Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 1425 Eastern Continent

The moment she was launched from the ground into the sky, Christina heard a sharp, metallic scraping sound, like metal scraping against glass, followed by a deafening roar that nearly shattered her eardrums.

She gripped Soren's hand tightly with one hand and covered her ear with the other, only to find it pointless. Not only could she only cover half of her ear, but the sound came from the friction between the high-temperature flames emanating from her and the air, which was impossible to block.

Fortunately, after a few seconds, even the sound was left behind. Tina, enveloped in flames, could only hear her own rapid breathing and heartbeat due to nervousness.

The Resurrection Square beneath her feet shrank rapidly, then the entire city of Kukva appeared. The surrounding mountains and deserts swept past Tina's eyes like a scroll painting. The Liberation Port, where she and Dorothy had been kidnapped not long ago, appeared and disappeared at a speed that was almost imperceptible to the naked eye, like a black spot on the scroll, pulling the deep blue and almost black ocean into the painting.

This is too fast! What if I collide with a bird or accidentally fall into the sea? Tina was a little worried, but she was also filled with joy and excitement at experiencing extraordinary abilities firsthand. She noticed that she had become one with the purple flames around her. On the one hand, she could clearly sense the surrounding conditions and flight trajectory. On the other hand, even if she collided with the ocean, the ground, or even more solid objects, the high temperature would instantly turn them into ashes, while she would be unharmed.

Is this the power of angels...? She opened her mouth to speak, but found that she couldn't even hear herself. Then she remembered that she could communicate with her "teammates" in her mind. After a slight adjustment, she transmitted her question in her mind:
"Mr. Soren, have we exceeded the speed of sound?"

Although the school didn't teach this kind of physics, Tina had an aunt who was always doing research and constantly using technical terms, so she knew a lot of things beyond her years. She knew that sound could travel from one end of the continent to the other in a few hours, far exceeding the speed of a steam train.

“Clever lady, just call me Glad,” Soren said in the mind link, holding Tina and Dorothy’s hands and flying slightly ahead of them, almost turning into a flaming spear. “As for the speed of sound, that’s a big problem for ordinary people, but not difficult for extraordinary people to break through. In fact, our current speed has exceeded the speed of sound by thirty times, which is about 35000 kilometers per hour.”

"If we don't adjust our direction constantly, we'll be fast enough to fly directly out of the atmosphere and into space. Of course, that's not good for you. Although I can transfer the damage to myself, you'll still feel uncomfortable in the vacuum."

The distance from Tingen to Backlund is over 200 kilometers. It would take 4 hours by steam train, and even with the speed increase, it would still take more than 2 hours. But we are now 400 times faster than a steam train... Tina excitedly calculated in her mind, but she dared not move her body, for fear that at such high speed she might accidentally lose track of the guide, Glad Soren, and be thrown into the boundless depths of the ocean.

Beside her, Dorothy, also being led by Sauron, didn't peer around with the same curiosity as her sister. Instead, she slightly raised her head, her black hair enveloped in purple flames, and asked:
"Mr. Gled, is your surname 'Solon' from the original royal family of Intis? Are you a descendant of the Solon dynasty?"

"Actually, they are my descendants."

Glad Soren answered in a flat tone, his mind racing.

“But the Soren family seems to have existed since the Fourth Epoch, so you wouldn’t be…”

Dorothy exclaimed in surprise, "If it weren't for the purple flames enveloping her, Tina thought she would definitely have seen a face that was utterly astonished."

Of course, she was equally surprised, because it meant that the lifespan of an "angel" could even exceed an era, surpassing the existence of a dynasty from its birth to its decline, reaching a terrifying number in the thousands.

Before this, another angel that Tina and Dorothy encountered, Anne Gustave, was also born in the Fourth Age, but she had become the ghost ship "Queen Anne's Revenge," which was obviously a special case.

A lifespan of thousands of years, the ability to fly in the sky... Tina was once again filled with longing for the extraordinary and the world beyond, just as she had when she first heard about the twenty-five paths to divinity today.

Feeling the ships and islands flashing past at incredible speed on the sea, she couldn't help but ask:

Can an ordinary person become an extraordinary one?

Gled tilted his head slightly, and Tina could feel his gaze falling on her.

"It's certainly difficult for ordinary people, but for those of you who have already come into contact with the world of mysticism, all you need is a potion recipe, some not-so-expensive materials, and a little bit of luck to become a true extraordinary being and possess supernatural power through a certain path."

He explained in a calm and unhurried tone.

