Witch Redemption

Della wasn't sure if she had heard her, she just gave a soft "hmm".

"That's right, Della. To upgrade a magic book from level 5 to level 6, you need to accumulate 200,000 experience points. How much more experience is needed to upgrade from level 6 to level 7?"

Lana has accumulated around 230,000, but she feels like the road ahead is endless.

“Starting from level five, each level requires 100,000.”

"So, the accumulated value needs to reach 300,000? That's way too much!"

A difference of 100,000 experience points means that you need to kill 10,000 Mimic Chaos or 2,000 Crystal Monsters. It seems that the Imperial Abandoned Mine is indeed an excellent place to go!

"..."

Li Lan looked rather worried as she listened. Were all these accomplices cheaters?

Li Lan has been killing monsters miserably until now, and the experience he has accumulated is only a little over 20,000. He is still far from the level 5 of the magic book. How come these cheating teammates can easily have 200,000 experience?

Lana is a hard-working, talented player with incredible luck, which is understandable.

Lolina and Della had previously sided with the Witch Cult and had accumulated a lot of experience from missions, so they started at level five, giving them a huge advantage.

As for Della, the reason she was able to widen the gap even further was because she worked even harder than Lana, but none of her companions present knew that yet.

………………

As dusk fell, despite the shock of the events of a few days prior, the residents of the empire's borders, accustomed to the fright of the Crimson Night Flood, eventually returned to normalcy and their lives resumed as usual.

Along the way, the pedestrians did not show any signs of panic; instead, they remained as usual, keeping everything in an orderly manner.

Li Lan and her four somberly dressed witches arrived at a dilapidated house and gently knocked on the door.

"It's here," a woman's voice came from the room.

Soon, with a creak of the old wooden door, a woman dressed in ordinary housewife clothes, with a long brown braid, poked her head out. Her eyes narrowed slightly in fear. "Four...four witch ladies, may I ask..."

Is Mr. Ryan home?

Li Lan tried her best to make her voice sound very kind.

Perhaps having heard the commotion outside, Ryan, who was busy inside, quickly came out...

Only four witches and Ryan, a burly man, remained in the living room on the first floor. His wife Betty and his brother Reiner had been sent upstairs, and Ryan had specifically instructed them not to eavesdrop on any sounds from downstairs if they didn't want everyone to go to see the God of Light together.

"Mr. Ryan, we plan to purchase some storage space items, mainly for storing monster corpses and the like."

To make a long story short, Li Lan got straight to the point and explained her purpose.

Ryan's heart stirred upon hearing this. Ever since he regained his title of Baron, Ryan's status had changed. He quickly married Betty and, with the help of Major General Eric Dick, had secured a well-paid job as the overseer of the underground black market.

In other words, he can now freely covet many items that he used to be hesitant to touch.

Take, for example, the space bottles produced by the Imperial Alchemy Association. No, what's a simple space bottle? We need space backpacks!

"I can help you with that, but I might recommend another way."

Isn't the Imperial Family planning to extend an olive branch to some of the witches? Ryan thought this was a good opportunity. Although, according to Major General Eric, the reward for the witches would be some secrets, knowing too much is not a good thing. It would probably be more meaningful to exchange the reward for a space backpack or a large amount of money.

Ultimately, Ryan had received many favors from these witches. Even though he outwardly feared these non-humans, he subconsciously cared for them. This emotion was called compassion and had a selfless quality.

"Let's get straight to the point." Li Lan recalled her conversation with this imperial citizen from the last time they met.

“Actually, this morning, my boss gave me two assignments,” Ryan said, not revealing his boss’s identity. “One is to investigate a witch who may have had contact with the Flame Witch.”

When the Flame Witch was mentioned, Ryan suddenly felt a little afraid when he looked at the four witches in front of him.

After all, the suicide terrorist had left an indelible fear on the city's citizens. Before that, no one could have imagined that a seemingly harmless witch could unleash such terrifying power.

That kind of power is perhaps only rivaled by the heroes of the empire.

"I'm sorry, we can't help with this request. I haven't met the Flame Witch myself, and the others have been in other cities lately. Furthermore, the four of us are actually not on good terms with the other witches; we hardly ever interact, so assisting with the investigation will be difficult."

Li Lan spoke the truth without any change in expression.

Ryan was somewhat disappointed, but quickly calmed himself down. "There's a second request."

