Chapter 270: True Colors Revealed

Chapter 270: True Colors Revealed

“Oh? Qin, you’re here too?”

“Qin?” The witch sitting across from Dan Marina, who was wearing a cloak even indoors, looked somewhat puzzled at the silver-haired beauty with a slightly gloomy aura. After observing carefully for a moment, her slightly furrowed brows relaxed. Pfft! An artificial person… Well, she had to admit this doll was very realistic. Even she had been fooled at first glance, and some witches might be tricked too.

Unfortunately, her type of ability allowed her to see some clues.

“Hey!” Seeing this witch quickly figure out Qin’s identity, Dan Marina chuckled softly. Speaking of which, it seemed most witches who had appeared lately could see through alchemical avatars. Irene had her unique detection magic to find them, while her own ability allowed her to capture some traces. Even the Undying Witch could sense something was off. The witch before her was similar to the Undying Witch; their abilities were opposites, so it was normal she could tell.

Even Qin… could sense a slight abnormality, after all, when using an alchemical avatar, the emotional waves emitted were affected. Others might not feel it, but Qin, due to her ability, was extremely sensitive to such fluctuations and could detect even minor anomalies.

Aside from them… even Loris might find it hard to spot the strangeness of these alchemical avatars without knowing the bottom line. Of course, though she might not notice, she had a better way to cheat—Zheng Yichen was right by her side, so she could easily get a complete collection of all the alchemical avatars’ appearances.

“I’ll waive the cost of the drinks. I don’t mind what you want to talk about, but could you please move somewhere else right away?” Qin rudely placed the cracked glass in her hand on the table in front of them and urged them to leave. Offend the guests? Normal guests weren’t even worth her personal reception, but these two could be kicked out without any issue!

Witches also had their own territorial instincts. If ordinary people intruded, on a good day, it might be like seeing a little bird fly into your home—you’d glance at it and ignore it. But a stranger barging into your home without a word—was that something you could calmly talk about?

“I paid!”

“How much? I’ll double it and refund you.” Qin glanced at the protesting Dan Marina. Wealth? She was a witch who mingled in human society, operating under a hidden identity. She was not short on wealth at all.

“I really like it here. If we move somewhere else, I might forget some things~” Dan Marina lazily leaned back on the soft sofa and let out a soft yawn. “So comfortable. I almost fell asleep just moving a little.”

Qin’s expression worsened. This woman’s words subtly pulled the other witch into her camp, at least temporarily.

“Let’s stay here. We’ll finish talking quickly. You don’t mind, do you?” The witch sitting across from Dan Marina removed the hood of her cloak, revealing stark black and white colors. She had hair divided sharply between black and white. At first glance, it seemed as if she were entirely occupied by these two colors, but this was just an illusion caused by the extreme contrast. Her eyes were gray.

This gray was different from the chaotic, starry gray Dan Marina produced when using her ability. It was more like gray diluted from black with white, yet it wasn’t murky at all. Instead, it was extremely clear and transparent, brimming with a sense of vigorous vitality.

“I do mind!”

“Then please mind it for a little while longer.” This witch’s meaning was simple: if you’re unhappy, bear with it for now and deal with Dan Marina later. As for her taking action herself? She was already giving this woman trouble, and with good reason. Of course, she didn’t want to add extra complications.

As for sharing this displeasure with Qin? Their relationship wasn’t close enough for that.

“…Say what you have to say quickly. You have half an hour!” Qin glanced at the watch (made by Zheng Yichen) and said coldly. Then, without looking back, she left the booth area and leaned against a spot where she could keep an eye on them, waiting for the time to pass. As for eavesdropping? If Dan Marina weren’t there, she might try. But with that woman around, it was better to wait, lest she cause more trouble.

“First, the items are gone.” After Qin left, Dan Marina spoke up immediately.

“Then exchange them for something else.” Annie said at once. Although what Dan Marina had taken from her was a derivative product, derivatives still took time to produce. Besides, she had obtained a rather interesting little item back then and planned to experiment with that batch of derivatives, but someone had taken them. The delay had left her feeling uneasy.

“Sure, but first return those magic eyes to me. Not a single one missing!”

“…Are they yours?” Annie’s brows furrowed slightly. It seemed… she had been tricked by this woman.

“Of course they’re mine. Otherwise, how could I have taken those things from you so precisely?” Dan Marina chuckled with an air of shameless pride.

“They’re gone.”

It wasn’t that they were completely gone, but she had used those magic eyes for some additional experiments. After obtaining them, she noticed that although the magic eyes seemed somewhat “crude” and were made from materials as lowly as rabbit eyes, their structure was surprisingly miraculous. They weren’t products of the Life Domain at all, but rather an unusual blend of alchemy and magic potion. There was also an element within them that she couldn’t identify. These low-end yet incredibly novel items had greatly piqued her interest.

After all this time, those magic eyes had naturally been altered beyond recognition due to her various experiments. “Gone” was an accurate description. “How can you prove they were yours?”

Dan Marina didn’t seem proficient in alchemy or potionology, and her temperament probably couldn’t stand such experiments. Moreover, there was no trace of witch power on them, so they definitely weren’t made by her. The most likely scenario was that she had either taken them from someone or tricked someone into giving them to her.

“I have the main eye. Is that proof enough?” Dan Marina took out a transparent bottle containing what looked like a contact lens made by Zheng Yichen from a magic eye—the main eye of that set.

