It felt so good to be close to the witch!

When cultivating one's fighting spirit, time always slips away unnoticed.

When Roy opened his eyes again, the crimson moon was already high in the night sky outside the window.

Feeling the battle qi within his body reach 3.84 and his physique become even stronger, a hint of joy flashed in Roy's eyes.

During the previous "destruction state" experiment, his basic physical strength was about 4.5 times the limit of an ordinary person, and his battle qi was 3.2. Now, his basic physical strength has reached 4.9 times the limit of an ordinary person, which is the limit of a bronze three-star knight, and his battle qi is 3.84.

Can I endure this "destructive state" for even half a second longer?

The idea popped into Roy's mind.

The moonlight, like flowing water, entered the dimly lit room, casting a faint red glow on the grandfather clock in the corner.

Roy got up from the bed.

It's almost midnight...

In other words, the Ice Witch Ais will soon be able to absorb the natural magic power within her body.

Once the natural magic disappears, the Ice Witch Ais's injuries will quickly heal under the "healing" ability of the Healing Witch Shanika.

At that time, the Ice Witch Ais will be able to go to the bottom of the Star Lake and try to retrieve the [Arrogant Magic Source] magical item!

There is still a full day until the Harvest Festival. During this time, even if the Second Prince and the Border Duke have arranged guards around Star Lake, with the absolute strength of the Ice Witch Ais at the "Grand" level, plus the Shadow Witch Lilia's super strong stealth ability after her talent evolution, it should not be a problem for her to sneak into Star Lake without these people.

With anticipation, Roy pushed open the door and headed to the hidden part of the treasure room.

As Roy arrived before the semi-illusory portal, the shadow beneath his feet surged upwards, materializing into Lilia's slender figure.

When passing through the portal, Lilia cannot remain in her "shadow state" and must reveal her true body.

Ripples like water brushed past him. When his vision returned to normal, Roy had already entered the secluded place. His pupils reflected the image of a cool and aloof girl in a crimson dress sitting on the bed, and a woman in a pale yellow dress standing by the bed, exuding a gentle aura.

"Shanica, how is Miss Ais doing?"

As soon as he entered the secluded place, Roy couldn't wait to ask.

"Young Master." Shanica bowed slightly, her eyes, moist as if washed by spring water, swept over the shadow witch Lilia following behind Roy, and said gently, "Miss Ais is doing very well. I estimate that she will be able to complete the absorption of natural magic power in her body in another ten minutes."

"Is that so? Then I'll wait here."

Although Ais didn't finish absorbing the natural magic an hour earlier, about fifty minutes wouldn't make much difference.

Suppressing his eagerness, Roy walked to the chair next to him and sat down, staring intently at the Ice Witch Ais, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed.

After being promoted to "Grand Rank", Ais gave off an even "colder" vibe.

This "coldness" is not merely a subjective feeling of aloofness, but also a physical feeling of coldness.

In late autumn, the overall temperature in Blackstone Ridge remains in the teens, and can even reach the twenties during the hot midday. Only after the Fenrang Festival will the temperature drop rapidly.

However, in this secluded place, ever since Ais broke through to the "Grand Rank" and began absorbing the remaining natural magic power in her body, the temperature has dropped sharply. Now it has reached single digits and is about to fall below zero degrees Celsius. Even the breath people exhale has turned into visible white mist.

It should be noted that this was only caused by Ais's unconscious and slight dissipation of magic. If it had been done intentionally, the temperature would have dropped to an unimaginable level.

Even though Roy's physique far surpassed that of ordinary people, he still felt the cold despite wearing only a thin robe.

Time passed slowly as we waited.

Nine minutes and forty-three seconds later, the Ice Witch Ais slowly opened her tightly closed eyes.

Having had most of her contamination absorbed by Roy, the black veins in her pupils disappeared considerably, revealing more of her original pupil color. After advancing to the "Grand Rank," the pale silver of her pupils became even deeper, giving one an extreme chill when looking into her eyes, as if falling into an ice cave.

Ais, who had just opened her eyes, still had a little confusion in her eyes, but soon her gaze became focused.

Seeing Roy not far away, a trace of peace flashed deep in her eyes, a feeling she herself was unaware of.

"Miss Ais, have you absorbed all the remaining natural magic in your body? How do you feel?" Roy stood up and walked to the bedside.

Ais nodded slightly: "It's alright now." Then, she turned her gaze to the healing witch Shanika beside her.

"Miss Shanika, I would like to trouble you to heal me."

Chapter 73 Elementalization

"No problem, Miss Ais."

Shanica smiled gently, raised her hand, and placed one hand on Ais's fair, smooth shoulder.

A milky white glow appeared, completely enveloping Ais.

As time went on, the milky white light grew stronger and stronger until finally it resembled a large light source.

The blinding light forced Roy to close his eyes, while the shadow witch Lilia behind him not only closed her eyes but also showed signs of discomfort.

As the master of shadows, Lilia has an instinctive aversion to bright light, a feeling that becomes increasingly pronounced as her talent evolves.

Three full minutes passed before the intense milky-white light slowly subsided.

Roy first opened his eyes a crack to make sure the light was no longer glaring before opening them fully.

He looked toward the bedside.

At this moment, Shanika's breathing was very rapid, her face was slightly pale, and the sweat flowing from all over her body made her already thin, pale yellow dress slightly transparent, highlighting her fullness. This made Lilia's pupils widen slightly when she opened her eyes. She subconsciously looked down and then became lost in thought.

Normally, a "heal" takes one minute, but perhaps because Ais broke through to the "Grand Rank," her physical condition reached a new level, and the consumption of healing was correspondingly much greater. It took Shanica three times the magic power under normal circumstances to complete the healing of Ais's body.

