Chapter 512: The Reason for the Attraction

Chapter 512: The Reason for the Attraction

“Deep impression my foot! I just unleashed a big move at the very end, and it wasn’t even with my own body. When it comes down to it, you were definitely doing it on purpose back then!” It was fine if Zheng Yichen didn’t bring up that matter, but once it was mentioned, he immediately started holding her accountable.

Dan Marina’s Thousand-Faced Avatar, though its default form was female and humanoid, was essentially like clay. As long as the user was skilled, it could be male, female, or even something else… tentacles? No problem at all.

So she was absolutely doing it on purpose!

“Ah, that was so long ago, and you still remember it so clearly? It’s good to have more alternate identities ready for future use, isn’t it? So don’t worry about it.” Dan Marina waved her hand lightly with a smile, completely ignoring Zheng Yichen’s indignant expression. This dragon was angry? Huh? How many times had he actually gotten angry?

Dan Marina thought back and realized she had hardly seen it happen. So, this was a Little Dragon with an astonishingly good temper. Although he possessed Otherworld knowledge that didn’t exist in this world, most of it couldn’t be truly converted into power yet, but that was only temporary.

As he studied and accumulated knowledge, gaining real ability to act and manifest that knowledge, the “dangerous” parts of that Otherworld knowledge could gradually be brought out by Zheng Yichen. Dan Marina didn’t know much about Zheng Yichen’s world, but it was definitely not like any Derivative World that had appeared before.

Derivative Worlds were mostly based on the Prime World, even in cultural development, with at most some minor deviations, nothing too major. Zheng Yichen was different; the Otherworld knowledge he possessed was simply too vast. Even though Dan Marina hadn’t pressed him for details, she could analyze a lot of important information just from the terms he revealed while active on the Forum.

In his world, information flow was extremely smooth, and there were even many things that could be called “Forbidden Curses” that ordinary people seemed to be able to find…

Well, in Zheng Yichen’s case, so-called Forbidden Curses were something else entirely.

So, much of the Otherworld knowledge he held was quite dangerous. In the hands of ordinary people, it might just be exchanged for some money, but in the hands of Zheng Yichen, who was delving into Secondary Professions, who knew what he might come up with in the future?

Dan Marina hadn’t returned to the Underground Base for a while, but she knew that Zheng Yichen had set up many special warehouses there, storing various things he was developing—all sorts of types!

As he put it, if he suddenly had a brainstorm while idle, he would just go ahead and develop it. Whether it could be perfected or not, creating it first was never wrong. If it couldn’t be done well now, that didn’t mean it wouldn’t be possible later. Dan Marina had once checked out the labels on those warehouses when she had nothing better to do, and, well, they were all unique. So, she wasn’t too surprised when Zheng Yichen occasionally came up with something bizarre or special.

He had far too many “projects” stored and waiting to be developed.

“A long time? From the perspective of a Longevity Species, it was at most just a few days ago, right?”

“This? I have to correct you there. Don’t think that long-lived beings have a vague sense of time. If everyday life is ordinary and uneventful, it’s normal to see a few years as just a few days. After all, living a long time requires adapting to a lifestyle suited to longevity. But if everyday life is filled with interesting things, our sense of time is pretty similar to that of Humans.”

“If anything is unique, it’s the Dragon Clan. They sleep when they have nothing to do, so seeing a few decades as just a few days isn’t strange. The sense of time is very faint when sleeping.”

“Is that so?”

“It’s the experience I’ve summed up. Definitely right!”

“…Oh, and this personality of yours that loves stirring up trouble…”

“That’s exactly why I find my everyday life so interesting. Unlike other Witches, who are either naive or dull, when you live a long time, you have to find something to do for yourself. Qin does that very well.”

Zheng Yichen felt this woman was subtly pointing at someone. Talking behind people’s backs was something Dan Marina would absolutely do!

“Don’t Annie and Irene seem fine too?”

“Two shut-ins, and you say they’re fine? This world is mostly filled with Humans. What’s so good about holing up in a lair and focusing on research?”

Zheng Yichen pursed his lips and glanced at Dan Marina, who stood there talking without feeling any strain. “You think everyone is like you, able to ignore the influence of the Sanctuary Church…”

“Ability is innate; that’s my advantage. It doesn’t stop me from commenting on others.”

Damn, she could even say that with such conviction!?

“Alright, let’s not talk about this. Let’s discuss the Derivative Witches here first. If we don’t resolve this, I won’t feel comfortable doing a lot of things.” Zheng Yichen said. The Containment Zone didn’t seem to affect him much, but in reality, if those Derivative Witches had him as their target, not dealing with them decisively would cause trouble later. Relying on the Sanctuary Church for everything?

