Millennium Witch

"So, what kind of deal do you two want?"

“I’d like to purchase a secure new identity ID card and pirated rune knowledge books,” Yvette said calmly. “Also, I’d like to have a stall here to sell some of my original ‘restricted spells’ or to accept commissions related to rune compilation.”

"Your order..."

Welding Gun suddenly laughed, as if he had heard something very funny. He picked up his coffee, took a sip, and said, "I can get ID cards, but pirated books?" Then he licked the coffee stains from the corner of his mouth and chuckled, "Last year, a gang stole and printed introductory textbooks on runes from Black Tower High School and tried to sell them. They all vanished in less than a month, and nobody knows where their bodies are now."

A flicker of surprise crossed Yvette's calm face. From her readings about the pre-apocalyptic era, she knew the Origin Civilization was extremely strict in its fight against piracy, but now it sounded… much more serious than she had imagined.

Rosalyn exclaimed in surprise, "It's that serious? Why?"

“Because it infringed on the company’s intellectual property rights. This is something they make money off of, how can they not protect it properly…” Welding torch said, noticing Yvette’s expression, and narrowed his eyes, “Miss Mage, this, don’t you know?”

Yvette glanced at him, her eyes devoid of any emotion, as still as a stagnant pool. But for some reason, Welding Gun felt a chill run through him, and his earlier doubts about the cyber mage's identity vanished instantly.

But what he didn't know was that Yvette was inwardly sighing frantically.

Last night, while shopping online, she originally intended to purchase a patent book titled "Elemental Attenuation Completion Technology" from "Jinhen Chemical," one of the super companies, to solve her real-world energy storage problem.

Then I saw the price, and it was just an ebook, priced at 50 credits. I was stunned. I subconsciously brought in my past life experience and wondered if I could get some pirated copies.

She only just discovered that the black market trades in illegal weapons, but not pirated books related to rune knowledge. Forced to buy legitimate copies, she has no idea how long it will take to save up that money.

"However, Miss Mage, your goods are indeed rare. Perhaps I can offer you some trading opportunities. How about it? Many gangs would be interested."

The welding torch changed the subject, leaned forward, and chuckled, "Everyone knows the commission here is 20%, but I'll only charge you 10%, isn't that generous? After you inspect the goods, I'll help you make connections."

"can."

Eager to make money as soon as possible, Yvette wasn't too concerned about commission rates. However, the discount on the welding torch seemed genuine, since in her previous life, e-commerce platforms like Taobao and JD.com seemed to only take around 10% commission from ordinary stores.

"What a straightforward young lady. I hope we have a pleasant working relationship." The welding torch's smile deepened.

He wasn't lying; halving it meant halving it. After all, in his view, a mage's connections seemed more valuable, especially since she could provide original restricted-level spells, suggesting she was highly skilled.

Of course, the welding torch himself is a cyber mage, but his mastery of runes is only at a beginner level. He's lucky if he can cast other people's spells; he wouldn't even dare to create his own. He wouldn't even dare to make minor adjustments, for fear of accidentally creating a bug and blowing himself up.

It can only be said that there are differences even among mages.

……

The commission to compile runes didn't come out of thin air, and Yvette knew very well that she needed to first demonstrate her abilities with some solid results.

Therefore, for her initial sales, she chose a restricted-level original technique—an alternative name for illegal techniques created privately without official review and filing.

The spell is called "Arcane Wind Blade - YH47254," the same move she used yesterday to kill those three thugs. "YH" represents "Blackwater District, Ish City," and "47254" is the number of runes. This naming convention effectively avoids duplicate names.

"Arcane Wind Blade?" Welding torch raised an eyebrow, asking skeptically, "Sounds ordinary, is there anything special about it?"

At the same time, he led the two into an inner room.

This room is slightly larger than the previous reception room. The paint on the walls has peeled off, revealing dark red bricks. In the corner sits an old machine, its casing yellowed, as if it had been soaked in time for a century.

