Lord: I have built a witch's sanctuary.

Chapter 3 Long-Term Planning

Crimson-gold flames danced at Anna's fingertips, like obedient elves.

She watched this scene in disbelief, feeling the immense power within her that seemed capable of burning everything.

That was a realm she, as a lowly maid, never dared to even look up to.

After a brief moment of shock, the fire in Anna's eyes flickered, and she stumbled and fell in front of Lorraine.

"Young Master! This...this is a completely new Witch's Path!"

Anna's voice trembled slightly with excitement as she clutched Lorraine's clothes tightly, as if grasping at her only lifeline.

"I've heard that even with only three incomplete paths to advancement, the family is still able to secure their position as earls."

"But you...you possess a completely new path! If we go back now and offer it to the master, the family will surely accept you back! We'll no longer have to wait to die in this godforsaken place!"

In Anna's naive worldview, this was an incredible bargaining chip.

She could almost see the young master returning to his family, enjoying a life of luxury in that warm castle, while those who had once bullied them had to bow and scrape.

However, Lorraine did not show the joy she had expected.

He simply looked at Anna quietly, a meaningful smile playing on his lips.

"Anna, have you ever heard this saying?"

He reached out and tucked Anna's wind-blown hair behind her ear, his tone indifferent.

"A common man is innocent, but possessing a treasure is a crime."

Anna blinked blankly: "You...you possess...a treasure?"

"My family exiled me because I was a worthless illegitimate child."

Lorraine turned around, her gaze fixed on the dark, raging snowstorm outside the window.

"If I went back now and told them I held a golden path to perfectly create the 'Flame Witch,' what do you think they would do?"

Lorraine's voice suddenly turned cold, mimicking the tone of those nobles:

"They will welcome me with smiles, host a banquet for me, and then force me to hand over all the contents of this witch's path that very night."

"The moment I get my hands on it will be my death day. A bastard child who possesses power that even the head of the family doesn't have—this isn't a surprise to them, it's a threat."

"Once I hand over the path, I'll be useless and will be ruthlessly abandoned. They might even chop us up and feed us to the dogs to keep it a secret."

Anna's face drained of color instantly, and her body trembled uncontrollably.

"Then...then we..."

"We're not going anywhere."

Lorraine pointed to the wooden planks beneath his feet. "It's dilapidated, cold, and poor here—but at least, I have a knife in my hand."

"But……"

Although Anna was encouraged by Lorraine's words, she turned her head to look at the howling wind and snow outside the door, and instinctive fear made her shrink back.

"We don't have a 'tower' here yet. Without that, even if I were to awaken now, I wouldn't dare to stray too far from the range of the demonic fire."

Upon hearing this, Lorraine's gaze also darkened as he looked at the empty snowfield within the glow of the demonic fire.

Yes, the tower.

The path to becoming a professional in this world is not limited to being a witch.

Witch, lord, potion master, knight... each path has its unique rules for advancement.

Each advancement of a witch requires completing a specific awakening ritual, just like Anna did just now, risking her life.

Lords, however, are different.

A lord's level is closely related to the special buildings on his territory. The more buildings there are and the higher their level, the stronger the power the lord can mobilize, and the level of the magic fire will also rise accordingly.

In this world, witches and lords are naturally symbiotic twin stars.

Witches need the protection of special buildings in their territory, otherwise their unstable minds will quickly collapse during a moment of calamity.

The buildings constructed by the lord require the witch to guide the power of the magic crystals to power them in order to truly function.

A lord without a witch is nothing more than a useless person guarding a pile of inanimate objects.

A witch without a lord is like a candle flickering in the wind, ready to be extinguished at any moment.

But how easy is it to build those special structures?

Blueprints for special buildings can only be randomly dropped by monsters, rare materials are scattered in the perilous wilderness, and some buildings even require specific magical potions as catalysts.

But he never lacks blueprints or recipes.

Other factions that want to build a structure or awaken a witch can only resort to endless, exhaustive efforts.

Even the most exhaustive results are only passable; with the flawed path to witch advancement, a witch's power can only be unleashed at most two or thirty percent of its limit.

But before the Witch's Codex, a merciless question-and-answer machine capable of knowing all knowledge.

