I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

Duke, who was being held by Amber, suddenly disappeared from Zi Yuan's side and then reappeared behind her.

Zi Yuan, having locked onto Duke's location using dragon language magic, turned around without hesitation and swung her claw at his back. The dragon claw easily tore through Duke's flesh, ripping off a large chunk of blood and flesh, but Duke succeeded in his attack.

He reached out, his index finger touching Zi Yuan's scale-covered neck, and softly uttered the name of the skill he was using:

"Spell Thief".

Compared to his versatile trickery, which had outwitted several enemies, Duke had actually used the Spell Thief skill, which was the biggest proof of the Wanderer branch. Perhaps it was because he stole Lightbringer's underwear the first time he used it, which left him somewhat apprehensive.

But this is precisely the time for the "Spell Thief" to come into play.

Duke wanted to take a gamble and steal the tracking spell that Zi Yuan was using. He wasn't worried about repeating the same mistake, since not everyone was like Guang Bao, whose magic concentration was high enough to enchant his underwear to +14. Besides, Zi Yuan didn't wear underwear at all, so he definitely couldn't steal her undergarments.

Don't ask him how he knows; just tell him that [Purple Iris's favorability rating: Friendly].

His fingertips traced the smooth, tough dragon scales, and the spell thief's effect took shape. A spell model was sketched out in Duke's mind, named "Hunter List," a variant of dragon language magic. Its effect was to plant a seed in the target's soul, thereby locking onto the target's location.

Duke, who had mastered the spell through the spell thief, immediately located and removed the seed from the soul. At the same time, without withdrawing his hand from Zi Yuan's neck, he audaciously turned the tables and cast the "Hunter List" on Zi Yuan.

"Boom-"

Zi Yuan lashed out with her dragon tail, slamming heavily into Duke and Amber. The powerful impact caused Amber, who was holding Duke, to loosen her grip, and both of them fell from the air. However, the sheriff reached out, grabbed Duke's collar, pulled him close to her, stared at the suspect with her vertical pupils, and said with a light laugh, "What, you still want to plant your seed in my body?"

"Hiss..." Duke gasped. Zi Yuan's movements were anything but gentle, directly aggravating his wounds. The divine body's recovery speed was also incredibly domineering. The wound where a large chunk of flesh had been torn off had already begun to heal, causing both pain and unbearable itching to occur simultaneously, making Duke's expression somewhat distorted. He forced a smile and said, "How could I dare?"

"Alright, let's get back to the main topic."

Zi Yuan subtly averted her gaze, lest her composure be swayed by Duke's smile. At the same time, she inwardly cursed, "Damn, he's too handsome!" and began to question whether this guy was some kind of cult-created android. Otherwise, how could a normal human be so incredibly good-looking?!

The female police officer, who had averted her gaze out of guilt, paused for a moment before continuing to ask:

"You're not a citizen of the floating city, are you?"

“Of course I am a citizen of the Floating City!” Duke immediately shouted indignantly, “How can you slander me? I have served the Floating City, I have shed blood for the Floating City, how can you expel me from the city with just a word?”

He wasn't lying; he really did serve the floating city and shed blood, just not for this particular floating city.

"Then who am I?" Zi Yuan turned around, pointing to her dashing and beautiful face. "Since you are a citizen of the Floating City, you should recognize me, right?"

"You're Zi Yuan, who else could you be?"

Duke was secretly delighted. Fortunately, he really knew Zi Yuan's identity and name—as long as Zi Yuan dared to continue asking, he could even accurately tell her measurements!

Don't ask, the answer is "friendly".

Zi Yuan seemed to have anticipated that Duke would answer the question, and immediately followed up with her next prepared question:

"So what is my position?"

Chapter 352 Masters Clash

"So what is my position?"

Zi Yuan asked with a half-smile.

The answer to this question is known to everyone in the floating city.

The title of "First Sheriff" is as famous as Purple Iris's own title, "Dragon Fury Dancer".

In this parallel world, the floating city is not like Duke's world, where the city lord's mansion is the core of centralized power. Instead, it presents a strange separation of powers and a balance of forces.

The united sheriffs possess judicial power, executive power is held by the four major families, and legislative power is controlled by the council. These three parties together constitute the ruling class of this floating city, but they are not entirely so... because these three forces do not want to be united as one entity and are constantly looking to annex each other.

In Duke's previous life, the countries with a separation of powers at least outwardly maintained a clear separation of powers, with distinct spheres of application. However, this shoddy version of separation of powers in the floating city is a complete mess upon closer inspection. The three factions are testing each other, even openly encroaching on each other's territories. For example, the most obvious point is that administrative enforcement power shouldn't be held by the sheriffs who control the judiciary.

