Chapter 272: Chapter 235 The Changing Witch Chapter 272: Chapter 235 The Changing Witch Cornered, the wild beast fought with savage desperation, yet the hunter’s sinew lines had already silently ensnared its limbs. In its panic as its center of gravity shifted, the butcher’s blade came swinging down with force.
“Miracle Water Threads, Miracle Evil Light Slash!”
Precise and elegant, yet brutal and efficient, the first Beast Lord Wulfdragon that Ash and his companions encountered was split open like a ripe melon. With a coat of glossy black hair as if styled by a beauty salon, and a massive body like a dump truck, it was now ultimately destined to dissolve into points of light mingling with the Golden Rain, sinking into the soil to become nourishment.
Several Technique Spirits took the chance to flee, only to be casually captured by the trio.
“There’s hardly any difference from the usual horde of monsters.”
Sonia sheathed her sword, crossed her fingers, and stretched her joints in a relaxing motion like a Gourmet reviewing a dish, “But the last Wulfdragon had its merits. I’ll give 2 points for scales, 3 for movements, 4 for the texture of the meat, but 5 for the skull—it’s like chips, so crisp and crunchy—”
“That comment will ensure that chips are off my menu for at least the next five days. My body fat thanks you,” Ash grumbled. “But to be fair, this Wulfdragon was as strong as other large creatures and could command other Wulfdragons too. It almost severely injured you three times.”
“But you were there too,” Sonia glanced at Ash and suddenly noticed an extremely cute girl in her field of vision. Her wide-eyed expression seemed to be anticipating something, and a tuft of red hair proudly stood up, as if longing to be smoothed down.
Sonia, with no other choice, reached out to tousle Diya’s hair. “And besides, I have a super amazing Witch right here. How could a mere Wulfdragon escape our miraculous teamwork?”
“Exactly!” Diya proudly put her hands on her hips. “As long as the Sword Maiden stays with me, even ten more wouldn’t be a problem!”
“If you can attract the ire of ten Wulfdragons as steadfastly as capitalists do to laborers, I wouldn’t mind your enthusiastic job performance,” Ash clapped his hands, “Alright then, it’s time to collect our cut of the treasure. Let’s see what surprises the Wulfdragon has prepared for us.”
The Wulfdragon’s lair was the third resource point they found that night and the first Beast Lord resource point they stumbled upon—aside from thirteen Wulfdragons, there was also one Beast Lord Wulfdragon.
Of course, the battle wasn’t as easy as these three made it sound as if they were cheaters teaming up in a single-player game. Beast Lords possessed combat power nearly equal to large creatures and could command packs of creatures to assist in battle, showing no mercy.
The underlings shamelessly launched sneak attacks while the leader struck, and even a Combat Mage adept at area attacks would be as helpless against this kind of mob as a student who only realized they had homework on the last day of summer vacation.
Luckily, Ash and his companions were equally shameless. They found a narrow corridor and, not satisfied, they blew up the walls to constrict the space even further, allowing only enough room for two young girls to maneuver. Ash stood behind, thrusting with his Heart Sword, quickly depleting the Wulfdragon’s minions. What followed was a one-on-one fight with the Beast Lord Wulfdragon against the three of them.
Hard-fought, their reward from this resource point was abundant. The lair contained three types of resources still in production: wood, mercury, and sulfur.
Wood and ore were the cheapest materials; the first two resource points that evening had been wood and ore. But mercury and sulfur were rare finds.
“Red Sulfur” was the best fuel for Mages specializing in Fire Technique and gun technique, while “Stone Flowing Silver” was the universal lubricant for Technique Spirits of the Poison Skill, Water Magic, and mechanical factions.
The rarer the material, the wider the range of Technique Spirits that could be nurtured, and the stronger the effects. Conversely, common wood and ore materials were quite picky for Technique Spirits and yielded poor cultivation results.
Sometimes, Ash even wondered if it was he who was the servant and the Technique Spirits the masters. Otherwise, why would he risk his life to scavenge for cultivation resources for Technique Spirits?
All things considered, the Wulfdragon’s lair was likely their best haul of the night.
Ash looked at the pool of mercury before him, next to a machine that seemed crudely made yet somewhat complex, as if a Beastman had drunkenly assembled unreplicable art from a pile of parts.
Yet, this contraption, which belonged in a museum, had been operated by the Wulfdragon’s Technique Spirits up until now, extracting mercury from the pond to refine valuable materials like “Stone Flowing Silver” and “Stone Milk Silver.”
Ash looked around; the Wulfdragon’s lair was a cave teeming with wildly growing vines. Moreover, lacking any intention to construct a drainage system, the monstrous defecation gave the place a robust natural aroma.
Ceiling angles suggesting a square shape, the remnants of pillars where only bases remained after a collapse, and an object in the corner that once served as a hearth but was now a Wulfdragon’s urinal were all proofs that the Wulfdragons were merely tenants here, not the landlords.
Of course, there was also the possibility that the landlords had devolved into Wulfdragons themselves, with the enemy and ally sharing the same origin. But given that the Sword Maiden just compared their skulls to chips, Ash decided to forgo the boring speculations, hoping to continue enjoying cucumber-flavored chips six days later.
“Observer! Observer!”
The Witch ran up to him, stretching out her hand, “This is Windwood, and this Purple Sulfur, you’ll need them!”
“Don’t mention it!” The Witch then dashed off to scavenge other resources.
