Chapter 176: Cautious

Once Charles landed on the ground, he went near a tall tree, placed the gem-like leaf on the trunk region, and entered the Fire-Elemental Plane.

After that, he brought them to Edhen and soon zeroed his gaze on Ashley.

'Although she is just a harmless woman, I can make any careless mistake. Moreover, the prophecy...' He muttered inwardly and asked while pointing his finger at the Twin Leaf.

"Do you remember what this leaf can do?"

As Ashley was about to reply, she suddenly forgot about the Twin Leaf and then its uses!

Only the vague memory of them staying in an underground cave remained in her mind!

But Charles didn't stop there, though.

He pondered for a moment and cast [Knowledge Absorber] spell on her in case of precaution.

A moment later, a piece of important information appeared in Charles's mind, causing his eyes to widen slightly.

'Ruler's Ring?' He subconsciously turned his gaze towards Rhea's hand.

'So, she knew about the ring but chose to hide the information due to fear, huh. Hmm, this ring can help the Boneflare family member to contact one of the Ancient spirits... There are a total of four rings, but three of them were already snatched by the assassins... If Rhea wants to become a true monarch, she needs to collect all these four rings, get approval from the ancient spirits and merge them into a single ring. This merged ring will be called Ruler's Ring... But this time, Churches interfered, incited the nobles to oppose the King and destroyed the ancient tradition.' Charles nodded his head in understanding, took the Twin Leaf from the tree trunk, stored it in his space ring, and turned his gaze towards Jessie.

"I have something to talk to you privately. Follow me." Saying so, he turned around and started walking away from there.

Meanwhile, Jessie glanced at Rhea and others and soon followed after him silently.

On the other hand, Rhea, Titus, and Noel looked confused and glanced at each other.

"It might be something related to her class skill." Rhea thought for a moment and finally spoke.

Meanwhile, Charles arrived 50 meters away from the kids, turned around, and asked.

"Do you have two consciousnesses, right?"

His question startled Jessie greatly. Soon, she realized that his Teacher was not a normal mystic and nodded her head.

"Good. Store all information about this green leaf and the chanting method in your second consciousness." Charles said with a calm look on her face.

Although Jessie got stunned by his words a little, she hurriedly nodded her head and transferred the information about that chanting method and the Twin Leaf to her other consciousness.

Unlike Charles's half-baked incarnation, her second consciousness was an exact copy of her original one.

So, it didn't take her ten seconds to finish the process!

"It's over, Teacher." She said with a nod.

"Good. Now, switch to the second consciousness and let me talk to it for a few minutes." Charles didn't explain anything to her and said with a serious look on his face.

If it were Rhea or Noel, they would have questioned him about his strange actions.

But Jessie was a sharp girl. She instantly knew that their Teacher was planning to erase some of their memories and nodded her head in approval.

'Teacher wants to place my second consciousness as a trump card for us. As long as this information didn't get exposed, I will switch to second consciousness during a dangerous time and bring others to the underground cave for hiding. There are many Mystics with mind-reading skills out there and the possibilities of our mind getting probed by these Mystics are very high.' Thinking inwardly, she directly linked her to the other consciousness and switched it to the other one.

Simultaneously, her original consciousness entered her Inner World and soon looked around.

But unlike Charles's Inner World, the surroundings appeared completely dark and gloomy.

Her illusionary form stood there motionlessly and waited.

Meanwhile, her second consciousness took over her body, and she bowed her head towards Charles.

"You are second consciousness, right? If something out of ordinary happens during the next four years, your job is to use this leaf and bring the kids to the underground cave. But, you should never bring Ashley or other humans to another side, got it?"

Saying so, he took out the Twin Leaf and showed it to her.

Without waiting for her to reply, he placed his hand on his chin and spoke.

"In the future, I might be forced into a situation and have to leave you guys to complete the main mission. At that time, many Mages and Mystics will use different skills to read your memories and some might try to kill you. Use this leaf when the situation turned into a precarious state and escape." He paused for a moment and then added.

"As long as you guys stay in that place for the next few days, I will come and rescue you. Don't worry about the hot atmosphere, I will find a solution for it before going to complete the mission."