Chapter 83: Information Regarding the Goblin Kingdom

"Due to the Flame Witch's terrifying attack, the Imperial Army suffered heavy losses, and the planned extermination of the Goblin Kingdom at the ruins of Mo City was postponed."

"I only heard about this recently. It seems that the Imperial Witch Cult intends to send witches to fight in place of the Imperial Army to test the strength of the kingdom."

Unbeknownst to Ryan, long after the Flame Witch blew up the slums in the Mori City defense zone, Emperor William 46 was furious and convened the Imperial Supreme Council overnight, summoning all the leaders of the Imperial Senate, the Witch Order, and the Holy See.

As a result of the meeting, the Witch Cult's warden, the Undying Iris, apologized in court and promised to take full responsibility for the incident.

After this, the witches will enter the main battlefield, buying the Imperial army a week to regroup.

In other words, the planned attack on the Goblin Kingdom and the impending Crimson Night Flood will be a huge challenge that all witches must face.

No one knows how many witches will die after this, and no one will have any pity for these witches who are going to their deaths.

Their deaths were merely a means for the immortal Iris to appease the people of the empire.

“This commission is actually quite difficult,” Ryan briefly explained the general content of the commission. “The Imperial Royal Family wants to use the witch to assassinate the King of the Goblin Kingdom and seize a magical item she carries with her, the Scepter of Tsatoglia.”

After hearing this, Li Lan and the other three felt somewhat uneasy.

This request was similar to the information they had heard from the old woman Monica a week ago, except that the old woman hadn't specified exactly what items they needed to seize.

Does this mean that Ryan's mission request is very likely to directly conflict with the Witch Cult's mission?

Li Lan hesitated for a moment, but ultimately did not hide anything, "We cannot be sure whether this commission can be completed successfully, so we cannot give you a definite answer right now."

"It's alright. The client instructed me that the witches can bring the Scepter of Satogua at any time in exchange for a reward: many secrets about the witches' past..."

Li Lan was speechless upon hearing this, as he already knew enough about the witch's background and secrets.

"In exchange for a different reward, we are all very pragmatic monsters who only want tangible benefits and don't need irrelevant information that can't provide us with much help."

Ryan knew the witch would say that, and he replied without hesitation, "I will relay the truth and try my best to exchange this so-called reward for the items you want or a huge sum of money."

The space backpacks produced by the Imperial Alchemy Association are high-end items that are difficult to obtain even with extensive connections. The supply is basically controlled by the Imperial Royal Family, and ordinary people may not be able to buy them on the black market even if they spend a fortune.

Ryan wasn't sure if he could actually exchange the reward for this.

Of course, as a shrewd low-level adventurer, Ryan could guess that this Major General Eric was also a freeloader who wanted to use information such as "witch secrets" to gain the greatest benefit, but unexpectedly, Li Lan and many other witches were unmoved.

Furthermore, Li Lan and the others were unaware of just how dangerous their trip to the Mo City Ruins was, or what kind of terrifying and evil object the so-called "Sathogia Scepter" actually was, whose value was a hundred times greater than that of the so-called spatial backpack.

After discussing the relevant commission, Ryan's expression finally softened. He said, "Attack on the Goblin Kingdom is not a simple matter. It is uncertain when the Imperial Army will make its move. If it's just you witches, I'm worried that you will be in a very troublesome situation."

"Perhaps, but as long as it's a mission directly under the Witch Cult, we can't refuse; we can only bite the bullet and do it."

Li Lan thought about it and responded in this way. After a moment of thought, he quickly realized that there was something fishy going on. The former chairman, Monica, had said that the war would become fierce, and that the army would take over from them. Their only responsibility was to assassinate the king of the Goblin Kingdom.

But to my surprise, when I got to Ryan today, he changed his story again.

It's not that Li Lan doesn't trust Ryan, but he has some doubts. Could it be that the death and injury caused by the Flame Witch's self-destruction was too severe, arousing strong dissatisfaction among the people and many high-ranking officials of the empire, which led to the current plan to send the witch to her death?

Ultimately, this is very likely a compromise made by the Witch Cult to quell the anger of many citizens of the Empire, with the aim of venting the pent-up frustration of the Empire's citizens.

"I've actually been to the Ruins of Mo City three times before with some adventurer teams. The place is huge, about twenty times the size of Mo City, and it's divided into above-ground and underground areas. The above-ground area is infested with many Shadow Monsters, which are very difficult to deal with. As for the underground area, as far as I know, no adventurer has ever dared to go in."

Ryan thought for a moment and then began to recount the information he had gathered at the ruins of Mo City.

"It is rumored that goblins were once native inhabitants of this world, skilled in mining and smelting, and living a cave-dwelling life. In ancient times, they signed a racial contract with an unknown extraterrestrial demon god and were protected by the extraterrestrial demon god, which is why they are not affected by demons."

"Of course, these are all legends from ten thousand years ago, and no one knows whether they are true or false."

As Ryan spoke, he rummaged through the bookshelves in his home for a while, took out a yellowed notebook, and placed it on the living room table.

As a hardworking adventurer, Ryan would record important information on every trip he took for future reference.

He opened the relevant page, which contained a picture of a humanoid creature with dark green skin, pointed ears, a hooked nose, and large, reddish-yellow eyes. In addition, its limbs had obvious scale structures.

"These are goblins?"

Li Lan asked with some surprise, indeed, the image on it was similar to the settings of games and novels he had come across before, but what was different was that this body shape and these strong muscles looked similar to an adult human no matter how you looked at it.

"That's right. None of the adventurers who go to the ruins of Mo City dare to provoke this thing easily. What do you think is the reason?"

"This thing is strong?" Lana looked at the muscles all over his body and felt a sense of power.

"That's only one reason. There are two other important factors. First, goblins don't have magic cores or intelligence cores, so there's no profit in hunting them," Ryan said, making a startling statement. He then solemnly warned, "Second, goblins are extremely numerous, skilled at ambushes, and there are rumors that there are even more powerful beings deep underground, so powerful that the Empire has never dared to provoke them easily."

Ryan practically said that he suspected the Empire really wanted them witches to die this time.

However, Li Lan and Lana were both seasoned veterans, and after exchanging a glance, they already knew what was going on.

This mission will likely be even more dangerous than the previous one in Dawn City.

"In short, just be careful," Ryan flipped to another picture, an abstract map of the Mo City Ruins, with each area marked and described. "Note that this information is for reference only, since no adventurer has ever walked out of the underground area of ​​the Mo City Ruins alive."

"It is said that the entire underground area is the territory of the Goblin Kingdom, but it is unclear how developed it is. I heard that it is divided into three layers: the ancient building layer, the ancient palace layer, and the origin land."

"The most dangerous place is the Origin Land. Twenty years ago, ten heroes from the Survey Corps and one heretic from the Holy See stormed into the third level of the underground area. Only one heretic returned to the Empire alive and went completely insane afterward. There are rumors that the upheaval there was related to the worship of a primitive evil god. Subsequently, the Imperial Witch Order and the Holy See chose to suppress the relevant information and strictly prohibited the Imperial army from setting foot in that area again."

If it weren't for the fact that Ryan's family was relatively powerful, he would have had no way of knowing such esoteric information.

Perhaps because the more they listened, the more they realized how terrible this place was, the pallor of Li Lan and the other witches grew. In the end, they could only thank the kind person and say, "Thank you, we'll be careful."

In any case, before conducting on-site investigations, everything is just theoretical and nothing more than a psychological precaution.

..................

In a small room on the top floor of a hotel in the Mori City defense zone.

It was late at night, and after a long period of conversation, Lana and the others had fallen into a deep sleep.

According to them, neither the protective barrier of the Nazan Temple nor the protective barrier of the Hill Temple are as secure as the protective barriers of Mori City and Dawn City after nightfall.

They often had a hallucination, as if some voice was constantly calling to them from the darkness, and occasionally they would see strange and terrifying hallucinations. Strangely, it seemed that only witches experienced this; ordinary people living in those protected areas did not have similar feelings.

Perhaps because of this, these three witches, who had always had terrible sleep quality, were almost driven to the point of becoming neurotic.

Tonight was one of the few times they could get a good night's sleep...

The liquid, which was lying on the ground, was infused with life elements and the source of purifying magic. The next second, the living humanoid chose to crouch down and cover its head in fear.

"..."

Li Lan was puzzled. The success rate of this life-refining technique was indeed very low. Since the experiment began a few days ago, every successful attempt had yielded servants like these, and now they had already reached number 20.

Looking at the series of information on the left side of the page for the secondary profession in the magic book, he felt a sense of indescribable helplessness.

The lack of intelligence in these monsters is indeed a minor flaw, but the bigger flaw lies in their cowardice. To use them, one must continuously buff them with "courage."

"Sigh, if only these priest skills could last as auras indefinitely, at least for an hour, it would give us more room to maneuver."