Ash’s gaze followed her figure before Sonia stealthily appeared beside him, “The Witch today… she’s a bit strange.”
Ash had also noticed—noticing was inevitable. Today, the Witch had black hair and a black dress that reached her knees, not the white miniskirt from yesterday that showcased her ‘absolute territory.’ The change was starkly apparent.
She had also altered her combat style, no longer transforming into fire-clad warrior. Instead, her gloves morphed into a sheer rose red, and a strand of her hair seemed to have been dyed a dark crimson, giving off a red and black mixed vibe.
But Sonia wasn’t referring to her change of clothes—it was the Witch’s changed demeanor.
Unlike last night’s composure and calmness, tonight’s Witch was as lively as the cream on a cake, and she became very gullible—after just two battles, Sonia had effortlessly learned about all of the Witch’s Technique Spirits and Miracles as well as her preferred style of fighting. Their relationship had also grown by leaps and bounds in just one day.
If this were the real world, they would be at the level of holding hands while going to the bathroom together.
Moreover, after the first battle ended, Sonia couldn’t help but pat the Witch’s head, which was adorned with a sprout of crimson hair, under the guise of praising her. Unexpectedly, the Witch became unstoppable, appearing in her line of sight after each battle, urging Sonia to praise her with her expressive hair.
What kind of place could possibly breed such a personality?
Even the girls in Jiale City couldn’t be this easy to dupe, could they?
But these weren’t the main points. The key issue was that the Witch was trying to ingratiate herself with the Observer and Sonia in a very clumsy manner. And because of the friendly demeanor Sonia had shown, the Witch seemed to think there was no need to put more effort into their side, so she kept running to the Observer.
Giving materials to the Observer, asking what colors the Observer liked, complimenting how good the Observer looked today… it was cringeworthy enough to make one pick at their toes.
Yet this foolishly adorable Witch seemed even harder for Sonia to handle.
If it were the composed Witch from last night, Sonia could have gone all out and used all her tricks to contend with her.
Although Sonia was now at the top tier of Sword Flower University, when she first enrolled, she had experienced all the faction rivalries, class politics, dormitory contempt hierarchies, and the small circles of girls—she and Lois had been at each other’s throats just a month ago.
If ‘dealing with a crafty woman’ could be classified as a Magic Faction, Sonia felt she could easily nab a Golden Level in that category.
Sonia initially suspected the Witch of adopting a ‘clueless and cute’ approach to win hearts, as the naive and sweet always had their appeal. Dedarose had even starred in a few dramas titled “Arrogant Prince Falls for the Naive Sweetheart,” and Sonia herself had used that angle to boost her popularity at the academy during her first semester. She knew all too well the lethal attraction of such innocent unawareness.
Especially the lethality of pretending, because true naivety might not grasp the nuances, while a calculated act could hit just the right notes without causing irritation.
But Sonia realized that the Witch was genuinely naive.
The Witch was as if she had torn off last night’s defensive Werewolf mask, revealing her harmless and innocent lamb’s countenance underneath. She seemed to lack experience in interacting with peers, her approach to relationships involved laying her heart bare and shouting, ‘Look at this, look at this!’ Even country kids had more street smarts than her.
Sonia was an expert at feigning innocence, and even she couldn’t spot any pretense. So if it wasn’t an act, what was with last night’s White Witch?
Ash had some guesses; after all, he knew the Witch’s Innate Talent was Personality Split. Clearly, the Witch from last night and the Witch from tonight were not the same persona.
However, should he piece of intel with the Sword Maiden?
Or should he be the one to tell her?
“I suggest you ask her directly, after all, it should be her private matter.”
“Why not just tell me if you know.”
“What if the Witch asks about your secrets, should I be honest in my reply?”
Ash waved his hand dismissively before Sonia could retort, as if he were shooing away an annoying fly: “I know what you’re going to say—yes, feelings show depth because of their intensity, relationships show closeness because of their proximity, and you rightfully should have more privilege here with me than the Witch does, like discussing her gossip behind her back.”
“I like discussing gossip too, but the premise is those people won’t become colleagues we see every day. The three of us are going to be comrades who stick together through thick and thin in the foreseeable future, and occasionally whispering and griping about a third party is one thing, but we shouldn’t develop a habit of privately discussing teammates’ gossip—that way, every time Sword Maiden you see me and the Witch standing together, you’ll definitely think we’re whispering secrets behind your back.”
Sonia immediately objected, “I’m not that sensitive!”
“The only thing in the world more sensitive than you is probably Secret Poison,” Ash said irritably. “Although if our team grows in the future, forming clicks and groups would be inevitable, but with just three of us right now, I hope we can maintain an atmosphere of a student interest group level, and enter the dirty adult world filled with co-worker gossip later.”
“Actually, I have a question I’ve been wanting to ask you for a long time—what does ‘gossip’ mean?”
“You didn’t understand?”
“I can sort of guess it means talking bad about others based on the context.”
“It really just means talking about right and wrong.”
“And what does that mean?”
“Are you picking a fight?” Ash grew impatient, “If you want to know the Witch’s secrets, just go ask her directly!”
“But asking someone directly about their secrets can make one seem to have low emotional intelligence…”
“I’ll help you with that, I’m curious too.”
Without hesitation, Ash took Sonia by the hand and led her to find Diya. Sonia was startled by his straightforward hand-holding—it wasn’t their first time holding hands, after all, they had clasped hands while soaring through the Sea of Knowledge, and they had supported each other during battles, but this was the first such casual contact in everyday life.