Logically, such an absurd balance should be on the verge of collapse, but surprisingly, this balance has actually been maintained in the floating city!

Zi Yuan is the leader of this generation of sheriffs who has been brought to the forefront and needs to be voted on by the voters. The citizens of the floating city do not know that her title is "First Sheriff," which is as absurd as the citizens of the Lighthouse Kingdom not knowing that Emperor Bai is their president.

But Duke didn't know that.

Although he maintained a calm smile, his hesitation in answering the question led Zi Yuan to the conclusion:

"As expected, you are not a citizen of the floating city, but an outsider."

Or rather, Zi Yuan came up with more answers than that.

"You know me, know my name, and even understand my personality, but you don't know who I am." Zi Yuan asked these two questions in a row, clearly testing him on purpose. In front of this First Sheriff, Duke couldn't hide his secret at all: "You are an outsider from a parallel world, aren't you?"

“You are just as smart as you, Ziyuan.”

Duke sighed, resignedly saying, "I've been exposed by Zi Yuan." He hung his head listlessly, seemingly unwilling to struggle and ready to give up.

"Looks like I'm a smart person in your world too, that's great." Zi Yuan shrugged, her hand already gripping Duke's collar tightly, but she also relaxed her guard a little, a smug expression on her face: "Kid, don't be too discouraged, who told me, Sheriff Zi Yuan, to arrest you?"

"I lost. My name is Duke." Duke raised his hands and said with a helpless expression, "Miss Ziyuan, nice to meet you."

“Just call me Ziyuan. Judging from your tone, Duke, you must be very familiar with ‘me.’ In that case, you don’t need to be so formal with me.” Ziyuan waved her hand. “So, how many of you are there? What exactly are you here to do in our world?”

Duke gave Ziyuan a slight smile, which made her look away again: "You ask so directly, do you think you'll believe everything I say?"

"of course not."

Ziyuan, of course, would not believe the one-sided account of an outsider; she would find facts to corroborate it.

“Then there’s no point in talking about that, is there? I think it’s more practical to talk about what kind of cooperation we can do,” Duke said with utmost sincerity—if he were a lobbyist, he could persuade the vast majority of women in the world. Regardless of whether his words were inflammatory, his face alone was enough to make too many people lose their minds: “For example, do you want to know what happened to that little shop?”

Duke pointed in the direction he had been in yesterday.

This clearly touched upon something deep within Zi Yuan's heart.

"For example, would you like to know information about other outsiders? For example... information about a female mage who can transform into and control shadows? Just a heads-up, we might not be on the same side."

Since Ziyuan asked the question "How many people are there in total?", it means that the outsiders who appeared in front of this sheriff were definitely not just Duke and Amber. Duke was at least certain that Xiao Hei and Monica were also thrown into this world by Ida, and Ida and Alice themselves might have also run into this world.

After all, Little Black was just a harmless little black cat, and Duke found it hard to imagine that it would cause a disturbance that would attract attention. So the answer was simple: it could only be Monica.

"Is that shadow, which sometimes transforms into a beautiful woman and sometimes into a three-meter-tall giant cat, and has been attacking passersby lately, your enemy?"

"...She's an adult woman, not a young girl, right?"

"correct."

Okay, Monica isn't the type to transform into a cat. Does that mean while Monica was causing trouble, Little Black was also wreaking havoc and destroying the house? That's strange, she's clearly a well-behaved black cat, not a husky, right? How could she attack passersby?

Duke's lips twitched slightly, but he quickly regained his composure and continued, "So, do you want to know information about the outsiders? We can definitely cooperate, Purple Iris."

“But you’re in my hands now. I can easily get the information you know by interrogating you, can’t I?” Zi Yuan might not really want to interrogate Duke. She just wanted to gain the upper hand in the negotiations with Duke. “You don’t think that such a huge floating city doesn’t even have a mage who can use the Truth-Spitting Spell, do you?”

"Is there?"

Duke countered without hesitation.

Zi Yuan is the first spellcaster Duke has encountered since arriving in this floating city in a parallel world. However, she is clearly not a traditional spellcaster, but a "Dragon Vein Sorcerer" who uses her bloodline power and talent to cast spells. She is following a path similar to, but not the same as, the Dragon Dance Witch Zi Yuan of the floating city.

Bloodline sorcerers and traditional spellcasters have always despised each other. The former think the latter are useless people without talent, while the latter think the former are brainless idiots. They are usually at odds with each other. Therefore, there are actually very few sorcerer residents in the floating city where Duke is located, and there are even very few sorcerer adventurers. The sorcerers are simply unwilling to come to the city ruled by traditional spellcasters.

Apart from the Dragon Vein Warlock and Lady Scarlet, Duke did not see any other spellcasters in this floating city.

