Witch Troupe and the Undead

There were two bags in total, and they looked exactly the same. After all, Livia hadn't put in much effort, at least not on the surface. If she were given more, it would offend Master Roach.

He was well aware of the saying that it's easier to see the King of Hell than to deal with his underlings. Of course, the bags were the same size and the amount of money was the same, but the types of money inside might not be the same. This was the least likely way to offend anyone. Even if the other party found out, unless they had zero emotional intelligence, they would just smile knowingly.

"As for these, they are my personal gifts." The knight placed two boxes on the table. The one given to Livia was a very beautiful gemstone necklace, made of silver mixed with mithril. The mithril made the finely crafted chain, which was in the shape of intertwined vines, reflect a shimmering light. The pendant was a red gemstone encased in four mithril feathers, like a flower bud about to bloom.

Clearly, Karius had carefully studied Livia's preferences and aesthetic tastes; the designs were mainly floral, exquisite, and beautiful, adorned with rubies.

Then Karius gave Roach a longsword. "I heard that you lost a magical longsword while escorting the team, Master. This is my personal compensation." Roach picked up the scabbard. Fortunately, he didn't lose his composure to the point of directly drawing the sword to check it out. The scabbard was made of high-quality leather, with golden runes engraved on three silver-gray rings.

The hilt was carved into the shape of ancient tree roots, with a turquoise spherical weight entwined at the end like tree roots. Roach's box was quite ordinary; two storage compartments were filled with dark gold and silver-gray metal, mithril and adamantite. Giving an alchemist various arcane equipment and trinkets was less appealing than giving them rare materials; the former almost seemed like mockery.

“I am very satisfied,” Roach nodded, seemingly indicating that the viscount was indeed quite sincere.

"I wonder what your plans are next, Master?"

"What is it now?" Roach looked at Karius, knowing that if someone is being polite, they must have something in mind.

"The Empire will begin its recapture of the Deathwhisper Fortress in a month, taking advantage of the losses suffered by these undead monsters..."

"This..." Roach looked at Livia. For some reason, the little girl clenched her fists, bent her body slightly, and made a "I'm going!" gesture. She looked quite cute, making people want to pick her up and give her a good squeeze. Of course, Roach didn't have that courage, and neither did Karius.

Leslie rolled her eyes. What was this old hag pretending to be young for? Of course, she didn't dare say it out loud, afraid that she would be swallowed whole by that old horse the moment she stepped out the door because she stepped out with her left foot first.

Didn't you see that old man lying in the stable looking like he'd eaten too much and was digesting his food? Leslie didn't want to know, nor dared to know, what that old man had eaten a few days ago.

Chopping wood, feeding horses, no world travel: Author's Note

It'll probably be available for purchase tomorrow. I'll see if I can release a second update.

It seems like we've got everyone together now. Wait, should we add a dragon girl? But then, wouldn't the whole team only have two guys?

Next, they should recapture the Deathwhisper Fortress, and then Livia and the others will begin their conquest of the Black Abyss Cemetery from here.

As for what happens next... well, that's "The Witch's Magical Dessert Journey" (laughs).

Chocolate, its muscles contorted, grabbed Roach by the collar and let out a shrill cry: "Eat me!!!"

Chapter Thirty-Three: The World is a Circle (Physics)

The silver-gray blade was dull and gray, with three runes engraved on its spine. Half of the runes had faded, indicating that this was not a newly made magical tool, but an ancient artifact that had been around for many years, to the point that more than half of its secret power had been lost.

The [Thorn Sword], once activated, will have its blade wrapped in illusory thorns. Whenever it engages an enemy, it will deal damage; in other words, it can ignore parries and inflict a certain amount of damage. For a swordsman...

It was definitely a fantastic weapon. But Roach wasn't a swordsman; his swordsmanship was limited to slashing with great force. Therefore, the sword's main purpose was to carry it on his back, making him look more like a sorceress pile driver, combined with all the bottles and jars he carried.

In the lounge of the Fairy House Inn, Roach leaned back on the sofa, holding a strangely shaped book with a serious expression. The book's cover was titled "The Mathematical Laws of Secret Sources and Magical Mechanics," and it was filled with words and symbols that resembled spells. Just one glance at it made the fairy and Leslie feel as if something had been stirred up in their brains.

Livia is still experimenting with her new desserts, and has already steadily and quietly wasted almost 3 gold coins on fine flour, honey, sugar, and nuts. Of these, only nuts are relatively cheap; the rest are quite expensive.

