Chapter 537: Unthinkable Preparations

Chapter 537: Unthinkable Preparations

“Don’t worry about a small explosion. There might be more soon,” said Zheng Yichen. As soon as he finished speaking, another large explosion shook the town from a different direction. Zheng Yichen rubbed the tip of his nose. So, Dan Marina really guessed it right—this Derivative Witch was quite easy to fool.

Besides, there was another detail in the notes that Dan Marina had emphasized: this Derivative Witch would remain in the town not because she had any particular interest in the town itself, but because she had a special interest in a certain being within the town… That being was likely connected to the Undying Witch. As for Zheng Yichen, he was just an extra.

In short, even with Zheng Yichen here, the Derivative Witch wouldn’t stay in the town for long. Once she found the being she sought, she would leave immediately.

Zheng Yichen? This was just an Alchemical Avatar. The Derivative Witch, with her Soul Synchronization, didn’t seem very interested in him. If his true self appeared, it might attract enough attention. In summary, based on the calm reaction of that Derivative Witch toward Zheng Yichen back then, while part of it was due to her using her abilities, there were other reasons too. The most likely one was that this Derivative Witch’s obsession with Zheng Yichen wasn’t deep.

The obsession she inherited from the Undying Witch probably lay elsewhere, like the Containment Barrier… That wasn’t impossible. Compared to desperately fixating on Zheng Yichen, the Undying Witch clearly still cared about the True Spirit that had fallen into the Abyss.

Three explosions went off. They say things shouldn’t happen more than three times, and hitting that limit was enough. In short, those three explosions should have made the Derivative Witch hold back a bit, right?

Zheng Yichen took out several new Magic Crystals and placed them in front of Oro. Oro fell silent as he looked at what Zheng Yichen brought out. So, the explosions were also meant to spark their curiosity, and what followed was the main thing. “What do we need to do?”

“Place these around the four corners of the town. You can choose the locations yourself. As for deviation, as long as you don’t mess it up into a triangle, it’s fine,” Zheng Yichen said. “Just get it done by the day after tomorrow.”

By the day after tomorrow? Oro nodded. It seemed simple enough—just placing some crystals that could be easily hidden. But in reality, it was quite a difficult task. With the Derivative Witch active in the town, doing this without attracting her attention wouldn’t be easy. “I can’t guarantee complete success.”

“Oh, then some people might die during the process. Each crystal accounts for a quarter,” Zheng Yichen said.

“That’s quite a heavy Quest,” Oro said with a bitter smile. Honestly, he didn’t like matters involving many lives, especially when they were tied to his own actions. But this time, he had no choice but to do it. It was just…

“I understand. Then, before the day after tomorrow, I’ll have this prepared properly.” Oro nodded and left Zheng Yichen’s room with his bodyguard. Back in his own room, Oro couldn’t help but rub his forehead. “It’s all because of your curiosity. Look, we’re forced into this now.”

“As if they wouldn’t have come even if I wasn’t curious. I don’t think that dragon would kindly let us slack off,” the bodyguard said expressionlessly. Considering that dragon’s past deeds, he really wasn’t one to take losses lightly.

“The problem is, I paid.”

“That was the Church’s money, not yours,” the bodyguard emphasized. Oro shook his head and picked up the writing board again.

“You’re too serious. Don’t worry about such details. Come on, let’s discuss how to handle this properly. One less crystal means a quarter of the lives.”

The bodyguard picked up a Magic Crystal and examined it. The crystal was still a deep blue, seemingly translucent, but when held up to the eye, it wasn’t transparent at all. The sense of transparency was just an illusion. Inside, some scattered “starlight” dots could be seen, but they were too chaotic to make out clearly. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“Neither have I. It’s probably something born from Witch knowledge,” Oro said, picking up one as well. He hadn’t dealt with Magic Crystals before, so with Zheng Yichen emphasizing how important these were, he took them seriously. Experimenting?

What if they exploded? Oro strongly suspected these were the source of the previous explosions around the town. If all four exploded together, the entire inn could be blown sky-high. Aside from the bodyguard and Zheng Yichen, probably no one else would survive.

“Witch knowledge… Tsk,” the bodyguard clicked his tongue. Since ancient times, too many people had sought Witch knowledge. Even some Arcane Arts had flowed from Witches. Humans feared and rejected beings like Witches, yet they also craved their power.

