Witch Troupe and the Undead

"Um..." When Luo Qi saw this scene, he felt a strange sense of déjà vu. Could this little girl be thinking, "If you eat my cake, you're mine"? Is she cosplaying Momotaro Maruko? It doesn't feel like she's recruiting apprentices or anything, but more like she's taming some wild animal.

Livia tilted her head and thought for a moment, then took out a small box from her skirt pocket. "No! Absolutely not!" Vivia's face was serious, and she pressed her hand firmly against the box.

She had already tasted the pastries, and as for these...magical pastries, she felt that such novelties were a bit too early for her, or rather, for any human or intelligent being.

“Take it, it’s a gift for joining the group.” Leslie glanced at the box. Inside the box was a small earring made of adamantite from the box Roach had used before. It was shaped like a ginkgo leaf and was a secret artifact that could increase stamina by about 12%.

It's not about physical constitution, but physical strength. Simply put, the secret source of these earrings resonates with the secret source of the human body, and a small amount of life secret source energy flows in continuously. This level of consumption can be replenished naturally, so it is almost perpetually effective.

This energy only allows people to withstand greater physical activity; it does not enhance physical recovery or physical strength, but simply makes them physically stronger.

"No way!" Livia tilted her head, and when she was about to take the box back, she found that the box did not move at all. Immediately, a very confused expression appeared in her emerald eyes. The girl looked at Roach, who sighed, grasped her smooth wrist, and lifted it up.

Vivi, who was saying "No way," had already packed up the box at lightning speed, which made Livia's eyes even more bewildered. Her emerald green eyes widened slightly, as if she couldn't understand what was going on at all.

"Another newcomer..." Black Horse muttered under its breath after sensing something. The already unpalatable horse feed in front of it became even more unpalatable. "I want something better..." Black Horse sighed. Was there nothing else in this place besides this hay and bean feed?

Home is the best! The "Living Forest" is full of "Parasitic Grass," which is fresh, tender, and delicious, with a subtle, indescribable flavor.

We'll see if we can find some time to go to the Black Abyss Cemetery to find something to eat once we get to the Deathwhisper Fortress. Although the things from the Necropolis and the Bone Realm look ugly, some of them taste pretty good (from a demon's perspective).

Whether it's the "Lost Soul Grass" filled with the wails of the dead, the "Grave Death Vine" that only grows in ancient tombs, or those pale "Ghoul Ear" fungi, they are all delicacies. If you don't mind the rotten environment, the "Blood Lotus" and "Black Reed Grass" that only grow in mass graves and rotten blood pools filled with decaying flesh are even more top-grade delicacies.

Right now, Old Ma angrily chewed a few more mouthfuls of bland, tasteless hay, his eyes glaring fiercely at the apprentice feeding the guests' horses by the stable. He used all his willpower to resist the urge to tear open the mortal's throat and savor the delicious soul adorned with the deepest fear and despair, as well as the desire for tender flesh and sweet blood.

If it were to eat people, the punishment wouldn't be as simple as being hit on the head by a witch, nor would it be as severe as being forcibly twisted into a horse. Thinking of this, the black horse trembled and obediently began to nibble on the horse feed in the manger.

With the idea that teaching one apprentice is the same as teaching two apprentices, Livia glanced at Vivi, who was sitting upright, and then at Roach, who was acting unruly. She forcefully swung the small wooden stick in her hand and hit him on the head a few times to make him listen to the lesson.

Livia lectured on the knowledge points of creation. It can't be said that she was just reading from the book, but it could also be described as not taking into account the level of the audience. Fortunately, the words that sprang from the book under her influence were indeed those of a good teacher.

They'll tug at your clothes, crawling all the way up to you, shouting and yelling all over you, trying to force knowledge into your brain, like countless mosquitoes chanting sutras around you.

It must be said that, apart from consuming some SAN points, the teaching effect and speed are really good.

"Master Roach, do you usually listen to this kind of stuff?" Vivi was truly amazed and sincerely admired it. As for the content, sorry, she did manage to memorize it through Livia's methods, but she couldn't understand a single word.

