Chapter 367: Praising You

Chapter 367: Praising You

Grinning and secretly pleased!

“So you mean we should just let the Undying Witch do her own thing, and we focus on ours?” Zheng Yichen and Loris had just finished their unique, tender moment when Dan Marina showed up. Seeing her arrive, Loris, who had discussed certain matters with her earlier, promptly left Zheng Yichen’s Laboratory.

“Oh my? Are you being this kind?” Dan Marina asked with surprise. She stood up from where she sat on the arm of the chair and gently patted Zheng Yichen’s head. Well, a dragon’s Scales had a strong glossy sheen. Under sufficient light, they even reflected a metallic shine, but they didn’t feel cold to the touch—the Scales held a warmth similar to human skin.

“…It’s just that you were being too vague. Speak clearly. Between us, there’s no need to beat around the bush,” Zheng Yichen rolled his eyes. His head was hurting badly, and he didn’t want to think too hard.

“We can get involved in her affairs, but we shouldn’t actively enter the game ourselves,” Dan Marina said. Since they were already entangled with the Undying Witch, hoping that woman would overlook them after suffering a major loss was simply impossible. If she actually did that, Dan Marina would choose to enter the game actively instead!

Whatever was important enough to make her admit defeat couldn’t be simple. Not taking the initiative to figure it out quickly would leave Dan Marina unsettled herself.

“When it comes to matters involving Witches, plenty of people are willing to help you out. We just need to stay behind the scenes.”

“So you’re advising me not to act impulsively later!” Zheng Yichen nodded in realization, understanding Dan Marina’s meaning. She was probably worried that after he recovered, he might feel dissatisfied and directly challenge the Undying Witch to another fight. Dan Marina had analyzed this possibility—it wasn’t unlikely but highly probable…

Loris was even willing to fight the Undying Witch for this guy. If Zheng Yichen learned about it, given his personality, if those around him were willing to go that far, wouldn’t he be up for a fight too?

For those he already had conflicts with, if there was room for compromise, Zheng Yichen didn’t mind taking some losses himself. Take the Sanctuary Church, for example. Even though they targeted Witches, their actions made it hard for others to criticize them too much. That’s why Zheng Yichen chose to avoid any direct confrontations entirely, and even indirect ones were resolved through cooperation or roundabout tactics. Even if it took a long time, it minimized the chance of conflict.

Although Zheng Yichen could choose a more arrogant approach—fight if not convinced, maybe even become a Demon King or something… even though plenty of “Demon Kings” had been defeated already.

“What good comes from acting impulsively?”

“Hmm~ None,” Zheng Yichen rubbed his chin. Acting impulsively couldn’t solve extra problems, especially ones beyond his capabilities. Otherwise, Zheng Yichen wouldn’t be so absorbed in research instead of doing nothing and focusing solely on self-cultivation. After all, cultivation was also a path, but he couldn’t just focus on himself. To put it simply, no matter how much he cultivated, could one person take on the entire world in a short time?

Even Witches who had lived for centuries couldn’t do it, let alone himself. The Transmigrator Aura brought him the vast knowledge from Earth, but turning that into direct combat power… Well, it was incredibly difficult. After all, Earth wasn’t a world where individual strength was paramount. So, to maximize the effect of this knowledge, the current path was the best choice.

“Tsk!” Zheng Yichen furrowed his brows and pulled out a planbook. Under Dan Marina’s gaze, he swiftly crossed out all the recent plans on it, then turned to a new page and added new project plans—all related to research in the Life Domain. His Dragon Body was too troublesome to move around, and using Alchemical Avatars had too many drawbacks. Zheng Yichen planned to start from the Life Domain, combining it with Alchemy to develop new Alchemical Avatars…

Well, let’s tentatively name it Life Alchemy… Ahem, anyway, the term wasn’t particularly special; this world already had it. After all, many systems within Secondary Professions were interconnected. It wasn’t like specializing in one skill could lead to the peak. It was like one’s strength, physique, and agility. If strength was too high but physique insufficient, even a slight use of strength could cause self-harm. If agility was too high but strength lacking, speed couldn’t be fully utilized.

“It seems you have a new goal. So, interested in playing a game of chess with me?” Dan Marina said after Zheng Yichen put away his planbook.

