Witch Troupe and the Undead

There was no way around it; after seeing Livia so often, Roach could only describe ordinary girls in four ways: "barely human-like," "quite humanoid," "like a human," and "a female gorilla." In a sense, she was indeed the most beautiful girl he had ever seen besides Livia, as evidenced by the expressions of the two men, around seventeen or eighteen years old, who had followed after her.

"Robbery at the village entrance?" Luo Qi asked. Upon hearing this, even the farmer carrying farm tools who was about to go to the field looked at them with some surprise. Robbery at the village entrance?

While the Chamber of Commerce guards were still behind, preparing to pack the trade payment into a sturdy metal lockable box and send it back to the River Bay Town Chamber of Commerce branch.

This left the red-haired girl on the other end speechless, stammering for a long time before she couldn't figure out how to respond.

"No, no, no, I meant to ask if you need to hire guards? We're very capable; we all have Adventurers' Guild certificates!"

The Adventurers' Guild is an organization on the continent with countless similar names, but none of them have any administrative authority over each other, much like any other professional guild, such as the Butcher's Guild or the Leatherworker's Guild.

They are usually located in the main city or larger towns, and they function as both intermediaries and chambers of commerce. They also have close ties with the city hall and local lords, and are often part of the local lord's own property.

Besides official commissions, such as hiring people to explore the surrounding mountains and forests and regularly clearing monsters, they also undertake tasks such as escorting and bodyguarding, and act as intermediaries and guarantors in these jobs.

Of course, these are all small businesses. The biggest business is issuing "adventure licenses" to adventurers entering the region. That's right, adventurers without licenses will be arrested and detained if they accept a quest, and they will not be able to accept any official quests from the guild. This is no different from any professional guild. Only by joining a guild can one make a living in this area.

As a result, the "entry standards" and fees charged by guilds vary from place to place. Some guilds take a cut from missions, while others charge management fees regularly. The entry standards are directly proportional to the strength and danger of the monsters in the area.

As for Roach, who had no idea what the Adventurers' Guild's certificate was for, he could only stare blankly at the girl until her expression changed from proud confidence to unease, and finally to frustration.

"First of all, what kind of certificate is this?" Roach asked curiously. Did adventurers in this world really need to take such a professional exam?

"Of course it's an adventure activity certificate! It means that even if you encounter a 'dangerous' level monster, we can protect you and help you escape," the brown-haired young man next to the girl, carrying a rusty short spear, said loudly.

Dangerous monsters fall between the threat and ferocity levels. They are monsters that pose a considerable danger to fully armed adventurers, but are not enough to threaten the safety of a region or village. In other words, these monsters generally do not possess wall-breaking or higher abilities.

It cannot destroy the wooden and stone breastwork walls surrounding the village, but it is enough to destroy ordinary wooden shields and leather armor, and even some have the ability to break through the village gate.

Roach thought about the description of this part in William's notes, and then considered it. The place he was going to was rated as a "dangerous place", which meant that the monsters at the bottom of the food chain were theoretically all threat-level. The main monsters were the disaster-level monsters that could wipe out the entire Wind Candle Village. He immediately declined.

"I'm sorry, but the place I'm going to is a bit too dangerous for you." It's not even dangerous; for these guys who can't even put together a single piece of leather armor, Roach really thinks they're going in to their deaths.

Of course, he encountered almost no danger along the way, except for the part of the Black Forest where he felt something spying on him. However, in the end, the predator gave up on this prey that smelled rather troublesome. The scent of the "Living Forest" made many of the monsters living in the outer Black Forest unsure of the two-legged beast's true nature.

"Please, we really need a job. If we can't get one soon, I..." The girl pleaded. (At this moment, in this situation, one should say...)

To obtain an activity permit, which... costs about 3 silver coins plus an exam fee of 2 silver coins, is no less devastating than losing your university enrollment for an average family.

"Oh, KPI or credits?" Roach stroked his chin. "Kids, although I sympathize with you and would love to give you a chance to earn credits, to be honest, you're really not cut out for it."

He wasn't the kind of person who would find amusement in others' misfortunes. As an anthropomorphic being, he genuinely couldn't bear to watch three young people recklessly plunge into a dangerous place to seek their deaths and then gloat, saying it was their fault for not being smart enough.

"Oh...can I tell you where you're going?"

