Witch Troupe and the Undead

Unfortunately, only the little witch or Roach can use such a library. For the others, let alone whether they can understand it, just figuring out how to flip through these magic books without getting themselves killed is a technical problem.

After tidying up the copied books by category, Roach left first, and then Livia came out. Otherwise, if the witch left first, all these things would fly everywhere as soon as she stepped out the door.

"Lock!" The staff tapped the door lightly, and four illusory chains sealed the door. A hand-painted wooden sign hung on the door, indicating that this was a library and that the books inside were extremely dangerous.

A chibi-style witch points her staff at the words "Danger" in small print, against a backdrop of a charred chibi skull engulfed in flames from a book. It looks quite cute, but only if you knew the literal meaning of the image...

In the room on the first floor, Leon also removed his weapons and armor one by one and placed them on the newly made shelves and dummy. Then he made the bed. Of course, there was no luxurious bed, only a layer of coarse cloth and thick hay, which was taken from Old Ma's food.

If they wanted to replace the bedding with other proper bedding, they would have to move to the next big city to have a chance to buy it. However, Leon, who was used to the rough living conditions, didn't mind too much. Next, they would set up a shrine to the Holy Lord here, hoping that the chosen saint of that unknown god wouldn't mind.

Lulua certainly didn't mind. She placed the fleshly body from the basement in the shrine, which was much more useful than a simple goddess statue, but... it gave people a strange feeling.

Because the real statue of the Night Goddess is a graceful and beautiful young woman, draped in a black veil and wearing a one-shoulder long dress adorned with stars. But the one placed here is flat, small, and short. What's even more unsettling is that it's actually a body that a god once used. Roach just hoped he wouldn't encounter any other remaining factions of the Night Goddess, otherwise... the reputation of a certain lonely old god would be ruined again.

Chapter 378 This is Retribution

"Brother Ma, are we really going to do this?" Bull Head thought Old Ma was playing with fire, but the latter said confidently, "Don't worry, Miss won't get angry about this kind of thing. Don't you understand? For example, the flowers in the garden often fight with the transplanted potions. Look at how Miss reacts." Old Ma patted the burlap sack on the hay and said.

"Um..." Minotaur recalled for a moment, it seemed like he separated the two sides, said "You can't fight", and then comforted them separately.

"Yes, you understand? As long as things don't go too far, the young lady doesn't care that much about small things." Old Ma had already burned runes into the sacks with hellfire and prepared a stool that he also wanted to beat up the knight, because his arrival affected the value of these wooden stools.

Originally, Livia needed to stand on stools to reach materials, ingredients, and books (for daily reading) on ​​higher shelves. Now, however, the tall paladin Leon is in charge of getting them, which greatly diminishes the value of these small stools.

"Brother Ma, you'd better be careful. You're a criminal now!"

"No, I can't swallow this!" Old Ma carried a sack and a stool downstairs, raising his hand to create a calming barrier. After all, if he disturbed the young lady, things would really get out of hand.

Inside the room, Leon was praying softly to the statue of the Holy Lord. The faint magical energy of the barrier made him immediately alert. Just as his hand touched the wooden stick beside him, Old Ma's shrunken body appeared in the shadow. Then, an enchanted sack was placed over his head. "I'm in trouble!" Leon instinctively tried to ignite the Holy Flame, but he was forcibly restrained by a more powerful hellish magic, and then he was given a good beating.

The next day, the little witch rubbed her eyes as she came downstairs. She felt like something was wrong. Her emerald green eyes swept across the hall, but she didn't seem to have any problems. She swayed to the dining table, sat down, and rested her chin on the table, looking like she hadn't woken up at all.

Since overusing magic, I've been looking like this lately, lacking rest. In any case, it seems my magic has fully recovered, but my mental or spiritual fatigue hasn't completely subsided.

Behind her back, which she couldn't see, a dilapidated wooden stool limped quietly into the empty space between the cabinets, pretending that nothing had happened.

"Hiss~" Leon rubbed his face and limped out, leaning against the wall for support. "That was really ruthless." He didn't even need to investigate to know who did it. After all, who else could have a conflict or hatred with him here? Of course, it was that horse-headed demon who seemed to have been punished yesterday.