But one thing couldn’t be denied: Witch knowledge was seriously impressive!

“Don’t ‘tsk’ like that. Actually, I’m quite curious about Witch knowledge too. It’s just hard to get access to,” Oro said regretfully. The bodyguard glanced at him without speaking. It sounded simple, but he understood that for Oro, accessing Witch knowledge wasn’t actually difficult.

The Church had stored Witch knowledge, after dealing with so many Witches over the years. Certain special organizations, like the Dark Church, also possessed Witch knowledge. Additionally, some things intentionally leaked from Witches were related to Witch knowledge, such as the magically modified body parts that the Witch of Life occasionally discarded.

After deciphering those things, they also counted as Witch knowledge—though anyone trying to crack the magically modified organs released by the Witch of Life never gained anything.

“How do you plan to place these?”

“Hmm… Just do what needs to be done,” Oro said. “After all, we’re in the town, and our every move probably can’t avoid the Derivative Witch’s attention. So, heh, I won’t say it, but I’m sure we’ll succeed.”

The bodyguard looked at Oro’s smug face. His neatly trimmed beard now seemed extra mocking. The bodyguard’s eyelid twitched slightly, and he expressionlessly stopped paying attention to Oro. If Oro didn’t want to talk about the specific process, he surely had a corresponding method. After all, this guy had never let others or himself down with the many things he did.

With his carefree nature, if he disappointed himself once, he’d be done for.

“Then do your best.”

The next day, Zheng Yichen opened the window and watched Oro leave early. He grinned. Speaking of which, how many Magic Crystals had he given out yesterday? Seven or eight? Never mind, they’d all come in handy.

Zheng Yichen yawned and withdrew his attention from this Alchemical Avatar, returning to his true self. He continued tinkering with the Power Core, converting large amounts of Irene’s Mana to fill an empty slot in the Power Core. Even a slot that took up a small proportion could store a vast amount of power—enough to easily contain all of Zheng Yichen’s Mana!

After all, this thing’s predecessor was the Supermagic Crystal, similar to Dan Marina’s Fate-Killer. He didn’t know how Dan Marina had handled that dangerous Magic Cube afterward. He seemed to recall her saying that once created, it couldn’t be easily destroyed.

Destroying it would cause some inexplicable disaster. It was like a depth charge; destroying it meant detonating it, and what it stirred up wasn’t water but a pond of Threads of Fate. The consequence of massive Threads of Fate being completely tangled… Zheng Yichen had once tried to look at the Threads of Fate and had some knowledge about them.

Forcibly tangling unrelated Threads of Fate together was like a princess falling for a beggar—it would inevitably lead to disaster for both. The princess would face skepticism, and the beggar would face ruin, because it was simply impossible. The difference in status wouldn’t allow any progress, no matter how touching the process.

That was just a single instance of chaos. If it happened on a larger scale, it would be a chain reaction of chaos… Of course, recklessly meddling with the Threads of Fate would definitely bring backlash from them. So, actions like randomly matchmaking using the power of the Threads of Fate were basically something no Prophet would do.

That was just asking for trouble! Not to mention the backlash—if another Prophet discovered such behavior, the royal family of the princess wouldn’t let it slide, and that Prophet would be finished for sure. With the backlash from the Threads of Fate plus the royal family’s retaliation, it would be strange if they didn’t end up badly.

Well… every special item created by a Witch had significant side effects. Dan Marina’s were more intangible and hard to guard against. As for the Supermagic Crystal, if it exploded, everything within its blast range would undergo Crystallization. Whether living or non-living, all would be forcibly permeated by the free energy from the Supermagic Crystal’s explosion, altering their original nature.

Annie’s Essence of Life could trigger something like the Cambrian explosion of life, of course within a certain range. But compared to the Fate-Killer, these seemed quite ordinary.

Irene glanced at Zheng Yichen, who was hugging a sphere as if incubating an egg, then looked away. She had been distracted because she felt her own Mana Fluctuation. Now, seeing Zheng Yichen converting her Mana, she didn’t pay further attention.

She continued her work, constructing a new Magic Rune Array structure. Earlier, the joint test with Annie hadn’t gone well. It met certain requirements but had an extremely high failure rate and was especially unstable. The slightest carelessness during the transformation process could cause some weird things to grow.

