After work, start to speedrun the other world-Chapter 132 - 31: You Seem to Be Very Good at Winning Women’s Favor
The flickering firelight.
The Witch of Death extended her slender, pale hand, and a few souls spiraled between her fingers. After observing them for a moment, she gently clasped her hand, sending the souls into the realm of death.
Then she turned her gaze to the silver-armored Knight in front of her.
"What is the reason for summoning me this time?" Her hands were clasped, her voice as cold and distant as ever, giving off an air of inaccessibility.
Xi Mu, upon hearing this, glanced at the white-haired girl beside him and smiled. "Are you interested in her?"
"..."
The Witch of Death scrutinized the white-haired girl, recognizing her true nature as an Alchemical Puppet, whose strength surpassed the limits of the human realm.
Yet it had not reached the domain of a Witch.
The scrutinized white-haired girl pursed her lips, then turned her head away unnaturally. She had thought she wouldn’t fear the Witch, that even if there was a gap in strength compared to a real Witch, she wouldn’t be utterly defenseless.
This was why she had dared to watch the silver-armored Knight summon the Witch.
However, upon actually confronting the presence of the Witch, she immediately realized there was a vast chasm in strength between Witches.
"A life that exists without a soul," the Witch of Death withdrew her gaze, appearing to have little interest in the white-haired girl.
She questioned Xi Mu. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
"Human, do you understand what this means?"
Xi Mu pondered for a moment before responding, "Does it mean that a soul isn’t necessary for life?"
"Correct, a soul is not essential to existence," affirmed the Witch of Death, glancing again at the white-haired girl. "She holds a certain degree of research value."
Wait, am I being sold off?
The white-haired girl suddenly came to this realization, turning her head fiercely towards Xi Mu. This man had harbored ill intentions from the start.
He had planned to sell her off to the Witch of Death for research.
"..." Xi Mu, faced with the white-haired girl’s angry gaze, revealed a gentle smile, which only drew an even angrier glare from her.
Then he heard a curse, cold and clear.
"Liar... scoundrel, I never want to see you again!" The white-haired girl, not adept at cursing, struggled to articulate two venomous words.
However, Xi Mu didn’t seem upset by her words, still meeting the curse with a gentle smile, as if taking the scathing words as a gentle breeze.
This man is so despicable.
Biting her lower lip, the white-haired girl felt her chest heave violently with anger. She contemplated whether to take action and give this detestable man a well-deserved beating.
But with the Witch of Death watching nearby, she didn’t dare to act rashly, fearing she would humiliate herself and make matters irretrievably worse.
"It seems there’s been some misunderstanding?" Xi Mu shook his head helplessly, eyeing the white-haired girl who looked ready to punch someone, and decisively dodged behind the Witch of Death.
He began to speak nonsense in all seriousness:
"I simply wish to invite you to collaborate with the esteemed Witch of Death, to overthrow the rule of the All Gods and create a new world."
The white-haired girl remained silent.
Why did she feel this man was still deceiving her? But now, it seemed she had no choice but to be studied by the Witch of Death or to choose the safer option of cooperating.
The answer was all too clear.
"I won’t be part of the further discussions then," Xi Mu said with a smile and then turned to leave the hall.
The main goal of summoning the Witch of Death this time was to convert the white-haired girl from a neutral party to... an ally. This would make it easier to purchase important alchemy items from the white-haired girl later on, to facilitate his future role as a terrorist.
After all, alchemy items can indeed be incredibly useful at times.
A moment later.
The white-haired girl left the hall with an expressionless face. She glanced at the silver-armored Knight waiting outside the door and huffed in dissatisfaction.
"Liar!" With that, she stormed off, devoid of her initial aloofness and detachment.
On the contrary, her emotions seemed to be quite... active.
Xi Mu smiled upon seeing this and then turned to enter the hall, the firelight reflecting off his armor, as if setting him ablaze.
Normal people don’t dare enter a burning building, but this is a game, where dramatic scenes often take place amidst flames.
And scenes set amidst flames tend to have more atmosphere.
"Now you are not suited to bear the deeper aspects of death," spoke the Witch of Death calmly, stating the facts to Xi Mu.
"If what you seek is a deeper death, I will refuse." She wouldn’t mind bestowing Ahtal with a more profound death.
However, the fire of Sulter already existed within Ahtal, constantly burning his life force. To bestow upon Ahtal a deeper power of death now
would be tantamount to asking Ahtal to commit suicide.
"Can’t it simply be that I want to help you?" Xi Mu sighed, explaining to the puzzled Witch of Death. "It seems you’ve forgotten that I am one of your followers?"
"...Is that so?" The Witch of Death fell silent, her thoughts unknown, and her sapphire-like eyes reflected the silver-armored Knight’s figure.
She then changed the subject.
"I have a task for you. Approach the All-Knowing Saintess, gain her trust, and learn the true nature of the power of the God of Omniscience from her."
