The Last Witchblood

Chapter 6: Room 1145

Naturally, Kai was unaware of the small interlude that had occurred at the Academy Market. He had just awakened from meditation after spending all night...

"2450.5..." He glanced at the pointer on the mental power detector and felt very satisfied.

After all, just a month ago, his mental power had barely crossed the threshold of 200 points for a Second-Level Wizard Apprentice.

Yet, in just one month after receiving the system, and fusing with the [Witch Heart], he had increased his mental power so much.

And all of this was also thanks to the 【Galactic Zone Meditation Method】 he had obtained by teaching Selene.

At this rate, perhaps it wouldn't be long before he could successfully advance to a Third-Level Bronze-Ranked Wizard. Although, his mental power had exceeded the 1800 mental power capacity for a normal 3rd-level bronze-ranked wizard.

He adjusted his breath and chose to exit the meditation room. As he walked out, the luminous blue magic circles that surrounded the stone room shut off automatically.

"Enjoy your day Sir." The 3rd-level apprentice on duty, politely greeted him upon noticing his exit. Kai presently accustomed to the change brought by his status as a bronze-ranked wizard.

'I wonder what they'd do if they knew I was about to increase in level soon.' He thought while humming a response, 'I've been so focused on the Selene Quest, I still haven't gotten a wand and grimoire... Let's just deal with it now.'

He quickly headed for the 13th floor, on that floor, there was a fellow student who was also under his mentor, Pedrov. He has been in the bronze rank for quite some time, so he would have information on how to go about the wand situation. Normally, he should have gone to his mentor but the latter was on an expedition to the Imaginary Realm.

_________

Upon stepping out of the dim elevator, he began checking the room numbers, until he got to room 1145.

Walking to the room door, he immediately felt something sticky from under his shoes and the smell of iron, so he looked down and spotted the blood flowing out from under the door.

He frowned at the sight but calmly raised his hand and gently knocked on the door three times. Having the memories of this body allowed him to get used to the wizard life pretty fast and over the last month, he had seen a lot of dark things go on within the Tower.

All he could do was to cautiously protect himself and what was his, and avoid anyone above his power range.

In the silent corridor, these three knocks were exceptionally clear.

He lowered his head and glanced at the hardcover book; [Essentials to Diversifying Core Energy]. It was the book that was needed to craft your own spell models, he has been studying and researching it for the past week now.

Just as he subconsciously raised his hand to knock three more times, the door suddenly opened.

He reflexively held his breath, something he always did when he was asked to run errands for the owner of this room. The man was just that scary.

The door opened little by little.

A wiry figure appeared behind it, wearing a black shirt and loose pants, his figure frail with black hair, and the skin exposed outside his clothes was very pale.

Kai looked up as the man was a head taller than him, he saw a beautifully sculpted chin, plump red lips, a high nose bridge, and above that... nothing.

The man only had half a head! The left upper side of his head was gone.

Seeing such a sight in the dead of night, you would feel as if your soul was about to fly out.

Kai suppressed his fear and disgust, not letting himself show an impolite expression. Even though they had similar levels, and perhaps his own mental power was greater than the one before him, he was sure he couldn't defeat him.

The man opposite lowered his head; the upper left half of his head was gone, and the skin and flesh at the cut of his skull were pale and rotten.

Where his eyes should have been was replaced by a hemispherical glass dome.

The glass dome contained turbid white liquid, and as he lowered his head, something resembling an eyeball occasionally struck the glass wall.

"What is it?" His shirt was covered in blood but he showed no reaction besides disgust.

"Randell..." Kai tried his best to cover his voice's trembling. It appears that his body had a lot of instinctive fear of this man.

He took a deep breath to steady himself, "I came to make some inquiries."

He looked up, and an eyeball appeared in the glass dome, pressed tightly against the edge.

Then the eyeball receded, and he lowered his head again, chuckling softly: "Why should I help you? Because you are now Bronze-ranked?"

Kai expected this, so he simply stared back at him, Randell was not someone you would call kind and helpful...

"Fine...what inquiry?" An amused smile played on his red lips as he asked this. A chill ran down his spine, and Kai felt disgust with the reaction his body was having in front of this man.

"Wand... Grimoire" he stated curtly, trying to appear relaxed.

"That's easy, I have some notes from the Mentor. It speaks on how to personally craft them. Would you want it?"

"What do you need in return?" Kai asked cautiously.

Randell propped his chin with a slender finger, "Ah you know me so well. I need a few more living experimental subjects, but my Tower credits and mana stones aren't quite enough lately. If you can bring me ten servants, or capture two apprentices, or even better, willingly become my experimental subject, I will give you the notes immediately."

Kai squinted at the man in front of him, he could already tell that he was the real target of Randell's request.

But he had a different plan in mind, it was time to put his new eidetic memory to the test, "Can I look at the notes to be sure?!"

