Hate Me, Miss Witch!

The First Age, Western Continent.

Hill of the Watchers.

This is a barren hill in the middle of the Western Continent.

It is said that a thousand years ago, before the Great Cataclysm broke out, this place was once the location of the Giant King's Court, one of the three great royal courts of the Glorious Era.

However, unlike the Ancient Dragon King's Court, which still has ruins and remains, and the Elf King's Court, which is said to be located on the Endless Sea and coexists with the Lost Island.

The fate of the Giant King's Court is even more miserable than that of the other two races.

In the chaos at the beginning of the Great Cataclysm, as the core battlefield of mythical creatures, the Giant King's Court was affected by the aftermath of the God War -

Under the majesty of the fallen gods, every inch of land and buildings in the Giant King's Court, including all the creatures in it, were engulfed by the violent space turbulence caused by the collision of divinity...

It was completely crushed into powder, without even a trace of debris left.

It was a mass extinction of an entire race. The blood of countless giants dyed the entire barren hills into a dazzling crimson, which never faded even after a thousand years.

In the following hundreds of years, a legend spread in the surrounding human kingdoms.

There was a half-crazy legendary mountain giant who always wandered between these bloody hills.

It is said that this mountain giant was once the guard general of the Giant King's Court. During the catastrophe, he escaped because he left the Giant King's Court to perform a mission...

But after escaping by chance, he did not find another place to recuperate like the other surviving giants... Instead, he wandered around this hill day and night, which was also the ruins of the King's Court he once guarded.

Every full moon night, residents near this hill can hear the sad cries of the mountain giants.

Occasionally, there will be human adventurers coveting the extraordinary materials and holy relics that may remain in the ruins of the Giant King's Court... Go to the ruins of the Giant King's Court to explore and search for treasures.

Then, they were torn to pieces by the angry mountain giant.

Over time, this hilly area carrying the ruins of the Giant King's Court became a forbidden zone for life in the mouths of the surrounding humans.

The mountain giant wandering on the ruins of the King's Court was called "King's Court Watcher" by the surviving adventurers.

Together with this forbidden Giant King's Court ruins, it was also called "Watcher's Hill".

The past has been buried in the years for thousands of years.

And the mountain giant called "King's Court Watcher" has also reached the end of his life at some point, turning into a gray and withered corpse on Watcher's Hill.

Only this place name has been passed down, and together with the story of the mountain giant, it has become a vague and unverifiable legend in the mouths of the bards.

...

Patta——

A red, barren and rocky hill.

There was a dark space crack, and it silently cracked open on the dim sky.

The next moment.

High heels made of crystal silently poked out from the space crack.

Then, a golden elf girl in a plain white robe and long red-gold hair.

She stepped lightly on the blood-red hills with such an elegant movement.

"It's been a long time since I last saw you..."

"Western Continent."

"No, to be more precise... this should be my first visit."

The golden elf stepped on the barren hills.

One of her eyes was slightly closed, and she looked down at the barren hills with the only open right eye.

The lifespan of the giants is much longer than that of humans, but unless they break through the demigod, allowing the essence of life to transform and evolve into non-human mythical creatures, then their lifespan is by no means infinite.

The "King's Court Watcher" had long passed away, but because of the many taboo rumors and the ominousness brought by the blood-stained King's Court ruins, the surrounding humans still regarded this place as a forbidden zone for life and dared not set foot in it.

In the entire barren mountain range, only the golden elf girl with her left eye half closed was left alone.

She looked for a long time.

After a long time, a little nostalgia flashed in the pale golden eyes that seemed to have experienced a long time.

"Before this, I had imagined countless times the real scenery of the Western Continent outside the Lost Island..."

"But when I really left the island on the vast ocean and really saw the scenery of the Western Continent... I felt it was sparse and ordinary."

"Even, it was a bit disappointing."

"So, all this is because of you..."

"Teacher Xia."

Hathaway's mouth moved slightly, and she whispered softly.

In the "Char's Flying House" in the drifting star world, in the large library of the Lost Island, in the library that Char left for her...

On those countless difficult nights, Hathaway used the meager candlelight, through the lines of tiny words on the damaged and dilapidated ancient books... to imagine the world outside the Lost Island.

That was not always shrouded in the curtain of eternal night, but a gorgeous scenery bathed in sunshine.

However, when those thousands of fantasies shone into reality, when she really returned from the long wandering in the star world and really set foot on the land of the Western Continent.

Hathaway just found out... that she was not as excited as she expected.

