A Familiar Coin

—

Two days later.

Inside Cradle’s strategy meeting room—

“So, even with the witch’s fire, we still can’t break that thing!”

“Try again? After all, we didn’t even give the witch any help, no support at all!”

“That’s just because you guys are too weak.”

“We’re weak? You didn’t even open your shield!”

“Alright, alright, stop arguing. If we change our combat method again…”

…

“Arguing back and forth over these things, it’s utterly boring.”

Leah didn’t even sit at their meeting table. She just pulled up a chair outside the table, closest to the fireplace, and sat down, arms crossed. One ear listened to their words, while her eyes were fixed on the notebook in her hand. Taped in the notebook was the “quest” Will had given her.

[Quest 513: Magic capable of breaking through a high-level Snow Woman’s ice wall. (Note: Perhaps it needs to come from ancient magic related to the Primordial Candle? But too much of this magic has been lost; it’s uncertain if it can be fully recovered.)]

The future Will wrote for her wasn’t only about completing the “Primordial Candle” quest, which was already… a lifelong pursuit for her, and indeed for all fire-attribute magic researchers among witches.

There was also… for some reason, he was particularly insistent on her defeating the Snow Woman. Perhaps in the future he saw, she and some seemingly powerful “Snow Woman” were like fated rivals, their lives intertwined? Only by defeating that monster of fate could she achieve her long-held wish, and successfully overcome her tribulation.

“As it turned out… it wasn’t going smoothly.”

The voices of her current teammates—who were merely tools for her to reach the Snow Woman’s floor—faded in Leah’s ears. She quickly immersed herself in her own world. She could feel a faint, cold sting in her right arm. It was where an ice spear shot by the Snow Woman had grazed her.

Of course… more importantly… even though she had left the Witch’s Coven, even though she had begun to face the most powerful enemy, even though her fighting spirit was ignited, even reaching dangerous moments where she herself got injured…

“It was still just as lifeless…”

She opened her hand, gently ignited a small flame, then slowly closed her palm, extinguishing it. For her, this was the most common way to feel her magic circuits—by using a little low-level magic. She felt no extra “passion” within her circuits. The only thing that could make her fluctuate even slightly, surprisingly… was just this quest written on the note. Only when she thought about breaking through that wall did she feel a slight bit of motivation.

She looked up, gazing at the team she was currently with, rated as “S-rank.” Truly, they weren’t even a fraction as good as the old “Starting Star.” No discipline, no organization, no coordination. They were a team of seven or eight people, yet after entering the dungeon, they didn’t even have planned positions or formations. The various adventurers who boasted of being “S” or “A” rank were only that on the surface; their actual abilities were quite pathetic.

Even stranger was…

“Calculating it now, the points we’d get from clearing this dungeon are completely not worth it!”

“What’s more, winter’s already passed, right? Now, for an ice-element core dungeon, no winter clothing merchants are willing to sponsor us anymore.”

“Don’t mention those things. As long as we can go from the first page to the second page of the rankings, it’s worth it!”

…

Had she been in the Witch’s Coven for too long? She felt that the Adventurer’s Guild now was not only extremely “boring” but also filled with an indescribable, restless atmosphere. At the review meeting after a failed raid, they weren’t discussing what went wrong, or how they could improve based on the BOSS… They were discussing how to maximize profits—not within the dungeon, but outside it. Even she, a mere “external helper” who took a commission, was unfortunately included in their cost-benefit analysis.

“Sigh…”

Leah closed the book. She found it somewhat “intolerable.” Only after leaving the Witch’s Coven, stepping outside the relatively “pure” witch community, and having to deal with adventurers, did she realize that she wasn’t just unable to leave Will. She also couldn’t stand… all the trivial matters “outside of the quests” Will had written… Only by dedicating every minute and second to each quest he had given her, feeling the slight restart of her magic circuits, could she feel a little more comfortable.

Before, she remembered how her craving and addiction to Bloodmint Essence, when she first encountered it, was similar to how she felt now. Just by not injecting Bloodmint Essence, she would feel an “emptiness,” as if something was missing. Now, she too was… constantly craving to experience that feeling again, so she relentlessly, endlessly pursued Will’s quests, even without a clear “purpose” or “goal.”

