"Witch?"
Already sensing something was wrong the moment he heard those two words, Ryan looked at Tina Edith — who had her hand clamped over her mouth, desperately suppressing laughter, her whole body shaking with the effort — and asked, refusing to give up:
"Ma'am… if a man drinks this… what happens?"
Edith barely managed to collect herself, her voice trembling as she answered:
"He becomes a woman*, of course — a* witch."*
Ryan felt like he could no longer understand this world. He stared at her in disbelief.
"What? Why? Why would the Assassin and Instigator line lead to a Witch? Can't it be a Warlock?"
Edith laughed with a slightly unhinged edge and answered in a hushed voice:
"Because this pathway is also known as the 'Witch' pathway. The great 'Primordial' we follow and believe in is female. So we too must draw closer to Her, and become female ourselves. Only then can we be sanctified and redeemed."
"'Her'? Is this 'Primordial' a deity?"
It was Ryan's turn for his voice to tremble. He hadn't expected that the organization behind this woman was directly affiliated with and devoted to an actual deity.
Only one thought was bouncing wildly around his head: What the hell, you big idiot — how many more times are you going to get me?!
The word "evil god" was commonly used to describe dangerous, hidden powerful entities — but that didn't mean those evil gods necessarily possessed the same level of power as the deities worshipped by the Seven Churches. Otherwise they wouldn't need to hide in the shadows.
"That's correct. At the end of the Fourth Era, the Pale Calamity that swept the Northern Continent was jointly orchestrated by the Primordial we believe in and the Death God of the Southern Continent. Though the reunited Seven Gods brought about our defeat, we never disappeared — we simply concealed ourselves for a time."
Edith's voice carried a note of fervor. She paused briefly, then continued:
"Now then — time to make a decision, Mr. John. As I mentioned earlier, unlike the Assassin and Instigator, becoming a Witch significantly enhances inspiration and spiritual energy, granting proficiency in divination and in disrupting others' divination, an initial grasp of various dark magic arts, and the favor of black flame and frost. Your appearance and charm will also undergo a tremendous improvement. And the only price for all of this… is your male identity."
What do you mean "only"? That's not a small price at all… Ryan finally understood what the woman had been so excited about earlier.
And what do you mean "decision"? You haven't actually given me a choice. If I refuse outright, would you even let me walk out of here?…
He forced a smile and asked:
"Ma'am, is it really safe for someone like me to drink this? I'm also having trouble imagining what kind of appeal a woman like that would have."
Edith nodded and answered:
"Of course it's safe. Nothing is impossible before supernatural power. I don't know what you'll become, but you'll certainly be more beautiful than most women."
"Could I think about it, ma'am? I don't think I'm in a state to successfully advance right now." Ryan decided to stall for time.
"Of course — after all, the formula is still missing two secondary ingredients: five drops of golden datura juice and ten drops of narcissus juice."
Edith blocked the exit of the passageway and gestured invitingly back toward the market, then continued:
"I happened to notice as I passed by just now that both are available at one of the stalls."
Ryan drew a slow, deep breath before answering:
"I understand. Thank you for the reminder, ma'am."
Watching Ryan's retreating back as he headed in, Edith made no move to follow. She simply stood there, hand over her mouth, continuing to laugh quietly.
In sharp contrast, Ryan, now back in the market, was nearly grinding his teeth down to the roots. He finally understood why the minimum requirement to join this organization was Sequence 7, and why this woman had handed him the formula and materials so casually. This kind of organization had no fear of informants — what informant could possibly survive a test like this?
Report them. I absolutely HAVE to report them. Something this harmful to humanity cannot be allowed to exist in this world.
He'd hesitated earlier, given how attractive this witch was. Now Ryan realized that even in a world with supernatural power, his imagination had been far too limited.
Of course, he still needed to buy the materials — he couldn't arouse this woman's suspicion. Then tonight he'd find an opportunity to go to the church and report this insufferable witch.
