Mystery: The Witch of Desire

The faint light burst forth and spread in the blink of an eye, continuously surging out from the void, like the pale light emitted by pages of burning books. The four books that solidified seven or eight meters away from Danitz fell from the void like nails and stuck to the deck.

The first book, *Sword Chasing the Great Wilderness*, has a dark green cover, exuding an aura of someone important being ravaged; the second, *The Queen of Best Friends*, looks like a lesbian romance novel without a female protagonist; the third, *Destined Pleasure*, is filled with the joyful atmosphere of three people together; the fourth, *Postpartum Care of a Female Extraordinary Being*…

Although Danitz didn't understand what this was all about, he knew that staying among these four books would definitely not end well. He moved, about to run away again, when Livre's hidden figure appeared from the side, and several invisible spider silks wrapped around his body.

"You bastard, who are you?!"

Danitz cursed and ignited a ball of flame in his hand. The flame exploded in his palm, crimson mixed with dark yellow, and fiercely attacked the sticky spider silk surrounding him. The spider silk sizzled and crackled when it met the fire, and the smell of burning filled the air.

Liviel did not retreat. She took out the ritual staff she had just received from Maiviti, infused it with spiritual power, and a gray-white halo appeared at the top of the staff. Several exquisite and simple ritual spells appeared in Liviel's mind. She immediately selected a 'fire extinguishing spell' to activate. In an instant, a damp mist descended from nowhere, forcefully suppressing the burning flames into a few sparks.

The spider silk seized the opportunity to wrap around Danitz's arms and shoulders, tightening its grip. Danitz gritted his teeth, determined to fight back, and unleashed his flames once more. The flames turned from red to white, the intense heat distorting the surrounding air. The spider silk finally softened, the outermost strands melting and snapping, burning small craters into the ground. The silk binding his arms loosened, making a crisp sound like snapping strings. Danitz struggled violently, breaking free of his restraints amidst the acrid smell of burning flesh.

But as soon as he regained his footing, Livre had already retreated to outside the area surrounded by the four books. A slight smile played on her lips, and the light from her cane dimmed; she had achieved her goal of buying time.

Just then, the four books simultaneously trembled with a "thump," as if the lids of four tombs were being knocked on at the same time. Then, without any wind, the pages turned rapidly, and lines of text floated up from the pages, transforming into a dense network of chains that intertwined, connected, and stacked, instantly forming a six-sided cage. Each side was a huge page, the text swimming like tadpoles, forming unintelligible sentences, trapping Danitz firmly in the center.

Outside the cage, a figure silently appeared.

Edwina wore a scholarly dark robe and held a talisman that slowly rotated above her palm, a symbol of the authority of knowledge.

With a mere wave of her hand, the writing on the inner walls of the cage began to twist and tighten, like a gigantic maw swallowing air. Danitz felt the surrounding air become viscous, and even his thoughts were interrupted by the lines of sentences crammed into him:

“This person has been presumed dead,” “This person never existed,” “The gods have abandoned him”…

"Captain! It's me!" Danitz clutched his head in anguish, his voice pleading, "It's me, Danitz! Your boatswain!"

Edwina seemed not to hear anything. Her eyes were calm as she waved her hand again, and the cage shrank even further in an instant.

Danitz’s face began to contort, a contortion that seemed not to be caused by pain alone, but by something deeper peeling away.

Gradually, his features melted like wax, reshaped, and transformed into a beautiful woman's face; his figure lengthened, his curves became more prominent, and his messy, yellowish-brown hair turned into long, jet-black hair.

The next second, a pair of huge wings suddenly spread out from her back, the jet-black feathers as sharp as blades, with edges gleaming with a ghostly blue luster.

nightingale!

She let out a sharp cry and slammed into the cage like an adrenaline rush. The pages trembled, and a few lines of text were scattered, but that was all. She flapped her wings frantically, black feathers flying like knives, but they couldn't pierce the thin pages.

