Chapter 550: The Gift

Chapter 550: The Gift

“It really isn’t difficult, but this… gives me a faint sense of familiarity.” Liliya held a draft in front of her; this was the content of the contract. She tried to use Prophecy Art to trace its origin, but the result was the same as when Prophecy Art was used on Zheng Yichen—like hitting her head against a wall.

“As long as the content works, that’s fine.”

“Alright, then I’ll go make the contract…”

“I’ll provide the Contract Scroll myself,” Zheng Yichen said. Matters involving himself couldn’t be taken lightly. Besides, he had a very skilled contract Creator on his side, so there was no need to trouble others. After all, contracts of different specifications had different effects.

For contracts with the same content, if the Creator was different, the power of the contract could either weaken or strengthen. So, Zheng Yichen felt that contracts made by others weren’t very reliable. With someone like Dan Marina, who could produce higher-specification contracts, he felt at ease.

“Fine, as long as the content isn’t twisted, it doesn’t matter who provides it,” Liliya said. The content of this contract wasn’t particularly harsh; it simply emphasized confidentiality—whether regarding the contract’s content or after signing it.

Essentially, aside from those directly involved, no one would know about this matter after the contract was signed! This contract seemed purely designed to establish a connection.

The consequence for violating it was to fully give up each other’s goodwill… goodwill being something intangible. And this goodwill wasn’t imposed but had to be voluntarily offered by one’s own side.

This content was exactly the same as the penalty for violating the contract Dan Marina had signed before!

“How about you provide the materials?”

“…” Liliya glanced at Zheng Yichen without saying a word, just staring at him steadily.

“Alright, I’ll handle the materials too,” Zheng Yichen shrugged, feeling a bit of sympathy for her. Really, every move this girl made was within Dan Marina’s calculations. Contracts of different specifications required different materials. For example, the Contract Scrolls Dan Marina made usually used higher-grade materials. Of course, the materials for Contract Scrolls generally fell into specific categories.

After all, it was just something to carry the contract’s content, not a unique Magic Artifact. For something like this, there was no need to use rare, hard-to-obtain materials. Still, judging the specification of a Contract Scroll by its materials was possible. Making contracts was its own field of study.

It was like appraising antiques—experts could see details others couldn’t, while those unfamiliar with it only saw the appearance or the old-fashioned style.

Liliya didn’t interfere much with the materials either. Dan Marina could freely make the contract without needing to select specific materials. Well… as the saying went, the more you knew, the more you realized how ignorant you were.

Zheng Yichen had seen so much already. Even though he kept learning, he still found there were too many things he didn’t know, giving him a bit of a minor obsession!

Why did he know so little? Well, ultimately, it came down to not being strong enough. The pressure from lacking strength, the drive brought by the power of Witches—it all brought out Zheng Yichen’s unwillingness to admit defeat.

He also wished that one day, when faced with troublesome matters, he could handle them effortlessly himself, instead of relying on the knowledge of Witches. The idea that a leader only needed to know how to judge and use people—Zheng Yichen just wasn’t suited to be a leader…

At the same time, he knew all too well that what he envisioned couldn’t be achieved in just a few decades or a century. Even now, his accomplishments over a few years far exceeded what others achieved in decades, but compared to beings like Witches, it was nothing special.

“Are you feeling down?” Liliya asked with uncertainty in her tone.

“Huh? Congratulations, you guessed right.”

“Ugh!” The slight upward curve of her lips immediately dropped. What did he mean by “guessed right”? Even if she had guessed right, he didn’t need to say it outright! Her incredibly convenient Prophecy Art repeatedly hit a wall with Zheng Yichen, and the frustration was indescribable. It was like a pure magic user encountering something completely immune to magic…

The feeling was too hard to describe.

“Wait! Your tone… I’m a Prophet. Show some respect,” Liliya belatedly sensed something off about Zheng Yichen’s tone. What was this obvious “talking down to a child” tone? Could it be that he had seen through her identity?

“…” Zheng Yichen paused, his eyes darting quickly. “It’s just that you look too young. Well, I care a lot about appearances.”

“Really?” Liliya still looked at him suspiciously. There were rumors outside that Zheng Yichen had some inexplicable relationship with the Fate Witch, and this relationship even seemed to go beyond friendship.

Well, it was hard to earn the friendship of a Witch, but gaining the trust of the Fate Witch was a nightmare-level challenge. Some believed Zheng Yichen and the Fate Witch had some undisclosed transactional relationship, while others thought Zheng Yichen had earned the Fate Witch’s trust. There was also the theory that the Fate Witch was using him, though this was the least popular view.

After all, Zheng Yichen was a dragon backed by a Witch. If the Fate Witch wanted to use him, she’d first have to ask if the Cursed Witch agreed. The consequences of two Witches fighting… well, the radical elements in The Church would definitely be shouting, “Fight, fight!”

From the information Zheng Yichen inadvertently revealed earlier, she couldn’t help but suspect that his relationship with the Fate Witch was that special kind beyond friendship. After all, not many knew about her age and condition, and her identity was kept quite confidential.

Since she was young, if her identity and age were exposed, it would attract unwanted attention—attention that wouldn’t lead to anything good. Prophets could foresee many things and even change outcomes, but in the Otherworld, there was also the saying, “A doctor can’t heal themselves.”

Since ancient times, many Prophets had died from assassinations. Of course, many had also successfully fought back.

So, with such secrecy, only the Fate Witch knew her identity details. If Zheng Yichen also knew, then his relationship with the Fate Witch seemed extraordinary. After all, if even such “niche” matters were shared with Zheng Yichen, how could their relationship be ordinary?

