It felt so good to be close to the witch!

Feeling the long-lost fresh breath, Roy took a deep breath and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

Although the Star Lake incident did not have a perfect ending, Blackstone Territory was finally able to enjoy a period of peaceful and stable development after it.

Since his transmigration, Roy has been constantly pressured by crises, leaving him no time to slow down or properly prepare for knightly training and combat. But he should be able to relax a lot in the coming period.

Roy thought to himself.

But suddenly, he felt the air in front of him distort and float, and the next moment, a crimson figure appeared in his eyes.

"careful!"

A sharp shout came from beside him, and before Roy could react, the azure particles coalesced in front of him to form Ais's body.

Without the slightest hesitation, Ais immediately launched an attack on the crimson figure.

Four icicles formed a shield that rose around Roy's body, protecting him. Then, a fan-shaped forest of sharp ice pillars spread out toward the crimson figure, reaching him in an instant.

Ais's expression was solemn.

After leaving the hidden place, she focused her senses on the lord's mansion and was quite certain that there were no high-level beings inside.

Could this crimson figure before me be a legend?

The suspicions in her mind stirred up memories of the terrifying power of the legendary knight Sima of the Fangwind, making Ais's expression increasingly tense.

"Boom!"

The ice crystals clashed with the crimson battle aura, but to Ais's surprise, she gained the upper hand in this clash.

Under the bombardment of ice shards, the crimson figure was pushed back all the way, crashing through several walls until it finally stopped in the courtyard dozens of meters away.

At this moment, starting from in front of Ais, a large fan-shaped area spanning dozens of meters was filled with terrifying ice pillars ranging from three to five meters in height to more than ten meters in height. These ice pillars shimmered with a cold light in the early morning light, sending chills down one's spine upon seeing them.

Although Ais was somewhat surprised by the crimson figure's weakness, she did not stop. She raised her right hand and placed it against her left chest, making a grasping motion. In the next instant, an ice sword with a bloodline in the center slowly appeared and she pulled it out.

A terrifyingly low temperature descended upon the place the moment the Bloodline Ice Sword appeared. With a "crackling" sound, everything within a radius of a hundred meters was covered with a layer of white frost.

After raising the magic power stored in the "Witch's Heart" to its maximum limit of 200 units, Ais's strength made significant progress.

If it were her, who had just broken through to the top rank, she definitely wouldn't have been able to do this.

Just as Ais was about to launch her second attack, a hurried female voice came from afar: "Wait, I mean no harm."

Ais paused as she was about to unleash her blood-red ice sword. Of course, the reason she stopped wasn't because of that simple sentence, but because of a long sword that appeared in the hand of the crimson figure in the distance.

The domain-level pressure possessed only by legendary knights emanated from the longsword.

The oppressive feeling this sword gave Ais was not as intense as that of the legendary knight Sima of the Fangwind, but it was definitely an aura that only legends possess.

Gripping the Bloodline Ice Sword, Ais was eager to launch an attack. By now, she had also realized that although the crimson figure's methods of concealing his aura were extremely sophisticated, to the point that even she could not sense him, his strength was not particularly strong. He was only slightly stronger than the black-robed and hooded figure she had encountered a few days ago, and not as strong as the Crimson Sword Callus.

However, the legendary weapon in his hand made Ais somewhat wary, so she temporarily stopped and prepared to listen to what he had to say.

Seeing that the other party had stopped, the crimson figure breathed a sigh of relief. The thick icy mist dissipated and the dust settled, gradually revealing the true appearance of a girl dressed in crimson female scale armor, highlighting her agile yet graceful body curves.

Her straight black hair was tied into a ponytail behind her, and the girl's brown pupils shimmered with a starlight-like luster.

As if sensing something, Ais's hostility subsided slightly, and a hint of doubt flashed in her eyes: "Who are you?"

"Hoo..." Fuma breathed a sigh of relief, her face pale as she looked at the girl with white hair and silver eyes, dressed in a crimson dress, who looked like a snow fairy, dozens of meters away. Her eyes were full of astonishment.

She considered herself to be quite strong, even among the peak of the Gold rank, yet she found it so difficult to resist even a casual strike from her opponent.

