My health recovery is incredibly fast.

The second half of the transmission process lasted an exceptionally long time, a full minute.

When the teleportation light faded, the two found themselves inside the Storm Mountains of the Western Continent.

After this part of the mountain was hollowed out, the giant creators sent from the outer palace built a temporary guest teleportation room.

As soon as Rexor and his companion stepped out of the teleportation chamber, they received a secret message from Beatrice. Following her route map, they left the cave, used invisibility and flight spells, and arrived at the academy tower.

Standing on the tower's terrace, Rexor gazed at the city and fields below the mountain and exclaimed, "This place is huge! I remember this was just a wasteland a few years ago..."

Serites patted him on the shoulder and pointed to the distant hillside behind them. "Look there, Letho. When you came here before, was there a subdimensional portal on the mountain?"

Rexor looked over and the towering entrance to the sub-plane portal came into view. The metallic portal frame still looked enormous even from a meter away.

"What happened in the Outer Temple while we were on vacation?" Rexol slapped his forehead. "They're planning to build five sub-plane portals here?! And they've designed such extravagant entrances! A small opening would have sufficed..."

Chapter 26 Grafting Memories

Putting aside the matter of the high-profile construction of the sub-plane passage in the outer hall for the time being, Rexor and his companion entered Beatrice's study.

Beatrice had prepared the written materials, and she invited the Witcher to sit down, placing the intelligence she had compiled in front of him.

Rexol read it from top to bottom, rubbing his chin as he said:

"This Shadow Fiend actually possesses mental abilities; that's extremely rare..."

Serites noticed this as well. He crossed his arms and pondered for a moment, “Perhaps we will have a different outcome this time. As far as I remember, the Church of the Otherworldly Demons sent a total of 110 Otherworldly Demons to search for the ‘Black Flag,’ including 34 Shadow Demons. But only this one has mastered mental abilities.”

Rexor put down the intelligence report in his hand and looked across the table. "So, Beatrice, where is the Shadow Fiend's Shadow Core now?"

“Shazo and Dim take it and go find Erin’s true memories. These memories were hidden by the Shadow Demon inside the monster cubs. If all goes well, they should be back this afternoon,” Beatrice said while reviewing official documents.

"Could you take us to see the girl whose memories were altered?" Rexelton paused. "It would be best if we could access her memories... I'll only look at her memories related to her contact with the Shadow Fiend."

"I'm sorry, Letso."

Beatrice paused writing, shaking her head with a hint of helplessness.

“This Shadow Demon is extremely cautious. It erased all clues related to itself from Erin’s memory. In fact, if Shazo hadn’t told me that she had the Dark Chamber Mark in her body first, I might have had to spend some time finding the false memories in Erin’s head. You’re more professional in this area than I am, so you should understand what I mean. It’s like testing the efficacy of an unknown potion. We need to know one of its raw materials first before we can slowly decipher the formula and its effects.”

“I see…this is a bit tricky…” Rexormosso paused for a second, his bald head poised. “How did Shazo discover the mark in the dark room? Did he tell you?”

“No, no.” Beatrice shook her head. “I know the rules: don’t pry into the secrets of pureblood mages.”

“Okay…” Rexor first frowned slightly, then relaxed his brows as if he had a sudden realization.

Rexor and his companion inquired about a few other matters before leaving the study.

They wandered around the outer city of Starry Night City, watching the boxing matches in the taverns, strolling through the bustling market, and standing for a while by the fountain in the city center.

The environment and customs, so different from those of the Eastern Continent, possessed a retro medieval charm that deeply moved the two Demon Hunters who were born and raised in the previous era.

“To be honest, Letho,” Serites said, hands on his hips as he admired the fountain sculpture, “I love this place. It makes me feel like I’ve returned to the past. No wonder you looked so lost and forlorn when you returned to the East from the West a few years ago. I could tell then that you liked this place too.”

"Hmph." Rexor snorted noncommittally. "We're not the only ones who like this place. I bet those old guys in the Temple might move here."

“What do you think… how about we find a long-term job in the Starry Night Kingdom?” Serites asked.

“Your idea is good.” Rexol looked at the subdimensional portal frame on the mountaintop. “Such a luxurious subdimensional portal needs to be well protected.”

"Hey, I think so too."

...

That afternoon.

Dim's airship flew in from the horizon and docked at the university tower's shipyard.

Xia Zuo and Dim carried the large iron cage down together. The monster cub inside had been given a sleeping potion and was now fast asleep.