The ginger-yellow human-shaped cookies crawled up and down inside the box, their faces deformed from baking, resembling the famous painting "The Scream." Clearly, Livia's magical dessert experiment had failed once again. The only redeeming quality was that these cookies at least tasted like cookies.

This finally relieved Titania, who had endured several days of torment, and she hurriedly announced that Livia had graduated and could now develop all kinds of magical desserts on her own.

“In ancient philosophy, it is believed that there are three levels when people look at things. The first level is seeing a mountain as a mountain, the second level is seeing a mountain as not a mountain, and the third level is seeing a mountain as a mountain again. You have now reached the second level.”

Roach spoke seriously to the somewhat dejected blonde girl, Livia, who looked up, her golden ahoge swaying slightly, and then nodded vigorously: "Mm!"

"..." Leslie stared at Roach in disbelief, and even the black horse eating hay nearby had a strange expression.

"Are you a demon? You must be a demon in disguise! Take this!" Titania flew high into the air and delivered a flying kick to Roach's face. Unfortunately, with her weight and strength, the blow didn't even turn Roach's head. Instead, she grabbed his ankle and lifted him upside down.

"Ah!" The fairy clutched her skirt tightly, letting out a shrill scream. "What are you howling about? I have no interest in you!" Roach let go of her, allowing the fairy to fall. She flapped her wings a few times and stood firmly on the table again.

"What? I'm a fairy! Your taste is... Oh, I forgot, you're not human." The fairy originally wanted to criticize Roach's taste, but after carefully examining his face, she suddenly realized.

Just as ogres and orcs couldn't appreciate the beauty of elves, dwarves thought that a woman without a beard looked like a bald monkey.

"I need to say it several times, I am human." Roach was almost in despair. Of all the creatures he had encountered so far, apart from humans, none of them thought he was human.

"First of all, humans can't cut something apart and put it back together." After witnessing Roach's failed attempt to research the second-tier arcane bomb, even Leslie didn't think this thing could be considered human.

Secondly, after death, the soul leaves the body, rather than remaining locked inside.

"Finally, the soul, once shattered, is completely destroyed. It can't be easily glued back together." The fairy slowly counted on three delicate, slender fingers. "So, Roach, you still call yourself a person!"

“I am from another world,” Roach said speechlessly.

“Those are just otherworldly creatures, classified according to the standard classification method of the Mystic Arts Association, they don’t count as humans.” Titania put her hands on her hips, as if she had seen through Roach’s weakness and launched a fatal blow to him.

"Livia, do you know of any potions that use fairies as ingredients?"

"?" Livia looked up at Roach, then at the fairy, and ruffled their hair with both hands. She said in a serious tone, "You can't fight."

Although she always spoke very softly and gently, no one here dared to ignore the power of her words. After all, after hearing the witch's warning, the cookies in the box stretched out tiny fists made of flour and made a couple of moves at Roach and the fairy before Roach grabbed them and threw them at the black horse outside the window.

"Oh~ Not bad~" The black horse took a bite of the dessert containing tiny fragments of soul, and swallowed it with a flick of his tongue. Unfortunately, in this form, he could only communicate with Livia through telepathy. It wasn't that he couldn't speak, but in a city, it would be easy for the young lady to be tracked down by witch hunters.

"We didn't fight~" Roach wanted to pat Livia's head, but she nimbly dodged it. A hint of smugness appeared in her emerald eyes, as if she was proud of herself for avoiding Roach's head pat.

Hearthstone City has decided to launch its recapture operation of Deathwhisper Fortress in a month. For some reason, Livia wants to go with them. Roach, on the other hand, doesn't really want to go. He has a lot of study and experiment plans to work on, and he's also very interested in the history and culture of this world. These books and materials are stored in the library beneath the Arcane Tower.

Unfortunately, the disorganized written records mean that Roach can only understand the most basic content at present, and those knowledge books that are almost at the level of popular science or elementary education will obviously not be included in the libraries of the proud mages.

At present, besides knowing that this world is called the Spiral Realm or the Cycle Realm, Roach only knows the general geography and country divisions, and even that is incomplete. It's like how the Tang Dynasty only knows about nearby countries like Japan, but there are many omissions and errors about the more distant Western Regions, and as for Europe... well, he can only learn about it by listening to the boasts of Arabs who have come from afar.

Even during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, it was still unclear whether Da Qin and Flynn were the same country. This shows how difficult it was to fully understand the world without radio and high-speed transportation.

However, Roach had a basic understanding of the area surrounding the Stoll Empire, or rather, the area surrounding the Luster Plain. He didn't know how big the entire plain was. The Lywood County where they were currently located was the easternmost part of the Empire's Eastern Province, and to the north was the lower part of the Empire's Northern Province. The Empire's territory was like a giant pincer holding the western side of the Luster Plain in its hands.

