Chapter 27: Gentle Blessing of Warmth
Liya found herself feeling peculiar.
Ever since she stole that coin, she had become… very strange.
Not only was her heartbeat accelerating, but her circuits, always stable for a witch, had become restless.
This was a situation she had never encountered in her approximately one hundred years of life.
Looking in the mirror, Liya wiped the sweat from her forehead – perhaps her circuits’ blood circulation was too fast, causing her to sweat profusely.
Such an intense heartbeat…
Such a pulsating circuit…
Such an uneasy heart…
That’s right…
There was only one possibility…
Could it be!
She herself!
Was in love?!
When she lived in the deep forest, her mother had once described that when she fell in love with that man, her heart beat faster, her circuits burned, and her heart felt uneasy. She also said that this was how witches’ love affairs were!
Thinking of this, Liya, startled, quickly washed her face with clean water to calm her brain – though perhaps only her brain had calmed down.
Impossible.
No matter what, she wouldn’t fall for a half-baked scion with such poor strength. This was the worst kind of villain described in the romance novels she used to read!
Besides, he was a Small Fry!
He was her student, so she shouldn’t have any inappropriate thoughts about her student!
But, her wrist, which Will had grabbed, still had a faint burning sensation. This feeling reminded her of Will leaning close to her face, speaking with a playful yet threatening tone and a voice still a little immature after just going through puberty.
“—I’m going to check *your* body, okay?”
Liya subconsciously squeezed her legs together.
“Ahhh—Will Systom!!! Will Systom!!! What is going on?!”
She ruffled her golden Twin Tails and walked out of the restroom in frustration.
The moment she stepped into the clear moonlight outside, Liya paused.
The corridor in front of her was empty. Since it was late at night, the lights were off, and illumination came solely from the moonlight.
“Sigh… Is it late enough to be in this situation again?”
Liya lit a small ball of flame at her fingertip, dispelling a small patch of moonlight in the corridor. Then, she walked slowly along the wall, her hand extended.
She was left alone in the Laboratory.
No…
Actually, she had always been alone, even before this.
Ever since her mother, with whom she had depended on, left without a word and disappeared, she had been alone.
Liya pushed open the door to her laboratory.
Her small laboratory was brightly lit. Like her office, it was messy, but upon closer inspection, every magical medium and related Item was placed with a certain logic and labeled.
In the center sat a huge book, its pages slightly yellowed, clearly an ancient tome.
This was precisely the source of the witches’ Ancient Magic.
Five hundred years ago, Iaar, the progenitor who was known as the “Witch,” obtained an extraordinary reward after single-handedly clearing a Dungeon called the “Library of Forgotten Memories”—
A vast number of lost books from ancient to modern times.
Later rumors suggested that some of these books contained the Original Texts of myths, but she only kept those related to Ancient Magic, burning the rest.
Since then, Iaar, who mastered “Ancient Magic,” seemed to have modified her Magic circuit using some of these spells, granting herself and her descendants long lifespans and magically gifted bloodlines. She then began her wicked… no, her life of doing as she pleased and traveling the world.
However, Iaar was Iaar, and Iaar’s descendants were Iaar’s descendants.
Like begets like… but a rat’s son isn’t born knowing how to dig a hole.
These descendants of witches were not naturally adept at Ancient Magic. Even when referencing the Original Texts of Ancient Magic, the descriptions were full of obscure passages that didn’t conform to modern linguistic expression, making their use a difficult endeavor.
“Gentle Blessing of Warmth…”
This was the Ancient Magic Liya intended to use this time.
When she was a child living in the deep forest, there were occasional heavy snowfalls.
That day, she walked back to the small hut hidden within the dense forest, stepping through the snow.
The weather was very cold, and the witch’s house was far from the village, lacking sufficient firewood from the village.
Her mother held her, and in the center of the room, cast the “Gentle Blessing of Warmth” spell.
It was a small cup of water on the table, but after being cast with Gentle Blessing of Warmth, it possessed the miraculous ability to emit heat around it.
The room slowly warmed up. Despite the continuing wind and snow outside, the witch, who wished to avoid contact with others, felt warmth in her dwelling in the deep forest.
“How is it, Liya? Very warm, isn’t it? I’ll teach you this magic later.”
“Mhm, I want to learn!”
“It’s very important… because we can only rely on ourselves to generate warmth that resists the cold and burns eternally. Haha, although this doesn’t look like a flame.”