“Yes~” Luo Qi nodded, otherwise his secret source magic would not have progressed so quickly, it was just a bit too mentally torturous.

Time passed slowly. Vivi occasionally attended classes, but most of the time she studied on her own in the library. After all, she found it very difficult to understand what Livia was teaching. The little girl, who had just begun to act like a teacher, felt very frustrated by this situation.

But when asked to explain something simple, she couldn't, or rather, she didn't know how simple it had to be for these two foolish apprentices to understand. After all, for her, the subject of creation was... something anyone could do. The fact that she was willing to follow the textbook's pace was already a great concession.

Otherwise, Vivi's first lesson would have been a wonderfully simple course on how to use willpower to subdue materials, how to shape refined gold, and how to process obsidian, which has extremely strong anti-magic effects, into amulets.

The process was like listening to an advanced mathematics lecture, and when you looked up, the blackboard revealed a completely different world. Moreover, your professor wasn't the kind of person who was good at teaching; rather, he wasn't good at teaching, but his mathematical level was extremely high.

A casual "This proves it" is equivalent to omitting three pages of your work, while a simple "It's easily proven" is like spending a whole night racking your brains, tossing and turning, and stubbing out a pillow full of hair. And Roach... well, he's still the same.

"Boom!" Luo Qi, enveloped in a golden light, leaped out of the workshop, which was almost reduced to ruins, holding a golden object in his hand. "Hahahaha! Daoist, I did it!!!" He then removed the turquoise weight ball from the thorn sword and replaced it with the golden pellet in his hand.

【Paradigm·Reuse·Shaping·Exploding Thorns】This is the second unique recipe to appear in Roch’s recipes. This paradigm is not a one-time use, but like the previous Advanced Molten Burst Seal, it can be used repeatedly. The effect and name of the magic are also renamed by him.

The blade will extend into golden thorns up to 30 feet long, which can be controlled by Roach's will. The thorns can be detonated, producing a large number of spikes that spread in all directions. Each spike is equivalent to the effect of a [Piercing Energy Arrow], causing magical penetration damage and physical damage.

In addition, thorns can also grow from the ground, entangle the target, and then detonate, injecting a large number of spikes into the target's body—a very vicious weapon.

It's perfect for someone like Roach who's bad at swordsmanship; the only problem is...

"A fine of 50 gold coins." The stern-faced enforcer of the academy found Roach. The workshop was borrowed, and now, it could only be described as ruins, so...

"I have no money," Roach said calmly, then pulled out a bag full of alchemical bombs, made using the skills of a Mystic Mage. For this, he had even managed to earn a new achievement.

【炸炸小子：独立利用劣质工具自制超过3种不同类型的大威力炸弹，总数量超过200枚；4/3；207/200】

Following this, two other similar achievements showed progress indicators:

【大技霸：利用废料和劣质工具组装超过10种大威力炸弹与三种炼金武装；4/10；1/3】

【Beast Gimedes: Invents and manufactures at least one operational super-large alchemical construct and more than 10 types of alchemical weapons using waste and garbage; 0/1, 1/10】.

Roach felt that if he continued to progress in this way, sooner or later his skin would turn green, and he would start saying "I think" and "Hey you magic kid, bring me my junk gun."

Although his "Ampere's Happy Gun" does indeed have a bit of a Greenskin feel to it, and is indeed considered to be an alchemical weapon made from scrap, could that super-large alchemical construct be referring to Goma Kong?

"These are the big fried snacks I just made... cough cough, what I mean is, I don't have any money, so I'll use these products to pay off my debts." Roach almost slipped up, especially when he was thinking about the Greenskins, and the Greenskins's verbal tic started coming out of his mouth.

Unlike the occultists who always have money in their pockets, alchemists, although wealthy, don't actually have much cash on hand. Using materials and products to pay off debts is commonplace for them. Although the enforcers felt somewhat uneasy about Roach's strange mental state, they still calculated the price of his alchemical bomb, which was barely enough to pay off his debts.