Rather, in this situation, the demon's act of simply putting a sack over himself is so kind that it's almost unbelievable for a demon. As for complaining, Leon wouldn't stoop to complaining to a little girl who looks only eleven or twelve years old.

Even though the latter is almost 15 years old, to Leon he is still a child—even if this child can frighten a great demon so much that he feels as if he is about to be sent to the kingdom of God for trial.

"Hmm?" Livia looked at the bruises on Leon's face, a puzzled expression on her face. "Hmm... he fell down?" It looks like he fell off the bed.

"Yes, I fell..." Leon said with a bitter face. "What else? Did your familiar put a sack over my head and beat me up in the middle of the night?"

"Oh..." Livia rummaged in her skirt pocket, found an empty bottle, and beckoned. The ceramic jar on the corner shelf bounced onto the dining table. She poured the potion into the bottle, estimated the dosage was about right, and handed it to Leon.

"The medicine is half applied topically and half drunk." Because Roach's experiments and Alessina's training were prone to injury, she simply prepared this commonly used medicine in this canned form.

Roach also hung an unidentified sign with a red cross on it, saying it meant some kind of first aid zone. In addition to medicine to promote blood circulation and remove bruises, there were also hemostatic agents, bandages, splints, and the little witch's must-have... cold medicine.

The cold medicine was prescribed by a pharmacist in the capital. It was a pure herbal preparation without any magical ingredients, so the witch's magical resistance would not be effective against such a purely herbal medicine.

"Thank you..." Following Livia's instructions, Leon applied half of the ointment to the wound and drank the other half. He immediately felt the pain in the wound lessen considerably. Although, given his constitution, this kind of injury and pain would heal on its own after a day or two of rest, and wouldn't significantly affect his combat ability.

Just as Leon was about to say something, he saw Livia's emerald green eyes suddenly sharpen, and her small hand quickly summoned the staff, a powerful barrier descending. "An enemy is attacking!?" Leon instinctively reached for the hilt of his sword, but grabbed nothing, only to remember that his weapon and armor had not been repaired.

"Boom!" The witch's hut shook violently, and then something seemed to hit the windows and walls. Before Leon could figure out what the attack came from, he saw the little witch lift her skirt and rush out in a fit of anger.

Outside the cabin, Roach's laboratory door was wide open, billowing thick smoke. The defensive barrier set up by Livia was fully deployed, protecting the equipment inside from damage. However, the people conducting the experiments were... evenly distributed from the doorway all the way to the cellar entrance.

"This... Master Roach!!!" Leon was shocked. How could a high-level alchemist have died after he just fell asleep?! Could this also be the revenge of some demon?

"Sigh~" Then he saw a tired and helpless expression on Livia's small face. With a wave of her hand, the body parts scattered on the lawn automatically gathered together. Then she pulled out a thin thread that was between solid and nothingness from a bottle full of silver-gray soul essence and sewed the body together like the best tailor.

The gruesome wounds quickly healed under the influence of healing potions and life magic, leaving behind terrifying scars.

After everything was finished, Livia roughly shoved a bottle into Roach's mouth. As the liquid was poured in, the last trace on the stitched-up corpse disappeared, and then it thrashed about like a half-dead fish on a chopping board.

"Don't die..." Livia said, tapping Roach's head. "Really, really, it's really hard!"

"Got it, this was an accident~" Roach exhaled a smoke ring. He was trying to create a new type of equipment to make up for his combat power based on the experience he gained at the academy and through that magic vehicle. As a result... facing that pile of empirical formulas and relying on intuition to adjust the dosage of alchemical recipes, an explosion was to be expected.

And the Rune Master branch is really easy to explode. Even if you've done precise calculations on those runes, it doesn't mean your hand won't shake when you're making them. If it shakes even slightly, at best you'll ruin them, at worst... at worst you'll lose all memory and wake up dozens of meters away from the lab, with the little witch looking at you with a disappointed expression.

