Witch Troupe and the Undead

"Huh!?" Roach looked at the familiar dark gray wood, thought about the swamp covered with dark gray "dead wood," and now he knew why his horse was gone.

As for why the tree didn't attack him, it wasn't just the old witch's amulet, but also, and perhaps more importantly, the trees hunted by recognizing the ripples of souls. Since Roach's soul and body were bound together, they were completely invisible to these demonic trees, and they couldn't even sense him at all.

As a type of tree spirit, they have no sense of pain and didn't realize what was cutting them until Roach chopped them down with his axe.

The reason Livia hasn't mentioned it is that burning the demon tree's wood is at least more humane than burning the "living wood" and "giant tree people" in the core of this "living forest." At least when burning, these trees don't scream. Well, according to Livia's perception, they don't scream.

"And what about this quartz sand?"

Livia nodded, then, fearing Roach might have made a mistake again, repeated, "It's quartz."

Luo Qi thought for a moment. In other words, he had mixed the remains of the burned demon tree with ordinary sulfur, and the quartz sand used to fix the magic power in the materials was ordinary quartz sand... so the explosion seemed to be a logical thing.

However, Roach's reckless actions did yield some results. Livia raised her finger, and the black fragments scattered on the floor flew up and quickly reassembled into a regular octahedron, with a golden-red core like a beating heart beneath its black crystal-like surface.

This was a Mystic Crystal Dew that Livia had never seen before, or rather, a superior product called Mystic Core. However, she had never seen this type before, so she decided to study it and see what kind of spell paradigm it could create.

She hadn't systematically studied arcane magic because it was too complex. However, being responsible for the final spell paradigm was the most difficult part for ordinary arcane sorcerers, but for her, a witch who also practiced arcane arts and alchemy, it was actually the easiest part.

"Tap~tap~" Old Horse slowly walked in, curiously looking around the workshop. The workbench served as a dividing line, one side was intact and the other was charred. Where Roach stood, there was a pair of charred footprints. The horse's face vividly showed an expression of "amazed".

As a mystery source and alchemy apprentice, Roach's explosion was indeed beyond the scope of an apprentice. An apprentice would at most blow off half of his hand, but Roach... even with a powerful defensive barrier enchanted on his workbench, he blew his entire body apart except for his head.

When helping the young lady clean up his remains, Old Ma put in a lot of effort, summoning thousands of hellfire spirits to help him scrape all the bits of flesh from the cracks in the walls and floors. Well, it wouldn't matter if a few were missing.

Anyway, this guy has lost more than just this part of his soul. As long as the damage is no more than 2/3, theoretically the soul can repair itself. It's just that the memory part... is basically impossible to recall.

If it's the part that Roach lost, based on the shape of his soul's memories, it means he can't remember anything before he was three years old. Even if he didn't lose it, it's unlikely that a normal person would remember it, although this information is indeed hidden in the soul.

"This kid, we could recommend him to become a qualified Hell Armaments Master in Hell..."

This power is comparable to that of a proper military weapon in Hell. Even most powerful demons might not be able to easily achieve this effect. Old Ma felt he still had some influence in Hell, so recommending a few people to him wouldn't be a problem.

Chapter Thirteen: Anglers are not bound by fishing rods

Roach lay on the floor, his brain still writing new drivers, so he could only look at the panel to pass the time. Besides the progress of [Mocking the Dead] +1, two glittering achievements appeared before his eyes. They had the same style of painting as the stained glass windows of a church, with countless colorful fragments piecing together the back of a pointed-hat mage leaning on a cane and gazing into the distance.

The shape of the cloud seemed a bit strange to Roach, as did the staff.

Upon seeing the text below, my vision went black, and an image of a white-bearded old man with a wizard's hat and an air of otherworldly wisdom appeared in my mind. He was holding a long, cylindrical weapon with a pointed protrusion at the end.

【Ara, Huko: Destroy a high-level magical barrier or heavy city wall by self-destruction. 1/1】The other image shows a huge forging hammer violently striking an anvil, which is much more normal.

[Molten Body Forging: Reforge yourself with high-level molten metal magic. 1/1]

These two achievements are indeed great, although the first one is of slightly lower caliber.

