I want to be a faded person for life

After two collisions, Pumpkinhead could no longer hold on and fell back a few steps to the ground, with purple-red blood oozing out from the gaps in his helmet.

——Pumpkinhead is dead.

Xiangzi slid down the wall to the ground, holding his breath in his chest for a long time before finally spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Her left arm and ribs were broken. She knelt on the ground with her hands covering her chest for more than ten seconds before she managed to stand up with her back bent.

[Master, are you okay? ]

The soul jellyfish and wolf spirit surrounded the girl anxiously.

"...fine."

Xiangzi fell silent, but not because he was hurt.

Before this battle, she had only killed unconscious zombies, creatures like beast ghosts or limb-grafted nobles that looked more like monsters than humans.

Pumpkin Head was the first opponent in the world that Xiangzi killed - the first one who made her clearly feel that "this is a living person."

"I'm really ridiculous."

Xiangzi laughed at himself twice. He actually made such a mistake in a life-and-death battle - he naively thought that since they were all living people, they should not fight to the last moment.

It was clearly decided to rescue Deng at all costs, so how could this be considered at all costs?

Her awareness as a warrior was even inferior to that of the blind pumpkin-headed jailer.

Behind the jailer's body, a golden fire of blessing gradually began to burn.

Xiangzi used the blessing to heal his body, and then turned to the iron door deep in the basement, where the witch should be imprisoned.

Even Xiangzi himself didn't notice that there were some subtle changes in her eyes.

He turned the key taken from the jailer, activated the mechanism to raise the iron door, and the interior of the basement appeared before Xiangzi's eyes.

This place doesn't look like a prison cell at all. There are wooden tables, chairs, and bookcases, and huge glowing blue crystals cover every corner of the room.

A witch wearing a blue robe with a red ribbon on her shoulder stood in the middle of the room. She was wearing a strange plaster hood and did not look like anyone Xiangzi had known before.

"Umm...hello."

The imprisoned witch turned her head to look at the girl, and looked her up and down with the mask under the plaster hood.

"Your outfit is truly amazing, but a little too bold for my taste... Is this the latest trend in Nimgefu?"

Xiangzi looked at himself in confusion, and then he realized that he had taken off his chain mail shirt in order not to make any noise, and now he was only wearing blue and white underwear and a pair of safety pants.

"..."

The girl, who had just grown up, blushed and pulled the iron door down again.

It turned out that her lack of shame was just an illusion. Showing this in front of a living person who could communicate with her almost made her head steam.

A few minutes later, Xiangzi opened the door again. She had an expressionless face as if nothing had happened.

"Nice to meet you... Miss Witch."

The unknown witch lowered her head and thought for a few seconds.

"The name 'witch' is quite fitting, so let's just call it that. Nice to meet you—perverted knight lady."

"Pfft—who's the pervert?"

Xiangzi became anxious and immediately started arguing loudly.

Her face flushed as she spoke some half-understood weird things like "mail armor makes sounds in the dark", "making sacrifices for battle isn't perverted", "there was a saying in ancient times that military generals fought naked", "bad comments should be deleted" and so on.

The witch wearing the plaster hood laughed happily, and the underground cell of Post Station Street was suddenly filled with a happy atmosphere.

Chapter 24: Ripening Fruit

"Okay... I haven't spoken to anyone in a long time, so it's inevitable that I want to chat more."

It took the witch a few minutes to regain her composure and sit back down in the simple chair.

"You are the Faded One, right? It's rare to have such a unique guest visit us—my name is Selian, and as you can see, I am a magician."

"As for the purpose of your visit to me, oh—I have probably guessed it."

Se Lian stared into the girl's eyes and suddenly chuckled.

"I've seen the same look in your eyes before, filled with a greedy desire for power and knowledge... You wanted to learn pyroxene magic."

"Don't be so quick to deny it—I never think greed is a bad thing. On the contrary, it's a necessary quality for becoming a magician. You appear to possess the most basic qualifications... However, I must remind you that you should choose your disciple carefully."