Especially the blood-lined ice sword that the other party pulled out later; if Fuma hadn't taken out the longsword that Mr. Andrew had given her in time, she had a premonition that she would never have been able to block that sword.

Is she the white-haired witch that Captain Calles mentioned in his report, the one who blocked him from entering the magic pulse space?

So strong...

Fuma composed herself and spoke in a flat tone, "I am Fuma Soros, daughter of the Border Duke. Your Excellency, and Lord Roy, I have no ill intentions. I have come here simply to make a deal with you."

"I know that the Class A forbidden item - the Lost Ice Coffin - is in your hands."

"My goal is just this. Whatever the conditions, you can set them. As long as it's within my power, I will definitely do it."

Fuma's voice did not echo in the surrounding area, but instead, carried by her battle aura, landed precisely in the area where Roy and Ais were located.

Upon hearing Fuma's words, Ais's expression hardened, and then she turned her gaze to Roy, who was protected by an ice shield beside her.

At this moment, Roy also had a serious expression.

Fuma Soros, daughter of the Border Duke, actually knows that the Class A forbidden item—the Lost Ice Coffin—is in my possession… Besides that, what else does she know? And how did she find out?

A series of questions flashed through Roy's mind. He calmed himself and said in a deep voice, "How can you prove your identity?"

Upon hearing this, Fuma did not hesitate and immediately took out a token engraved with a dark gold Bauhinia sword symbol from her bosom and threw it on the ground in front of the two of them.

The upper part of the ice shield in front of him melted a little, allowing Roy to see the scene in front of him clearly. He stared intently and clearly saw the pattern on the token.

The exquisite carving of the Bauhinia Sword is extremely difficult to imitate in this era. Of course, it is not impossible to imitate. The most crucial basis for this token to represent identity is the special fluctuation contained within it—an aura fluctuation that is of the same origin as the Explosive Flame Breathing Technique practiced by Roy, but is of a higher level.

After confirming the authenticity of the token, Roy was about 80% convinced of the identity of the girl with the red scales.

Suddenly, he remembered what Uncle Red had told him when he first started practicing the breathing technique: the daughter of the border duke was the most talented knight in the empire.

As Roy pondered the “deal” that Fuma Soros, the daughter of the border duke, had just mentioned, thoughts began to stir in his mind.

Previously, the cooperation between the border duke's forces and the second prince's forces was based on the A-level forbidden item - the Lost Ice Coffin. Now, even Fuma, the duke's daughter, has come to him using some "special method" unknown to him to locate the Lost Ice Coffin, also for this A-level forbidden item.

What role does the lost ice coffin play for the border dukes, that makes them so "relentlessly pursue" it?

Just as Roy was still pondering, Ais, who was beside him, suddenly spoke up:

"You, are you a witch too?"

Ais's voice carried a hint of uncertainty, which made Roy's eyes widen and interrupt his thoughts.

In the courtyard surrounded by ice crystal pillars dozens of meters away, Fuma, holding a longsword, did not answer but remained silent.

Instead of denying, remaining silent often signifies tacit agreement.

This filled Roy with intense astonishment.

At such a distance, his perception was far inferior to Ais's, so he couldn't detect the deep magical fluctuations hidden in the girl. On the contrary, he could clearly sense the surging flame battle aura that far surpassed silver and reached the gold rank.

You're telling me that this genius knight girl, who has cultivated her fighting spirit to the gold level, is a witch?

-

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Chapter 107 I've Seized the Future! (7,000 words, please subscribe!)

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Long ago, Roy, who had just come into contact with breathing techniques, had a question: Why don't witches train their fighting spirit?

It's important to understand that every use of a witch's talent is accompanied by an increase in contamination. However, if she doesn't use her talent and instead cultivates and uses battle aura, she won't have this problem. Although the contamination will still accumulate with the witch's age, it will be much, much slower. Furthermore, the hurdle in a knight's training—the body's adaptability to battle aura—is even less of a problem for witches.

Their bodies could even adapt to the violent magic, let alone the much gentler battle aura.

The answer to this question was not found until Roy asked the Ice Witch Ais.

It's not that they don't want to cultivate their fighting spirit, but that they can't.

The knight's fighting spirit and the witch's magic are fundamentally different.