"A dangerous situation."

"..." "..." "..."

"Excuse me, I'm sorry to bother you!" The red-haired girl bowed deeply, her long red hair flying up. Her two companions did the same—this is a damn dangerous place! The only dangerous place around here is the Living Forest, a place that's like a ghost story in Lywood County. This isn't just courting death; it's like holding a ritual to pray to the underworld for an early demise.

"..." Watching the three rookie adventurers, whose names he didn't even know, disappear quickly from his sight, Roach sighed. He should have just used their names to scare them; it would have saved him a lot of trouble with his words.

The journey through the Black Forest was difficult, especially when leading a packhorse that was prone to stumbling and falling. So Roach had to once again use his axe and the witch's handmade magic sword to carve out a path through the Black Forest that was barely wide enough for the packhorse to pass through.

This took him almost half as long on his return journey. Then, when he crossed the canyon and reached the Deadwood Forest in the swamp, a new problem arose: the packhorse refused to move an inch, even when Roach blindfolded it.

"This is a bit troublesome..." He knew that they were about to enter the core area of ​​the dangerous zone. The horse must have sensed something. Roach had no choice but to unload the cargo, tie the horse to a tree, and prepare to go back and bring the witch's old horse, which was like a gatekeeper, to transport the goods.

As a result, he had just unloaded the cargo and cut down bushes to cover it and prevent wild animals from destroying it when he turned around and found that the horse was gone, leaving only the empty reins on the tree.

"Damn it!" Roach was dumbfounded. This horse wasn't his!

This is a rental, damn it. Wait, let's wait and see. As long as I don't make any more transactions, it'll be fine, right?

But he paid a deposit!

Wait, let's think about it on a brighter note. If we don't need to buy anything and just live here, then money is basically useless, isn't it? No matter how I try to comfort myself, I still feel a tightness in my chest.

Regardless, he should go back and find that old horse that shouldn't be afraid of the monsters and demons here to transport the stuff. If that horse is gone too, he'll be in real trouble.

Roach returned to the witch's hut with practiced ease. As soon as he opened the barrier, he heard a somewhat familiar voice, "Ah! It's you!" Turning his head, he saw a strange man with seaweed-like hair squatting in the pool, his expression a mixture of surprise and fear.

"What's up with this guy? When did he get here? And there are girls here, why aren't you wearing a shirt?!" Roach's expression turned dangerous.

Livia is a standard beautiful girl, and you, a grown man, are wandering around here without a shirt, just wearing shorts? He took out the witch's handmade magic sword and approached with an unfriendly expression.

Leslie was truly terrified at this moment. Although this man looked like an ordinary land dweller, after being influenced by the high-level nightmare demon next to him, he was no longer so superficial as to judge people by their appearance.

Besides, this guy's body is covered in scars, making him look like an abomination stitched together from corpse parts. He might be some high-level undead monster, at least a lord-level one, since the Nightmare Demon next to him is a lord-level one.

As this menacing, tall man approached with a weapon that looked ominous, Rice used all his reason and intelligence to think of a way to save his life. Wait, it seems like he's got it!

He, or rather she, turned and buried her head in the pool, a move that startled Roach. What was he doing? Was he trying to bury his head in the sand like an ostrich? Even if he did, he wouldn't escape a beating today.

"Wait, I'm a girl too!" A shrill female voice screamed, and then a silvery-white fish tail that shimmered with iridescent light rose from the pool, and the seaweed-headed monster transformed into a beautiful girl with blue-green curly hair.

Her wet, curly hair barely covered her two mounds of white jade. Her pearly skin was incredibly smooth, and you could see the water droplets quickly gather and slide off without leaving a trace.

"Ah... this... mermaid?" Luo Qi squatted down and curiously poked her fish tail. It had no scales and its tail was flat and horizontal. It was more like an aquatic mammal than a fish, like a dolphin or whale. There was a smooth, hydrophobic layer on the silvery-gray tail, which was also the source of its colorful hues.

"Ah, ah, yes, yes, I'm from the Water Jade Clan." Leslie forced a fawning smile.

"So, how did you find your way here, and why were you put in the pool? Are you Livia's new pet?"

"Ah, yes, yes!"