The most prosperous area in the central Luster Plain is the Kingdom of Rada. Its eastern edge connects to the forest territory of the Forest Elves, and its northern edge also connects to the territory of the Orc Alliance. As for the south, it is a vast black forest. The only way to enter the Empire is to depart from the southern port of Rada Kingdom, bypass the Bay of Carrion Eaters and the Mermaid Sea, and follow the southern shipping route of the continent and the island shipping route.

Don't ask why the two countries are at war but still doing business, and that the trade volume is enough to support a behemoth like the Archipelago Pirate Alliance. This is a traditional skill in the human world. Even after being reduced to such a state of utter chaos by World War I, they still continued to do business.

As for why the Cycle Realm is called the Cycle Realm, Roach found it in a church book. The church believed the world is cyclical, starting in the east and eventually returning to the west...

"...Can't they just call this thing under their feet a ball?" That was Roach's first thought after seeing it. What the hell is the Spiral Realm? What the hell is the Cycle Realm? He thought this world was some kind of infinitely repeating world, but it turns out that what they mean is that this world is a circle, or you could call it the "Circle Realm".

Although Roach felt it wasn't wrong for them to just say it was a ball, considering the different cultural backgrounds and the fact that his understanding and translation of many local words and phrases were rather simplistic, he figured they might actually mean "a ball."

"You borrowed a whole bunch of books again today, Master Roch. Hmm, geography books. What are you looking for?" The girl with braided hair sat down opposite Roch, also carrying a large pile of books and notes, as well as a considerable number of scrolls. Roch, with his sharp eyes, spotted the words "Mystic Tower Alchemy Society Advanced Test Exam Simulation" on one of the scrolls.

"How did you know I was looking for something?"

"Yes, because masters like you rarely consult geographical information except for locating material sources. Only sorcerers need to memorize everything." Since a sorcerer's power comes from the magic of the environment, someone who is ignorant of astronomy and geography is truly mediocre!

A skilled sorcerer, even in the desert, can unleash water magic like a machine gun because they know the location of underground rivers and water sources. A sorcerer with little knowledge, on the other hand, will often find themselves in the situation of running out of mana, saying things like, "Your surrounding environment has run out of magic."

Unable to cast water magic in swamps, getting beaten up by storm spells in deserts, and being cooked in a hot pot by an underwater volcano controlled by earth magic at sea—this is the daily behavior of those incompetent rogue mages.

"Unfortunately, I was just looking for some miscellaneous books to read, since some of the materials were too difficult to understand." Roach was referring to the book "The Mathematical Laws of Secret Sources and Magical Mechanics," which was comparable to "The Mathematical Principles of Natural Sciences" on Earth.

Moreover, as a newcomer to the field, he was not sure he was right when faced with some obvious errors in the model. After all, if the mathematical model described a natural and objective product, such as electromagnetism, he could swear in the name of Sir Isaac Newton and other great figures that he was right.

However, if the other party is describing a fundamental force that doesn't exist on Earth: magic, then... it's best to assume they're right. After all, Roach doesn't think he's at the point where he can establish his own school of thought and create something like Sir Newton and the rest of the Solvay Conference leaders.

"..." The girl with the braided hair glanced at the book, then at Roach, and remained silent for a while before posing a profound question: "Master Roach, are you preparing to begin the Alchemy Society's expert-level assessment? This level of assessment cannot be conducted here in Hearthglen; you'll have to go to Creek Valley in Lywood County or the Imperial Capital."

This book is unnecessary for alchemists below the expert level. They are still in the learning and practice stage, and the parts involving basic principles and foundations are far too early for them. It is only essential reading for alchemists who have reached the expert level and are beginning to move towards the master level, such as the Golden Arcane Witch, who is creating their own theories.

"...Homework assigned by my teacher," Roach pointed to Livia sitting not far away. She didn't like noisy places and had specifically chosen a quiet corner. Beside her was Leslie, who was acting as a maid, serving tea and water. The book Livia was reading wasn't a magic book, but rather:

Sweetness is Justice: Fairy Cuisine, Fairy Court Arts: Magical Pastries, and strange things like Far Mountain Travelogue: Fairy Cookies.

"Ah..." The girl looked at him with great sympathy, as if you were in the library studying for your final exams and saw a medical student who needed to memorize dozens or even hundreds of books and was also preparing for graduate school.

