Chapter 259: The Storm

Chapter 259: The Storm

The avatar was already obtained. Given its traits, even if its physique was lacking, it could compensate through its mimicry ability. Irene stared expressionlessly at the two Dan Marinas before her. She really wanted to conduct in-depth experiments on this avatar, but there was no opportunity. She could only watch longingly as Dan Marina used this Alchemical Avatar to leave.

Go find Zheng Yichen to make one? Even one the size of a figurine might be possible, but… Irene checked her inventory, feeling a tiny bit of regret. Why was she always a shut-in? Why couldn’t she be like Dan Marina, roaming around idly all day?

Among her resources, she had high-grade items, even things that were nearly extinct, but nothing comparable to that Flesh Stone. To go find Zheng Yichen now… she couldn’t bring herself to ask. Shaking her head, she decided to forget it. The more she thought about it, the more annoyed she felt. Better to quickly think of something else. Glancing at Dan Marina’s true self leisurely sipping tea in the living room, Irene’s eyebrow twitched almost imperceptibly, and she directly looked elsewhere.

Keep watching her? It was irritating!

Fortunately, the avatar matter was settled. Next was the creation of Magic Arms. That could help distract her…

In the bar, Deya sat quietly in a secluded Booth Area, reading the Magic Weapon Summoning Book in her hands. The bounty post she had released earlier had yielded significant results. Previously, they had no leads on the Undying Witch’s trail, but now they had found many traces. Nearly half of the locations, after investigation, indeed showed signs of the Undying Witch’s activity.

Even though it was a bit late—the Undying Witch had long since left those places—it was still better than having no leads at all. Those who discovered these traces did so mostly by chance. There were also some who were even more unlucky… accidentally stumbling into an area still imbued with the Undying Witch’s power. Trapped with no way out, in despair, they left information about the place in the bounty post.

Although the Sanctuary Church was thus spared paying an additional reward, Deya couldn’t feel happy about it. They still needed to deal with the Undying Witch quickly. Really, if that woman Dan Marina hadn’t left the Sanctuary Church, they wouldn’t be so passive now. Through numerous investigations, they could currently confirm that the Undying Witch was plotting something!

“Hmm? This one?” Deya focused on the latest reply within the bounty post, spotting a new trace belonging to the Undying Witch. Without hesitation, she immediately used a Magic Artifact on her person to contact the Sanctuary Church. Although using the post function of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book was easier, this thing ultimately wasn’t held by the Sanctuary Church. Even with its privacy features, to the Creator, was that really privacy?

Obviously not. Of course, for others, it was something extremely private. Members of the Sanctuary Church had attempted numerous decryptions, but the result was the same as when they tried to crack the Magic Weapon Summoning Book itself—without exception, they suffered backlash, large or small.

So, the forum function of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book was also something outsiders could use but couldn’t delve deeper into. After finishing her communication, Deya continued browsing the Magic Weapon Forum. Aside from the uncontrollable aspect of it not belonging to the Sanctuary Church, Deya thought everything else about it was excellent. She had been staying in Kaja City recently, searching for something. Besides information from the Church, she learned more about other places from the forum.

Every day, there were many posts from different regions, ranging from important major events down to trivial matters, like “The Story I Have to Tell About Me and a Demon Sword Cultist,” probably written by some bored female Bard. It even started serializing recently and gained support from many idle people.

Demon Sword Cultists? Although they were a bit of a unique stream among cults, they were still Cultists at the end of the day… Was there really no problem getting involved with them like that? As for why she was so sure, it was purely because the author’s writing showed too deep an understanding of Demon Sword Cultists. Though not as deep as the Sanctuary Church’s knowledge, it wasn’t something an ordinary person would know.

Perhaps inspired by this one post, many similar update posts followed: “My Life as a Cultist,” “My Days Undercover in a Cult,” etc… Many of them made Deya almost want to laugh. Getting involved with Demon Sword Cultists was somewhat understandable; at least this Cult didn’t forcefully brainwash its followers. Joining would give you a seed of power, but to truly become strong, you had to constantly fight. The more battle-hungry you were, the faster you grew stronger!

It was a Cult completely based on the survival of the fittest. Of course, it was far better than those that absolutely exploited their followers. What “life as a cultist,” going undercover in a cult… whoever wrote these dared to imagine such things. Normal cults didn’t have Undercover Agents. With an Evil God’s abilities, unless you completely opened your mind and were influenced by the Evil God, causing trouble there would expose you immediately. A cult that could have Undercover Agents was probably just a fake playing house.

Even so, since the writers had decent literary skills and their plots were quite engaging, making you want to read more after starting, she really wanted to… no, it had already been stated: cults were absolutely not as simply “beautified” or “idiotic” as portrayed in those articles. What battling wits, what countering moves, could you fool an Evil God face-to-face? If using fists to fool them might be somewhat normal, using talk? Did they really think Evil Gods were fake?

What Deya truly worried about was that the article’s content was just too “good.” It might mislead some Magic Weapon Summoners’ understanding of cults… especially newly-enthusiastic youths. If they saw some exciting scene in those posts and couldn’t restrain themselves, actually giving it a try, weren’t they just delivering themselves to the cult?

Wait… could this post have been written by a Cultist from some old cult, specifically to mislead newbies? The more Deya thought about it, the more likely it seemed. But soon she sighed helplessly. Even if that was a possibility, what could she do? The Magic Weapon Summoning Book was not something they could directly interfere with. Encountering such articles, they couldn’t forcibly ban them either. As for posting a warning to the Creator of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book?

A good idea, but they’d have to find the Creator first.