Just then, her alluring eyes turned crimson, and she coughed up a mouthful of blood. Her ethereal voice, tinged with the stench of blood, began to chant:

"A divine child who should not have been born."

......"

puff!

Before she could finish reciting, Livre had already thrown an ice spear, piercing through the barrier of the cage of knowledge and precisely piercing the nightingale's throat.

The nightingale knelt on the ground in anguish, unable to utter any more prayers, only able to make strange hoarse noises.

However, the first prayer she recited seemed to have already stirred up some power. Pale gray halos appeared around the cage, which were the power of corrosion and disintegration. It was as if countless tiny gaps had been opened in Edwina's cage of knowledge, giving Nightingale's struggle a little space.

However, Livre quickly threw a ball of black flame and a wisp of frost into the cage, which, guided by Edwina, intertwined into a spiral chain that precisely wrapped around the nightingale's wings and neck.

The nightingale let out a painful cry as she struggled desperately, her black feathers flying wildly. However, the black flames continued to weaken her extraordinary abilities, and the frost made her movements slower and slower. Edwina turned the invisible pages of the book expressionlessly, compressing the space of the cage little by little.

Slowly, the nightingale's struggles changed from violent to convulsions, and from convulsions to slight trembling. Her pupils began to dilate, and large gray-white spots appeared on her jet-black wings, like withered leaves.

Finally, she slumped her head helplessly, her body suspended in the cage by chains made of characters, as if nailed to a cross, her tattered feathers and filthy blood falling onto the deck.

By this time, many crew members had been awakened by the fierce fighting and rushed onto the deck.

"Everyone, stay inside the cabins and do not come up on deck without my orders!"

Edwina showed no joy of victory and calmly issued the captain's orders.

Then, she looked at Livre:

"Next comes the crucial part. The Knowledge Cage will refine her corpse, deconstructing the corresponding knowledge. However, this requires a sufficient understanding of her corpse. At first, I thought she was a Faceless Person, but now it seems she belongs to a path I'm unaware of..."

Edwina paused, her icy eyes filled with inquiry:

Are you familiar with this route?

Livre nodded:

“I have a full understanding, but can you guarantee that our conversation won’t be eavesdropped on? Perhaps, at least, it would require a clandestine force at the angelic level to evade that being’s perception.”

Edwina paused for a moment, then slowly said:

“That’s something I can’t do right now, but perhaps you can control the Knowledge Cage and complete the analysis of her extraordinary characteristics. I can take care of the rest.”

Liviel paused, glancing at the ritual staff in her hand, somewhat hesitant. After all, the Cage of Knowledge was a ritual magic of a higher level in the Reader's Path, and it certainly wasn't so easy to manipulate.

"Don't worry, it's not difficult. I'll guide you."

"Adeline said softly, like a teacher instructing students," Edwina said.

After thinking for a moment, Livre cautiously spoke:

“I can agree to that, but if I feel my safety is threatened, I will give up ritual magic.”

“No problem,” Edwina said without hesitation. “I won’t force you.”

As she spoke, she took two steps forward, standing outside the cage of knowledge, facing the Nightingale's hanging corpse, and began to make further arrangements.

She took out specially made ritual silver powder and, with strokes precise to the millimeter, outlined another six-pointed star-shaped core magic circle on the floor, corresponding to the one inside the Knowledge Cage. The six points of the six-pointed star were filled with different symbols: lead weights representing "imprisonment," crystal prisms symbolizing "analysis," and several books with covers inscribed with "sealing" terms in different languages…

After setting up, Edwina, palms up, spread her slender fingers, subtly gathering her spiritual energy, and chanted an obscure incantation in ancient Hermes:

"All souls."

"All flesh and blood."

"All belong to the towering white pagoda."

"Transform into an ocean of knowledge..."

As Edwina chanted, a faint spiritual glow shimmered along the edges of the pages, and a spiritual wall quietly rose, enveloping the entire ritual area. Crystal prisms began to refract illusory light, shining on the nightingale's corpse, as if to dissect its inner structure layer by layer.

