Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 456 - Voting Rights

"We can't explain how you were able to come here," Hevy proposed this experiment, and sorry for not informing you in advance that you were the subject of this experiment... It was Hevy's idea as well."

Miss Galina pointed at the brown-haired witch, who was quite surprised to be credited with so many "ideas."

The Duchess explained:

"Hevy believes that since you are immune to the witch's curse, there might be a deeper connection between you and the witches. Thus, we tried to bring you here, regardless of success, to gain new insights into your traits. However, no one expected it to actually succeed without any obstacles."

"This is very interesting, as before this no one thought of bringing people without witch powers into here, but there were never any successful cases."

Miss Aphrola considered for a moment, sizing up Shard:

"Hamilton, wait, I'll just call you 'Shard.' Shard, forget what happened today and absolutely don't mention it to anyone, Galina and I will try to figure out what makes you special. More than your immunity to the witch's curse, entering the Council could potentially get you into real trouble."

"I understand."

Shard nodded cautiously and casually placed his hand on the stone table.

"That's it for today; you may leave. If Shard has any thoughts, wanting to come back, I will find another opportunity. But remember, do not disclose today's events, not even to bring them up proactively."

Miss Galina glanced at Miss Aphrola.

"You need not remind me of that, Galina. You cherish him as your treasure, and I won't treat him as an ordinary man either."

The two ladies stood up, and Miss Galina handed the book beside her to Miss Aphrola:

"Here is the thing I promised you last time."

Behind their chairs, at the base of the worn stone steps, a white mist door appeared for each.

"You can choose any door, but you can only return to the place where you came from, so you can't use this place for spatial leaps. Council members still meet in reality via steam train," said Miss Aphrola. Holding Shard's hand to prevent him from getting lost as they left. After saying goodbye to the worried-looking Miss Galina, Shard followed Miss Aphrola through the door behind her seat.

"Any messages?"

He asked himself while passing through the white mist door.

"Yes, Outlander. By touching the stone table, you have gained more information. Inside the 'Witch Council,' by sacrificing a drop of Divinity, you can obtain a voting right worth two votes, which is consumable, not permanent."

Shard followed Miss Aphrola through the door, returning to the manor's corridor.

"By sacrificing Divinity in the 'Spatial Labyrinth,' you can obtain a new landmark. But besides Divinity, there is also 'White Stone Crystal' as another option. I wonder, the Council wouldn't also want White Stone Crystal, would they? What do they want?"

"Outlander, you can collect 'Witch Echoes' to obtain consumable two-vote voting rights. Multiple echoes can be stacked to obtain more votes,"

"What's this? It doesn't sound like a tangible substance, like the White Stone Crystal."

He hadn't expected an answer, but immediately became aware of the response:

"Finding the death locations of witches who once had voting rights, since you already possess the 'Echo' Spirit Rune, that space absorbs the echoes left in history and civilization by them. Once successful, echoes will imprint on your soul, which is called 'Witch Echo.' Besides voting rights, this also allows you to acquire some knowledge of the witches."

Shard nodded, but he wasn't particularly interested.

Even with voting rights, a meeting can only be convened if the number of Grand Witches attending exceeds the minimum threshold. Therefore, even if Shard acquired a hundred 'Witch Echoes,' with two hundred units of voting power, he would still need more witches to participate to utilize the Council's power.

Shard didn't want to deal with more witches.

However, if he really had a chance to obtain 'Witch Echo,' he wouldn't give it up since he was still very interested in the witches' knowledge.

"When I have time to travel in the future, besides paying attention to the local cult myths, I should also look out for any rumors about witches," he thought, saying:

"Miss Aphrola, since the Ancient God: Chaos Witch has left behind such a space, have other Ancient Gods left something similar? If they truly have, what is the significance of these spaces?"

He asked this of the preoccupied Miss Aphrola, who led Shard into the study and gave a simple reply:

"All thirteen Ancient Gods have similar remnants, each space possessing unique functions, but the Council shows little interest in other spaces. As for their significance, I'm sorry, after the upheavals of Eras and the destruction of the Witches of the Fifth Era civilization, some secret documents were lost, so I can't give you an answer. Most of the Council's documents are in the hands of the First Seat, I just know that these places are very important."

But since the Witch Council can manage [Witch Council], then other spaces might also have been discovered and are perhaps being utilized by some powers. For instance, the [Creator of Dusk]'s [Creation Chamber], it is said that the [Blood Spirit School] has made significant progress there.

And the Prophet's Society, as an organization formed by followers of the Ancient God [Mr. Ring], Shard even guessed that they might have control over a space corresponding to fate.

"Hmm... it's really complicated."

That day, Shard did not partake in any other activities. Before dinner, he utilized the space at Aphrola Manor and tried to enhance the effects of 'Time Perception' using the rituals described in the papers. However, this enhancement only made him more precise at perceiving the current time and was of no help in getting the answers he sought.

What Shard tried today was one of the simpler methods described in the paper. Others, which were more stringent or required rare ritual materials, he planned to try one by one later on.

While reviewing the conclusion section of the paper, the student from Saint Byrons who wrote it did not mention any doubts about the Sixth Era during the trials. Since the writer only tried some parts of the paper, and the rest were hypotheses based on principles, Shard needed to try those hypothetical sections.

Even if there were no results, he could at least publish a paper, which as a correspondence student, would earn him many rewards.

After returning home, Shard took the opportunity during the night to visit Dr. Schneider and Priest Augustus, to whom he gifted the specialty herbal wines from Coldwater Port.

Of course, he didn't forget to try chanting a witch's song by himself at the spacious ground floor of No. 6, Saint Delan Square, to see if he could enter the ancient passage before the White Mist Gate just by himself.

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After three or four attempts, other than his not-so-melodious singing, which almost upset Mia, Shard made no discoveries. Clearly, the conditions to enter that passage were not as simple as merely singing.

"Could it be that I didn't sing well enough?"

Shard considered this possibility, but clearly, not all witches could be skilled singers like Miss Aphrola... Considering the common transcendent charm and stature of witches, being good at singing could also be a trait of witches.

"Time Corridor, Spatial Labyrinth, Creation Chamber, Judge's Court, Silvermoon Library, it's already the sixth situation that bewilders me... could the Dark Dungeon also be involved?"

Yawning while holding his cat and looking at the moon outside the window. As Mia also began to yawn, Shard decided to read some books in the study before going to bed.

Outlanders are also very diligent.