"He, he is..." Leon knew that people on the verge of death could be brought back to life by magic, but could someone who was completely shattered also be saved? No, he didn't sense any aura of the soul leaving the body just now. In other words, from the perspective of soul science, Master Roach was indeed not killed by the explosion, but his body and soul were shattered together.

But can a shattered soul be pieced back together? Leon felt that the basic knowledge he had learned in the church might be a bit outdated. In the study of souls, organic damage to the soul is irreversible. If it is truly shattered, the person is doomed. Even if the body is fine, the person will become like a vegetable.

“Master Roach’s situation is a little different. His soul and body are one, so injuries to his soul can heal just like injuries to his body.” Leslie explained to him. This characteristic was explained to the team almost every time a new member joined. After all, even from the perspective of a demon from hell, the fact that something with a shattered soul could be pieced back together and healed was a supernatural story.

"Doesn't that mean he can get magic or contracts for free by using a portion of his soul as a price? Like the Philosopher's Stone?" Roach's eyes lit up, but before he could even have that "bold idea," he received a heavy blow to the head.

Then came excruciating pain coursing through every nerve in his body. His soul could heal, but that didn't mean that being violently torn apart while still alive wouldn't cause pain. Livia's expression turned unusually serious as she solemnly warned, "No! You can't use the Philosopher's Stone!"

"understood……"

"Hmm~" The little witch reached out and stroked him, "That's a good child."

The Philosopher's Stone requires a large number of souls to create, and she is undoubtedly the best candidate to make such a thing, because she can extract a large number of soul fragments from the dead and form the prototype of the Philosopher's Stone, Soul Essence: White Amber.

It could be said that she was only one step away from the highest achievement of alchemy, the Philosopher's Stone and the Philosopher's Stone, but she would not take that step. The old witch had told her before that the greatest price to pay for creating the Philosopher's Stone was not the soul used as the raw material, but the existence of the user itself.

The soul is merely a raw material and a vessel, a vessel that carries the user's very existence in this world. The price of surviving by using the Philosopher's Stone is that your existence will gradually disappear. No one will remember you, and you will gradually lose all connection with this world, just like an immortal ghost living in the world's reflection.

The cost of creating the Philosopher's Stone is slightly lower, but it also results in a diminished presence and a transformation of the body towards transparency and nothingness. Moreover, this process is irreversible. Therefore, the little witch, who has the best chance of creating a true Philosopher's Stone, would not create such a thing.

However, the byproducts of creating the Philosopher's Stone are irrelevant, such as white amber and various alchemical results. They are all normal and don't matter as long as the final step of transmutation and replacement is not completed.

"Speaking of which, Master Roach, what are you planning to do? The effect of this explosion is a bit too strong, isn't it?"

"After much thought, I realized that while the magic crossbow has decent ranged power, its effectiveness is limited against high magic-resistant targets like demons." Pure kinetic energy doesn't have high destructive power; it's mostly magical damage. However, it still has more physical damage than a true spell. This hybrid weapon is certainly very useful on the battlefield, but its effectiveness against targets like demons is quite average.

"Moreover, the demon's skin is also very tough, equivalent to the piercing effect of a regular heavy crossbow. It's not that it has no effect, but it's not enough to kill in one hit. Hmm, the braking ability is insufficient." In Leon's ears, braking force is "the ability to stop the target's movement."

The paladin, who was used to dealing with all kinds of demons and evil spirits, nodded in deep agreement, "An unenchanted blade can't even cut through the lowest level of worms, and enchanted weapons also require a lot of effort."

It usually takes several hits to cause enough damage, which is not a big problem on the battlefield. One-on-one duels are rare on the battlefield. At long range, it's like a rain of arrows, and in close combat, it's like three or four spearheads stabbing at you every second.

"Therefore, I plan to refer to the preliminary application results of the recently completed dynamic element, plus some alchemical knowledge of the academy's magic cannons, and... the knowledge of the arcane sorcerer."

The academy's collection does include the legacy of the Mystic Arts, but only the other two schools. Runebooks are scarce, or rather, the knowledge of runebooks is too extensive. If we were to collect them all, we might need to build a separate collection area.

