Chapter 694: "Pillar of Light"

After Roland fell asleep, Nightingale melted into the mist, silently leaving the castle.

Her destination was the Foreign Affairs Building.

The dark earth, shrouded in night, appeared in distinct black and white hues in the Mist World. Using distorted contours, she leapt several meters, crossing the courtyard wall in a few steps.

Roland called this way of moving "Flash," and said it was a divine skill without a cooldown. Nightingale immediately liked the name—moving like lightning, silent as a ghost, appearing and disappearing unpredictably, making it impossible to defend against; that was Flash.

She just didn't quite understand what the second half, "cooldown," meant.

But that was just His Majesty Roland's *laomao* acting up. After being by his side for a long time, she always heard some nonsensical words.

Leaving the castle district, Nightingale didn't take the usual slope down the mountain, but instead leapt high from the mountainside, stepping on lines that appeared in the sky. After a few bounds, she landed directly on the top floor of the Foreign Affairs Building.

This building was built in the area between the castle district and the residential area. It was four stories high, level with the small hill where the castle was located, and was the second concrete building after the Witch Building.

Its initial construction purpose was to confine some of the more important prisoners, such as Duke Ryan's wife and daughters, who were detained in the basement—although they were prisoners, the environment of the new residence was much better than the previous dungeon, and they had daily walks. In her opinion, it was a bargain for these nobles.

Perhaps His Majesty felt that he might not have so many enemies to confine, so the above-ground part became the first stop for distinguished guests who came to Neverwinter, such as the Alchemist Association of the Royal Capital, the sages of the Astrology Society, and merchants from the Fjords all stayed here for a period of time.

Since most of the rooms in the Foreign Affairs Building were vacant most of the time, and were far from the residential area's heating system, only running water was available. Also, because the identities of the residents were relatively complex, His Majesty added a guard team here, which could show respect for the guests, and also serve as a means of surveillance and vigilance.

Nightingale naturally wouldn't choose to walk the stairs and disturb the guards. She passed directly through the top floor's floorboards and entered the Wolfheart witches' bedrooms.

The afternoon's inspection had revealed nothing unusual. The magic cyclones of the four witches were stable, and their capacity was nothing outstanding, making them the most ordinary kind. As for the content of the questions and answers, they basically didn't lie, only being a little vague when talking about past experiences. Her branch ability keenly captured subtle inconsistencies—but this was normal. Suffering, pursuit, and even more unspeakable treatment along the way would become shadows in the witches' hearts that they were unwilling to mention. Wanting to hide it was human nature.

If only these four witches had come to Neverwinter, then she would likely have four more sisters.

But what Nightingale was concerned about was the ordinary woman called Seventy-Six.

Although the other person had no magical aura and looked no different from ordinary people, she always felt that something was wrong. After thinking about it later, she realized that what made her feel strange was Seventy-Six's completely unreserved answers.

Nightingale had seen many people who would pour out everything they knew like beans from a bamboo basket when faced with death, but a former maid of an underground merchant guild was frank with strangers without encountering any threats. This was really rare.

But she couldn't judge that the other person's identity was problematic for this reason.

After all, Seventy-Six hadn't lied.

Not lying meant that so far, the experiences and origins she talked about were credible. In addition, Yoko, Amy, and Annie's statements could corroborate each other—she was indeed a guide at the "Black Money" exhibition, and was bought by Yoko because she was involved in the witch auction incident.

So Nightingale decided to investigate the Foreign Affairs Building at night and observe Seventy-Six's actions in the mist.

If the other party really had ill intentions, this was the easiest moment to reveal flaws.

She passed through each bedroom one by one and quickly found the room where the target was.

The other witches had basically fallen asleep, but

Seventy-Six's room was still lit—she was sitting on the head of the bed, playing with a ring in her hand by the candlelight. It could be seen that her eyes were full of joy and intoxication.

Was it because of the beautiful gemstone inlaid on the ring?

Nightingale walked to the head of the bed and quietly observed her every move.

Apart from admiring the ring over and over again, she had no other suspicious behavior, just like a lucky person holding a treasure, too excited to sleep.

Although the ring sparkled with tiny magical light, considering that the exhibition often auctioned some relics collected from unknown places, it wouldn't be strange to see such a magic stone.

Half an hour passed like this, until the other party was tired of admiring it, drowsily lowered her arm, and closed her eyes. Nightingale gently sighed.

It seemed she had been overthinking it.

She glanced at Seventy-Six one last time, reached out and extinguished the candle, turned and passed through the wall, throwing herself into the howling wind and snow.

*******************

The heat of the multicolored magic stone faded, proving that the person using magic had left the bedroom.

Seventy-Six breathed a sigh of relief.

Even if they could obtain almost infinite life through soul transfer, it didn't mean they could stay awake all night. However, after disconnecting the soul from the body, the efficiency of rest was much higher than sleep, so in a day, she only needed to rest for one or two hours to recover her energy.

Usually, she fell asleep much later than the witches.

Unexpectedly, it was precisely because of this difference that she observed an incredible scene.

Seventy-Six opened her eyes and looked at the bedside, which was now empty—just now, a bright orange pillar of light appeared in the room, a pillar of light as thick as a torso, reaching straight to the ceiling, reflecting the other side of the ring into a golden hue! This level of "key" had surpassed Pasha, the high-level witch who remained in Taquila, second only to the three seats of the Union. Although she couldn't see the other person's figure, she knew that it was definitely not a simple invisibility spell, but a much more complex ability!

Could the visitor be Anna or Leaf in Nanawa's words?

Although there was still a certain gap from the requirements of the Chosen, seeing such an orange light had already made Seventy-Six's heart excited.

The activation method of the multicolored magic stone ring was very simple. As long as someone nearby was using their ability, the magic stone could absorb a small part of the surging magic, thereby showing the complexity of the ability. The specific manifestation was the pillars of light observed through the magic stone. The thicker the pillar of light, the more complex the key meant.

The more Seventy-Six thought about it, the more excited she became. She simply walked out of the room and came to the top floor of the building.

The wind and snow hit her face, but she didn't feel a trace of coldness. If it were normal times, this empty and unfounded feeling would only make her feel tired, but now she felt invigorated, with a heroic feeling of standing against the wind and chasing the last glimmer of dawn in the darkness.

She raised the ring and aimed it at the castle—according to Wendy, that was where the witches lived. Now that the first high-level witch had appeared, would the Witch Union give her more surprises?

She was full of anticipation.

However, at this moment, an unexpected change occurred.

The ring in her hand suddenly trembled, as if resonating with something.

And through the magic stone, Seventy-Six clearly saw an unprecedented pillar of light—it was almost like a wide high wall, cutting off half of the sky.