These two great achievements did not activate any new [Skills], but instead activated [Talent] and [Training] respectively. The talent activated included:

[Refined through countless trials: Unafraid of being shattered to pieces, determined to leave behind a pure reputation; the body is even harder to crush, cut, or tear; I: 200/1000]

It seems that one must endure similar damage and continuously accumulate proficiency to improve this resistance. Roach wondered if by persisting in this way, he might be able to develop an even greater ability than adapting to 9mm bullets—for example, adapting to offensive grenades.

What is activated during training:

[Explosives Training: You will continuously master the use of explosives, thus using them more safely and accurately; - Every explosives safety rule comes from my selfless dedication; Current training goal: Conduct 10 high-powered explosions (try not to kill yourself)].

"..." Roach wondered if his future was that of a demolition genius? And what did it mean that every safety rule came from his selfless dedication? So every safety rule was about risking his own life to pave the way for future generations?

Well, for an immortal being, this is certainly a way of existing that has historical significance.

Presumably, future demolition majors will have their own portraits hanging on their blackboards. Besides these, other achievements have also seen some progress. For example, the "I've discovered it!" achievement has gained a new progress bar, and a new "Recipe" section has been added to the side of the skill panel, recording the new recipe Roach discovered.

[Unnamed: With astonishing wisdom, a world-shaking explosion is created; Source: Element/Fire; Magic Energy: 10; Available Paradigm: Undiscovered; Effect: An explosion occurs, creating extremely high-temperature flames powerful enough to shatter high-level magical barriers.]

"..." God's hell, this panel is mocking me. But then again, putting aside whether it's wise or not, the effect just now was indeed astonishing.

Furthermore, Roach also found a way to quickly obtain this achievement, which might involve making things difficult for the little witch. Wait, perhaps it can be studied through more advanced protection methods and safer demolition techniques.

After all, alchemists didn't actually study explosions. It wasn't that they didn't know it was a completely new and promising field, but rather that they genuinely couldn't guarantee they'd survive to accumulate experience. Small-scale, controllable explosions were already the limit of their research. Going any further, given the technological level, craftsmanship, and tool durability of this world, would almost certainly result in death or serious injury.

"The Nobel of another world, here I come!" Roach felt he had found his life's goal (not really), which was to become the Nobel of another world. Perhaps in the future, this world would also have an award to reward those who dared to discover various scientific or mystical achievements.

Of course, first remove the Nobel Peace Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature, and depending on the circumstances, add a "Nuclear Peace Prize" to be awarded to the person on the mainland who is most skilled at using bombs to maintain peace.

Roach lay in bed for three days before recovering. As punishment for the unruly pet's unauthorized death, Livia only gave him that kind of potion to drink and didn't give him normal food. Of course, for Roach, who didn't want to poop and pee on the floor, this was a good thing.

The blonde little girl sat at the table, her face as expressionless as ever, but Roach could sense that she was still somewhat angry. Fortunately, after replenishing the ingredients and seasonings, he could make some food that the little girl would like to ease the witch's anger.

Roach's cooking skills can only be described as: barely edible, but compared to the Little Witch's potions and nutritional cakes, it can be called "delicious food". Moreover, steaming buns doesn't really require much cooking skill. Of course, this refers to the quality control standard of "edible".

Besides steamed buns, there were also simple cakes made with cheese, eggs, wheat flour, and purchased maple syrup. They looked really bad, and the quality control was limited to "edible".

Livia poked at the soft, crooked, indescribable lump of food, then looked up at Roach with disbelief in her emerald eyes: This pet actually dared to feed me this as revenge?

"Try it~" Under Luo Qi's enthusiastic invitation, the little girl hesitated for a long time before scooping a little bit with a spoon and putting it in her mouth. Instantly, her emerald eyes narrowed.

Sweets were a completely unfamiliar food to her, but the natural pleasure that came from consuming sugar made the little witch realize that although the food didn't look appealing, it was indeed delicious.

As a result, her dissatisfaction with Roach disappeared considerably. Afterwards, Roach tried many food preparation methods, making great progress towards becoming the "King of Dark Cuisine," and almost reaching the point of accomplishing this great feat.

From the perspective of a local chef, he really wasn't much different from the King of Dark Cuisine. His fish soup made with dragonfish was awful, his unidentified substance that looked like a cake was baked with a demon tree, and his maple syrup was processed with various magical potions and then boiled until it was a bit burnt. It gave people the impression: How dare he do that?!

