Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2338: Chapter 2339: Red Butterfly Witch

Angel: ”An old friend?”

”Yes.” A faint sadness flickered in Ironclad Granny’s eyes as she sighed and said, ”To be precise, it’s the limb of an old friend.”

The limb of an old friend? Angel paused for two seconds before realizing what Ironclad Granny meant. He extended his finger and lightly tapped the tabletop, and a surge of Illusion Nodes flowed from his fingertip, casually constructing an Illusion on the wooden surface.

The Illusion depicted the scene Dororo had seen at the time.

A pitch-black underground cavern, with numerous containers and various organs placed around rectangular stone platforms surrounding the altar.

Among them, the most eye-catching organ was a female arm submerged in a long, liquid container.

”Is it this one?” Angel pointed at the black and red patterned arm, which stood out among the many organs stored in containers.

”Yes.” Ironclad Granny quietly observed the arm in the image, nodding lightly after a long moment: ”I didn’t see it wrong; it is indeed the right hand of the Red Butterfly Witch.”

”Red Butterfly Witch...” Angel quickly searched his memory, hesitated slightly after a few seconds, and said, ”Granny is talking about ’Red Butterfly Witch’ Ginny Watson?”

Ironclad Granny nodded: ”It seems your recent meditative reflections have been quite useful. Yes, that’s her. Her arm’s pattern is very special; I have seen it before.”

Angel: ”It’s her? Recently, I haven’t heard any news about her, but in magazines from the last century, she was often the subject of gossip.”

’Red Butterfly Witch’ Ginny Watson was a Level 1 Wizard from the Watson Family. Two thousand years ago, the Watson Family was quite famous, consistently ranking among the top three Wizard Families in the Winsbills powers. Unfortunately, after the ”Blood Night Butcher” incident, the Watson Family dimmed alongside the declining Winsbills. Nearly a thousand years have passed, and only one Official Wizard emerged, which was the Red Butterfly Witch.

Angel’s understanding of this witch was limited; he only knew she was a Fire Element Wizard, and due to her stunning appearance and bold demeanor, she was the object of affection for many male Wizards. Of course, most of these male Wizards were Apprentices.

Precisely because of this, Ginny often graced the pages of gossip magazines.

However, that was limited to the last century; in the past hundred years, there hasn’t been much news about Ginny.

”The reason there hasn’t been any news about her is that she left the Southern Domain a hundred years ago,” Ironclad Granny murmured.

”She really left the Southern Domain? I heard Ginny owed a Wizard a romantic debt, couldn’t defeat him, and fled from the Southern Domain in disgrace.” The one speaking was Nis, being a typical ’gentleman,’ he was more passionate about such gossip than Angel and knew more, at least Angel hadn’t heard of the romantic debt.

”Is what Wizard Nis said true?” Angel curiously looked at Ironclad Granny.

”Nonsense.” Ironclad Granny glanced at Nis indifferently and said to Angel, ”Don’t listen to his ramblings, not a bit like a Wizard.”

Nis responded woefully, ”But back then, it was all the talk, not just me who said it.”

Ironclad Granny couldn’t be bothered with Nis, setting aside her teacup and said: ”Ginny indeed left the Southern Domain for some reasons, but it wasn’t the so-called romantic debt.”

Ironclad Granny clearly had familiarity with Ginny and was well-informed about past events from a hundred years ago.

In Ironclad Granny’s words, Ginny was actually different from the depictions in gossip magazines. She did have a bold demeanor, but that was due to Ginny’s lack of forethought in her actions and speech, and her overly candid emotional expression causing misunderstandings.

Simply put, Ginny devoted all her thoughts to her practice, seldom caring for social niceties. Her manner was akin to some brawny individuals whose heads are filled with muscle.

The rampant gossip primarily stemmed from Ginny being exceedingly striking in appearance.

Ginny’s personality ensured the rumors about hiding due to romantic debt were false. Her departure a hundred years ago was actually because of unresolved conflicts with a Witch from Elysium Pavillion, who used to be a close friend.

Ironclad Granny didn’t elaborate on the specifics of the conflict, but it definitely wasn’t about romantic debt.

”Ginny had once integrated a unique fire butterfly bloodline, which was the ’Red Butterfly Witch’ in her title. This Exotic Beast’s bloodline granted Ginny tremendous power, but it also brought considerable trouble, which is why Ginny remained unable to embark on the path of True Knowledge.”