"Phew~" Luo Qi then looked at the newly lit skill tree [I'm thinking]. This skill tree is divided into three levels: the bottom level is [Explosive Genius], the middle level is [Scrap Inventor], and the top level is [Garbage King].

The effect of the "Explosive Genius" skill is to improve hand stability when making explosives. However, this is not very useful for Roach, because his explosions are not caused by unsteady hands, but by his ingenious ideas.

No matter, the little witch made him a protective item to avoid getting too tired. It was a charm made from "tough crystals" extracted from adamantite and mithril. When it was deployed, it would absorb damage exceeding a certain limit, such as explosions, explosions, and more explosions.

The amount absorbed is astonishing. After activation, it continuously consumes Secret Essence Dew. If it weren't for a profession like Secret Essence Sorcerer who doesn't lack essence dew, ordinary alchemists simply couldn't afford to burn this stuff.

After all, Roach can get three portions of essence from one portion of materials, while an average alchemist is considered very skilled and experienced if they can get one portion of essence from 1.5 portions of materials. Most novices get one portion from two portions of materials, and only skilled workers like Morna can get one portion from about 1.2 portions, which is close to 1:1.

Chapter Thirty-Five: Because they weren't afraid to die, they set off all the explosions!

The Deathwhisper Fortress, with its dark gray walls covered in skeletons and rotting flesh, and its banners soaked in blood and pus hanging limply not far from the city gate, has become a paradise for the undead, a fortress of the Stol Empire.

The streets were filled with staggering, bloated, rotting corpses and creaking skeletons, while will-o'-the-wisps drifted between the buildings like pairs of terrifying eyes.

"Clang—" The heavy sword, forged from black iron, pierced the floor, leaving the scarlet carpet covered with unidentified brown marks and wounds left by the sword.

"You failed," a hoarse voice boomed from the swirling black flames beneath the black visor. "Give me a reason."

"Did a nightmare demon from who-knows-where disrupt the ritual?" Wisps of flame drifted out from the gaps beneath the black heavy armor, as if it were not a person, but a ball of flame imprisoned by metal. The heavy breathing emanating from it was the only sound of living beings in this building.

“Never mind…” he said, as if talking to himself. “The Imperial Army will soon launch a campaign to retake the fortress… Anyway, we’ve done our job, so let them have this dilapidated stone building.”

"Daughter of Calamity? Hmph, if you want her, go get her yourself." Iron Boots stepped onto the rotten wooden steps corrupted by the magic of death, letting the crumbling, decaying wood chips fall to the ground along with the worms.

"..." Amidst the strange creaking of the stairs, the black-armored warrior stepped onto the top floor of the tallest building in the fortress, from where he could overlook the entire fortress structure and the scar-like crack not far away.

"Ah~ My homeland~ Please bear with us a little longer, these invaders will eventually perish here." Countless faces of wailing, struggling and angry appeared on the surface of the black iron heavy sword, before gradually melting into the black metal.

On the slope connecting the Black Abyss Cemetery, pieces of smoky gray crystals were mined and transported into the fortress by skeletons and undead, placed at various nodes, and extended into the Empire from the fortress as the center.

On the other side of the rift in the Black Abyss, another fortress belonging to the kingdom was still holding out, but judging from the increasingly thick black smoke on the city walls and the fires spreading throughout the city, it was clear that it wouldn't be able to hold out for much longer.

With a "whoosh," a roll of map rolled open on the long table. The officer, holding a candlestick, placed four slender illumination magic crystals at the four corners of the table, illuminating this precious military map.

Standing around the long table are the members of the war council convened by Karius. Holding the long silver staff with blue crystals is the master of the arcane tower, the only silver mage, the expert in life arcane arts, "Griffin" Gran.

The scout master, clad in light, soft armor, also served as the intelligence adjutant. The blond, burly man standing in the corner, wearing heavy plate armor and leaning on a sheathed two-handed greatsword, was a Grand Knight Commander, "Beast Slayer" Gavins. He was the commander of the "Beast Slayer Knights" stationed in Lywood County and one of only twenty Grand Knight Commanders in the Empire.

