"Look, Megan, you’re saying these things again."

Shard chuckled while holding Mia, and Megan quickly shook her head:

"This matter is really hard to understand. As a witch responsible for inheriting and preserving knowledge and history within the Council, it’s difficult for me to accept what you’re saying... Never mind, if I can’t figure it out, I won’t think about it. There are so many strange things about you, compared to now being so close to us, we haven’t found it annoying yet. Your time-traveling isn’t really important."

She adjusted her mindset:

"Indeed, there was a severe disaster during the period you mentioned; both the Church of the Five Gods and Zaras Literary Academy should have detailed records."

At that point in time, Zaras Literary Academy existed as "Zaras Academy," while the founders of Saint Byrons Integrated Academy had not yet been born, and Sekses Gaud Medical College was in its early stages.

"This is indeed a scandal of the Fifth Era. Combined with the love story you mentioned, some parts of the history I previously read, which I didn’t understand, have been answered. But that piece of history is related to the Council’s scandal, so it can’t be discussed here."

"Are we going to the Council?"

Miss Sylvia asked, and after Megan nodded, she eagerly grabbed Shard’s hand and pulled him up;

"Megan, you haven’t seen Shard appear in the Council, have you? Come on, let’s go. For some reason, every time I see Shard in the Council, I get so excited."

"Won’t we encounter other witches? Although I know six Grand Witches now, I’m not ready yet to meet your Speaker."

Shard expressed his concern.

"Don’t worry, the meeting just ended, nobody wants to go back alone now. This can be considered the safest point in time."

Entering the Witch Council requires a long, empty, and uninhabited corridor, which can be achieved in the hotel’s basement.

Although Megan had heard that Shard could learn secret techniques from the witches and even enter the Council, this was the first time she saw Shard do so. Thus, the two Grand Witches each held one of Shard’s hands, with Mia perched on his shoulder, and in the gentle singing of Miss Sylvia, they stepped from the basement corridor into the ancient, dust-laden passage.

When Miss Sylvia’s song ended, the corridor had reached its end. The White Mist Gate blocked their path, and the three of them stepped inside together.

"Though you’ve displayed so many incredible things, entering here directly still surprises me... In theory, without the Speaker’s permission, even we can’t casually bring someone in."

Megan said softly amidst the dense white mist, then took out her Witch’s Jewelry - the golden earring (right) of the Ancient Witch:

"May the secret Chaos protect me, a fellow witch."

The white mist dispersed, and mysterious celestial light from above enveloped the ancient, stone round table in the center of the circular space. Surrounding the table were thirteen high-backed chairs, each inscribed with different symbols on their backs.

The perimeter of this space, which housed the Council’s seats, was surrounded by stone steps ascending layer upon layer; similar to the ritual site where Sister Delphine stored the Primal Fire, except the ground area here was quite small.

"Look, Shard has indeed come in."

Miss Sylvia said as she tugged Shard’s hand, introducing him to the seats of Megan and Audrey. The thirteen chairs here can have their positions adjusted upon the Speaker’s approval, while their corresponding seats are determined by their respective levels. The higher the level, the closer to the Grand Witch of Time. If levels are the same, younger witches sit further back.

Hence, the youngest member of the Council, Miss Sylvia, had always been sitting directly opposite the Grand Witch of Time. However, she’s recently preparing to advance from Tenth Rank to Eleventh Rank, which means she can swap places with Granny Cassandra.

"Shard, last time Galina and I helped you investigate the Witch Emperor Chloe’s data, you got to see the Council’s additional functions (Chapter 1071). However, last time was opening the rear of the ’Moon’ seat, regarding bookshelf records of Council members. This time, the data we’re looking for is behind Megan and Audrey’s chairs."

Miss Sylvia said as Megan already held her right earring and moved to the back of her chair. She lightly touched the symbol for "Knowledge and Wisdom" on the chair’s back, then aimed at the stairs behind the chair, and raised her jewelry.

The relic emitted a gentle glow, and in that glow, the hard stone steps appeared to ripple like a phantom and quickly revealed a square opening.

"There’s a hidden wall ahead."

Shard mused to himself, cradling the curious cat looking around as he followed the two Grand Witches inside.

