Chapter 74: The Revelation

“Witches also had many different personalities. Some were gentle, some were hot-tempered, and some were cunning. In this way, they were not different from Humans. However, one thing was certain: Witches were very dangerous beings. Some Witches who could control their abilities were okay, but there were other Witches who could drag you into trouble just by standing near them. This was definitely a kind of trouble you would not want to encounter.”

“Um…” Petty looked at Dan Marina with a strange expression. It felt weird to have a Witch explain things about Witches to her. Yet, what Dan Marina said now helped Petty understand Witches a lot better. For example, the books only mentioned that a Witch’s abilities were dangerous, but they never talked about the information Dan Marina was sharing now. “Are Witches who can control their abilities more powerful?”

This question was something she asked based on what she knew about Professionals. After all, a Professional who could not control their own power was not very strong at all. Having good control over one’s power was also a big sign of Reaching the Tier.

“The standards for Human Professionals cannot be applied to Witches. The less a Witch is able to control her abilities, the stronger her power tends to be. Don’t be curious—I also belong to the kind of Witch who cannot fully control my abilities.” She looked at Petty with a slight smile. “The difference is, my ability does not directly affect the environment, so I do not have the same restrictions as other Witches.”

“Is it… language?” Petty thought about how the Pursuit Squad captain had reacted so strongly when Dan Marina spoke before. Since her ability could not be fully controlled and did not directly affect the environment, it must be related to the captain’s reaction.

“Clever girl.” Dan Marina chuckled softly. “Alright, it’s getting late. I need to rest.”

“Finally, some peace… for now.” Zheng Yichen looked at the information coming through the Surveillance Stone. He did not have to worry about Petty’s situation for the moment. Although her freedom was restricted, she was fine. As for the woman next to her who looked like a flashy troublemaker, Zheng Yichen just wished that the Surveillance Stone he made could also transmit sound.

Every time he saw Dan Marina and Petty talking together, he grew very curious about what they were saying. And Dan Marina seemed to have noticed something, always choosing to chat with Petty right next to a Surveillance Stone, which made Zheng Yichen itch with curiosity.

“Are you all… really the elite of the Pursuit Squad? You are utterly useless.” Looking at the new Mechanical Dragon that had been delivered, its surface still showed signs of Mana Erosion. As for the inside, she did not even need to check—the deformed exterior made it clear that the inside of the Mechanical Dragon must be a complete mess! “You should have had an easy time subduing this thing, so why did it end up like this?”

Even though the internal structure was destroyed, the external design of this new Mechanical Dragon was more refined than the previous one, especially the wings, which had some quite unique modifications. It should have been able to fly even faster.

The last Mechanical Dragon was captured by the Pursuit Squad in less than a day. This time, it took them nearly two days!

“… After its movements were restricted, the Mana Source entered a state of increasing Mana output. By the time we noticed, it was too late.”

“A new protective measure?” Dan Marina nodded. Of course she knew about Mana Sources—they were Alchemical Products. Depending on their quality, they output different amounts of Mana. If the quality was too low but the output strength kept being raised, the final result would be the Mana Source overloading and being destroyed.

It could be used as a bomb.

A chaotic, grayish color clouded Dan Marina’s eyes as she placed her hand on the Mechanical Dragon. Sure enough… anything related to That Dragon only showed fragmented and broken images when she tried Tracing it, as if some force had forcibly erased the information. However, that force was not strong enough, so some traces of information still remained.

“Did you find anything?”

“Hmm… The information is too fragmented. I’ll need to slowly piece it together. It might take a few days.”

“Are you slacking off on the job?!” The Pursuit Squad captain glared angrily at Dan Marina. “With your ability, isn’t this clue enough?”

“Ha! If it were anyone else, I could dig up their deepest secrets. But this Dragon is different. He seems to have an ability that counters my power.”

Dan Marina’s words made the Pursuit Squad captain’s eyes flicker rapidly. His angry expression quickly calmed down. After that, he no longer cared whether Dan Marina could discover anything from the Mechanical Dragon. The internal structure of the Mechanical Dragon was completely destroyed, and keeping this wreckage would not yield anything useful.

What really changed his mind was what Dan Marina said! An ability that countered her power… Her ability was very troublesome, not only because it was invisible and intangible, but also because it targeted individuals specifically. Just as she said, if she wanted to, she could dig up many people’s deepest secrets. Back then, the Sanctuary Church had to pay a significant price to make her sign a Contract…

It forbade her from maliciously and actively Tracing the information of any member of the Sanctuary Church. In return, the Sanctuary Church made certain promises to her. That was the best the Sanctuary Church could achieve at the time, because Dan Marina was a special Witch. She had her own unique way of preserving her life, and if she died, it would cause a lot of trouble!

Unlike other Witches, who, even when executed, only affected a certain area of the environment, Dan Marina was different. Her influence would not be on the environment but on the paths of fate. In this world, the power of fate was also very strong. If she died, especially if she died with great resentment, the power she released would not just affect someone’s fate.

When someone was about to die, they would naturally do whatever they could to be ruthless. If she placed a fate-level Curse on the Sanctuary Church, a large portion of the Sanctuary Church’s leadership would likely collapse. That was a price the Sanctuary Church could not afford at the moment. Therefore, even if they wanted to deal with Dan Marina, they could only do so when she was the last Witch left!

Otherwise, once the Sanctuary Church’s strength declined, they would face a joint counterattack from the Witches. There was another reason too: Dan Marina’s ability had the smallest impact on the environment. Although her personal style and behavior were not the best, she only targeted a small number of people. The world was large, and whoever caught her eye would just be unlucky. As long as it did not affect the whole world, it was fine. So, after paying a certain price and restricting the targets of Dan Marina’s ability, the Sanctuary Church turned a blind eye to her existence for the time being.

After all, her ability gave them a huge advantage in dealing with certain situations. Because of her, the Sanctuary Church had executed many enemies over the years who were hard to capture and whose actions were difficult to predict.

However… now she had met her match! Contracts were not absolute. Even with the restrictions of the Contract, the Sanctuary Church had been searching for ways to counter Dan Marina’s ability all these years, but so far, they had found nothing. Now, however, things seemed to have changed…