dmims Page 141
Page 141
If it's about consulting on matters of magic, I think I'm more qualified to speak on that.
Upon receiving this answer, Arthur nodded in agreement.
He decided to temporarily put this matter aside and bury his doubts about "Apocalypse" in his heart.
It's best to wait until you've advanced to the Silver rank before exploring and understanding this further.
So, let's get back to the present.
Arthur looked at Lani on the other side of him and asked another question that had concerned him more during his trip to Merlin's residence:
"Mr. Merlin, have you found a solution to Miss Lani's unusual condition of having two souls in one body?"
Merlin seemed to have been waiting for him to ask this question, and the lazy expression on his face immediately disappeared.
Then, he responded earnestly:
"I have temporarily extracted Weiwei's soul essence."
However, a new problem has arisen regarding Miss Lani and Vivi's soul state.
Arthur pressed further:
"what is the problem?"
"Both Miss Lani and Vivi's souls have shown varying degrees of 'witch assimilation'."
Chapter 134 "The Homogenization of Witches"
"Mr. Merlin, please explain in detail."
Upon hearing this, Arthur's brows furrowed, and a vague sense of unease began to creep into his heart.
He looked at Merlin.
"Assimilation, no, actually it would be more accurate to say homogenization, right?"
He rested his chin on his hand, his brows furrowed slightly, and after a moment of contemplation, he continued:
"As far as I know, witches are endowed with a kind of extraordinary power called 'witchcraft'."
In my opinion, the "witchcraft" possessed by witches is similar in essence to the "magic element" of magicians, both being closely related to the spiritual power born when the soul is stimulated.
However, the way witches reincarnate outside the underworld seems to imbue their "witchcraft" with something unique.
At this point, Merlin looked up again and looked intently at Lani, the girl beside Arthur.
When everyone was talking about her and Vivi, who were burdened with the fate of being the "vessel" for the witch's revival.
Lani chose to remain silent, lowering her eyes and head to hide the complex emotions swirling within them in her light gray eyes.
But Arthur sensed the obvious low spirits of the girl next to him who was the same age.
He leaned close to Lani's ear and whispered something that seemed absurd:
“Miss Lani, it snowed in Frostraven Town a few days ago. Do you remember the Silver Crest Tree you planted at the Lord's Manor?”
"Has that ugly tree borne fruit again?"
When Lani heard the words "silver scab," her eyes sparkled, and a memory was immediately stirred in her mind.
Nine years ago, after a year of wandering, she settled in Frostraven Town, Blackrock Territory, with her grandfather Lawson.
Together they ran a tavern that wasn't doing too well.
Although her life has settled down over the years, Grandpa Lawson always seems to be busy.
Grandpa Lawson would take several short trips each year, leaving Blackrock Territory to travel to other far-off places in the North.
In particular, during the winter season in the North, Grandpa Lawson would leave Blackrock Territory more frequently, and the time he was away would extend from three to five days to about half a month.
And every time he travels alone in winter, he brings with him a lot of things that Lani still doesn't know what they are.
It's the same every time I come back.
They always brought back a lot of things that looked like junk, and then treated them as garbage, piling them up in the tavern's underground warehouse.
She had felt dissatisfied with the piles of junk in the underground warehouse, and questioned why Grandpa Lawson never properly cleaned up the junk he brought back from his trips.
But every time she questioned him, Grandpa Lawson would just laugh it off.
She was angered by this attitude, so she stopped paying attention to the pile of "junk" in the underground warehouse.
until one day.
Looking back now, it was probably three years ago.
Grandpa Lawson left at the beginning of the first month of winter in the North, but returned at the end of the third month.
This was the longest time that Grandpa Lawson had ever spent away from Blackrock Territory and wandering outside, in her memory.
If it weren't for the blood jade bracelet that Grandpa Lawson had given her, which could sense whether he still had vital signs, she would have thought that Grandpa Lawson had died outside.
Nevertheless, she still harbored concerns for Grandpa Lawson. Before he had returned from the beginning of the second month of winter in the North, she took the Blood Jade Bracelet and went to see Grandpa Lawson's friend, Mr. Leon, the butler of Blackrock Keep.
Grandpa Leon took the blood jade bracelet and told her that the soul fluctuations residing in the bracelet were still very stable, and he was probably alright.
And indeed, a month later, Grandpa Lawson returned to Blackrock Territory unharmed.
This time, he brought back something very strange—a sapling that was scarred and looked obviously decaying.
Perhaps it shouldn't be called a sapling, but rather a withered tree trunk.
But Grandpa Lawson told her that it was a silver scab sapling, a fruit tree that was nearly extinct in the North.
To adapt to the harsh climate, the silver scab tree is covered with grayish-white scaly bark every winter, and at the same time, the bark cracks and oozes out a gel-like blue liquid.
This blue liquid can absorb the energy of frost; the more severe the frost, the more lush the branches and leaves will become.
Typically, it only takes two to three years for a sapling to grow into a large tree in the harsh climate of the North.
At that time, the silver scab tree will bear fruit.
The fruit has a translucent skin covered with dense, blood-like veins, and when fully ripe, the skin cracks and peels back like scabs.
The silvery crust on the fruit is the origin of its name.
