I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

“…Jianjian is innocent.” Cecil was speechless for a long time after being choked by Amber. He could only force himself to stay silent for a while before changing the subject: “No…not that. Then what do you want to ask?”

"You just heard my brief account of what happened in the Witch Game, right?" Amber narrowed her eyes. "Duke is by no means a useless piece of trash; on the contrary, he's an incredibly mysterious genius. I observed him for the entire Witch Game and only realized one thing: he must be hiding many secrets."

"Huh?"

"So here's the question: Did he not show any of his abilities in the previous witch games? And why did he 'have his cake and eat it too'? Is it really just because he's a scumbag? Or is there some special meaning behind this behavior?"

Amber had one more thing to say: if Duke was a jerk, why didn't he show any tendency to be a jerk in these two games? Instead, he either acted like a typical straight man, which was infuriating, or he treated her as a tool, turning her into a heartless witch game conquest machine.

"Ugh!" Cecil clutched his head, his eyes turning into mosquito coils, and let out a dazed whimper: "It's too complicated, I don't understand at all."

Amber pouted: "Sigh, never mind, let's cook."

"Amber! Do you think I'm stupid?"

"How could that be? Sister Cecil, you're the smartest."

"Waaaaah, you're just brushing me off, you don't love me anymore."

Amber quickly comforted her silly older sister, and also told her to put her other guess aside for the time being.

There might be something mysterious about the "decorative knight's sword" that Duke gave to this fool.

……

At this moment, Duke was walking through the floating city in the dead of night. Of course, he had no idea what kind of shocking conjectures Miss Amber, who was good at observation, had put forward. If he knew, he would be amazed by the witch's strong imagination and tell her, "You've been corrupted. I just wanted to live off my looks before."

Of course, now that he's turned over a new leaf, he can only rely on his own abilities and his connections with APP18 to make a living.

cough!

Let's leave aside whether Duke, who prefers thin drinks, will succeed in his pursuit.

He relied on the voice of all things and quickly arrived at the source of the faint cry for help.

This is a small shop deep in an alley, and although it's late at night, it's still brightly lit.

The shop door was half-closed, and the signboard at the entrance read "Yesterday's Time," which was probably the name of the small shop.

Duke pondered for a moment, then took the initiative to push open the door and go inside.

Welcome!

Chapter 41 Yesterday

Welcome!

Duke entered the shop, where only a dim oil lamp on the counter could barely illuminate the interior.

The shop owner sat by the counter. She was also a witch, dressed in a very traditional witch's robe and wearing a large witch's hat. In the dim light, she looked up in surprise, seemingly not expecting that there would be customers visiting so late.

After expressing her welcome, she lowered her head again and focused her attention on the thick ancient book in her hands.

"Excuse me, what kind of business does this shop do?"

Duke surveyed the shop's interior, and all he could see was a sense of antiquity and age. The decorating style seemed to be something popular hundreds of years ago, and Duke was quite certain that it wasn't a retro style. He could feel that every inch of the shop was etched with the marks of time.

Magical energy permeated every corner of the shop, but Duke saw neither books, potions, nor magical items. He only saw eight large cabinets, each with its doors sealed with two strips covered in runes, leaving him wondering what was inside.

The cries for help that Duke heard came from one of the cabinets.

The floating city built by witches is a holy land for spellcasters. It is full of potion shops, magic item shops, magic material shops, and bookstores selling magic books. Judging from the ancient interior, he couldn't guess what this shop sold yesterday.

"Antique shop".

This time, the shop owner didn't even look up, giving a very perfunctory answer.

Duke's lips twitched slightly as he looked at the shop, which didn't have a single antique in sight, and asked somewhat speechlessly, "Then how do we buy anything?"

Only then did she finally put down the ancient book and seriously look up at Duke. His handsome face made the shop owner raise an eyebrow, but he quickly shook his head and said regretfully, "You can't afford it."