Main eye? A flash of realization crossed Annie’s eyes. No wonder she felt something was missing from those magic eyes during her experiments. As for this being a fake, her keen eyes could tell this strange transparent film was the real deal.

“Give it to me.”

“If I just gave it to you, wouldn’t I lose face?” Dan Marina hooked her finger, and the transparent bottle vanished into her personal space. “If we offset each other’s debts, I might consider it.”

“This item isn’t that valuable.” Annie said calmly. What Dan Marina had taken was a derivative of Life Essence. Even so, that derivative had effects similar to Life Essence. Half a drop could restore an ordinary person’s youth and greatly extend their lifespan. However, the drawback was that it didn’t affect the soul. In this world, people’s bodies aged, and so did their souls.

So even if someone regained their youth using the derivative of Life Essence and gained a long lifespan, once their soul aged to its limit, they would still die. And that was just the simplest use!

“The value of an item depends on whose hands it’s in. If those magic eyes fell into the hands of an ordinary spellcaster, they would likely function as magic artifacts for surveillance. But in your hands… you must have discovered something by now, haven’t you?”

Annie remained silent. Thanks to those magic eyes, she had indeed made some discoveries. Of course, based on the uniqueness of those magic eyes, she had tried to replicate them. The things she made had the effects of magic eyes, but they weren’t as complete. The original magic eyes maintained a close connection even when separated and never developed into independent entities.

However, the replicas she made required a medium to connect them. If they were too far apart, the replicated devil flames would develop independently within the host organism, eventually breaking their connection to the other magic eyes and becoming part of the host’s body. This was mainly because she had reduced the parasitic nature of the magic eyes, leading to insufficient aggression and ultimately being assimilated by the host.

On the other hand, strengthening the parasitic nature would cause the host to undergo additional mutations, forcibly leaning toward the species from which the magic eye’s main material was sourced. However, it wouldn’t completely transform into that species, resulting in the host becoming a bizarre, mismatched creature.

Of course, she could maintain balance between the magic eye and the host, but this was only on a one-to-one basis. For a new host, she would need to readjust everything. It simply didn’t have the original magic eyes’ ability to parasitize any host effortlessly. Once they found a host, they could settle in, absorbing the host’s nutrients without being assimilated, growing into a part of the host’s body, or forcibly twisting the host into a mismatched existence.

Logically, from any perspective, the technical complexity of those magic eyes shouldn’t have produced such unique effects. How did they achieve this so mysteriously? Annie attributed the reason to the unknown factor contained within the original magic eyes. She had researched everything else, but only that unknown factor remained difficult to fully understand.

“Still not enough.” Annie said. With the derivative of Life Essence that Dan Marina had taken, she could easily exchange it for hundreds of kilograms of dragon blood, dragon scales, shed dragon teeth, and other materials by finding the Dragon Clan’s secluded refuge. However, she had already researched those things long ago. Her personal space still held a considerable amount of related materials, all meticulously preserved and ready for use at any time.

“Fine, what else do you want?”

“Information about the creator of the magic eyes.”

“Huh? You want such important information from me in exchange for just those things? Not enough!”

“I don’t believe you.”

“The problem is, whether you believe it or not, you have to. You don’t know how special his identity is.” Dan Marina’s smile faded slightly. “To be precise, I don’t even want to have any conflict with him.”

Conflict? The only real conflict was during those events when she escaped the Sanctuary Church. Everything she said to Annie was the truth, without a single mistake!

Annie’s expression remained unchanged as she quickly thought to herself. Someone Dan Marina didn’t want to conflict with? Was their ability troublesome? Or were they so powerful that even Dan Marina was wary? But she hadn’t heard of such a being. Could this woman be fooling her?

“Alright, I can see you still don’t believe me.” Dan Marina, being shrewd, of course noticed the doubt in Annie’s eyes. So she shrugged directly. “If you don’t believe me, I can guarantee this with a contract.”

“Are you serious?” With things reaching this point, Annie’s doubts lessened. Ordinary people’s contracts with witches had many loopholes witches could exploit, but contracts between witches were much harder to deceive.

“Come on, you draft the contract. I’ll read it over, and if it’s suitable, I’ll sign it. How about that?”

“…Let’s get back to business.”

“One drop of Life Essence.”

“I’ll kill you.” Annie’s eyebrows shot up, and her calm expression finally broke. Her serious tone also wavered, as if some disguise had been shattered, making Dan Marina chuckle.

“So, why put on a stern face in front of me? I know your personality well enough.”

“Shut up.” Annie’s cold expression melted completely, and her upright sitting posture loosened into something more casual as her tone changed. “It’s better to keep a stern face around a woman like you.”

“But you know it’s useless.”

Annie nodded somewhat annoyed. “I know that now. Don’t even think about Life Essence. The conditions for making it are too harsh, and it’s practically irreplaceable once used.”

“Then give me half a bottle of Water of Life.” Dan Marina took out the container with the main eye again and pointed at the bottle. Water of Life was the derivative of Life Essence.

“Get out! If you want that much, I’d rather just take this thing and end the matter!” Staring angrily at Dan Marina, who was still making outrageous demands, Annie couldn’t help but exclaim.

The booth area had soundproofing and magic to make people overlook it, but this was left by Qin and was useless against her. Even though she wasn’t eavesdropping, she could see Annie’s reaction and couldn’t help but shake her head. Among witches, this one was quite famous, but due to her ability, her mindset seemed too youthful. She lacked the calmness that should come with having lived for so long. However, many witches envied this about her.

At least she didn’t need unique methods to adjust her mindset and had no issues with mental instability.