The taste of this fruit, in contrast to its ugly, cracked appearance, is surprisingly crisp and sweet, and it was once a delicacy offered to royalty.
After bringing back the silver scab sapling, Grandpa Lawson gave it to her and let her choose where to plant it.
At that time, she was hesitant, just as Mr. Leon, the butler of Grandpa Lawson, came to visit.
Upon hearing this, Mr. Leon suggested that she plant the silver scab saplings in the fertile soil of the lord's manor.
He was willing to carve out a fertile field for her to cultivate.
She was delighted by this.
But the reason for his joy was not that he had planted this strange fruit tree, but that he now had another reason to go to the lord's manor to play with Arthur, whom he had been longing to see.
So she accepted Mr. Leon's suggestion without hesitation.
So later, Arthur also learned about the Silver Crust Tree, this strange and precious fruit tree.
Lani's thoughts continued to churn, and the images in her mind returned to the Blackrock Lord's Manor a year ago.
Last winter in the North, the silver scab tree grew and bore fruit for the first time.
She harvested the Silver Crust Fruit with Arthur and tasted its crisp, sweet flavor—a true delicacy—for the first time.
The taste of the silver scab fruit and the scenes of spending time with her beloved have now become her most beautiful winter memories.
With that in mind, let's return to the present.
After Arthur evoked fond memories of "Silver Scab" in Lani, the melancholy that could not be hidden in her light gray eyes dissipated considerably.
"Yes, the silver scab tree has produced twice as much fruit this year as it did last year."
Seeing that Lani's mood had improved, Arthur seized the opportunity and continued talking about topics that others couldn't understand, topics that were unique to him and Lani:
"If we wait any longer and don't pick the fruit when it's ripe, it might break its already damaged and fragile branches."
"is it?"
Upon hearing this, Lani blinked her bright eyes and finally raised her head.
She looked at Arthur and replied cheerfully:
"Then I need to find a way back to Blackrock Territory and protect my precious Clown Tree."
At this time.
Merlin, who was watching from the opposite side, saw that Arthur had completely lifted the girl's spirits with just a few words, and couldn't help but give him a thumbs up to praise his performance.
Arthur then took the initiative to guide Lani back to the topic he had just discussed with Merlin:
"Miss Narani, if you want to return to Blackrock Territory, you will need to cooperate well with Mr. Merlin."
We need to understand your physical condition now.
"Understood, Lord Blackrock!"
Lani reverted to her usual playful self, responding in a quirky manner.
So, what happens next?
Merlin looked at Lani and continued the conversation that had been interrupted:
The strength of the witch's "witchcraft" after her resurrection depends on the concentration of her "witchcraft factor".
Lord Arthur, do you recall what I told you before about the origin of the "Witch's Heart's Blood" from a "Book of Proverbs" from the Holy Church?
Arthur recalled carefully:
“A bishop of the Holy Church once participated in the hunt for witches and killed a witch who had just been revived and had not yet grown up.”
After the witch died, he used a special sacred silver tool to cut out her heart.
Then, the most concentrated witch's "witchcraft factor" was extracted from this heart and sealed in a storage container made of extraordinary materials, which was named "Witch's Heart Blood".
"The Witch's Heart's Blood" can effectively suppress the witch's revival process and also has a certain "witchcraft" restraining effect on the reviving witch.
"That's right!"
Merlin nodded:
"Therefore, I believe that the essence of the witch's resurgence may very well lie in the fact that the concentration of 'witchcraft factor' in the body has reached a certain critical point."
What I'm referring to is that Miss Lani and Miss Vivi's souls show signs of "witch homogenization."
Merlin paused deliberately at this point, then emphasized his words:
"Using prism magic, which can observe the shape of souls, I observed that witch's 'witchcraft factor' had begun to appear within their souls, and the concentration of the 'witchcraft factor' was constantly increasing."
Upon hearing this, Arthur immediately realized the problem:
"You mean, the increased concentration of 'witchcraft factors' in their souls means they're heading towards a witch resurgence?"
"I think so."
Merlin frowned. This time, he didn't confirm Arthur's guess, but explained:
"This is also my first time encountering a witch's 'vessel,' so I dare not make any judgments about Miss Lani and Miss Vivi's physical and spiritual conditions."
However, I once tried to use the bracelet that had been traded, called "Witch's Heart's Blood," to activate and guide the extraordinary power of the "Witchcraft Factor" within it, suppressing the rate at which Lani's "Witchcraft Factor" concentration was increasing.
However, it only suppresses the concentration; it cannot stop the "witchcraft factor" from increasing.
When I heard this answer.
Arthur couldn't help but glance at Lani beside him, a hint of worry flickering in his eyes, which reflected the girl's face:
"Miss Lani, did you have any special feelings?"
Lani frowned, thought seriously for a moment, and then replied:
"After Mr. Merlin removed Vivi's soul from my body, a strange image would appear in my dreams every night after I fell asleep."
Lani began to describe to everyone the scenes from her dream that she still remembered clearly after waking up:
It was a luxurious banquet hall with red and black as its main colors.
A long table was placed in the hall.
Rows of burning candles stood on the table, but the benches in front of the table were all shrouded in a thick fog that even the candlelight could not penetrate.