The former not only requires absorbing external magic power, but also needs the participation of its own life force when forming battle aura. The latter, on the other hand, can simply absorb external magic power, only needing to filter out the parts of external magic power that it is incompatible with before it can be used.

The biggest difference between the two is their vitality.

The addition of life force significantly reduced the violent nature of magic, but also reduced its power.

The biggest challenge for witches who want to cultivate battle qi lies in this very point.

Pollution is eroding the witch's mind and body. Leaving aside her mind, the strongest force resisting the pollution's erosion is her own life force.

Once vitality is insufficient and the body is corrupted and broken, even if the spirit withstands the erosion of the pollution, it will still be transformed into a monster.

In this situation, do you think witches would still dare to expend their precious life force to cultivate battle qi?

In addition to the aforementioned internal reasons, the external environment also has a significant impact.

Compared to magic, battle aura grows slowly and requires gradual refinement and improvement. Neither the wandering witches who are constantly hunted by the temple's knights of divine punishment nor the serving witches enslaved by the temple in various territories have the time or opportunity to cultivate battle aura.

Low-level breathing techniques are useless, and high-level breathing techniques that can lead to the transcendent realm are controlled by various nobles. Finding a suitable high-level breathing technique is a problem.

If they choose to start training their battle aura from scratch without using magic, they will die now; but if they use magic, they will die later. Do I need to say which choice the witches will make?

That's why Roy was so surprised when the crimson-scaled girl, Fuma Soros, tacitly admitted that she was a witch.

Ordinary witches don't even have the chance to cultivate battle qi, let alone reach the extraordinary depths or the golden peak of battle qi.

Thinking about the girl's identity, Roy gradually understood.

Born into a ducal family, Fuma Soros did not need to constantly use her innate abilities to protect her life like other witches. Under the protection of her family, she did not need to use magic from the moment she awakened. In this way, the rate at which her corruption increased was minimized. In addition, the supply of various precious items to replenish her life force consumption allowed Fuma to have the conditions to cultivate battle qi.

However, Fuma Soros seems to be around my age or even a little younger. Reaching the Golden Peak at such a young age is quite extraordinary, no wonder she is called the Empire's number one knight genius...

Roy thought to himself silently.

Fuma Soros remained silent and did not respond to the gazes of Roy and the Ice Witch Ais.

Immediately, the scene fell into an indescribable silence.

After a long pause, Roy finally spoke: "Your Highness Fuma, I will tentatively believe your identity. You don't know how you were certain that the A-level forbidden item - the Lost Ice Coffin - was on me, and I don't want to ask, but I want to know why you are so eager to have this thing."

"As far as I know, the effect of the Lost Ice Coffin is only 'absolute isolation,' not a particularly powerful function."

Roy did not deny that the Class A forbidden item—the Lost Ice Coffin—was on him. Since the other party had come knocking so precisely, denying it further would be an insult to both sides' intelligence.

Although according to popular belief, the A-rank forbidden item - the Lost Ice Coffin - should be in the hands of the Moon Witch Cecilia, he has the Ice Witch Ais, who has the strength of a Grand Rank, by his side, which shows that he has a close relationship with the witch.

In this situation, it would be possible to pretend to have a close connection with the witch?

Given the relationship between the Moonlight Great Witch and the Witches' Guild, it seems somewhat plausible that the A-level forbidden item - the Lost Ice Coffin - would be on his person.

Roy's mind raced.

Having learned the girl's identity, his initial thought of eliminating her vanished. With the border duke's daughter beside him, Roy couldn't believe the border duke wouldn't know her whereabouts. If Fuma Soros were to perish here, regardless of who the real culprit was, he, as the lord of Blackrock Territory, would definitely be in deep trouble.

While Cecil was asleep, his strongest combatant was the Ice Witch Ais, who had just broken through to the Grand rank not long ago. Facing a legendary combatant, she had no ability to resist.

Given this, reaching a cooperation agreement is the best option at present.

Fuma Soros gazed intently at Roy, who was protected by the ice shield opposite her. From the fact that the white-haired Grand Witch had protected Roy before launching her attack, she could tell that Roy held an extremely important place in the witch's heart.