Liviel stood at the edge of the magic circle, holding her ceremonial staff, watching intently. She could feel faint resistance emanating from the center of the circle, the struggle of the nightingale's remaining spirit.

Edwina's chanting entered a crucial stage; her pace quickened, and her hands moved intricately, guiding the magic array within the Cage of Knowledge. Finally, the Nightingale's corpse gradually dissipated into specks of light, leaving behind a deep green extraordinary property. Above that extraordinary property, a hazy pink mist enveloped it.

Liviel could sense that the thin mist shared the same origin as the power within her body, containing the power bestowed by the evil god of the Rose School. This power did not exist in the form of extraordinary characteristics.

Edwina's analysis ended abruptly there; clearly, she lacked understanding of the power bestowed by the evil god. She then turned to Livre and handed her the talisman symbolizing the authority of knowledge from her palm:

"Now it's up to you."

Livre gripped the ritual staff tightly in one hand and took the talisman in the other. In an instant, a series of instinctive commands flooded her mind: how to guide the spirit, how to weave the ritual, how to chant the incantation…

Liviel held her breath, her fingers unconsciously tightening around her cane, which emitted a faint grayish-white light. The chaotic influx of knowledge quickly coalesced, like scattered puzzle pieces, but Liviel, lacking sufficient knowledge, struggled to visualize the complete method in her mind.

Just then, a cold hand grasped hers. Livre turned her head in surprise and saw Edwina standing beside her, her cool skin pressed against hers, her beautiful and pure face still expressionless.

"Concentrate your mind and focus, and feel the knowledge I am conveying to you..."

Upon hearing this, Livre obediently closed her eyes. She felt that Edwina had opened a part of her heart to her: a portion of her knowledge entered her body through the passage between their hearts.

However, due to the negative effects of using the ritual staff, Livre is currently in a state of extreme thirst for knowledge, uncontrollably absorbing more knowledge from Edwina's body.

"No, don't inhale so much..."

Edwina's face showed pain, and she said somewhat flusteredly:

"Quickly, transfer some knowledge to me as well, otherwise the balance of knowledge within me will be disrupted!"

Livre sensed a hint of urgency in Edwina's words, unlike her usual composure. It seemed that Edwina desperately needed an infusion of knowledge.

She quickly selected a portion of extraordinary knowledge from her inner world, intending to transmit it to Edwina through a spiritual channel.

However, she was very unfamiliar with using the telepathic connection, and in her panic, she did not transmit the extraordinary knowledge she had chosen, but instead transmitted her experience of digesting the potion of pleasure.

Hey! Wait! Stop, those aren't them!

Liviel tried to stop it, but it was too late. The interaction of knowledge had already taken effect. In an instant, the fragmented pieces of the puzzle about ritual magic became orderly, as if they were automatically put back in place, forming a complete 'instruction manual'.

Edwina's face, as pure as ice, flushed crimson, like ice reflecting a blazing fire. Livre could feel the hand she was holding growing slightly warm.

Damn it, my lifelong reputation is ruined...

Liviel was extremely annoyed, but now was not the time to think about that; she still needed to refine the Nightingale's remnants.

She opened her eyes and skillfully probed her cane with her spirituality, extending it through the talisman. Her spirituality pierced the thin mist like a needle, reading its structure, attributes, and weaknesses, deconstructing the object left behind by the nightingale little by little.

The nightingale's extraordinary characteristics manifested a distorted, phantom face, vaguely revealing its beautiful yet sinister features. The phantom opened its mouth, seemingly wanting to utter a shriek or curse, but was firmly bound by the power of the magic circle, and the sound could not escape.

As time passed, Livre's palms became sweaty, and her fingertips trembled slightly, but the feedback from the talisman grew clearer and clearer. Her spirituality finally penetrated deeper, revealing the truth behind the pink mist:

That is the power called the "Gifted Person," equivalent to Sequence 6 through the normal pathway. It amplifies the recipient's desire for success and recognition, allowing them to enter a short-term burst state, unleashing strength far exceeding their usual level, and possessing tenacious vitality.

