It felt so good to be close to the witch!

And midnight arrived in this quiet and still environment.

Roy stood up and came behind Lilia, while Lilia took a deep breath, held a high-purity magic crystal in her hand, and began to break through without hesitation.

Just like Shanica's breakthrough process, with the help of high-purity magic crystals, Lilia's "magic pressure" quickly took shape.

Roy was anxiously watching Lilia's condition.

He would intervene immediately if her body showed signs of giving out.

As time went on, the pressure of "magic pressure" gradually increased, and beads of sweat began to appear on Lilia's forehead, while fine bloodstains began to appear on her skin.

The bloodstains were becoming more numerous and denser...

We can't wait any longer!

Roy frowned, about to make a move.

But at that moment, Lilia opened her eyes, looked at Roy with a firm gaze and shook her head slightly. Although she didn't speak, her meaning was clearly and unambiguously conveyed to Roy: I can do it!

Roy's outstretched hand paused mid-air, and he sighed inwardly.

Even a young girl has her own pride...

Under Roy's gaze, jet-black patterns suddenly appeared on Lilia's exposed skin outside her clothes, like a blooming, bewitching flower of hell.

As soon as the dark patterns appeared, Lilia's body, which was prone to tearing apart, quickly stabilized.

"This is?!"

Roy was startled.

He felt a strange pressure from the eerie tattoo, like a traveler walking alone on the edge of a cliff, looking down into the bottomless abyss in the pitch-black night, as if an invisible pair of eyes were staring back at him.

What ability is this?

As Roy pondered with doubt, Lilia's aura gradually increased, quickly surpassing the critical threshold.

The Witch's Heart has been successfully formed!

Grand Prix, Breakthrough!

With her successful advancement to Grand rank, the dark markings on Lilia's body disappeared as if they had never existed. If Roy hadn't witnessed this scene firsthand, he would have had no way of knowing.

Since advancing to the Gold rank, his energy perception ability, brought by his talent [Infinite Desire], has become increasingly refined, yet he could not sense any energy fluctuations on that pitch-black tattoo.

Lilia slowly opened her eyes, her dark pupils becoming even more profound. In their deepest recesses, a faint mark flickered, but its color was so close to black that it was impossible to see clearly and quickly disappeared.

"I did it, Lord Roy." The girl looked up, a genuine smile of joy appearing on her fair face.

"Yes, congratulations." Suppressing his thoughts for the moment, Roy congratulated him with a smile.

In any case, the strange, dark patterns helped Lilia break through, so it shouldn't be a bad thing.

Every witch has her own secrets. Shanica's strange talent for evolution is one such secret, and now Lilia's eerie black tattoos are another.

Roy himself has many secrets, and there's no need to delve too deeply into them.

Watching Lilia begin to adapt to her newfound magic and talent, Roy pondered something else entirely.

That's the difficulty of breaking through to the Grand rank.

Even with the foundation of nine runes from the first stage of the Basic Meditation Method, and with zero pollution on their bodies that wouldn't have a negative impact during the breakthrough process, neither Shanika nor Lilia could be said to have had a smooth journey to the Grand rank.

The burden of "magic pressure" on the body is too intense. The primary function of the nine runes in the first stage of the basic breathing technique is to protect the heart, which is far from enough to protect the body.

Shanica relies on her extremely rare "healing" talent, while Lilia relies on her eerie black tattoos.

Even for those with such excellent conditions, breaking through is so difficult; one can only imagine how difficult it must be for ordinary witches to break through.

Therefore, it can be seen that even in a witch guild with a complete lineage, the number of Grand Witches is extremely small.

Roy remembered something: in the fragments of the Moon Witch Cecilia's memories, it seemed that there were fewer than five witches who would reach the Grand Rank.

The malice this world has towards witches is far too great... This thought involuntarily surfaced in Roy's mind.

In secular society, witches are hunted down by temples and witch research departments; their bodies and souls are tormented by terrifying pollution, which is like a persistent thorn in their side; and their cultivation is far more difficult than that of knights.

It seems that witches are being rejected by all sides.

Could it be that the witch's unreasonable and overwhelming fighting power has attracted the world's backlash?

Roy had no idea.

But no matter what, he was already bound to the witch beside him; their fates were intertwined.

Therefore, even if the world harbors such deep malice towards witches, he will do everything in his power to protect them.

He was just a nobody, unable to care about so much. All he could do was protect himself, the witches around him, and his friends, nothing more.

With those thoughts gone, Roy glanced at Lilia, who was meditating with her eyes closed, and turned to leave.

……

When Roy returned to the courtyard, Vivian, who had been anxiously waiting for a long time, immediately looked over.

"Success."

Hearing Roy's words, Vivian finally felt relieved. The long tension made her feel a little dizzy, and she took several deep breaths to calm down.

Elena, who was standing nearby, gently hugged her, offering comfort through her gesture.

The other witches also smiled.

Roy took a step and jumped onto the roof, arriving beside Ais, whose crimson dress was fluttering slightly in the night breeze.

He sat down half a meter away from Ais.

A gentle breeze blew in his face as he gazed at the crimson crescent moon in the sky, which seemed to be the closed eye of a god. Roy's thoughts were in turmoil.