"...So, to buy the antiques here, you don't need gold coins or other currencies?"

Duke reacted swiftly. Countless adventurers in the floating city had become rich overnight through the Witch Game; one couldn't judge a person's wealth by appearance alone. Since the shop owner was so certain, the currency required for purchases in this shop was most likely not ordinary circulating currency.

"That's right, we only accept barter here."

The shop owner looked slightly surprised. This late-night visitor had brought her quite a few pleasant surprises. She finally became interested in Duke, straightened up, looked directly at him, and introduced herself earnestly:

"My name is Fei, what's yours?"

Under the dim light of the oil lamp, Duke finally saw the full face of Scarlet under the witch's hat. At the same time, Duke felt a suffocating sensation, and even his heart skipped a beat.

Faye is the most beautiful woman Duke has ever seen in his life.

Over the past month, Duke has seen far too many beauties. The witches of the floating city are renowned for their beauty and ability to maintain their youth; there isn't a single one with ordinary looks—many suspect that the floating city's requirements for recruiting witches not only include exclusive spells but also a natural charm value of at least 15. Women like Amber, Gretchen, and Cecil, including Eve and Duke's other four "ex-girlfriends," are all beauties in their own unique ways.

But Fei was different from the others. Her beauty gave Duke a sense of inhumanity. This breathtaking beauty stimulated all of Duke's senses, making him want to imprint this peerless face deep in his mind, wishing he could watch her every minute and every second until the end of the world.

Duke's pupils contracted rapidly, his body began to tremble violently, and the strength of his muscles caused his veins to bulge. A sense of fear and submission filled his entire body. He tried to control his attention, but it was all in vain. Duke still stared blankly at Fei, unable to take his eyes off her.

He was awakened by the system's notification sound.

He quickly looked away, panting heavily, and finally managed to answer Fei's question: "My name is Duke."

In the parlance of Clash of Clans, his Charisma of 18 is the highest value a mortal can possess; anything higher would be the appearance of a deity like Cthulhu. The woman before him, named Scarlet, definitely surpasses 18 in Charisma, reaching the level of a deity whose mere glance warrants a sanction check.

“Nice to meet you, Duke.” Fei raised an eyebrow, stretched lazily, then relaxed her body, leaned back in her chair, and said casually, “Come back when you have something that interests me.”

After Fei stretched, even when Duke looked at her face again, he no longer felt the fear and submission he had felt from her inhuman charm. Although her face hadn't changed at all, her breathtaking beauty had subsided and even become ordinary, something he would forget as soon as he turned his head away.

Duke did not immediately agree with Fei's words, but instead looked down to check the system interface.

The notification sound just now was a notification that a new daily task had been released. It's possible that after midnight, the system released a brand new daily task.

Please select one of the following tasks.

[Task 1: Without saying another word to Fei, turn around and leave yesterday.]

[Task Two: Propose a deal with Fei and complete at least one deal.]

Duke looked at the two tasks with some surprise. He didn't expect that the system, which always tricked him into "conquering the witch" in various ways, would issue two completely opposite tasks.

Especially for Task One... can I get the task reward as soon as I turn around and leave yesterday?

He pondered for a moment, but ultimately decided against choosing Task One; the system's tasks weren't free lunches. He had no doubt that if he did, some unforeseen accident would occur.

Instead of that, let's choose Task 2, which is "relatively known".

[Quest Acquisition: The Spark of Yesterday]

[Mission Objective: Propose a deal with Fei and complete at least one deal.]

[Task Reward: Job Change Opportunity.]

Duke was thrilled the moment he saw the mission reward!

Job change opportunity!

The opportunity to become a Taoist priest has arrived!

After three days of playing the witch game, Duke confirmed one thing: the daily quests wouldn't refresh until they were completed. Duke didn't need to complete them now, because even if he wanted to complete the quest today, he didn't have any goods he could use for bartering.

So, suppressing his excitement, he asked Fei, "What kind of things can arouse your interest?"