Completely unaware of the monster's origins, Leslie nodded decisively. What if it found out she was a medicinal herb? Wouldn't she be doomed? Even if she didn't die, it would be unpleasant if the monster decided to taste her and took a bite!

"I've heard that eating mermaid flesh can grant immortality, is that true?"

"Ah, yes, yes... no, no, no!" Leslie shook her head frantically. "Eating mermaid flesh can't possibly grant immortality, it's all a lie, that's right, it's all a lie! Absolutely a lie! If I could, wouldn't it be better if I just ate a bite of myself?"

"That's true. Is it true that eating mermaid flesh will make you stupid?"

"No, oh, right, right, right! Eating mermaid flesh will not only make you stupid, but you'll also be cursed, and your whole body will rot away." Leslie, who was shaking her head, suddenly realized and nodded frantically.

"...Hmm, it seems that eating mermaid flesh really does make you stupid." Roach stroked his chin. After all, this guy did look rather dim-witted. So, he probably wasn't the dumbest person here. At least he didn't have to compete with that horse in intelligence to gain a negligible sense of superiority.

(Nightmare Demon: I know 37 kinds of hellish script and 129 kinds of hellish contracts, and I am also proficient in law and logic. If I really encounter someone who is unreasonable, I also know a little about fists and sticks.)

"Oh, I almost forgot. Enough of this nonsense, I have important business to attend to." Roach walked to the stable, opened the door, untied the reins of the dozing old horse, and gave it a hard tug, instantly waking it up.

"Go help move the ingredients, tools, and crop seeds." The blazing light in Old Ma's eyes instantly died down, and he obediently followed Roach out of the barrier. Leslie, who witnessed all of this, showed a look of shock.

He quickly gave himself a thumbs up for his quick thinking and even began to regret his somewhat disrespectful attitude towards the man on the beach—could a rough, uncouth farmer really be the kind of person who would treat a high-level demon like a Nightmare Demon like a horse? Absolutely not!

Chapter Twelve: Death at the Speed ​​of Light

Roach sorted and put away the purchased supplies. The food ingredients were stored in the newly built kitchen, while the alchemy tools were put in the workshop. At this time, Livia was taking a nap. Her daily routine was actually very regular, but very monotonous.

The miscellaneous items and daily necessities were stored in the storage room on the second floor, and this action would obviously wake her up. The little witch, rubbing her eyes, looked up at Luo Qi, paused for several seconds, then stood on tiptoe and gave him a soft hug to welcome him back, before going back to sleep.

"Hey, need some salt?" Roach squatted by the pool with a bag of salt, looking at the silly fish in the pool. No matter what this guy was called before, now her code name here is "Silly Fish".

"Huh? Salt?" Leslie looked bewildered. Why would this being want to add salt to its pool?

"Aren't you a sea fish? This is a freshwater pool, isn't it? Do you need some salt to simulate the taste of the ocean?" Roach shook the salt bag, although considering the volume of water in this pool, the amount of salt added probably wouldn't be of much use.

"First of all, I am from the marine species, the Water Jade Tribe, not a fish." Luo Qi understood this point. Judging from her tail and skin, she should indeed be classified as a marine mammal, since she doesn't even have gills.

“Secondly, I don’t need salt, and I won’t dehydrate from fresh water,” Leslie said seriously. “Besides, even fish don’t necessarily dehydrate when they enter fresh water.”

"...That makes sense." For example, migratory fish such as salmon and sea bass have the ability to live in both seawater and freshwater.

"You just said you're from the Shuiyu tribe. What, do you have many other clans?"

"Are you stupid?" Although she didn't say it, Leslie's eyes clearly showed such doubt. However, due to the identity of the guy in front of her who looked like a stitched-together corpse, she still honestly explained: "There are indeed many clans, mainly divided into two categories: horizontal tail and vertical tail. The horizontal tail is further divided into three clans: Water Jade, Black Abyss, and Giant Wave."

According to Leslie's explanation, Roach classified them for her in a very scientific way: dolphins, whales, and something in between, which is considered a dolphin but a killer whale that feeds on dolphins. Why are killer whales called the giant wave clan? It's because killer whales hunt seals by moving side by side and creating giant waves that break the ice where the seals are, causing them to fall into the sea.

"What about the Vertical Tail Clan?"

"They're divided into scaled fish, the colorful ones, and scaleless ones, the gray ones." Hmm, common fish and sharks, Roach nodded. It seems there really is a lot of biodiversity in this place.