“Maybe the Sanctuary Church could also write some novels similar to this type?” Deya muttered to herself. The more she thought about it, the more she felt it was worth a try. It would just consume some Mana anyway. Plus, with the Sanctuary Church’s reputation, writing some novels specifically targeting this type of topic was completely fine.

Instead of promoting good, positive energy, why mess with articles that deceived newbies? Content that tirelessly ruins people must be stopped!

Tagging a member of the Sanctuary Church in the post and leaving a comment about her idea, Deya closed the Magic Weapon Summoning Book. When idle, the Magic Weapon Summoning Book was indeed the best thing to waste time with. You could easily lose track, mainly because its content updated too fast. New posts appeared every moment.

After some Mercenary Corps took down a powerful Magical Beast, some flamboyant members couldn’t resist taking out their Magic Weapon Summoning Books to take a picture of the beast. After all, the commenting function was based on an improved Image Retention Spell. Improvement wasn’t crippling, so while easily forming text, it could naturally record the image of a place, producing pictures in posts, though it consumed a bit more Mana.

Anyway, many posts were like this: XXX Mercenary Corps, XXX Adventurer Team showing off their achievements, etc. Some competing teams, upon seeing their rivals’ posts bragging about achievements, would immediately take down an even fiercer Magical Beast and reply below to one-up them… followed by a period of bickering competition.

Watching these people argue was quite interesting too. More special cases included: XX country secretly dispatching troops, preparing to raid an important city within XX country’s borders. By chance, a Magic Weapon Summoner who liked wandering around happened to pass by the raiding army’s location. After discovering them, they casually posted what they saw on the Forum…

Well, the raid plan was blown just like that. Fortunately, there were also Magic Weapon Summoners in that army who noticed something was wrong in time. The raiding army quickly chose to retreat, avoiding being surrounded by that country’s forces. A war that should have broken out was nullified because of such an inconspicuous coincidence.

Of course, both sides definitely remembered this. The country that chose the raid did so because both sides’ national power was similar. Fighting openly would only result in mutual losses, letting others benefit. If the raid succeeded, capturing that important city would give them a huge advantage, which they could then continuously expand.

After it was blown, such nice plans were out of the question. If they really fought, who knew how long the stalemate and cold war would last before friction sparked again.

For those in power, this was infuriating enough to make them want to smash the table. For common folk, nothing was more important than peace, even if that peace was built on some ridiculous coincidence.

Oh right, there was also that “@” symbol. This symbol wasn’t any special Rune Pattern, nor some Runes with special power. This symbol’s function was to “summon” someone you wanted to contact. Even if that person wasn’t online, as long as they opened the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, they could see this “summon” prompt. It was quite magical.

Although after analysis by Sanctuary Church members, this symbol itself held no meaning. Having the “summon” prompt was just because this pre-set symbol triggered a built-in function within the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, similar to some magic artifacts activated by code words.

Deya, closing the Magic Weapon Summoning Book and preparing to leave the Bar, didn’t notice that right after she closed it, a new post appeared on the Forum… This post seemed ordinary at first, but it directly pulled the attention of many Magic Weapon Summoners toward Kaja City!

“Damn it, this guy bites back even at death’s door!” Companion Two looked with a grimace at the breathless Spellcaster before him. The other still held a slowly dissipating Magic Weapon Summoning Book. Though dead, he had successfully posted a piece of information they least wanted leaked onto the Forum!

This raid was meticulously planned, but the biggest oversight was that none of them expected this last Spellcaster to possess an extremely powerful defensive Magic Artifact. Even though Oss overburned his Blood Essence for greater power, it still took a bit of time to break through.

But because of that bit of time, this doomed-to-die Spellcaster leaked information about the Arcane Treasure containing magic artifacts. Unlike them, this Spellcaster knew more about the Secret Treasure’s information. Knowing escape was impossible, the information in his post was particularly detailed!

He even posted their information. One could imagine how much trouble they would face in the future. Really, he gave no peace even in death!

As angry as he was, Companion Two clearly understood that if he were in such a situation, even for revenge, he would do the same. What goodwill before death? For enemies, would such a thing exist? Dragging someone down with you was the real move!

“Let’s go!” Oss gasped and said decisively. When breaking the shield, he overburned his Blood Essence, but after killing this Spellcaster, the consumed Blood Essence had recovered somewhat, not causing complete loss of combat strength. His companions’ reactions reassured him.

They didn’t show obvious rejection because of the power he displayed… Speaking of which, when using the Bloodline Power again after so long, it felt a bit strange, as if he sensed some extra power within his body. But this power seemed suppressed by the Evil God’s Power that fueled the Blood Essence.

This caused the overburned Blood Essence to not fully unleash its limit effect; some inadvertently dissipated.

“Captain, what’s the situation?” After looting and leaving, Oss’s companion, watching Oss summon the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, asked. He had no Mana nor Battle Qi. Being able to summon the Magic Weapon Summoning Book was mostly based on Blood Essence and the power granted by the Evil God. That part of power, coming into contact with the Magic Weapon Contract, underwent a subtle change, allowing him to use Blood Essence—a power not belonging to the two major categories—to summon the Magic Weapon Summoning Book.

“…” Oss shook his head with a grave expression. The post made by that Spellcaster remained prominently positioned, clearly being watched by many people constantly to maintain this top status. “The key is related to an Arcane Treasure left by a Witch. It’s something that can greatly change a person’s aptitude and extend lifespan.”

“Troublesome,” Companion One shrugged upon hearing this. Pursuing longevity was something everyone wanted, but that was only possible after reaching a certain level of strength. Otherwise, there would always be an end. Especially for those with limited aptitude, once their strength reached a certain height, progress became difficult. No progress meant limited lifespan.

And this Secret Treasure could improve both aspects. One could imagine many old-timers would come flocking. And they were destined to become like a small paper boat in the storm.