However, in the heart of the Living Forest, no one would jump out and yell at Roach, who was cooking, "At least use some oil!" So, he continued to use high-quality ingredients to make low-quality food day after day.

Given Roach's explosion, his learning of arcane magic reverted to its initial stage: reading and memorizing. Livia didn't believe that this pet could properly create arcane products, but considering that he had only misidentified the materials and his technique was correct, she did not deprive him of his right to learn magic.

The witch repaired some of the tools Roach had purchased. After studying them for a week, she roughly understood the nature of this temporarily unnamed Secret Core and tried to utilize it using a magical paradigm.

The so-called magical paradigm is to fix the structure of magic through runic literature and other methods, and then fill it with secret essence materials as energy. It is like a kind of alchemical weapon or magical tool. However, compared with magical tools that can regenerate energy on their own, this paradigm requires manual filling of secret essence. Therefore, only secret essence sorcerers can use it.

Of course, it is also simpler than magical artifacts. It is not picky about the shape and method of making it, and the paradigm can be quickly combined with weapons or other tools to create temporary or permanent alchemical weapons.

Instead of using runic methods, Livia used creationist methods, using her innate abilities to force the core of the secret source to deform and expand, forming a complex three-dimensional ritual structure, which was then condensed into something resembling a talisman.

Through Roach's persistent questioning, he learned the name of the amulet from the little witch: "Enchanting Paradigm: Advanced Molten Burst; Seal".

The enchanting paradigm can infuse power into weapons or equipment, but because the power of magic is too explosive, it cannot be infused into living organisms; while the rune represents the external manifestation of this paradigm.

A three-dimensional physical rune structure that can be hung on a weapon grip or belt. When in use, simply hold the rune, touch the target to be affected, and guide its power. It is mainly used for enchanting and enhancing paradigms (enhancing is the enchanting effect on a living organism).

As a sorcerer, the method of guiding was a basic skill, and Roach also learned how to use this talisman, tying it to the end of the witch's handmade magic sword with a rope woven from grass.

In this way, he only needs to touch the hilt of the sword with the talisman, and the entire iron rod will burn with terrifying golden-red patterns, as if it were a pillar of lava taken from hell, turning into a "bursting demon sword". As for its power, he tested it on the Bay of Carrion and then discarded the fishing rod.

It also unlocked the second branch skill of the [Fishing Master] skill.

[Anglers Never Return Empty-Handed: Anglers are not bound by rules; fishing proficiency can be gained by using any method to catch fish, but it is only 1/4 of the proficiency gained from fishing.]

Luo Qi thought there was no problem. Each blast would yield at least a hundred pounds of fish. How long would it take to catch that much? He felt that he could even go sea fishing in the future, with this weapon that had evolved into the [Exploding Demon Sword]. There was no fish he couldn't catch.

Time passed day by day, and for Leslie, it was soon time for Livia to conduct her first experiment in refining the elixir of immortality. "..." Faced with the witch's expectant eyes and the bucket of water in front of her, Leslie showed a terrified expression. "No, no, too much! I'll die!"

“…Hmm…” Livia thought for a moment and then replaced it with a large wooden bowl.

"That's too much, impossible!" the mermaid exclaimed in a quacking voice.

"..." The witch's eyes turned very unkind, but she still changed to a small measuring cup. Facing the house, stable, horse, plant, and even tree behind her, which seemed to be something sticking its head out to observe, and which might crush this uncooperative fool at the witch's command, Leslie did not refuse anymore.

The witch successfully obtained a cup of mermaid blood and about 5cm of mermaid flesh. Of course, she wasn't a devil. She gave Leslie a cup of regeneration potion, and her wounds healed quickly without leaving any scars—well, Roach was a special case.

The process of refining the elixir of immortality was not going smoothly. It should be said that it had both "immortality" and "life," but the two elements were not combined to form the elixir of immortality. Of course, it was not entirely useless.

For example, you can refine the [Life-Giving Elixir], which can continuously restore and heal wounds, essentially a slow-release healing potion; there is also the [Growth Elixir].

For Roach, who was pondering whether it was appropriate to plant wheat and vegetables at this time, this solved a major problem. It could promote plant growth and reduce the time required for crops to mature from more than three months to just one month.

"Fertilizer," Roach said with a sigh, patting the mermaid's seaweed-colored curly hair.

