Mystery: The Witch of Desire

"However, I have a gut feeling that Zarathustra is not telling the whole truth. Sequence 2 may just be his previous position, or he may be about to be promoted."

"A miracle worker? A master of creating miracles? The name of this potion is quite intriguing!"

"Is this Sequence 2, the 'Diviner,' the miracle worker who manipulates fate?"

"I tentatively asked Zarathustra again, whether the so-called miracles are miracles of fate? Is the 'diviner' path a way to gradually understand, master, and manipulate fate?"

“Zarathustra skipped the first question and told me that fate is only part of the ‘diviner’s’ path, not even part of the main body. The true path that represents fate is the ‘monster’!”

"He gave several examples, all of which were names of monster-sequence potions: Sequence 7 'Lucky One', Sequence 5 'Winner', Sequence 2 'Prophet', and the number 1 at the top of the sequence, 'Mercury Serpent'! This is also known as 'Serpent of Fate'."

"This is the first Sequence 1 I know, and it really hits me!"

"As far as I know, the 'Monster' pathway is controlled by the Life School. This school also seems to have a partial sequence of the 'Pharmacist' pathway. They advocate a triple division of the world of absolute rationality, the world of spirit, and the world of matter. Hmm, pretty cool."

"Zarathustra told me that the Life School is skilled in astrology and seeks to harmonize the soul with medicine, music, light, wine and aromatherapy to eliminate unfavorable astrological aspects and fate. They believe that disasters and diseases are caused by an imbalance between man and nature, and between man and his own mind."

He added meaningfully, "The life school worships the moon."

"Why worship the moon, and not a more advanced goddess of the night?"

This diary entry occupies two pages and is clearly copied from both sides of the original.

"That's a lot of information..."

Livre sighed silently from the bottom of her heart.

This was also the first time she had ever learned the names of Sequence 1 potions.

The "mercury serpent" and the "serpent of fate" certainly evoke feelings of longing in people!

The second sequence corresponding to the Diviner path... 'Miracle Master' is a good name, rich in meaning and of high status.

As Liviel pondered this, she looked at Klein with a touch of envy, wondering what the higher sequence name corresponding to the Witch Path was.

Klein said, gently tapping the edge of the table:

“Fate is only a part of the ‘Seer’ path, not even the main one. I must remember this and constantly examine myself against it, so as not to stray onto the path of fate, which could lead to failure in my role… Zarathustra’s words seem to fit the context, and there’s nothing wrong with them… The ‘Monster’ path is the true path of fate… The ‘Prophet’ is actually Sequence 2. Thinking about it, I did know about a Sequence 2 before…”

Klein's gaze remained fixed on the paper, but he began to seriously consider the matter of his own sequence chain.

Livre continued analyzing the information in the diary:

"Alchemist" and "Arcanist" should be high sequences in the "Generalist" pathway. Judging from Roselle's tone, they definitely don't belong to Sequence 2 and Sequence 1. That is to say, one is Sequence 4, and the other is Sequence 3... It's not possible to determine which is Sequence 4 and which is Sequence 3 for the time being..."

"As for why the Life School only worships the moon and doesn't believe in the goddess of the night who symbolizes the crimson moon... Klein, as the Night Watcher, do you have any ideas?"

Because of Emperor Roselle's warning, "Beware of the moon," Livre always held an exceptionally cautious attitude towards the moon.

Klein scratched his head, and said somewhat uncertainly:

"We have always revered the goddess as the Crimson Lord, perhaps because she holds the power over the Crimson Moon, but in reality, the Night Watchers rarely come into contact with anything related to the moon."

"Perhaps only some spells use 'crimson' as an incantation when they are used, but this is just a symbol, and other incantations can also be used."

"And judging from the behavior of those who are sleepless, it seems they are more interested in things related to stars. For example, Leonard, that green-eyed guy, seems to always have images of stars in his mind when he recites those clumsy poems..."

Liviel nodded thoughtfully. The discussion about the moon couldn't go any further because of the limited information available.

The two continued reading the next page of the diary. The third page contained Russell's thoughts on inventing a practical steam engine. He was worried about being suppressed and afraid that his achievements would be taken away by powerful figures. His words revealed that others wanted to persecute him.