"However, that can only be considered an entry point. If your goal is the power I am using now, or the various strange and powerful supernatural abilities you have encountered on your journey, then that is another matter."

"What you see are all the high-ranking beings who have successfully survived, and you only see the benefits we have received, instead of those who failed and died for various reasons during the ascension process. This will give you an unrealistic fantasy that ascending to a higher sequence and becoming a saint or angel is a simple matter."

"I didn't think that way..." Tina subconsciously refuted in her mind, but she also knew that she did have a similar wishful thinking, so she lowered her head in disappointment.

"Even if you're lucky enough to become a high-sequence Extraordinary, the number of high-sequence traits is still limited and scarce under the 'Law of Conservation of Extraordinary Traits.' The vast majority have already been divided up and used by various churches, families, and organizations. If you want to go further, you'll have to kill those who have already benefited and seize their resources. Can you really accept and get used to this?"

Glad's tone turned serious.

This... this is murder and robbery... Tina was stunned. She vaguely recalled the knowledge about "conservation of properties" that the Genie had instilled in her mind, and knew that Gled was not talking nonsense. "Resource scarcity" was a real and huge problem in the supernatural world.

At this moment, it was as if the other party had peeled away the glamorous skin of "supernatural" and shown her the bloody reality, asking her, "Can you accept this?"

Can I accept this...?

Tina fell silent.

Seeing that she remained silent, Glad smiled and continued in a more relaxed tone:
"However, these things are far removed from your lives. With the protection of your family and the help of resources, although you will still face other problems, it will be much simpler than for ordinary people."

“But our family is neither rich nor powerful; we are just an ordinary, well, to use the words of the newspapers, just a middle-class family.”

Tina pouted and answered in her mind.

Of course, she already knew that her Uncle Benson was the Deputy Minister of Finance, her aunt was a well-known scientist, and now she was carrying a "wishing lamp" that could grant wishes and make her family rich. Her starting point might indeed be higher than that of ordinary people, but her ordinary life had left her with the impression that "she was very ordinary".

"Middle-class family...heh."

This statement seemed to amuse Glad Soren, who chuckled a few times and then said:
"If you are truly determined to embark on the path of the extraordinary, then the most important thing is to choose the right path. On this point, I can only give you one piece of advice: be cautious, be extremely cautious. When you choose an extraordinary path, your friends and enemies will also be determined."

Friends and enemies…is this related to the “scarcity” of extraordinary traits? Tina nodded as if she understood, but still couldn’t help asking:
"What if I wanted to fly in the sky like you?"

"The 'Red Priest,' also known as the Hunter's Path, is characterized by its flamboyance, arrogance, and a certain... masculine charm. This might give you an irrational fondness for this path, but it's not actually your best choice. Other paths, such as 'Apprentice,' 'Corpse Collector,' and 'Witch,' all have the power of fast travel. 'Diviner,' 'Reader,' and 'Mystic' can also achieve this through special means. Most importantly..."

At this point, Glad hesitated for a moment. "...In a certain sequence, 'Hunters' will forcibly turn female Extraordinary beings into men, which is why there are no female Hunters in high sequences... Well, there is only one, the only exception."

Turning into a man… Tina suddenly felt a chill and, for some reason, immediately lost interest in the “Hunter” path. Dorothy, standing beside her, curiously countered with a question:
"Like the 'Witch' pathway?"

"Well, they happen to be adjacent and interchangeable paths. I bet you encountered a 'witch' who turned into a woman on your journey, hehe... hiccup."

Glad answered with a knowing smile, then suddenly hiccuped, his tone becoming much more serious:

"We're almost there; the Eastern Continent lies just ahead."

In the shared vision and perception of Tina and the angel, a continent already shrouded in night was rapidly emerging from the horizon.

By this time, the sun had been left behind them, and the dim light of dusk was receding from the long coastline. However, a magnificent complex of buildings perched on a cliff by the sea was still bathed in golden sunlight. Countless palaces, towers, and the walls surrounding them seemed to be frozen in the colors of dusk, like the abode of gods in an epic story.

"That is the 'Giant's Court'."

Gled explained, pulling the two girls along as they slowed down, flew over the magnificent palace built for the giants, descended, and landed in a small town not far from the twilight complex.

Only then did Tina hear the whistling sound of flames rubbing against the air again, and she had a real sense of returning to the real world.

With a thud, the three landed steadily on the ground. Glad knelt on one knee, propped himself up with one hand, and slowly straightened up from his forward-leaning position. He calmly stood up and looked back at Tina and Dorothy.