Following Beatrice's silver sand guidance, they arrived at the room that had been prepared in advance.

As soon as the door opened, Xia Zuo saw a big bald head.

“Master Rexor…” Xia Zuo was taken aback, looking at the cold-faced man beside him, “…Master Serites. What brings you here?”

“We’ll talk about that later. Let’s deal with Erin’s problem first.” Rexor waved his hand and pointed to the magic circle on the floor. “Put the cage there. Dim, go and inform the headmaster to come over. Shazo will stay here.”

Five minutes later.

The ceremony venue has been set up.

Beatrice entered the room.

Erin, her entire body enveloped in silver sand, floated in the air, following Beatrice. She remained in a deep coma. To mitigate the negative effects of the false memories, Beatrice administered a coma-inducing agent to Erin, an agent that prevented her from dreaming and thus prevented the scenes of the false memories from replaying in her mind.

Beatrice placed the unconscious Erin in the center of the ritual circle, and then began to use an enchantment to transfer Erin's true memories from the monster cub.

Prior to this, the two demon hunters had thoroughly examined the monster cubs, and they were found to be without any problems. It was likely that the Shadow Demon hadn't had time to deal with the monster cubs before they were captured by Shazo and Dim.

Xia Zuoshou stood patiently by the ceremony site, waiting for it to end.

From a visual perspective, the ritual seemed unremarkable, except that golden-white spiritual energy emanated from Erin and the monster cub.

But it is actually extremely dangerous.

Beatrice had to carefully erase the false memories, making sure there wasn't the slightest trace left, before seamlessly grafting the real memories onto Erin's memory.

Even the order in which Erin wore her clothes and the size of her underwear in her memory cannot be wrong, otherwise it will trigger a memory backlash, which may result in memory confusion or even personality split.

During the memory transfer process, Beatrice will experience Erin's real memories.

This memory contains the entire process of Erin meeting the Shadow Demon, as well as the process of her remotely controlling the monster cub to escape.

"Phew~" Beatrice let out a long sigh of relief. "It was a success. The memory grafting went smoothly. Although it's certainly not flawless, as long as Erin isn't stimulated, she won't be able to detect anything amiss."

After speaking, Beatrice glanced at Shazo, then turned to Rexor and said:

"As per our agreement, you may view Erin's memories. I must warn you both in advance that her true memories involve a secret, and you must swear an oath to the light element in your spiritual ocean after you have viewed them."

"What kind of secret? Something at the level of confidentiality or higher?" Serites asked.

“Yes, top secret.” Beatrice nodded.

When Rexor and his companion heard the word "top secret," they were clearly taken aback.

After they read some of Erin's memories together, their expressions grew increasingly solemn.

It's no longer a secret that Erin possesses bloodline power.

Shazo, Beatrice, and the two Demon Hunters present also knew about it.

For the two Witcher Masters, this secret news was even more impactful, because they first learned of it by experiencing Erin's awakening of her bloodline power from a first-person perspective. They could deeply feel Erin's disbelief and joy.

Beatrice, having had her bloodline power tested by Erin beforehand, was mentally prepared and thus less affected.

...

Chapter 27 The Law of Corruption

"A mage who has awakened the power of bloodline?" Rexor gazed at the sleeping Erin after finishing his oath and said in a deep voice, "This land is so peculiar. I bet if this news were announced at the temple's routine meeting, many people would want to come here for a while to see if they could awaken the power of their bloodline."

Serites' gaze pierced through the room's walls, pointing to the construction base nestled within the mountain, where nearly a hundred colossus builders were diligently at work, each possessing the strength of a formal mage or higher. "I think the most troublesome ones are the alchemists sent by the Temple to build the sub-plane passage and teleportation hall. If they accidentally awaken their bloodline power and manage to return to the Eastern Continent, they might very well attract the attention of the Otherworldly Church."

"That makes sense..." Xia Zuo looked at the cold-faced man. What the man said reminded him that there were not only academy mages on the Western Continent at this time, but also many alchemists sent by the Outer Hall. So if they really wanted to conduct bloodline tests on the mages, they would have to include the mages sent by the Outer Hall as well.

Thinking about it this way, Xia Zuo also realized the impact of the fact that "mages can awaken the power of their bloodline".

“I’ve already reported to the outer hall. They will arrange for someone to come to the Western Continent to test the bloodline concentration of the colossus creator.” Beatrice took out the Shadow Core. “This is the Shadow Core of that Shadow Demon. I’m handing it over to you to complete my mission.”

