Chapter 557: Great Idea, Keep Trying

Chapter 557: Great Idea, Keep Trying

“This situation is really quite impressive.” Looking at Loris’s current state, Annie crossed her arms and said with great interest, “The feeling of being drunk?”

Her smile was a bit subtle; maybe that was the feeling, but Annie always felt Loris’s words seemed somewhat insincere. “Even though your actions were a bit reckless, since most of the Derivative Witches have been dealt with, how long do you plan to keep this state? We could also help you resolve it…”

“No, I can handle it myself.” Loris shook her head and refused. With Annie and Irene’s help, the activated black patterns on her body could be removed immediately.

Though these things affected her soul, well, there hadn’t been any problems for such a long time before, so there shouldn’t be any major issues now. More importantly… Loris somewhat enjoyed this feeling, not having to suppress herself all the time.

“Are you sure? When you have thoughts like this, your condition isn’t too good.”

“I know my limits.”

“Alright then, I hope nothing happens to you.” Irene didn’t press further, nodded, and stopped paying much attention to Loris’s matter. Afterwards, Loris looked at Zheng Yichen. She tugged at Zheng Yichen’s… the tip of his foot…

Alright, the size difference between the two was so big that she might not even reach Zheng Yichen’s knee even on tiptoe. Pulling his foot was the most appropriate place. “Come to my room.”

“Uh… uh… uh?”

In Loris’s room, Zheng Yichen folded his wings and sat on the ground, holding Loris with one hand. “Wh-what… what do you want?”

He was a bit nervous.

Seeing Zheng Yichen like this, she couldn’t help but let out a light laugh. “What were you thinking?”

“Uh… nothing…” Zheng Yichen pouted, flatly denying that he had indeed thought too much.

“Is that so~?”

His free claw scratched his head forcefully. How to put it? This version of Loris made him genuinely hard to handle. Comparing her to her usual self, Zheng Yichen was now completely confused about which one was the real her. Seeing his dilemma, Loris gently shook her head and continued, “Really, you don’t need to care too much. The me right now is also me… Mm, maybe after these things are gone, I’ll find my current behavior very embarrassing. But for now, it’s good.”

Zheng Yichen immediately thought of an anecdote he saw online before he transmigrated. It was a letter written by one’s sober self to one’s drunk self… and then the drunk self left a note on the letter cursing their own ridiculous actions…

“I worried you during this time.” Seeing Zheng Yichen stuttering and unable to speak, Loris shook her head. She pointed at the black patterns on her body. “These things interfered with me to some extent. During that period, I couldn’t use the Magic Weapon Summoning Book well.”

“It’s fine as long as you’re okay. In the future, don’t go handling such things alone.”

“Ha~ Don’t forget, you’re still very weak right now.” Loris gently patted the tip of Zheng Yichen’s claw. “Although what you lack most is time… Mm, don’t push yourself too hard. I can handle many things.”

“That’s true, but the problem is, whenever you all take action, it always attracts trouble,” Zheng Yichen said, gently placing Loris on her bed. “Let’s change the topic, change the topic.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to immerse himself in this atmosphere a bit longer, but the problem was, looking at his current body, what atmosphere could there be? If there was any atmosphere, he could also use the reflection in Loris’s eyes as a mirror to see his own appearance. After seeing that, any atmosphere vanished.

“Another topic then? I don’t have much to say. I’ve either been looking for trouble with those Derivative Witches or on the way to look for trouble. What about you? What have you been doing lately?”

Zheng Yichen straightforwardly took out a file. “I’ve been tinkering with a new plan.”

Loris took the file and looked at it seriously. “Hmm? Nightmare Realm…”

Looking at the rich expressions Loris showed even while being serious, Zheng Yichen felt a bit troubled. So, he was feeling conflicted. Which was better: her usual emotionless self, or the way she was now? After carefully reading through Zheng Yichen’s plan, Loris placed the file aside and looked up at Zheng Yichen. “What do you need me to do?”

“Be the GM.” Zheng Yichen had already thought of this when he planned to create a Nightmare Realm as a pseudo-infinite flow space. As for Annie and Irene, their research wouldn’t stop. Loris wasn’t like them; she neither studied magic nor researched knowledge in the Life Domain.

Her recent Potionology was just… out of boredom, right?

She was more like a Warrior, a special Warrior. Therefore, when it came to some particular matters, Zheng Yichen had very little discussion with her. But one thing couldn’t be denied: Loris was currently the highest DPS among all the Witches here.