That makes sense. Humans, a species with only the Hominidae family and the extinction of all other species in the Hominidae family, can still be divided into four categories based on color (plus red-skinned types, mainly in South America). If you look at the ethnic groups, the number can easily reach four digits.

So it's quite reasonable for other intelligent species to have a large number of ethnic and racial classifications.

"So, you don't need to add salt, right?"

"Well, it's not impossible."

"Salt is too expensive, give me the money."

"..." Leslie looked down at her own completely empty-handed state, and it took her a while to remember that she had brought pearls with her.

After extorting a handful of colorful pearls from the silly fish, Roach let the seemingly dim-witted merman go and began preparing to continue his study of Mystic Magic. Now that he had all the tools, he could start extracting more complex Mystic Crystal Dew, a more solidified product, to prepare his first spell paradigm.

"Flame Dew" is one of the four basic elemental dews of the Elemental Source. Although spell paradigms can only be used by source mages, dew is indeed a commonly used alchemical material. Therefore, it doesn't matter if Roach reveals this to outsiders.

The purpose of Flame Dew is to create "Magic Fire Oil". Simply rubbing it on a weapon will ignite it with magical flames. Before it burns out, it can inflict fire burn damage on enemies and kill certain fire-weak monsters, especially necromancer monsters.

Main materials: sulfur, charcoal, phospholipids; solvent: oil (any); medium: quartz sand.

Roach checked the materials list one last time. Phospholipid is a mineral unique to this other world and can be found almost everywhere. He dug up a lot of it in the swamp forest. This mineral is produced by the sedimentation of animal and plant corpses, similar to fossils on Earth.

However, it is easier to form than fossils, and its shape is like countless dark red scales clustered together. In addition to being used as an alchemical material, it was also used as an auxiliary material for blacksmiths to increase the temperature of their furnaces, much like coal on Earth.

The sulfur came from his purchases in Windcandle Village. For alchemists, mercury, which represents the moon and magic, and sulfur, which represents the sun and holiness, are commonly used materials. Since Roach's transaction volume was large enough, the merchant guild gave him some of these commonly used materials for free. Of course, there was only sulfur, not mercury, because mercury is more expensive.

For the oil, Roach chose the product of his previous fishing trip: oil made from a type of fatty sea fish. As for the quartz sand, the witch's material bank had plenty of it. Even if she didn't have it, Livia could simply clap her hands and a large amount of quartz sand would spring out of the beach on its own.

“Very good, all materials are ready, let’s begin.” Roach looked at the pile of materials on the workbench and nodded. Next was the preparation process. As the primary crystal dew of the four elements, it only had one more step than the power essence dew, and the solvent was oil instead of water.

Leslie lay listlessly in the pool, afraid to move. But counting the number of fallen leaves every day was truly unbearable. She even wondered if she could choose to run away and be killed by the Nightmare Demon next to her. Such a quick and painless death might be better.

"Hey, newbie," Old Ma chewed on hay, glancing at the silly fish in the pond, "There'll be something good to see soon."

"What's so interesting?"

"See that workshop? Something interesting is coming soon." The old horse raised its front hoof and pointed to the gray wooden house. Leslie saw the witch's cottage slowly and carefully pulling out the wooden stakes from the foundation and moving it towards the side of the woodland. The plants in the flower beds also swayed their roots and moved their positions little by little.

"Isn't he refining Flame Crystal Dew, a basic alchemical ingredient of the four elements?" Leslie couldn't understand. Even if it failed, the worst that could happen was that it would all burn or simply become impurities dormant in the oil. It wouldn't explode, unless he was refining it...

A silver light shone on the gray wooden planks, and countless silver threads formed a giant magic circle at an astonishing speed, with countless mysterious runes covering the entire house.

Even the ground was filled with rings of runic light, like some kind of giant metal ring binding the houses. In the next instant, a violent explosion ripped off the roofs. The suppressed explosive force had nowhere to go but to be released into the sky.

The terrifying golden-red molten flow poured into the sky for almost five seconds before extinguishing. "Is he... building a shipborne magic cannon? Judging by the yield, it's at least a 24-pound heat ray cannon." Leslie looked at the Nightmare Demon beside her, hoping for an explanation.