It's surprising that even a self-proclaimed protagonist of his era like Emperor Roselle had such an anxious and worried side...

Livre slightly twitched the corners of her mouth. Russell's mindset was somewhat similar to that of Mr. Valentine, who aspired to become the 'Mushroom King'. He was also very worried that his competitors would plagiarize his ideas.

The fourth page of the diary records Russell's joy and worries about becoming a father for the first time:

"On April 18th, Matilda became pregnant."

"This was expected. I can even say exactly which time she conceived during sex, because I felt a decrease in her extraordinary characteristics at that time."

"Once conception is successful, a portion of my extraordinary qualities will be transferred to my child through a mystical connection."

Uh... is there really such a magical thing?

Liviel was shocked. Was this reduction in extraordinary traits only happening to male extraordinary individuals?

If a woman with exceptional traits conceives, will her exceptional traits increase?

This kind of thing can't be experimented on, after all, I don't want to be...

Livre couldn't help but shudder with disgust, and she could notice that Klein next to her had almost the same reaction.

The two of them tacitly agreed not to say anything and continued to read the diary entries below.

"After that, I asked Archbishop Van Esting with concern. He told me that this was a normal phenomenon. For Sequence 7 and below, extraordinary traits are not inherited by offspring, but it is not absolute. Sequence 6 and Sequence 5 will naturally inherit a portion, but not much, and it will not affect their strength too much. That child will be born with a certain extraordinary ability, close to Sequence 9, but correspondingly, his path will be fixed."

"At higher sequences, the inheritance of extraordinary traits is a controllable thing. You can choose to inherit them or not, or you can choose to inherit a little, a third, half, or all of them."

"In other words, the children of high-sequence strong individuals may be born extraordinary, and their sequence number is determined by their father or mother."

"I wonder if the descendants of gods are like this too..."

After reading this passage, only two phrases came to Livre's mind: "the law of conservation of extraordinary properties" and "the law of conservation of extraordinary properties".

Is this the rule for the survival of those extraordinary beings? No wonder some magical creatures give birth only when they are about to die... No wonder there is an increase in killing and bloodlust after giving birth, targeting their own kind or even their mates—this is to replenish their extraordinary traits... Following this logic, if we keep going back, where did the earliest extraordinary traits come from? Did they arise out of thin air? From the creator who created everything?

Page five of the diary entry is Roselle's rant, containing no particularly important information. Livre immediately flips to page six, the last page:

"On November 10th, I secretly met with the great pirate Savigny Solomon at White Maple Palace. I hoped he would plunder my rivals on the new sea route and strike at the ships of Fursac, Rune, and Fenneport."

“And I promised to help him advance to a higher rank.”

"The potion names for the extraordinary pathway of 'Black Emperor' are just as strange as those for the Witch pathway: Corruption, Chaos, Depravity, Order Killing... However, to echo 'Black Emperor,' they took it upon themselves to add suffixes: Corrupted Baron, Chaotic Mentor, Depravity Earl, Order Killing Prince."

"In order for Savigny to be promoted in the future in a way that truly deserves his title, I have decided to secretly bestow upon him the title of Count of the Court."

“Savigny has a son named Nast Solomon, and my intuition tells me he will one day roam the world.”

“Nast Solomon… Nast, the ‘King of the Five Seas’? Nast who claims to be a descendant of the Solomon Empire? He was actually born during the time of Roselle!”

Livre spoke up in astonishment, and Klein, standing beside her, was equally surprised.

He, an expert in history, tried to analyze it as follows:

"Russell mentioned the term 'New Sea Route.' The discovery of the New Sea Route and the finding of the southern continent occurred in 1194, while Russell was assassinated in 1198. The diary entry mentioned earlier must be somewhere between these two years. That is to say, it was 151 to 155 years ago."

"If Nast, the 'King of the Five Seas,' is indeed Nast Solomon, as mentioned by Roselle, then he is approximately 160 years old... Is this due to some other reason, or do high-sequence individuals naturally enjoy a certain lifespan extension..."

