Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted

After a full day of experiments, Loren had completely figured out the effects of the virus.

One: If left uncontrolled, the virus would take effect within half an hour.

Two: The infected individuals carried the virus throughout their bodies. Harming others would transfer the virus into their bodies, causing infection. This was the only mode of transmission; the air could not spread it.

Three: If the infection was lifted in time, the infected would revert to normal humans. If too much time passed, their internal organs would be digested, making recovery impossible.

Once the logic of the virus’s transmission was fully understood, it posed no further threat.

Under Loren’s insistence, this information could only be shared with certain high-ranking members—at minimum, those at the Bishop level or above.

If the Bishop himself turned out to be a spy, Loren would just have to accept it.

“Alright, handle the rest yourself. I’m going home.”

“I didn’t even have lunch because I was busy studying this stuff.”

After greeting the Bishop, Loren left. After a day of toiling, not a single death row inmate remained—but they deserved what they got.“We’re sorry for the trouble. The Bountiful Church will forever remember your contributions...”

Upon hearing this, Loren suddenly stopped and muttered under his breath:

“Hopefully.”

His tone was strange, but the Bishop didn’t think much of it. He just assumed Loren had foreseen some other crisis, though he wasn’t worried—he knew Loren would ultimately lead them through it.

...

When Loren returned home that evening, Corolla was already back to work. However, since her pain hadn’t fully subsided, her movements weren’t very smooth.

And this was with Loren having stored away a portion of the damage. Ordinary people just couldn’t compare to Witches in terms of resilience.

Everything Loren needed to do was done, and the Lost Snow Mountains weren’t suitable for a visit just yet. So, for the time being, Loren was free again.

That night, Loren lay in bed. Tonight, Starnight refused to return to her cage and wanted to sleep beside him.

At first, Loren worried he might accidentally roll over and crush her in his sleep. But since Starnight wasn’t an ordinary bird, she probably wouldn’t get squashed—and even if she did, she’d be fine. So, Loren let her have her way.

“Good night.”

Loren reached out, gently grasping Starnight, and rubbed her head with his thumb.

Starnight nuzzled against Loren’s hand, clearly delighted.

No one came to disturb Loren tonight. He quickly fell asleep, his breathing steady and even.

“Good night.”

Starnight had already shifted back to human form. She curled up beside Loren and pressed his hand against her own cheek.

“This is good enough. I won’t disrupt your life, but I can still stay by your side. I’m satisfied. This is enough.”

Starnight gently gripped Loren’s hand, feeling the warmth of his palm against her cheek.

“I’ll protect you, no matter what it takes.”

Starnight gazed at Loren’s sleeping face and softly kissed his cheek.

“Mirrorheart?”

Loren sensed something off and groggily opened his eyes. All he saw was Starnight, curled up by his pillow.

He gently stroked Starnight’s back again and drifted back to sleep.

...

This period was peaceful—nothing much happened. The only difference was that when Mirrorheart came to see Loren at night, she started bringing two people instead of one.

Summer vacation ended, but Paqina didn’t return to school. Instead, the school sent their diplomas directly to them.

That suited Loren just fine. Paqina could learn far more by following him than she ever could at school.

Unless absolutely necessary, Loren had no desire to leave the Gedlan Kingdom. This was the edge of the God of Bountiful Harvest’s territory. Even if something went wrong, it would be convenient for Loren to escape.

At the same time, Loren’s newly developed Spirit Thought Ring began selling like wildfire. Not only were poor Mages snapping them up, but even wealthy individuals chose to buy a few—after all, they were far cheaper than other accessories and just as effective.

Given the prices of other accessories, even nobles couldn’t afford many. The empty accessory slots could easily be filled with Spirit Thought Rings.

This had led to a peculiar situation: to determine if someone was a Mage, you only needed to check if they wore a Spirit Thought Ring on their finger.

Even the poorest Mages would sell everything they had to buy one. Mid-tier Mages would simply wear ten. Noble Mages used Spirit Thought Rings to fill their remaining accessory slots.

The Spirit Thought Rings sold so well that Noah had to add multiple production lines. Even then, very few rings managed to leave the Nofica Theocracy.

As a result, many people started reselling them at inflated prices. Taking the rings to other gods’ territories could net a huge profit. Eventually, even the Falling Star Merchant Guild showed up, buying as many rings as they could without limit—and still, they couldn’t acquire many.

Noah fully understood Loren’s purpose for selling the rings, so he implemented purchase limits to ensure more people could wear them, allowing Loren to control more individuals.

If Loren chose to detonate the Spirit Thought Rings at that moment, every Mage in the Nofica Theocracy would be crippled.

Some time later, the aircraft Noah had been manufacturing went into mass production. Loren began seeing planes flying overhead every few days.

A few months later, William delivered the profits they had earned during that time, all converted into gold coins. The gold required an entire train to transport.

Even Scarlett, who had grown numb to money, was so excited she couldn’t speak when she saw the haul.

Moving all that money into Loren’s house took considerable effort. Loren didn’t like to flaunt his wealth, so William had it delivered to Loren’s home in burlap sacks.

The money was stored in Loren’s warehouse, and then Loren had Scarlett stuff it all into her Life Thief space.

After all, you never knew when you might need to run, so it was better to keep the money close.

“...”

At first, Scarlett was excited. But as she loaded batch after batch into her space, she grew numb.

By the time all the money was stored away, the light in Scarlett’s eyes had completely dimmed.

“Alright, go rest for a while.”

Loren carried Scarlett out of the living room. The moment he set her down, she struggled to her feet:

“Oh, right, Master. I discovered a new way to use my Arcane Ability.”

“You actually found that out?”

Loren was genuinely surprised by this. He had already accepted reality, treating Scarlett as nothing more than a warehouse. And yet, she had managed to come up with something new.

“Since the Life Thief can store things away and bring them back, I thought, maybe it can not only steal but also give. And it actually worked.”

“Check your pocket.”

Hearing this, Loren instinctively reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of purple stockings—the very pair Scarlett usually wore.

“And giving things has no cost. I tried many times to steal your underwear but failed. But when I wanted to give you stockings, it worked on the first try.”

Scarlett knelt before Loren, her face raised, practically screaming “praise me.” If she had a tail, it would be wagging right now.

Loren didn’t respond. He was thinking about something else.

Since, in the original storyline, Scarlett could survive by stealing others’ lives, could she also give life? Could she keep someone who was supposed to die alive?