Millennium Witch

Book 3: Chapter 277: Island Tycoon

Thinking about the upcoming large-scale rollout of serendipities, Yvette Loxivia couldn’t help but smile. It wasn’t because the future of the Silver Witch Church was guaranteed to thrive, but because she suddenly remembered that Ice Rain was just lazing around on the island anyway. She might as well have her act as a surveillance probe, in charge of all serendipity deployments.That way, the Silver Witch’s serendipities could appear at the most appropriate moment, delivering the most suitable things precisely to those who needed them most, without Yvette having to rack her brains and personally plan and operate everything.

After that, she took out a silver ring and handed it to Shuanghua. Pale golden sunlight streamed in through the window, making the ring’s surface sparkle like shattered diamonds, as if flowing constellations were drifting across it.

“With this ring, you can contact me at any time. If you’re in danger, you can also get my help. Keep it with you.”

She spoke.

This was, of course, a flesh-and-blood marker. Although someone in the divine realm had more than enough means of self-preservation, and a sacred artifact ring was already enough to allow long-distance contact or a Divine Descent, Shuanghua was still her grand-disciple. Using a flesh-and-blood marker instead better showed how seriously she took her.

And if one day she got sneak-attacked by some True God who didn’t know how to fight fair, Shuanghua’s location could also serve as an anchor point for her to run for it.

Shuanghua nodded and solemnly slipped the ring onto the middle finger of her right hand.

Then Yvette thought of another matter and asked, “If I remember right, you don’t use faith magic, do you?”

She’d never confirmed this directly with Shuanghua, but a few days ago when the two of them had reunited, during their conversation Shuanghua had described the method the gods used—relying on faith to pinpoint the Silver Witch’s location—as “a technique only the divine race has.” At that time, Yvette had already understood: the Snow Emperor was neither a Sun God–type deity, nor did He actually wield faith spells.

And from that, she could also infer that the divine race was a separate species, and faith spells were an exclusive inheritance of that race.

Shuanghua gave a slight nod, her snow-white hair swaying faintly with the motion. “Yes, Grandmaster. This is an ability only the divine race possesses.”

Then a hint of confusion surfaced in her lake-blue eyes. “Honored Grandmaster… are you a member of the divine race?”

She had actually wanted to ask this question for a long time. In her teacher’s stories, the Silver Witch was both a god and somehow different from the other gods. Yet in the teachings of the True Gods’ churches, the Silver Witch was depicted as one of the divine race. So she had never been able to figure out exactly what the relationship between her Grandmaster and the divine race was.

But whether Righteous Gods or True Gods—

The divine race itself was shrouded in countless secrets. Since there were hostile tensions between Demon Gods and True Gods, and there were also Eldritch Gods, beings despised and hunted, then regardless of whether the Silver Witch was a member of the divine race, it would never affect the respect and devotion Shuanghua felt toward her Grandmaster.

In the days without her teacher, her Grandmaster was simply her second teacher.

“I’m not of the divine race,” Yvette said calmly. “I just studied the Benediction power the Eye of Omniscience grants Its followers, peeled off some of the rune structures from it, and learned the technique from there, that’s all.”

Learned it. Shuanghua fell silent. Only after a long while did she speak again in a tone of quiet awe. “As expected of you, Honored Grandmaster.”

Yvette chuckled. “Do you want to learn?”

Shuanghua blurted out in surprise, “Can I?”

Yvette nodded. “I can’t possibly monopolize all faith. There will always be people who insist on remaining solely your devout followers. Besides, I don’t need my faith spread into every last corner of the Snow Country. It’s enough to leave my mark in each clan and the surrounding settlements, so that I can cast my gaze there when needed.”

The main reason, of course, was that she trusted Shuanghua’s loyalty.

For the first time, Yvette saw a smile on Shuanghua’s face that truly came from the depths of her heart. It was very faint, like a small white flower blooming in spring. She nodded hard and said earnestly, “Grandmaster, I’ll do my best.”

As night fell, after finishing the first faith magic lesson she’d given Shuanghua, Yvette returned alone to her suite in the hot spring courtyard. She took off her outer robe, lay down on the bed, and slowly closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, she found herself sitting on the sofa on the first floor of the manor, a blanket draped over her. She was wearing a rather modern-looking blue sailor uniform. Beneath the short skirt, her snowy white thighs were showing, making her look especially youthful and pretty—like a high school girl.

Even without thinking, Yvette knew this had to be something Ice Rain had changed her into.

During the time Yvette had spent traveling around the Mortal Realm, Ice Rain had been alone on the island acting as housekeeper, naturally bored out of her mind. Although she was a mechanical lifeform and could endure solitude extremely well, she still poured out her complaints to Yvette whenever she could.

So Yvette had released the flesh-and-blood marker core stored in the manor’s underground, the one containing five hundred thousand points of Aberrant Mana, and let it take on a human shape. It didn’t actually do anything, but simply being able to keep Ice Rain company, chatting and sharing travel stories, was already enough.

Of course, she didn’t keep her consciousness in this body all the time. In fact, the default was that her awareness wasn’t here.

During those times, a bored Ice Rain treated Yvette like a dress-up doll, constantly changing her clothes—Lolita one moment, sailor uniform the next. As long as it didn’t get too indecent, Yvette generally couldn’t be bothered to interfere and just let her do as she pleased.