"..." What the hell is fertilizer? Isn't this even lower than medicinal herbs? The mermaid realized that if she didn't do something, her status would continue to decline. She was already considered fertilizer, and she didn't dare to think about what would happen next.

However, as a deep-sea poet, after carefully taking stock of her skills, she had to be disappointed to find that she was not as useful as the demolition master in front of her. After all, the demolition master could actually blow up fish, while she... at most, could only turn herself into the fish that got blown up.

Her skill as a bard was described by Roach as "good talent, but lacking in technique," which translates to: the mermaid's singing voice is good, but her ability to compose music and write lyrics still needs some practice.

"Actually, you can also help me collect pearls," Roach comforted her. Livia was still a young girl, and she really liked the shiny, beautiful pearls. She carefully placed the small pearls that Roach had extorted into a small box and protected them with magic, seemingly preparing to collect enough to make a pearl necklace.

"...It's possible to fish it out..." Leslie hesitated for a moment. It wasn't really a difficult point for her, but the problem was, where to fish it out? She couldn't exactly fish it out in the bay, could she? Then it would be hard to say whether she could survive and float to the surface.

"It's alright, we still have freshwater beads~" Since all the tools were destroyed, Roach had to go to Wind Candle Village again. This time, Livia was really worried about her silly pet going alone, so she decided to go with him.

Roach's suggestion drew several glares from the old horse. Without even looking, he knew that all the supplies, whether for purchasing or for the journey, would be handled by this creature that looked like a horse but acted like one—and he didn't dare tell the young lady that he would stay behind.

After all, you can't expect a delicate young lady to carry supplies, can you? Or to carry this two-legged pet? Are you kidding me? Why would you reward this thing?!

Roach felt that if he left this silly fish here, it would either disappear like his horse when he came back, or it would run away on its own. So he thought it was better to bring the guy along. Although it couldn't be used as reserve food, it could at least be used as reserve funds.

Don't get me wrong, his morality wasn't so low as to sell her as a slave to pay for his travel expenses, but he did have plans to send this lazy bum into the water to collect some pearls and underwater herbs to supplement the family income.

Livia was a little nervous and uneasy about her first trip. She brought her favorite storybooks and a change of clothes and wrapped herself up tightly. Except for her small feet and a small section of her tender, lotus-root-like calves, almost her whole body was covered in a large black robe.

It was obvious that the robe wasn't hers; it was noticeably larger than her and quite worn. In addition to the robe, there was a dusty gray pointed hat, which, along with the wooden cane in her hand, gave her a somewhat gloomy witch-like feel, except that she was rather short.

The clothes inside were the same as normal, still a white long dress with gold embroidery, except that a leather soft armor similar to a corset was added to protect the waist area, because assassins liked to target the spellcaster's waist.

The pain from a severe blow to the kidneys will immediately render a mage unable to cast spells. Conversely, a blow to the heart may not be effective, as the "heart" is often linked to the core of magic, and talismans or similar items are frequently found around the chest.

Moreover, being pierced in the heart does not result in immediate death. For example, a witch like Livia can almost instantly repair her heart, while a mages can use a fireball to take away any assassin when they are dying.

However, the kidneys are different. If the kidneys, which are densely packed with nerves, are punctured, the sorcerer will immediately lose the ability to cast spells and will not be able to concentrate on releasing magic. Therefore, sorcerers wear such waist-cinching protective gear.

In addition, Livia wore a golden triangular amulet representing "High Mystic Master" on her chest. The amulet was made of gold and had intricate runes. The three points were inlaid with turquoise, white crystal and bismuth crystals representing life, spirit and elements. The center of the hollow triangle was the emblem of the "Eye of Arcane Arts" made of pure gold.

The three sapphires embedded in the pupils, representing wisdom, symbolize the title of high-ranking mentor. Basically, no more than 200 of these items are issued within the Mystic Society. Each one has a detailed record of its grant, and each recipient is awarded the title of "Witch" or "Sage," which is recorded on the Society's honor stone.

In other words, if Livia brings this into any major city, the city lord will immediately receive her unless he is holding a major event such as a military conference. A high-level ritual instructor is not just a force, but also represents a large amount of research results and dozens of disciples and grand-disciples, which is equivalent to a mobile ritual classroom.

Chopping wood, feeding horses, no world travel: Spoiler alert: Roach's profession

He knows how to identify antiques and has some knowledge of historical architectural styles.

