Chapter 221: Elimination

Chapter 221: Elimination

Dan Marina took Zheng Yichen to this witch named Irene. When Zheng Yichen learned her name, he couldn’t help but scratch his head and looked at Dan Marina. “It seems witches don’t have family names?”

“How could that be?” Dan Marina glanced at Zheng Yichen strangely and explained simply. “Witch awakening is not fixed. Even a princess from the royal family might awaken and become a witch one day, but the largest proportion were the children of ordinary people.”

As for nobles, if any unfortunate family had a witch appear, they wouldn’t disclose it. How could they let outsiders know about such a shameful thing? Moreover, witches were also human. Even after awakening, there might be a risk of power losing control, but their personality wouldn’t change immediately. So… if some witches had softer personalities, they would directly have their family names taken away.

And later witches who developed naturally wouldn’t pick up their old family names again. So for beings like witches, even if they once had family names, after becoming witches, such things wouldn’t exist anymore. As for some nobles who were keen on witch power… it wasn’t that they didn’t think about using it to rise up or anything, but they didn’t dare. If this was exposed, it would be a matter of wiping out the entire family. Some had done it before, but they were all dead now…

Basically, that was the situation. So once a witch appeared in a family, not many people dared to cover it up.

“Then you… uh, haha…” After instinctively asking, Zheng Yichen scratched his head a bit awkwardly, laughed helplessly, and quickly stopped this topic. Dan Marina… well, if this was her real name, then she definitely had her own family name, because ordinary families wouldn’t give such a name.

Ordinary girls’ names were usually very simple.

“My family name?” Dan Marina smiled slightly. “Speaking of which, I was from that kind of family that was keen on witch power. But my family didn’t have enough ability to bear a witch’s existence, so it’s gone.”

“…” Zheng Yichen was really speechless this time. He didn’t know if she had issues with her family or something, saying it in such a tone. Was it carefree? Or did her family leave some bad impression on her? Probably the latter?

He shook his head. He didn’t want to go deeper into this kind of touchy topic; it was enough to stop here. And in his heart, he weighed it. Asking about a witch’s family name was something he should try not to blurt out in the future. It was really stirring up trouble for no reason. What if he met one with a bad temper…

“By the way, this witch isn’t some research fanatic, is she?”

“Don’t worry. She’s only passionate about magic. Although she’s interested in your ability, she won’t dissect you.” Dan Marina glanced at Zheng Yichen and said casually. “She’s more interested in Fate-Killer.”

“Then why did you pull me into it?”

“It’s good for you, of course I brought you along.” Dan Marina said casually. “She’s here, get ready.”

When Irene, who had just returned to her residence, came back out, she held a diamond-shaped crystal. The crystal showed the same deep, dark blue as her hair, and emitted a faint glow. As this thing appeared, Zheng Yichen keenly felt that the elemental power around was moving abnormally.

Those elemental powers seemed pumped up and were highly active, as if a huge mana gathering magic array was set up here. It was even more exaggerated than that. The highly active elemental power was not only gathering but also undergoing some kind of sublimation in quality. In less than a minute, the nearby elemental power had sublimated to a level comparable to the refined mana strength within an individual, and it was still increasing!

“What the heck, that thing’s effect is too strong! Is it the legendary philosopher’s stone?”

“Huh? What’s that?” Dan Marina looked at Zheng Yichen strangely. The crystal Irene held was a special mana crystal, with no origin, a special product that only occurred under Irene’s power, just like Fate-Killer, something only Dan Marina herself could make.

“Cough, I just made that up randomly.” Zheng Yichen cleared his throat and continued feeling the elemental power around. His mouth was open wide enough to fit ten human heads. This was too exaggerated. In less than five minutes, the refinement level of the nearby elemental power had caught up to the refinement level of his own mana now.

