Chapter 16: Guess What I Did
“You want me… to help you hunt down Black Witches?”
Melody stared at Su Xiao in disbelief, clearly questioning her life choices. From her incredulous gaze, another meaning could be read: ‘Boss, what do you see in me? I’ll change right away—I don’t want to die yet.’
Of course, Melody didn’t dare say that out loud. Ever since Su Xiao had redeemed her, she knew he wasn’t a good person—the type to spill blood over a single disagreement.
“That’s right. Your abilities are well-suited for hunting witches.”
While Melody was drunk and sound asleep, Su Xiao had used the Apostle’s Eye to examine her information.
The data was as follows:
Name: Melody
Category: White Witch / Human
Health: 100%
Mana: 2900 Points
Strength: 26
Agility: 30
Endurance: 72 (True Attribute)
Intelligence: 90 (True Attribute)
Charm: 77
Skill 1: Mind-Body Link (Passive, Lv.50): Due to the witch’s special constitution, every point of Intelligence gained also increases Endurance by 1 point. Both Intelligence and Endurance are True Attributes.
Skill 2: White Witch (Passive, Lv.42): Health +500 points, Mana +2000 points, Charm +15 points. Immune to some mental control effects.
Skill 3: Manifestation·Nature’s Tongue (Special Ability, Stage 1, Lv.31): Melody can communicate with viviparous wild animals and command them without violating their nature.
Skill 4: Manifestation·Beast Walk (Special Ability, Stage 2, Lv.40): Melody can transform her manifestation into any form of beast and conceal its unique aura, greatly reducing the chance of exposure.
Skill 5: Manifestation·Thousand Faces (Special Ability, Stage 3, Lv.10): Melody can materialize her manifestation and have it cling to her body surface, thereby arbitrarily altering her appearance, aura, etc.
…
Melody’s manifestation had three abilities, or rather, these represented three stages of a witch. Witches had six stages in total. Although the witch system lacked clear power levels, they had growth stages. The higher the growth stage, the more complete the witch’s control over her manifestation.
Of course, this didn’t equate to strength—it depended on the manifestation’s abilities. That was precisely why witches had no power levels; such rankings would only be misleading.
Stage 1 witches were newly awakened, only able to use their manifestation’s basic abilities. For example, Melody’s ‘Manifestation·Nature’s Tongue’ was a Stage 1 witch ability. Stage 1 witches couldn’t freely manipulate their manifestations; they could only use passive abilities.
Stage 2 witches could begin to manipulate their manifestations, transforming them or releasing energy outward.
Stage 3 was the most important stage for witches—materializing the manifestation, making it tangible. Melody and Isa were both Stage 3 witches, though their combat abilities were worlds apart.
Stage 4 was fusion—the merging of manifestation and witch. Su Xiao had never seen a witch at this stage; who knew what bizarre thing would emerge from such a fusion.
Stage 5 witches began to diverge. They would completely merge their manifestations into their bodies. Elemental witches, however, preferred to materialize their manifestations into certain objects. If they fully merged with their manifestations, absorbing elements would kill them first.
There was only one Stage 6 witch: Dark Crow—short-lived, powerful, with unknown specific abilities.
Awakening, Manipulation, Materialization, Fusion, Complete Fusion—this was the growth path for all witches. Most witches were stuck at Stage 2. Stage 3 witches, while not abundant, weren’t too rare. Stage 4 witches were very rare, usually only found in the Southern Region.
As for Stage 5 witches, they rarely showed themselves. According to known intelligence, there were very few Stage 5 witches on Dark Crow Continent. One Stage 5 White Witch had been killed by a Stage 3 Elemental Black Witch 300 years ago.
Clearly, that Stage 5 White Witch’s combat ability was poor. It was like a scientist fighting a warrior—no matter how authoritative the scientist, in a contest of force, the warrior was clearly stronger.
Because of this incident, the witch power hierarchy collapsed. A Stage 5 White Witch killed by a Stage 3 Black Witch—such stage comparisons were completely misleading.
Melody was a Stage 3 witch with three abilities: communicating with small animals, turning her clone into small animals, and altering her appearance and aura.
With Melody’s combat ability, even against a Stage 1 Elemental Witch, she could only turn and run. Personality determined combat ability; those unsuited for battle remained unsuited even after awakening as witches.
The reason Su Xiao proposed that Melody hunt witches with him was twofold: first, her low combat power made her easy to control; second, as a witch herself, her understanding of other witches far exceeded others.
“Impossible. Didn’t you see me at the city gate earlier? I was genuinely surrendering. Those soldiers could have killed me…”
Before Melody could finish, Su Xiao stood up and pinched her face with one hand.
“Wha are you doin’?”
Melody looked at Su Xiao in confusion. He was checking whether she was using her transformation ability. After a brief examination, he confirmed she wasn’t.
Su Xiao finally understood why Melody dared to impersonate a VIP. If she passed the city gate inspection and successfully entered, she could use her transformation ability to become that VIP’s likeness and start swindling.
As for why she didn’t use it before entering, the reason was simple: if she did, she might be shot down before even reaching the gate. While Melody used her manifestation, the soldiers at the gate wouldn’t waste words—they’d open fire immediately.
“Guess what I did during the 8 hours and 16 minutes you were asleep.”
“Huh?”
“You don’t want to know. Wait here. If you dare leave the inn even one step, Amu will snap your neck immediately.”
Su Xiao stood up, stretched his joints, and walked out of the room. He needed to visit the Holy Healing Church.
“Wait, what did you do while I was asleep?”
Melody’s breathing quickened. At Su Xiao’s reminder, she had sensed something ‘off’ about her body.
“Just planted a few bombs inside you.”
“B… bombs? Inside here?”
Melody pointed at her abdomen. Su Xiao didn’t answer her question and strode out of the room.
Had Su Xiao placed bombs inside Melody’s chest cavity? Of course… not. Given a witch’s self-awareness, if he placed alchemy bombs inside her body, she would definitely sense them.
So Su Xiao simply didn’t place any—this was the safest method. As long as Melody couldn’t find the bombs inside her, she wouldn’t dare to flee. The unsolvable part was that there were no bombs inside her at all, so she would never find them unless she had someone slice her body open.
Inside Holy Healing City, the setting sun bathed the entire vast city. The streets were filled with warm tones, appearing quiet and peaceful. Smoke rose from chimneys of every household; most commoners had finished their busy day.
Walking along the street, Su Xiao headed straight for the city center. The headquarters of the Holy Healing Church was located there.