Although he has only been in this world for less than a month, this period of time has become increasingly important in his life, and before he knew it, it had surpassed his previous life.

Raising his hand, letting the night wind slip through his fingers, Roy murmured, "Meeting you all was my good fortune."

Ais opened her eyes and turned to look at Roy. Although she didn't know why Roy suddenly said such a thing, there was a very soft look in the depths of her cold and frosty eyes: "Meeting you is also my luck."

Roy smiled slightly, but another thought remained unspoken, sinking deep into his soul and becoming etched in his memory—"Therefore, I will protect my luck, no matter the cost!"

Chapter 138 Sparks and the Setting Moon

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Three days have passed since Shanica and Lilia broke through.

Blackrock Lord's Mansion, Inner Training Grounds.

Snowflakes, as fine as goose feathers, fell softly, and the biting wind stung my face.

In just a few days, Blackstone Territory, which had transitioned from late autumn to the depths of winter, was completely transformed into a snow-covered town.

The frigid temperatures, dropping to minus thirty degrees Celsius, meant that the town streets were almost deserted. Unless absolutely necessary, no ordinary person would choose to leave the warm house with the fireplace burning at this time.

The falling snow turned large patches of Roy's clothes pure white.

He looked at the two rows of Black Stone Knights in front of him and a faint smile appeared on his face.

Spurred by the previous five successful cases, the remaining fifteen official knights unleashed unprecedented momentum, and in just two days, all of them completed the adaptive adjustment of the breathing technique.

Subsequently, under Roy's "secret magic," they were all promoted to Bronze Knights without exception.

At this point, all twenty reserve members selected for the Blackrock Knights were converted into Blackrock Knights, which also meant a significant increase in the grassroots extraordinary power of Blackrock Territory and Iron Mountain Territory.

Looking at the twenty spirited bronze knights below, Roy slowly spoke:

"According to the intelligence reported by the patrol knights, yesterday, several territories around Blackrock Territory began to experience ferocious beasts that attacked people. Although no signs of ferocious animals have been found yet, it is foreseeable that this winter will not be peaceful."

"The appearance of ferocious animals is inevitable, and even monsters may appear."

"You all know how ferocious these wild animals and monsters are, so I don't need to go into too much detail. If they are not eradicated in time, your family members may be among those who are harmed."

"So from now on, you will form groups of four, with the first five to complete the breakthrough serving as team leaders. You will patrol Blackrock Territory and Iron Mountain Territory alternately, making sure to eliminate any ferocious animals that invade the towns as soon as possible. And if you discover any trace of magical beasts, even the slightest clue, you must report it to Red immediately. Do you understand?"

"Understood!" the twenty Blackrock Knights shouted in unison.

Their eyes were filled with respect and admiration as they looked at their lord.

It wasn't just because Lord Roy helped them advance to the extraordinary level and become Bronze Knights, but also because, compared to their time as ordinary people, now that they were at the Bronze level, they could more clearly feel the huge gap between themselves and Lord Roy.

It's like an ant standing in front of a giant. No matter how hard it tries to look up, it can't see the giant's height. It can only feel the despair and trembling that envelops its whole body.

Lord Roy must be a super knight whose strength far surpasses that of Commander Red.

Silver's pinnacle? Or perhaps, gold?

The Black Stone Knights speculated inwardly, their eyes burning with even greater fervor.

"Uncle Red, the rest is up to you."

After giving the general order, Roy looked at the middle-aged knight standing a step behind him, wearing dark silver armor, and smiled.

"Rest assured," Red said solemnly, giving a knightly salute.

“Hmm.” Roy nodded.

After the Blackrock Knights were officially formed, they patrolled the land and were monitored in the sky by Lilia's Shadow Raven squads, achieving a unified air and land force with greatly improved precision and power.

Those at the Gold level and above might be unable to detect their presence, but those below the Gold level could never infiltrate Blackstone Territory and Iron Mountain Territory silently.

The improved surveillance system put Roy at ease, and he then turned and walked back to the courtyard at a faster pace.

Today, he is about to undertake a major task—to commission the mechanical witch Toni, to have weapons and armor custom-made for him using the finest metals in the territory.

To be fair, the "rare" grade armor left by the original owner's father was indeed of good quality, but how should I put it, it's no longer appropriate.

The equipment quality of the Radiant Empire is divided into five levels, from low to high: Common, Rare, Precious, Legacy, and the highest level, Epic.

The classification of equipment grades is based on the combat level they can support: "Common" is from ordinary people to formal knights, "Rare" is bronze knights, "Extraordinary" is silver knights, and "Legendary" is gold knights. "Epic" is legendary knights.

Equipment of "Rare" grade and above has unique enchantment attributes. For example, the knight's sword left by the original owner's father has an enchantment called "Sharpness", which makes the knight's sword sharper than other weapons of the same grade.

As for whether there are higher grades above "Epic"?

The answer is of course yes.

That is, the forbidden thing.

The equipment tiers mentioned above apply to defining the quality of equipment crafted by humans themselves, and do not include forbidden items formed by chance.