The reason she seemed so idle was simply that there weren’t any matters currently requiring her to take action. But that didn’t mean she could be overlooked. Just like the military in peacetime: there was no war during peacetime, but who could deny the importance of the military?

Currently, for Zheng Yichen’s level, the entire Continent was in a period of peace. Although there were conflicts, those conflicts were mostly between countries and factions. Grand battles between High-tier Professionals? Unless this world fell into chaos. Tracing back history, the period when Loris could best demonstrate her presence was during the Abyssal Calamity.

At other times, she was a strategic deterrent. Inaction was fine, but once she acted, it always attracted a heap of trouble. In peacetime, if anyone randomly launched a Nuclear Bomb, it would cause high alertness among major nations.

So, Zheng Yichen had the idea of finding something for the idle Loris to do. Research truly wasn’t suitable for her, even though she was a good student… Witches, once they went to Earth, all became top female scholars.

“GM… Administrator?”

“Yes. According to the plan, once the Nightmare Realm starts operating, there will definitely be a group of restless people wanting to uncover its secrets. Whether to find me as the Creator or to have ideas about the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, the Nightmare Realm can’t be like the warehouse in the Personal Space, where the defense can just be set to the extreme…”

To this day, Zheng Yichen’s Personal Space remained the safest place. It was a super vault jointly created by several Witches, a place where anyone who came would die. Even Witches couldn’t expect a good outcome, let alone some old monsters trying to cause trouble. If they really tried, well, just pull them over and see if such existences could gain any advantage against several Witches.

But the Nightmare Realm Zheng Yichen wanted to create now was different. This was a special space meant to constantly admit people. Therefore, its defensiveness couldn’t be like that of the storage area, where just strengthening it like crazy would be enough. If strengthened too much, it would become an absolutely sealed thing, making it impossible to pull people in. If too weak, any powerful person could simply crack it.

Irene would build the shell of the Nightmare Realm, while Zheng Yichen would handle the interior himself.

“If the World Barrier Fragment hadn’t been used, that thing would have been a great carrier,” Loris said after thinking for a moment.

The World Barrier Fragment… without that thing, they really wouldn’t have known how to deal with someone like the Undying Witch, whom others could hardly kill no matter how hard they tried. Just like a certain serial killer model worker Jason who appeared in over ten series; even though he was killed every time, he always showed up in the next installment. His resilience was simply beyond resilient.

“What about using Ice Soul as a substitute…”

“She would escape.” Loris said with certainty. Ice Soul was good, but it wasn’t absolute. Compared to the World Barrier, the difference was too great. That thing was enough to trap Derivative Witches, but trapping the Undying Witch would only result in the word “gone.”

“Tsk… I’ll think of another idea.” Zheng Yichen rested his chin on his hand. There were two problems. The first was that he needed to first learn the enhanced super-tier Nightmare Magic improved by Irene. The second was finding a suitable Server… Although the Magic Weapon Summoning Book was the final carrier, it couldn’t hold just anything. Like Zheng Yichen’s current plan.

Once this Nightmare Magic was used, it would be permanently fixed, not activated only when used. If that thing was dispelled once, all of Zheng Yichen’s constructions would disappear. So, the ‘Server’ had to be found with sufficient quality!

“No need to rush thinking. The speed at which you solve problems has never been faster than the speed at which you create them…”

Zheng Yichen let out a slightly awkward light cough. About this point, Zheng Yichen was actually a bit proud. After all, as someone from Earth, with the ability to realize his ideas in various ways, how could he willingly let those ideas go unrealized?

Today, he was going to create an infinite flow! Make everyone in the world work diligently for him! Hmph hmph hmph…

“That is my pride.” For some reason, Zheng Yichen’s spirits suddenly rose, and his tone went up several percent. Loris looked at Zheng Yichen with some surprise for a moment, then nodded slightly.

“Then you are my pride.”

“Eh heh!?”

“…Has this dragon gone crazy?” Looking at Zheng Yichen, who was inexplicably in high spirits, Annie couldn’t help but shake her head. She was curious about what happened after Loris took him away that got him all pumped up like he was injected with something. She looked at another spot where Loris was holding a book and couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. After letting herself go, even the books she read were different—it was actually the popular ‘romance’ genre among Humans.

“She will regret it.” Irene glanced at Loris’s state and said. The more she let herself go, the greater the backlash would be upon recovery.

Perhaps the current state was Loris’s true nature, but it was meaningless. She had lived for so long that such a nature had long been worn away by years of ingrained habits. Just like a hypocrite who, after pretending for a lifetime, became no different from a true gentleman… Loris had lived far longer than an ordinary person’s lifetime.

