Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic
Chapter 1063: The "Person" Outside the Tent

Chapter 1063: Chapter 1063: The "Person" Outside the Tent

"Is this your cat?"

Miss Chloe asked softly, reaching out to pet Mia, but the orange-and-white cat sniffed and immediately made a "defensive" sound.

"This cat is a bit shy around strangers."

Shard said, affectionately patting Mia’s head. Miss Chloe probably remembered last time when she turned into a cat and curled up in Shard’s arms, and a faint blush appeared on her face.

"I brought a lot of vegetables this time, oh and the spellcasting materials you wanted... I almost forgot about that."

Shard didn’t notice the young witch’s expression, he patted his head:

"I also brought you something good."

With that, he mimicked Sister Delphine’s previous action, placing both hands on the ground in a holding gesture. As the first rift appeared in his palms, the traces of the embers of the Primal Fire extended from his hands to his arms, but only to the position of his arms.

The densely packed fiery red cracks covered Shard’s hands and sleeves, this unusual scene drew the attention of the witch, Mrs. Marques, and the timid man.

In Shard’s palms, a faint golden flame trembled slightly. The flame was very weak, but the golden glimmer was so striking:

"This is a flame of the Sunfire."

Shard explained, smiling as he presented the flame to Miss Chloe:

"I’m giving this to you; I think you’ll definitely need it."

"Meow~"

The cat’s little head poked out from Shard’s coat, "eyeing" the golden flame he held, but no one paid attention to it here.

"This fire..."

The witch reached out towards Shard’s hand but then suddenly pulled back, as if afraid of being burned:

"This is too precious; I can’t accept it."

The crimson-gold eyes watched Shard, she shook her head slightly:

"This flame extracted from the Sun could even be traded for a prosperous ducal domain with a suitable Grand Witch."

"I brought it just for you."

Shard moved his hand closer to Miss Kroy, though it was precious to him, it was a renewable resource, he even planned to give this to Iluna as a Year-End Festival gift:

"Take it, I came here to help you reach the mountaintop. Honestly, compared to the people I’ve helped before, your needs are almost the least."

Shard said with a smile, Miss Chloe pursed her lips, then reached out her right hand to place it on Shard’s palm. She indeed had the ability to absorb special flames; the golden wisp of flame turned into a bright fire rope and wound around her right hand until it drilled into her heart.

Shard could clearly feel the witch’s body temperature rise significantly, but her face didn’t look much better:

"Thank you."

After hesitating for a moment, she simply said, still looking somewhat embarrassed.

This flame could help the three witches continue climbing the mountains, although she didn’t ask Shard when they left last time, Shard was more than happy to provide this help as much as he could.

He was about to continue asking about the current situation here when Miss Chloe suddenly raised her hand to stop Shard from speaking. She frowned and looked towards outside the tent, as a shadow was approaching here.

The tent Shard provided was very thick; they couldn’t see who was outside, only that it was a humanoid being.

"It’s here."

Miss Chloe said softly.

Mrs. Marques immediately put down the teapot in her hand and curled up in a corner of the tent like the man, lowering her head and covering her ears.

Shard used his fingers to push Mia’s head back into his clothes, then looked out of the tent together with Miss Chloe.

Not long after, the shadow had already reached the side of the tent, with only a layer of cloth separating the four people and the cat inside. From the figure, it was a lady.

Miss Chloe made a silence gesture to Shard, she herself didn’t speak either, and the woman who had trudged through the blizzard didn’t speak. It was a full three minutes of deadlock before a faint sound came from outside, the voice was very muffled and panicked:

"Chloe, oh, is it you? I never thought I’d survive to see you again! Let me in, I’m so cold, tired, and hungry, please, let me in."

"What’s outside?"

Shard softly asked in his heart.

"Not sure, but this time it’s definitely not a demon."

"She" whispered softly in Shard’s ear.

"Are you Wanda?"

Miss Chloe asked in a low voice, after getting a positive response from outside, she said with a trembling voice:

"Madam, I won’t let you in. I remember very clearly, after we first entered the Silver Mountains, you fell into the forbidden abyss because you were curious about the glowing silver rock in the distance; you are already dead."

The young witch grasped Shard’s hand, as if this could make her more composed, Shard felt her mental state was very abnormal at this time:

"I know you came into the Silver Mountains with the team to fulfill your teacher’s last wish. Please rest assured, I will help you achieve your wish, so please leave."