"Sure enough--"

"From the beginning, what I expected was not "seeing the colorful world outside the Lost Island", "escaping from the eternal night and bathing in the sun"... these beautiful things that seem to be taken for granted in the eyes of outsiders."

"But. "

"With you. "

During the days when I was learning magic with Char in the little flying house, I imagined the joy and expectation of learning magic and walking under the sun during rest time.

Because I was with him, it was meaningful.

But now, the human boy who always looked lazy, with a little ferret lying on his shoulder, and liked to use head-patting to kill himself, was not by his side.

No matter how beautiful the colorful world of the Western Continent was, no matter how bright the sun was without pollution and madness -

For Hathaway, it was not attractive at all.

A little loss flashed in the eyes of the golden elf.

But soon, the loneliness in the red-gold pupils quickly calmed down.

She really hadn't seen him for a long time.

Even, she was not sure whether the boy under the abyss was alive or dead at this moment.

But, Just as Hathaway and the boy agreed when they parted.

The next time, when I meet him again.

I must smile.

As another part of the contract, the boy has already made a promise to wake up from the abyss intact.

Then——

Appear in front of me again to respond to the feelings that were never fully expressed.

Not teacher and disciple, golden elf and human... but a further relationship.

The promise at the time of farewell was the only motivation for Hathaway to continue moving forward after leaving the Lost Island.

It supported her through the bleak five hundred years of wandering in the astral world.

It also allowed her to achieve the great cause that countless demigods wanted but could not achieve in the astral world, and to receive the "Secret Fire of the Goddess of Magic", or "Silver Fire" into her left eye.

"A short separation is for a better reunion in the future."

Although I know that it was the words of the boy to comfort me when I left.

But Hathaway always believed in this in her heart.

Her beautiful red-gold eyes moved slightly, and she woke up from her trance.

Then, she slowly looked around the surrounding environment.

On this blood-colored hill, there was a kind of thought that Hathaway felt familiar with.

Although life had long passed away, that thought had run through the eternal years, turning into some kind of rule fragments similar to a curse, lingering on the ruins of the giant king's court, unwilling to dissipate for a long time.

The golden elf's mind moved slightly.

The next moment, her left eye, which had been closed all the time, quietly opened.

A wisp of faint blue flames slowly jumped in the red-gold beautiful eyes.

Then, a huge mystery enveloped the surrounding hills.

On this area, the time mark that looked like a tree ring quietly emerged.

A long river of illusory time was silently cut off and reflected in Hathaway's eyes.

Whether it was the illusory wheel of time or the silver fire in Hathaway's eyes, they were just a flash.

However, all the time marks and information of the ruins of the Giant King's Court since the Great Cataclysm were reflected in Hathaway's eyes at this moment.

Then, all the details and information that this area had experienced in the past thousand years were understood and mastered by her in great detail.

"Watcher?"

"What a fitting name."

Hathaway's indifferent eyes flickered slightly.

"In the eyes of outsiders, the King's Court has been destroyed but he still lingers here, giving up his future and the possibility of further progress..."

"Such behavior can only be described as crazy and unreasonable."

"But I can understand this feeling."

Hathaway remembered a story that Char had told her in the drifting astral cabin a long time ago.

A story that is said to be from Char's hometown.

There was a fox demon named Tushanshi and a human named Yu who fell in love, met each other, and got married.

But one day, a flood broke out. As the leader of the human tribe, the newly married Yu took on the responsibility of flood control, leaving his newly married wife behind and devoted himself to the battle of flood control.

In order to control the flood, Yu passed by his home three times without entering. His child could read, but still did not know what his father looked like.

And the wife of the fox demon clan, with her longing for her husband, waited for her lover's return day after day, year after year.

Until her body became weak, her blood dried up, and she turned into a withered stone, she still stared in the direction of her husband.

When Hathaway heard this story at the beginning, she was quite confused.

She didn't know, and didn't quite understand... What kind of obsession could make the fox demon of a different race from her husband so obsessed that she ended up with the tragic ending of turning into a stone waiting for her husband.

But at this moment, Hathaway finally understood something.

Thinking carefully, what was the difference between what she did and the mountain giant who had been wandering on the ruins for hundreds of years and was unwilling to leave, and the fox demon in the story who was waiting for her husband to return?

The nine-tailed fox and humans are alien races.

And the high elves and humans...are also alien races.

For a vague and insignificant agreement made five hundred years ago, they have persisted to this day.