"Are you... about to take an exam?" Luo Qi pointed to the scrolls, and the girl with braided hair in front of him sighed, a headache showing in her light amber eyes. "Yes, I heard that the questions are very difficult this year. If I don't pass..." her apprentice status will be hard to keep.

"Then come on."

"Speaking of which, Master Roach, are you going to participate in the counterattack on Deathwhisper Fortress?" "Yes, Livia seems quite interested in that place for some reason." Roach couldn't understand why either. Didn't she dislike these rotten skeletons? Why would she be so interested in Deathwhisper Fortress, a frontline against the undead?

"I see..." The girl with the braided hair hesitated for a while, "Um... I wanted to ask, can I join you?"

"Huh?" Luo Qi originally wanted to say that we had already gathered the four of us, but after thinking about it carefully, that demon really could hardly be considered a "person" in any sense. Besides, they weren't on a journey to the West to obtain the scriptures, so there was no limit to the number of people they could take.

"I want to ask, aren't you taking an exam? Won't it interfere with your studies if you come along?" Luo Qi was very curious, as if someone who was about to take the college entrance exam still had the mind to go on a trip.

"Uh..." The other party hesitated for almost four or five minutes before honestly confessing, "It's to get more points for the assessment."

"what?"

"When working with alchemists of elite level or above in the wild for gathering and research, you can get extra assessment points based on your final performance." After all, gathering various materials in the wild inevitably involves a lot of tedious work, so alchemists usually recruit a large number of apprentices to do odd jobs.

After all, many alchemical materials, especially those for potion-making, are not even recognized by ordinary herbalists and adventurers, let alone collected safely and effectively.

Especially those poisonous things, which often not only poison themselves to death, but also destroy the growing environment of rare magical plants. Therefore, alchemists, especially potion makers, will bring many apprentices with them when they go out to collect materials to help collect and process them.

To encourage these apprentices not to stay in the tower and waste their time, those who go out on field missions can receive bonus points for good performance. This is a good supplement for apprentices who are not confident in passing the assessment.

"I understand, but I am different from ordinary alchemists. You may be in great danger."

"I'm not afraid of danger!" the girl said firmly, her hands clasped to her chest. She thought they were going to some dangerous place, or that Deathwhisper Fortress was already a very dangerous place.

However, what Roach meant was that if he shattered, he could put it back together, but if she shattered, then she was truly broken.

“Alright, you can do some auxiliary work as much as you can.” Roach, who wanted to decline, suddenly remembered his past life on Earth, when he served his mentor like a slave. So he agreed to let her do some auxiliary work first, and this job did indeed need someone to do it.

Leslie was fairly quick and efficient, but she was of no help at all in extracting those secret source equipment and secret source essences. Apart from her excellent stamina, her physical condition was also very poor.

As for her excellent stamina, it's simply because she's a mermaid, and a member of the Yoko-Tai clan. If she didn't have excellent stamina, she would either have starved to death or sunk to the bottom of the sea, and she wouldn't be where she is now.

"That's great!" The girl with braided hair looked very happy, her eyes shining, and her pretty and cute face was flushed. Unfortunately, for Roch, who was used to seeing the likes of Leslie and the little witch, even that little fairy was only considered pretty in his eyes. The one in front of him could only be described as... well, plain-looking.

"My name is Vivian, you can also call me Vivi." The girl suddenly seemed to remember something and introduced herself, "An apprentice in alchemy and creation science."

Chapter Thirty-Four: I've succeeded, Daoist Master!

The Department of Creation explores the creation of magical items and studies the combination and processing of various wondrous materials. Its most famous product is arcane equipment, which can provide various continuous buffs and magical effects, but unlike enchanted items, it will not become ineffective or lose its power.

Their goal is to create the legendary, true alchemical weaponry—an artifact capable of freely changing form and possessing a variety of arcane functions. Because arcane equipment is more difficult to create than magical tools, or rather, advanced arcane equipment is even more difficult, the Creation Department is consistently one of the most expensive subjects.

The power of arcane equipment and creations from the Creation Science comes from the inherent properties of the materials themselves. Their secret source has not been extracted, so as long as the structure itself is largely intact, its effects will continue to take effect. However, conversely, Creation Science items do not have active effects; at most, they have simple on/off functions such as "activate" and "deactivate".

At the same time, the effects of the artifacts created by the secrets of creation are much weaker than those of magical artifacts, and most of them use the effects of the life source.

"What a lucrative subject!" Roach remarked after gaining a general understanding of it. Unfortunately, the Creation Department was precisely the part that Mystic Source Warlocks were least involved in, basically only covering a small amount of constant and enhanced paradigms, as well as the creation of Mystic Source Warlocks' exclusive equipment and items.