Therefore, Roach had to switch to the other two schools of thought for a side practice, just like occultists and other alchemists. Side practice was actually possible, and there was no need for double the magic power or training time.

In reality, most arcane mages will practice other arcane domains in addition to their main one, and it is even more normal to practice branches within the same arcane domain.

Do you think healers are delicate and frail healing priests, like the life priests of the Elven race? In reality, most healers, in order to deal with medical disputes, will also cultivate the "powerful branch" under the Life Domain, which is the kind that focuses on strengthening themselves.

Unlike shapeshifters who mimic monsters and powerful creatures, they simply enhance their own inherent abilities. Combined with a healer's understanding of the human body, this enhancement allows them to truly fight as fiercely as any high-ranking knight.

Even healers who aren't particularly skilled in this area often have a background in mental healing. This is partly because mental healing is one of their strengths, and partly because when dealing with certain patients, magical anesthesia is worse than potion anesthesia—unless they encounter a little witch with astonishing magic resistance.

Similarly, most other sorcerers follow the same pattern, and alchemists are no exception. Regardless of their major, alchemists will also study "blasting" under the Department of Creation, because alchemical bombs are their most commonly used and primary means of attack, followed by various elixirs and magical items.

However, there are limits to pursuing multiple fields of knowledge, because human energy and mental capacity are finite. Basic knowledge is universal, but the depth of knowledge involved in different areas at a higher level is completely different.

Runemasters are based on mathematics, and even though Roach studied history and archaeology, he could still manage to get the hang of it under the old Chinese math education system; however, Bloodlinemasters are based on genetics and biological anatomy, which Roach didn't know much about.

Although there are things like restoring skeletal features, Luo Qi only has a slight understanding of this high-tech branch. The content of the bloodline system is roughly that the ability is limited to barely replicating the appearance of those ancient and powerful creatures based on their bones, and there is no guarantee that it will be reliable. Even for this thing that is barely related to him, it is hard to say whether he can do it or not, after all, he only has a slight understanding of it and can't say that he has studied it.

The Puppet Master's topics cover mechanics, dynamics, and the like. This is because Roach and Professor Wilder learned some alchemical constructs while discussing the mechanics of the Magic Train, so they could understand a little bit of it. In addition, knowledge from Earth only serves as a reference and source of creative inspiration here; if one were to actually learn it, it would still be a completely new knowledge system.

Of course, Roach, who is a professor on Earth, has no problem with intelligence. With the addition of the Little Witch's combined intelligence, energy, and focus potion, learning from scratch is not a pipe dream. However, in less than a year, if he has to take time out of the curriculum to study, the level he can achieve will naturally be... so-so.

"So, Master Roach, do you have any good ideas?"

"If I had a better way, would I still be lying here?" Roach looked at Leon with a puzzled expression, or rather, he thought it was a good idea, but the explosion proved him wrong; it wasn't even a solution.

He planned to create a miniaturized magic engine that would continuously convert the magic of the rune disk into spell structures, thereby creating a spell boosting effect and increasing the energy level of the pre-configured spell structures.

"Hmm~" The little witch came out of the laboratory after checking something. A row of quill pens and a lot of papers were floating around her. Then Roach saw a stack of familiar-looking things fall in front of him. A smug smile appeared on the witch's little face.

The paper was filled with various questions, as well as the mistakes Roach made in the lab, especially in puppet construction, and a bibliography was also listed, which made Roach look strange.

Clearly, the little witch isn't very good at teaching. Before, she could only read textbooks fluently, but now she's improved and can only be a ruthless question-generating machine and a machine for summarizing wrong answers.

"Let's do this first..." Then the witch went back to her study to find more reference materials, preparing to make several problem sets for Roach. Presumably, after such high-intensity training, he would no longer make the advanced mistake of confusing the mapping parameters of construct runes and creation runes.

That's right, it's a high-level mistake, because even a novice wouldn't be able to connect these two completely different rune systems—they'd have to study the entire book of rune logic and understand which of these seemingly disparate runes share similar core meanings before making this error. "That's karma," Leslie said, patting Roach on the shoulder.

