Witch's Embrace

Ten days, or rather nine days, passed quietly.

During these remaining nine days, no additional incidents occurred at the convent. The nuns were each busy with preparations for Witch's Night, leaving them no time for anything else, allowing the anxious Hawthorne to get through the period without any further scares.

During this time, he didn't remain idle, persistently immersing himself in his Grimoires, striving to learn a few more spells before Witch's Night to further ensure his safety.

In the course of this, he discovered a delightful use of his Eldritch Invocation.

Eyes of the Rune Keeper: You can understand any written language.

He initially thought this meant he no longer needed to study additional languages to comprehend all written scripts—whether common like Elvish or rare ones like Draconic, Giant, or even Primordial. He assumed he could understand them all without needing to learn them.

In the game, after all, this Eldritch Invocation served exactly that purpose.

However, to his astonishment, this ability to "understand all written language" extended to the specialized languages of various academic disciplines in this world!

Now, the abbreviations, symbols, and technical terms on these five Grimoires were immediately comprehensible to him, and he could learn them effortlessly. The difficulties once posed by the disconnect between the knowledge of two worlds and his lack of foundational knowledge vanished entirely!

As a result, his learning efficiency more than doubled. In the remaining eight days, he managed to learn two additional Cantrips and two more first-level spells!

In just a week, he learned four spells, and unlike ordinary mages who have to record spells in a spellbook to cast them during battles—flipping through pages in the middle of combat and often being able to cast only a few without their books—he imprinted these spells directly into his mind, able to cast them without any book at all!

And he was completely self-taught!

This learning ability would make him a top student even at Straylight University of Magic.

After all, in this world and era, foundational education is what it is, and the self-learning capability of ordinary people cannot compare to those from modern society in his previous life!

Of course, the "Study" and the convenience provided by his Eldritch Invocation, "Eyes of the Rune Keeper," also contributed significantly to his progress.

The new Cantrips Hawthorne learned included "Light," which was purely for illumination.

The other was "Shocking Grasp," an offensive Cantrip with the advantage of being free of Mana cost, simple to cast, almost instantaneous, and capable of paralyzing the enemy with electric shock upon contact, diminishing their combat capability even if it doesn't kill them.

The disadvantage is that this spell requires him to touch the enemy to deliver a strong current, which is quite limiting.

Aware that he is not skilled in close combat, Hawthorne knew he wouldn't use this spell under normal circumstances. It would only be used if an enemy got too close and it was inconvenient to use "Magic Missile."

The two new first-level spells he learned included the self-protective spell he had been longing for, "False Life."

Although cast it on himself indefinitely without consequences, "False Life" offered long-lasting protection, with a duration of up to an hour, ensuring that he felt more assured on his next venture out.

Besides this, he learned another spell, a large-scale group control spell called "Sleep Spell."

This spell is a godsend in the early stages, especially in the slums of South Harbor District, where it's incredibly effective.

The main reason is that the terrain in the slums is often very narrow, allowing many people to cluster together, thus maximizing the spell's effect.

These thugs, regardless of how much blood they've spilled, usually survive on sheer brutality and luck. They have not received formal, systematic training, meaning they generally have no occupation levels, and their magic resistance is effectively zero.

Thus, during a fight, enemies often swarm in large numbers, and a player casting "Sleep Spell" could instantly put them all to sleep.

For the remaining time, the player could then leisurely defeat these sleeping enemies one by one.

While as players level up a bit, this spell becomes less effective, at this moment, it is undoubtedly a powerful weapon against foes!

With these two new spells, he felt much more confident about the evening's actions.

"Ten more minutes..."

Watching the countdown on the system and then glancing at the sun still lingering in the western sky, Hawthorne felt every muscle in his body trembling with excitement.

Witch's Night, despite being called "night," doesn't necessarily begin after dark. Even before nightfall, the moon appears in the eastern sky, though it often goes unnoticed by most people because they simply can't see it.

This secret is known to only a few, as no one else in the world can, like Hawthorne, predict the arrival of Witch's Night down to the second.

Still, to be cautious, he refrained from stepping out just yet. Although the witches had already left the convent, and Heidi had kissed him goodbye early to head to the deep sea, previous incidents had left him with a psychological shadow. He resolved to wait until both moons were fully visible, the world's barriers grew thin, and magical creatures became uncontrollable before venturing out!

Tonight's events are crucial to his future survival; he couldn't afford any mistakes!

To prepare for this moment, he stayed up past midnight last night and slept all day today without doing anything else, just to conserve his energy for tonight's actions!

Even though he felt excited and anxious, he forced himself to remain calm and wait, wait...