"Isn’t the true nature of the power of the God of Omniscience simply ’omniscience’?" Xi Mu asked, feigning confusion, a reaction very befitting a normal person.
The true essence of a deity’s power is indeed the name of the deity itself; just like the Goddess of Life’s power is life, the Goddess of Death’s power is death.
By extension, the power possessed by the God of Omniscience is omniscience, as naturally as one plus one equals two.
Yet.
"The displayed power seems to be omniscient," the Witch of Death shook her head, "but that doesn’t mean it truly knows everything."
She looked at Xi Mu to explain.
"If it were really omniscient, then Ragnarok wouldn’t exist, and you wouldn’t have been infected with Surter’s flame."
"..."
Xi Mu nodded, seemingly persuaded.
"Learn the true nature of the power of God of Omniscience from the mouth of the All-Knowing Saintess," the Witch of Death unveiled the side quest, and also added a reward.
"After you resolve the issue with your vitality, I will grant you more profound power of death." As her words ended, her figure began to fade.
Before vanishing, she left behind a comment that sounded like a joke.
"Ahtal, you seem to be very good at earning the favor of women."
I’m pretty good at winning over men too.
Xi Mu silently thought that in this game it was not only about earning the affection of women, but the favor of men could also be earned. In the last cycle, he had maxed out the affection of Michael, who possessed the ability to charm, and incidentally maxed out the affection of Michael’s sister as well.
It is worth mentioning that Michael could not be described as handsome.
Instead, he should be described as "beautiful," although he was officially set as a male, it was hard to distinguish his actual gender. One could only guess he was truly male from his forthright and sincere speech.
Unfortunately, the more beautiful a person is, the easier they are to attract covetousness. If no player intervened, Michael would be caught by the gods, locked in a dark room, and fattened up into a cream puff.
Leaving the burning mansion.
Xi Mu returned to the small store, only to see the silver-haired girl giving him a cold stare, as if trying to condemn him with her eyes.
He was unconcerned and simply stated his request.
"I want to buy an extreme freeze bomb."
"No!" Without a second thought, the silver-haired girl immediately refused; she had no desire to help Ahtal make a bomb.
"We are partners now," Xi Mu maintained his smile, not the least bit upset by the refusal, and gently persuaded the silver-haired girl, "If you really don’t want to help, then I’ll have no choice but to discuss it with the Lady Witch of Death!"
Now the silver-haired girl was even more furious, glaring at the bad man in front of her, she gritted her teeth:
"Don’t think of threatening me!"
"It’s just a negotiation, not a threat," Xi Mu said, smiling and shaking his head, watching the silver-haired girl huffing and puffing, he felt... pleased.
"Hmph." Turning her head, the silver-haired girl walked back into the shop and began preparing the bomb. She was... a bit wary of the existence of the Witch of Death.
And indeed, she was Ahtal’s ally at the moment.
Some time later.
"Thanks." Xi Mu took the bomb handed over by the silver-haired girl and then left the shop without hesitation.
Just... like that.
The silver-haired girl blinked, seemingly a bit taken aback.
She had thought that this bad man would use various means to coerce her into making all kinds of alchemical items.
...
...
Meanwhile.
On the street.
"As you requested, I’ve arranged for mercenaries to seal off all the exits," Nashatani’s voice was seductive as she smiled at Ahtal walking beside her.
"Now it’s just up to you to seek revenge on the Dusk Cult."
"Such efficiently deployed actions," Xi Mu marveled. Although Nashatani was a deadly snake, always ready to bite, she was quite useful when handled the right way.
Until Nashatani found a chance to bite back, she would obediently cooperate with the player. If it seemed hopeless to resist the player’s oppression later on, Nashatani would undergo an interesting transformation, just like her mother fell for the immortal serpent, Nashatani too would become insanely obsessed with the player, subsequently aiding them wholeheartedly in their misdeeds.
This psychological change was quite amusing.
"As it’s our first collaboration, it’s only natural to demonstrate one’s value," Nashatani maintained her smile, looking very sincere.
"Since you’ve taken the initiative to demonstrate your value, I might as well show mine," Xi Mu summoned a little mare and mounted it.
"I hope to deal with those followers of the Dusk Cult quickly." With that, he rode the little mare away from Nashatani’s gaze, disappearing down the street.
...
...
At the same time.
In the gathering place of the Dusk Cult.
This place was once an abandoned mine, now seldom visited by outsiders, as the environment here was... quite harsh, and collecting underground water required a long journey.
Therefore, it was by default considered an abandoned area with no human presence.
However.
"How much longer must I stay in this place?"
Ashliya, once the iris flower Princess, rested her head on one hand while looking out at the dilapidated street through the window with a wistful expression.
Her standing within the Dusk Cult wasn’t low, seemingly because of the favor she had gained from the Flame Giant Surter.
Due to her lack of strength, however, she didn’t have much authority within the cult, and her position was similar to that of a mascot.
All she could do was keep sending assassins in an attempt to retrieve the Sword of Light from Ahtal’s hands.
