Outside, the noise was constant.
Inside, Anna sat quietly at the edge of the bed, her aura gradually shifting.
Though the changes were subtle, she could already see the glimmer of hope. Overcome with joy, she awoke from her meditative state.
"Ashu! I found a way..."
She put on her shoes and walked to the door, only to find Ashu speaking with a group of people.
Looking at the giant serpent's carcass, the method she had in mind became even clearer.
"I also need to brew some potions again."
Brewing potions required many rare and strange ingredients. These ingredients could either be bought from the material shops in the town or gathered personally by venturing into the mountains.
The former option required a lot of money, as the materials for potion-making weren't cheap. But Anna didn't have much money—only the fee she earned from teaching a class here and there.
Ashu wasn't exactly rich either. The little money he had saved was meant for their wedding.
Compared to the first option, the second was more ideal.
Of course, it wasn't really a choice.
The mountains of Gorn Village lay to the west, and the terrain was treacherous and complex. Anna hadn't been back in over a decade, so she wasn't familiar with the layout of the mountains. She didn't know which paths were safe to take, where the monster nests were, or where the resting spots were.
So, she wanted to discuss it with Ashu.
Not long after,
Ashu dismissed the group and returned to the living room. He listened for the sound of water in the kitchen—it wasn't done yet.
"Are you hungry, Anna?"
"I'm alright. There's something I need to discuss with you."
"Sure," Ashu replied as he sat down, giving her his full attention.
Anna took a moment to organize her thoughts before speaking. "After today's analysis, I compared the records from the Witch's Guild and figured out the origin of the mark inside me. It's the mark of 'Gistalu.' The bad news is, Gistalu is an evil god. According to the records, He seeks to descend into our world by absorbing human Magical Essence and soul energy."
Ashu's expression remained unchanged as he listened.
This was exactly what the system's brief had described, except now they had the name of the evil god.
"So, what's the good news?" he asked.
Anna's lips curved into a small smile as she responded, "The good news is, there's still a record that shows a potion can temporarily block Gistalu's absorption."
"Temporarily block?"
"That's already impressive. After all, He's an evil god. As long as we can block the absorption, I'll be able to recover to the Saint level quickly. Once I do, I can contact the sisters from the Witch's Guild and my mentor, and we can come up with a plan together," Anna said optimistically.
The strength of cultivators is divided into levels, from the very beginning as an initiate to a cultivator apprentice, and then on to a full cultivator.
A full cultivator is a broad term, because at this level, cultivators choose different paths based on their specialties.
Mages or knights, warriors or archers, monks or assassins... this is when they start to specialize.
Next is the Grand Cultivator.
For example, a mage would progress from a Grand Mage to a Magister, Archmage, Royal Mage, Saint Mage, Emperor Mage, and ultimately, a God Mage...
Other branches follow a similar progression.
This was common knowledge that Anna had mentioned during her first class.
As a half-step witch, Anna had to be proficient in all professions, and despite that, she had already reached the Saint level!
No wonder other Cultivator Guilds treated any witch they met as a Saintess.
"That means brewing this potion should be quite difficult, right?" Ashu asked.
"No. In fact, it's quite the opposite. The recipe in the witch's records only requires relatively simple ingredients. If we go into the mountains, we might be able to gather them if we're lucky," Anna explained.
"Alright, we'll head up the mountain after breakfast."
Ashu was somewhat familiar with the mountain to the west. The paths up the mountain rarely changed, and if there were any major changes, word would quickly spread throughout the village.
After breakfast,
He grabbed a shovel and headed out with Anna toward the mountain.
As for the giant serpent's corpse at the doorstep, they decided to leave it for now.
...
The western mountain was part of the Atras Empire's border, acting as a boundary marker.
From the mountain's peak, one could see the landscapes of foreign lands.
However,
The view from the borderlands of another country was bleak and barren—nothing much to look at.
"We need to find some wild boar hides first. Shouldn't be too hard to find, right?"
"There are plenty," Ashu replied.
The hunters in the village often brought in the most wild boars, with squirrels coming in second. Wild boars were incredibly prolific; a single litter could have several piglets, and they could give birth three or four times a year.
