opposite Miss Olanode, with his back to the door.

And in order to let everyone here understand the words Xia De spoke, the Zhalas witch Becky Samuel searched for a long time in the pile of books beside her and found a book, "Language Mysteries." After whispering a spell, she tore off a page from the book, burned it into ash in a stone bowl beside her, and then soaked it in water to share with the other two witches.

"Xia De, it has been 22 years since we last parted, right?"

Miss Olanode really remembered the Thousand Trees Forest matter. Under the firelight, she had a look of nostalgia:

"Teacher has always remembered you. I only fully recalled the events of that year after I was promoted to the Thirteenth Tier some time ago. Teacher and I often talked about you. If I am not mistaken, you appearing here again, just like last time, is still to help us."

"Yes."

Xia De nodded. Now was not the time for reminiscing:

"So, may I ask what you are doing here? I can still only stay for thirty minutes."

"Sir, for the sake of this library."

Without waiting for Miss Olanode to answer, the Zhalas witch spoke up:

"The location we are currently in is known as the Dead Silence Valley, covered in snow all year round, and once entered, it is almost impossible to escape. This is a place where time and space are chaotic, and countless lost and taboo ancient ruins are located inside the valley. And the current location is the Gadis Library. The library even houses precious knowledge and documents passed down from the First Era. The Zhalas Society and that Miss Feilian both want to obtain some materials from here, which is why they sent us here."

Xia De nodded. This event was described by the 【Father of the Infinite Tree】 as "The destruction of the Gadis Library," which meant that the exploration of the three witches would cause this library, which was even older than the current Fifth Era, to collapse completely.

But he still had questions, and looking at the witch opposite the firelight, he asked cautiously:

"Is your action this time related to... a god?"

"Sorry, what does that mean?"

Miss Olanode asked curiously.

"Do you know..."

Xia De subconsciously lowered his voice, and doubted whether this time, there would be a situation where the god had already arrived but was just hiding and not appearing:

"... The Great One - Grey-Robed Sage?"

In this era, the Old Gods had not yet departed, so they could not be called "Old Gods."

Miss Olanode and the Zhalas witch with round-framed glasses looked at each other. The light of the campfire dyed two extremely beautiful faces red and illuminated two pairs of lively eyes. The charm of witches was incomparable to ordinary people; even though they were in a bad state, and even the Zhalas witch's hair was messy, they were still beautiful girls in the true sense.

Miss Becky Samuel, wearing round-framed glasses, answered:

"The god 【Grey-Robed Sage】, also known as the Guardian of the Library, can often be seen in large libraries. But our purpose for this trip is only to collect knowledge in the library, not... could it be that there is also a shrine of the 【Grey-Robed Sage】 in these library ruins?"

Xia De didn't know this point, but since the Father of the Infinite Tree required Xia De to help this god collect knowledge, even if the god didn't come in person, at least there had to be an altar, shrine, statue, or holy emblem that would be convenient for Xia De to perform sacrifices.

"There is a shrine. That makes it easy to handle."

Xia De nodded:

"However, what happened to you? You don't seem to be in very good condition. Are you unable to get out again this time?"

"Do you see the blizzard outside?"

Miss Olanode pointed outside the door:

"The Dead Silence Valley snows all year round, but it is divided into different stages: Light Snow, Black Snow, Red Blood, and Blizzard.

In the Light Snow stage, other than the extremely cold weather, there are no other effects; Black Snow will cause the undead in the entire valley to revive, all living beings' power will be severely suppressed, and being stained by Black Snow will lead to immediate death; Red Snow generally appears with an abnormal red moon, at which time darkness shrouds the valley, and some strange humanoid creatures will visit here—perhaps humanoid relics, perhaps evil spirits, or even weirder things; in the Blizzard stage, even if you do nothing, your physical strength and spirit will slowly drain away, and the recovery of both will stop completely. Most of the people who froze to death here died in the blizzard."

"The recovery of spirit and physical strength stops completely?"

Because Xia De had just arrived and had only trekked a short distance outside, he had not experienced this point. Now that he knew the witches were somewhat weak, he put on the Moonstone ring as a spellcasting medium and activated his sorcery:

"Silent Moonlight!"

Above the campfire, an abnormally illusory silver full moon appeared. The cold moonlight shone on the four people, and the witches immediately groaned softly. Looking at their expressions, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"The duration of the four different stages has no pattern at all. After we entered during the Light Snow stage, we only explored for a week or so before encountering Black Snow. During this period, we found some of the texts we wanted to take away."

Miss Olanode pointed to the pile of books beside Miss Becky Samuel of Zhalas:

"But before we could leave, we encountered a blizzard that lasted for two weeks. No one could leave the Dead Silence Valley in a blizzard, so we could only wait."

"The situation is a bit better now. Although the effect of your curse is not very obvious, at least the power is no longer draining, but is recovering bit by bit."

The Zhalas witch also said, looking up at the moon above the campfire:

"This is clearly not the power of a witch; it's more like divine art, but it doesn't look like divine art. What exactly is this..."

"After we go out, you can ask Miss Feilian yourself."

Miss Olanode interrupted her again.

"I can only stay for half an hour and cannot let you recover continuously."

Xia De pointed this out and then asked:

"Can you leave the Dead Silence Valley now?"

"If it is currently the Light Snow stage, we can. During Black Snow and Red Blood, we absolutely cannot leave the range of the campfire. And during the Blizzard stage, unless we recover more than half of our power, our physical strength will not be enough to support us in leaving the protection of this campfire."

"I see..."

So this time, not only did he have to help the god who had not yet appeared to collect knowledge, but he also had to find a way to let the witches leave safely:

"Miss Olanode, give me a list. Next time I come, I will help you bring some missing things, at least to make your life here a little better. In addition, I want to go see that shrine."

"Okay."

The yellow-haired witch opposite the firelight showed a smile:

"Although we are not short of food and water, we still need new daily necessities. I have never had the experience of using a comb for more than two weeks."

The life of the top witches of the Fifth Era was truly unimaginable. Now Xia De was very worried about what exactly would be on the list given to him in a moment. ===== CHAPTER 661 =====

The yellow-haired witch across the firelight revealed a smile:

"Although there is no shortage of food and water, daily necessities still need to be new. I have never had the experience of using a comb for more than two weeks."

The lives of the top great witches of the Fifth Era were truly unimaginable. Now Xia De was very worried about what would be on the list handed to him in a moment.