Chapter 163: Inferior Product?

Chapter 163: Inferior Product?

Restoring power was not just about directly replenishing the missing strength. Loris’s preparations indeed allowed her to fully restore her own power, even briefly pushing it beyond its peak state, but this was harmful!

If she had slowly absorbed the Witch Power she reclaimed back then, her recovery would not have caused damage. However, at that time, she reclaimed her power instantly, taking back an amount that exceeded her own limits in a flash… It was like a person having all their stamina drained in less than a second. Simply fainting on the spot would be considered mild.

It wouldn’t be strange if a severe case led to dying on the spot. The process of her restoring power wasn’t about consumption… Let’s use another metaphor. Charging a battery at a normal rate certainly causes little wear, but if high-voltage electricity is used to charge it instantly, even if the battery doesn’t explode, this instantaneous charging method is a destructive one, causing significant damage to the battery.

Loris was in such a situation.

As for how severe her actual damage was, Zheng Yichen did not know. Loris refused to say, so he naturally couldn’t force her to tell him. So, just waiting here was fine. As for the Sanctuary Church? Without Dan Marina, that super radar precise down to the meter, they still relied on their foundation to remain powerful, but they had lost the error-free Precision Lock ‘effect’.

If Dan Marina were still under the control of the Sanctuary Church, this place would eventually be exposed; it was only a matter of time. But now that she had completely broken free from the Sanctuary Church’s control, it became difficult for the Sanctuary Church to find this place.

“Find this place? Hmph! Even if the Sanctuary Church has many old fellows who are proficient in Prophecy Art, can they compare to me? This place basically won’t be exposed!” Dan Marina sat by the waterfall, casually wrapped in a piece of clothing, drying her wet hair as she spoke. As for the spiderweb patterns on her body that couldn’t be concealed, with Zheng Yichen’s ability, she had managed to erase some more of them.

The remaining ones were extremely stubborn. Wanting to remove them, even with Zheng Yichen’s power, was somewhat difficult and could only be done slowly through gradual erosion.

“Basically!?”

“Mm, you saw these things on me. They’re all the result of the backlash. During this time, I can’t use any too powerful Prophecy Art.” Once she used a powerful Prophecy Art capable of plucking the Threads of Fate, the backlash on her body would immediately erupt, not accumulate. The erupting power of the Fate Backlash might not kill her, but it could make her sleep for decades, or she might need a hundred years to slowly recover from the damage caused by the backlash.

So, without a compelling reason to do so, she definitely wouldn’t act! Self-sacrifice for others? That didn’t exist! Even for Zheng Yichen’s sake, he wasn’t currently under any threat, right?

“Can’t it be removed faster?”

“Are you willing to perform a Blood Sacrifice for me?” Dan Marina smiled silently, her eyes gleaming as she looked at Zheng Yichen.

“Let her die.” Loris’s calm voice reached Zheng Yichen’s ears. Zheng Yichen looked around left and right. This place was very, very far from the little house… Tsk, an Otherworld version of transmitting sound secretly?

“Fine, as long as we aren’t discovered immediately, it’s fine.” Zheng Yichen waved his hand and turned to leave, but he suddenly remembered something: “Where’s Petty?”

“That little girl? I sent her to a good place. Do you care about her?”

Zheng Yichen shook his head, then nodded. Care? In the past, that might have been true. Now, it could only be said he paid some extra attention. From the level he was involved in now, Petty, this young girl, could no longer be mixed up in it. Every matter he encountered, if it involved her, could cost her life… If it were someone else Zheng Yichen didn’t know or wasn’t familiar with, that would be one thing, but he was somewhat familiar with Petty. So, the distance he created from her was actually a good thing for her.

“Alright, aren’t you cold just wrapped in this one piece of clothing?” Zheng Yichen shook his head and quickly left the place, leaving Dan Marina chuckling quietly to herself.

“You’ve sneaked quite a few glances too, you know. Would you be unhappy if I changed?”

This piece of clothing wasn’t thick, and because of the waterfall, it quickly became soaked, clearly displaying her mature and full figure… He was a Cursed Dragon, yet not only did he lack the sense of incongruity that a Cursed Dragon should have, even his Soul wasn’t distorted by the Dragon Body. Apart from lacking a real Dragon’s Aura, he was simply too unlike a Cursed Dragon.

Dan Marina had seen normal Cursed Dragons before. Not only did they lack a Dragon’s Aura, but beings with sufficient strength could clearly see the severe sense of incongruity on them. To give an example, it was like a husky mixed into a wolf pack. It looked very similar, sure, but someone who knew huskies could tell at a glance the difference between that guy and a wolf. That was the sense of incongruity on a Cursed Dragon.

Then there was the distortion of the Soul. This distortion not only caused some issues with the Cursed Dragon’s mind—for instance, someone who was once gentle and not bloodthirsty would become cruel, ruthless, irritable, and easily angered—even their worldview before becoming a Cursed Dragon would be distorted, as if Cursed.

As for their sense of aesthetics? That had long since become who-knows-what along with the twisted Soul. Perhaps those invisible, horrifying things were the ‘beauties’ in the eyes of a Cursed Dragon.

“Perhaps those Cursed Dragons are the inferior products, and I encountered a perfect one?” Dan Marina chuckled softly and stood up. A trace of Fireball Spell flame aura flickered over her body, instantly drying the soaked clothes under this flame aura. Where did the Fireball Spell come from? She mastered it back when testing Zheng Yichen’s Talent. Anyway, it was just a low-level, couldn’t-be-lower-level Magic. Having the Magic Rune Array stored in her Mind Sea didn’t take up space.

It was very convenient for lighting a fire or drying clothes normally. As for control? Even for a Witch who didn’t use Magic and relied on fists to make a living, learning Magic was easy, let alone low-level Magic. Using it was as simple as drinking water! This kind of minute control was something she could achieve with just a wave of her hand.

When she returned to the little house, Zheng Yichen was holding a stick connected to a large ring, searching for something on the ground: “What are you doing?”

“Hmm, looking for some minerals…” Zheng Yichen said without looking back.

“With that iron ring?”

“What’s wrong? I dug holes with my own hands and caught many Gold-Devouring Bugs to make this thing.” Gold-Devouring Bugs… Hmm, differed by one character from Gold-Devouring Eagle. One flew in the sky, the other burrowed underground. They shared a common trait: both could grow by devouring metal. However, the latter had a much greater advantage in finding metal compared to the Gold-Devouring Eagle. Gold-Devouring Bugs were born with a special ‘sense of smell’ for searching for metal. The rarer the metal, the more it attracted them.

“Oh~ Sounds impressive even if I don’t understand.” Dan Marina nodded, not saying much. During her long life, she had also dabbled in Alchemy. However, the Alchemical Product Zheng Yichen brought out now was obviously Magically Modified with some knowledge he possessed. For such a product, she really couldn’t make any evaluation. Pretending to understand something she didn’t… Sigh~ She was a Witch, after all. Being exposed would be too embarrassing.