Witch Redemption

The rough male voice sounded strangely familiar. Li Lan shuddered and quickly got up from the damp ground. Only then did he realize that the two guys standing in front of him were Ryan and Reiner, whom he had met several times before.

When Ryan saw that Li Lan, though still a little unsteady on her feet, was generally able to move, he shook his head and took the first step.

His younger brother, Reiner, seemed extremely dissatisfied that his brother had been waiting there all afternoon. He stared at Li Lan with intense hostility, almost to the point of showing it in his actions.

Li Lan immediately realized that these two people must have saved them. Before she could even thank them, she noticed that it was already around 5 p.m.

He remembered what number 47 had mentioned: the monster area would become extremely terrifying at night. So he quickly picked up the magic book on the side and hung it on his waist, and also hugged the Libra Cross Greatsword, which was covered in dirt, to his chest.

"Strange, why am I so much stronger after waking up?"

Originally, carrying the 50-plus-pound Libra Cross Greatsword was extremely strenuous, but now it was different. Li Lan suddenly discovered that he could easily lift it with both hands. After trying it a little more, he quickly realized that lifting or swinging the greatsword with one hand was still difficult, but compared to that, his strength had indeed improved significantly.

The three of them quickly headed towards the city gate of the border defense zone of Mori City, and arriving before dark was definitely not a problem.

Along the way, Ryan glanced at the taciturn witch several times.

To be honest, this guy still looks quite terrifying. I don't know what he hunted that caused his body to be so severely corroded. Even now, I can see the black, rotten parts of his skin through his tattered clothes. Even with the help of recovery medicine, the recovery effect is limited.

Such a body would make anyone who sees it immediately back away.

Perhaps moved by a bit of compassion, Ryan suggested, "Your injuries are particularly serious. Only the Holy See in the inner city can probably treat this kind of wound. If possible, I suggest you go and have them checked out; it won't cost much."

"Yes, thank you, you're a good person."

Li Lan thanked him, though he was well aware that he was not qualified to enter the so-called inner city.

"Don't get me wrong, after this, we're even!"

Ryan seemed to still harbor resentment about being saved last time, and he couldn't hold back any longer, saying, "If it weren't for the fact that I personally dislike owing favors to people, I wouldn't have bothered to care whether you live or die today."

Li Lan gave a wry smile. In fact, the so-called favor had already been repaid. The matter of selling magic cores by serial number 47 last time was actually quite difficult.

"Of course, I used six recovery potions on you today, so don't forget to pay me back!"

Ryan added this as he finished speaking.

"Yes!" Li Lan replied confidently. Then he did the math and found that one bottle of recovery medicine cost fifty browns, and six bottles would cost three hundred browns. It was a huge number, and he wondered when he would be able to pay it back.

"Speaking of which, what did you kill today? How did you get so badly injured?"

When Ryan brought this up, his younger brother Reiner perked up his ears curiously. After all, this magic core was truly extraordinary; they had never seen such a large magic core of this color in their lives.

“The mimicry of chaos was huge,” Li Lan gestured slightly. Just thinking about that monster the size of a small mountain made him feel a chill. He still didn’t know how he managed to kill it back then; it was practically a miracle. “It took me a lot of effort to kill it. I don’t even know if it was some kind of mutated monster.”

Ryan and Reiner were both stunned. The kind of mimicry chaos that Li Lan described was truly terrifying. They believed that if they encountered that thing alone, they would definitely not be able to escape alive, and the greater possibility would be that they would be ambushed and eaten.

Although he initially wondered if the guy was lying, Ryan looked at the guy's serious lower face and began to believe him to some extent.

To be honest, I've never even heard of this mutated, mimicking chaos before, let alone seen it.

He thought for a moment, then took out the peculiar magic core from his satchel and handed it over. "This is the magic core of that monster. Keep it safe. This thing is no ordinary magic core; it might not sell."

Ryan was telling the truth. This magic core possessed a considerable amount of magic power. It seemed that only high-level monsters could possess such a core. And in Mori City, there was no magic exchange that would accept such a magic core. If you really wanted to sell it, you could only do so in second-tier cities, where one might fetch thousands of Williams.