The reason why mana could attract a lot of elemental power through magic rune arrays to release magic was mainly because the quality of mana was much higher than elemental power. High quality drove low quality, with mana acting like a locomotive. But if the quality of elemental power was higher than mana… it was fine if mana wasn’t released, once released, it would immediately dissolve into it…

After all, if mana wasn’t released through magic rune arrays, it would dissolve in the free elemental environment where quantity overwhelmed insufficient quality, let alone if the external elemental power was higher than one’s own mana. At that time, even with the effect of magic rune arrays, the formed magic would instantly be crushed by the high-quality elemental power outside.

Irene held that crystal for nearly fifteen minutes before taking any other action. At this time, the quality of the elemental power around was so high that Zheng Yichen felt pressure, and Lily was unable to move in such an environment.

“Don’t forget your promise.”

Irene was the type who spoke little and acted. After glancing at Dan Marina, the preparations were ready, and she started directly. She gently threw the crystal in her hand. The crystal floated on its own above Zheng Yichen’s head, and on the ground around, a very complex rune pattern appeared. This magic rune array wasn’t big, just over two meters beyond Zheng Yichen’s coverage area. Once formed, it changed from 2D to 3D, completely enveloping Zheng Yichen in this ‘mold’.

He looked in surprise at the magic rune array lines that passed through him. When Zheng Yichen reached out and gently brushed past these lines, it was like touching air; he felt nothing. This feeling… was probably similar to the situation with Fate-Killer?

As for the crystal above his head, the color it emitted became deeper. Nearby, Zheng Yichen could see substantial elemental flows. Under Irene’s power, those super-high-quality elemental powers were fully utilized. Zheng Yichen didn’t doubt that the elemental tides produced by those flows could easily erase a living person into basic particles.

But the final result of gathering such a huge force was just a layer of semi-transparent magic barrier that looked very thin and wrapped around Zheng Yichen…

“Uh… it’s so different from what I imagined.” Zheng Yichen stared dumbly at this layer of magic barrier around him, and couldn’t help but reach out and touch it lightly. His expression turned shocked. What was this feeling? It was like touching something extremely hard, but with a ‘soft’ touch. The force applied to it seemed to dissipate somewhere, and he couldn’t feel any reaction force at all, giving him the illusion that he wasn’t using any force.

“Alright.” Irene glanced at Dan Marina.

“Thank you.” Dan Marina smiled lightly, and under Zheng Yichen’s puzzled gaze, she gently snapped her fingers. The Fate-Killer in Zheng Yichen’s hand exploded directly!!

Under his astonished gaze, the somewhat weird ‘magic cube’ spurted out a large amount of black substance. These things instantly wrapped Zheng Yichen completely, making him briefly stunned and instinctively struggle. The struggle was extremely smooth; those black substances seemed not to exist at all. Zheng Yichen still couldn’t make direct contact, and when he swung his claws or wings, he touched the magic barrier. Because of its strange structure, Zheng Yichen still felt no reaction force, only annoyingly stuck in the center of the magic barrier… as if in a weightless environment.

The semi-transparent magic barrier and the Fate-Killer, which seemed to have no direct effect on Zheng Yichen, clashed violently. One wanted to break through the magic barrier’s blockade, the other firmly locked it in this large area. The seemingly unshakeable magic barrier trembled lightly. Zheng Yichen couldn’t see anything in the darkness, but Dan Marina and the others saw clearly.

After the surging black substance and the magic barrier stood off for a moment, finding it impossible to break free, they changed. They clung tightly to Zheng Yichen’s body. Although Zheng Yichen used to be dark, not as dark as these black substances. So when they fully adhered to Zheng Yichen’s surface, he was stunned looking at his own claws. Looking closely, he could see the black substance on his claws was in a weird ‘flowing’ state.

Zheng Yichen tried to pull it, but it still felt like touching his own body, with no contact with anything strange. So were the high-end special powers in this world so amazing? They completely ignored his ability!

“…” Looking at Dan Marina, who was only moving her mouth outside with no sound coming through, Zheng Yichen knocked impatiently on the magic barrier around. This barrier not only ignored reaction forces but also blocked all sounds, making Zheng Yichen feel like he was in a room with no sound.