“Of course? Otherwise, where did I practice my drawing style?” To strengthen the accuracy of his words, Zheng Yichen cast a very familiar Illusion Magic. The Illusion was a chibi-style, Q-version character, and Liliya immediately recognized who it was… herself!

Though the art style was anime-like, it captured her aura perfectly. The only difference was that the Q-version character didn’t wear the mask she had on her face. Anyway, the moment Liliya saw this image, she fell in love with it!!

“I’m so cute and adorable!!” Noticing the sparkle in her eyes, Zheng Yichen quickly took out a piece of processed alchemy material. Under the power of Alchemy Magic, the material turned into a clay-like state and quickly shaped into a Human Form mold. Then, Zheng Yichen added materials of different colors, mixing them in.

Soon, a miniature “figurine” resembling a keychain was made. “Here, it’s for you.”

“…Well, not bad,” Liliya took the keychain Zheng Yichen handed over… she examined it carefully. Every detail was extremely precise. Well, it could be worn as an accessory. After all, influenced by the Magic Weapon Forum, wearing something like this wouldn’t raise suspicion.

Instead, it was a trend… Well, there were already some artists trying to imitate this anime-like art style, so whether it was made by a Creator or Zheng Yichen, it wouldn’t seem strange to others.

She checked it—no hidden backdoors. It was just made from a special composite material. Because of the material’s inherent colors, it wouldn’t easily fade or deteriorate over time. Of course, it would deform if forcefully smashed.

Well, not many could do something like this in the hands of a Prophet!

“I’ll wait for your contract then. Well… I’ll pay you some reasonable extra compensation,” Liliya said. Due to her identity, she could visit Zheng Yichen, but she couldn’t stay in his room for too long to avoid idle gossip from some people!

Back in her room, Liliya removed her mask and took off her cumbersome robe, revealing the light, comfortable clothes underneath. She tossed herself onto the bed, stretching lazily, and looked at the small pendant. The vivid image made her chuckle softly.

Then she scratched her cheek. “Hmm, so was choosing the mask a mistake back then? It didn’t help at all.”

After some thought, Liliya blamed it on the mask covering only half her face vertically. If it had been horizontal, simply describing her appearance would have been much harder. Even if someone imagined some details, they couldn’t guarantee the imagined details were correct.

But with half her face covered vertically, it was different. She wasn’t some oddity with different left and right sides of her face. Seeing half her face, you could just mirror it, and voilà—her entire face was easily described!

“Never mind, I’ll change it later,” Liliya muttered, rubbing her head. She frowned as a strand of hair fell before her eyes, her expression turning somewhat anxious.

White hair wasn’t a common hair color in the Otherworld, just like black hair. Normally, people’s hair colors were something other than white or black. Those with such hair colors usually resulted from later influences, rarely from birth.

She herself wasn’t born with white hair either. This hair color came from some later influence of a certain power! And it wasn’t a good influence.

Feeling this anxiety, she suddenly sat up and opened the Trading Module of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, searching for items she was interested in. She had a habit: whenever she entered the Trading Module, she’d first open some special Online Stores, like those related to Zheng Yichen, Witches, or other unique beings.

It was like checking in daily. Taking an extra look wouldn’t hurt, and if she got lucky one day and saw some newly listed special items right after logging in, she could snap them up and score a win!

“Ugh… hair dye, tsk!” Liliya curled her lip. Hair dye was something that existed even before Zheng Yichen arrived here, and it could color hair naturally and flawlessly. But she knew this was just self-deception. Even if she dyed her hair back to its original color, some peculiar abnormalities on her wouldn’t disappear.

After browsing for a while without finding anything truly interesting, Liliya tossed the Magic Weapon Summoning Book aside. It could be tossed around casually—even if someone picked it up, it wouldn’t really be lost. Even if someone else opened it, unless they were the summoner, the information displayed would be blank.

On the other hand, the church members who obtained Liliya’s Prophecy Silver Disc acted quickly, swiftly eliminating the discovered “Nodes.” Oro, however, found himself with little to do, staying in a shop by the street. This shop belonged to the Purple Vine Guild and sold drinks, but unlike the setup in Bars, it was a grab-and-go style.

This type of shop became popular after plastics became cheap and simple. Clearly, the Purple Vine Guild once again seized the opportunity in this area. Needless to say, this fast-food style of sales was very popular, even among commoners. After all, cheap and tasty drinks weren’t expensive, and they even had chilled ones… which were especially welcome in hot weather.

This low-margin, high-volume approach built a large base of supporters.

Including Oro, who enjoyed drinking these… even though he knew they weren’t as nutritious as real fruit juice, since the raw material was a processed powder that just needed to be mixed with water.

“So, why am I here when they have a Prophet?” Oro muttered around his straw, his mood just so-so.

“To prepare for unexpected situations,” his bodyguard said gruffly.

Oro scoffed. “Come on, with such a skilled Prophet brought in by The Church this time, even if something unexpected happens, it won’t be a big deal. I bet The Church’s appointment letter will arrive soon.”

The bodyguard thought about what Oro had said earlier regarding the Containment Zone. Oro’s new appointment likely referred to that place. That assignment was truly a tough job, no wonder Oro looked so grim now… In a place like that, he’d be even further from the life he wanted. No wonder he wasn’t in a good mood!

At the same time, the new Prophet was the reason he’d be sent there sooner, and ironically, this Prophet was assigned by The Church after his own request.

Well, seeing him so conflicted, the bodyguard felt rather pleased.