Chapter 62: Library of the white witch (3)

“What was that just now?”

The Library of the White Witch was my imaginary world which meant no one other than me and the Overseer Witch could be here. But for some reason I could feel someone’s presence, or to be exact, their gaze.

However, the moment I turned my head to find that ‘someone’ no one was there.

Feeling? It was more like intuition(A) and Quick-witted(A) on my talent activated, along with [Sixth Sense] on my skills.

“Is that so?”

I felt uncomfortable about that gaze. But what could I do when the system had said that there was no problem? So I decided to move on. The most important thing right now was to head to the E-rank library.

“Let’s go.”

The chaotic world had reverted to its original state when the overseer witch system disappeared. Now, in front of me stood the door to the E-rank library. I was slightly nervous because I couldn’t be sure that I would be safe when I entered.

After taking a deep breath and activating [Concentration] skill. l walked through the door.

Let’s do this!

[This is a place where only true witches can enter.]

[Part of your mind has started to change into a witch.]

[Your concentration partially blocks the influence of the E-rank library.] 

[Your body has begun to change into a witch.]

This is what I was most concerned about.

Though I was mentally strong. The physical changes would be difficult for me to endure. Basically, a Witch body had the appearance of a female body. It had a beautiful appearance and long lasting youth. Moreover, it was a body optimized for using magic. But the change that I was the most afraid of was…

The loss of eyesight.

[A Witch doesn’t look at the world with her own eyes.]

That was the reason why witches said they had no choice but to be helpless against the ‘Witch hunt.’ Wouldn’t it be simple to find a woman with no vision and kill her?

For a witch who had reached a certain level, they could perceive the world with their heart. The real identity of those skills was at most a detection skill. But going blind meant that you would never see the light and color of the world again.

I didn’t want to be like that. Therefore, there was no choice but to resist the change by using all mana inside my body to block the change.

Wooosh!!

Something akin to electrical current began to flow through the body. The White Witch’s Library began to resist against my will. No, to be exact, it started to ‘clean’ me. White Witch Library started to throw away some unnecessary parts of my body in order to make my body suitable to become a witch.

‘But, it’s weak!’

So far, I had been able to hold out probably because the skill level was still E-rank. I was able to stop the transformation that slowly started from under my feet. If there was one side effect to worry about, it was that my skin couldn’t withstand it. It was difficult to prevent changes inside the body, but it was even more difficult to prevent them from going outside.

When the Library of the White Witch reached the groin area and climbed up the abdomen, it passed through the heart and finally reached my head. I could feel cold sweat trickling all over my body. And, as if being struck by lightning, my body felt numb.

But, I made it through.

[You’ve resisted some of the Witch Body Transformation.]

[Congratulations]

[The skill ‘White Witch Library’ (F) has risen to E-rank.]

And then, when I opened my eyes.

-Hey, magician. Your eyes…

“Huh?”

My eyes were white in color. It was an unexpected side effect.

My hair and other parts were fine. There was no problem with body function and vision either. By the way, I never thought my eyes would turn white like this.

“Hmmm, I guess I need a contact lens to cover it up.”

What worried me was that I didn’t know if the lens would be able to withstand the mana emitted during a fierce fight, but it didn’t seem to be life-threatening and there seemed to be no problem.

I calmed myself down and looked around the E-rank library.

“It’s so wide.”

Did I read about 10 percent of books in the F-rank library? I honestly thought that was great. But after seeing an E-rank library which had about 10 times more books than the F-rank library, my conviction was shattered.

Besides, there were some books other than grimoires stored here.

[Witch’s will]

“What the hell is this?”

There were quite a few books that recorded the history of witches and their abilities.

-I like this~

“Are you that happy?”

-Eung!! [E/N: It means yes but in an excited way I guess]

I had a hunch that this pot would read all the books here. 

It would be a waste to just exit this place now after all of those struggles. So, I decided to walk around a little bit more.

“Th,this is….”

And I was shocked.

The F-rank library was really just a preview. The magic books stored here were far more superior than the magic books stored in Vivienda academy library.