This means he has reached a level equivalent to a Gold-ranking Mystic in terms of extraordinary martial arts and physical prowess. Of course, like Mystics, martial artists don't rely solely on personal strength; they also possess the ability to command in battle. Finally, there's the other tower of the Mystic Twin Towers, the Tower of Truth, whose master is an expert-level potion maker, "Rat Exterminator" Felton.

"It seems everyone's here, let's get started." Commander Gavins glanced around. Basically, all the important figures were present, and it didn't matter if the rest weren't here; they just needed to wait for instructions.

“Lord Karius…” Gran looked at the viscount with a serious expression, his eyes also revealing a clear urging. The time of a mystic is very precious, and there is no point in waiting here.

“Alright, let’s begin.” Karius glanced out the window, not seeing the person he was waiting for appear, and sighed. Although the golden witch had decided to participate in their operation, or rather, follow their group, she did not attend this war council, which meant that she was just traveling along the way or had some idea about the Black Abyss Cemetery.

"The Deathwhisper Fortress and most of the surrounding towns have fallen. My scouts have discovered that the undead are building some devices made of bones and crystals, which is very unusual."

Because the brains of necromancers are completely rotten. To put it bluntly, they are just a sliver of their remaining willpower within their bodies, driven by the magic of death, to keep their decaying corpses in order. High-ranking necromancers might be able to recover some memories, but low-ranking necromancers are really just a bunch of rotten bones.

Even high-level undead like the Black Abyss Mages possess spellcasting abilities that are merely instinctive, limiting them to a limited number of spells, most of which are either death or life-related. For such a group of mindless creatures to start constructing buildings raises suspicions that something is amiss.

“There must be some very high-level undead creatures behind them, driven by some kind of instinct, controlling them to build these things, or... the demons of hell have once again found a way to invade.” Felton paused for a moment before saying, “Of course, we can’t rule out the possibility that those Death Warlocks and Hell Mages are behind it all.” If there’s any profession that’s as universally hated as the Arcane Warlocks, it’s these two.

The former specialize in death alchemy, producing products including plagues, poisons, and necromancy. They are also known as psychics because they can use these wondrous alchemical materials and tools to create things like "soul-binding chains" or communicate with residual souls through these tools.

For those desperate individuals who have nowhere else to turn or who are extremely nostalgic for their deceased loved ones, psychics are their only hope. However, for psychics, it is nothing more than an experiment, which often ends in tragedy or even devastation. Even those among them who are relatively restrained or kind can cause all sorts of chaos with their alchemical creations.

It's common for entire villages to be wiped out overnight. Basically, except in a very few countries with special traditional customs, spiritualists are illegal in almost every country.

As for the Hell Warlocks, they are the only ones even more hated than the Mystic Warlocks. They collude with Hell, and their greatest ideal is to let the order of Hell cover the mortal world and let the demons of Hell rule the world. They believe that Hell is the true salvation, and only a forced order bound by the devil through a contract can lead intelligent beings to the future.

Of the three categories, the Hell Warlocks, who attempt to overthrow world order and rule, are the most hated. The second most hated are the Mystic Warlocks, who also threaten world order and rule. As for the necromancers, who pose the greatest threat only to ordinary people, they are relatively less hated.

However, the latter also frequently led to the extermination of noble families, so it was also universally condemned. It was just that it was more low-key compared to the other two entities that directly shook the entire ruling class and order.

“I tend to think of the Death Warlock. The Hell Mage isn’t that… hellish.” Gran used a rather unique way of describing it. The Hell Mage’s goal is for Hell to rule the world, not for the Netherworld to rule the world, which requires that there are still living people in the mortal realm.

Only a psychic could do something like this. As for why, that involves the psychic's true purpose. Their purpose is to study the mysteries of life and death and create a true Philosopher's Stone, not to turn stone into gold, but to make people eternal and immortal, disregarding life and death.

