The story of the black silk female knight

Valensa continued to eat with relish, showing no sign of pain on her face or in her eyes. Her skin, which should have been dry, wrinkled, and ulcerated, remained as white as jade.

"...It seems I'm really going to lose this time."

If the Harmonizing Witch still can't see Valensa's special qualities at this point, then she wouldn't be one of the Nine Witches.

However, the Harmonizing Witch didn't say much, only giving Elanfiel a disgruntled glare:

"Why is your luck always so good... You managed to pick up such a talented girl to raise as your wife, and you even got to know someone as amazing as Valencia to bully me together."

"Because I'm hardworking."

Ailan Feier said quite confidently:

"Think about it carefully. In the past two hundred years, whenever there has been a major event that required someone to represent the Witch's Forest, wasn't it always me who went? So isn't it normal that I know a lot of people? Someone like you who just stays at home, you expect to have a wonderful encounter?"

"You... hum!"

The conciliatory witch, clearly stung by a sharp rebuke, gritted her teeth.

"If I weren't serious in a fight, I probably wouldn't be able to beat you. I would definitely tear your mouth apart!"

After a brief argument, the two great witches resumed their challenge.

Valensa then flipped over the cards in order, and found many strange things, but she ate them all without any trouble.

Overall, her luck wasn't particularly good or bad... Out of 10 card flips, she got non-poisonous food 3 times, but she didn't get the legendary bonus level where she could eat rare delicacies.

"Next is the last card... Eat what's depicted on the front of this card, and Sister Elanfil will get the potion she wants, right?"

As she prepared to flip over the 11th card, Valensa checked with the Harmonizing Witch again.

"Yes."

The Harmonizing Witch had completely adapted to Valencia's unreasonable gluttony and was no longer as serious as she had been at the beginning. She even lazily yawned while answering:

"Hurry up and flip it... As long as you're not too unlucky and flip that thing, I reckon nothing can stop you from winning."

"...Are you helping me set a flag for myself, Sister Lu?"

Valensa muttered a sarcastic remark, then casually flipped to Chapter Eleven's cards, glancing at the card images before raising an eyebrow in surprise:

"What is this? Black cilantro?"

"This...!" x2

The two great witches' expressions changed simultaneously, especially the harmonizing witch's, which looked particularly grim, causing Alanfeier great concern.

"...How about we just let it go this time, Valensa?"

After a few seconds of awkward silence, it was actually Alan Fair who spoke up, urging Valensa to give up:

"The potion-making challenge here can be done once every six months... Tribes isn't in a particularly urgent situation yet, so why don't we try our luck again in six months?"

"...I didn't expect you to actually draw this on the last card...Your luck is really bad, isn't it?" The Harmonizing Witch exclaimed.

"Uh……"

Valensa stared at the cards, puzzled.

"Is this stuff poisonous? It just looks like cilantro with a slightly strange color."

"This thing is the most dangerous thing in this challenge... The card depicting it is the guaranteed death card that corresponds to the reward card. Usually, only the most unlucky people will draw it."

The Harmonizing Witch looked at Valensa with great sympathy before continuing her explanation:

"You may not recognize the plant on this, but you must have heard its legend... It is the famous Dragon Slayer Grass... the one from the legend of America the Dragon Slayer."

"The legend of America's dragon-slaying girl..."

Valensa nodded thoughtfully; she had indeed heard this story before.

It is said that this happened not long after America was founded. In a village near the Misty Mountains in the eastern mountains of America, a malevolent Moon-class red dragon bullied the village.

The specific grudges between the two sides are depicted in various versions of the story, but in the end, the Moon-class red dragon won the conflict. It demanded that the village sacrifice a young and beautiful girl to it every year, or it would eat all the people in the village.

The villagers were no match for the Moon-level Red Dragon, nor did they have the means of transportation to seek help from powerful figures in big cities. They could only obey the Red Dragon's orders and offer sacrifices every year.

This sacrifice lasted for eight years. After seven young and beautiful girls were eaten by the red dragon, the dragon-slaying girl, who is the protagonist of the story, appeared.

Even if a village girl from an ordinary family is very talented, she cannot kill a Moon-level Red Dragon at the age of sixteen or seventeen... Even if the Red Dragon does not fight back, the girl cannot break through its defenses.

However, during one of her mountain gatherings, the girl accidentally fell into a hidden crevice, where she discovered a plant that looked very much like black cilantro at the bottom.

As a gatherer, the village girl is no less capable than an experienced adventurer in identifying poisonous plants.