However, this is not a plastic shell, but a kind of "fungal plastic", an organic synthetic material invented by "Lin Tui Bio", the developer of Magic Light Vine. The main material is the secretion of a certain magic-loving fungus, and its function is not much different from that of plastic.

"Nothing special, just some optimizations I made, the performance should be pretty good." Yvette's gaze fell on the machine.

—A spell simulator is a testing machine used to simulate the effects of magic. It is somewhat similar to a "test" in the field of magic and can measure the performance rating of a spell to the maximum extent.

Although she had learned about this thing from the professional books in the Abyss Base, this was her first real encounter with it, which made Yvette feel like she was about to take the college entrance exam.

She'd been working on rune design for centuries, but this was her first time doing a hardcore benchmark test, and she was a little nervous for a moment.

In particular, she didn't optimize the spell "Arcane Wind Blade" as carefully as she did the other four great spells of ice, fire, wind, and thunder, such as Frostbolt, Flame Dance, Wind Chaser, and Thunder Fury, so the test results were a bit low.

I'm entirely self-taught; I've never had any systematic training. I hope I won't lose a lot of points... This is in front of my apprentice, you old machine, don't push me...

She thought to herself expressionlessly.

“Well then, Miss Theon, why don’t you check the machine first?” the welding torch reminded her.

This is a basic procedure to prevent the theft of rune sets, checking if "Incognito Mode" is enabled. Of course, it's possible to tamper with it even if it's enabled, but it's extremely difficult and easily leads to copyright complaints; ordinary gangs simply wouldn't dare take that risk.

Evie nodded, placed her hand on the touchpad, and began a thorough check of the machine's system. After confirming that everything was correct, she activated the test mode, entered the rune set, and waited for the machine's calculations.

"It's starting to move!" Rosalyn exclaimed in surprise as the machine began to shake, then saw a line of text appear on the screen—

[Rune quality testing in progress...]

“Rune quality, what is that?” Rosalyn asked. She couldn’t read it, but perhaps because of the high illiteracy rate here, the welding torch machine turned on voice broadcast.

Before Yvette could speak, the welding torch chuckled and said to Rosalyn, "This is an indicator used to check the redundancy of the procedure."

"redundancy?"

"Yes, in the arrangement of runes in a magic spell, there are often useless 'junk runes' that affect the efficiency of casting the spell. For example, a spell that can be cast in three seconds may be delayed to three and a half seconds."

"The more runes a large spell has, the more junk runes it usually has... And rune quality calculation is to find out the proportion of these junk runes, and then compare it with spells of the same specification to get a quantifiable reference."

"Why would there be trash runes?" Rosalyn asked, puzzled.

“There are many reasons.” Welding Gun shrugged. “It could be that repeated modifications during testing resulted in residual files; it could also be that the compiler was lazy and didn’t bother to optimize; some formulas even cause problems when the redundant parts are deleted, so they have to be kept.”

"So that's it..."

"The way to quantify the score is also very simple. It calculates the redundancy rate and makes a horizontal comparison ranking among similar procedures. The ranking results show that the top 5% are S-level, the top 10% are A-level, the top 20% are B-level, and so on, with the worst 10% being J-level."

While the welding torch was being explained, the first indicator, the "heat test," was also nearing its end.

A moment later, the test was completed, and a large "S" appeared on the screen.

"Wow, this is the first time I've ever heard an S-rank announcement..."

Shocked murmurs rose behind her. Yvette glanced over and saw a few thugs peeking in from the doorway, watching the commotion.

The welding torch was also momentarily stunned.

"Rune quality" is the lowest weighted performance indicator in the overall score, but achieving an S-level is quite difficult. This means that the compiler is either a super expert who can compile runes in one go, or a perfectionist or obsessive-compulsive who is willing to spend time...

After glancing at Yvette's shimmering silver hair, clean face, and simple black-and-white nerdy outfit, Welding Gun thought for a moment and still felt that the latter was more likely.

Chapter 20 The More You Buy, the More You Earn

When the S-rank rating for the first item, "Rune Quality," lit up, Welding Torch no longer had much doubt about the mediocre spell name "Arcane Windblade."

