I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

Saint Megan replied without hesitation, "Legend."

This answer was not unexpected by Duke.

In all thirteen playthroughs of Cinderella Game, Kagetsu only met her demise in the first playthrough. In the other playthroughs, this near-legendary figure, with one foot in the legendary realm, was utterly lawless. Even the Wishing Tree and the Wishing Fairy, working together near midnight, couldn't defeat her.

She only died once, and the one who did it was Talia, who was possessing Joan's body.

From this simple logic, it's not hard to deduce that Talia possesses legendary-level combat power. Duke never intended to confront her directly from the start, because legendary professionals are no longer bound by the rules of the alternate dimension. They might be trapped within the alternate dimension, but they wouldn't be dragged down to their deaths.

Relying on the rules of a specific alternate dimension, Duke was confident he could outmaneuver and kill a hero-level professional, just like the two assassins from the Silent Ones chose the casino tower for Cecil. With a calculated strategy, even a casualty could be a formidable opponent. However, when the target's strength reached the near-legendary level of Song Yue, he lost his confidence. If it went any higher, reaching true legend, then he would no longer be someone he could kill head-on.

“However, a legend who is merely a soul without a body is vastly different from a true legend,” Duke stated confidently. “Forget the riddles, Megan. Just how much of her power can Talia actually unleash?”

Megan sighed and said helplessly, "Even a legend with many limitations is still a legend."

"And what about you? You were once a legend too, Miss Saint?"

Duke looked at the saintly soul before him with a half-smile. Seeing his expression, Megan couldn't help but recall her experience in the Candy Castle game—in that witch game, as the final boss, she only managed to establish some prestige when she first appeared, and afterwards, she suffered setbacks from beginning to end, making a complete fool of herself.

“I’ve been dead longer, and I’ve been trapped in that game for years.” Megan’s face darkened instantly, and she said through gritted teeth, “I’m more restricted than Talia.”

"But your experience at least proves that legends are not invincible, right?"

"Are you going to curse again?"

Duke waved his hand, preserving the last bit of face for the fuming Saintess (though it was practically nonexistent), and somewhat abruptly changed the subject, asking, "Have you thought about changing your clothes?"

"Huh? Why?"

Megan was still wearing the red dress she had conjured herself. She had worn it ever since she learned how to create clothes in her spirit form, only occasionally appearing in a white slip dress after she had slept enough. However, given how sleepy the Saintess was, needing to sleep for almost twenty-five hours a day, Duke had only seen Megan in the white slip dress once since he met her.

Duke had to admit that Megan, wearing a sundress that day, looked like an angel fallen to earth.

Even in the floating city where beauties abound, Miss Saint's looks are exceptional, standing out from the crowd. Just looking at her without being able to touch her is enough to bring joy. Otherwise, Duke wouldn't have insisted on taking her out for a stroll every day back in the floating city.

"It seems that combat power in this world is determined by clothing. The two strongest pieces of equipment in this world are a sailor suit and a swimsuit," Duke said bluntly after a few words. "Can't you conjure up clothes yourself? Conjure up a bikini and let's see! Maybe that will make you stronger?"

If he were Jing Ke back then, he probably wouldn't even be able to get into Xianyang Palace.

“You just want to watch, you pervert.” Megan rolled her eyes at him and pouted. “If you can fix my body soon, I’ll let you see me wearing different swimsuits every day.”

"You said it! I've got it!"

Megan ignored Duke's excitement and continued, "Moreover, the essence of this alternate dimension is not something so superficial. The power that the clothes give you is related to your inner thoughts."

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you already experience the power of idealism in the Cinderella game? Wish fulfillment, words becoming law, a completely illogical wish-granting machine."

Megan held up one finger and explained simply:

"The power of this alternate dimension is far inferior to that of the Crown-level Witch Game, but in reality, they are somewhat similar. 'Clothes' are merely a medium to enhance cognition and idealistic power; in essence, they consume the soul. In fact, the battles in this world appear to be bloodless, with no one injured, but in reality, they are a battle at the soul level. The loser whose clothes are torn off may not be physically injured, but the damage to their soul may be far more severe!"

"?" Duke: "Really?"

Megan spoke very seriously, and it was clear she wasn't joking. This seemingly harmless witch game didn't seem to have the same rosy truth as it appeared.

"However, unlike the Cinderella Game, this power has a clear source. I estimate that it is currently a piece of clothing. Otherwise, why would the basic rules of the entire alternate dimension be based on the logic of clothing? Originally, all that was needed to clear this game was to defeat this source, but now that source has been taken over by Talia."