Although Ashu wasn't a hunter, he often overheard people talking about hunting, and from these conversations, he learned how to identify wild boar tracks.
He used the shovel to clear the underbrush and found some wild boar hoofprints.
"This way."
Upon hearing this, Anna stretched out her senses and quickly stopped him.
"There's a magical beast ahead. Our target is already halfway gone."
There weren't many magical beasts in the mountains, but they weren't rare either. However, magical beasts didn't descend the mountain easily. After generations of living in the mountain, they had learned to avoid humans.
They knew that the mountain provided rich food, but once they descended and harmed someone, a group of heavily armored humans would quickly hunt them down in retaliation.
Ashu peeked his head out and looked ahead. He saw a wolf with a tail like fire.
"A Flame Wolf. Requires a full cultivator to hunt it," Anna explained.
This information was only found in books from outside the village—Gorn Village's education system didn't have access to this kind of knowledge.
"Do you think the two of us, as apprentice level cultivators, could beat it?" Ashu asked softly.
"With your magic, we could certainly win, but…"
Anna didn't finish her sentence. If Ashu used his Water Bullet, they could defeat the Flame Wolf, but they were here to gather materials. After defeating it, what then?
Exhausted, both physically and mentally, and still needing to search the entire mountain?
Anna didn't want to push Ashu to such an extreme, so it would be best to avoid a confrontation if possible.
Ashu realized what Anna meant. She didn't know about his passive protection, and Ashu couldn't reveal the system, so he played along with her suggestion.
Wild boars weren't magical beasts; they were just regular animals. A simple effort from an average human could easily take down a wild boar.
As apprentice level cultivators, it didn't take long for them to find an old female wild boar with her piglets.
"Is this one okay?" Ashu asked.
"It'll do. Leave it to me." Anna volunteered. She easily cast a Water Ball spell, hitting the wild boar's head with perfect accuracy from over forty meters away.
A normal Water Ball spell that had no effect on the monster Carol, but when it hit the wild boar's head, it instantly killed it.
The piglets, startled, immediately began running in all directions.
Ashu was quick on his feet. Using his Magical Essence control, he grabbed one of the wild boar piglets out of the air. He skillfully manipulated the Magical Essence, weighing the piglet—about fifteen pounds.
"Tonight, we're having roast suckling pig," he said with a grin.
With that, he moved the piglet over and pulled out a length of rope that he had prepared earlier. As he tied the piglet's back legs together, he also secured its neck, then slung it over his back like a bag.
In the countryside, there were no refrigerators. If you slaughtered too much meat and didn't eat it in time, it would spoil. Ashu didn't particularly like cured meats, and he didn't keep much fresh meat around during the spring, summer, and fall.
It was only in winter that he'd compete with other magical beasts for meat to store for the colder months.
Once he finished, he looked over at Anna. She was using a small, delicate knife to carefully slice the skin off the old wild boar's back.
With her expert technique, she removed just a thin layer of skin.
If the wild boar hadn't been killed, this thin layer of skin would have healed in a few days.
"Is this all the skin we need?" Ashu asked.
"Mm, it's quality, not quantity. Potion-making is a refined art. Once you reach full cultivator level, I can teach you," Anna replied. Then she remembered the previous wizard. "The reason I say it's refined is because small changes in the details can drastically alter the results. Some wizards rely purely on luck and end up creating things that harm others."
"I'm not learning. Having you is enough for me," Ashu said, watching her surgical-like precision. He knew that just gathering materials would drain all his patience. "What's the next ingredient?"
"Ebony claw roots," Anna answered, carefully storing the thin boar skin. "It's a plant that naturally accumulates Magical Essence. Its roots look like dog claws and are black."
"Dog claws? I think I've seen those before."
Ashu stepped forward, leading the way.
The last time he had been up the mountain, he had seen more than one of those black, dog-claw-like wooden roots. At the time, he hadn't known they were potion ingredients. He had just played with them for a while and then tossed them aside.
"That's great," Anna explained. "Ebony claw roots are harder to find and quite valuable. They don't gather in one place, and they move. So, even if you see them, you'll need to catch them to get them."
Ashu: "Huh?"