Randell's red lips curved, quite pleased with his decisiveness.

He stepped aside to let him enter the room.

Kai entered the room calmly. He found that it was much larger than the dormitories at the 3rd floor, and it even had an inner suite.

The living room was lit by an oil lamp, very bright and steady, which must have been due to witchcraft.

On the long table in the center of the living room were many tools and materials he didn't recognize at all.

The most conspicuous was a pot in the middle, set over a small stove, with a pot of black liquid bubbling "gurgle gurgle."

Scattered around were the bodies of about 13 people...

Randell gave him a coverless book, not too thick in size, before turning to the apprentice who was standing in a corner.

"Come, It's this thing you're looking at," he stated. Kai was somewhat curious about what Research he was doing that needed so many subjects and he even refused to rent a lab.

The man silently approached the cauldron with dead eyes.

"Put one hand into the cauldron, and after you take it out, tell me how you feel."

Randell pulled out a long chair, sat on the opposite side of the table, crossed his legs, and waited for the man's reaction. Kai calmly opened the book and began going through it.

The man didn't try to play for pity or beg for mercy.

He rolled up the sleeve of his left hand, took a deep breath, stepped forward, and directly plunged his entire hand into the black liquid.

He didn't use a single finger to test it first, fearing that it would backfire and displease the Randell.

"Hiss--" he gasped.

But he wasn't burned; he was cold.

A bone-chilling cold.

"Click click click"

His teeth chattered from the cold.

"You can take it out now."

Hearing Randell's voice, he hastily pulled out his hand.

But when he saw his hand, the breath he had just exhaled in relief was sucked back in. Kai who had raised his head out of curiosity was also shocked.

The skin and flesh on his hand were gone.

His left hand was now just a skeleton, as clean as an anatomical model in an art studio.

The most terrifying thing was that he felt no pain at all at this moment.

"Ho... ho..."

The man gasped constantly, his right hand gripping his left wrist, both hands trembling.

And as his left hand trembled, it made the sound of bones rubbing together.

Randell did not comfort his fears; he stood up, his finger tapping his chin.

"It seems too much of the zakin python's stomach acid was added. How does your left hand feel now?"

"Click click click... cold... but not painful..."

The man endured the fear and cold, trying his best to act like a professional researcher.

"It seems I can still control it."

Saying that, he even wiggled the fingers of his left hand.

It was a bit difficult, but he could indeed move them.

"Not bad at all." Randell smiled, seemingly very pleased with his answer.

He picked and chose, taking a few items from the materials on the table and seemingly casually tossing them into the cauldron.

The cauldron let out two "hissing" puffs of white steam, then returned to its quiet, gurgling state.

"Now," Randell sat back down, raising his chin with interest, pointing at the cauldron, "put your other hand in."

The man exhaled; he had already anticipated it.

The first experiment had clearly not succeeded.

The second experiment was therefore logical.

He released his left hand, then resolutely plunged his right hand into the cauldron.

"Uh..."

He immediately felt his entire arm freeze.

His right hand, submerged in the black liquid, had no sensation whatsoever.

"That's enough."

Hearing Randell's voice, he immediately pulled out his right hand.

Reassuringly, this time what he pulled out was finally not a skeletal hand.

His palm, which had been covered in scars and calluses from labor, had become smooth and fair.

Without waiting for Randell to urge him, he proactively said, "Ho... it's still very cold, colder than before... click click click..."

He struggled to control the chattering of his teeth.

"...No pain, I can control it..."

He stretched his fingers and held them up for Randell to see clearly. Kai understood, Randell was trying to restructure his face, or rather what was left of his head.

Randell smiled again; this time he was clearly happier, and Kai saw his sharp white teeth behind those red lips.

"A Success at last."

He stood up while clapping his hands twice.

He walked to the other side of the room, took a crystal bottle from a cabinet, and handed it to the Servant, "Drink this."

Seeing his face turn ugly, Randell laughed so hard he swayed, the white liquid in his head sloshing with his movements.

"Don't worry, this isn't an experiment this time; it's a healing potion. A reward for helping me succeed. Aren't you pleased?" He started with a wide smile and the servant chugged down the potion as flesh began to cover the bones of his left arm but the right arm remained fair and soft.

[' Pedrov's Notes on Relicforging' to get the best Soul fit have been learned: 100%]

The moment he finished going through the notes, he got a notification from the system. He placed the note back on the table without changing expression,

"Congratulations Randell, from the look of things, you won't be needing those 'subjects' after all." Kai studied the young man in front of him. Randell's smile never faltered, the thought of being able to fix this old injury on his head and making his body stronger than ever before meant the success of his 3-year-long research and a big leap in strength.

So he was in an extremely good mood and couldn't be bothered with anything else, "You've had your look. Now go. I have work to finish."