He was skilled at digging holes in the ground, and was particularly adept at detecting foreign objects in the soil and digging them out precisely.

He was skilled at identifying corpses, especially human bones, and could deduce the cause of death from the corpse.

He is skilled in fieldwork and has excellent physical strength, unlike the sub-healthy bodies common in modern people.

He is skilled at finding his way through ruins and tunnels, and is also very adept at using a shovel.

So what is his profession...?

—The engine that wipes out the entire team! The archaeologist!

[A physically significant wipeout engine, because the entire party was actually wiped out.]

Chapter Fourteen: The Real Crisis of the Empire

This time, Luo Qi planned to bypass Fengzhu Village and go directly to Hewan Town to trade. On the one hand, he needed to transfer goods from Hewan Town anyway, so why pay the transportation fee?

On the one hand, Livia also came along this time, so there was no need to worry about her being alone at home, and the travel itinerary could be arranged to be longer, without having to rush.

The luggage was mostly filled with Livia's books. On Roach's advice, Livia only brought storybooks and history books, and didn't bring the huge pile of magic books, mainly because those books didn't look very benign.

There are books with covers made of indescribable leather, books with covers featuring ominous demon heads, books with pages edged with sharp teeth, and even a book that feels like it's made of living flesh and blood. These things probably can't be exposed to the light of day.

Then there's the food and clothing for the journey, and essentials like fire starter. Livia's magic has a major flaw: it can't create something from nothing. She can't conjure matter or elements out of thin air, meaning she can't start a fire out of thin air. Therefore, she needs to bring fire starter and oil lamps. Conversely, heavy things like tents and blankets are unnecessary.

"Here, this is your luggage!" Roach placed a huge packed backpack in front of Leslie. She stared at the giant backpack in silence, almost asking why the horse wasn't allowed to carry it, until she saw the old horse's ill-intentioned look and shut up.

There were four backpacks in total. One was on Roach's back, one on Leslie's back, and two were hanging on the old horse's saddle. As for Livia, no one would let her carry any weight. She just sat on the horse's back with her white little feet swinging, watching Roach and the others busily preparing for the trip.

"Are we setting off?" The witch looked at Roach, who nodded, indicating that they were ready to depart. Livia raised her small hand and gently clenched it. The trees wriggled and moved closer, transforming into a sturdy wooden wall that protected the hut and open space in the center. The surface of these living giant trees hardened rapidly, the brown wood gradually turned black, and even showed a slight metallic sheen, while a large number of thorn-like spikes extended outwards.

Luo Qi had no doubt that if there were any intruders, this thing would grow arms and unleash some kind of strange skill on them, like a Buddha on the top or a True Thousand Hands. It was truly a perilous place; even a giant like Da Zhu would probably have to shed a layer of skin to get out.

Roach led the horse ahead, while the witch sat casually on its back, her cane resting on her knees. She looked around curiously; she had never left her home so far before, at most taking a walk on the beach. She had never been to the swampy, deadwood forest.

As for Leslie, she was the one who walked at the back with a big backpack on her back, a cane in her hand, and a longbow made by the witch from the wood of the living giant slung across her back.

As a bard, her skills in archery, crossbows, and daggers were basic, but only basic; her level was limited to not being able to shoot an arrow at a witch's head.

This scene involuntarily brought a song to Luo Qi's mind: "You carry the load, I lead the horse."

Then consider whether you can get this silly fish a crescent shovel later. After all, look, this team has a "mage", an apprentice who leads the horse with an iron rod, an aquatic creature responsible for carrying bags, and a horse. All that's missing is a supply of food to complete the team.

Simply traveling is boring, so Roach took the opportunity to tell Livia the story of the modified monkey. Why a modified version? Because he couldn't remember it.

In this world, without hyperthymesia, it would be difficult to even be a plagiarist. Even with hyperthymesia, who knows how many times Roach's brain has been reorganized, he would probably still misremember things.

I'm curious how plagiarists manage to do it? I can't even rewrite what I've written myself.

"And so, Wukong, along with his companions shouting about friendship and bonds, rushed into the Great Thunderclap Temple, defeated the Demon King Wutian who had usurped the Buddha's throne, gathered the seven relics, and summoned the Buddha... Ah, almost there." The trees in the Black Forest gradually thinned out, and the pitch-black giant trees were replaced by vibrant silver and red maples.