“I’d really like to see her regretful look. After all, she always locked herself in her bedroom before, which was too stifling. Being a bit mischievous now and interacting more is also good.” Annie crossed her arms and said, “As that dragon says, once Dan Marina returns, we can gather enough for a game of Mahjong.”

“You like having many people?” Irene stopped what she was doing.

“Of course. Before my Awakening, I quite liked hosting gatherings. It’s just that there hasn’t been a chance afterwards.” Annie said, crossing her arms. She was the only one among the Witches Zheng Yichen knew who had a surname. The others, whether Dan Marina or Qin, had no surnames—either from ordinary families or they abandoned their surnames after Awakening.

“If the Witches’ situation improved a bit more, I’d actually like to create some small amusement parks or something.” Annie rested her chin on her hand. “Places like a Witches’ game room. Nice idea, right?”

“I think you’ve just been influenced by that dragon.”

Annie didn’t deny Irene’s words. “Consider it so. After all, from when I first saw him until now, he has always been striving to try and change the Witches’ situation. But us? We’ve really lived too long. Put nicely, we avoid the world to prevent conflicts and disasters. Put less nicely, it’s pretty much no different from being lazy slackers.”

Have Witches ever considered their own situation more? Annie would affirm, yes! But such considerations were all based on the starting point of self-interest. Just as she said, living for so long led to becoming selfish… as long as one was fine oneself, why think about changing the overall situation? It would be exhausting and the success rate was particularly slim. Moreover, other Witches might not appreciate it; not to mention sarcastic remarks, some might even turn hostile because of it.

Did you really think Witches, having lived so long, had no more drive? It was precisely because they had lived so long and were all smart that they wouldn’t recklessly do such things. The more they knew, the more reservations they had. But Zheng Yichen didn’t know any of this, so he started doing it very early on.

“He is not doing this for us.” Irene remained silent for a moment before speaking. Their voices were at normal volume, but because they didn’t want Zheng Yichen to hear their current conversation, he was completely unaware. Otherwise, his tail would probably be sticking up by now.

“That’s true, but what he does will ultimately affect all of us. So, whether it’s for us or not, the meaning is the same.”

“Being able to meet him back then was… a good thing.” Loris’s voice suddenly chimed in. Annie and Irene were not surprised; instead, their curiosity was piqued, especially Annie, who looked at Loris with a meaningful gaze.

“A good thing is a good thing, but I noticed you seem a bit distracted since you came back. Thinking about something, or did you encounter something special in Jora Town? Enough to make you feel an unwarranted sense of relief now?”

“One can only say the inertia of fate power is truly formidable.” Loris slightly narrowed her eyes. “I don’t wish to go into detail. In short, I encountered an existence that made me very displeased.”

“Then he was really unlucky.” Annie keenly caught the flash of killing intent in Loris’s eyes. She was currently in a state of ‘true emotions revealed,’ so some characteristics were very obvious. The fact that she produced killing intent meant she genuinely wanted to directly kill whatever existence she met in Jora Town.

“Not entirely. His luck was quite good. Although it made me somewhat unhappy, it was just that.” Loris shook her head, not elaborating on the specifics of what happened or why. “Also, don’t you two go inquiring about this matter!”

Zheng Yichen hadn’t noticed some issues, but that didn’t mean Annie and the others couldn’t realize something if they knew what she did in Jora Town. But now, it wasn’t an important matter anymore. The inertia of the Threads of Fate made her do some things, pass through some places that seemed necessary… However, all of that had become meaningless now.

“Got it, got it…” Annie waved her hand. Although Loris was currently letting herself go and her speaking style was somewhat different, that didn’t mean she would lose her memory afterwards. Since the Witch explicitly stated she didn’t want outsiders to know about some private matters, trying to find ways to inquire would be asking for a fight.

The two of them weren’t like that woman Dan Marina, who acted as she pleased but could still grasp a certain degree. Although the final result would inevitably involve getting hit, there was a difference between being beaten to death and just being beaten.

“Huh? That thing… wait for me a moment.” Annie noticed Zheng Yichen taking out a small section of hollow bone that looked like a straw in his claw and immediately interrupted the conversation to approach Zheng Yichen.

“Lend me this for… no, this is a legitimate need for researching Transformation Magic. Not too much, just a bit is enough.” Annie said. Regarding this, Zheng Yichen directly gave her a small piece of ‘God Bone’ about the size for a Ring. This thing and that Flesh Stone were of the same origin, but probably not from the same existence. Zheng Yichen had thought of the characteristics of such things before taking it out, preparing to conduct a rare experiment.