Chapter 379 The First Day of the Journey

After resting for two or three days, Livia recovered somewhat and was able to move the cabin forward.

"The route is to head straight east, through Rye Valley County, back to Lywood County, then turn south to Carrion Bay," Roach roughly marked the route on a piece of white paper.

"There's a war going on between Black Rye Valley County and the Eastern Province, isn't there? I remember Princess Freya broke through Eagle's Nest Castle and has now entered the plains east of Black Rye Valley County." Leslie seemed to be more well-informed. After all, when she was at the academy, she didn't have much to do, so she would go out every day to practice playing her instrument at the crossroads and gather information at the intelligence bureau there.

"I guess she can't continue fighting. After all, the capital is in such a state. Without logistical support, her rabble has no choice but to turn back," Leon said thoughtfully. The worst thing in war is trouble in the rear. The princess should be rushing back right now.

"I'm afraid one of her subordinates might come up with a brilliant idea..." Luo Qi rubbed his temples. The capital was in crisis, and he was leading troops in the field. Why did this plot sound so familiar?

"How can we come up with a brilliant idea?"

“For example, someone could crown her, saying that the capital has fallen, the emperor is dead, and now she is leading troops outside, so naturally she could be crowned on the spot and then crowned Empress of the Empire, and find a large city that supports her as the new capital. As for the emperor…” Roach spread his hands, “If I remember correctly, he shouldn’t have any other heirs, right?” The small house fell silent.

"So, should we take a detour?" Livia asked softly.

"No need for that. At our current pace, we'll be settled by the time we reach our destination."

Roach, on the contrary, remained calm and seemed unconcerned. The reason was that the Little Witch's daily progress was very limited. Even with a vehicle, she would set off around 10 a.m. and camp in the evening. So, by the time they reached their destination, everything would probably be over.

“That makes sense…” No one here had any objections or found it strange that Livia had such poor stamina. “But if we want to cross the war zone, we need to purchase more supplies, but that shouldn’t be a big problem.”

Leon observed the cabin. First, there was a cellar, and the stone and mud platform was clearly suitable for growing vegetables or something similar; all he needed to do was buy the food in advance.

As for why it's important to stockpile supplies when traversing war zones, even areas where the war has ended, everyone except Livia can understand—warfare is like a comb!

Regardless of whether the villages and towns along the way were burned down, even if they weren't, the army must have requisitioned all kinds of food and supplies. Whether the remaining food could feed the locals was a question. Under such circumstances, it was normal not to be able to buy anything with gold coins, and even if you could buy something, it would be at an extremely high premium.

“You’d better not have too high hopes for the hut’s storage capacity. It already has enough stored here, and as you saw yesterday, the creatures here are all alive, so they don’t like to be overloaded with supplies.” Roach patted Leon on the shoulder. “So, we can only try to take routes with fewer people, avoid towns and burned areas as much as possible, and see if we can get food through gathering and hunting.”

“It’s a bit difficult…” Leon shook his head. He was the only one among them with a relatively serious military career.

"When the legion advances, there are dedicated hunters and scouts. Wild beasts and edible monsters in the wild have long been killed or driven away. Even if there are any left, they are the stronger kind and probably not easy to deal with. I still think we should stockpile supplies in advance. You have a full 300 gold coins now, which is more than enough to cover the travel expenses of just a few people."

Leon planned out the land-based supply and logistics issues:

"Vegetables can be grown or gathered in the wild, and fresh meat can be obtained by hunting. However, it is unrealistic to expect to eat fresh meat along the way. It is best to buy some fish and put them in the pond so that at least there will be fresh fish to eat. Then, we should mainly eat bread and cured meat. We are now in the core area of ​​the empire, not far from Silver Maple County, where we can buy cheap bread and cured meat, and even that newly invented canned food."

"Three hundred gold coins is enough to buy enough food to last us until next year, and that's based on high military standards." Leon reviewed the calculations and thought there shouldn't be any major problems.

