Chapter 1048: You’re Awake; You’re a Witch Now
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1048: You’re Awake; You’re a Witch Now
The Emerald Forest.
Before Lonafu, the summoning rune ritual she had finished drawing was now fully activated!
A dazzling flash instantly illuminated the entire room. Fortunately, she had thoroughly shielded the windows and doors before starting.
Lonafu instinctively reached out to shield her eyes from the blinding radiance, unsure of what was happening. She only felt a staggering, mountainous pressure of power rushing toward her!
Before long, the erupting force showed signs of receding, but in its wake, a figure descended!
Lonafu was still shaken. Having reacted out of pure instinct, she realized the light didn't seem to possess any destructive power. She slowly moved her hand away from her eyes, and a figure appeared before her.
Terrified, Lonafu sat slumped on the floor, staring blankly at me. This time, she was truly at a loss.
"Thank you for helping me descend," I said.
I spoke in the language of the Emerald Forest. When players invade a world, the first thing they do is gather basic information; recording the language and script is the most fundamental task for a Vanguard Pioneer.
I stepped forward and pulled Lonafu up. At that moment, my player character also walked over.
"You can think of this as my true body. I was merely a consciousness controlling that other shell," I said through the player character before logging out of that role.
My Life Clone caught the elf girl as she collapsed, no longer sustained by my control.
"If you don't understand, you can just think of both as me. That was just a clone; the one before you now is the real me." I knelt down halfway and looked at Lonafu. "Do you understand? What I taught you was a summoning rune—a method to call my main body here."
"I... I understand!"
Lonafu nodded frantically, her body trembling. Everything happening was far beyond her comprehension and perception!
I didn't dwell on her confusion. Remembering something, I reached into my storage card and pulled out a business card.
"Take this. Just activate it with your mental power to summon me directly. You won't need to go through the trouble of drawing runes anymore."
Lonafu took the card. Though she couldn't read the script on it, she could recognize parts of the summoning rune ritual. This summoning rune, personally refined by me on the card, was infinitely more sophisticated than her crude hand-drawn version.
"Let me introduce myself formally. I am not a player, and I am not like them. I am a Little Witch. My full name is Yang Yuehan. You can call me Sister Xiao Han, or... by my other title: the Calamity Witch."
I didn't care whether Lonafu understood or not; I gave my introduction regardless.
Though Lonafu was just a little elf girl I had bought and spent only a few days with, her role was actually similar to Qiu Ruxin's back then. The difference was that Qiu Ruxin had sought me out by chance and helped me solve the mystery of the Reverse Summoning Spell, whereas Lonafu was just a tool I had acquired temporarily.
If possible, once the Emerald Forest fell into the Main World and became a part of it, I wouldn't mind guiding her into the Witch Academy—provided she had the resolve.
The Witch Academy had no place for someone who viewed themselves as a slave. My mercy was not so boundless as to be cheap.
"Stand still."
I looked at Lonafu and finally couldn't hold back anymore. When I was just a player, I was powerless, but now that my Life Clone—which was even freer than an avatar—had descended, I naturally had to finish what I started.
I reached my hand out toward Lonafu...
A Cleaning Spell. It completely stripped away the grime that seemed impossible to wash off and smoothed out her matted hair.
Her knotted hair instantly became dry and clean, even gaining a bit of fluffiness, though the dryness and split ends were beyond the reach of a simple Cleaning Spell.
But I wasn't done.
Next came a Healing Spell, followed by the scar-removal derivation of Flesh Healing Magic. Bruises, chronic ailments accumulated over years of hardship, her raspy throat...
In that moment, Lonafu finally became a whole, healthy little elf girl.
Though the process of these rapid changes was accompanied by pain, itching, and discomfort, once she endured it, she was met with a wave of relief from a healthy body!
Lonafu swore she had never felt such lightness in her entire life. So, it was possible to live with such ease.
Yes! Ease!
Simply being alive was an incomparable luxury! The world could actually be this beautiful...
It could only be said that Lonafu's previous life hadn't been fit for a living being; even long-lived elves couldn't have endured such torment.
"You helped me, so I am granting you a new life. This is the reward you deserve," I said directly, sensing the overwhelming emotion stirring in her heart.
"Reward? You... You want my... my voice?!"
Hearing my words, Lonafu panicked instinctively. If this was a reward for helping, then accepting it meant the "transaction was complete." Just like when she was bought a few days ago.
She instinctively didn't want to leave me, but as she spoke, she realized her voice had changed! She never imagined her voice could be so beautiful, so clear!
Was this... also part of the reward?
"This is your original voice."
"Uh... ah... I, I... I beg of you, Great Calamity Witch, please do not abandon me. I am willing to follow you forever."
Lonafu followed her heart and spoke her deepest desire.
If these past few days had been the "happiest" of her life as an elf—enjoying delicious food and feeling lucky to have a good "master" instead of being taken by a pervert to be used as a toy and discarded to die in the streets—then this rebirth made her truly understand. She craved to follow this great being.
Gratitude, loyalty, admiration for the strong, submission...
Countless emotions intertwined, leading to her boldest act yet. She pleaded with this great being who called herself the "Calamity Witch," begging to be kept, even if she might be useless in the future. She had to speak up, even if it meant being thick-skinned.
She knelt on the ground in the lowliest posture. The phantom pains from her past, including the long-healed tip of her left finger, were now insignificant. She only knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and she had to seize it.