"Yeah, that's what I thought too. But then I realized that before I could make money, I spent it like water!" Vivi showed an expression of unbearable recollection. The Creation Department really made money, okay? Putting everything else aside, just take the [Energy-Boosting Accessory] for example. No noble over 40 years old would refuse to pay for it. Don't ask why, just say "A man is a boy until the end" and "As hard as iron and as strong as steel!"

However, this video contains recipes created by elite alchemists, involving about twenty or thirty kinds of materials, including some expensive ones such as the "fruit of the Tree of Life." According to Vivi, the failure rate is at least 80%.

Of course, the "Tree of Life" here doesn't actually refer to the tree used by the forest elves to hatch new ones, but rather to a wondrous giant tree with golden, flame-shaped leaves and an emerald-green trunk, whose sap emits the aroma of wine.

Because alcohol is called "water of life" in alchemy, the "Tree of Life" in alchemy refers to the fruit of a tree called the "Golden Jade Tree".

"Is it very expensive? This fruit of life?"

“It’s very expensive. This kind of tree only bears fruit when it’s fifty years old. And not all of the fruit is usable; only the parts with the strongest life force can be used,” Vivi sighed. “Most importantly, this kind of thing dies as soon as it’s fruited.”

It sounds like bamboo, that was Roach's first thought, and the shape does resemble bamboo: green trunk, very tall, long lifespan, grows on mountains, and only bears fruit when it dies.

The only problem is that bamboo leaves are long and thin and green, only turning golden yellow when they wither, while the leaves of this tree are flame-shaped and remain golden until they turn silvery white when it dies.

"Does it reproduce through rhizomes, like those bud-like things on the side?"

"Yes, those are the buds of the Tree of Life, the material for making the Life-Soothing Potion." The Life-Soothing Potion treats the condition of excessive life force, a magical illness that usually occurs after drinking too many healing potions or receiving too many blessings or healing spells in a short period of time, causing one's life force to overflow and the body to become abnormally active.

Aside from nobles and knights on the battlefield, normal people had no chance of contracting this disease, just like obesity, which was unheard of for commoners in ancient times.

"Is it possible that the reason why those alchemists couldn't successfully cultivate this tree for artificial planting is that it's not a tree?" The more Roach listened, the more it sounded like bamboo. They dig up bamboo rhizomes and bamboo shoots every day, it would be strange if this thing could grow.

"what?"

"Is it possible that it is actually a type of grass, and the tallest kind of grass?" Bamboo is indeed a type of grass, and could even be considered a type of rice (Poaceae family).

"By the way, there are a few [Golden Jade Trees] growing on the cliffs of the Black Abyss near the Deathwhisper Fortress. Are you really sure that's a kind of grass?"

"I'll have to see it to know, this is just a guess," Roach said calmly. What if it's a tree in another world? "Livia, this is Vivi, she's planning to join us on our trip to the Deathwhisper Fortress to earn some credits."

"Hmm~" Livia looked at the other person warily at first, carefully pulling up her scarf to cover most of her face. Only when she heard Roach say that he was going to join their team did she look at the other person with a curious gaze, as if she was examining something.

"Want some?" After thinking for a moment, Livia took out a round pastry from the box. The moment the soft, chewy substance landed in Vivia's hand, the surface cracked open—what she thought was a sign of poor baking—and made a sharp sound: "Eat the filling first! Eat the filling first!"

"..." Vivi numbly glanced at Livia, then at the pastry in her hand, and then at the group of monsters and freaks present. She closed her eyes, preparing to take a small bite as a pledge of allegiance to the group. "I fucking told you to eat the filling first, eat the filling first, the filling is delicious, don't eat the crust first!" the pastry screamed as if it wanted to stretch out its arms and legs.

"......" "Smack!" Leslie threw the pastry on the table, pulled out a knife and sliced ​​it in half. "Okay, now it won't make a sound."

"..." Vivi held the dismembered pastry, its vibrant rose filling oozing from the broken ends, with trembling hands, as if holding a corpse. With a determined heart, she took a large bite. Well, the crust tasted like dough, the rose filling tasted like roses, and you could definitely taste roses inside. It was definitely made of starch, but that was it.

At least it's much better than the strange thing that Leslie tried before, where the crust didn't taste like crust and the filling didn't taste like filling. It's also incomparable to that unknown substance at the beginning that only had a deep, dark, abyss-like taste.

"Hmm~" A glint flashed in Livia's eyes. She stood up, tiptoed, and gently patted Vivi's head, as if acknowledging her.