Outside the tent came the sound of the woman’s sobbing softly:

"Chloe, oh, my dear Chloe, you are the most powerful witch in the team..."

Shard raised an eyebrow.

"You are the strongest and most resolute among us, I knew you could make it to the end. Please let me in, I’m really... in extreme discomfort, it’s so cold here."

"Whether or not you are Wanda, you should leave."

Miss Chloe continued to speak, but the way she bit her lip showed that she wasn’t as strong as she wished to be.

"I can’t leave, I should go in."

The woman outside was still pleading.

Shard tightly held Miss Chloe’s hand, shook his head at her, indicating she didn’t need to continue:

"Gate of Death!"

As his fingers slid through the air, a pitch-black rift opened up in the tent. Beyond the rift lay mudflats illuminated by the Nether Moon, the final resting place of this world’s souls.

Shard spoke to the figure outside the tent:

"Madam, if you really wish to come in, I happen to have a place that you ought to enter."

He stared at the shadow on the tent, which stood silently in the blizzard. In an instant, like being erased by a rubber, the shadow abruptly vanished.

"Phew~"

Shard let out a long breath, there were just too many bizarre things in this Snow Mountain. He was merely trying to intimidate the opponent just now, unexpectedly, she really left.

"It will come back."

When Mia wriggled out of Shard’s chest again, Miss Chloe hugged her legs and said:

"I can feel it, it will definitely come back."

The man who had been cowering all this time stood up then, opened the tent and slipped outside, and only after a while came back shivering:

"It’s gone, there are no footprints in the snow."

After checking, he shrank back to his position, trying hard to prove that he was worth bringing forward.

"How did you get rid of these things disguised as your friends in the past few times?"

Shard curiously asked.

"Not getting rid of, it will follow behind us and absorb our positive emotions, joy, warmth, happiness, and once it’s satisfied, it will leave. This time, it got the closest, I can’t imagine what would happen if it really got in."

"Absorbing positive emotions?"

Many relics have similar traits, and in this Snow Mountain environment, such traits are particularly dangerous.

"We can’t let it come to us again and again, we need to figure out a way to deal with it."

Shard suggested, but Miss Chloe shook her head:

"Even though I’m Eleventh Rank, I still don’t think I’m a match for that thing. It’s likely not an evil spirit from outside, but an evil object born of this Snow Mountain itself."

When she mentioned being Eleventh Rank, Shard once again recalled the deity’s evaluation not long ago.

"Didn’t you investigate the dangers here before entering the Silver Mountains?"

Shard asked, Miss Chloe pursed her lips and whispered:

"There is indeed a way to deal with that thing, but it’s very dangerous. It reflects death, it’s something that appears after peeping into our hearts. In direct combat, we’re surely no match, but maybe we can rely on wisdom."

She pointed at her head:

"First, we need to determine what its true form is. Once determined, both the one who sees it and the one who doesn’t see it have to launch an attack together. The appearance of that thing is a phenomenon that’s hard to explain, you could even say a natural phenomenon. We must attack both its true form and illusion simultaneously, these are two mutually supportive ’shells’."

Although it sounded a bit complex, Shard understood:

"So, someone needs to stay outside and wait for it to appear again?"

Before Miss Chloe could speak, Shard had already stood up:

"I’ll do it."

The witch directly pulled Shard’s sleeve:

"I can’t rely on you for everything."

With her scarlet-golden eyes staring at Shard, Shard smiled a bit:

"How much power do you have left? Besides, I happen to have an arcane technique that can handle such situations... Arcane technique is... never mind, it’s not important."

He pulled Mia out and handed her to Miss Chloe:

"Take care of my cat for me."

Not turning this cat into a toy because, since this cat stubbornly insisted on coming this time, it must see how dangerous it really is here, so that cowardly Mia won’t dare to come along voluntarily next time.

"Don’t worry about me."

After Miss Chloe held the unwilling cat, Shard had already bent down and walked out of the tent.

He stood barefoot in the snow, took a deep breath, recalling things that made him rage. But he didn’t seem to have anything worthy of rage until he thought of Mia being taken away by Miss Chloe, separated across two eras with no chance of meeting again, only then did rage finally surge in his heart:

"Tranquil Stance."