“Wait, where… where are you going? Even if you’re an external helper, our battle plan is…”

“Call me when your internal conflicts are more or less sorted out. Oh, and to be blunt, if things continue like this, even with me, you won’t be able to clear the Abyss of the End.” Leah’s words were as venomous as ever. However… compared to her previous merely sarcastic remarks, her words now contained very direct “suggestions,” each hitting home.

She picked up her hat by the door, put it on, then opened the door and walked out onto the street. Witches didn’t much care about the flow of time, or even the seasons, but… Leah looked at the crowded commercial street. Wherever there was a dungeon, the Adventurer’s Guild would attract investment, bringing in many merchants. Adventurers who made a living here, as well as nobles with a bit of money who simply came for dungeon entertainment, all gathered. Holanda Town was a city in northern Entark, nestled within the mountains. It was naturally a bit “colder” than cities further north. Because of the evening “popularity,” she could somewhat sense that the cold winter, when everyone hid indoors and stayed home at night, seemed to have passed. This also meant Will’s death was at least three months ago.

“Fine, although I don’t like crowded places, this is the quickest way.” As Leah, who could get many profitable jobs inside dungeons, she wasn’t willing to live with smelly adventurers. She always stayed in the best luxury suite of the town’s finest inn.

Then… feeling her cold magic circuits, completely depleted by the boring, lengthy, and noisy meeting. Longing to quickly return to her room, open page after page of relevant research, and complete that “quest” on her next dungeon delve as soon as possible…

As she walked into the crowd…

Bump.

Someone gently bumped her arm. It happened to be the side that had been grazed by the ice blade earlier.

“Can’t you watch where you’re going? There are clearly people here…” For Leah, being bumped in a crowded street was common. Even with her large hat, she was quite short, so she often got bumped by careless people in the crowd.

But…

“Wait, this feeling… what are you carrying… how can…”

Why? In that instant, she seemed to lose all sensation of others. Her eyes flared red, and along with the red, the pink of love in her depths also brightened. Her brain hadn’t registered anything, but her body had already reacted. Her entire blood was boiling, and her magic circuits, rarely, began to clamor with “excitement” within her blood.

Why just now… The man who just passed, seemingly dressed entirely in black, merely touched her, yet her magic circuits… ignited in an instant? Even when she first encountered Bloodmint Essence, she hadn’t felt such a burning sensation just from being touched, like she did now.

Wait… When she first encountered Bloodmint Essence?

Leah stood somewhat bewildered on the street, then, as if realizing something, she reached into her pocket. The person who just passed had used extremely powerful aura-masking magic, which was why she hadn’t noticed him even at such close proximity, and had been sharply bumped.

But… he definitely didn’t use aura-masking magic just to bump into her. He… he seemed to have put something in her pocket during that collision… Leah’s fingers fumbled in her robe’s pocket. Her magic robe had an outer pocket, but since both the inside and outside were black, it wasn’t very noticeable. If… if it weren’t someone who knew her very well, they probably wouldn’t even… She touched it. The moment she touched that thing, she already felt her heart pounding wildly.

Opening her hand, she saw… what was resting in her palm… was a coin imprinted with the face of a Big-Hat Witch.

A Witch Coin. Witches now often used them as tools for magical contact, but because her previous stash had been heavily depleted, she hadn’t used one in a long time.

But it was… a counterfeit. An undeniable counterfeit…

“No, could it be… could it be that…”

Even before her brain registered it, her feet had already begun to run down the street.

“Move, everyone move!” The blood in her body was boiling wildly, burning wildly, frantically craving and anticipating something… She pushed through the crowd, simply following the pure bodily reaction this coin had given her.

“So familiar… too familiar…”

“This feeling…”

“The same feeling as those three years before…”

Leah clutched the coin tighter and tighter. It wasn’t until she realized that she had left the urban area of Holanda and reached the woods outside the town. In the woods, a thick mist hung around. Mountain forests often had such mist at night, but… Leah held the coin, stepping forward… inch by inch…

Within this mist, she saw… two doors. Like the dungeon ghost story trick she once played on Will in the dungeon. They stood before her.

—