Zheng Yichen had previously experimented with the characteristics of the God Bone. The energy flowing inside this thing would remain in an unbelievably stable state—yes, stable! Even when Zheng Yichen stuffed light and Dark Element into it, the two energies that should have violently conflicted outside peacefully ‘merged’ together inside this hollow arm bone. Although it didn’t produce a derivative change like ice and fire mixing to create a new form of energy.

But this merging was still remarkable. Not something to be underestimated, truly worthy of being related to gods; its characteristics were miraculous. After testing and discovering this effect, Zheng Yichen hadn’t used it because he wanted to wait until he became more awesome in the future to create something big…

Like the Magic Pulse Cannon, a great weapon.

The compatibility of this arm bone was limited to the power infused inside it. Even a tiny bit beyond the coverage range of the arm bone wouldn’t work. Imagine infusing a large amount of energy inside, then twisting it into a ‘pellet’ and firing it… As long as the mixed energy arrangement was handled well, it could largely avoid the massive offset caused by the super conflict when large amounts of mixed energy came together.

Hmm… The explosive power of conflicting energy wouldn’t increase infinitely; one had to consider the offset. If the conflicting energies could avoid offsetting and all react, then theoretically, large amounts of mixed Elemental Power could achieve infinite power increase… However, that was impossible.

In short, although this problem couldn’t be avoided, it didn’t affect Zheng Yichen’s development and adjustments in this area. By minimizing the offset to the greatest extent and accumulating enough Elemental Power infused inside, the power from one shot would be sufficient.

Right now, the Magic Pulse Cannon hadn’t truly started construction, but Zheng Yichen took this thing out first, still valuing the characteristic of the arm bone merging different energies within its coverage range. He intended to use this as one of the materials for carrying the Nightmare Realm, even the main material part.

“This thing helps with researching Transformation Magic?” Zheng Yichen asked curiously. Using the Flesh Stone would be more understandable; he had observable results for that thing’s characteristics. Dan Marina’s Avatar was still in the process of ‘self-evolution.’ This evolution was making that Avatar more and more complete, even showing a trend of developing towards ‘a race,’ and representing a race as an individual existence.

Zheng Yichen now suspected he might not have created an Avatar, but a creation… What exactly did he create back then!

“I’ve read your research notes on this thing. Its effect on energy merging is useful.” Annie said. “Do you want me to explain it to you in detail?”

“Uh… I’ll wait until your research succeeds and read all the research notes at once.” Zheng Yichen refused the possibly lengthy explanation Annie might give next. Understanding only a part of the experiment alone wasn’t very meaningful. It was better to read the complete record later. At least by reading continuously, his train of thought wouldn’t be interrupted, and he could grasp more information. “If this thing isn’t enough, just ask me for more.”

The length of the arm bone didn’t affect the theoretically envisioned Magic Pulse Cannon Zheng Yichen wanted to create. Its function was a ‘energy storage ring.’ In the initial draft design, keeping the arm bone at about five centimeters was enough, as the energy storage step involved compression. Moreover, the energy inside the arm bone was particularly stable; even forced compression wouldn’t cause an explosion. As for the upper limit, Zheng Yichen couldn’t measure it.

“This is enough; this thing isn’t a consumable.” Annie shook her head. She needed this to fix some mana fluctuations. The biggest obstacle in the research process of Transformation Magic was the fluctuation of mana. Even a slight change caused by a tiny fluctuation would lead to the collapse of the entire framework.

With the assistance of this thing, this problem could be partially solved. As for the limitations brought by relying on external assistance? For now, let’s not talk about limitations; first, get the finished product out. Once there’s a finished product, the lacking steps can be researched with specific targets.

After all, this was groping for stones to cross the river. And there were many resources on the other side of the river that could help cross it again. Under such circumstances, naturally, it was best to cross the river first. After crossing, whether it was building boats, making other tools to build a bridge, or directly planting a fenced passage in the river—all were possible!

As long as it met the requirement of crossing the river more easily and allowed subsequent people to cross easily. Of course, the premise for all this was… someone first crossed the river and obtained the resources on the other side. Even if just one person crossed and obtained those resources, it could drive all those after.

Therefore, this wasn’t a shortcut operation but a more efficient choice.

“But you, what are you planning to do with this thing now?”

“It’s for the carrier of the Nightmare Realm. Can’t use the World Barrier Fragment, Ice Soul’s performance isn’t suitable. After picking and choosing, this is the only usable thing I have on hand.”

“… Great idea. Keep trying.”