And this instability occurred even under their joint control. If it were someone else, it would definitely result in some alien monstrosity.

But as long as change could be induced, it meant their research direction was correct. Even with only one percent progress, having a progress bar meant they just needed to keep working in this direction. Problems? Problems were there to be gradually revised and perfected.

In short, stabilizing it came first. As for what weird things it might turn into, that could be dealt with later. The most important thing about a Magic was a stable structure. After completing a stage of her Magical Structure, Irene glanced at Zheng Yichen again. He was still in the ball-holding pose, but both dragon eyes were closed, and his breathing had become long and steady… This guy had fallen asleep! That was a rare skill indeed!

“Alright,” Irene said. Seeing that Zheng Yichen could still convert Mana even while asleep, she didn’t say anything more. This could be considered sleeping-style cultivation. Zheng Yichen’s Laboratory had many strange theories; some seemed interesting but might not actually work.

Like strengthening Mana cultivation by sleeping on an ice bed—the kind that could freeze you to death—every day. Due to the cold, you’d unconsciously circulate Mana while sleeping to maintain body temperature. But… when people sleep, Mana is sluggish. Fast-circulating Mana stimulates the body, keeping it in a good state.

That’s why some severely injured people, after bursting with Mana, could still unleash full power for one last fight. Whether they lived or died afterward depended on fate. In short, when Mana is circulating, people are energetic. Sleep? Forget it… So Irene was particularly impressed that Zheng Yichen could slowly infuse the Power Core with Mana and still fall asleep.

Otherworldly Souls were just weird.

To sum up, Zheng Yichen’s ice bed cultivation method… wouldn’t work. For powerful individuals, they’d simply ignore such effects. Oh, and he recently brought up something called Ice Soul, but that was a suicidal cultivation method.

Then there was that method of stepping on your own left foot with your right foot to fly upward. How was that supposed to work? Might as well be like some experts who step on air to ascend. Stepping on your own foot would probably crush it.

Irene stuck a note onto Zheng Yichen’s claw. He could read the contents after waking up. It wasn’t a special letter but a bill. Their recent research had consumed a lot of materials. Though there were still some reserves, they needed replenishing.

She didn’t want to wait until they ran out before restocking—that would be too troublesome.

“Huh… What’s this… A bill? Can it wait until tonight?” The next day, Zheng Yichen shook the Power Core he had been holding in his claw after waking up. The Mana conversion inside was sufficient. Zheng Yichen’s sleep… Well, it wasn’t exactly sleep. He was testing the Nightmare Magic. Nightmare Magic involved constructing a special Nightmare Realm where Zheng Yichen had full control.

Oh, perhaps in the Nightmare Realm, Zheng Yichen could change his name and form, turn himself into a big glowing sphere, call himself the Main God, and pull in a bunch of ordinary people to play some reincarnation games. But if he pulled in Spellcasters or Warriors with strong enough willpower, even if they couldn’t break his control, they’d sense something was off.

In short, this Magic could provide temporary concealment in the eyes of powerful beings, but it would definitely be exposed over time. Hmm… But this was still a good idea, right? Note it down! Discuss and perfect it with Irene later.

“Within a week is fine,” Irene said.

“That works. The Church’s reward is also arriving tonight, though only half,” Zheng Yichen said, curling his lip. The Church ultimately didn’t pay in full, only half. Zheng Yichen wasn’t worried about the Church reneging; after all, there was video evidence. If they did, he’d smear them on the Forum. But the problem was, the Church was worried Zheng Yichen would renege…

They even worried he couldn’t deliver at all!

To this, Zheng Yichen said they were overthinking it—he, the dragon, would definitely deliver, blah blah blah—or else they’d only give one-fifth. Hmph!

Zheng Yichen didn’t pay attention to the situation inside the Containment Zone today. Dan Marina had already revealed that the Derivative Witch resembling Fujiang was a key breakthrough point for accessing the core of the Stone Forest and shouldn’t be touched lightly for now. Better to let the Church continue their battle of wits with her.

Anyway… how to put it? Those who survived and emerged from the Containment Zone would undoubtedly be elites. Not to mention anything else, their evasion skills would probably receive a significant boost! Getting injured there meant infection, and infection meant either death or maiming. Even with Immunity Potions available, people there avoided getting hurt as much as possible.

Immunity Potions weren’t absolute! Those too careless would still die.