Time passed second by second, and finally, the timer on the system interface hit zero.

In the east, the pure white bright moon and the blue dark moon both appeared on the horizon, each in a full moon state. The celestial bodies' movement caused ripples that affected the world's barrier, and suddenly, terrifying Magic Power from countless other worlds surged into the material world!

In the shadows, great schemers let out delighted chuckles.

However, Hawthorne was unaware of all this. He only saw the text on the system interface change from a starting countdown to an ending countdown.

The timer above had switched from zero to thirteen hours, then began ticking down second by second.

It had begun!

Now, it was time to set out!

He jumped off the bed, pushed open the door, and walked out of the convent alone.

Yuta, you are mine!

Meanwhile, at Amazon Fisheries Company headquarters, Gael looked seriously at the line of ready and assembled Female Warriors in front of her: "Sisters, do you remember our mission directive for tonight?"

"We remember!" the Female Warriors shouted in unison, "Kill!"

"Very good!" Gael nodded approvingly, "Let's go make those bastards from the Dark Intelligence Network pay a bloody price!"

In a shadowy corner, two figures wearing black leather coats and bowler hats suddenly spread their arms wide: "Ah, I feel it, that power!"

"Very well, the show is about to begin!"

...

South Harbor District, the Port.

Although it wasn't yet autumn, the evening at the seaside already carried a significant chill. The salty breeze blowing from the sea easily whisked away any warmth from a person's body.

The cyclops, cloaked in a thick black coat, stood on the cobblestones of the port, gazing intently at the distant sea. Behind him, a few subordinates quietly waited, pushing a small wooden four-wheeled cart.

The employer had called for a covert operation, so their main force remained concealed in the shadows. They would avoid making any noise unless attacked.

At this moment, there were not many people at the port. The Liberl Port city hall had already issued an alert, indicating that tonight was the Night of the Twin Moons. As a result, the fishermen had packed up and gone home early, leaving the port deserted even though it was only early evening.

Apart from the distant sound of the waves, the coast was almost silent. Occasionally, the call of a sea bird could be heard, adding to the tranquility.

Naturally, the cyclops was quite pleased with this.

This environment was ideal; fewer variables made unexpected incidents less likely!

Now, they just had to wait for the Amazon Fisheries Company's ship to dock at the port.

The Dark Intelligence Network also has allies within the Amazon Fisheries Company, which is how they are able to use their ships for smuggling. In fact, all the major factions in Liberl Port operate this way; there's a mutual interdependence where everyone profits together, allowing for conflicts without complete destruction—no one can fully eliminate the other.

As he anxiously waited, about ten more minutes passed, and in the distance, a large fishing vessel slowly appeared and then docked.

The cyclops's expression brightened instantly, but he did not rush; he knew that this kind of ship required some paperwork to enter the port, so he had to remain patient while continuing to wait.

The workers at the bow of the ship began unloading the goods, with boxes of fish emitting a strong fishy odor being brought down for the port workers to inspect.

Of course, this inspection was entirely for show; no one in South Harbor District dared to conduct a real inspection on an Amazon ship.

This was also the main reason the cyclops chose to use their ship for smuggling.

Soon, before darkness completely enveloped the earth, this formal inspection finally concluded. A slightly petite Amazon woman approached and flashed a flirtatious glance at the cyclops: "Come here."

The cyclops immediately went over and embraced the woman directly: "Oh, darling, I've missed you so much!"

She was his lover, and such relationships were quite rare. The Amazon tribe had no males; they reproduced by seeking out outsiders' men to "breed" with once they reached a certain age, keeping the daughters while sending the boys back to their fathers.

However, there are always exceptions—people can have feelings. Some capable men can win the hearts of Amazon women, forming long-lasting romantic relationships.

"Scoundrel, look at that mess of yours!" The Amazon woman rolled her eyes but still gently kissed him on the lips, then said, "Come on, cargo box 73 is right over there."

The cyclops called his underlings over to follow him, and they quickly saw the large box filled with fish.

Since the fish had been drifting at sea for many days and lacked refrigeration or preservation methods, the boxes now emitted a faint smell of decay.

"Load it up," the cyclops said. Four of his underlings stepped forward, enduring the stench with grimaces as they grabbed the corners of the box and heaved it onto their cart.

Now, they could leave.

Next, they just needed to be vigilant about potential robberies along the way. Commander Kentez had dispatched a large number of thugs—over two hundred—so this time it should be foolproof...

Wait, would things really go this smoothly?

Suddenly, the cyclops felt a surge of alarm.

"Get the fish out!" he ordered. "Check to see if the cargo is still intact!"