5: Act 2 Sophie’s World 5: Act 2 Sophie’s World This house, although old, was spotlessly clean, carefully maintained by its previous owner——
Sophie looked up and saw the half-collapsed skeleton that had fallen to the ground when she pushed it earlier.
The pile of white bones lay quietly there; the only casualty among the undead scouts due to Brand’s final strike before his death.
Sophie knew that skeleton soldiers indeed lacked intelligence, but those manipulated by a Corpse Witch were entirely different.
The misjudgment wasn’t actually the young man’s fault since Brand had no idea of any of this,
In peaceful times, not many people knew about it.
The torn painting lay flat on the ground, and the skeleton soldier’s eerie longsword was not far away.
This made Sophie’s gaze retract slightly—Madara had apparently decided to initiate an attack immediately once the scouts retreated, not even bothering to clean the battlefield.
However, this matched his memory of history.
Sophie suddenly raised an eyebrow slightly, her gaze fixed on the torn painting.
She was not mistaken; there was clearly a hidden compartment in the cut frame.
Wait, a family heirloom painting?
Sophie suddenly recalled, could this be the famous Buqi painting?
She immediately struggled to walk over, cautiously listening to the surroundings.
Sophie knew that the one who killed Brand must have been a low-level Corpse Witch—although low-level, it was more than enough to deal with ordinary people.
In the ‘game,’ low-level Corpse Witches could perform some basic black witchcraft and could also summon skeletons and zombies from nearby cemeteries.
They were deceitful by nature and accustomed to ambushes, posing a great threat to those who did not understand them.
But Sophie was different because she feared she knew the enemy better than they did——
She bent down, pulling apart the frame of the painting.
With a ding, a ring rolled out.
She couldn’t help but gasp softly.
The design of this ring was all too familiar: a silver ring slightly glowing in the dark, with an ordinary circular exterior and a Wind Queen’s Holy Mark on its central surface.
This kind of pattern was uncommon in the South of Erune.
This was the emblem of Northern Holy Orso——
Sophie carefully wiped the ring with her thumb.
This was indeed the famous Wind Queen’s Ring, the reward for the ‘Buqi’s Painting’ quest, a task that disappeared in the next game version.
Consequently, the number of people who knew and completed this task was very few.
Sophie was not among them; she had only heard the story.
It was said that this ring was a replica of one of the tokens of the Four Saints, made by Durut, yet how did Brand’s grandfather come to possess it?
In the game, the Wind Queen’s Ring increased dexterity by +1 and could emit a wind bullet to attack an enemy ahead by consuming energy.
In the game, it absorbed energy every ten minutes; it was unknown if that still held true here.
She looked at the ring, her heart pounding with excitement, temporarily forgetting the surrounding danger.
The appearance of this ring confirmed her suspicion that this world was the one she was familiar with.
Sophie couldn’t help but exhale deeply.
She felt a mix of emotions at this moment.
After some hesitation, she slowly placed the ring on her index finger—magic rings only worked when worn on the index or thumb.
In Vaunze, the area between the index and thumb was called the ‘Mysterious Realm’ by the Talan witches, believed to be the gathering point of the body’s magic power, and most spell gestures originated from there.
But for Sophie, this was merely a subconscious action, a behavior constrained by game rules, nothing more.
She was just noticing the actual effect of the ring when a loud noise from the first floor suddenly made her turn her head sharply.
Sophie was startled, immediately becoming alert.
This could be a sound made by the undead—but even if it wasn’t, it could attract outside enemies.
She quickly dropped the painting, instinctively backing up and pressing against the wall, then cautiously watched the hall below.
She immediately saw a sneaky figure.
It was a girl dressed in a plain leather long dress, creeping cautiously out from below.
She looked around nervously—yet failed to notice someone right above her.
The girl clutched a mason’s hammer in her hands—though it seemed heavy for her, she appeared to be searching for something.