In such an environment, the most obvious sounds were those from his own body: the friction of bones when moving, the sound of blood flowing, the beating of his strong heart, even the sound of blinking. Looking at the layer of black substance on him, Zheng Yichen didn’t have the thought to calm down and listen to the sounds from his body.

Wait… the wound on his back seemed gone. Zheng Yichen turned his head a bit strangely and looked. The damaged scales were still there, but the stubborn residual power in the wound was completely removed by this black substance. Looking at his wound, Zheng Yichen was worried if this stuff would flow into his body.

“Well, how about guessing what Little Dragon is thinking now?”

Seeing the strange expression on Zheng Yichen’s deeply dark dragon face, Dan Marina, with her arms crossed, said. The reason why the black substance spurting from Fate-Killer remained in this clinging state was purely because it was sealed too tightly. If there was any problem with this magic barrier, those black substances would immediately burst and spread out… As for what consequences it might cause? If such a problem really occurred, Dan Marina was prepared to leave the continent and go to another continent to hang out. Whoever wanted to stay here could stay.

“Wound.” Irene stared intently at Zheng Yichen. She saw the eruption of Fate-Killer for the first time. Even with the barrier isolation, it didn’t affect her evaluation of that black substance. Even she herself would definitely have a big problem if she touched that black substance… never to return, but Zheng Yichen bore it unharmed.

And it was borne with the black substance clinging densely. “Does his injury not affect it?”

“Huh? How long have you met, and you’re worried about this?” Dan Marina looked at Irene a bit strangely, her expression as exaggerated as possible!

“I’m very concerned about his trait.”

“Don’t worry. Have you seen a fire element die from fire? It’s fine even if he has more wounds.” Dan Marina said. Under her watch, the many threads of fate entangled on Zheng Yichen from the prophecy art power were quickly dissipating. Those threads of fate weren’t snapped, but were being pulled into the black substance from Fate-Killer… If threads of fate snapped, it was fine; at least once broken, they wouldn’t affect fate much.

But Fate-Killer brought destruction, collapsing threads of fate… Dan Marina herself didn’t know what unknown consequences that would bring; it was precisely the unknown that made people extra fearful and repulsed.

Witches also had things they feared.

“Hmm… what sound?” Zheng Yichen scratched his ears. He suddenly heard some weird sounds, not from his own body, somewhat similar to the murmurs when he touched the contract Dan Marina gave him, but this time it was lighter. If the environment wasn’t so silent, Zheng Yichen might have ignored it. He flicked his little fingernail. When he listened carefully, the sound was gone, as if it was an illusion.

He curled his lips and sat cross-legged with his arms hugged, waiting quietly. In an environment without sound, the concept of time seemed a bit off. When Zheng Yichen was so annoyed he was about to burst, the black substance clinging to him finally changed. It flowed back, gathering again, condensing into the initial form of Fate-Killer in front of Zheng Yichen. Holding this magic cube, Zheng Yichen knocked on the barrier and looked at Dan Marina, who was holding a bag of sunflower seeds and waiting, his eyelids twitching slightly, asking with his eyes if this woman was already done.

But Dan Marina waved her hand, signaling Zheng Yichen to keep waiting!

“Don’t rush, don’t rush. That thing is just formed, not truly stable yet. If you remove this, it will definitely explode.” Dan Marina shared half the bag of sunflower seeds with Irene. Looking closely now, the lines on Fate-Killer that were like a magic cube weren’t in their former state, where no matter how you looked, it was hard to see the exact number, but were clear at a glance… so clear it seemed like an illusion!

Zheng Yichen also noticed this problem, twitching his mouth, feeling like this black lump might have become sentient. Suppressing his somewhat anxious emotions, he silently observed the lines. Soon, the lines changed again. The once clear state now had double images in Zheng Yichen’s eyes.

It wasn’t his eyes playing tricks, but a problem with Fate-Killer itself… From now on, was it the start of returning to normal?