Livre suddenly remembered something interesting and said:

"The third sequence of witches is called the Ageless Witch. Does this mean that witches of this sequence have a lifespan that exceeds the normal range, or even reach the point of immortality?"

Klein nodded thoughtfully:

“High-sequence extraordinary individuals using the Death Path may also exhibit similar phenomena; however, they may achieve their extraordinary lifespan through ‘rebirth,’ forgetting their past life memories with each rebirth…”

After discussing the diary for a while, Livre asked with great interest:

"Tell me, what interesting things did you overhear from the sun?"

Klein cleared his throat, adopted a teacher's posture, and began to explain:

"The dragon race is the mortal enemy of the Giants' Court. They all look like enlarged lizards, covered in scales of different colors, with strong and powerful limbs and wings so wide that they can propel their giant bodies into rapid flight. They are the rulers of the sky."

"Some of them possess fire breath, some can control lightning, some can cause corrosion, and some can create frost, but these are not the mainstream of the dragon race. The most numerous dragons are the Mind Dragons, represented by the 'Dragon King' Angorweid. The extraordinary path originating from the Mind Dragons is the 'Spectator,' which in the Silver City we generally call the 'Dragon' path."

"At that time, the most powerful and terrifying dragon was the 'Dragon King' Angorweid, also known as the 'Dragon of Imagination'. In addition, his son, Alshogod, was also a famous and powerful being who covered the sky and looked down on the land and sea. His title was 'Dragon of Nightmare'."

"There is a legend about the 'Dragon of Imagination' Angelweid: the objects it imagines will surely materialize, the kingdom it fantasizes about will surely descend into the material world, and the future it proclaims will surely unfold and become reality."

"This...this supposed future is bound to unfold?" Livre, who was listening in, suddenly frowned. "This does seem somewhat like the sealed artifact '0-08'!"

Klein leaned back in his chair, his brow furrowed, and said:

“Each sealed artifact is transformed from a corresponding extraordinary characteristic. 0-08 is very likely related to the high-sequence extraordinary characteristics of the audience pathway... However, as for whether it is similar to the Imaginary Dragon, you can continue to listen to the following description.”

He paused for a few seconds, then continued:

"The son of the Imaginary Dragon, the Nightmare Dragon Alshogod, is equally terrifying. It can control the minds of every creature, making them act according to its own will, and these creatures are hard to detect, believing that it is their true thoughts. It will also weave real nightmares in reality, making many living beings unconsciously participate, and then giving them the cruelest and most terrifying ending."

"Legend has it that it has a particular fondness for playing pranks. It will make the prince kiss the princess awake, but the princess will be half-rotten when she wakes up. It will make girls from ordinary families put on dancing shoes and dance in front of the prince, but they will never be able to stop until they die. It will create all sorts of coincidences that lead the fate of many living beings to tragedy."

"A series of coincidences... This sounds more like a sealed artifact '0-08'... Of course, I don't know much about that sealed artifact."

Livre offered her opinion, and Klein nodded in agreement:

"Yes, the most terrifying thing about 0-08 is its ability to create all sorts of undetectable coincidences. From this point of view, the Nightmare Dragon is indeed more similar to 0-08's abilities."

"And then what happened? Did those dragons survive to this day?"

Livre asked somewhat impatiently.

Klein's expression turned solemn, like a perfectly still bronze bell:

"According to the sun, later, the creator of everything awoke, and famous dragons such as the 'Dragon of Imagination' and the 'Dragon of Nightmare' fell from the sky, losing everything, including their lives. This caused the sun to not shine on the earth for forty-nine days, caused countless volcanoes to erupt, and caused floods to rage and engulf everything. The dragon race declined from then on and could only retreat to various dangerous places. After that, the giants' royal court was also destroyed by that lord."

Livre added with slight surprise:

"The history claimed by the Church is that the Lord of Storms, the Eternal Sun, and the God of Knowledge and Wisdom led humanity to defeat the dragons and the giants, and killed their respective kings... Although I suspected that the Church had altered some of the history, I didn't expect it to involve so much content..."

