Cornflower Witch

Chapter 72 Strange World
The two trekked through the mountains, searching for the place where Hiltiya's memories had awakened.

As the journey progressed, Hilti felt an increasing sense of familiarity; she could even smell the faint scent of withered leaves in the air.

“There should be a wolf carcass here.” Hilti stopped and looked at the clearing in the shade of the trees.

Unfortunately, there were no wolf carcasses, not even any remains or bones.

Could it have been carried away by some other animal? The girl couldn't help but wonder, and then she slowly walked toward the open space.

At this moment, a peculiar feeling seemed to be guiding her. As Hilti moved forward, she felt as if she were walking on some kind of underwater surface. Everything around her was shaking and twisting, but the sensation under her feet and the tree trunk beside her still told her that the earth was not shaking and nothing had happened.

……

On a snowless afternoon, the sky remained overcast. Taliel followed behind Sylphia, watching her walk toward the open space.

Suddenly, a strange shaking occurred, making Taliel wonder if she was seeing things. She rubbed her eyes, but when she opened them again, Hiltiah, who had been in front of her just moments before, had vanished.

On the other side, Hilti walked across the clearing, following the strange feeling that drew her forward, step by step, toward the forest.

Unbeknownst to her, Taliel called out to her from behind, but there was only movement and no sound, as if the two were in different worlds.

Hilti continued forward. As she crossed the clearing in the forest, it was as if she had reached the shore. The swaying and twisting in her vision disappeared instantly, and her mind cleared. When she looked up, she found that the whole world had changed.

The world overhead was exceptionally dark, with clouds hanging low and thick, seemingly pressing down on the ground. Through the gaps in the clouds, faint slivers of light seeped down into this grayish-white world.

That's right, this world is almost entirely gray and white; there are no vibrant colors, only black, white, and gray.

At this moment, Hilti took off her hood, placed one hand on the tree trunk beside her, and kept turning around to observe the surrounding situation.

Is this still the same forest and mountainous area she was in just a moment ago? She looked at the drastically changed scene before her.

Although it was the same hillside, the trees in the forest were all twisted to varying degrees, making them look particularly eerie and strange. Moreover, she saw many mushrooms at the tree roots on the ground. These mushrooms were very rare, and some were even said to be extinct.

Some are deep purple with white snowflake patterns, some are like red umbrellas with many folds, opening layer by layer, and some are a deep blue, their bodies flickering like dim starlight.

Even without getting close, she could sense the 'sexual energy' emanating from these mushrooms, some of which had even fully condensed into 'first-order' sexual energy.

"Nightmare"—she muttered to herself as she looked at the deep purple mushroom covered in snowflakes, then turned her gaze to the next one.

She actually saw the "Blood Law" attribute on the mushroom. Could it be that the attributes of mushrooms are so inclusive and arbitrary?

By the way, these mushrooms have 'color,' which is a major difference from other things.

The terrain where she stood now followed the same direction as when she arrived, but the trees on the mountain were completely different, the soil and grass beneath her feet, and even the sky above her head had changed entirely, as if...

Different periods of the same land!

Sylvia's mind was filled with a lot of questions, but this was not the time to consider the causes. She had to find a way to return to Taliel's side, which was the normal world she had been in before.

This is a world with extraordinary phenomena, a world with all sorts of legends and stories. When Hiltiah fell into this strange and different environment, she immediately thought of the rumors in those stories.

A child lost in the mountains on a snowy night, stepping through that door to the fairy garden, a strange banquet seen in a dream. Various fairy tales depict worlds vastly different from reality. Those places may truly exist, but are incomprehensible to ordinary people, like the witch Taliel mentioned not long ago. Perhaps some force separates such strange worlds from reality, and she had unintentionally crossed that boundary just now.

Leaning against the tree, Hiltiya sorted out her thoughts, slowly calming her previously anxious and uneasy mood, and regaining her composure.

She lightly touched her brow with her finger, then focused her attention on her pupils, gazing into the distance.

At that moment, her gaze seemed to penetrate the gray-white forest before her, reaching into a much more distant place.

Yes... it's a gray world, but not entirely.

In this gray world, places with 'color' are scattered like colorful bubbles, and where there are 'bubbles', plants are more vibrant and their shapes are more 'distorted'.

"Let's try walking first," she told herself.

Drawing the short sword from beneath her cloak and holding it in her hand, Hilti slowly stepped forward, preparing to leave the 'colorful bubble' she was in and enter that gray and white world.

However, the moment she stepped into that gray world, a strange sense of distortion came from her toes, as if her left foot had been caught in a running factory machine, about to be crushed into pieces.

Intense pain instantly spread throughout her body. At this moment, she almost instinctively activated the 'Cui Mi' sexual aspect within her, trying to break free.

The 'Emerald Honey' sensation spread and covered the entire body. When it reached the ankles, the twisted power was corrected, and the pain gradually disappeared.

Withdrawing her foot, Hilti bent down, hugging her left foot to relieve the pain, and pressing and stroking it with great concern, afraid that she had twisted her ankle and wouldn't be able to walk.

But it was all an illusion. The intense pain she had just experienced had not left any marks on her feet. Even when she checked herself with her [Identification Eye] ability, she appeared to be perfectly healthy.

Slightly relieved of her earlier worries, Hilti stood up again.

This time, she learned her lesson and used the power of the 'Emerald Honey' essence to wrap her fingers, carefully touching the gray world. When her fingertips dipped into that gray world, a strange phenomenon occurred: the color of the 'Emerald Honey' and the gray world canceled each other out, and a strange coolness spread.

In other words, when she uses the 'Emerald Honey' aspect, she can offset the pain of entering the gray world and travel through it relatively safely.

However, this offsetting will consume the power of the 'Cui Mi' aspect. If she cannot reach the next 'colorful bubble' before it is exhausted, will she be twisted and shattered by this gray and white world?
After thinking it over, Hiltiya stepped back, looked around, and found the nearest colored bubble, which was only 50 meters away.

Fifty meters! Can she make it? No, we still need to do an experiment.

Over the next half hour, Hilti tried inserting her entire arm into the gray world, then half her body, and finally her whole body.

Stepping completely into the gray world brought a completely different physical sensation, as if she were underwater in complete stillness. All sounds were far away, and her senses could hardly spread. Moreover, as long as she remained still, the 'Emerald Honey' aspect within her body would not be consumed.

This scene reminded her once again of painting, and of paintbrushes and paints.

The world is like a blank sheet of paper, and she is the paintbrush. The power of nature she controls is like paint. Moving the paintbrush will inevitably consume paint and leave marks on the blank sheet. However, if the paintbrush does not move, the paint will not be consumed.

After figuring out the basic rules of this world, Hilti gradually calmed down and began to attempt a real exploration.

(End of this chapter)