Indeed, Nightingale was a follower of that evil god, and her blessings reached Sequence 6. According to the slain Mavitti, Nightingale was the bridge between the Blood Admiral and the Rose School...

Liviel exhaled a murky breath and slowly refined the pink mist along the patterns of the ritual array before returning the talisman to Edwina.

Edwina's face was still rosy, but she calmly stepped forward and continued to manipulate the spells, thoroughly refining everything the nightingale had left behind in the cage of knowledge.

Minutes later, the nightingale ceased to exist in the world; all that remained was the knowledge that her life had transformed into, floating in the cage of knowledge in the form of densely packed text.

Edwina slowly pulled them out, sealed them in the talisman, and let out a slow sigh of relief.

She looked at Livre, her expression somewhat complicated, and slowly said:

"Thank you, Miss Marilyn, you've finally helped me out of a problem."

Livre looked Edwina up and down. Edwina had just gone through a tough battle as a reader, and she looked slightly tired with a warm blush on her cheeks, but her light blue eyes sparkled with the satisfaction of acquiring knowledge.

Well, anyway, as a reader, Edwina must really enjoy knowledge, and that kind of knowledge counts, right? Maybe it's even the kind of knowledge that Edwina lacks... Yeah, that's right, I don't need to feel embarrassed about it...

As if instructing herself, Livre rationalized the fact that she had just conveyed incorrect information to Edwina.

Then, she smiled slightly and said without any politeness:

“You really should thank me properly. I saved your first mate, helped you eliminate the spies, and even told you Danitz’s whereabouts… So, how do you plan to thank me, Ms. Edwina?”

Edwina paused for a moment, then said softly:

"I'll make you happy. Let's go back to the room and talk."

Livre nodded slightly and followed Edwina into the captain's cabin.

The moment Edwina closed the captain's cabin door, Livre suddenly sensed several figures appearing at the doorway, each pressing their ears against it.

Livre chuckled:

"It seems your crew is quite worried about what I might do to you. If I were a man, would they have just stormed in?"

Edwina glanced at Livre and said seriously:

Have you reached the stage where you identify as female?

Seeing Livre's stunned expression, she calmly continued:

"Excuse me, if you are a purely female witch, please disregard what I just said."

Livre was speechless for a moment, and after a long while, she smiled somewhat awkwardly:

"Now, can you tell me your payment?"

Edwina nodded, and a dark iron key suddenly materialized in her hand. It was as big as a seven-stringed lyre, ancient in shape, and had a dull luster.

The pirate general, half-embracing and half-carrying the shipwreck relics, said:

"This is the treasure that has been making headlines in the Sunia Sea recently, attracting the covetous eyes of countless pirates. We discovered it not long ago on a sunken ship at the bottom of the sea. Admiral Blood has attacked my crew repeatedly, and even went so far as to send Nightingale to infiltrate, probably all for this key."

Livre was taken aback, never expecting that the treasure 'Iron' McVitie's words mentioned was actually a key.

She couldn't help but think of the most awe-inspiring of the many mysterious legends about the sea: the key to death.

Legend has it that whoever possesses the key to death can find the treasure of death that perished in the Pale Calamity, and may even become a true god in one fell swoop.

She asked with some confusion:

"Is this the key to death?"

Edwina shook her head:

"No, I can tell you for sure that it belongs to a giant."

She then explained:

“I have recently come to a preliminary conclusion by combining historical documents. Those documents show that during the Quaternary period, many giants were still active. Some converted to the god of war, while others scattered to various places and became targets of human hunting.”

"One of the tribes built ships and attempted to sail out to find the lost royal court of the giants, but never returned. The shipwreck we discovered and some of the items inside are very similar to the artifacts they left behind in their original settlement. Therefore, we have sufficient reason to believe that the key belongs to the giants and may very well point to their lost royal court before the Great Cataclysm."

"The King's Court of Giants?"