“Huh? What kind of chess? Who would play with you?” Zheng Yichen glanced at Dan Marina. Chess? No one would play with her. Games like Five-in-a-Row, Flying Chess, Military Chess, Chinese Chess, and Go—Zheng Yichen had created them all during his free time, with rules written in a manual. They were hugely popular among the Ghost Maids.

Later, the Witches who came here naturally noticed these games. Zheng Yichen originally thought he could win a few games while they were still new to them, but he underestimated the Witches’ comprehension abilities. Just by reading the rules once, Zheng Yichen lost badly in the first game—not to one person, but to all of them… Every Witch he knew easily defeated him in their first game.

As for chess… Before transmigrating, Zheng Yichen didn’t have any particular interest in it. He was just a lazy… no, a hopeless player, basically the type who only knew the rules. Don’t expect him to come up with any advanced strategies or tricks to crush others.

After that, Dan Marina played with Annie and Irene. Even now, Dan Marina’s win rate remained 100%!

So, by now, basically no one played chess games with Dan Marina anymore, including the Ghost Maids, who avoided her whenever possible. At least when they played among themselves, they could have fun with back-and-forth matches. With Dan Marina, it was just a foregone conclusion—pointless to even try.

Dan Marina snapped her fingers, and a Mana screen appeared before her, displaying Oss and his group, including Dan Marina’s alternate persona Lena mixed among them. “The ‘general’ I’ve nurtured.”

“A bit weak, don’t you think? Forget Witches; against such a being, I could probably wipe him out with one slap,” Zheng Yichen said after a glance. He hadn’t paid attention to Oss’s affairs for a long time, so he wasn’t very clear about his current strength. But judging by the people around him, it was probably just so-so.

Facing Witches who had lived for thousands of years left Zheng Yichen helpless, but ordinary people who had only lived for decades… Slapping a bunch of them to death wasn’t just an empty boast.

“Strength isn’t the only thing that determines outcomes. What matters is the role they can play. His current strength is decent,” Dan Marina said, smiling slightly as she looked at Zheng Yichen. “If it really came to a fight, without using the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, he could probably last about seven or eight moves against you.”

“Are you hinting that I should train harder?” Zheng Yichen raised his eyebrows. Lasting seven or eight moves? As long as he wasn’t instantly killed, that meant he had some real skill. How long had it been since Oss gained his power? Achieving this level of strength was impressive… Well, having an alternate persona helping him cheat made it less surprising.

“I’m praising you,” Dan Marina’s words left Zheng Yichen confused, but since she didn’t seem inclined to elaborate, he didn’t press further and returned to the earlier topic. “You plan to use him as the main force to interfere with the Undying Witch’s affairs?”

If that was the case, Dan Marina’s chess game was playing out over a very long time!

“He’s very suitable,” Dan Marina nodded slightly. Oss’s identity was indeed perfect for this. As a Demon Sword Cultist, his actions led to the Sanctuary Church’s responsible personnel turning a blind eye. Plus, his sister was now a member of the Sanctuary Church. No one else had Oss’s unique position—he could interact with both sides. No one was more suitable than him.

“Fine, scheming is your expertise. I’ll focus on other things,” Zheng Yichen scratched his head. When it came to tricking people, he only did so in his areas of expertise. Real scheming… He’d better learn from the professionals. Staring at Oss for a moment, Zheng Yichen noticed a detail: his eye color. In the past, his eyes weren’t black, were they?

He quickly pulled out the secret manual Annie had left behind. After skimming through it and gaining a basic grasp, a Rune of the Secret Method appeared in his left eye. The Rune was unstable, fluctuating slightly as if it might collapse at any moment. But since it had formed, it could be used. Through the effect of this Secret Method, he “saw” some different images—constantly changing based on the movement of Oss’s eyes.

“Don’t use Secret Methods too often. Frequent use will strengthen the traces of the Secret Method in those eyes, and the person involved will notice,” Dan Marina said, knowing Zheng Yichen hadn’t been exposed to many other Secret Methods.

“Got it. I don’t have a habit of peeping. Just testing it out is enough. Also, I think I might understand what you meant by praising me earlier,” Zheng Yichen said with a stiff face. That praise… probably referred to the eyes he had created. With those eyes, Oss could only last seven or eight moves against him when going all out. Hmm… Thinking about it, that was something to be proud of.

Dispersing the Rune in his left eye, Zheng Yichen blinked a few times to adjust his vision, which felt slightly off after using the Secret Method, and returned to the earlier topic.