Immortality was their research goal. They viewed all current alchemists as heretics who had deviated from the original meaning of alchemy: the elixir of immortality and the alchemy of turning stone into gold.

"An accident or a ritual?" Karius frowned and looked at his scout master, who shook his head, indicating that he couldn't tell. This was all the information they had at the moment.

"Several large ash crystal structures have been built inside the city. Only a few areas are considered safe. According to the information my 'Raven' has discovered, these safe areas will soon become new ritual sites."

“That means we have to speed things up,” Gavins said in a deep voice. The situation was dire. Whether it was a psychic or a sorcerer behind it all, they had to act quickly. These guys were all walking bombs; one wrong move and the earth would shake.

"Boom!" The castle shook slightly with a loud noise, and thick smoke billowed from the direction of the arcane tower in Hearth City, which made Karius, who was about to say something, choke on his words.

A small black dot flew high into the sky, leaving a trail of golden stardust behind the shattered adamantium guard on its body. A gentle breeze, as if it were a physical entity, supported the charred body and placed it back on the ground. The witch's beautiful face was as cold as ice. With a slight lift of her small hand, she pulled Roach in front of her. After observing him for a while and finding that he was not dead, she relaxed a little.

She pulled a bottle of magic potion from his skirt pocket and poured it down his throat. Soon, the healing power mended his battered body and his soul, which was beginning to crack again.

As soon as Luo Qi opened his eyes, he saw a pair of emerald eyes staring at him without any emotion. "You made a mistake just now, but at least you didn't die this time, right?"

“…Hmm,” the little witch pounded on Roche’s head, like striking a bell.

"However, I still managed to create something really great." Roach had been trying to achieve the Greenskin achievement these past few days, but instead of becoming a Greenskin, he unlocked a new talent effect in his talent tree:

[Art is an explosion: The more exquisite and complex the secret artifacts and alchemical tools, the greater the explosive power and the easier it is to explode.]

[Explosions are art: the larger the explosion, the more awe-inspiring its power, and the more profound the psychological impact on those who witness it.]

[Great Achievement: Exhibition Hall - Your artistic skills have reached the exhibition level. From now on, you can detonate any alchemical item below the finest level, causing an explosion or explosive effect (releasing all supernatural effects at once)]

Following that are four other levels: [Museum], [Louvre], [Forbidden City], and [World Expo], corresponding to exquisite, treasure, rare, and legendary equipment and alchemical artifacts, respectively. Roach guessed that the "art" at the World Expo level probably referred to things on par with nuclear bombs—art that could truly shock the world and maintain world peace.

"?" The golden hair twitched slightly. The little witch saw that Roach had taken out something that was indeed very exquisite. [Paradigm - Elemental Enhancement - Elemental Ritual] It was an extremely precise and complex structure. The little witch spent some time examining it before nodding slightly to Roach, indicating that she was basically satisfied with his work.

This paradigm can be incorporated into any object, causing the elemental forces within it to go berserk, ultimately triggering an elemental explosion. As for what elemental effect the explosion will produce, that depends on the explosive medium incorporated into the paradigm.

Roach chose to integrate his own "Exploding Thorns," which not only made the thorns' explosion more powerful, but also allowed him to inject this paradigm to cause the enemy's corpse or belongings to explode as well.

"Master Roach... why do you like explosions so much?" If an alchemist frequently explodes, it means he is not very skilled. If a skilled alchemist frequently explodes, it means he is developing new products. But if everything a skilled alchemist who frequently explodes develops explodes, then Vivi can only conclude that he really likes explosions.

"Because explosions are art..."

“Art…” Livia’s eyes lit up instantly, like two pieces of top-quality icy jade. “Look!”

"Boom!" This time the explosion was in the sky. With the Elemental Ritual, the air-to-air energy arrow rainballs created by Roach would explode a second time after exploding, releasing more elemental streams. Although the power was further reduced compared to the energy arrows, the coverage area was extremely wide.

Most importantly, the entire sky was filled with colorful traces of exploding elements, with streams of fire, arcs of electricity, and frost intertwined, like colorful flowers.

"It's beautiful!" The little girl forgave Luo Qi because the thing really was beautiful.

"Your headquarters exploded." Gavins calmly looked at "Rat Exterminator" Felton, who nodded expressionlessly. "It's normal, explosions are normal." Inwardly, however, he was howling like a wild beast: Who the hell blew that up again?!

It's true that alchemists are prone to causing explosions, but not this frequently. Every explosion could potentially kill the alchemist or their apprentice. If it were this common, alchemists would have gone extinct long ago.

[Great Achievement: Mocking the Dead - Death is nothing more than an incompetent acquaintance of yours.]

[Talent: Taunt Death - When suffering a fatal wound, there is a certain probability that you will not die on the spot, and you will attract more undead.]

Such powerful talent plunged Roach into a new round of silence. Was he destined to only advance down the path of explosions and even bigger explosions? He even began to think about what kind of name he would leave behind in this world.

If he's lucky, he'll be known as "Artist - Explosion Master Roach"; if he's unlucky, he might be called a demolition genius or an outlaw; the worst that could happen is that he'll actually be called "Big Tech Master" or "Explosive Kid".

“I do think this alchemical artifact isn’t entirely useless. At the very least, if the explosion had happened where it was supposed to, our attack on the Deathwhisper Fortress would have been much easier,” Karius reassured him. Then, he quickly calculated the repair costs and various follow-up expenses in his mind, and only relaxed slightly after finding that they were still within acceptable limits.

"If we can control where an alchemical explosion of this magnitude can explode, then I think we can discard more than half of our siege equipment," Felton said irritably. This was also the biggest complaint the Empire and most countries had about alchemists, especially magic toolmakers and construct builders: the weapons and equipment they created were not as powerful as the explosions they produced.

"The terrain facing Deathwhisper Fortress is relatively flat, and the walls aren't very high, but we face a very serious problem." Karius forcefully steered the conversation back to the war council, his finger pointing to a spot on the map. "An uphill assault."

"The Deathwhisper Fortress was built on an artificial earthen platform to guard one of the exits of the Black Abyss. It is low on the west and high on the east, so that our people can freely attack the scattered undead around the ramps and rifts on the walls."

However, if the attack comes from the west, it means that the terrain inside the city rises in layers. The city has now fallen into the hands of the undead, and there may be necromancers inside.

"And before attacking Deathwhisper Fortress, we need to take these locations." Gavins pointed to several locations on the map. "Otherwise, we'll be surrounded by the undead. These supporting towns must be cleared out, as well as these villages. Fortunately, the undead don't need to eat."

The food in these villages and towns was merely contaminated by the magic of death. In a sense, this was actually a good method of preservation, because the magic of death would kill most of the fragile life forms such as microorganisms and insects.

However, the magic of death itself is also a corrosive force; otherwise, we wouldn't see those rotting corpses and putrid ghouls. If the time drags on too long, these grains will eventually become unusable, or even beyond purification.

"The ash crystal structures that the undead have built in these areas must also be destroyed. We need to divide our forces." This news gave everyone a headache. They already didn't have enough troops, even though Gavins brought a knightly order.

"Let's hire those adventurers to investigate and destroy these scattered crystals. Anyway, the crystals in these areas don't seem to be heavily guarded." Aren't adventurers meant to be used in situations like this? And when attacking the city walls, we can also use these adventurers to solve problems.

"Our main force will be responsible for taking over this place, Ballista Town." There are several small towns around the Deathwhisper Fortress, such as Ballista Town, Ironhorse Town, etc. You can tell what they are for just by their names. They are towns responsible for preparing equipment, consumables and various supplies for the fortress, as well as villages that grow crops to provide some supplementary food.

"The necromancers won't destroy the ballistae and workshops, which will solve our problem of lacking siege weapons." There aren't many field magic cannons, and their power is insufficient for the city walls, so we need to manufacture ballistae and new large magic cannons nearby. This way, they only need to carry the core components.

Chapter Thirty-Six: Setting Up a Street Stall