He is 100%.

The real problem is that building the Witch's Tower requires twenty magic crystals.

Twenty in total.

He only had five coins left in his pocket.

Although the secret manual is all-knowing, it cannot conjure magic crystals out of thin air.

That thing can only be obtained from the corpses of monsters, or... by risking your life.

Kota, nowadays, is an essential item.

Once the "Moment of Change" arrives, the chaotic aura of the outside world will erode the witch's spirit like poison.

Without the Witch's Tower as a backup, even the strongest witch would be swallowed up by the surging demonic tide in an instant if she stayed away from the camp for too long, or fall into depravity and lose control due to mental pollution.

The witch is invincible only when she stands within the tower's radiation range.

This is a vicious cycle: if you don't kill monsters, you won't get magic crystals to build towers; if you don't have towers, you won't dare to go out and kill monsters.

"But we can't just sit here and wait to die," Lorraine made her decision.

"Anna, even without the tower's amplification, as long as we stay within the range of the afterglow of the demonic fire, our awakened witch abilities will be enough to handle small groups of monsters."

Lorraine stood up, a glint of shrewdness flashing in her eyes.

Just then, the howling sound outside suddenly changed.

What was originally just the sound of the wind was now mixed with countless fine, teeth-grinding friction sounds, as if millions of insects were gnawing on the wood.

"The moment of catastrophe... has arrived."

Lorraine's eyes narrowed, and she walked a few steps to the door, peering out through the crack.

The snow outside the door was no longer a static, lifeless thing; it had come alive.

The vast white snowfield was eerily surging and undulating, as if a whole churning ocean was hidden beneath it.

Upon closer inspection, the ground was not covered with snow at all, but with countless tiny, snow-white insects the size of millet grains!

"It's a living snowflake..." Lorraine whispered.

This is a terrifying first-tier monster tide.

Once someone steps inside, these tiny snow worms will crawl into the trouser legs and cuffs, and within seconds devour an adult's flesh and blood, leaving only a clean skeleton.

Anna's face turned deathly pale: "It's over... With this many, without the tower's firepower, I could kill them all even if I worked myself to death."

In the past, Lorraine could only cower beside the demonic fire, praying that the magic crystals would burn long enough to end the moment of change.

A sense of despair spread through the outpost.

But Lorraine didn't panic.

Just now, he had used a magic crystal to ask a crucial question:

"How do we hunt down swarms of monsters like the 'Living Snowflakes' without the 'Witch's Tower'?"

The answer provided by the secret manual is now gleaming with golden light—

[Living Snowflake: Tier 1 social monster.]

Individually extremely weak, but their sheer numbers are limitless. They contain an organ called a "frost sac," which ignites upon contact with an open flame. If detonated in a "eye of the storm" of a specific density, it can trigger a chain reaction of explosions.

Lorraine's lips curled up slightly.

This isn't a monster, it's a walking powder keg!

Anna.

Lorraine closed the illusory pages of the book. "If you were to fight outside, how long could you last?"

Anna hesitated for a moment before gritting her teeth and saying, "About five minutes, young master. I... I will try my best."

"No need to risk your life," Lorraine said calmly, looking at her. "Just follow my instructions."

With that, Lorraine flung open the door of the cabin.

A cold wind, carrying countless thirsty snow worms, surged in instantly, as if to engulf the two of them.

Anna instinctively tried to raise a fire shield, but Lorraine pressed down on her shoulder.

"Don't rush."

Lorraine stood in the wind and snow, his robes fluttering in the wind, his gaze fixed on the trajectory of the insect currents.

In his vision, the Witch's Codex was frantically calculating the nodes of the airflow.

three seconds.

two seconds.

one second.

It's now!

Lorraine pointed to an inconspicuous vortex on the flank of the insect swarm.

"Anna! At 11 o'clock, 30 meters away, use compressed fire element to detonate it!"

Although she didn't understand why they should attack empty spaces, Anna didn't hesitate at all because of her absolute trust in Lorraine.

The crimson flames in her hand instantly condensed into an inconspicuous spark, and in that instant, she poured all her spiritual power into it.

Go!

Mars streaked across the sky and precisely entered the vortex of airflow.

next moment.

boom--!!!