Through observation and experimentation, the village girl quickly determined that the plant was incredibly poisonous.

She was the one who was to be sacrificed and eaten by the red dragon back then, and if no way is found to stop that red dragon, her younger sister will follow in her footsteps in three or four years.

For her sister's sake, the village girl collected black coriander the day before she was to become a sacrifice to the red dragon, soaked it in hot water until it rotted, and then, half an hour before becoming a sacrifice, she used that water to take a bath.

The result... naturally, the girl's attempt was successful.

The Moon-class red dragon died shortly after devouring the girl, and it was only later that the girl's parents and sister learned the truth from her suicide note.

The death of a powerful Moon-class red dragon quickly alarmed many people.

The highly poisonous plant, resembling black cilantro, quickly gained notoriety, and soon researchers from the Sage's Tower arrived in the small mountain village to collect samples and conduct research on the black cilantro.

Ultimately, due to the power of this black coriander to quickly poison even Moon-level powerhouses, and the reason for its fame, it was named Dragon-Slaying Grass.

Chapter 43 Authentic Hometown Dishes!

"The poison of the Dragon-Slaying Grass is different from that of ordinary poisons; it is fundamentally different."

Seeing Valencia's eager expression, the Harmonizing Witch sighed helplessly and patiently explained:

"We can generally divide toxic materials into two types."

The first type is like Lightning Banana and Cherry Bomb. Strictly speaking, the danger of these materials isn't that they're poisonous, but rather that they contain concentrated and intense magical elements. Once these magical elements erupt within a living being, they can be fatal.

However, if these materials are processed correctly, they can be transformed into potions with a wide variety of effects. The more concentrated the magical elements they contain, the better the potion's effects.

The second type of toxic material is the one that is truly poisonous in the public's perception... In essence, these poisons are special substances that some organisms in nature have evolved in their bodies to protect themselves from being eaten by predators... a special substance that can destroy the structure of life and the body's internal circulation.

For toxic materials, these dangerous special substances within them are essentially like weapons and armor in the hands of humans... As long as the correct methods are used, these dangerous special substances can still be rendered ineffective.

For example, the toxins in the body of the rotten toad belong to this category... Although many biological toxins can be eliminated by high-temperature cooking, the rotten toad clearly does not belong to this type, so even if you stir-fry it with hot oil, it won't work, Valensa.

The reason I set up this challenge was to show people the correct ways to handle toxic material... because anyone who dares to choose this challenge must have some skill.

You don't really think I set up these challenges just because I'm bored, do you?

"Huh? Isn't that right...? Um... I'm sorry, I was wrong!"

Valensa blurted out her true feelings without realizing it, and after the witch glared at her angrily, she quickly raised her hands in surrender.

"Of course not! Do I look like that kind of boring woman?"

The Harmonizing Witch glared at Valensa while Alanfeier chuckled, before continuing:

"Actually, all the toxic materials in this card-flipping challenge, except for the Dragon Slayer Grass, are materials that even I can't properly process to remove their danger."

So the real purpose of setting up this challenge level was to see if people from all over the world who came seeking medicine had any way of dealing with these dangerous materials, so I could learn from them.”

"So that's it..."

Valensa nodded:

"What's so special about that Dragon-Slaying Grass?"

"...The poison of the Dragon Slayer Grass is completely different in terms of its mechanism of action."

The Harmonizing Witch was silent for a few seconds:

"As for the other poisonous ingredients in this card-flipping challenge, although I can't perfectly remove their toxicity, I can still detoxify them... As long as the challengers don't stubbornly refuse to admit defeat, they generally won't die even if they eat those things. I will detoxify them."

But Dragon-Slaying Grass is different... The card depicting Dragon-Slaying Grass is a guaranteed death card, corresponding to the reward card. There is no antidote for the poison of Dragon-Slaying Grass; even I can only watch helplessly as the poisoned person dies.

Because the toxicity of the Dragon Slayer Grass does not disrupt the bodily functions of living beings, but rather is a kind of... well, a terrifying existence that the Sage's Tower calls negative energy.

This energy is incredibly powerful... Even the dead, who are theoretically lifeless, will be reduced to nothingness in this energy, let alone living beings.

The reason I included the Dragon Slayer card in the challenge is actually the same as the reward card—just to add more luck and entertainment to the challenge… But I usually discourage challengers who draw the Dragon Slayer card… I didn’t expect you to be so unlucky, Valencia.”