When Reiner saw his older brother seemingly siding with outsiders, his eyes widened in disbelief. He felt indignant at the sight, but after a while, he didn't say anything and simply looked away in frustration.

So there really are good people in this world.

Li Lan suddenly felt a surge of emotion. He hadn't wanted to accept it at first, but Ryan insisted on giving it to him, saying in a low voice, "The border isn't as peaceful as the cities inside. If there's anything good, greedy people will steal or rob it. You know what I mean. I'm that kind of person too. Next time, don't let us see anything good, hmph."

As they talked, the three of them had unknowingly arrived at the city gate of the border area, and the sun in the distance was about to set below the horizon.

By this time, a large number of adventurers returning from their travels were already surging towards the city gate. As soon as Ryan entered the city gate, he pulled Ryan away and walked in the opposite direction from Li Lan. "That's it. Remember to return that medicine to us next time we meet. That medicine wasn't free!"

………………

On the way home, Reiner finally couldn't help but complain, "Big brother, have you been bewitched by those witches? This magic core looks like a treasure. If we kept it, we might be able to sell it for a good price, and maybe we'd be set for life..."

"Hmph," Ryan scoffed at such words. "Ryan, how many times have I told you? Be smart! Do you think that's just a simple magic core? That size, that color—it's probably not just a high-level monster; it's something even higher!"

"Wouldn't that make it worth more?" Reiner was even more annoyed.

"We all like money, but you have to be born to enjoy it! If you're not born to enjoy it, and you're just thinking about getting things you can't afford, the only outcome will be death."

"How could you..."

“Don’t forget how our father died,” Ryan sighed, as if recalling a distant past, but ultimately shedding his complex emotions. “To sell that magic core, we have to go to a second-tier city. There, they might investigate the core’s origins, and in the end, we’ll most likely end up with nothing. In that case, we might as well return it to that witch; maybe we can even do her a favor.”

In reality, doing someone a favor is pointless; who knows when these witches might just die.

Those guys really died just like that, without any warning.

Just as Ryan and Rainer were talking, Li Lan also took advantage of the falling night to slowly make her way to the witch's residence.

Chapter 27 Mutual Intelligence

"Karen!"

The moment the door opened, Lana's extreme anxiety finally subsided. She really hadn't expected Li Lan to come back so late, and she had been worried that he might have died in the monster zone.

"you……"

He suddenly noticed Li Lan's seemingly extremely serious injuries.

"I'm fine," Li Lan said, signaling Lana not to panic. In fact, Li Lan's injuries had almost completely healed. He only felt a slight itch in the necrotic area and didn't feel much pain. He knew his body very well. "Let's not talk about that for now. I had an unexpected gain today."

Li Lan quickly explained the other function of the magic book and even demonstrated it himself, which surprised Lana, who didn't know that the magic book had such a function.

"Are there any specific limits on the quantity and size of the items that can be stored?" Lana also felt that this was very similar to the inventory in a traditional online game. But if it were the inventory in a traditional online game, there should be limits on the quantity and quality, right?

"I'm not sure, we'll try again later," Li Lan said honestly.

Even now, he is still unable to calm down. He almost died there today. If he hadn't met those two good people later, Li Lan doesn't know what would have happened to him.

"Alright, I also have some information to share with you. First of all, I've leveled up."

Lana seemed quite happy when she mentioned this.

"What?" Li Lan was taken aback.

He remembered that Lana, like him, had over two hundred experience points. That meant they needed over seven hundred experience points to reach level two, and that would require killing over seventy Mimic Chaos.

"You killed a lot?"

“Yes, there should be about eighty Mimic Chaos. Because I was in a hurry, I didn’t deliberately collect their magic cores,” Lana didn’t mention that she almost got into a conflict with the adventurers, so she simply ignored it, killed the monsters, and ran away. “Mimic Chaos isn’t as difficult as I thought. Just strike first and destroy their intelligence cores before they can react…”

Listen to what you're saying, is that even human language?