"Oh, no, he's making Flame Dew, but..." Old Ma thought for a moment, "...the materials he's using are, well, a portion of what's used to make 'Molten Cores'."

Mystic magic is essentially mathematics, and the fundamental function of mathematics is calculation. The parameters of various materials need to be balanced and adjusted. If you misidentify the materials, your calculation will only result in an explosion from the very beginning.

Roach remembered that his operation was correct. He ground the sulfur into powder, mixed it with charcoal powder, calculated the ratio of charcoal to sulfur, heated and melted the oil, then added purified phospholipid mineral fragments to obtain a dark red liquid. After that, he fused it with sulfur and charcoal powder to obtain liquid flame essence. Finally, he added quartz sand to solidify it and that was the finished product.

Then, when Roach entered the process of adding the fusion powder, the moment the black powder fell into the solvent, he knew nothing more. When he woke up, he was lying on the charred floor, and the blonde girl was looking at him with an indescribable gaze. Her fair forehead was covered with tiny beads of sweat. It was clear that Livia had really put in a lot of effort to revive him this time.

The main task was to sweep up Roach's almost completely shattered body, pile it up, and begin the repair process. The good news is that this time, everything except his brain was shattered, so Roach's scars disappeared, but his face remained the same.

The bad news is that because it shattered so thoroughly, there's no need to piece it back together this time. The flesh and blood will directly fuse into a new body, but the brain hasn't yet programmed the drive for this new body, which, although it looks exactly the same, has completely different details.

So Roach could only lie on the floor, watching Livia struggle to drag over a book that was half her body size, pat the cover hard, and read aloud in a flat, monotone voice, “Detailed Explanation of Basic Potion Ingredients,” before turning to the first page.

“Phosphogypsum: Dark red, with scaly protrusions on the surface, lightweight, and mostly in clumps…” Roach recalled what he had dug up. No problem, lightweight, clumps, scaly protrusions, dark red, until Livia flipped directly to the last part of the book.

"Magic nuclei: They exhibit different colors depending on the nature of their magical source, such as fiery red, dark red, and indigo; they are mostly spherical, and their surfaces have different shapes of protrusions depending on the cause of their formation, mostly scaly, similar to phospholipids; compared to phospholipids, they are heavier and do not float on water easily; the surface scales can be observed in sunlight, the structure is transparent, and there is a light diffusion phenomenon; this characteristic can be used to distinguish them from phospholipids."

"..."

The little witch sighed and patted Roach's head. "He's dead again."

“I know,” Roach said with a grim expression. Damn it, how was I supposed to know such a thing existed?

Magic cores are the "magic power reference" for arcane spells, roughly similar to the hardness index of diamonds. They are rated 10, while distilled water is rated 0, thus dividing the relative magic power index of materials at each level.

The relative index of phospholipid is 1.2, and Roach's behavior was probably similar. He stuffed a handful of diamonds into a graphite processing machine or added two pounds of antimatter to a charcoal-burning furnace. It would be strange if it didn't explode.

Why didn't this author mention this earlier?!

Of course... even a normal person couldn't buy a magic core from phospholipids!

It's impossible to find something like this where phospholipids are mined. On the contrary, it's possible that unscrupulous merchants would use similar materials to create a scam. However, alchemists who can use such high-grade materials can tell which one is which just by pinching it between their fingers!

So, Roach's newly purchased tool set disappeared along with the explosion. He didn't disappear, but he was left with a head and a bunch of debris. It was all thanks to Livia's enchantment of his workbench and workshop. This wasn't her innate ability, but a proper arcane enchantment effect, so it took much more effort than usual, especially when repairing it.

Next, Livia carefully examined the materials Mr. Pet brought back, and then picked out the high-grade items that Roach had mistaken for other things, including: Exploding Dragonfish Oil, which is not "ordinary oil"; Mithril shavings that were mistaken for Magic Silver; Low-purity refined gold ore that was mistaken for Black Iron Ore; and Diamonds and Essence Crystals that he couldn't distinguish, to the point that Livia was curious where he got them.

and also……

"Not charcoal"

“But this is charcoal I made myself,” Livia said, having dug it out from under the stove in the kitchen. She paused for a moment, then picked up a piece of gray wood. “It’s not wood.”

"It's the Soul-Devouring Demon Tree"