Yvette lifted the blanket and stood up, her bare feet touching the cold wooden floor. Spiritual fragments rippled outward like water, spreading across the entire manor, but she still didn’t detect any sign of Ice Rain.

She turned and headed for the main control room on the third floor. She had remodeled that room into a monitoring hub, filled with floating light screens that could oversee the operation of all the industrial and agricultural zones surrounding the manor in real time. She was planning to first get a grasp on the current production capacity of the industrial zone so she could plan the details of the serendipity deployment.

But she hadn’t expected that once she took a look, she would discover the industrial redevelopment area of Ish City’s ruins was several times larger than it had been a few years ago. It not only occupied the entire Central District of Ish City, but the surrounding Tower District, Glorylight District, East District, Factory District, and even the Blackwater Zone had all been developed to varying degrees as well.

In other words, in the years Yvette had spent traveling other worlds, experiencing different cultures and unearthing the world’s secrets, Ice Rain hadn’t been idle in the slightest. She’d basically been playing “Island Tycoon” on Ish Island—various industrial parks for different needs, all kinds of botanical gardens, even animal ranches—she hadn’t missed a single one.

Yvette felt that if this kept up, it wouldn’t take more than a few decades before the entire Ish Island turned into a super base.

But that was just fine.

Yvette smiled, opened the soul-brain interface, and sent Ice Rain a message: “Where are you?”

After several quiet minutes, a reply popped up, complete with a horrified emoji: “Who are you!!!”

“?” Yvette replied. “Who do you think I am?”

“Impossible! Miss Good Samaritan would never take the initiative to come looking for me to hang out! You must be a virus program! How dare you pretend to be my best friend—I’ll never forgive you!”

Hearing the resentment in those words between the lines, Yvette was silent for a moment before replying, “That really is my fault.”

“Hmph. At least you know you’re wrong.”

“Where are you?”

“In a ruined little town in the middle section of the East Ring Road.”

“What are you doing there?”

“My elemental capacitor’s drained. There’s nowhere nearby to recharge, so I’m pushing the bike.”

“That’s so lame.”

“Uu.”

Ten-odd minutes later, Yvette was flying through the night sky, her gaze sweeping over the East Ring Road below, and soon she locked onto “”

Her target—Ice Rain was huffing and puffing as she pushed a sleek silver motorbike, struggling forward along the silent, deserted road.

She was dressed in a cool biker outfit, a black bodysuit wrapping around the graceful curves of her mechanical frame. Beneath the helmet’s visor, her delicate face was visible. The way she pushed the bike was rather practiced; it was obviously not her first time in this situation.

Yvette also noticed something else. Whether it was out of a passion for speeding or something else, Ice Rain had spent these past years refurbishing the entire East Ring Road. It no longer had the desolate, dilapidated look it once did. The pavement was smooth, the weeds all cleared, warning signs had been carefully placed at various turns, and even the potholes had been filled in with an asphalt-like bonding material—forming a stark contrast with the ruined town relics around it.

She landed lightly by the roadside. Ice Rain looked up, and the face under the visor instantly broke into a radiant smile.

She waved hard and shouted, “Long time no see, Miss Good Samaritan! You know what? A Trojan program just tried to impersonate you and message me—but I saw through it!”

Yvette pretended she hadn’t heard that and instead asked, “Why are you out here with no power?”

“The elemental decay on this capacitor is awful. It’s only been a few years, and my range is down by almost thirty percent. I didn’t even notice,” Ice Rain sighed.

“I’ll patch it up for you.” Yvette recalled the Elemental Decay Restoration Technique she’d learned many years ago.

Ice Rain understood that technique too, of course, but she was a mechanical automaton. Unlike Yvette, she couldn’t directly perform maintenance on the elemental capacitor herself and could only send it to the appropriate maintenance station.

Very soon, Yvette had finished maintaining and recharging the capacitor. Then she swung herself sideways onto the rear seat of the bike. Ice Rain twisted the throttle, and the motorbike carried them both into the wind. In the dark night, the salty sea breeze rushed against their faces, and above them stretched a boundless, glittering river of stars. The low growl of the engine tore through the island’s silence.

Nearly two hours later, they returned to the central manor and parked the bike in the courtyard. Ice Rain took off her helmet and said hopefully, “Miss Good Samaritan, you definitely didn’t come looking for me just because you needed something, right? Right? Definitely not, right?”

Yvette wondered if she’d been that obvious.

Well, she kind of had.

She shook her head and briefly explained her needs regarding the development of the Silver Witch Church, then said, “I need you to make treasures that can be distributed as serendipities, and also help me screen suitable recipients for those serendipities. Also, it’d be best if these serendipities had some preliminary guidance attached, to make sure that whoever receives them understands that they’re gifts from the God of Serendipity.”

She paused. “You’ll help me, right?”

Ice Rain didn’t answer right away. Instead, she puffed out her cheeks at Yvette, looking as if she were very angry, but after only a few seconds she couldn’t keep it up. Letting out all her air, she said miserably, “Fine, fine, I’ll help you. You’re my best friend, after all.”

Yvette smiled and said, “You’re my best friend too.”

It was the truth, but considering that most of the people in her social circle were students or her students’ students—and the rest were maids or subordinates—she barely had any friends to begin with, which made that line sound a bit lacking in weight.