The passage was spacious, allowing the three to walk side by side without crowding. However, unlike the straight passage behind the "Moon," which ends with five Symbol bookshelves, the passage behind "Knowledge and Wisdom" slopes slightly downwards, requiring over twenty steps to reach the end.

This is an underground space similar to a study—underground in relation to the position of the Council’s round table.

The area here is also not large, about two-thirds the size of the study in the Shard Family home. The items placed here are quite simple, consisting only of a desk, chairs, and the bookshelf behind the desk.

The materials of these three are completely consistent with those of the Council’s long table. The lighting comes from an old lantern placed on the desk, its glimmer perfectly enveloping the entire tabletop.

"I’ve mentioned to you before, these hidden areas in the Council are actually not closed off; each is connected with at least two other areas, it’s just that His Excellency the Speaker has sealed the passages."

Miss Sylvia introduced, as Megan nodded:

"But this is not why we’re here. The secrets of the Council, perhaps not even His Excellency the Speaker dares to say he knows them all. Let me check the information for you."

Saying this, she directly sat on the chair behind the desk and randomly pulled a book from the shelf behind her.

This bookshelf should also be a symbol; the books on the shelf do not represent all the collections here. Megan just casually flipped through a few pages and found the part she remembered reading:

"Here... every time I see it, I want to sigh, the Witches of ancient times included both good and bad ones."

She didn’t hand the book to Shard but simply described the matter Shard wanted to know;

"In the beginning, it was indeed just a war between common people. At that time, firearms had already appeared, but the Kingdoms of ordinary people, by paying tribute to the Witches, could receive the Witches’ blessings and some magic potions to enhance the combat effectiveness of those knights wielding cold weapons during large-scale battles. The first month of the war was unremarkable, but later someone spent a fortune to directly involve a Witch in the battle for one side, prompting the other side to offer more wealth to have the Witch they worshiped also take the field." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"The point of distinction between ancient Witches and modern ones lies in their fervent enthusiasm for learning those secret techniques with extensive destruction and wide killing ranges."

Miss Sylvia supplemented, Megan nodded, continuing the tale:

"The Witches’ battle directly affected the ordinary people on the battlefield; then someone shot an arrow at a Witch in the sky, which made the insulted Witch summon Demon Flames using a secret technique, incinerating all mortals below.

But her skills were lacking, and the summoning ritual encountered an error, erroneously opening a fissure leading to some unnamed subspace, causing a continuous inflow of flames from that crack... Her adversarial Witch saved her. They wanted to conceal their mistake, not daring to ask the local Witch Empress for help, resulting in a scenario where even a Thirteenth Rank Great Witch couldn’t close the rift when it was finally exposed."

She sighed lightly, and Shard understood:

"Is this the reason why Mr. Jackman never returned to his hometown?"

"Yes, because it involved subspace and unknown evil spirits, all information about that war was hidden. But this matter wasn’t handled by the Council in the end; the local Emperor somehow contacted a believer of an Old God and paid a huge price to invite a Deity to intervene, halting the expansion of the rift."

Shard was already too lazy to calculate how much reward the Old God - [Golden Sovereign] received from this incident.

"The subsequent record is simple, the Deity stopped the rift expansion, and that burning plain was completely sealed. About fifty or sixty years later, a strange skeleton fell from the sky, thoroughly blocking the rift. But when people wanted to find that skeleton again, they couldn’t find it no matter what."

Megan gently closed the book, looking at Shard:

"When I read this matter before, I just considered it a warning; we all must be cautious in using power. Only after hearing your story did I realize there were so many hidden secrets behind it, and even a tale of love."

"Who knows how many stories we don’t know are hidden in those lost histories, which is why sorcerers like Shard, endowed with Time Talent, are needed to witness past events."

Miss Sylvia said, placing her hand on Shard’s shoulder.

Her golden eyes looked at Shard, she softly asked:

"Actually, we are also willing to silently wait for you, or even endure like that Richard Jackman."

"Hmm...actually, at such times, you should ask me if I am willing to do this, not that you have to do this."

Shard reminded, the black-haired girl showed a smile:

"We are not ordinary girls; Witches all know that happiness must be fought for. Doing nothing and expecting others to look at oneself only leads to a solitary old age."

Megan also stood up, just about to say something too when the three suddenly changed expressions, all having heard the footsteps coming from the other side of the passage behind them.