On Sunday morning, while Dorothy was in a good mood and preparing breakfast in the kitchen, Shade, who had finished packing, took out the key and stood at the door of the side bed.
This time, little Mia didn't insist on following. The cat was now attracted by the smell of food in the kitchen, and probably didn't even notice that Shade was getting ready to leave.
"Dorothy, see you in three seconds."
He spoke to the blonde writer across the restaurant, and after the girl in the apron turned around and waved, Shade inserted the key in his hand into the keyhole of the door:
"The adventure is about to begin again. I don't know what the story will be like this time - may the World Tree protect me in infinite time."
Click~
The door was opened, and the foggy door with white mist was so familiar and friendly to Shade. He checked the items he carried with him one last time, and then stepped in.
【Outlander, you have stepped into the "corridor of time".】
[Message from the ancient god "Father of the Infinite Tree":]
[Autumn of 4791 in the Fifth Age, Southern Continent, Worm Cave.]
【Event: Butterfly Festival.】
【Duration thirty minutes (1/3).】
"Southern Continent? However, the year is 4791. It has been 1767 years since I said goodbye to Miss Olanold in the Cadiz Library in the Valley of Death; there are still 386 years until I entered the Lost Lake and met the Witch Emperor.
This is another era where there are no acquaintances. The Butterfly Festival does not sound like a festival to an evil god."
Shade thought in the white mist. So far, he had only encountered one evil god in the past, and that evil god left a really deep impression on him:
"Worm Cave. Although I'm not afraid of worms, but..."
【You have obtained additional information.】
[The figure of the father of the infinite tree is watching you.]
【The ancient god of time gives you a test.】
[Help mortals complete the ritual of the old god-'Thousand-Eyed Phantom Butterfly', so that one of them can win the favor of his family members.]
[The Father of the Infinite Tree will give you rewards: thaumaturgy - Fiona's domestic servant, a true message - the mermaid.]
"Um?"
The information reward about the mermaid race did not surprise Shade. He had obtained racial knowledge about elves and vampires before. What surprised him was the thaumaturgy, which corresponds to the [Sloth] spirit rune.
Although the specific effect is unknown, judging from the name of the thaumaturgy, it does not seem to be a combat ability.
“This is so great!”
Although there are maids who help clean the house every Saturday, on weekdays Shad still has to do tasks such as washing dishes, wiping the table, or cleaning the desk that little Mia has messed up. Fortunately, the cat hardly sheds hair, otherwise the daily routine
Cleaning up is even more troublesome.
If this thaumaturgy is really what he thought, it is a lost thaumaturgy, a "housekeeping" series of daily life thaumaturgy from the fifth era, then it will be very useful to him.
The changes from the Fifth Era to the Sixth Era caused a lot of knowledge to disappear. In terms of thaumaturgy, combat thaumaturgy was mostly preserved, but most of the private thaumaturgy created by the Witch Emperors to facilitate their own lives was lost.
But for the ring magicians who live in relatively peaceful times, the thaumaturgy of the Witch Emperors is actually also very important.
"A festival to the God of Butterflies. I don't know what kind of story I will encounter this time."
He took a step forward in the white mist, and as the thick white mist spread slowly around like a curtain, the putrid air choked Shade and almost suffocated him.
In fact, outsiders have smelled the stench of slum alleys more than once in this world, but the stench this time was ten times more disgusting than that smell.
All the white mist dissipated, and the moist and warm air mixed with the stench filled every part of the surrounding air and clung to Shade's skin. This even made Shade have the urge to throw away all the clothes on his body after returning home.
The urge to jump into a water tank.
"Worm Cave."
He had a bad premonition in his heart, so he lit up the silver moonlight at his fingertips. Because he was worried about disturbing the things sleeping in the darkness, his light was very weak, but it also allowed him to see where he was at this time.
It is a long and narrow corridor. The corridor seems to have been drilled out by giant insects. The whole corridor is not straight at all, and the interior is also extremely rough.
Surrounded by lime-gray rock walls, the rock walls are dotted with dense holes. As the moonlight came closer, Shade could almost see tiny multi-legged long worms squirming in every hole:
"oh!"
At this moment, goosebumps appeared all over his body. Even though Shade was not afraid of bugs, he was already a little unbearable. Compared with the short-term life threats he encountered every time he appeared in the past, this time's "mental threat" was more terrifying.
.
He was glad that he started this adventure at the beginning of the day, when he was most energetic. If it had been at night when he was a little tired, he couldn't guarantee what he would have done at this time.