When Li Lan thought about how she had risked her life to kill a mimicry Chaos, and how she had almost lost her life trying to take down that strange, giant mimicry Chaos, she felt a pang of resentment towards the injustice of fate.

"You saw that dense horde of monsters, could it be..."

"Yes, I'll go straight for it, once and for all. I have to say, this Dragon Power is really useful..."

The familiar smell—even after transmigrating, Li Lan could still detect the stench of a seal emanating from this scoundrel.

This guy was showing off, constantly bragging, which contrasted sharply with Li Lan and severely hurt Li Lan's self-esteem.

Moreover, Lana didn't feel anything was wrong with this, after all, in her previous life she was a trash seal who was good at grinding, spending money, and had a great personality.

"After leveling up, just as Senior No. 47 said, I gained an extra job skill, and my strength also increased significantly. I originally thought I would need to reach level three to wield this greatsword, but it actually surprised me; level two was enough!"

After saying that, Lana casually picked up the Libra Cross Greatsword beside her, lifting its fifty-plus pounds with ease.

Li Lan responded with an "oh," her face expressionless.

He quickly realized what was happening and thought to himself, "Wait a minute, does that mean I've also leveled up?"

“There’s a second thing,” Lana suddenly lowered her voice, “The Witch Cult came today. It was a group of girls dressed as maids. Those girls cleared out all the belongings of the predecessors No. 47, No. 86, No. 93, and No. 94.” Speaking of belongings, they were actually just a few sets of clothes they left behind. “There’s no trace of them left in this building. The Witch Cult also informed us that they will send another batch of witches in ten days, and we should be prepared.”

"A new batch of witches, transmigrators like us?"

Li Lan's eyes lit up immediately. He and Lana both vaguely sensed that it would be difficult for the two of them to fight against this terrible world. If they had more helpers, their survival might be more guaranteed.

“It’s possible, but I have a very bad feeling about it,” Lana added worriedly. “Right now, I’m sure that you and I are from the same world, and theoretically we’re acquaintances. But it’s hard to say about the others. I don’t know if the concept of parallel worlds will be involved, and I don’t know if the people who come here next will come from different places.”

Lana recalled the strong hostility these four predecessors harbored towards witches from other border regions, and therefore suspected that only a few of the next batch of witches might be from Earth, specifically Earth in 2036 AD, just like him and Li Lan.

"Let's put that aside for now. We still have ten days. Let's see if we can reach level three as soon as possible. We'll talk about everything after we have a basic ability to protect ourselves." Hearing this news, Li Lan was still somewhat excited.

………………

Two hours later, all the signs of decay on Li Lan's body had disappeared, leaving only small red scars resembling burns. It seemed that she would recover completely in a while.

"strangeness……"

Despite the help of the recovery medicine, Li Lan still felt somewhat incredulous when she thought about the serious injuries she had suffered today.

Back when he was attacked by that monster, he had broken several ribs and coughed up blood several times, indicating that his internal injuries were quite severe. Later, what was even more outrageous was the terrifying corrosive fluid, which directly corroded the tip of his right finger until only black finger bone remained.

It's a miracle that such a life-threatening injury has been almost completely healed.

At this moment, Li Lan only vaguely sensed that his self-healing ability was somewhat strong, but he didn't know exactly how strong it was. He would only know what kind of qualitative change his current race combined with the priest class would bring after further practice.

After a quick wash in the bathroom, the tension of the day was relieved.

After changing into her old gray pajamas, Li Lan returned to her dormitory and picked up her magic book once again.

He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt that the gray-silver patterns on the black cover had become more complex, as if the main vein of the leaf had branched into nearly one-tenth more veins, and it had a faint green glow.

Li Lan remembered what Senior Number 47 had mentioned: as the level increases, the inscriptions on this magic book will change.

"Could it really be that I've been promoted?"

Carefully opening the magic book, the information on the left side began to come into view.

Name: Karen Elf

Race: Elf

Occupation: Pastor

Secondary occupation: Life creator

Level: LV2 Experience: 1250

skill:

First Aid LV1

Prayer LV1 Proficiency: 180

Blessing LV1 Proficiency: 180

Courage LV1

Binding artifact: