Witch Troupe and the Undead

As for arcane equipment, it refers to equipment and items forged using arcane materials in a special way. It falls under the category of "creators" and has the effect of "paradigm enhancement," which can enhance the user's physical attributes or the effects of spells. It is roughly similar to the kind of magical equipment that Roach understands, such as power belts and amplification staves.

"Take a look?" The little witch looked at Roach, who looked at Leslie, who shrugged and turned her pockets inside out, indicating that they could only go in and look. Buy? Forget about buying, they didn't even have the money to touch it.

"Ding-dong~" The shop door was an exquisite wooden door inlaid with stained glass. As Roach pushed the door open, the wind chimes on the door made a crisp sound. "Welcome... Please... Please take a seat!" The woman wearing a dark purple headscarf changed her expression so quickly and her tone jumped so drastically that Roach was afraid she might not be able to catch her breath and would just kick the bucket.

"Phew~" Morna pressed her full chest a few times, almost getting killed by this bizarre combination in her own shop. At first, she thought it was a customer coming in. In this line of work, people usually make a living by doing one job for three years. The price list on the small blackboard at the door also effectively prevented curious adventurers from entering casually.

Instead, she saw a scarred man in rough linen clothes walk in; he looked like a mentally challenged barbarian warrior. She wanted to yell at him, but...

Soon, a petite and cute girl appeared behind the barbarian. No, compared to the dazzling golden triangular emblem, the girl's figure and appearance seemed quite ordinary.

"Welcome, welcome! We have the finest potions here, products from the workshop of Master Potions Master Joelman of Lywood County, quality guaranteed. In addition to potions, we also have specialized arcane ornaments, which not only enhance the power of arcane arts, but are also meticulously designed by professional craftsmen."

A cryptic mage who can display the Golden Ritual Triangle might not be strong, or they might be a charlatan, but they're definitely not poor. They always have various ways to make money. Take, for example, the "Eternal and Youthful Witch" Neel Riley, who's still on the bulletin board—although her methods are illegal, just look at the 20,000 gold coin bounty, and you'll know it's really a quick way to make money!

As for whether there would be any trouble with the money, Morna wasn't worried. There were no names written on the gold, and even if there were, wouldn't she use her construct alchemy to give the lovely gold pieces a new look?

“Let’s see for ourselves,” Roach decisively waved his hand, refusing the sales pitch from the woman who exuded a strong fragrance and wore heavy makeup with deep purple oil paint. She was clearly a standard salesperson who couldn’t take a word of truth from her. Moreover, the cheap essential oil scent on her was a bit pungent, completely different from the rich yet not overpowering sweet rose scent on Livia.

As the saying goes, there is no harm without comparison. Under these circumstances, not to mention Roach, even Leslie couldn't help but frown and take two steps away from this woman.

"Look, look!" Morna stared at the barbarian warrior and the maid next to him with the huge backpack, without even glancing at Livia. Mainly because a mystic mage of this level... wouldn't mess with her and cause problems, and even if she did, she could definitely afford to pay for it!

"Ugh~" Livia glanced at the potions and arcane tools in the shop, as well as the pitifully few magical tools. Magical tools are very troublesome to manufacture, much more expensive and much rarer than arcane tools. The main reason is that if your skill level is a little low, the amplification effect of arcane equipment will at most be worse. Unless you are a complete novice messing around, it is difficult for it to completely fail.

For magic tool makers, there are only two states: failure or success. They either succeed in making it, or the materials and the base are both ruined. In a worse case, even the workbench is ruined. In the worst case, like Roach, even the person himself is ruined.

However, that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that the houses and workshops, along with half a block, were destroyed. As a result, no magic tool makers lived in the city, and neither the city hall nor the lord dared to let them live there.

"What do you want?"

"I don't want anything..." Morna's expression darkened. Then what are you doing here? Are you here to mock me? Then she glanced at Roach with a sharp and sarcastic look. Hmm, that's it, they're here to mock her and cause trouble.

The barbarian had a high-grade hunting rune hanging from the crooked iron rod on his back—it could be said that the entire group's belongings, including all the cheap goods displayed in her shop, were not as expensive as this rune.

No, no, no, it might not even be as expensive as the materials for this talisman. The craftsmanship will cost extra.

Chapter 18 Workplace Bullying

"You guys here..." Roach approached, enduring the pungent smell of the guy's perfume, and said mysteriously. Meanwhile, Morna frowned and looked at the little witch, then silently gripped a small, gilded dagger.

Do you buy potions?

"Excuse me, sir, this is a legitimate occult shop. We only accept magic items from official channels..."

Ah, what is this?! A wondrous liquid was contained inside the clear glass, shimmering under the light. This was the glory of liquid, an unparalleled miracle. Morna grabbed Roach's hand, along with the medicine bottle in his hand, her face showing a determined expression.

“We only accept potions from legitimate sources, and your potion is as legitimate as it gets!” Morna wanted to refuse the sale of this potion of unknown origin, but what could she do when he offered so much?

The Regeneration Potion can reattach short limbs, equivalent to a medium-level miracle spell. However, the problem is that you can't keep a district bishop-level cleric at home, but you can keep eight bottles of the potion at home, and they will last longer than a district bishop.

Even if the latter is someone who has just been promoted, they will be promoted again in ten years at most. At that time, the other party will absolutely not condescend to treat you. Besides, even if your friendship still exists, the other party cannot come to your side immediately!

However, potions are different. They generally have a shelf life of 15 years, and you can carry them with you or keep them in your treasure vault. Especially now, with the border war raging, the price of these potions changes every day.

However, putting aside the difficulty of crafting the [Regeneration Potion], the materials for it are also very difficult to obtain. Basically, none of the three main ingredients can be found outside of the Black Forest.

The most expensive item, [Regeneration Essence], can only be extracted from the heartwood of the Revitalized Giant Tree—a calamity-level monster! It's the kind of monster that can overpower a standard mid-level adventure party. It's not an extremely difficult-to-obtain rare material, but the price certainly won't be too good.

"How many do you have?" "Three bottles," Roach checked his baggage and nodded, "and some other potions as well."

"They're all..." Morna glanced at Livia, who was curiously staring at a knight's armor, "Who made them?"

"Yes."

"Sixty gold coins, that's the most I can take, I'll take them all."

"Impossible, I can only sell half, and it costs 40 gold coins."

"35"

"40!"

"38!"

"Sold!" The deal was finalized at 38 gold coins. Roach sold half of the potion and exchanged it for glittering gold coins. The coins were basically the same size, but the patterns on the surface were different, and the quantity was not 38, but 45.

"This is a gold feather, and this is a gold scale. We usually refer to gold coins as gold feathers because they are issued by the church and their value is relatively stable. Gold scales, on the other hand, are issued by the royal family and their gold content is lower. So, one gold feather is equal to one and a half gold scales. These are also small gold coins with even lower gold content, only equal to half a gold feather. And this is a Gurust gold coin, which is roughly equal to two gold scales."

Morna explained the approximate value of these coins to Roach. After all, non-professional merchants simply couldn't understand the exchange rate and value of these things. In fact, because of their similar shapes, they couldn't even distinguish between the gold coins of the Kingdom of Gurust and the gold feathers, which led to them being taken advantage of by unscrupulous merchants every day.

"Hmm?" Livia discovered Roach and Morna's deal. All the utensils in the house seemed to be gossiping about their mistress, while others were warning her about the dirty dealings behind it all. However, Livia didn't quite understand why these potions were made from materials found around the hut.

It was something like cat food for pets, but she discovered that her cat seemed to be trading the cat food with other cats. She was a little confused, but after thinking about it, the girl decided it wasn't a bad idea, since she knew what those gold coins were for.

"Quiet~ Quiet~" A delicate white hand gently patted the breastplate of the knight's armor, and instantly the noisy room fell silent, except for a few dusty figures in the corner still muttering and complaining softly. Livia tilted her head and thought for a moment, then took two rings, a short sword, and a silver box from the shelf.

"Benefits, 30 gold coins." Morna appeared in front of her as if by teleportation, taking some coins back from Roach's hand. The shrewd Roach prioritized paying with small gold coins and gold scales, which made Morna's expression freeze for a moment, giving her the illusion that her apprentice had killed his master—"Damn, how is this barbarian warrior so smart?" Morna muttered to herself.

"These two rings are..." Just as Morna was about to explain the details of the product to the customer, she saw Livia grip the ring tightly, and the metal ring deformed, leaving only the inlaid gemstone.

This left Morna completely bewildered. What was she doing? Did she have too much money to burn? Was she buying overpriced arcane equipment that had been gathering dust, and then destroying it for fun?

Silver and gold metals intertwined like clay, forming delicate, gold and silver vines. The vines grew along the girl's fair wrists, and the gems floating in mid-air hopped merrily onto the vines, transforming into three exquisite little flowers.

Purple, yellow, and red gemstone flowers shone brightly under the light, leaving Morna stunned. Then, the witch took the iron rod from Roach, closed her eyes on the short sword, and the metal that made up the iron rod instantly turned red-hot. Then the short sword also turned red-hot, and the streams of molten metal intertwined again, turning into a long sword.

Livia clearly didn't know what a sword looked like; she had only seen them in picture books and storybooks. Now that she saw the real thing, she realized how crude her previous swords had been.

Many of the things she makes are based on real objects around her. For example, this sword is almost exactly the same as the short sword she bought before, except that it has been lengthened and the hilt has been lengthened. The shape and even the exquisite patterns on the hilt are exactly the same.

The explosive rune was embedded in the place where the dagger was originally inlaid with a gemstone, while the ruby ​​was transformed into ruby ​​threads that outlined a rose-like symbol.

"Hmm!" The girl nodded in satisfaction, then raised the sword with some difficulty. She held the blade flat and wobbled it several times in the air before finally placing it on Roach's shoulder. "Guard."

"Huh!? Oh~" Roach realized that he might have been promoted. Looking at this action, he thought for a moment, should he have some ceremony? So he knelt down on one knee, so that the blade could be placed on his shoulder.

The witch nodded with great satisfaction, laboriously tapped his shoulders and head, then turned the longsword upside down and handed the hilt to Roach.

The new weapon is about the same weight as the original, and its center of gravity is much better. The red rose symbol made of rubies on the blade further enhances its appearance.

Then the witch poured out all the ruby ​​dust from the small box, and the box, which was made of silver mixed with a small amount of mithril, transformed into a round mithril badge. In the center was a rose symbol made of rubies, just like the sword blade. Then the silver extended to both sides into a ring.

"Here you go," the witch handed the collar to Leslie.

"For me?" Leslie stared at the collar in silence. Her pet had just been promoted to a guardian knight, so now it was her turn to be promoted to a pet? That promotion seemed pretty fast, huh? (Dull reading) Isn't this just ridiculous?

However, Leslie did not refuse. First, the thing was very beautiful. Second, she felt that if she refused, she might be demoted from a medicinal herb, and she didn't dare to think about what it would be.

Even after the two who had just been promoted and the little witch left, Morna remained petrified and frozen, doubting that everything she had just seen was a hallucination. What the hell was going on? She had forged it with her bare hands, and even combined one magical tool with another on the spot. Then, she directly forged the ruby ​​dust and the box containing the materials into a secret artifact with her bare hands. What was going on?

Did the other party possess the Philosopher's Stone, or was the Alchemist God himself? Old Ma, bored outside, nearly popped his eyes out when he saw Roach emerge with a longsword bearing a red rose mark. He then looked at the little witch with a mixture of grievance, disbelief, and confusion, to which she returned a similarly confused and innocent gaze.

"Ha~" Livia yawned slightly, her emerald eyes looking at Roach, who looked at Leslie, who looked at Old Ma, and then sighed when she realized everyone was looking at her.

“That shop up ahead caters to high-end customers. You have a lot of money now, so you can stay there. Also, aren’t we out buying tools? Let’s hurry up and finish buying them and go back. I have a bad feeling.”

"..." Livia, who had finally managed to get out and had a fairly good time, looked at Leslie with some displeasure, but said nothing.

“Fine, you’re the boss, you call the shots.” Leslie shrugged. What could she say? She had only just been promoted to pet.

"Sage and Rose" is the only relatively upscale hotel in River Bend Town. The scents of sage and rose are completely opposite; the former smells bad while the latter is fragrant. Using this as a name is indeed a bit puzzling.

However, when Roach and his companions entered, they found the name to be quite fitting. The other two inns were named after sage, while this one was named after rose. As the saying goes, there is no harm without comparison, just as the fragrance of rose cannot be appreciated without sage.

The hotel's decor looked somewhat familiar to Roach, from the crystal chandelier overhead to the luxurious solid wood counter, the copper-plated handrails, and the red carpeted staircase. The floor was terrazzo, with no visible dirt.

"Two rooms, please." Luo Qi laid out a few gold coins on the counter, and the white-haired innkeeper immediately smiled with delight. He took the key from the wall behind him and gestured for him to stay.