The appearance of Shade, a human being, also made other creatures living in this narrow cave passage agitated. When colorful bugs of all sizes crawled out from everywhere, including the top of their heads.
, Shade has already rushed forward quickly.
He even felt that even when he faced the "fear" behind him in the Dreadfort, he did not run so fast. But fortunately, the tree father would not throw him too far away from the place where the incident occurred.
After running in the narrow corridor for less than twenty seconds, there was already an end in front of me.
"Fortunately there is no fork in the road!"
Running quickly caused the ground to vibrate, causing bugs to fall from the top of his head like rain. Of course, Shade would not let himself bathe in the "rain of bugs". He gritted his teeth and transformed into a swarm of red butterflies and flew forward.
Only a faint light could be seen at the end of the corridor, and he couldn't care what was there at this time. The red butterflies flapped their wings and rushed out like a stream of red light.
This was the first time he knew that if he concentrated very hard, he could actually make butterflies fly so fast.
However, the end of the tunnel was not flat ground at all. When the red butterflies flew out, Shade realized that there was no solid ground under his feet, and there was a huge downward cave outside the entrance.
So, under the gaze of the three people who had arrived at the bottom of the cave, a group of red butterflies shining with scarlet light flew out from one of the countless cave entrances around them. As the red butterflies slowly fell to the ground, it felt like
Shade, who was itching all over his body, also walked out of the red butterfly.
The air here is much fresher than in the cave corridor just now. Looking up, the hole he just flew out of is two stories high from the open space at the bottom where he is currently stepping.
The insects did not follow from the end of the tunnel, as if the insect swarm just now was Shade's imagination. And the current location is like the deepest part of an underground cave, surrounded by rough gray stone cliffs, covered with large
There are various sizes of holes. The big ones can allow a carriage to pass through, while the small ones are only as thick as a little finger.
Looking up, the skylight falls from the sky downwards, but it cannot illuminate the surrounding rock walls. The boundless darkness blocks the line of sight. The surrounding rock walls continue to extend upwards, and the large and small openings are also extending upwards, making it impossible to see.
We don't know exactly where the highest point is, but we can be sure that there are probably more bugs living here than there are living people in this era.
The open space at the bottom is as big as a square, but it is unusually empty. The ground is relatively flat, and a huge round wooden table is placed in the center of the open space. The round table can almost be used as a stage.
The wooden table has not been painted, so the wood grain on the surface is very obvious. But Shade can't see any traces of joints, which means that the entire table comes from a tree. Shade can't imagine how beautiful that tree originally was.
huge.
The faint light at the end of the corridor that he just saw in the "Insect Rain" corridor was the skylight that fell from the sky and illuminated the round table in the center of the empty space. In addition, there were some weak candles on the table.
A candle, made from the twisted corpse of a long white insect, was placed on a wooden candlestick.
The light of the candle was not bright, but the edge of the skylight was enough to illuminate the three people sitting on the wooden stools at the table and Shade who walked out of the red butterfly.
It is worth mentioning that because the table was too big, the three people at the table did not choose to sit evenly. Instead, they moved stools and sat on the same side of the table.
While the three of them watched in surprise as the last red butterfly landed on Shade's shoulder, and then turned into red light and disappeared, Shade was also observing them.
There are two ladies and a gentleman, but only one of them is a witch.
It was a woman who looked to be in her forties, with long brown hair. On the basis of a simple bun, she straightened out the hair pieces and stacked them one by one to create a bun-like effect. She also used a few more
Short pink petal-shaped hairpins are used as decorations to cover up the traces of hairpins.
Of course, although she looks to be in her forties, thanks to the long lifespan of witches, she is probably close to a hundred years old.
Another lady looked to be in her thirties, and her face was not exquisite, but she had an inexplicable sense of compassion. Although she was not a witch, the jewelry on her body and the dagger placed on the table all reflected the elements.
These are all alchemical items. She has long light brown hair, with a wreath on her head. Her long hair is gathered together, around the back of her neck, and draped in front of her left shoulder. The ends of her hair are tied up with green twigs.
What she is wearing is not a skirt, but a robe. Judging from the style, this is a very typical clergyman's robe.
As for the last gentleman, he is about thirty years old, with particularly bright brown eyes. His facial features are very three-dimensional, and his eyebrows are slightly thicker. Even without a beard, you can tell that he is a quite mature gentleman. He
There is a small pink flower pinned in the breast pocket of the black jacket.
Wearing formal attire, there was a thick fire gun placed on the table in front of him. The black iron shell was imprinted with luminous runes. This was also an alchemy item. He probably relied on this to finally get here.