”Ginny at the time was reluctant to face her past friend, and just happened to hear about a similar butterfly discovered during Frost Moon Alliance’s plane Conquest, which she wanted to investigate to see if it could resolve her issues, prompting her departure from the Southern Domain.”

”That’s all the insider information.” Ironclad Granny sighed deeply as she reached this point: ”I met Ginny at a Tea Party three hundred years ago, marking her as a familiar junior to me. Before she left, she visited me in the Barbarian Cave, and I supported her decision to explore. Little did I know she would leave and never send back any news. After many years, hearing about her again turned out like this.”

She always thought Ginny was still seeking the path of True Knowledge or had gone to the Origin World for practice, but recalling her now brings to mind the image Nis presented.

Ginny’s current status remains unknown, but her arm now rests quietly in a transparent container, seemingly beautiful yet tragic.

Angel could tell Ironclad Granny genuinely regretted Ginny’s fate, and he considered his words before speaking: ”The information we have at present is just an unsubstantiated image. It’s difficult to make a definitive judgment about whether it’s the arm of the Red Butterfly Witch. Even if it is the arm of the Red Butterfly Witch, it’s only an arm and doesn’t necessarily indicate something amiss with her.”

”I can still identify whether it’s her arm.” Ironclad Granny: ”Ginny’s bloodline actually lies in the hands capable of transforming into Butterfly Wings. Her hands are arguably the most crucial part of her body, even more than her heart. The patterns on her hands are an external manifestation of the bloodline, which is challenging to replicate.”

Such important hands being severed; the consequences are obvious.

”Alas, who would’ve predicted Ginny’s end would turn out like this.” Nis expressed somewhat sorrowfully, given Ginny had once been an object of his fancy.

Ironclad Granny glanced at him: ”Angel is right about one thing; Ginny may not necessarily be dead, so it’s premature to lament her end.”

”Alright.” Nis didn’t argue, shrugging: ”Regardless of whether Ginny ends up dead or alive, what intrigues me more now is why Ginny’s arm would appear in an underground cavern on Revelation Continent?”

”Shouldn’t you answer that? Haven’t you heard about those face-marked people?” Ironclad Granny looked at Nis.

According to Dororo’s prophecy, the culprits behind the creation of the underground altar had numbers inscribed on their faces. Thus, to understand why Ginny appeared in the underground cavern, it is crucial to find the people responsible for creating the underground altar, and these clues are something only Nis has some impression of.

Angel also looked over: ”Yeah, Wizard Nis has been pondering this for several days; haven’t you recalled anything?”

When the conversation shifted to him, Nis’s expression was somewhat embarrassed; after hesitating for a while, he bashfully said, ”I have, but it might not be as you imagined.”

Ironclad Granny raised an eyebrow: ”If you’ve thought of it, feel free to share.”

Nis sighed and slowly began to recount.

”More than thirty years ago, I left the Barbarian Cave to gather undead. At that time, I was misled by that old man Wallace into accepting a Guiding task obligingly...”

At that time, it was the year 7347 of the New Calendar.

Nis, after collecting the required undead at an ancient cemetery, took a trip overseas. He spent most of the year to barely gather five Talented Ones, thus completing the lowest threshold of the Guiding task. He then boarded a cargo ship of the White Shell Maritime Company, returning to Flourish Continent.

Having nothing else to do, Nis began to enjoy this rare leisure time.

As for how to enjoy? For Nis, he was only interested in two things, one was undead, the other was beautiful women. He already had the undead, so naturally, he enjoyed the company of beautiful women.

It happened that there was a guardian from Sky Mechanical City on the ship at the time, a pretty female apprentice named Mia.

Nis naturally became entangled with her.

Nis led a rather happy life during that time.

As time passed, one night, when Nis went to find his new lover for some affection, he saw two Talented Ones who had just been guided into Sky Mechanical City, reporting some matters from their hometown to Mia in her room.

The matters they reported were about a group of men with numeral tattoos on their faces.

At that time, Nis was most focused on his sweetheart and did not pay attention to the words of those two Talented Ones. So, even though he heard the news, it did not leave much of a memory in his mind.

Because he didn’t pay attention to what the two Talented Ones said at the time, even though he had the impression in his mind for the past few days, he couldn’t recall it. After sorting through his memories, he gradually remembered the matter.