"You mean, even if we wear incredibly powerful clothes and enhance our psychological suggestion and cognition, it still won't work?"

“It’s not that bad. Talia isn’t me.” Megan pouted. “She can’t influence the rules of another dimension.”

"Oh, so wearing a bikini does work after all, Megan, hurry up and change!"

Megan rolled her eyes, ignoring Duke's joking remarks, and turned to go back to Lucky Dagger to rest, only coming out to help when the battle was about to begin.

But Duke called out to her, "Wait a minute, old lady."

"What else?" Megan asked impatiently. "I'm not going to wear a bikini, so you can forget about it."

"That's not what I meant. I wanted to ask if you know any spells that can make me a little luckier?" Duke said with a grin, "and not for too long."

I'm not that wish-granting witch, nor am I a legendary thief who manipulates causality; how could I possibly possess such convenient magic...

Megan frowned, about to give Duke a negative answer, but at that moment she suddenly sensed a somewhat familiar aura emanating from him. She immediately realized where this aura came from—it was exactly the same as the alternate dimension core of that Crown-level Witch Game.

The culmination of the entire world's efforts.

The all-powerful wishing machine, which Talia named "Cinderella".

Megan was slightly startled.

Megan later learned the gist of the Cinderella Game from Duke. Although Talia's presence was concealed, the specific process remained the same; they simply hadn't realized the incongruity of missing a character. The all-powerful wish-granting machine that self-destructed because Duke used the Soul Requiem to make a wish truly shocked Megan; she couldn't imagine that such a monster could be born from a witch's game.

She was also relieved that the mute hadn't received the "Cinderella" wish-granting machine. She knew perfectly well how this once noble organization had rapidly degenerated after her demise. Or rather, Megan didn't want anyone to receive this uncontrollable power. She simply didn't believe in the human heart; even the kindest person could have moments of rampant desire, and the so-called omnipotent wish-granting machine had no ability to distinguish between good and bad wishes.

This power will only destroy the world.

Megan, sensing the aura of the "Cinderella" remains, quickly identified it and realized that the aura was coming from Duke's chest. She also realized that the source of the aura was really just a bit of residue from the wishing machine.

She breathed a sigh of relief, then suddenly had a good idea and said to Duke, "Yes."

Duke was completely unaware of Megan's chaotic thoughts. Upon hearing Megan's reply, he immediately became excited and exclaimed, "Quick, give me a buff!"

Ordinary abilities cannot affect the system. For example, a "lucky strike" that directly modifies causality cannot influence the system's lottery results. However, Duke believes that buff spells that increase luck are an exception. The system simply prevents you from cheating; how can buff spells be considered cheating? Even if luck is increased, it's still a game of probability!

Megan nodded, a mysterious smile on her face, and said to Duke:

I wish you good luck.

She didn't use any magic, but the remnants of power surrounding Duke's chest responded to Megan's wish, and then she heard a faint requiem in her ears.

Megan was certain her wish had been answered. But Duke seemed not to hear the requiem. He suppressed his excitement, finally opened the lottery interface, and then clicked on the ten-pull ticket.

"rush!"

[Should I use the 10-pull coupon?]

【Yes. 】

The gashapon machine on the lottery interface burst forth with dazzling light and shadow effects, followed by a burst of golden light.

In an instant, ten items appeared in Duke's inventory, including some junk items like the "empty gift box" he had drawn before. It seemed that the system's lottery drop rate was actually quite low, but the burst of golden light meant that Duke had definitely gotten something good with this ten-pull.

Duke's hands trembled slightly as he took a pocket watch-shaped item from his inventory.

[Item name: World. 】

[Item description: "...and then time began to flow."]

[Item Effect: Stops time for 9 seconds.]

"What's wrong?" Megan asked curiously, noticing his strange expression. "What's wrong with this pocket watch?"

In Megan's eyes, Duke has always been a very mysterious person. He has a different way of thinking than ordinary people, and he can remain absolutely calm when facing desperate situations. At the same time, what is most puzzling about him is that he can always inexplicably pull out some strange things.

From the Lucky Dagger and the Space Anchor to the Voice of All Things, Neon, and then to the Book of Truth.

But the moment Megan opened her mouth to ask a question, Duke vanished from her sight and silently appeared behind her.

What happened? Spatial shift... No, I didn't sense any magical fluctuations or spatial fluctuations!

Time has stopped? How is that possible?

Miss Saint looked at Duke in horror.