"Let's hope she's not neurotic enough to stay up all night watching me agonize over this."
The thought of the witch's behavior just now left him deeply uneasy.
"No — as soon as I leave, I'm heading straight for a crowded area. I don't believe she'd dare make a move somewhere that public!"
Growing more anxious the more he thought about it, Ryan decided to change his approach. If he spooked her, so be it. Otherwise he was afraid he'd never get a chance to report her to the church.
Just as the woman had said, Ryan purchased the two secondary ingredients in almost no time at all. Then he walked straight out of the Kevin bar and out of the trading market.
"That's the big one — kill him!"
The moment Ryan pushed open the bar's door, he saw eight people storming toward him with hostile intent. All of them had pulled back their coats with one hand reaching into their underarms. If this hadn't been outside the slum district, they probably would have opened fire already.
Ryan had only the faintest recollection of the one leading them — a man with a scar across his face. Faced with seven or eight guns, even he, already at Sequence 8, had no choice but to fall back toward the slums first, then use the district's complex terrain to shake these people off.
What he hadn't expected was that even as the sun was nearly setting — precisely the kind of environment that favored an assassin — he couldn't shake them. Not even with his abilities active.
"Someone can track my position?"
He made the assessment quickly and abandoned the idea of losing them through Shadow Concealment and terrain. He activated Featherfall, intending to use speed to break away from this group that had clearly come specifically for him.
It worked immediately — only one person could barely keep up with his pace. Recalling how the group had been consciously concealing their weapons earlier, Ryan stopped hesitating and adjusted his direction north. He was heading for the church in the Anjelka District, to find the Watcher team and report the witch.
He hadn't forgotten what mattered most right now.
Bang!
A shot rang out abruptly from his left-front. Fortunately, Danger Intuition had warned him in time — he stopped and dodged the bullet.
Looking at the shooter who had stepped out of the shadows, Ryan realized there was no getting around him to reach the Anjelka District for now. With the pursuer from behind closing in steadily, he had no choice but to retreat in the original direction and look for another opening.
"That's one of the eight — how did he get around to my left-front? Even if he's an Assassin like me, how did he pinpoint my exact position and cut me off? I've had Shadow Concealment running the entire time!"
Listening to the single set of footsteps directly behind him, Ryan suddenly understood that the group hunting him was even more dangerous than he'd thought.
He tried the same maneuver again — but this time he first put even more distance between himself and the one pursuer barely keeping pace before abruptly changing direction north.
Yet two or three seconds later, the pursuer behind him seemed to already know which way Ryan had moved and started cutting through a shortcut to intercept. After running a bit further, Ryan was cut off again from his left-front, by the same person, with the same perfectly placed shot.
"Are you people cheating?" he cursed silently.
In the months since arriving, he hadn't just been clearing the Instigator potion's influence. He hadn't managed to learn divination from the woman, but he'd gathered a reasonable understanding of what divination could accomplish.
What he was facing right now was already beyond what any divination could explain. Divination could tell you someone's general direction — it absolutely could not predict in real time which way a person was going to flee.
Only prophecy could do something like that. And prophecy was not something a mid-to-low Sequence Beyonder could wield.
Author's Note (this chapter): The word "evil god" was commonly used to describe dangerous, hidden powerful entities — but that didn't mean those evil gods necessarily possessed the same level of power as the deities worshipped by the Seven Churches. Otherwise they wouldn't need to hide in the shadows.
叒叕是我 · Beijing Actually, Chique simply can't leave the mirror — in terms of raw power, she with the Mirror Primordial inside her should be the strongest entity currently on Earth (the Blazing Sun hasn't fully stabilized yet), and is probably even slightly stronger than the Insane True Creator (whose Blasphemy Slate is at the Giant's Court and can't channel the Sea of Chaos). 😂 核善的执政官: No need for "probably" — this lunatic is stronger than freaking half-old Saringer, and was the highest peak before Klein's Sefirot battle in the Fifth Era.