"Are you alright?" Tina asked with concern. "Did you expend too much energy just now, carrying both of us..."

Gled's deliberately cool expression instantly crumbled. He opened his mouth and said in a tone tinged with inexplicable emotion:
"It's nothing, it's just that lately I don't know why, I always like to land like this... Maybe it's the influence of the path to the top..."

He smacked his lips, turned to look at the brightly lit town in the distance, and continued:
"This is the town that the immigrants who came to the Eastern Continent to explore the land first established, and it is also the closest place to the Giants' Royal Court. More than ten years ago, the entire Eastern Continent was still a wasteland, shrouded in darkness and danger, and fewer than 10,000 people lived here."

"Only when the dark sun sets and the true 'sun god' returns will this continent truly become suitable for human habitation."

"Now, not only immigrants from the North and South continents, but also people from the Western Continent who have arrived from the far East by land are developing this land, bringing with them Buddhism and Taoism, which are different from the beliefs of the 'Goddess of Calamity,' 'Fool,' and 'Sun God.' You can meet them in this town."

It sounded like farewell words… Tina paused, then asked:

"What about you?"

"Me? I'm going to complete the task given to me by the Goddess of Calamity: find Medici and give this guy a gift he can't refuse."

A gift, a gift from the "Goddess of Calamity," could it be some kind of disaster or apocalypse...? Sorry, Goddess, I wasn't saying anything wrong with you... After muttering a few words to themselves, Tina and Dorothy said goodbye to Glad Soren, who had given them a ride, and watched as the angel leaped into the air again in a strange but very cool pose, becoming a dazzling purple flame that disappeared into the night.

At the same time, the spirituality and power belonging to each other within the two quickly disappeared, turning into physical and mental exhaustion.

It felt like only 10 minutes of flying had passed, how come it was already evening...? Tina looked up at the bright silver moon and the stars that seemed to adorn a black velvet curtain, and suddenly realized an important problem:
"Wait, it's evening now? Could Mom and Dad be home already?"

She clutched her head with both hands, feeling herself one step closer to the dark, cramped basement.

“Sigh, it’s all because you always read adventure novels and not many popular science books,” Dorothy sighed beside her, pointing in the direction they came from. “When we fly east from the Southern Continent, we cross different time zones. It’s evening here, but it should still be afternoon in Tingen City.”

"It will be several hours before Mom gets home and locks you in the basement."

She patted Tina's head reassuringly.

Is that so...? I think it was mentioned in the "Great Adventurers" series... Tina felt relieved, but after glancing at the Giant's Court shrouded in the strange twilight light and then at the town in the distance, she finally made her decision:
"Let's go to the town first to learn about the Giants' Court before entering that magnificent palace."

"Besides, I'm also a little hungry..."

Tina touched her soft belly, her voice growing softer and softer.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Upon entering the town known as "Afternoon Town," Tina and Dorothy were immediately struck by the crowded yet orderly streets, the diverse populations of different skin colors and clothing, and the dazzling array of goods.

Similar to Bayam, the "City of Generosity" on Blue Mountain Island, this place has a free and easy atmosphere that northern continent cities lack. It also has more exotic charm than Bayam, with many western continent people whose skin is slightly yellower than that of the Loen people, whose features are softer, with black hair and black eyes, and who wear long robes or ruffled skirts.

Of course, there are also the half-giants who are over two meters tall and bring a strong sense of oppression.

The architecture is generally oriented towards the northern continent, suggesting that the first "immigrants" were mainly from there. However, the ethnic composition is a mix of styles from various countries and regions. I wonder what languages ​​they used, and whether the Rune's Sule and Pence could be used here...

Without even taking the time to appreciate the street scene, Tina followed a sweet aroma that filled her nostrils and arrived at an alleyway lined with street vendors selling all kinds of food, where she quickly found her favorite dish.

There was even sweet iced tea and Dipsy pie... The familiar smells made Tina feel as if she had returned to Tingen, to the municipal square at the intersection of Narcissus Street and Iron Cross Street.

She had just cheered inwardly when she heard a clear, watery voice beside her that was slightly ticklish to the ears.

The voice spoke a language Tina couldn't understand, but when it first reached her ears, it was "distorted" into pure Rune:
"I told you it was the right trip here. There are so many delicious foods from the East and from that Western continent that you can't even find in Trier."

“You said the same thing in Bayam and in Nas,” another charming and sweet voice rang out, with a hint of helplessness in its tone, “but I think it’s no different from the snacks you can get near the Breeze Ballroom, Franca.”

(End of this chapter)