The air in the room turned cold. The witch's slight aura that she accidentally revealed was enough to make Xiangzi realize that the pumpkin-headed jailer in the basement was not a threat to the witch at all.

"I was expelled from Rhea Lukalia Academy. I'm a so-called heretic witch that most people avoid. Even so, you insist on taking me as your teacher?"

The inhuman aura of Se Lian made the girl tremble all over, but it was not fear - but excitement.

If we could get the help of such a powerful witch, the chances of rescuing the lamp from Stonewell would increase several percent.

Xiangzi's face showed excitement rather than fear, and even the witch Se Lian was a little surprised.

"You're such a weirdo... Well, in that case, I don't mind teaching you pyroxene magic—you seem to have some pretty good pyroxene on you, so let's get started."

Xiangzi broke out in a cold sweat, but he still interrupted Selian's class which had not yet begun.

"Teacher Se Lian - although it may be rude to ask this, I'm in urgent need of strength right now. Is there any quick way to achieve it?"

Se Lian suddenly raised his hand and pointed the curved dagger inlaid with blue gems at the girl's eyes.

"Don't interrupt my class, this is the first and last time—whatever you want to say, wait until the end of this class."

......

Xiangzi walked out of the blessing point on the outer wall of Stonewell, and a staff with a pyroxene top appeared in her left hand.

She recalled Seren's words before leaving:

"If you really want to say, there is a quick way, but I don't recommend you use it."

Although he was wearing a hood, one could still hear some worry in Seren's voice.

"You're still just a fragile, crawling infant in your magical journey. It's clearly against the laws of nature for an infant to skip the walking stage and start running... But you've probably heard of prematurely ripened fruit, haven't you?"

“It’s incomplete, and contains toxins—but it has indeed reached a mature state.”

"So-called pyroxene is the amber of starlight. Studying pyroxene magic is like studying the fragments of life remaining within the resin—the starlight trapped within the amber egg."

"The essence of exploring pyroxene magic is to bring your life closer to the starry sky... In other words, the act of exploration itself is merely a means to get you closer to the starry sky."

"A more effective method is to skip this process and actively bring your life closer to the essence of pyroxene magic. Disciple, although I know that you Faded Ones can use the power of blessing to resurrect, I'm afraid that even the blessing of the gods cannot prevent the alienation of the essence of life and even soul."

"I don't know why you're pursuing power, but I'd still consider it a last resort. I don't want someone who can talk to me so easily to die in obscurity at such an early age."

"Take this old staff. I hope you can come back alive—the perverted disciple who didn't dress properly when we first met."

Thinking of this, Xiangzi smiled helplessly.

"The atmosphere was quite good before, but can't you just omit the last part of the address, Mr. Se Lian?"

-

Stopping his memories, Xiangzi suddenly turned his head to face the empty place.

"Melina, you're here, right?"

The figure of the one-eyed girl appeared in the mist.

It was not until now that Xiangzi could barely see clearly how Melina appeared. She was not teleported by the Blessed Fire - but was closer to the ashes awakened by the Soul Summoning Bell.

"Melina, you...are actually a spirit?"

Xiangzi's eyes had a glassy texture - this was a change brought about by taking pyroxene powder, and it was proof that her life essence was getting closer to the starry sky.

It is also because of this that Xiangzi can now see things that he could not perceive before.

Melina didn't deny it.

"I told you I never left your side."

This would explain the one-eyed girl's mysterious appearances and disappearances.

But...when did this start?

"...So this is what you've been talking about. Let's not talk about that for now—Melina, I want to transform runes into power. This time, I'm not going to strengthen my physical fitness, but I'm going to convert it all into magic power. Can you do it?"

Melina nodded.

"of course."

The man-eating plants Miranda and Pumpkinhead provided Xiangzi with a lot of runes. If it were his physical fitness, he should be able to strengthen it two or three times.

However, a slight improvement in physical ability was not enough for Xiangzi to cope with the next situation.

Toyokawa Shoko's magical power, in Seren's words, is just the most basic qualifications.

After this strengthening, he should be able to reach the level of "pretty good", but he is still far from being a true genius.

With the eye that had undergone a slight change, Xiangzi could see that his magical power had transformed from a shallow puddle into a pool.

"Now, I should try it."

As he said this, Xiangzi shook the soul-calling bell.

The magic power was rapidly decreasing. After consuming nearly two-thirds of the magic power, a tall and burly soul body appeared in front of the girl.

The spirit wears an oval helmet that completely covers its head, making it look like it is wearing a giant pumpkin.

Kill powerful enemies and drive their souls.

"She's just like a villain from a comic book. That's fine... Can I still summon Korara with the remaining magic?"

Pumpkinhead didn't understand Xiangzi's mumbling, but it recognized that the other person was the girl who had killed it not long ago, but that didn't matter.

The pumpkin-headed soldier was originally a crazy swordsman. For a swordsman, it was normal for colleagues who had eaten together to fight each other the next day.

Now the situation seems to be no different.

As long as we can continue to fight, there will be no problem.

Xiangzi pointed in the direction behind the archway leading to the inner city, where a large number of exiled soldiers were guarding the road.

"Pumpkinhead, attack!"

The swordsman laughed silently. Compared to the job of a jailer, the job of his new employer seemed to be more to his liking.

-

【Crazy Pumpkin-Head Soldier's Ashes】

A tall, powerful soul of a mad soldier, the darkness created by his helmet suppresses panic.

However, as long as the bleeding occurs, the person will go crazy and lose control.

The Mad Soldier is the final fate of a sword fighter who has suffered a mental breakdown.

Chapter 25 The Strange Gatekeeper

There were actually fewer zombie soldiers stationed outside the inner wall gate than outside. As Eric said, there were no Grek soldiers wearing tree and beast barrel helmets here.

The soldiers in the inner city were all exiles wearing crimson hooded cloaks. The knights and direct soldiers brought here by the demigod from the royal city had all been sent out of the city.

The gladiator swung the flail and knocked the soldier who was blocking with the long-handled axe to the ground with his weapon.

This pumpkin-headed monster who was charging around was much more efficient than Xiangzi in dealing with the miscellaneous soldiers. With just one round of charge, he could disperse all the dozen or so soldiers blocking his way.

The oddly shaped golden helmet was heavy and extremely sturdy. All the crossbow arrows shot from high altitude bounced off the helmet without leaving even a dent.

Behind the statue at the corner of the stairs, a crossbowman aimed at the unarmored side of the gladiator, but before he could pull the trigger, the sharp blue-green crystal had already pierced its chest.

Behind the pumpkin-headed monster, Shoko Toyokawa retracted her staff, and a few pale blue stars still remained in the air.

Pyroxene Magic Gravel does not require charging, and is faster and more energy-saving than Storm Blade. However, since it is impossible to restore magic power through rest, Xiangzi can only fire it less than ten times.

It was not until he actually came into contact with pyroxene magic that Xiangzi realized how powerful the wizard who left the spell marks on the bridge was.

If it were her, even if she used up all her magic power, it would be impossible for her to create even one-tenth of the pyroxene crystals on the scene, let alone use starlight to condense the complete shape of the weapon.

But the girl actually overlooked one point, that is, the pyroxene crystals she was currently producing would completely disintegrate in a few seconds, and the traces of battle on the bridge had existed for at least several days.

While thinking, Xiangzi raised his magic wand and shot down the exposed soldier on the arrow tower.

This is the most energy-saving way of fighting. You just need to follow the swordsman's pace, point him in the direction, and clean up the enemies hiding in the dark and attacking you.

Compared to rushing to the front alone before, this way of fighting is undoubtedly much easier and safer.