Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Shard, his body faintly marked with luminescent streaks, observed the new cards and looked across the table at the deity sitting silently there. As the light flickered, new cards appeared in the slots on the table in front of the deity, featuring a poised black-haired witch, standing with a sword in front of the temple.

From the "Dragon Catastrophe" card, a crimson glow emanated, and from the second witch's card, a bright white light poured forth.

Not just crimson and white, but the initial black and gold from the first two cards also flowed towards the table, filling more grooves. Eventually, four colors of light met in dozens of slots at the center of the table.

The dragon roared, entwined with a multitude of evil spirits, and began to battle with the spectral forms of the two witches at the center of the table.

The flames spewed by the dragon forced the witches to join forces to resist. However, the holy sword in the witches' hands also inflicted severe damage on the dragon and the evil spirits.

Sorcery, Dragon Flame, Curse, Holy Sword... A myriad of bizarre lights and sounds created scenes beyond the imagination of ordinary people. Although they were only illusions, the effects of the supernatural power remained undiminished. Merely watching this battle allowed one to imagine its destructive power.

The battle continued for about five minutes before concluding with a narrow victory for Mr. Riddle's side.

Mr. Riddle's eyes widened as he stared at the table, while Shard, keeping track of the time, restored all the containers in his pocket that could hold water back to their real form and filled them with water using sorcery:

"Mr. Riddle, I must leave for a while."

The conversation had been lengthy, with the twenty minutes nearly up. But it was enough, Shard had figured out the key points of this time-travel.

"What? No, please don't leave me!"

Mr. Riddle immediately stood up in panic, his face bewildered as he tried to grasp Shard's hand, only to see Shard drifting backwards from the stone table in a strange posture.

The candle across the table went out, plunging half of the room back into eerie darkness.

Naturally, Mr. Riddle could not see, but behind Shard, a white mist calling him back home had appeared.

"While I'm away, please try to recall your past. I'll be in another Space-Time, helping you find your experiences. Mr. Riddle, your life experiences are truly interesting."

Shard waved at the man, who at that moment seemed a bit frightened and frantic.

"But... please don't leave me! Don't leave me alone here! Don't leave me to my fears!"

Mr. Riddle tried to grasp Shard's hand again, but he grasped at nothing, as Shard's figure became translucent.

"Trust me, Mr. Riddle, I will definitely return. While I'm away, please don't continue the game on your own, reflect carefully on your past. That is your life, that is your strength, and remembering will help you overcome your fears."

Shard shouted, his lower half already engulfed by the white mist:

"May the Father of the Infinite Tree and Mr. Ring..."

His voice and figure completely vanished, leaving Mr. Riddle standing there in a daze, until he saw the water-filled containers Shard had left behind, confirming that all that had occurred was not an illusion, and he shook his head like an old dog that had fallen into water.

He turned to look at the opposite side of the table into the darkness, not knowing if it was empty, or if the robed deity was still sitting there.

His robe brushing against the wall, Mr. Riddle walked desolately to the wall and leaned against it like those corpses:

"...protect both of us."

He finished what Shard had left unsaid.

(Mia running...)

Backing out from behind the bedroom door, Shard bent over to pick up the cat that was poking its head and stretching out its paw.

The third time travel experience seemed a bit simpler than the first two.

There was no millennia-spanning connection with Shard, this experience seemed truly just about helping an unlucky ordinary person.

For Shard, this wasn't too difficult. He didn't need to consider how the following investigation would affect him, nor did he need to worry about his secrets being discovered. All he had to do was investigate the life of Sludge Riddle.

Ten slots had been filled with two, meaning that every four segments of life experience he found, he could open a key once. And eight segments that were sufficiently remarkable would probably suffice for him to complete the task of the Father of the Infinite Tree for the third time.

"But what then is the purpose of this mission?"

This was something Shard couldn't figure out, the first mission involved the Outlander leaving an exotic fairy tale in the past Space-Time; the second mission, he had helped a Witch of significant historical importance in the Fifth Era. But this time, he couldn't see any meaning regarding Space-Time.

"Strange."

Petting the cat in his arms, Shard furrowed his brows:

"Could it be that Mr. Sludge Riddle played some major role in history? But was there such a famous man with that name in the Fifth Era?"

With over five thousand years of time, if Sludge Riddle wasn't anyone important, Shard's chances of finding him were very low.

"Or could it be that time travel doesn't need to have a purpose, and is really just randomly arranged by the Father of the Infinite Tree?"

Standing by the window for a while, Shard decided to finish the investigation report and submit it to the Academy before going to sleep.

The events of the Year 1784 of the Fifth Era provided by Professor Garcia had nothing to do with Shard's experiences. In that long letter, it described a story of an unknown Witch researching documents, preparing to attend the God of Flowers' Divine Descent Ritual.

Shard planned to write in the submitted report that he had seen Mr. Riddle preparing to return home from Horror Fortress. Thus, this investigation would appear to the Academy as a truly Poet-Level event, unlikely to generate further suspicion about him but also get the Academy to help investigate "Horror Fortress" and Mr. Riddle.

"Hmm... I always feel that things won't be so simple this time."

Thinking that a new week had started, before writing the report, Shard went to the basement and picked up "God's Toy Box," hoping to try his luck.

The first week's gift was red apples that both Shard and the cat enjoyed eating, the second week it was beautiful ruby earrings. Although both had lifted Shard's spirits, deep down, he still hoped that someday he could find a Relic from "God's Gift Box."

After thoroughly washing his hands, Shard inserted his hand into the box, then furrowed his brow:

"What is this?"

Taking the cold metal plates out of the box, peeling away an excited Mia who was rushing up, Shard looked at the objects in his hands under the light.

Four heavy metal plates, each with one smooth, shiny side and the other side featuring a design. Two of the plates had recessed designs, each different, and two had raised designs, each different.

But between the plates with recessed designs and those with raised designs, the designs were the same. One was the front of a shilling banknote, the other was the back of a shilling banknote.