Chapter 199: Troublesome Grand Witch

At the Shadow Camp, only 3 Shadow candidates remained after that frightening day when Magna disappeared.

Some had failed to maintain their mental health, unable to shake off the fear that had settled deep within them. They became sick and left the mountain.

Others simply gave up after seeing that they were making no progress against the dense mana that caused them to lose consciousness every night. They no longer wanted to waste their time on it when they could spend it on more fruitful training with their families.

Master Adam had kept his eyes on the remaining children, closely watching their progress.

Among those left, the Drakon girl was still the leading figure.

Every day, she endured the intensity of the mana while continuing to swim in the boiling pool, reaching deeper into it with each passing day.

She already had a natural resistance to heat and fire thanks to her dragon lineage and the Bloodline Trait Flesh of Matriarch of Fate, but so far, she was still unable to reach the bottom of the pool or fully endure the mana pressure without losing consciousness.

Behind her was the redheaded boy, who looked more worried with each passing day and now constantly walked around muttering, "If I fail, my mother will kill me."

Though he always looked depressed, he was progressing quite quickly.

Compared to the day he first arrived, he had increased his resistance to pure mana to an incredible degree, enough to catch even Master Adam’s attention.

Especially because of one of his Bloodline Traits. It wasn’t as rare as one of the 5 Matriarch Bloodlines, but it wasn’t far behind them in strength.

The boy had the ability to weaken the strength of the people around him, like a walking debuff. It wasn’t limited to living beings either. He could even reduce the effect of mana pressure with his Bloodline Trait.

The problem was that he didn’t seem to have mastered it yet, as he didn’t seem to know exactly how to use it or make it fully effective.

Finally, there was someone who surprised Adam quite a lot.

The tall and heavy boy, Matrim, didn’t have any exceptionally special Bloodline Trait that could put his name among the future legendary Shadows like the redheaded boy and the Drakon girl, but he had something that was quite rare among most people.

He had an indescribable obsession.

Every day, as soon as he woke up, the only thing he did was eat enough food to keep himself alive before going to the cave on the cliff and developing his body’s resistance inside the dense mana there.

He even seemed to have found a new training method. Under the dense mana, where simply sitting and remaining conscious was difficult, he played with an imaginary ball, fighting against an imaginary opponent in front of him.

Each time, he progressed deeper into the cave and subjected his mind and body to denser mana, pushing them to their limits as he dedicated himself to this endurance training.

Even Adam expected every day to be the day the boy finally died from extreme exhaustion and physical strain, but surprisingly, Matrim somehow managed to return to his hut every night and wake up again the next morning.

"This batch really has some promising children." Adam muttered while sitting inside his dark hut and stroking his long white beard.

So far, he was very satisfied with them, as it was usually quite rare for even 1 person to remain.

He had only one regret, and that was that Magna still hadn’t returned, probably already died.

He had no news about him and, since Hecate had left, had only been sending one-way reports regularly, giving her daily information about the children without receiving any response yet.

Adam especially had high hopes for the boy’s return, mainly because Hecate had told him about his potential and that he might eventually be able to take his place.

If he could only teach the boy for a few decades, he might eventually turn him into someone capable of taking his place, allowing Adam to finally retire when the time came.

"Hm?" His eyes suddenly turned away from Matrim, who was currently doing his daily training inside the cave, and toward the sky.

His eyes pierced through the darkness of his room, through the wooden roof, and all the way into the sky, where he saw a giant black Wyvern approaching the mountain.

On the wide back of the Wyvern was a strangely comfortable-looking bed with a woman lying on it.

Adam didn’t even need to look at the woman’s features. He could already guess which Witch was approaching.

"Oh Goddess... Why her?" he muttered as he slowly forced his bony old body to stand.

The one approaching was Triss Eilhart, the Time Witch and the most troublesome person Adam could have imagined having to deal with.

He reluctantly left his hut and went outside, then waited in front of the burning campfire.

The Wyvern descended over the mountain peak like a gigantic shadow, the wind from its wings bending all the trees around it like a storm.

But it moved especially slowly, making as little noise as possible. Even when landing, it carefully placed its long-clawed feet on the ground without making so much as a groan.

Despite all that effort, an irritated and furious voice came from its back.

"Dumb lizard, can’t you be quieter?"

Adam watched the majestic and terrifying Wyvern lower its head toward the ground, its features resembling fear.

Even its eyes, as they looked at Adam, seemed to be asking him for help.

’Sorry, old friend, but I’m in the same boat.’

Adam muttered inwardly as he watched the Grand Witch stretch before slowly getting out of bed.

Triss opened her arms, her long, pale-blonde hair spreading out in all directions like thin silk threads.

Her honey-colored eyes slowly scanned the surroundings before finally landing on the old man waiting in front of the fire.

"Who are you? Where is Adam?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

Adam was momentarily taken aback, then quickly said his name, as he feared exactly this would happen. "I’m Adam."

Triss narrowed her eyes further as she examined the old man from head to toe. Finally, a surprised expression appeared on her face.

"No way. How long has it been since we last met? You became a walking skeleton."

Adam couldn’t find the words to answer, as it had indeed been a long time since they had seen each other.

Knowing Triss’s Bloodline Trait made her experience time ten times slower than normal, a mere century felt like a thousand years to her. It was only natural for her to forget certain things, including people, over such a vast span of time.

The problem was that the last time she had forgotten who Adam was and failed to recognize him, she had attacked him, thinking he was an intruder.

It was probably the closest Adam had ever come to death in his life. Fortunately, she recognized him before he breathed his last.

"I don’t think I’ve changed much, Lady Triss. You also look the same as before."

He slightly lowered his head in greeting, hoping the same scenario from years ago wouldn’t happen again.

Triss had already climbed down from the Wyvern’s back and walked in front of him, looking closely at his face as if trying to remember him again.

Adam was extremely uncomfortable under her gaze, and he was careful not to look into her spiral-shaped pupils for too long, as doing so made people lose their sense of time and space.

After examining the old man’s face and engraving his appearance into her memory once more, Triss finally stepped back.

"Yes, I remember now. You are the same Adam."

Adam sighed. At least she had finally recognized him.