"Oh, right... I almost forgot, Vivi isn't here~" Roach slapped his forehead. The reason for the huge food expenses before was that there was a dragon in the team. Now, even the one with the biggest appetite, Alessina, only eats 50% more than a normal human. Considering that Roach and Livia can only share one children's meal, on average, it's about the same as a normal human's appetite.

"Then it's decided. We'll stop in Silver Maple City, buy food for the journey, and make use of the greenhouse to grow some tomatoes and other things."

"Those demon flowers will have something to say." "Just have Livia appease them." It could also be considered a threat. It was almost noon when the cabin owner finally stood up.

"Full speed on both sides!" Leslie found a hat somewhere, put it on her head, and shouted loudly from the second-floor balcony. The witch operating the cabin on the first floor gave her a displeased look, but said nothing.

As the staff pierced the magic circle on the floor, the four stone legs began to swing rapidly. Accompanied by thunderous footsteps, the hut started moving at a relatively fast pace. A silencing barrier was activated, concealing the commotion within the barrier to avoid startling those nearby.

A squirrel that had somehow wandered into the vicinity clutched a berry tightly, squatted on the steps of the hut, and stared blankly at the little witch. After a while, it suddenly darted towards the giant trees at the edge of the platform.

The cabin crosses the White Stone River directly, climbs ashore from the other side, and splashes water as it walks along the edge of farmland covered with lush green crops.

Leon huddled around the dining table, clutching a wooden tub. Surprisingly, he suffered from severe seasickness. The swaying of the cabin was only slightly uncomfortable for others, but it was a different story for him.

At this moment, the strong and burly paladin's face turned green from the jolting of his rocky legs, and the wooden face-like wood grain on the outer wall of the barrel he was holding twisted into a terrified and silent scream.

"If you dare to vomit around my kitchen, I'll hang you on the roof as a weather vane!" Alessina's face was also pale as she looked at the paladin who was about to burst, but her warning had no effect. "Ugh~~~~" The expression on the wooden barrel's wood grain became more and more distorted, as if it was about to die.

Livia tossed her long, light golden hair slightly, her expression weary. Strands of hair on her forehead were stuck together with sweat, and the golden runes on her skirt shimmered with magical light, which gradually faded as the girl released her staff.

The hut rolled over a small hill and came to a sudden stop beside it, the action causing the pickle jars in the kitchen to clang. Leon vomited even more horrifyingly, and the barrel's expression was one of peaceful joy after death.

As the glow of the setting sun bathed the thatched roof of the roadside cottage, the restaurant, which had been in a bit of chaos due to Leon's seasickness, calmed down slightly. He was sent outside to find a stream to dispose of the wooden bucket that had been half-filled with vomit. The little witch even put a piece of paper on the bucket that read "For Leon's Use Only."

This bucket was only given to him by Alasina because he noticed his expression was off; otherwise, this guy would most likely have grabbed the pickled vegetable bucket next to him and started vomiting, which would have made everyone feel disgusted.

Next to the cottage was a small vegetable field after the harvest. The evening breeze carried the sweet aroma of water spinach and the earthy smell of soil. As the weather warmed up, scattered traces of berries appeared on the bushes along the field, but these small berries were still very sour.

Further away is a main road, and across the road is a village. The earthquake triggered by the collapse of the capital city has also had an aftershock effect here, and several buildings in the village are crooked and twisted.

However, the remaining buildings were still emitting smoke, and the air was filled with the smell of boiling beans. The food of ordinary farmers consisted of beans, rye, vegetables, and some wild-caught tubers cooked into a thick soup or porridge. Bread was something they couldn't afford, or at least not something they could afford to eat on a daily basis.

After the cabin came to a stop, the previously quiet greenhouse began to rustle again, and the living magical flowers started to grow wild again. However, when Roach came in with a flower hoe, the proud little creatures immediately quieted down.

Roach moved some of the planted glow-in-the-dark roses, along with their metal climbing trellises, to create a space for planting tomatoes later.

The emerald vines climbing the wall wriggled and complained, but Roach couldn't hear their language and let them roam freely while he harvested the rainbow mushrooms in the greenhouse cellar.