”Oh? Were those words from the Talented Ones?” Ironclad Granny asked suspiciously. Nis had come to ask her before, but in reviewing her past, she had no recollection of any Transcendent with their entire face covered in numeral tattoos. Unexpectedly, it was the Talented Ones, who had not yet formally stepped onto the Wizard Path, that discovered some situation.

”Yes.” Nis recalled, ”I remember those two Talented Ones seemed to have encountered some Transcendent event, feeling that there’s something odd, and after being guided as Talented Ones, they reported the matter to Mia.”

”What specifically was the Transcendent event?” Angel asked.

Nis: ”When I went to find Mia, they had already said part of the content, so what I heard was a truncated version. It seemed that there was a group chasing someone, and there were flames and smoke everywhere along the way, burning several mountains. At that time they happened to see the scene of the group flying across the sky.”

”Whether it was those pursuing or the one being pursued, there were numeral tattoos on their faces.”

Angel: ”Then what?”

Nis shrugged: ”Then that’s all.”

Angel: ”Is there any way to contact Mia or those two Talented Ones you mentioned?”

”Since leaving the cargo ship, I haven’t contacted Mia again. I don’t know how she is now, if we want to reach her, it can only be done through the Mini Signal Tower.” Nis: ”However, Lord Reine is not in the Barbarian Cave, so I can’t do anything.”

When Angel left the Barbarian Cave, he gave the Mini Signal Tower to Lord Reine. Now, with Lord Reine gone to the Tidal World, Nis has no way to reach Sky Mechanical City.

As Nis sighed, Ironclad Granny suddenly said, ”The Mini Signal Tower is with me.”

”Ah?”

Ironclad Granny: ”Before Reine left, he gave the Mini Signal Tower to me.”

”Then I’ll log off and go find Granny.” Nis himself had a keen interest in the affairs of the Underground Altar, not to mention it involved one of Ironclad Granny’s old friends, so he must act to get on Granny’s good side.

Thus, within the next minute, Nis and Ironclad Granny went offline, leaving Angel alone in the attic.

Having time on his hands, Angel originally planned to chat with Tullas about Soul Trick practices, but looking from the second floor downward, he saw Tullas chatting lively with Mandhela.

Angel took a deep look at the subtle atmosphere between them but ultimately decided not to go down now and instead took out the Mother Tree Interlinker, scrolling through the tree groups to pass the time.

About half an hour later, Nis and Ironclad Granny both came online.

Angel noticed their expressions were a bit peculiar and asked, ”How is it going, did you contact Mia?”

Ironclad Granny: ”Sigh, I’ll let Nis tell you.”

Nis: ”Hmm... I contacted the people from Sky Mechanical City, but regrettably, the news is that they are all dead.”

”All dead? What happened?”

”Mia died over twenty years ago, failed several times to advance as an Official Wizard, and ultimately died from backlash.” Nis said with slight regret, as Mia and he had a brief dalliance. Hearing of her death, he felt somewhat sad.

”Regarding the two Talented Ones from the past, they died in recent years.” Nis glanced at Angel: ”You might have even seen them.”

”Me?” Angel pointed to himself, full of confusion.

Nis nodded: ”They died in the Purification Garden.”

Upon hearing Purification Garden, Angel immediately understood. Back then, Sky Mechanical City, to advance the Purification Garden, trapped thousands of Wizard Apprentices.

A large number of Wizard Apprentices were buried in the Sea of Purification.

Among them, many were Sky Mechanical City’s own students. Those two Talented Ones guided into Sky Mechanical City by Mia were precisely arranged into the Purification Garden.

Angel himself only narrowly escaped at the last moment. Though he didn’t know the names of the two Talented Ones, there was indeed a possibility he met them.

”Walking the Wizard Path, death will naturally accompany us like the wind.” Nis sighed. Whether it was the Red Butterfly Witch, Mia, or those two Talented Ones, it was all the same. Choosing this path inevitably comes with far more danger than an ordinary life.

Following a series of lamentations, Angel asked, ”Since they are all dead, can we still trace the aftermath of this matter?”

Nis: ”Although they are all dead, Mia had a habit of recording. Those matters reported by the two Talented Ones to her were all recorded in her handbook.”

”This handbook left by Mia has already been found for us by the people from Sky Mechanical City.”