If that were the case, why was he working so hard? He might as well just join them! Why go through all the effort of developing and expanding, burning through brain cells every day? If he weren’t a dragon without hair, he’d probably be bald by now.

“Why would they have such a deep impression of me!?”

“It’s not that they have a deep impression of you, but that the Undying Witch has a deep impression of you. That impression wasn’t even overshadowed by the damage inflicted when multiple Witches attacked her at once. Think about it carefully.”

Zheng Yichen thought for a moment, then suddenly smacked his palm. “Mana?”

“Heh, not bad.”

Zheng Yichen pursed his lips. Well, there wasn’t much more to say. Witches’ abilities were unique and powerful, but ultimately, they didn’t meet the Undying Witch’s needs. The Undying Witch needed his Mana to accomplish things that were difficult to achieve. Later, due to Dan Marina’s and the Abyssal Creatures’ schemes, the Undying Witch’s most important True Spirit ended up in the Abyss. Witch’s Power couldn’t break through the Containment Barrier, but Zheng Yichen’s power could.

Though it wasn’t about breaking it but rather a method of deciphering it, it still met the Undying Witch’s needs, giving her a chance to retrieve her prized True Spirit from the Abyss. All of this happened before she was permanently sealed, which was when that impression was left and even intensely reinforced.

Even if she didn’t have time or the opportunity to use her backup preparations, it allowed subsequent Derivative Witches to inherit an impression related to it, even without specific memories.

That impression probably wasn’t complete either. For instance, the previous Derivative Witch started causing trouble for dragons as soon as she appeared, while this one was fixed on his Avatar.

Zheng Yichen didn’t know about other Derivative Witches, but one thing likely wouldn’t change: they would seek him out… and then gain something.

Maybe they wanted to return to the Containment Barrier, or maybe they would glitch due to insufficient memories and impressions. Zheng Yichen thought the latter was pretty great. As for the former, he would go to the Border Great Wall at the Containment Barrier, but not now. When he went again, it wouldn’t be for the Containment Barrier, even though it was very appealing, with Element Hearts of all attributes to be found there.

Every year, it attracted a large number of ill-intentioned individuals. Though anyone who set their sights on it ended up cold, and not just cold—they were also hung on a pillar of shame for eternity. Why set your sights on something like that? Why fixate on the Containment Barrier of all things?

Were they that happy being parasites of Humanity? Regardless of what those people thought, they couldn’t answer anymore.

And afterward?

Element Hearts? Zheng Yichen had them! So he wasn’t envious at all… He wanted to return there for a big project, a profitable one. The Border Great Wall area was never short of money, so Zheng Yichen felt… not collaborating would be a disservice to himself!

Money came so easily at the Border Great Wall; if he didn’t think of a way to swindle… take some, was he even Human?

Taking it would be fair and reasonable—just letting them save money on some expenses and giving it to him all at once. What was wrong with that? What was incorrect? Zheng Yichen believed he was bringing progress!!

So, he absolutely had to earn that money. If one collaboration succeeded and both sides were happy, wouldn’t future collaborations be simpler? Think about it: if that place was so important, more collaborations would be good for him and definitely good for them too. Zheng Yichen felt that in some collaborative projects, he could earn a sum, and the Border Great Wall side wouldn’t lose out either.

Money—the more he earned, the faster he could develop. The reason he hadn’t started those special warehouses was also due to money. The budget was well-arranged; there was spare money, but it couldn’t be used for Zheng Yichen’s random experiments at the moment, especially since there were two others at home burning through money now.

Zheng Yichen really hoped that one day, he could ignore resource limitations and just do research freely… Research—failing once often meant all previous investments went down the drain. Once or twice was fine, but if it happened more often… That’s why they say research burns money!

All of this would officially begin only after the Derivative Witches were dealt with. Zheng Yichen’s current plan was to establish some connections in advance. Once the Derivative Witch issue was resolved, he would directly start these projects. If not for the Derivative Witch situation, he would have already begun these projects.

Instead of just having the Potion Masters Association and the Border Great Wall side connect, letting them warm up to each other first, making sure they knew he was the one linking them, and laying some groundwork there in advance. What about after that?

It was related to the Border Great Wall but had little to do with the Potion Masters Association. His collaboration with the Potion Masters Association had nothing to do with the Border Great Wall; he was only taking this extra step now because he lacked time.

What frustrated Zheng Yichen was that Derivative Witches were so troublesome. To resolve them all… ah, it would take months, or even dawdling, maybe a year or two… Don’t underestimate Derivative Witches.

“So, why are there so many obstacles in my century-long plan?”