Klein pondered for a moment, then tentatively said:

"Imagine if we replaced the Lord of Storms and other deities with the creator of Silver City, then the history told by the Church and the history told by the Sun would not be much different."

Liviel frowned upon hearing this and slowly said:

"You mean that the creator of Silver City is real, and the seven gods stole His authority and achievements to become the rulers of the world today?"

Chapter 211 Finally, I met the siblings with a normal relationship.

Klein, a history graduate from Hoy University, pondered for a long time before letting out a slow sigh:

"While a large part of the myths and legends recorded in church books are false, the history circulating in Silver City cannot be entirely trusted either... As for what the real history is like, that remains to be seen as we acquire more knowledge."

After exchanging ideas for a while, the post-meeting briefing also ended, and Livr returned to her cabin.

She went up to the deck and breathed in the air, which had a distinctly tropical feel.

There were more ships around, and the sea was no longer turbulent. All of this indicated that the Treasure Ship had sailed out of the depths of the raging sea and arrived at the nearshore waters of a certain continent.

Finally, several hours later, Livre saw the endless coastline ahead, the outline of the continent.

We've arrived at the Southern Continent.

……

Most of the houses in Gulain are built along the winding roads, with occasional flatter and more open areas serving as squares or markets.

As the northern gateway to the Southern Continent, Gulayin City was the earliest settlement of colonists in the Southern Continent, and it is also one of the ports with the largest throughput and the most complete modern construction.

Since Gulai City had steam trains connecting to major eastern Bairan cities like Vertecker and Teteric, as well as long-distance trains to important western Bairan cities like Caesar Port and Kukri, all train services to western Bairan have been suspended due to recent tensions between the Kingdom of Rune and the Intis Empire.

Livre bought a second-class train ticket for tomorrow's journey to Verdtke. Daniel, on the other hand, went to the stationmaster's office and used the radio there to send a telegram to the governor's mansion, explaining the attack on the Swallow.

Then, an order came from the governor's office to immediately arrange a train for Daniel to go to Vanterck to report to Governor Tybert in person.

Livre did not want to face a demigod from the military, so she declined Daniel's invitation to travel together.

She described Lorraine and Cynthia's appearance and general characteristics to Daniel, asked him to help her find them, and then left the station.

Guided by her spiritual intuition, Livre randomly chose a direction and began searching for a relatively comfortable hotel along the way. She was carrying a large bag of luggage and urgently needed a place to stay.

Since ascending to the status of a fallen tree spirit, Liviel has felt an even greater demand and desire for beauty. Along her journey through ports, she purchased a vast amount of clothing of all kinds to adorn herself. Now, she has reached the point where she changes her clothes almost every day.

Today, she wore a bright green long dress, light-colored fingerless gloves, revealing her smooth, fair arms and a glimpse of her back, and her hair was adorned with a few bright flowers.

However, these flowers were not ornaments; they grew from inside her body.

Liviel was surprised to find that since setting foot on the Southern Continent, the desire within her had become somewhat restless. Images such as tree branches and flower buds, which should only appear when she used her abilities, would also appear when she did nothing.

This... makes me feel a little strange...

Liviel touched the flower bud on her head, feeling the subtle heat rising within her, and gave a wry smile.

Now, whether she sees elegantly dressed northern noblewomen or dark-skinned native women from the southern continent, she feels an urge to take advantage of them.

The Southern Continent is the stronghold of the Rose School. Perhaps there are certain entities on the Southern Continent related to the power of the Mother Tree of Desire, which have reacted with the bestowed power within me...

We still need to be careful.

Liviel confirmed her safety through divination using the magic mirror. Then, while regulating her breathing to control her heart rate, she activated the Fallen Tree Spirit's power to suppress her desires and make herself appear normal.

There weren't many horse-drawn carriages on the road, and you'd only see one or two taxis every now and then.

The most popular mode of transportation in East Bayron is the "coffin," which stems from the custom of death worship. People regard coffins as objects that can bring peace and tranquility. Therefore, Liviel often sees several people carrying a black coffin by the roadside. The lid is much thinner than normal, like a car door that can be opened at will.

Black men carried the coffin, and the suona horn sounded...