The Sword of Hell’s sheath was ready. The Forest Witch said if she was given some time, she could make the sheath even prettier, as meticulous polishing really takes time.
Zheng Yichen’s requirements weren’t that high, as long as it could be used it was fine. He slid the Sword of Hell into the sheath, and when he touched the weapon again, there was no longer the feeling that his Life Force was being drained.
Outside, the sky had turned to night.
"Rest here for the night, and tomorrow I’ll send you back."
"...And then you’ll leave for good?" Katrina asked hesitantly.
"Your town doesn’t welcome me." Zheng Yichen didn’t feel any regret about this; the witch was very beautiful, but they had known each other for less than a week. Although it was easy to gain her favor, she also had a family.
It just didn’t seem right to take her away without a second thought, so he never mentioned it. Why should he take this girl with him?
Simply because she was a witch? She could live a rich and comfortable life here, but following him, who knows what troubles she might face? In the following days, Zheng Yichen’s main objective was to seek out anomalies.
Katrina sat conflicted on the beast hide carpet in the cave, staring at Zheng Yichen’s silhouette at the entrance, wanting to speak but stopping herself. After learning his true identity, she felt the distance between them grow.
He wasn’t just a foreign Hunter-Demon, he was from the anomalies. After revealing his identity, Zheng Yichen also specifically mentioned that his Hunter-Demon status wasn’t a lie. In his world, he indeed was a Hunter, a generic term that included Hunter-Demons and Aberration Exterminators.
She even saw Zheng Yichen’s hunter license, and at that moment the young girl felt amazed. To her knowledge, in her world, most hunter-demons didn’t have any so-called licenses; as long as they were strong and had the relevant knowledge, they could become hunter-demons.
Many hunter-demons were not recognized by the church, yet in Zheng Yichen’s world, hunter-demons actually needed certification?
Late at night, Zheng Yichen just couldn’t sleep. After killing the Headless Knight, he didn’t feel any significant change in his body, not even the activity that normally comes with a vampiric constitution. But after destroying the Tree of Death, the feedback he received was quite clear.
This feedback was even stronger than that of the one-horned mule, making the long night even more sleepless for him.
"What are the anomalies like? I can exchange magical knowledge for the information." The Forest Witch moved closer to Zheng Yichen, very curious to learn more about the anomalies, and even more eager to try imitating her witch predecessors.
"...I think the power wielded by witches here is too weak." Zheng Yichen felt this description was inappropriate, so he corrected himself, "I mean, not too weak, but rather more focused on assistance, not so practical."
It wasn’t that supportive magic was useless, but after a simple understanding of the magic of this world, he knew that magic here was somewhat useful against extraordinary creatures but not so much against humans. Even with the full support of such magic, it wouldn’t be helpful.
Even if one was empowered with magic to confront formidable extraordinary creatures, there were requirements regarding the type of creatures to be confronted, whether evil or something else.
"...But this is still a power beyond the ordinary, even if you say so, the vast majority of people still fear and reject the witch’s power."
"I need knowledge related to the making of Magic Potions," Zheng Yichen said to the Forest Witch. The production of Magic Potions had lower requirements; one only needed the right materials and a recipe to attempt it, and the magic of the witches in this world was somewhat problematic. Anyway, Zheng Yichen didn’t have many thoughts about it.
Katrina’s refuge magic required a certain quality of character, at least until one learned to use it reliably.
Once the skill was acquired, even if there were some changes in character, the skill remained intact.
The Forest Witch agreed to Zheng Yichen’s request. She could provide him with not many Magic Potion recipes: one could attract the Undead and the other could affect the mental state. Zheng Yichen saw the former as a special lure that could be used for fishing, and the latter was an aid for the Forest Witch’s necromantic skills.
This Magic Potion could have its recipe adjusted. Just by adding some other ingredients, it could produce some different effects. For example, replacing the blood of bats with the blood of lions, tigers, or even bears would cause the Magic Potion to change.
With the blood of a bear, the Magic Potion would grant the user a tougher constitution, while the blood of lions and tigers would increase the user’s strength and make their psyche more rampant, affecting the body from the mental layer. Zheng Yichen regarded this potion as more of a stimulant, like adrenaline or similar drugs.
These two Magic Potion recipes were all the Forest Witch possessed. How should it be put? Indeed, special powers-related knowledge was rare in a low-level world.
A witch of no small age had only this much, which could also have been due to the remoteness of the place and the fact that this witch was too homebound. Nevertheless, these two Magic Potions were helpful to Zheng Yichen and didn’t have too demanding production requirements.
Once he mastered the control of heat and timing, he could attempt to make them himself, and all he had to provide was some knowledge about anomalies, which was not very precious in Hazy City.
For instance, the general duration of anomalies, some Environmental Adjustment information, and precautions for entering anomalies, as well as the most important point—whether the person is a qualified candidate.
"Even if one finds an anomaly, without the right adaptability, they cannot pass through it and would only faint," the Forest Witch noted down the information learned from Zheng Yichen with her old goose-feather pen — a way of keeping the tradition alive.
"The Undead can pass through anomalies... When lacking adaptability, one can try to use the Undead for transfer, but make extra preparations to prevent the loss of consciousness and ensuing loss of control over the Undead."
"..." Listening to the Forest Witch’s endless prattling, Zheng Yichen was looking at the recipes recorded on his phone. Some ingredients were common, such as certain animal blood, as well as some other herbs. He also needed to do some research; differences between worlds might result in different names for the same materials. Once cleared up, making Magic Potions later on would be somewhat easier.
He actually wanted to say that as long as the conditions were right, he could also take people through anomalies. Non-qualified individuals would faint, but he wouldn’t. He could just carry them through directly, no need to search for any hazardous Undead. Besides, there were plenty of other shortcuts, and a simple fainting issue wouldn’t be enough to stop someone determined.
The safest way was for a qualified individual to accompany others; if they fainted, someone would take care of them. Other methods, well, one could just drive through, fire a grappling hook into the other side of the anomaly, and then pull oneself through.
There were oh so many methods.