Chapter 73: Likes to Interact with People

He further improved upon the original materials, achieving a refinement level twenty percent higher than the original version. The output strength of the Mana Source increased by thirty percent. For flight, Zheng Yichen referenced the principles of jet aircraft, adding similar assists to the wings. While this reduced the attack power of the Mechanical Dragon’s wings, it greatly improved its flight capability.

Zheng Yichen did not expect these Mechanical Dragons to have particularly strong combat abilities. Their main purpose was to divert the attention of the Pursuit Squad. The three Mechanical Dragons flew off in different directions. These things had no AI; they would only execute rigid commands. The instructions Zheng Yichen gave them were also to fly hard. If they encountered obstacles that were not members of the Pursuit Squad, they were to bypass them whenever possible.

If bypassing was impossible, they would fight. As for how to identify members of the Pursuit Squad, it was of course by their uniforms. After learning from Dan Marina that there were three more fake targets, the leader of the Pursuit Squad wanted to directly kill someone. Damn it, it was just as Dan Marina said; after the first one, a second, a third, and even more would follow.

What to do? Every target could be the real one. Focus on one and gamble on a one-in-four chance?

“Probability? Yes, I’m quite adept in that area, but the other party used methods to interfere with my prophecy. There’s nothing to be done about that.” Dan Marina smiled as she looked at the Pursuit Squad leader. “As for prophecies targeting That Dragon, every direction has an equal chance. Perhaps you could choose the nearest one and act first?”

“This is unacceptable, that is unacceptable! What use are you then!” the Pursuit Squad leader said with a dark and sinister tone.

“Nothing can be done. While there are gaps in power among Witches, the Witch behind This Dragon seems not to be inferior to me…” Dan Marina didn’t really mind the Pursuit Squad leader’s furious words. As a Witch, she bore too many curses. Of course, with her ability, she could also know where these curses came from…

But knowing held little meaning.

“Or perhaps your Sanctuary Church is willing to mobilize more forces to pursue a single Juvenile Dragon?”

Mobilize more forces? That certainly wasn’t happening. That Dragon had a Witch behind him, but he was still a dragon. If they made too much commotion and alerted the Dragon Clan, the Dragon Clan would inevitably have a reckoning with the Sanctuary Church. After all, it was a Juvenile Dragon. The Dragon Clan wasn’t large in number, and they placed great importance on protecting their offspring.

What does your Sanctuary Church want to do, going to such great lengths to capture a single Juvenile Dragon? Even if he was connected to a Witch, it was still a matter for the Dragon Clan. Therefore, the entire capture operation could not be too conspicuous. Dragons weren’t very active on the Continent, but that didn’t mean there were truly no eyes of the Dragon Clan watching.

“Or perhaps… you could wait about a year, until the limitation on my ability is lifted, and then act again?”

“Dan Marina! What exactly are you trying to do?” The Pursuit Squad leader stared fixedly at the woman before him. When he came, he had received the captain’s indication: everything this woman said, except for matters directly related to tracking the target—and besides needing to eat and drink—should not be believed if possible!

“I’m just offering a very normal suggestion. What do you think I want to do? Harm my own kind?” The smile on Dan Marina’s face faded slightly, and a gray, chaotic color veiled her eyes. “Your future…”

“Shut up!!” The Pursuit Squad leader roared angrily, cutting off Dan Marina’s words. How the future would be was unknowable. Even though this world had prophecy-type Magic, the future predicted by such Magic was not absolute. It merely selected the most probable outcome from countless possibilities, or was used to confirm certain things, like whether someone was alive or not through Prophecy Magic.

Aside from her Tracing Ability, Dan Marina was formidable in prophecy Magic. Her current ability to track Zheng Yichen was also based on such Magic. Prophecy Magic might not have strong attack power, but it had an additional effect… being a jinx!

Ordinary Mages couldn’t grasp the threads of fate, nor could they influence someone’s future fate through prophecy Magic. But Dan Marina possessed unique characteristics in this type of magic. The Pursuit Squad leader knew that if he let this woman continue speaking, even if the future she prophesied wouldn’t truly happen, who could guarantee it wouldn’t happen?

She might not be able to absolutely prophesy and change someone’s future, but she could cause that person’s future to develop worse and worse, eventually indirectly achieving the prophesied effect.

“I will consult the captain about this matter.”

“Then hurry up and go.” The chaotic color in her eyes dissipated, and Dan Marina said with a light laugh, “Sigh~ I should be having afternoon tea at this time~”

It was quite a provocative tone, yet no one present dared to step forward.

This must be the benefit of power… Petty thought, watching Dan Marina, who alone commanded the scene. She couldn’t help but tighten her fist. If she had power like hers, even if the Sanctuary Church came for her, they wouldn’t completely disregard her personal wishes.

Dan Marina was a Witch. Petty had learned about Witches from books she read before. They each possessed unique abilities. They weren’t like Talented individuals among ordinary Humans. Their abilities manifested extremely intensely. Some Witches with high danger levels could trigger natural disasters just by standing somewhere, even if they did nothing. This was an intensity ordinary Human Talent did not possess.

The Talent of ordinary Humans mostly manifested in effects on themselves, while a Witch’s influence was area-wide. One of the clearest examples recorded in books was that once, a Witch appeared in the Main City of a kingdom. That populous royal city instantly became a dead city. All things related to life withered and decayed. A kingdom with the potential to develop into an Empire thus declined and vanished into history.

The recorded time of this event was a thousand years ago… there was no precise number. Witches were the triggers that induced the world’s destruction!

This was the sentence mentioned most often in the books she read about Witches.

But now, after her contact with Dan Marina, she felt that Witches didn’t seem to be as utterly vicious and inhuman as the books described…

“Witches are also… well, similar to people. As long as they are intelligent beings, there are good and bad, right?” Sitting in the carriage, Dan Marina said quite lazily. She thought the girl before her was nice, and had nothing better to do, so she spoke a bit more. After all… the future fate of the girl before her had also become blurred.

This was entirely caused by her connection to a certain existence. Just like that tracked Juvenile Dragon—no, that Juvenile Dragon was even more indistinct. Within the blur, there were many things she couldn’t see through.

You must know, even among fellow Witches, she could vaguely grasp the threads of their fate, though influencing it was certainly impossible. In short, she was a girl with a quite malleable future. “For example, I really like interacting with people.”

If the Pursuit Squad leader were here to hear her words now, he would definitely snort in disdain. It was true she liked Humans, and true she liked interacting with people. But what she liked even more was toying with those people’s futures…