But the second "stability" test that followed made him catch his breath.

[Stability calculation in progress...]

This is a probability indicator of how a spell can break down, become distorted, fail, or become abnormal due to its own problems, and it is often linked to the "method of operation" and the "casting environment".

For example, improper operation, such as exceeding the rated magic pressure, or a harsh environment, such as being in an area contaminated by elements.

Therefore, "stability" has a much higher weighting than "rune quality." After all, nobody wants their magic to suddenly break down while they're using it.

A moment later, a striking letter appeared on the screen—

"Ah!"

“A…” the welding torch murmured softly, his gaze unconsciously turning to Yvette.

Although it doesn't reach the S-level, it still scores in the top 10% in terms of "stability," a score that is far ahead!

Could she really be a top-tier rune compiler? Welding Gun couldn't help but glance at Yvette, but seeing that the mage remained expressionless and composed, he slowly withdrew his gaze and continued reading.

The third metric is the "magic-to-power ratio," which is also one of the most important performance metrics. It is the art of using internal magic to leverage external magic, and it represents how much effect each bit of magic input can have.

And in this indicator, the test result once again reached the "S" level!

At this moment, the welding torch couldn't hold back any longer and took a deep breath. This was the first time he had ever seen an S-rank mana cost ratio, especially on a medium-sized spell with nearly 5 runes. If this wasn't a god-tier player, who could be considered a god-tier player?

Even the thugs at the door, who knew nothing about runes, noticed something was amiss and began to whisper among themselves.

"Why does the boss look like he's seen a ghost?"

"You don't know anything! This is definitely a masterpiece!"

The only one who remained remarkably calm was Rosalind. She was the most confident in the "Arcane Wind Blade" spell, even more so than Yvette herself, and the result was entirely expected and not surprising at all.

—This is the teacher's technique, it would be strange if it weren't powerful!

"And I am the teacher's only student..." she added proudly in her heart.

……

Once the most crucial, skill-intensive, and attention-grabbing metric of "mana cost ratio" was surpassed, almost everyone felt that a spell with an overall performance level of "S" was about to be born before their eyes.

but……

In the final indicator, "Safety Protection," the test result dropped to "J," leaving everyone present frozen in shock, feeling a profound sense of absurdity and humor.

“Miss Mage, this is…” Welding Gun was dumbfounded. He couldn’t believe that a top-level compiler who could achieve an “S” level in magic consumption ratio would be a bottom-tier performer in the field of security protection—this was a level that only he could achieve!

Damn it, the machine is malfunctioning?

Yvette, after a moment of silence, frankly said, "I'm sorry, I forgot to design the firewall or anti-hijacking measures."

"..."

For a moment, the welding torch was at a loss for words. Such a top-tier cyber mage had actually forgotten something so important; it was like forgetting to write your own name during the college entrance exam…

“I can fix it, but it will take some time,” Yvette said after thinking for a moment.

“No…this is better,” the welding torch suddenly said.

The overall score was now in, and due to the zero score in the "Safety Protection" indicator, the technique, which was originally likely to be rated "S", was suddenly rated "A-". Even so, this was still the highest-level technique ever seen in the junkyard black market—a true tyrant of the newbie village.

“Most of my clients here are local gang leaders,” the welding torch explained, with a hint of mockery in his tone. “Although they are also mages and have learned some runes, their level is only barely enough to understand spells. They will never reach the level of ‘spell hijacking’ in their entire lives, so security design is completely unnecessary.”

Then he smiled wryly and said, "To be honest, A- is too much of a luxury for them... They would be even happier if you could 'downgrade' it to B-."

"..." Yvette opened her mouth. After studying rune set optimization for so many years, this was the first time she had heard of a requirement for reverse optimization.

However, in a dream, there's no need to dwell on such things. She simply said, "It's okay, I'll allow you to sell it at the price of a B-grade item."

"...Really?" The welding torch's eyes lit up instantly—S-grade performance, A-grade rating, B-grade price?