“Wh… why?”
“We witches… are very strong and can live in this world for a very, very, very long time. But the longer we live, the harder it is for us to connect with those weak… short-lived beings. In the end, only we are left.”
“This is probably the gift and the curse that Iaar bestowed upon us.”
“Remember this, Liya.”
“Strength and loneliness will forever be our defining characteristics as witches.”
“Perhaps our spring will never come again.”
Her mother stroked her head, and her eyes only saw the warm “Gentle Blessing of Warmth” before her.
The flame in her memory finally extinguished.
Before Liya’s eyes was a specially prepared conversion solvent, colorless and transparent, slightly viscous clear water, placed in a glass beaker.
At the same time…
Liya glanced up at the large countdown written on the wall – 10 days.
This was the Ancient Magic she planned to demonstrate at the upcoming “Eighth Flame and Related Flame Magic Research and Academic Competition.”
However…
Progress had been very unfavorable; to this day, Liya had not succeeded even once.
“Well, now that I have the coin back, I can continue experimenting. I’ll use a little less catalyst this time than before…”
Liya took a deep breath and placed the coin into a cup of specially prepared conversion solvent.
She closed her eyes.
If successful, the coin should maintain its state within the solvent, and the conversion solvent would become a liquid similar to high-temperature molten lava, capable of burning continuously for a very long time – as long as she willed it to.
If successful, after the first energy supply was completely exhausted, it would maintain high temperatures and self-combustion for a long time without requiring further energy supply.
Gentle Blessing of Warmth had low practical application but was irreplaceable for transitioning to other Ancient Magics. Therefore, it was a mandatory spell for witches who studied the Fire attribute to learn if they wished to advance to higher levels.
After the attack that day, she re-read the ancient texts, translated them, and reflected on her previous failures.
She had thought of some catalyst ratios that might be closer to success.
And…
Perhaps using the coin, the “indestructible universal medium” made by Iaar herself, as the transitional heat source might increase the chances of success.
Now, she finally had the coin back.
She could try again.
“A great wind once carried away the earth’s gentleness.”
Liya circulated her Magic circuit again. Although her Magic circuit had been overly agitated just now, it became much calmer as she began to chant.
“Once, flying snow obscured the sky’s brilliance.”
For the first time, she clearly felt all her circuits participating in this magic. Her internal senses became very clear, and she could even feel her internal organs pulsing.
“Once, solid ice sealed the ocean’s embrace.”
Not only were her internal senses heightened, but her external senses, especially regarding temperature, also became very sensitive. As she recited the incantation, she could even feel the temperature of every object in the room.
“Here, in a human form, I return temperature to life, heat to nature, and moisture to consciousness.”
Breathing in, breathing out, Liya focused on the solvent containing the coin, earnestly utilizing all her circuits—
“This is Gentle Blessing of Warmth—”
The coin glowed.
It ignited in the deep blue solvent, like a lamp in the deep sea.
But at this moment…
Liya’s state was very strange!
Her face was slightly flushed, and her whole body was trembling. Not only her outstretched hand pointing at the coin, but even her legs were shaking uncontrollably.
“Hoo… hoo… so… so strange, wh-why…”
It was because her Magic circuit had been running too intensely today.
Now she could feel the magic surging throughout her body.
It was tormenting her nerves, as if it would rush to the top of her head the next moment…
Witches’ constitutions were known for their stable circuits; this was something they were proud of, but… what was going on today?
“Ju… just a little longer, hoo… it’ll… it’ll be fine!”
But facing the result she had long awaited, she felt she could endure a little longer.
“No… I don’t care anymore, ha… it’s… already successful…”
However, just as she felt victory was within reach, the coin in the solvent suddenly shattered with a “bang”…
“Mnn…!”
At this moment, along with the coin, her last thread of sanity snapped.
And the last bit of strength that suppressed the circuit’s overflow.
Inside Liya, it felt as if a current surged from all parts of her body directly to her brain.
“Ha… mnn…”
Liya covered her mouth. Because of the excessive use of magic, she slid to the floor.
“Failed again, failed again!!! And why did the coin break? A witch’s coin shouldn’t break…”
But Liya no longer had the capacity to think about these things.
She hugged her crossed legs, still trembling slightly.
“And why… why…”
“Ha… when I used magic just now… it felt… a little… a little different…”
“It was like… like a warm current flowed through all my body’s Magic circuits…”
“It felt… ha… kinda good?”