"Hmm, a mute?" Roach keenly noticed that the other party seemed unable to speak, which seemed to explain why this was a high-end hotel, because a mute person was relatively less likely to reveal a guest's secrets, well, only relatively speaking.

Perhaps because the money was generous, the room was located on the third floor. It wasn't very big, but at least the bedding was decent, not the kind of bed with rough linen on hay. The fine, cotton-like fabric was filled with a lot of fine down, and it felt very soft to the touch.

The room had a small fireplace, a round table covered with a tablecloth, a dressing table with a mirror, and a thick, old red curtain. By local hotel standards, it was quite luxurious, and of course, the price reflected that.

"Pfft!" In another room, Livia happily pounced on the blankets, rolling around contentedly and making soft, animal-like whimpering noises. Meanwhile, Leslie was figuring out how to light the fireplace. After quite a while, Livia finally managed to light it herself.

She didn't like using arcane arts because they were too troublesome compared to her magic. It was like trying to do something with a mechanical arm when you could do it with your hands. But since there was no fire available, she had no choice but to use arcane arts to start a fire.

Mystic arts also utilize environmental resources, but they can extract fire elements from the elements to form magical flames, which is fundamentally different from the flames controlled by the little witch.

In other words, the flames controlled by the little witch do not have the concept of "magical damage"; they are actually "physical damage." This means that if she encounters ethereal or undead creatures whose physical damage is greatly reduced, the fire's destructive power will become very weak. Of course, the power of death and souls is also within her control, so in a sense, it is easier for her to deal with ghosts and the like.

A small, bright spark was thrown into the fireplace, emitting a loud scream. The flames ignited on the wood. This was also why Livia disliked using arcane magic directly. The elements that were manipulated were not acting voluntarily. When they were consumed and used, they would make very unpleasant sounds, such as curses and screams.

The occultists couldn't hear such sounds at all; they simply assumed it was some kind of elemental resistance, calling it "occult cooldown." They believed that the next spell could only be used after the elements filled the gap or the base was full again. Furthermore, they called the damage caused by occult spells that exceeded their control "backlash."

Livia learned elemental magic purely out of habit. She didn't like this kind of magic and rarely used it. In contrast, elemental source magic was more to her liking because the magic used in source magic came from materials. In other words, the victim's emotions were stable and vital signs were good before the grave. They would not make any screams or wails, nor would they resist.

Livia can also use a relatively gentler method to manipulate the arcane arts, but that is only applicable to arcane arts outside the elemental realm. When she manipulates arcane arts in the elemental realm, no matter how gentle her movements are, it will cause those elements to scream or even beg, which she finds very noisy.

In contrast, among the mystical arts, Livia prefers to use the Life Domain because as long as she reaches an agreement with the biological source that contributes life force, the other party will at most be weakened for a period of time, and Livia can only "drive" it for a longer period of time.

Secondly, there's the Void Ritual, because those ethereal concepts can't speak, and the material entities that provide those concepts can't be felt. But with the Void Ritual... those concepts are a bit difficult for her to understand.

Another technique is the otherworldly ritual. As long as the "door" closes quickly enough, the curses from the other side won't reach her ears. And those creatures and beings summoned from other worlds usually don't dare to curse back at her. The Nightmare Demon in the stable knows this all too well.

As for the Death Ritual, it's just so-so. It's mainly used on Roach to repair his body and stitch his soul back together.

What she hates most is elemental mysticism, and what she hates most is mental mysticism. That means Livia can read other people's emotions and minds uncontrollably, and then... people, especially those deeply involved in the mundane world, will be in all sorts of mental and emotional states.

Leslie adjusted the fire in the fireplace to make the room neither too cold nor too hot before stepping out. She needed to talk to the thing disguised as a horse.

"I'm just a horse now, and if you don't want to be called a crazy person who talks to horses, you'd better go back and get some sleep," the old horse said, chewing on hay.

"...But I haven't said anything yet~"

"Even though you haven't said anything, I can guess what you want to ask or say. In any case, these things won't do you any good."

"Um, why didn't you tell that person that you can talk?"

“Newcomer…” Old Ma swallowed a mouthful of hay and said in an almost indignant tone, “Do you think it took me a lot of effort to get this position?”

"what?"