Why don't I buy a few copies myself first? Although I don't have the ability to prevent hacking, it doesn't really matter!

This is so profitable, the more you buy, the more you earn!

The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. His heart burned with excitement, and his long-dormant ambition surged once more.

……

It received an overall rating of "A-", but that wasn't the whole story. There were some specialized tests later, such as the Arcane Wind Blade's penetration, coverage area, rate of fire, and range. The results were basically all marked as "numerical monster".

However, the final "encryption and encapsulation" stage proved to be a bit of a challenge. This is a massive technology in the field of rune compilation, not something an individual can develop, and Yvette had absolutely no prior experience with it.

“Use Black Tower Pharma’s remote encrypted packaging service.” Welding Gun sighed and brought up the holographic interface. “It costs 5000 credits per use, can be paid with digital currency, and can generate a procedure package with an activation code.”

"Five thousand? That's so expensive?" Yvette hesitated; she only had two thousand eight on her.

The welding torch chuckled as he explained, "Their encrypted packaging automatically binds to the user's 'spirit' upon activation, making it virtually impossible to crack. Of course, more importantly..." He lowered his voice, "This is the Black Tower's encryption; who dares to crack it? This is the Emperor of Ish Island!"

“Then… let’s start with five portions.” Yvette looked at him. “But I don’t have any money, so could you lend me some? Thank you.”

So, because the mage was short of money, the welding torch was forced to pay for it upfront, but he still bought two sealed Arcane Wind Blades on the spot—each costing 50,000, for a total of 100,000. He didn't have much liquid capital either, otherwise he would have bought them all.

After deducting the 2.5 packaging fee and transferring 7.5, plus the 0.28 in her account, Yvette now has a total of 7.78 credits in her account.

It seems much more abundant, but it's still quite a distance from the 50 yuan price tag of "Elemental Attenuation Completion Technology".

As they left, the welding torch personally escorted them through the long, dark air-raid shelter.

The bullet marks remaining on the rock wall were faintly visible under the dim light. Seeing Rosalyn looking around curiously, the welding torch smiled slightly and explained to the little girl, "This was dug out by the residents of Pixel Street with their bare hands during the 'Silent War' twenty years ago."

"Back then, the company alliance was at war with the global international community, and Ish Island became a key target for the New Eden United States." He kicked away some pebbles at his feet, gestured, and said with a look of reminiscence, "I was only this tall back then, and I spent all my time huddled here eating compressed biscuits..."

Yvette was not familiar with the historical event of the "Silent Wars," and she would not prioritize collecting such information after the apocalypse. She only knew that it was a protracted and heated war waged by eight super corporations against the global government of Origin Star.

In the end, the two sides ceased hostilities and made peace, and the matter was dropped.

It seems that "Company Alliance" and "Global International" are the names of the opposing camps.

As for the "United States of New Eden," it is a country directly under the jurisdiction of Ish Island. However, it is basically controlled by Black Tower Pharmaceuticals, and the New Eden government's presence is not very strong.

“I know Black Tower Pharmaceuticals, but what other companies are in the company’s alliance?” Rosalyn asked after listening for a while.

"And then there's Lingman Company, Tianqiong Technology, Lintui Biotechnology, Gravity Group, Jinhen Chemical, Liekong Group, and Heichao Company. Counting Black Tower, that makes eight super companies." Welding Gun held up his fingers as if listing treasures, and sneered, "Of course, since the end of that war, they may already be the eight new kings of this planet."

"How did the War of the Silent End?" Yvette asked.

Although he didn't know why the mage's historical knowledge was so lacking, the welding torch didn't think too much about it: "I don't know. Neither side made any announcements, but suddenly they announced a ceasefire. There were no victors, and what's strange is that before the ceasefire, the 'global international' advantage was actually quite obvious... After the peace was restored, there were at least tens of thousands of conspiracy theories, such as doomsday weapons, mind control, population depletion, and even alien invasion... Rumors were flying everywhere."

Yvette frowned slightly: "Apocalyptic weapon? What weapon?"