“I can’t believe such magic existed.”

I read book after book without knowing how much time has passed. Suddenly, I found a book with a strange title.

[About Witch’s Succession]

“What is this?”

Witches, together with dragons, were creatures that created a wisdom called ‘magic’. They spread the books of their wisdom for their successor.

[Rarely, Very rarely, witches would have descendants.]

[In case they left some descendants, usually it was because of necessity.]

[Because they found the need to share ‘love’.]

[And they feel the need to deliver something to their descendants.]

[So the witch…..]

I skipped over some useless information. In the first place, I didn’t want to read this entire book. As I was flipping the pages, I suddenly found something interesting and stopped.

[The power of prophecy would be given to the most accomplished witch amongst all.]

[But there was one side effect for those who bore the power of prophecy.]

[They wouldn’t be able to use other magic.]

[In exchange for being able to see the future in a clumsy way, the witch who bears the power of prophecy has to rely on others for the rest of her life. They’ll also lose both their sight and mana.]

“Prophecy, huh?”

It was a very interesting story.

Come to think of it, I heard that there was a Prophet on Earth. Of course, I can’t conclude that the prophet is a witch yet. I don’t even know the Prophet’s gender. 

There were so many myths about prophecies. There was a myth in Northern Europe which said it was possible to see the future three seconds later by digging one’s eyeball. I couldn’t help but be interested. 

Since then, I’ve been reading for a long time about the succession of the witch. And after that book, I picked up another book and read it. I read everything regardless of whether it was a magic book or a witch’s history.

I fell into a trance, I didn’t feel the time that was passing. Also, I didn’t realize that the flower pot was walking around next to me and read books on her own.

* * *

“Are you going back now?”

“Yes.”

It had been three months since I stayed on the Rostislav continent. [T/N: hello author-nim, by our calculation it was around 3 years tho….]

I had fully learned Misclean’s teachings. 

I was now able to use both Sword and magic efficiently. It was a very rewarding three months.

“I see. So, are you going home?”

“Yes.”

“I’m just curious, but where is your hometown?”

“Well, It’s very far away.”

“Yes. I see.”

Misclean smiled coolly. I didn’t know at first, but she was very good at smiling. She looked cold on the outside because she was not sociable, but when we became close she became very warm.

“I’ll have to go on a trip, too.”

“Where are you going?”

“My level has risen, so I’m going to crush all the men who were threatening me.”

It wasn’t easy to climb higher when you are already a fairly high-level warrior. By the way, Misclean was involved with the main character and the ‘Correction’ was influencing her path to some extent. She was also a very competent person who could make good use of it.

Her newly acquired skill, ‘Redistribution’ would boost Misclean’s ability by a notch.

She tied a long sword to her back and slapped me on the shoulder.

“You’ve learned my swordsmanship, so don’t go around and get beaten.”

“Don’t worry, that won’t happen.”

We looked at each other for a few seconds more before turning our backs and set off on our own way.

Misclean would wander around the world to find other strong men.

And I would go back to earth.

[Returning to earth.]

[The world’s time distribution is back to normal.]

When I opened my eyes, I was already back in my room. I looked around to find someone for a brief moment, but unfortunately I couldn’t find anyone.

When I took out my smartphone and checked the news, Taylor Nine was escorting ‘Heloni’, a world star as well as a pop goddess.

[Taylor: Hey, you little punk, Heloni will perform in Korea soon!! LOL]

[Taylor: Going to Korea soon…]

“Heloni, huh?’

Suddenly the thought of her flashed through my mind. She had quit being a Hunter on her own volition and I didn’t mean to say anything about it. Your future is for you to decide. It was selfish to blame others for leaving Hunter’s path just because my dream remained in the Hunter industry.

Let’s change the status message on the messenger to ‘End of Dispatch’ first and get in touch with a few people.

Ping!

Someone contacted me.

[Wi-Hoon: Seodam, Long time no see. Why haven’t you been in touch with me lately? Haha. I’ve been thinking of you lately. I’m in Korea now. Shall we meet for a cup of coffee?]

