Becoming a god by raising witches

Eileen handed the red crystal to Locke, saying, "The Moving Illusion is good at escaping. If you want to keep it with you, you must gain its approval."

After hearing Eileen's explanation, two solutions quickly came to Locke's mind.

First, hand this running item over to Renis in exchange for merit points and rewards. Perhaps she can also use it to find out about the missing strange objects, which would allow her to be promoted from bronze investigator to silver investigator and have her salary doubled.

Second, I will claim the moving illusion as my own, and then use its clues to find other stolen strange objects and take them all for myself. A few years ago, I was not a supernatural being, so the church and the Bureau of Paranormal Investigations should not suspect me. Of course, the premise is that I do not use these strange objects in front of them.

Well, only children make choices; adults want to have it all.

To legally own this strange object and then report it to the authorities requires perfect language skills and a little bit of bribery.

Looks like I need you to sacrifice your looks again, Ming.

Locke thought to himself, and asked Eileen, "How can I gain its approval?"

"Make it feel fear, unprecedented fear, and that will be enough."

Eileen said calmly.

"It is said that strange creatures have souls, so can I bestow a life-saving gift upon it?"

Locke asked.

"That's a novel idea; you can give it a try."

Eileen found this very interesting. If you could make monsters pregnant, wouldn't it be possible to mass-produce monsters?

Therefore, Locke decided to cast the Gift of Life on the Moving Illusion.

The red crystal in Locke's hand suddenly began to tremble violently.

Locke asked in surprise, "Is it afraid? Do I no longer need to cast this blessing spell?"

Eileen shook her head. "It's excited. I suggest you give it a try, otherwise you won't meet its expectations and it will still run away."

Excitement? What masochism?

Locke tapped the red crystal with his index finger, and the red crystal's abdomen indeed underwent a noticeable change, but it was no longer a living being and failed to give birth to a fleshy ball.

However, it trembled even more violently.

Locke seemed to hear the cry of its soul.

"Again, just one more time, please, it feels so good."

Yes, it really is a weirdo with masochistic tendencies.

"It has accepted you, but not out of fear."

Eileen gave Locke a meaningful look.

"So, may I ask what exactly its soul is?"

As Locke asked questions, he put the strange, masochistic creature into his coat pocket.

"I can only tell you that the souls of these strange creatures all come from humans. As for what they used to be called or who they were, I don't know. Maybe they were your colleagues at the Bureau of Paranormal Investigation. You can go through the Bureau's personnel files and look for a list of women who like masochism."

Eileen said in a flat tone.

Locke felt a chill run down his spine; the souls of the strange creatures were actually human souls.

That's why the world is so distorted.

Do you still want to see Antonia?

"Eileen asked."

"of course."

Locke remembered the important business he had come to the Earl's mansion and walked with Eileen into the empty courtyard.

A golden coffin slowly rose from a crack in the ground, a crack that Locke could not see the bottom of, like a bottomless abyss.

The coffin was placed on the ground, and the vines retracted from it and returned to Eileen's hands.

The surface of the golden coffin was covered with seals and curses filled with filthy words; just one glance was enough to make one's scalp tingle and feel nauseous.

Locke suppressed his discomfort, focused his mind, and looked again at the runes on the surface of the coffin.

The runes emitted a dark purple light.

The clear blue sky suddenly became overcast with dark clouds, and lightning seemed ready to strike at any moment. The Earl's mansion was once again shrouded in extreme weather.

slam-la-

The torrential rain poured down, as if foreshadowing an ominous event to be born here.

Boom——

A bolt of lightning struck, illuminating the entire dilapidated count's mansion.

Locke suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

The rain didn't hit the two of them because Locke always carried an umbrella when he went out.

He opened his umbrella and held it over his and Eileen's heads.

"Is this what the restriction is?"

"Yes, it's an ancient runic restriction, with many curses added. This can indeed prevent the church from finding her. If you didn't know the location, even I wouldn't be able to find her."

Eileen said calmly.

"How to open it?"

Locke asked.

“I can force it open, but that might damage the body inside, if you don’t mind losing her hand or head.”

"Um... is there a gentler way?"

Locke didn't want his subordinate to be a headless knight, even though headless knights looked pretty cool.

"No."

Erin shook her head.

Just as the two were discussing, countless bolts of lightning descended from the thunderclouds in the sky, striking the golden coffin.

Boom——

The sound of the explosion reverberated through the sky, jarring the eardrums of both men.

Eileen and Locke evacuated in time, thus avoiding being struck by lightning, but they could only see the collapsed Earl's mansion from a distance.

Dust rushed towards him, and Locke couldn't help but cough twice.

As if the sky had been stained with ink, the heavy rain fell on the ground, quickly covering the dust and smoke.

A dark figure slowly emerged from the completely collapsed count's mansion.

She wore a tattered black dress and a crown. Her skin was deathly pale, yet still plump and elastic, like an undyed doll.

Her eyes opened, and her gray eyes stared intently at Locke.

Just as Eileen was about to attack her, she knelt on one knee, lowered her head, and whispered,

"Please allow the weather controller, the benefactor of natural disasters, the weather witch Antonia Madeline Magdalena, to pledge her allegiance to you and follow you toward failure and abyss."

Hmm... there's no need for the second half of that sentence.

Locke grumbled, then nodded slightly to Antonia.

“I accept your allegiance, Weather Witch Antonia. From this day forward, you will be one of my twelve knights.”

Locke decided to learn from the Church of Knowledge and collect all 12 Witch Knights, just like collecting cards, which was very exciting.

However, what he collected were dead witches, which are somewhat different from living witches.

The biggest advantage is that they don't need to be paid, since they don't have any material needs to survive.

A hint of surprise appeared in Eileen's calm eyes.

She was surprised that a high-ranking witch like Antonia would swear allegiance to Locke.

Could it be that the Infinite Serpent within him has begun to awaken?

Or did Locke borrow His power?

“Locke, don’t make a deal with Him lightly, or you will lose yourself even faster.”

"Irene said worriedly."

"Don't worry about me, I didn't make any deals with anyone, this is a gift from fate."

Locke said.

"The one who supports you, the one closest to the favor of the god of fate, is most likely also looking to use you."

Eileen already knows that there is no true god in this world, so Locke's situation should be the same as hers, both being valued by the chosen ones.

"Thank you, Xiao Ai, but you really don't need to worry about me."

I have a system.

Locke added in his mind.

Antonia Madeline Megdalena stood up and walked over to Locke.