As he spoke, he subconsciously took a defensive stance against Kai, placing himself between Kai and the Cauldron. Obviously wary of the Young Wizard, the servant on the other hand was tasked with taking care of the corpses of his former companions.

He didn't even dare to raise his head. Kai watched all this with a clear mind, he couldn't deny that the thought of sabotaging the contents of the cauldron crossed his mind but he suppressed it... He didn't need any powerful enemies right now.

It was just an instinctive reaction to make the man in front of him unhappy, which begs the question, why does he instinctively hate this wizard so much?

'Was this body subjected to some kind of mindweaving magic before?' He wondered as he calmly walked out the door without an extra word.

[New Quest Unlocked...]

__________

[New Hidden Quest Unlocked: Forge the Witch's Artifact]

[Trigger condition: Delve into Relicforging... Gain knowledge related to Wand and Grimoire making.

Clear Conditions: As an upcoming Witch King, you need to own your personalized artifact... Create your personal Witch artifact according to the traditional conditions and achieve at least Silver grade quality.

Reward:

+1 in rank

+500 Study & Research EXP

+2,000 Accumulated Experience

Blueprint Reward [Witch Spell Models x3]:

•Soulbrand Seal (1st-order, binds spells to the witch's body for faster casting)

•Witch's Eye (1st-order, temporary clairvoyance/detection spell)

•Hemocraft Spark (2nd-order, blood-linked spell amplification — doubles spell effect for 1–2 seconds at the cost of vitality)]

Kai glanced at the new quest as he walked out, he left Randell's quarters without another word as his steps echoed faintly down the quiet corridor.

The door shut behind him, muffling the sounds of bubbling liquid and faint, bone-on-bone clicking.

He let out a slow breath.

The notes he had just memorized played back in his mind as clearly as if he were still flipping through them. Pedrov's methodology was thorough—systematic stabilizers, traditional wizard sigils, the usual insistence on "anchoring elements." Yet even as the memory unfolded, the System's quiet hum stirred beneath it, offering corrections, adjustments, and new routes.

Two paths overlapped in his mind like mirrors misaligned:

Pedrov's path—Traditional, familiar, precise, safe, but rigid.

The System's path—alien, unsettling, but alive.

With another light beep, an extra notification popped up.

[SubQuest Objective: Forge Your First Artifact.

Required Components: Spirit Core + Magical Creature Bone + Witch Blood.

Method: Witch Relic Matrix.

Reward: 1 Random Witch Core Knowledge of the same rank.]

His footsteps slowed.

Pedrov's notes spoke of metal rods, of wood etched with sigils, of safe laboratories within the Tower's walls. The System, however, seemed to demand something else—something closer to the Witch race itself. Spirit and bone. Blood and will.

"...The Witch King's path." He muttered under his breath, his fingers brushing against the cool stone of the corridor.

For the first time, he noticed it: the instinctive pull. Professor Pedrov's sterile methods felt... hollow. As though he could follow them for ten lifetimes and never truly step beyond the Tower's leash. But the System's path—it was dangerous, yes, but it thrummed in his chest like a second heartbeat.

'Why am I even hesitant? I thought I had resolved myself to step into hell itself, as long as it pulls me away from the pits of mediocrity that I wallowed in my old life.'

By the time he reached his dormitory, He noticed that the fog outside was getting thicker...

'Right, it's a new month again...' He muttered as he opened his door to step in.

---

He sat at his desk, spreading out blank parchment and quills, sketching out arrays side by side. On one half of the page: Pedrov's sigils, neat and stable. On the other: the System's overlay, jagged, flowing, alive.

Now the difference was undeniable.

One was a cage.

The other, a living thing.

His hand trembled slightly as he copied the System's runes, feeling them pulse faintly as though the ink itself had gained weight. When he closed his eyes, he saw flashes—old memories not his own. Fragments of ancient Witches bending relics into being, their wands and grimoires singing with blood and voidlight.

"What do these runes mean?, if I could reverse engineer them, perhaps I could find other uses for them." He closed his eyes and mused, his fingers stroking each rune.

When he opened his eyes again, the decision had already settled in him like stone.

"...Fine. I'll follow this path. Dive nose first into this rabbit hole."

As if the System was responding to him, a new prompt came...

[Location required: Site of Resonance. Suggested: Forest of Echoes.]

[Reason: Abundance of spirit residue and materials.]

Kai's eyes narrowed. The Forest of Echoes—taboo even among apprentices. But it made sense. Pedrov's notes always emphasized compatibility between relic and wizard. If he forged his relic within those cursed woods, using what the System guided him to, then the bond would not just be compatible—it would be absolute.

"...So be it."

He extinguished the lamp, his parchment covered in jagged black runes that seemed to crawl when he wasn't looking. In the dim light, they almost looked like something alive.

Tomorrow, he would enter the Forest of Echoes.

Tomorrow, he would create his first true relic.