Wi-hoon. I frowned as soon as I saw the name. He was the dirtiest amongst the eight members who awakened as Hunter at the same time with me.

To be exact. That bastard Wi-Hoon, he abandoned me.

‘I heard he had retired and ran a business somewhere.’

His business with me was probably related to guild or something along those lines. I guess he’s interested in my name which keeps rising lately.

Is human psychology true even beyond the digital screen? Even if he pretended to be calm, there was something urgent with his words. Recently, it seemed that his business was not going well and he was desperate enough to contact me.

I read it once again before sliding to another message. It was a message from Ryu Jin-soo. Ryu Jin-soo is also one of the eight members.

Unlike Wi Hoon, Ryu Jin-soo was a good friend who often visited Korea together with Taylor when I was in hospital. Ryu Jin-soo had taken care of me, who had no superpowers, as if I was a treasure trove. Until now, I was still a little distant because I was uncomfortable with his kindness.

[Ryu Jin-soo: Seodam. Let’s meet for a cup of coffee soon.]

[Ryu Jin-soo: It’s okay to decline if you are busy.]

Ryu Jin-soo owned a small guild, but he was quite well-known as a master of quite famous hunters.

But more importantly, the relationship between Ryu Jin-soo and Wi-hoon was very bad.

I stroked my chin thinking of the fact. They both ran guilds, so I think maybe there’s something to help my guild.

[Yoo Seodam->Wihoon: Sure, let’s meet.]

[Yoo Seo-dam->Ryu Jin-soo: I’m not busy. When shall we meet?]

So, I contacted both of them.

* * *

“Why can’t I go out!”

When Yekaterina shouted, Alpha, the SS-rank superhuman stepped back. 

However, the woman who blocked  Yekaterina’s way only smiled with her eyes closed.

“Terina. We, Earthlings, need your power. You’re the only one who can foresee the disaster that will befall earth. If you can’t see the future disaster while you’re away for a moment, what will happen?”

Yekaterina clenched her fist in frustration when she heard Alpha’s words.

She knew those words were nothing but lies.

They were using her power to solidify their own position, sweeping away both money and honor. They also threatened the entire world by saying earth couldn’t be safe without their help.

In fact, even without prophecy, the world was going well.

Out of 100 prophecies, humanity could stop 99 of them.

Yekaterina slowly raised her head.

She could see ‘Amulet’ scattered everywhere around the room. Those amulets weren’t a product of science nor superpowers. It was an item crafted by ‘magic’ that was not disclosed to the world at all. The woman in front of her was also one of the amulets users.

Because of that… she couldn’t go out because of that kind of amulet.

‘I, if it’s my strength. That’s the kind of thing you’re going to do.’

Obviously in her head she had the power, knowledge, and driving force to tear that shallow and crude talisman, but her body couldn’t do it. Yekaterina couldn’t understand it herself. 

Why couldn’t she use magic like ‘them’?

Why couldn’t they see the future, like her?

There was nothing to know.

“Yekaterina, so go back. You have so much to do for the world.”

It was perfect control. She didn’t have any access to the outside world through TV, radio, newspaper, cell phone whatsoever.

‘Am I a prophecy machine that’s stuck in a cold corner of Moscow?’

Alpha held her shoulder slightly, but Yekaterina shook off the touch and returned to her room. Even though the snow was not visible, this space of about 100 pyeong was well known because it was now over 30 years old. 

Thumped into the chair, Yekaterina, seated, stretched her hand slowly.

The piano handed down by her father, who was no longer able to play on the last day of the day when she had gained the power of prophecy and lost all her sight, was clearly placed on her fingertips.

She tried to press the keyboard, but there was no more beautiful noise coming from it. In exchange for the power of prophecy, she could no longer feel the beauty of music.

In exchange for the power of prophecy, Yekaterina lost so much.

She returned to her bed, she hugged her knees and poked her head in.

She fell asleep as she was, and she dreamed.

Today, again, she had another nightmare.