Even with her meager knowledge and narrow perspective, her instincts led her to the "correct" choice!
"Get up. If you want to stay by my side, then hide your servility. Then... stand up and ask me as an elf," I said, looking at her. Unconsciously, I began to compare her to Millian or Tang En from the Real Protection Association.
True, she knew nothing, but anything could be learned. It all depended on whether she was sensible.
As I finished speaking, Lonafu looked up in shock. She might not have fully understood what I meant by "servility" or "identity as an elf," but she understood the words "get up, stand up," so she obeyed.
After all... she was very obedient.
"Lord Calamity Witch..." Lonafu stood up. Her voice had lost the desperate edge of her impulsive outburst, which was a more natural reaction.
"Good," I nodded. I sat down and looked at the body before me.
The Forest Elf, El.
That was the name of the elf I had possessed. This character was now meaningless to me because the game of Emerald Forest had encountered its greatest disaster in history.
Me.
So, there was no need for the player character to remain. She had fulfilled her mission.
"She was originally an elf as well. Once my consciousness occupied her body, she died. But her death was not without meaning. Now that my true body is here, her mission is over."
I reached out, and a burst of extreme heat incinerated the "corpse" in an instant within a tiny radius. After the fire, not even ash remained, leaving only a wave of heat.
This was my fine control over magic. There wasn't even a scorch mark on the floor.
Lonafu had no objection to my actions; if anything, she didn't quite understand them. Only after slowly replaying and interpreting my words did she grasp the general meaning.
That elf's life had served as the vessel for the Calamity Witch's descent? Something like that?
I didn't continue explaining. Instead, I looked at her and asked another question: "Lonafu, let me ask you: Do you hate this world? Do you hate those players who captured and tortured you? Do you hate yourself for being powerless?"
"I... I... I do!"
Lonafu hesitated for a moment as memories of her painful life resurfaced. Guided by my questions, her hatred expanded from the players to the world itself, and finally to her own lack of power...
Her hatred was pure. She didn't need many reasons to justify her emotional release, nor did she have any thoughts of letting that hatred go.
"Then I shall bring a calamity upon this world, extinguishing the sources of that pain and letting Death judge every wicked soul equally. How does that sound?" I continued.
"..." Lonafu looked at me in shock. In that moment of realization, she seemed to understand exactly what the title "Calamity Witch" meant.
A Witch who brings calamity to this wretched world!
Though a voice in her mind told her that bringing a calamity to this world was wrong and must be stopped, those thoughts were quickly drowned by the hatred and resentment in her heart.
Where were those feelings of sympathy, mercy, and conscience in the hearts of her tormentors when she was suffering?
She was not in the wrong! She wanted revenge; it was as simple as that.
"I agree with your path a thousand times over, Lord Calamity Witch!"
"Heh~ Good attitude." I gave a light laugh. "Interested in giving up your identity and becoming a Witch like me?"
"I am willing! I am willing!" Lonafu nodded frantically. She had never felt a sense of belonging to her old life. She didn't even know what being a Witch entailed, yet she agreed without hesitation.
At this point, I truly had the intention to train her. Perhaps... letting her destroy this place with her own hands would be a good choice?
Since my Life Clone was already here, there was no rush. The one thing I didn't lack was Mana Sources.
My Life Clone had completed the construction of Infinite Mana! I could produce as many Mana Sources as I wanted. If I didn't want to avoid filling the Witch Academy with useless trash, I could have stuffed a Mana Source into every living creature in the Emerald Forest.
"Since you agree, I shall grant you a Mana Source. Understand that once you accept this, you will no longer be an ordinary elf, but a Prospective Witch of the elf bloodline. The concept of 'elf' will merely be a gift of power and bloodline to you. Remember, from this day forward, you are a member of the Witches. Your most important goal in life is to ascend to a Transcendent Witch..."
As I spoke, I manifested a Mana Source right there, its radiating mana intertwined with the wisdom of the Witch race.
Witchification would transform any life form equally, giving them an equal chance to become a Transcendent Witch.
As the Mana Source was pressed into Lonafu's body, the white light of Witchification woven from mana instantly enveloped her.
I waited for quite a while. Eventually, Lonafu woke up slowly on the bed.
"You're awake. Congratulations, you are now a Prospective Witch. From now on, we can address each other as sisters. You can call me Sister Xiao Han; everyone else at the Witch Academy calls me that," I said.
Whether they were juniors or seniors, they all called me Sister Xiao Han or Teaching Assistant Xiao Han. It had become common knowledge.
"Sister... Sister Xiao Han?"
Lonafu opened her eyes, looking at me in a daze, and tried calling my name. From this moment on, Lonafu's identity had completely changed. And all of this had happened in just the four or five days since we met.
"Mm-hmm. Call me that from now on. Remember, the moment you called me Sister Xiao Han, your identity shifted completely." After acknowledging her, my tone shifted, taking on a heavy, educational weight. "You are no longer the slave who was at everyone's beck and call! You must no longer obey others' orders unconditionally. When faced with a threat, you must strike back with the most ruthless means! Strength is the foundation that ensures your enemies never dare provoke or offend you. Do you understand?"
"I... I understand!" Lonafu forced herself to sound firm. Though she was just mimicking me, her attitude was in the right place.
At the very least, she was very obedient—very obedient to me.