"Yes... In fact, most warrior-type Radiant-ranked players have a sense of danger and basically won't draw such dangerous cards... Valensa, you're a bit too arrogant. You didn't make any choices at all and just flipped over the cards one by one in order."

Ailanfeier also sighed with regret:

"So let's skip this one and try again in six months... With this experience, I'm sure Valensa will win next time."

"……Do not."

Valensa had indeed considered giving up this time and coming back in six months, after all, she is a very cautious person when it comes to life-threatening situations.

But when she heard that the true nature of the Dragon-Slaying Grass's toxicity was actually negative energy, she changed her mind.

This wasn't the first time she'd heard this term... It was first mentioned in the Dimensional Hardware Store by the shop owner with the square monitor-like head, who had let slip that Valensa's innate power was holy light and negative energy.

The Holy Light, needless to say, is the divine grace of the Sun Goddess passed down through generations of the Inner Temple Knights.

The negative energy likely originated from Valensa's mother—another name for the evil god's power besides the Chaos God's power.

If that's the case, then there's nothing to fear about the Dragon-Slaying Grass.

So, under the somewhat surprised gazes of the two great witches, Valensa hesitated for a moment before pleading with a determined look on her face:

"Could I take a look at the Dragon-Slaying Grass first? I do have a gut feeling for danger... If the Dragon-Slaying Grass is really that dangerous, I can give up on it then, right?"

“...Normally, this is definitely not allowed—according to the challenge rules I set, once I take out the poisonous material on the card, the challenger must consume it.”

The Harmonizing Witch paused for a moment before reluctantly touching Valensa's leg:

"But who can blame me when you happen to have a face that I find very appealing? Good-looking people get preferential treatment no matter what they do, and I'm no exception... I can change the rules I set."

After saying that, the Harmony Witch opened the box beside her again, carefully took out a small wooden box with a magical seal, placed it on the card table, and opened it.

The contents of the box look very similar to the drawing on the card; it looks like a bunch of black cilantro.

But it was this black coriander that made both the Harmonizing Witch Law and the Destruction Witch Elanfiel involuntarily take two steps back, their faces showing a look of fear.

"...Slurp~"

Valenza, on the other hand, was the complete opposite.

She was certain that this was the first time she had ever seen this black coriander-shaped dragon-slaying grass, neither in her previous life nor in other worlds.

But an impulse from the depths of her blood made her crave this bunch of black cilantro, like a traveler finally seeing authentic hometown food after a long journey.

As for the so-called negative energy inside the Dragon Slayer Grass, which even the two great witches showed fear on their faces, Valensa felt extremely familiar with it... that was the evil god power that she herself also possessed!

Although the evil god power within the Dragon Slayer Grass is somewhat different from that within Valensa, just as fire and lightning are both magical elements, the poison of the Dragon Slayer Grass is also a kind of evil god power, belonging to the chaotic divine power, which can also be called negative energy.

"Gulp... No, I can't hold back anymore!"

A sense of danger?

That's not true at all... This bunch of black cilantro looks absolutely delicious and tempting!

Under the dumbfounded gaze of the two great witches, Valensa even drooled a drop of saliva from the corner of her mouth, and then, without any regard for her image, grabbed the dragon-slaying grass and stuffed it into her mouth.

With a satisfying chewing sound like she was actually chewing cilantro, Valensa squinted her eyes comfortably and stretched out her limbs in a big yawn.

Cool!

Just as she thought... the poison within this Dragon-Slaying Grass was extremely pure and concentrated chaotic divine power.

This terrifying power, which the Sage Tower named negative energy, not only posed no harm to Valensa, but was also quickly and perfectly absorbed by her body, causing her attributes to increase once again... The effect was even better than directly absorbing solar energy.

Of course, this effect refers to quality... The chaotic divine power contained in a small handful of Dragon Slayer Grass is definitely not comparable to the solar energy stored in a spaceship, but it is much stronger than the Radiant-rank wild beast that Valensa accidentally devoured before.

"Phew...that feels so good."

After slumping in her chair and savoring the wonderful feeling of her body absorbing the chaotic divine power for a while, Valensa finally opened her eyes, excitedly jumped over, and hugged the Harmonizing Witch's arm, saying coquettishly:

"Sister Lu, do you still have any dragon-slaying grass here? Could I have some more? My dear sister!"

"...You...you're really...completely unharmed?"

The Harmonizing Witch was still in shock, and even stuttered a little when she spoke.

"This is impossible!"