“This is called workplace bullying, newbie!” Old Ma looked at Leslie with the eyes of someone who had been there before. “And if you go back, you’ll face even worse workplace bullying than that kid. You’re very disliked right now, you know that?”

"But who exactly is that girl...?"

"You'd better not ask—before you even asked," Old Ma lowered his head again, "Besides, we're not familiar with each other now, so our nascent friendship is over!"

"......" Is this the price of promotion? No, why am I discussing workplace bullying with a horse? Why would a demon lead workplace bullying?! And in such a bizarre position?! Leslie is now full of questions, and her already not-so-bright mind has become even more dull.

Chapter Nineteen: Providing Excellent Pack Horses to the Society

River Bend Chamber of Commerce Branch, Exchange.

"What? Out of stock?!" Roach looked bewildered. "I came all this way, and you're telling me it's out of stock?"

“Yes, sir, you need a complete set of alchemy tools, right? Including tools for magicians, crafters, and alchemists, and even some potion extraction tools.” The short, stout middle-aged man carefully checked the inventory list in his hand. “Well, I’m pretty sure that we’re out of stock. The last set of related tools was transferred from the trading post in Windcandle Village a few days ago.”

"Yes, I bought that one too."

"..." The man looked up at Luo Qi and examined the scars on his face. "Indeed, it's clear that you have very high requirements for the quality of tools, and your demand is also very strong."

“You don’t have to beat around the bush like that,” Roach’s face darkened immediately. “Just say he often causes explosions and breaks his tools. Besides, he only broke one set and caused one explosion.”

"..." The man shrugged and said nothing. "If you really need it, you can go to Lywood City or Deathwhisper Keep. That's the front line of the Black Abyss Cemetery, and there should be quite a lot of stock there."

"Um, what is the Black Abyss Cemetery?" Roach asked curiously, yet another name he had never heard of.

The man from the “Dangerous Realm” said succinctly, “It used to be the largest trading post on the Luster Plain. About a year ago, it collapsed due to an earthquake, revealing the cemetery below. The cemetery was completely corrupted by magic and is now the largest “Dangerous Realm” ruin in the Eastern Province.”

The classification method for ruins is the same as that for the Wilderness, but the lowest level for ruins is "Dangerous Land," and the highest is "Forbidden Land." Of course, Forbidden Land and Desolate Land levels remain legendary. In other words, for most adventurers in the Empire, ruins fall into only two categories:

Ordinary ruins of the danger level require medium to large adventure teams to spend years exploring them bit by bit; high-risk ruins of the peril level require militarized exploration based on a nation, employing multiple large adventure teams, mercenaries, and spellcasters from the Mystic Societies and Alchemy Societies, and taking ten years to resolve.

There is only one known, unrestricted-level ruin that is not part of the legendary region: the Lost Royal City, located in the northern part of the Luster Plains, on the edge of the Empire's Northern Province. The entire royal city is shrouded in some kind of powerful dragon magic. Not to mention how dangerous it is inside, at least for now, adventurers and occultists don't even know how to break through the barrier to get in.

"It's full of undead creatures and ghosts. To prevent these things from spreading, the Empire and the Kingdom of Rada built two fortresses on either side of the Black Abyss for cleanup and defense."

The other party wasn't curious why Roach didn't know about this; it was obvious that something like radio broadcasting hadn't been invented and widely available in the world yet.

For the residents of the central Luster Plain, it might be commonplace for things in the graveyard to rise up under the influence of the Dark Abyss magic, but for adventurers or merchants from other provinces, they might have never heard of such a thing.

Roach's accent clearly didn't sound like that of a native of Luster Plains, so it's quite normal that the other party had no idea about it.

Is the Deathwhisper Fortress very close to here?

"It's not exactly close, but it's convenient if you follow the Wool River uphill." The trader explained that this was a common question from adventurers and merchants from out of town. "Don't worry, those undead won't cross the fortress unless it falls."

Deathwhisper Keep is a standard fortress built on the edge of the Black Abyss, guarding one of the two relatively gentle, collapsed ramps leading to the Black Abyss Cemetery. The Imperial craftsmen have set up numerous magical traps around it, and the Church has also erected a magical dispelling barrier around the fortress.

Undead monsters rely entirely on magic to move. Once the magic is temporarily dispelled and banished into their original source, these undead creatures will turn into a pile of bones. However, as long as the magic remains, as the tide of magic washes over them, as long as they are not completely burned to ashes, these undead skeletons will rise again.