Chapter 63 : Pursuit

The matter with Tilrogzach had been a wake-up call for Li Wen.

She could bargain with a tiger for its skin, using the advantages of her past life to trick a demon into offering assistance, but that relied entirely on the fact that, as a player, she wouldn’t be killed in a fit of demonic rage once exposed—thus avoiding a true, permanent death.

Last night, however, was different.

It hadn’t been a threat of death, but a near-interruption of her advancement ritual.

Every ritual carried the risk of failure—especially an advancement ritual, which determined the very transcendence and metamorphosis of one’s life.

Each step up along any path required the expenditure of Spirituality—the innate quality of life that dictated how far one could ascend and the limits of the road they could walk.

If the ritual failed, Spirituality would likely be lost.

In her previous life, Li Wen had been unable to reach Stage Four precisely because she had suffered too much Spirituality loss.

Stage One advancement failures were rare, usually depending on the precision of the ritual circle.

Yet after defeating Tilrogzach yesterday, Li Wen still felt a lingering fear.

She didn’t know what the consequences would be if a Witch’s Attendant advancement failed—The Final Codex never stated it outright.

From her time in the strategy group in her past life, she had learned about many powerful yet demanding paths.

Their advancement failures were usually similar: either a threat to life, the forced acquisition of terrifying negative extraordinary traits, or—worst of all—the complete loss of the chance to advance along that path ever again.

That was something Li Wen could never accept.

All her hopes—indeed, the hopes of the strategy group and perhaps the entire world—were pinned on the Path of Finality.

If she failed her advancement and could never walk that path again, she would have to pray that The Final Codex could be bound by more than one person.

Otherwise, the consequences would be disastrous.

Thus, although last night’s battle had ended in victory thanks to the Witch Form’s overwhelming power, Li Wen felt no joy afterward—only fear and self-reflection.

The advancement demands of the Path of Finality, coupled with the looming Twilight of the Apocalypse, weighed heavily on her.

This was why she had been so desperate to become a Witch’s Attendant—she needed to strengthen herself as quickly as possible and then search for the next volume of the Codex.

But while maintaining efficiency, Li Wen also had to be fully prepared, at least when it came to her next advancement.

Perhaps the entire world’s only hope lay in her hands, and the pressure she bore was something no one else could understand.

Defeating Tilrogzach had earned her 2,100 experience points.

That was even after the 70% experience penalty for holding two classes at once.

As for how to allocate those points, Li Wen had no immediate plan.

For now, with the Witch Form, she could handle any enemy under Level 10.

Even against demons like Tilrogzach, whose abilities countered hers, she could still win against a Stage Two opponent.

So rather than leveling up or learning new abilities, it was better to save them for emergencies.

In the battle with Tilrogzach, both abilities of her Star-Cloak of Emerald had gone into long cooldowns.

The Witch Form, on its second use, had reached only 13% Corrosion, which had now fully recovered and was ready for use again.

Her next goal was to leave the Black Dragon Territory, evade any investigators the Kingdom’s Inspection Bureau might send, and search for the next lineage volume of the Codex.

The best route out of the territory passed through Lester City, and that was where Li Wen was headed.

***

By sunset, the sky was steeped in golden dusk.

Li Wen moved through the dense forest, a short-handled bone knife in hand.

She had taken it from a goblin—not particularly sharp, but more than enough to cut through flesh.

The outskirts of the Black Dragon Territory were home not only to troublesome beasts and monsters but also to low-intelligence humanoids like goblins and brown imps, both of which were vicious by nature.

They often attacked nearby villages, so whenever Li Wen encountered them, she killed without hesitation.

She had no intention of spending the night in the forest.

She needed a quiet place to meditate and restore her magic, so she followed the water’s course, knowing it would likely lead her to a settlement.

After the sun fully sank, she emerged from the forest—and spotted a firelight in the distance.

But it didn’t look like the glow of normal lamps.

Her brows furrowed.

She could already smell the stench of blood.

Tightening her grip on her weapon, she headed straight for it.

The light came from a burned-out village.

Blood was splattered across the ground, but there were no corpses.

As Li Wen walked through, she found not a single living person or animal—and not even a single body.

It was impossible not to wonder what had happened here.

Bandits?

Goblins?

Brown imps lacked the intelligence to burn the place and erase evidence—or to kill every possible survivor.

But why were there no bodies?

Goblins weren’t in the habit of eating people.

She sensed no traces of extraordinary power, so the attackers were unlikely to be transcendents.

Blind searching would yield nothing.

Whoever had done this was an efficient, ruthless group—leaving no obvious signs, not even excessive footprints.

They were too disciplined to be mere bandits or goblins.

Should she get involved?

If she ran into them, their brutality would give her no reason to spare them.

Thinking this far, Li Wen suddenly remembered a simple blood-tracking ritual.

It might work here.

Hunters who lived deep in the forest sometimes treated the blood-stained tips of their arrows in strange ways to track prey.

The ritual she knew was a simplified version of this method.

Blood was everywhere here, but she needed an isolated patch—otherwise, the ritual wouldn’t know whose trail to follow.

Near the village entrance, she found blood that fit her needs.

It had dried and turned black—whoever had shed it had likely died some time ago.

She rummaged through her pack and pulled out a yellowed canine tooth, placing it in the blood.

Then she sprinkled a powder of yew leaves and crushed grey wolf fur over it.

The moment the powder touched the blood, it burst into a bright yellow flame.

The tooth melted in the heat.

A vicious barking echoed from somewhere unseen, and the flames trembled violently, as if something invisible had stepped forth from them.

A trail of canine paw prints appeared, leading off into the distance until they vanished from sight.

Li Wen glanced at her remaining magic, then set off in pursuit of the tracks.