In the town, Zheng Yichen rubbed his hands excitedly. A Derivative Witch was still a Witch. Being able to confront one alone this time was a rare experience, even if other Witches were providing strategies behind the scenes… Well, he was the operator; experience accumulated gradually. There had to be a process.

Placing the Compass on the table, Zheng Yichen watched it spin wildly and nodded slightly. This was the important catalyst for using the Nightmare.

The Nightmare Magic could pull everyone in the town into the Nightmare Realm, but it didn’t mean it could directly pull the Derivative Witch in. After all, her predecessor was the Undying Witch. Even with incomplete abilities, they were still Soul-related, so her resistance to Soul influences was definitely high.

Without a catalyst, it might turn into a farce where everyone was pulled in except the most important character. So, this Compass was crucial. Nightmare Magic… Zheng Yichen recalled the steps for Nightmare Magic in his mind. He had practiced many times in the Dreamscape. Though it left him poorly rested and even more tired, it was still a fast way to learn.

Cheating? He was a Transmigrator! If he didn’t cheat, was he even a Transmigrator? … By the way, Spatial Manipulation couldn’t be learned in the Dreamscape. Trying to learn Spatial Manipulation techniques there just turned into “wishful thinking.” Plus, the spatial parameters in dreams and the real world were completely different, so that could only be learned bit by bit in the real world.

Otherwise, having Irene or Loris perform that trick they used for learning the Common Tongue before—greatly stretching the time difference between dreams and reality—would make learning anything a breeze, as long as his spirit could handle it!

In short, he could use the Nightmare Magic. With the annotations in the Magical Grimoire, Zheng Yichen was confident he could unleash the power of the Nightmare Magic. After that, it was just waiting for Oro’s preparations. “Hmm… I wonder if he can complete the Quest perfectly. Well, after being blown up three times, he probably wouldn’t casually fiddle with those crystals.”

Zheng Yichen muttered.

Oro came in the evening. Zheng Yichen caught a whiff of perfume on him. “You… didn’t go drinking and fooling around, did you?”

Zheng Yichen stared blankly at Oro. Oro gave a hollow laugh and raised his writing board. “The pressure’s been high lately. Having a bit of fun while handling business helps me perform better. Don’t worry, I’m almost ready, definitely in a way nobody would think of!”

“That’s fine… If it fails, it’s on your Church.”

“No problem, no problem.” Oro gave an emotional belch and returned to his room. In his room, the bodyguard looked at the tipsy Oro with a headache. Though drunk, Oro hadn’t forgotten to use the writing board, but his writing was starting to get wild.

“Is this to trick that dragon? You haven’t actually done anything,” the bodyguard wrote.

“Didn’t I say? It’s a way nobody would think of. How could someone as unobservant as you figure it out?”

Looking at the string of floating words Oro wrote—so floaty they even conveyed his current smugness—and then at his smug face, the bodyguard… wanted to hit him. “It looks to me like you’re just fooling me.”

“Heh~ When have I ever used fooling tactics to skip over something this important?” Oro shook his head with a smile. “Relax, after this is resolved, I’ll tell you the process. You’ll be absolutely shocked.”

“…”

“If not shocked, I’ll treat you to a meal.”

“The most expensive,” the bodyguard said unceremoniously.

“Fine, fine, the most expensive! I’m going to sleep.”

Under the dim light, the bodyguard watched Oro sleeping soundly, feeling even more puzzled. So what exactly was this “unthinkable way” he couldn’t figure out? Today, the farthest he had been from Oro was five meters. At that distance, he could notice any small move Oro made… and he hadn’t seen Oro prepare anything at all?

So what had Oro done? The bodyguard could suppress his curiosity, but the thought didn’t disappear. It kept itching like a cat’s scratch. Itchy, but bearable… but thinking about having to bear it for a while—sigh, better bear it for now. He’d see what it was all about later, something that would shock him. Hmm, thinking about it, Oro had indeed done many unexpected things before.

Maybe when he went out yesterday, it was because he realized something, so he chose to go. Completely suppressing his curiosity, the bodyguard stopped looking at Oro’s sleeping face—which had appeal only for certain men—and closed his eyes to rest lightly. The town’s environment was unstable; while Oro could sleep soundly, he could only manage light sleep. The slightest movement outside would wake him immediately.

… Anyway, just wait. It would all be over tomorrow!