Chapter 112 Deus Ex 4K2

Spells with time and space attributes are viewed very differently by spellcasters than ordinary spells, because the difficulty increases exponentially once a spell involves these attributes. However, between time spells and space spells, time spells are generally considered more difficult.

Spatial magic is still somewhat traceable in the conventional spellcasting system. Although only two genius spatial spellcasters like Amber, who can create their own spells, have been born in the floating city over the past thousand years, ordinary spellcasters can still learn spatial magic step by step. Although each spell requires a lot of magic power, spellcasting rituals, and spellcasting materials, they can still use it.

But time magic is different.

Any spell involving the element of time is exclusive to legendary characters.

The realm of time is almost forbidden for conventional spellcasters. Floating City is considered one of the world's top spellcaster cities, but there are no more than three people in this city who are capable of using time magic, and among them, only one legendary witch can use time magic as a regular weapon.

That gentleman is none other than Carol, the current lord of the Floating City and the Witch of Time.

Therefore, Megan was so shocked when Duke demonstrated his ability to stop time.

As a former legendary spellcaster, the Saintess knew all too well the difficulty of time magic—she had wanted to learn time magic when she was still alive, but she just couldn't master it no matter what she tried. Therefore, she had a unique perspective on time magic, and her level of shock at this moment was exceptionally high.

However, Duke ignored Megan, who was in a state of shock. He was busy testing the World Pocket Watch he had just acquired, and used Time Stop a few times in front of the shocked Megan to briefly test the watch's performance.

As we all know, the cooldown time of Star Platinum: The World is the interval between Jotaro's breaths, ranging from a few seconds to more than ten seconds. However, the cooldown time of this World Pocket Watch is more fixed. Duke made a simple estimate and it is about thirty seconds. Moreover, using Time Stop is not without cost. The magic power required to use Time Stop is roughly equivalent to the magic power required to reload Neon two to three times.

In other words, Duke can only use the World Watch twice in a row before running out of mana. He should be able to use it a third time by squeezing out the last bit of magic from the depths of his body. However, if the battle lasts for more than ten minutes, the number of times he can use Time Stop will be quite considerable.

Duke only now realized that his mana regeneration rate was frighteningly fast.

His mana regeneration speed is faster than many spellcasters of the same level, even much faster. Despite being a half-baked spellcaster who turned from a rogue, his mana regeneration speed is more than ten times faster than those spellcasters who have practiced meditation since childhood.

Bro, watch me get my mana back!

Duke had never used any mana-draining methods before, and even when he learned magic, it was limited to levels 2 and below (including level 2). Neon also had difficulty depleting his ammo quickly and reloading continuously, so Duke had never experienced the predicament of running out of mana. He initially thought it was because his total mana was high, but now it seems… it's because his mana regeneration speed is fast enough.

"When I first got the Neon Test Bullet, it shouldn't have had this fast mana regeneration speed, right? When did my mana regeneration speed become this fast? After the Cinderella game?"

Duke frowned and touched his chest.

The only reason he could think of was the Soul Requiem on his chest.

In order to construct the three lines of musical score in his chest, Duke had to give up the dark rune that would temporarily grant him superhuman attributes. Now it seems that although his attribute panel has returned to normal, some changes have still remained in his body.

Duke nodded in satisfaction, put the World Watch back into his inventory, and then turned his attention to the other items he had just drawn from the ten-pull.

Besides the Golden Legendary World Pocket Watch, there are two other items worth mentioning in the ten-pull.

For example...

[Item Name: Mixed Berry Multi-Layer Cake]

[Item Description: Women can never resist the temptation of lots of desserts, remember, never!]

[Item Effect: Greatly increases the user's favorability.]

Duke silently pulled out the prop. If the mixed berry cake he had pulled out before was an ordinary birthday cake, then this mixed berry multi-tiered cake was a wedding cake tower. The seven-tiered white cake was placed on a table (which was part of the prop). It not only looked tempting, but also gave people a sense of being in the center of a wedding.

Looking at the extravagant cake, Duke could almost hear the wedding march playing in his ears.

The aphrodisiac cake is undoubtedly a very useful item. Its power to increase favorability is so strong that it can be used as a control skill. Duke once used this thing to get out of a crisis. However, the one who created that crisis, who was also the victim of the previous mixed berry cake, happened to be right in front of Duke.

"No way, where did you pull this thing out of? You even have storage items like this?" Megan had recovered from her shock, rolled her eyes at Duke, and then looked more closely at the cake in front of her. The more she looked, the darker her face became. "This cake can't be..."