Rexor accepted the Shadowcore. "Then we'll take our leave. Perhaps we'll meet again soon."

He stuffed the shadow core into his pocket and left with Serites.

"Teacher, what should we do about Erin?" Xia Zuo looked at the female mage lying on the magic circle. "I thought Master Rexor was here to take Erin to the Inquisition for trial. Why did he just take the Shadow Core and leave?"

“He took the Shadow Core to investigate that Otherworldly being called Black Flag,” Beatrice explained, without elaborating further. “As for Erin… the Inquisition cannot extend its reach into the Western Continent until I define the nature of her affairs.”

Beatrice stood beside Erin, gently brushing away the stray hairs from Erin's forehead with her fingers. "Would you like to see Erin's memories? To witness how she was seduced by the Shadow Demon and had the Dark Chamber Mark planted?"

"No, teacher." Xia Zuo shook his head. "I've always believed that... you can't impose on others what you don't want. Please tell me verbally instead."

Beatrice didn't press the issue. She began by recounting the unusual shadowy appearances at Pisco Fortress about a month prior.

As Xia Zuo had predicted, when Erin was in charge of investigating the Shadow Anomaly, she mistook the Shadow Demon for a bloodline awakened by a Shadow Mage who had not been discovered by the academy and had not been brought into the academy for further study.

This unseen "shadow sorcerer" enjoys using his shadow abilities to trick ordinary people and create so-called supernatural events.

Erin believed that he had no malicious intent to harm others, so she adopted a friendly and tolerant attitude in her strategy, guiding him to go to the academy's testing station to test his bloodline and then enter the academy to study.

This naive and simple personality, along with Erin's shallow experience in city garrisoning, made the Shadow Demon realize that she was a city garrisoning mage it could use.

The Shadow Demon disguised himself as Erin thought he was doing, communicating with her as a friend and guiding her to accept the mission of escorting monster cubs.

Erin's awakening of her bloodline power occurred on the first night she escorted monster cubs. The whole process was abrupt and ended quickly. Like others who awaken their bloodline power for the first time, Erin mastered her bloodline power within an hour or two and could understand the languages ​​of beasts and monsters.

At this moment, the Shadow Demon, lurking beside her, entered. The Shadow Demon altered the memories of the monster cubs, changing their craving for flesh and blood into a yearning for a free life, depicting it as a scene that Erin would like.

Subsequently, the Shadow Demon induced Erin to rescue the monster cubs and accept the Dark Chamber Mark to resist the academy's investigation.

If it hadn't been Shazo who went to Pisco Fortress to investigate, but instead it had been Dim who was in charge, then Erin's fall would not have been discovered, nor interrupted, and the Shadow Fiend would not have been captured, had his body removed, and had his Shadow Core stripped away.

“Your importance in this matter is undeniable, Shazo.” Beatrice gently patted Shazo’s shoulder. “I value your opinion. Now tell me, what do you think would be the best course of action against Erin?”

"Teacher, will Master Rexor tell others about Erin's ordeal?" Shazo asked thoughtfully.

“No. Like I said before, they’re just here to take the Shadow Core and investigate Black Flag. They won’t interfere in Erin’s affairs,” Beatrice said.

“In that case…” Xia Zuo paused, “I think we can give Erin another chance. When she wakes up, tell her the truth and remind her to be extremely vigilant about any unusual phenomena.”

Xia Zuo continued:

"Furthermore, since her bloodline ability allows her to communicate with demons, we need to use alchemical tools to limit this ability to prevent the demons' bloodlust and murderous intent from affecting her. We can appropriately reveal the fact that she became a mage first and then awakened her bloodline power. Because in the foreseeable future, similar things will definitely become more and more common. We need to give the mages a heads-up first."

"Give her another chance...let her return to Pisco Fortress to continue serving as the resident mage?" Beatrice asked.

“Yes, teacher…” Xia Zuo nodded, “or we could move her to another place, and at the same time, we should also give her the necessary punishment.”

Beatrice pondered, "Hmm... Shazo, have you considered this possibility: the Shadow Demon who planted the Dark Chamber Mark on Erin has already reported Erin's existence to the Church of the Otherworld through the Dark Chamber. If the Church of the Otherworld sends the next Otherworldly Demon to the Western Continent, it will first seek out Erin, who is still alive, can move freely, and has some power."

Beatrice's words startled Xia Zuo. "Teacher, are you saying that even if you erase the Dark Chamber Mark from Erin's body, she will still become a target of the Otherworldly Demons?"