"What if the enemy uses the Historian Class skill, Teacher? I heard from Mr. Runeth that there is a skill that could even let a Mystic to see through one's past." Jessie's question caused his lips to twitch uncontrollably.

'Did you have to brag about your skills to this kid?' He glared at the Holem's Crown and then frowned.

'This is indeed a big problem... Wait... What if I follow the system's method and let Jessie enter the Inner World at an earlier stage like me?' He organized his thoughts for a moment and soon spoke.

"Then, you have another mission now. That is to contact your original consciousness whenever she is free and talk to her frequently. The more you contact her, the bridge that is linked between the Inner World and the body will expand to an unimaginable level. After that, tell the original Jessie to improve her wisdom using potions and let her enter the Inner World at an earlier stage. Once she did that, you can directly transfer information to others using your thoughts. Then, you guys can chant the verse in your minds and move to another side."

"Yes, Teacher." Jessie tersely acknowledged his words.

Meanwhile, Charles nodded with a smile and waved his hand.

"That's all for now. You can go back and let the real consciousness come out."

Nodding her head, Jessie closed her eyes for two seconds and then opened her emerald-green eyes.

"I'm ready, Teacher."

Meanwhile, Charles smiled lightly and said.

"Try to think more about the green leaf, chanting method, and the underground cave."

Before Jessie could respond, he cast [Burning Thoughts] spell on her constantly and started erasing her memories.

It took a total of five minutes for Charles to erase everything about the Twin Leaf.

After that, he also erased memories about the Holem's Crown from the original consciousness.

Then, he told Jessie to go back and inform Rhea to come.

For the next 30 minutes, Charles used his [Burning Thoughts] spell more than 100 times on the kids and erased most of their memories about the Twin Leaf.

'You are overly cautious, lad.' The Holem's Crown commented.

'It's better to be careful against these Mages and Mystics. And, there is also some prophecy about the stalking Divine. If I want to fool such being, I need to be overly cautious.' He said in a cold tone and led all of them out of the woods.

...

Ten minutes later, six people came out from the Barren Woods and started moving towards the City of Iron.

In his same old man's appearance, Charles took the lead and started walking on the grassy plain while others followed after him closely.

Ashley was the one who came last while nervously glancing at the familiar trees and weeds.

During the past few months, she had encountered many strange things and already became numb to any surprise.

There was one thing she was sure of.

The mage who walked in the front was an unfathomable, powerful, and mysterious man!

'He can even make others' forget some things.' An unknown fear arose in her heart.

Other than Charles, everyone wore a black hood over their heads and completely hid their identities.

That was an order from Charles.

The group soon found a dirt passage and noticed a white curtained carriage was moving towards the direction of the Royal City.

Noticing their sudden arrival, the coachman also slowed down the carriage and raised his thin eyebrows.

His hair was dark as a shadow of twilight, a rough face, a lean body, and appeared around 30-years-old.

Currently, Charles wore a simple grey gown and held a black cane in his hand.

Meanwhile, the kids and Ashley were in hooded clothes and appeared very suspicious.

"Do you need something, old man?" His deep-set grey eyes showed a hint of wariness.

'Hmm, he looks somewhat familiar. Where have I seen him before?' Charles stared at the man for a moment and soon turned his gaze towards the carriage.

At that moment, the white curtain suddenly opened and revealed a 50-year-old woman.

She had curly black hair, a wrinkled round face, and grey eyes. She wore a blue robe dress and held a silver pocket watch in her hand.

Upon seeing her face, Charles's expression slightly changed.

'Emilia Wilson... What a 'Coincidence'.' The corner of his lips twitched.

He soon returned to his calm self and asked while looking at the deep blue-haired man.

"What day is today? Can you tell me the exact date, young man?"

Although the coachman got puzzled by his words, he didn't put much thought into it and gave a short response.

"Today is July 15th."

"Oh!" Charles nodded his head and waved his hand to continue their journey.

'So, that space loop indeed had some power to manipulate time. Was it the Ghost's ability? Possible.' He was slightly shocked inside.

'If I hadn't purified the soul, things would have gone worse.' A grim look appeared on his face.

After thinking for a moment, Charles shook his head and led the kids to the City of Iron.