Release That Witch

Graycastle, Neverwinter.

Astrologer of Dispersion Star worked as usual, computing the design manuscripts sent by the Ministry of Industry alongside his companions.

It was a seemingly never-ending job; yet, it was surprisingly fulfilling—unlike observing the stars, they were able to calculate every outcome, determine the direction of the design, and ultimately yield foreseeable results. Although he frequently used the new astronomical telescope while idle, he had placed more attention on the Arithmetic Academy over the past two years.

The more he calculated, the greater his appreciation of Roland’s words—’employing numbers to describe everything.’ Astrologers did not have much knowledge on the manufacturing process, but all the curves and lines portrayed by those numbers looked extremely coordinated with the majority of outcomes predetermined. It was a fantastic yet bizarre connection between the two and at times, even he wasn’t so sure himself. Was it the creations which determined the numbers, or vice versa?

If we have a certain degree of grasp over this knowledge, is it possible that we would not even require material objects and be able to determine the properties of an unknown object with just a string of numbers and formulas?

This was the wonderful association that made him look forward to new discoveries every day.

“Research Project 26’s computation has yielded 3475, far exceeding the margin.” His assistant carefully pressed on the calculation machine before reporting.

The machine was extremely rare and personally crafted by Anna. With less than 10 sets in Neverwinter, they were all allocated to the Administrative Office and Arithmetic Academy.

Astrologer of Dispersion Star nodded his head. As he lifted his pen and was about to record it down, the light above his head suddenly flickered. The light bulb buzzed, as though a malfunction had occurred.

Everyone stopped everything they were doing and waited for the illumination to return to normal.

“Crash!”

A crisp sound came from the room next door immediately following that, sounding like something had fallen to the ground.

The astrologer frowned; he knew that important instruments used by the ancient witches were kept in that room. After the repeated warnings for the apprentices to pay extra attention when cleaning that room, why were they still so careless?

Unexpectedly, the culprit quickly ran out of the room and rushed to him in fear and panic. “My, my lord! The skeleton is floating!”

“What?” Astrologer of Dispersion Star frowned and rushed towards the door, only to widen his eyes in shock.

The skeleton that was originally enclosed securely had completely dispersed, as though changing its own form with a radiance blossoming from its center. It looked like it had awoken from a deep slumber!

How could this be possible!?

Only a few were aware of the existence of carriers—aside from the blob-shaped ancient witches, no one was able to use the magical objects. They were the ones responsible for the dark tunnel under the Arithmetic Academy to the central carrier, and it was for this reason that the Arithmetic Academy had such objects.

The brilliance did not sustain for long. After about thirty seconds, the skeleton returned back to its sealed state and fell to the ground slowly.

“My lord, I was just using a wet cloth to wipe the dust from its surface; I swear that I did nothing else!” the apprentice tried to explain himself in panic.

“This has nothing to do with you; you may leave,” Astrologer of Dispersion Star feigned a calm expression and instructed the apprentice.

When the door closed, he took out a unique key from his robes.

It was the only method to head down into the tunnel.

There were more than one blob-shaped ancient witch, but the one beneath was different. Rumor had it was that she had no consciousness and only had the ability to answer questions; therefore, it was required for her to be chained and shackled to prevent unexpected accidents. The astrologer was not unfamiliar with her, for she had contributed greatly in verifying computations previously. But he never forgot Lady Pasha’s warnings. Upon being awakened, the carrier’s body held strength capable of tearing any humans to shreds.

He had to ensure that what had just happened was not because of her.

What shocked him was that the central carrier had not left its original position, but had gone completely limp, with its tentacles twisted together, devoid of any signs of life.

No… how did this happen…

Astrologer of Dispersion Star knew that the problem and solution was completely beyond him.

He quickly turned and ran to the surface, while shouting at the top of his lungs. “Someone, hurry to the castle and inform Lady Scroll!”

…

The brilliance that appeared quickly dissipated and the illuminated gray dot sustained for a few seconds and immediately died out, like a temporary flame.

Did I… fail?

Celine stared at the network, speechless. In that instant, she had clearly formed a connection with the magic power core, but why did the light die out?

Her original plan was to form an equilibrium and connect the two ends to allow Lady Eleanor to analyze the four instruments, but her hope had turned evanescent like bubbles.

When she made another attempt, she found it difficult to gather her focus—Mask’s intrusion into her consciousness had started to show its effects.

“Without the support of the God’s Stone mine, the network cannot last too long… It ultimately requires magic power to operate; otherwise, why do you think I would allow those magic cores to drift away?” 

“I cannot allow that.”

Suddenly, a third voice appeared in that space of consciousness.

Celine was startled. The voice sounded familiar; it had an indescribable sense of familiarity mixed with a tinge of unfamiliarity.

She turned her head only to see a lady standing silently behind Nassaupelle. Her long hair reached her ankles, her brows were exquisite like a painting, and her pair of gray eyes had a hint of languidness. She looked extremely similar to the other two of the Three Chiefs.

“Lady… Eleanor!”

Celine blurted out.

She could hardly believe her own eyes! After 400 odd years, she was once again looking at the creator of the Union.

“You must be Celine? I remember your voice. And this is undoubtedly a senior demon…” Eleanor looked around. “Where is this? A new spirit vessel?”

“I will tell you everything later, but we don’t have the time for that now!” Celine urged anxiously. “Please, help me to activate the magic power cores and drive this demon out! Otherwise it will all be too late!”

“Hahaha… Hahahaha…” Mask laughed out loud. “I was wondering what you had done. Who would have known that you would be sending me a gift! Is this female specimen strong? A pity that I do not own a physical body, so fighting capabilities are useless here. As to figuring out the four cores, that is even more hilarious, in terms of computational—”

Halfway through, Nassaupelle’s smile froze.

He clearly noticed the stellar bodies above his head was changing, from a few light blobs that appeared suddenly, followed by the quick expansion of an area like a river receiving a large influx of water from a reversed waterfall. This resulted in the suppression of the revolution of the stars, and forced them to spin in a counterclockwise direction instead. Under the two intertwining powers, the four magic power cores blossomed with dazzling lights again!

The reinstated Deity of Gods instantly entered a steep decrease in speed, the dissipating Red Mist was quickly pulled back in, and the crystal which had liquefied into a boiling liquid and surged to the surface of the Red Mist Lake had solidified into a crystallized body once more. The sudden change of gravity made it impossible for the First Army to move as they were pressed to the ground.

“Who exactly are you!?” Nassaupelle roared in astonishment. “How is this possible with a single person?! How are you able to understand the composition of the magic power revolutions alone so quickly?!”

“It’s true that it’s impossible to achieve this with one person.” Eleanor looked upwards and extended her hands, as though interacting with the majestic magic power that surrounded them. “But I am not alone…”

With a loud bang, the surrounding lights died out, along with the other nodes on the network, leaving only the blob of light representing the Deity of Gods that started to flicker.

Celine realized that the connection between the control hub and the ‘network’ had been broken.