Fei's first impression of Duke seemed quite good. He first demonstrated his basic logical thinking ability, and then showed a certain endurance in appreciating her charm. These two points piqued her interest, and she didn't refuse to communicate. Instead, she started counting on her fingers as she talked to Duke:

"Either it's an antique that's old enough, at least a thousand years old; or it's a specialty from another dimension, and the quality must be high enough; or it's a strange and unusual thing. There are no hard and fast rules for this category, as long as it's interesting enough. It sounds easy, but it's hard to do. There aren't many things that can catch my eye."

Duke thought for a moment, then simply took out the Lucky Dagger from his inventory and handed it over.

"What do you think of this dagger?"

Fei took the dagger, casually played with it for a few moments, and then said with disdain:

"A dagger enchanted with Lucky Strike? A strange thing, but not interesting enough... Hmm?"

She didn't finish her sentence, as if she realized something.

After going through a witch's game, it is no longer the pure and innocent lucky dagger it once was.

It... took the shape of a saint.

Chapter 42 Cecil, My Superman!

[Item Name: Lucky Dagger (Modified)]

[Item Description: This dagger was once your family heirloom, but now it has become the dwelling place of a saint's soul—it is no longer pure!]

[Item Effects: 1. Skill "Lucky Strike": The user can use a dagger in any form to deliver a lucky strike, causing events to deviate in the user's desired direction (Cooldown: 72 hours). 2. Skill "Soul of a Saint": Effect unknown.]

In the final battle of the Candy Castle Witch Game, Duke used the skill Lucky Strike, which successfully severed the saint possessing Grete's body and luckily allowed her to enter his dagger, making the Lucky Dagger her new home.

Causality attacks are that simple yet domineering.

The Lucky Dagger itself was merely unusual and not enough to pique the interest of the well-traveled Scarlet, but she became quite intrigued when she discovered that a powerful soul resided within it.

Fei gently touched the lucky dagger, and the light of the soul appeared on its blade. However, after waiting for a while, the two still did not see the saint appear.

“The soul inside is severely injured and won’t wake up anytime soon.” Fei shook her head with some regret and returned the Lucky Dagger to Duke. “Interesting. If it can really summon a living soul, it’s barely worth the trade.”

Duke took the Lucky Dagger, only to discover to his surprise that the Lucky Strike skill, which had previously had a cooldown of several dozen hours, was now usable again. Fei had merely touched it, and it had refreshed this high-level causality technique.

Who exactly is this witch? Is she a legendary witch from legend?

Duke's lips twitched slightly as he put the Lucky Dagger back into his inventory and said confidently, "Ms. Scarlet, give me a few days to prepare. Next time, I'll definitely bring you magical items that are qualified for bartering."

If all else fails, the Space Anchor and the Voice of All Things are certainly good enough, but he doesn't really want to sell these two "bond items," so it's just a last resort.

Duke wasn't interested in finding out what was in the cabinet seeking help (it was probably an intelligent antique magic item), but he was determined to get the "job change opportunity" reward from this mission!

No one can stop him from becoming a noble mage!

“I’ll be waiting.” Fei raised an eyebrow, picked up the ancient book, and settled back into her seat at the counter, adjusting herself into a comfortable position. “Don’t come at such a dark time next time.”

"it is good."

……

Finding "Yesterday's Time," a place suspected to be guarded by a powerful witch, was purely accidental. However, it strengthened Duke's resolve to continue the witch game, as only the witch game could allow him to quickly find high-level "magical items."

Whether it's items obtained through the Witch Game itself (like Pinocchio's Heart) or rewards from the system obtained by completing the Witch Game (like Mixed Berry Cake, and Space Anchors could also be considered), they can all be bartered yesterday, exchanging unwanted items for needed ones.

However, after Duke returned home late that night and slept through the rest of the night and the entire morning, he was not facing any witch games, but rather Amber and Gretel who were about to come and freeload a meal.