Chapter 273 Starting The Ritual

In the bustling port city, a cargo ship was being loaded with supplies, ready to set sail.

This was a merchant ship preparing to head to the Holy Kingdom. Among the goods on board, in addition to the normal merchandise, there was also a shipment of "Regeneration Potions."

Recently.

With the arrival of the famous "Free Will" adventurer team in the city, the most profitable business had already become the secondary sale of "Regeneration Potions."

The owner of the merchant ship was well aware that if he sold such precious and scarce potions like "Regeneration Potions" to the Holy Kingdom, the profits would probably increase several times over.

The value of these potions alone was almost equal to the profit from most of the ship's cargo.

After Enri finished handing over the potion cargo to the merchant ship owner, she breathed a sigh of relief. This was the largest monetary income they had handled so far.

She tightly held the magic pouch in her hands, which contained a full 100 platinum coins, equivalent to more than 2000 gold coins when converted.

Thinking of this.

Enri gripped the magic pouch even tighter, looked around at the crowded people, and quickly left.

The port was originally a chaotic place. The transaction just now had caught the eyes of too many people. An ordinary little girl holding a huge sum of money was like a walking piece of fat.

However—

From beginning to end, no one targeted Enri. In fact, most people showed goodwill wherever Enri went, taking the initiative to greet her, and many even bowed.

The cheap potions had helped many poor people during this time.

"Free Will" only had three people.

Apart from the genius alchemist who rarely showed his face and spent most of his time in the inn researching alchemy, the other two people could be seen.

One was the cold-faced, extremely bad-tempered Verdant Witch, and the other was the gentle and kind Enri. The main sales of "Regeneration Potions" were all handled by the two of them… more precisely, by Enri.

This resulted in the current situation, where everyone from nobles to merchants and ordinary people needed to communicate with Enri to obtain Regeneration Potions.

Thus, the scene before them appeared. Who would dare to touch Enri? Without the captain of "Free Will" even needing to take action, those merchants and nobles who had made a fortune and gained a lot of benefits would feed these ignorant fools to the fish.

Power inspires fear!

But only profit will make the vested interests actively maintain everything.

In front of the inn window.

Minori watched Enri on the street, clutching the magic money bag nervously, hurrying back to the inn amidst the kind gazes and the crowds who actively made way for her.

Even Enri herself didn't notice, or perhaps no one dared to rob that money at all.

"Using profit to drive people is far more silent, imperceptible, and subtle than using power to suppress them, right?" Minori chuckled.

"I Don't quite understand."

The Verdant Witch stood respectfully to the side, a look of confusion in her bright yellow eyes.

Minori shook his head: "The Holy Kingdom doesn't communicate closely with the Kingdom, and our reputation in the Kingdom may not be very useful over there."

"Having these merchant ships transport 'Regeneration Potions' over in advance to build our reputation will save a lot of trouble."

"Understood." The Verdant Witch finally showed a look of understanding on her face, as if she finally understood.

Minori's mouth twitched slightly. What he had just said were actually two separate things.

When Enri returned.

Minori praised and encouraged her, and after letting Kuro protect Enri, he secretly used teleportation magic to bring the Verdant Witch to the forest deep in the Great Swamp.

Thin white mist permeated the forest.

A moist air rushed into the Verdant Witch's nostrils, and looking at the dim, familiar dense forest in front of her, her eyes were slightly dazed.

This used to be the territory of her and her sister, the Twin Witches. Now, unknowingly, they had been away for so long, and this was the first time they had returned.

Once, she and her sister thought about escaping, but now they had already given up on this idea, not only because of the strength shown by their master.

But also because by following the person in front of them.

Their names would become even more resounding, and they might even witness the birth of a figure like the "Thirteen Heroes" in the history of various races.

Their master possessed such strength and talent!

This was something that both the Verdant Witch and the Mist Witch deeply believed.

"Master." The Verdant Witch's bright yellow eyes showed reverence as she spoke respectfully.

Minori nodded and led the Verdant Witch to a prepared open space deep in the dense forest.

This was also where he had previously researched the "Wild Transformation" magic ritual. Through the contributions of those demi-humans, he had gained a clearer understanding and knowledge of this magic ritual.

The entire magic ritual was quickly prepared.

"You stand in the center of the magic ritual."

"Yes, Master."

The Verdant Witch did not hesitate and quickly stepped over the magical materials to the very center of the entire ritual.

In her hand, she was holding a bloody heart the size of two palms.

This heart was the heart of the Forest King, Hamsuke.

Minori walked to the front of the magic ritual, took out a few magic pouches from his waist, and poured out the prepared flesh and blood of the Forest Sage.

He took it out and dumped it on the ground, piling it into a semi-human-high pile of flesh and blood, and a strong bloody smell spread.

Scarlet blood seeped out of the flesh and blood, eroding the magic ritual.

This smell spread with the breeze, immediately attracting the beasts and monsters in the depths of the dense forest, but before these monsters could get close.