After leaving the Lost Island and getting rid of the curse of the elf bloodline, as a high elf, she has almost unlimited potential.

If she wanted, Hathaway could easily be promoted to a demigod, a pseudo-god, or even step into the pinnacle of mythical creatures to compete for the throne of the new era.

However, she gave up all these opportunities and plunged into the depths of the star world to pursue that illusory phantom.

In the eyes of outsiders, what she did was probably no different from that of a madman... Just like a mother who lost her child is unwilling to face reality, so she regards a rag doll as her own child, just indulging in her own imagination and unwilling to wake up.

However, some things are just like this.

Just as the "King's Court Watcher" will never forget his duty to guard the Giant King's Court, the fox demon named Tushan regards loyalty to love as the supreme thing.

Even after five hundred years, Hathaway still can't forget the time she spent with Char in that drifting hut.

Can't forget those beautiful people and things.

Be it madness, being obsessed with obsession, or being dominated by emotion over reason.

Other people's evaluations may be objective and correct, but that is just the so-called correctness... It means nothing to the person involved.

"Watcher's Hill..."

"Is this the so-called ominous place that humans fear and even resist entering?"

Hathaway looked down at the entire barren hill and whispered silently.

"But, from now on."

"This place will have another name."

"If I remember correctly."

"That city, Mr. Xia called it——"

"The City of Knowledge."

"Is that right?"

The white finger stretched out slightly and tapped in the void.

The next moment.

In the left eye of the golden elf, the flame mixed with dark blue and silver suddenly ignited.

Then, an incomparably magnificent and brilliant light bloomed.

The space is distorting.

No, it is not just the space that is distorted, but the boundaries of the rules.

The boundary between illusion and reality, delusion and things within reach.

Boom——

Boom——

The huge roar, with this barren hill as the source.

At the same time, it resounded between the sky and the earth.

In the illusory and magnificent dark blue fireworks——

Countless elemental particles condensed in the void.

A leisurely, aria-like chanting sounded.

That was the chanting of the ancient elven language.

Hathaway used the technique of "High-speed Divine Words" to make it as beautiful as poetry, but it also carried a certain ancient, solemn majesty.

The chanting of the ancient elven language gathered into the prototype of the arcane.

Then, under the constraints of the spell model.

The sky and the earth... countless wandering ownerless elemental particles were gathered, arranged, and reorganized in accordance with Hathaway's will.

Then, from the illusory and invisible magic power -

it turned into a real, real substance with mass.

Boom -

The huge magic power and mysterious fluctuations reverberated.

Not only the surrounding human kingdoms, but also many mythical creatures were alarmed by the vast fluctuations and cast their sights towards this barren hill, the direction of the Giant King's Court ruins.

However, at this moment, Hathaway did not pay any attention to the temptations from the spirit world and the star world, some of which were full of malice, and some were kind, with different purposes.

She just looked at the hills in front of her in silence.

It was originally just a barren land with nothing in it.

But at this moment, it was shrouded in illusory light and shadow.

When the distorted light and shadow finally slowly disappeared and the illusion dissipated.

What came into view was a magnificent and majestic city.

There were no residents in the city, but every building was so detailed.

It was exactly the same as the day when the Lost Island fell into the abyss...

The city of bubbles where Char took Hathaway on his last journey.

Compared to the city of bubbles that Char created, which could only last for one day.

The city in front of her was no longer crowded with people, but everything was not from illusions, but the reality within reach.

"Teacher Xia..."

"You once said."

"Magic is the process of controlling magic power with the mind and turning fantasy into reality."

"Distort reality, reshape nature, and use the wizard's mind to rewrite this imperfect world into what we expect."

"So, now I-"

"I have turned the city you imagined into reality..."

"Can I be called qualified to become a master?"

Hathaway murmured silently.

She moved her toes lightly and took a step.

As the space cracks opened and closed, her figure quietly came from the edge of the wall of this fantasy city to the center of the city, the most central position.

It was a spacious square.

In the center of the square, there stands a huge obelisk, on which is engraved a line of pale golden text written in ancient Aramaic.

"The truth and destination are in the depths of the stars"

Behind the obelisk is an extremely magnificent black tower.

It stands majestically, reaching straight into the sky.

"Teacher Xia, do you see it?"

The golden elf's eyes fell on the black tower in front of him, but the sight was unusually far away.

It seemed to have penetrated the city and landed somewhere farther away, not belonging to this world.

"The continuation of your ideal..."

"This tower was built for you."