Not all floating cities are the same. Their floating cities are cities for spellcasters. So what about this floating city?

Or.

"You chose to mention something like 'truth-revealing spell' just to bluff me, right... Are there really spellcasters in this city?"

Zi Yuan raised an eyebrow.

Chapter 353 Limited-Time Event: Beyond the Mirror.

Zi Yuan raised an eyebrow, her previous ease and casualness vanishing, because she realized that Duke was no ordinary fool.

She revealed that the "truth-revealing spell" was indeed a trap, because there were no normal spellcasters in this city, at most only bloodline sorcerers like herself, relying on their talent (dragon transformation) for their spellcasting abilities, which were entirely inherited. Zi Yuan's original intention was to bluff Duke about what kind of parallel world he came from, but she didn't expect Duke to see through the city's problem so easily.

This Duke and the elf who used spatial magic, including "Shadow" and "Strange Man," are clearly spellcasters. In other words, they are definitely not from a floating city... or the floating city they come from is completely opposite to ours, and their floating city has spellcasters.

But here's the problem: didn't he only arrive in our world a few days ago? If he had been here for several days and knew even the basic fact that there are no spellcasters in the floating city, he couldn't possibly not know my rank, right? He could only have just arrived in the floating city a few days ago and hadn't had time to investigate any information... In other words, did he already determine that there are no spellcasters in the floating city as soon as he arrived in the parallel world?

Zi Yuan loosened Duke's collar.

This gesture was merely a sign of respect, not an indication that Duke was about to be released.

In fact, Zi Yuan did not think Duke could escape from her.

If Amber were to appear and try to rescue Duke, she would be close enough to react in time. Zi Yuan was very confident in her own strength, and although Amber's mastery of spatial magic was something Zi Yuan had never seen before, this was a floating city, a floating city that did not welcome spellcasters. As a top combatant in the floating city, she had far too many means to counter spellcasters.

As for Duke himself, Ziyuan has even less to worry about.

Although he can use hero-level skills such as Omnipotent Trickster and Spell Thief, and his physical body seems to be above the level of an ordinary hero, he cannot be considered hero-level in other aspects. She is a genuine near-legendary. Even if he is given the opportunity to use his skills, what can he really do?

“I like smart people, so I admit you’re qualified to negotiate with me.” Zi Yuan clicked her tongue. “The question is, a transaction is a process of exchange between two parties. If I want to know the information you just mentioned, what price do I need to pay?”

Duke reached out and pinched his chin, seemingly pondering what he should gain from his deal with Zi Yuan, but in reality, he was confirming the "Witch Conquest System".

As everyone knows, due to the unreliability of this system, Duke hasn't opened the system's task interface for centuries, and he doesn't even bother with the daily tasks that the system releases. He uses his inventory the most, and then the lottery, barely making ends meet through it.

He had only opened the system interface to access his inventory and see what items he had that could help him turn the tide, but as soon as he opened the system interface, a system notification popped up, taking up most of the interface.

[New system feature unlocked.]

[Limited-time event: Beyond the Mirror.]

[Start.]

Duke: ? ? ?

What time is it? Duke is already battling the final boss of the floating city, the Mute (?), and your broken system finally wakes up and plans to launch its first limited-time event? So all this time it's been a long period of inactivity? With such a long period of inactivity, do you think you're some four-character mobile game that just launched three years ago?

They're already celebrating their third anniversary! This kind of reissue is not advisable!

Although he was cursing the system in his heart, Duke's body still obeyed when he saw the words "limited-time event" and clicked on the newly opened event interface "Beyond the Mirror". Then a magnificent promotional image appeared. In the middle of the image was a mirror. Inside the mirror was the floating city he was familiar with, while outside the mirror was a floating city he was not familiar with.

System, can't you even trick people into spending money? What's the point of using this floating city that's hard to draw and unappealing instead of pretty girls in the promotional image? You should just draw two groups of similar but different pretty girls inside and outside the mirror; that would absolutely blow this promotional image away. Do you even understand?

If you release a limited edition Parallel World Amber, I'll definitely spend a ton of money on it!

Oh, this system doesn't have a pay-to-win feature, then that's fine.

Despite his complaints, Duke was genuinely intrigued by the promotional image and casually tried to persuade Zi Yuan in front of him:

"What do you think? The value of intelligence is hard to define. I can't do something as stupid as trading one piece of intelligence for another, and I don't want to. What I want to ask you is, what do you want to do? What do you think we can do for you?"

Although most of his attention was focused on the system's timed mission, Duke still put some thought into returning the problem to Zi Yuan. To further prove his worth to her, he took out the "I Want" gun from his inventory, pointed it at the clear sky, and whispered:

"I want to see heavy snow."