As the former master of this dense forest, the Verdant Witch emanated a surge of magical power, issuing a cold humph.

Instantly.

The commotion deep within the forest vanished without a trace.

Facing the pile of flesh and blood.

The Verdant Witch didn't feel any discomfort, only a bit of confusion; the bloody scent was quite fresh, indicating a magical beast that had died recently.

Not even bones left?

Looking at this pile of magical beast's flesh and muscles, it shouldn't belong to the boneless, wriggling type of magical beast.

The bones of the Forest Sage Hamsuke had already been absorbed and devoured by Minori's "Fleshly Armament," so only a pile of flesh and blood remained.

As for freshness?

Naturally, it was very fresh, having been stored in the item box all along; even after being divided and stored in different magical leather bags, it only created the external illusion of "recently deceased."

"Eat the heart."

Minori opened his mouth to remind her.

The Verdant Witch looked at the large heart in her hand, blood dripping through her fingers, a hint of hesitation flashing in her bright yellow pupils, but it quickly disappeared, and she opened her mouth wide, stuffing it in.

"Activate the ritual!"

Minori's expression turned serious, standing on the periphery of the magic ritual, he raised his palm and pressed it against the edge of the ritual, activating the magic ritual.

Buzz——

The light of magic rose, and magical patterns unfolded along the ritual, combining into a blue magic array on the ground.

The flesh and blood of the Forest Sage Hamsuke placed on the magic ritual were rapidly dissolving at a speed visible to the naked eye, like snowflakes under the sun.

The flesh and blood flowed rapidly within the magic array, turning into streams of energy, converging along the patterns on the magic array towards the Verdant Witch, who was located at the very center of the entire ritual.

"Hmph——"

The Verdant Witch immediately felt a pure and intense energy constantly pouring into her body, and a sense of pain surged throughout her body, causing her to let out a muffled groan.

Buzz——Buzz——

The Verdant Witch's own magic power uncontrollably reacted with this energy, forming a shimmering green light.

As the Forest Sage's flesh and blood continued to transform into energy and pour into her, the Verdant Witch's body uncontrollably began to swell and grow larger.

First, thick gray fur began to appear on the surface of her body, then the claws on her hands became sharp, extending long, black nails that continued to extend and lengthen.

A tail covered with snake-scale-like, sturdy scales emerged, quickly stretching out.

"A fragmented body with a missing part will not affect the transformation process."

Minori calmly watched this scene, waiting for the Verdant Witch to completely transform, "Provided that the missing part does not exceed 1/3 of the original magical beast's body, once it exceeds that, it will be affected."

Through the experiments he had previously conducted with several demi-humans provided by Immina, the "Wild Transformation Ritual" had been completely understood.

The magical beast's "heart" is the medium; if the heart is not eaten first, the entire ritual cannot be activated. Conversely, if only the "heart" is eaten without the magical beast's flesh and blood.

Then, during the transformation process, the transformer will use their own flesh and blood as energy for the transformation, a process that is destined to fail.

In order to reach this conclusion, one demi-human had to die three times in a row before it was completely understood.

This was just one of Minori's experiments.

For example.

Minori had a demi-human normally eat the "heart," and then used the corpse of another magical beast as a substitute, and the result was failure.

Even if it was the same magical beast, as long as the "heart" was not the original magical beast's heart, it would still fail, and during this process, the demi-human's body directly exploded and died.

The summarized result, using a term from his previous life, would be "rejection reaction!"

A very interesting phenomenon.

The magic ritual, which seemed not very complex, followed extremely rigid, or rather, standard rules.

"Hmm?"

Minori looked at the magic array that had been activated in front of him, and a faint blue magical light suddenly appeared in his eyes.

"What is this?"

He discovered that under his gaze, this magic ritual suddenly became clear, the flow of magic power, the energy changes in the magic array, and so on.

What's going on?

He had seen the activation process of the "Wild Transformation" magic ritual more than once, but it had never been like this time.

Minori pondered, and a thought popped into his mind: "Could it be that the passive "Magic Master" of the [Magic Transcendenter] is taking effect?"

This passive ability seems to be "able to easily master various complex and advanced magical techniques."

Boom!

The blue light released by the magic array suddenly brightened by a degree, and the vibrating magic power returned to calm and dissipated.

Smoke and dust dissipated.

A stout figure more than two meters tall, covered with thick and hard brown fur, with two claws protruding, the black, sharp nails reaching one meter in length placed on its chest.

Under the light shining through the dense forest, it still emitted a metal-like luster even in the dark environment.

Pa!!

The slender tail, twenty meters in length, far exceeding its body size, swayed slightly in mid-air, and each subconscious whip produced a rapid roar like a sonic boom.

He saw the familiar figure in front of him.

A hint of a smile appeared on Minori's face; if he hadn't personally operated the entire process, he would have thought that the Forest King Hamsuke had really been resurrected.

"Master."

The Forest King, transformed from the Verdant Witch, felt the unprecedentedly powerful power within her body and made a surprised sound.