"Thank you for your hard work, Shanika."

"Thank you, Miss Shanika."

Roy and Ais's voices, one after the other, made Shanika, whose breathing had gradually calmed down, smile: "It's okay."

"Miss Ais, please check if there is any part of your body that feels uncomfortable."

Ais shook her head: "Your healing ability is very strong. I am in better condition than ever before."

"Is that so? That's good then." Shanica nodded with a smile, then walked behind Roy and stopped talking.

Looking at Shanika's pale face and the slightly messy hair next to her platinum ram's horns, Roy felt a pang of heartache: "Shanika, you should go and get some rest."

"I'm fine, young master." Sensing Roy's concern, Shanica's eyes sparkled, giving her an even more alluring look.

Meeting those eyes made Roy's heart skip a beat, and he dared not look any longer. He turned his head and looked at Ais: "Miss Ais, time is of the essence. I need you to set off now to investigate the bottom of Star Lake and see if you can retrieve the magical items buried there."

"I'm sorry to have troubled you so soon after your recovery, but given your current situation..."

"No need to say more, I know." The Ice Witch Ais said in a cold voice. She got up from the bed, and the crimson dress draped over the bed fluttered down like a blooming orchid.

"By the way, let Lilia go with you. After her talent evolved, she has extremely strong stealth abilities." Seeing that Ais was about to take a step, Roy quickly said.

The phrase "talent evolution..." made Ais's eyes flicker, and a slight ripple appeared in her gaze.

Her strength comes from the 90 magic power she possessed upon awakening, as well as the talent she honed through years of hunting down her in the temple. However, in reality, her talent remains unchanged from its initial awakening state and has never evolved.

“Yes, talent evolution.” Roy nodded: “After the pollution is removed, if the total amount of magic power in the body reaches the standard, the witch’s talent has a high probability of evolving.”

“If time were not so urgent, we should have waited until your talent had also evolved before exploring the bottom of Star Lake. That would have been much safer.”

“But Lilia’s talent awakening took six hours. Your strength is even greater, and you have now broken through to the ‘Grand Rank’. I’m worried that your talent evolution will take too long, and there’s only one day left until the Feast Festival. There won’t be enough time. So, we can only wait until you return from your exploration before we can completely remove the pollution.”

"Feel sorry……"

After listening to Roy's words, the Ice Witch Ais gently shook her head: "You don't need to apologize. On the contrary, I should be thanking you."

"I can go to Star Lake by myself. Miss Lilia will stay by your side to protect you."

"While I'm away, there must be enough fighting force left in the lord's manor to guard it."

After being promoted to the Grand rank, the Ice Witch Ais's perception of magic reached another level.

She could clearly sense that the Shadow Witch Lilia's magical energy fluctuations had become much stronger, coupled with her evolved shadow talent, which even she couldn't fathom. With this strength, she was no longer much weaker than she was before she broke through to the "Grand" rank.

Unless a Gold Knight arrives, even if Lilia can't defeat several Silver Knights at their peak, she can still escape with Roy without much trouble.

"Over at Star Lake, there might be the Second Prince and the border duke's guard knights. It's not advisable for Blackrock Territory to engage in direct conflict with them right now. As for yourself..."

Roy had complete faith in Ais's abilities.

In a direct confrontation, these vigilant knights would be no match for Ais, but now they need to sneak into the bottom of Star Lake, something Ais might not be very good at.

"Is that so... Don't worry, although I'm not good at hiding, that's only relative to direct combat. Even if it's a Gold Knight, if I deliberately hide, they won't be able to find me unless they're very close."

Ais said.

"...In that case, be careful on your journey." Sensing the determination and confidence in Ais's words, Roy finally nodded.

The group walked out of the secluded place together.

In the courtyard, crimson moonlight spilled down, and the night breeze made the branches sway slightly.

Under the watchful eyes of Roy, Lilia, and Shanica, Ais nodded to them, and then her delicate body vanished like icy mist in the moonlight, as if she had never existed.

Roy blinked and looked at the two witches beside him: "Could you see how Miss Ais left?"

He knew he was not strong enough, and even the weakest of the two witches, Shanika, had a silver-level physique, far surpassing his.

Ais has always been elusive, which makes him very curious about her way of moving.

Shanica shook her head slightly: "Young Master, you are making things difficult for me. I am just a healing witch, how would I know such things?"

At this moment, Lilia spoke up, "It's elementalization."

"Oh?" Lilia's voice caught Roy's attention, and he and Shanika both looked at Lilia.

Meeting their curious gazes, Lilia explained, "Magic has attributes. Just as my attribute is shadow, Miss Ais's attribute is ice. And attributes are also called elements."

"When the body and the magical elements reach a sufficient level of compatibility, the physical flesh and blood can be transformed into an elemental form."

"Because of my talent for shadows, I can merge with shadows, which is a shortcut to achieving semi-elementalization. But Miss Ais's ice magic cannot do this. She achieved true elementalization through her real strength."

"In her elemental state, a witch's ability to manipulate magical elements is greatly enhanced, and she becomes immune to physical damage. This is an extremely difficult technique."

Daily book recommendation: *The Blue Dragon's Enchanted Power*

[Recommendation]: dnd dragon pattern, the golden finger twelve talismans.

Chapter 74 Infiltration

Inside the lord's manor courtyard.

After listening to the Shadow Witch Lilia's explanation, Roy nodded knowingly: "Elementalization, huh..."

By converting her physical body into magical elements, it's no wonder that the Ice Witch Ais, whose talent isn't particularly suited for fast movement, can appear and disappear without a trace.