Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 148 - 148 130 The Ancient Golden Branch

148: Chapter 130: The Ancient Golden Branch 148: Chapter 130: The Ancient Golden Branch The Corporate Alliance had exerted great efforts to advance the “New Education Program,” deleting all mythologized representations of natural laws from texts throughout history, leaving only photographs, numbers, and lies.

In textbooks and cheap knowledge bases, the lunar surface was like a salt desert and ash-covered dust, pockmarked with craters as if they were scars.

“…It seems the Moon is not just a simple moon,” Xu Yang said, “there’s even an entire Dragon Clan dwelling there.”

“The Moon is just its disguise, just as the Sun is not really the Sun,” Farosa herself wasn’t quite clear, and began divergence, “Deep within the Moon exists another world, that much is certain, which is the Moon world.

Only Mond and his wives and children are able to travel back and forth, akin to Mond’s private domain.

Anyway, let’s get back to you, how did you start studying sorcery?”

“Anyone can learn it,” Xu Yang flipped through the previous chapters, “it’s just a series of tutorials guiding people on how to use sets of magic formulas, but its spread has been so limited that it’s almost extinct today.”

“Of course, no one needs a bunch of sacrificial lambs who can do tricks,” Farosa said, “the master-apprentice system is good, a good master with good disciples.

If you give men and women access to supernatural powers, it would breed a bunch of fools with only form but no substance.”

“Promotion is indeed not advantageous,” Xu Yang nodded, “If in a world, the methods to access supernatural powers are simple, then sorcerous aristocracies would arise, making sorcery sectarian and clannish, with those who could monopolize power and resources rapidly climbing up and intensifying their exploitation of ordinary people without cultivation channels.

It would also be a nuisance to people’s normal lives.

Now that everyone has a gun, the lower order is already so turbulent, and if everyone had a gun in the left hand and a magic wand in the right, matters would be even worse.”

“You seem to place a lot of emphasis on ‘stable order’,” Farosa noticed Xu Yang’s intention.

“Excessive violence reduces the necessity for production,” Xu Yang said, “Correspondingly, only a stable environment can maximize the output of labor and research.

An orderly environment allows most people to live in peace rather than dying in a barrage of wizards and witches.”

“Well, that’s perfect,” Farosa said, “die quickly, reincarnate swiftly, isn’t changing to a better start in the next life much more enjoyable than struggling miserably for decades?

You are truly heartless.

In my opinion, keeping those unlucky ones suffering in this world is the worst for them.”

“Actually, you need the presence of a large number of ordinary people more than I do, you need those stepping stones to contrast your power, to gain the sense of cheap superiority.”

Farosa felt like her thoughts were completely transparent.

She straightened her chest, then showed an arrogant, all-knowing demeanor, just as she did facing the Little Witches.

“Guess my thoughts all you want,” she pretended to be profound, “I am beyond understanding.”

“You just mentioned reincarnation?

Soul reincarnation?”

“Of course, the soul is very crucial.

Otherwise, why do people still retain memories after the use of the Law of Recovery?

Because ‘memories’ are stored in the soul.

The Law of Recovery reverses the condition of the body but does not change the essence of the soul.

After death, souls stay in the body for a while, and if they leave too quickly, the revived body will be a soulless shell, utterly meaningless.”

“So that’s how it is…”

“As for sorcery,” she said, “we only raise a few of the most powerful ones as confidants.

And you, you might not necessarily have the talent for this sort of cultivation.

I’ve heard they have their own methods for assessing the talent of apprentices, something that cannot be compensated for by mere diligent study and practice.”

“That’s not necessarily the case,” Xu Yang speculated in his mind, “since sorcery is controllable and teachable knowledge, warlocks have high potential for development.

My plan for the future is to establish institutions similar to academies, connected to the modern system, to achieve vocational education and set sufficiently high thresholds for corresponding qualifications.

To obtain power, talent is actually secondary; what must first be cultivated is the matching mindset, absolutely not allowing them to act on whims, becoming like children holding the button to nuclear weapons.”

“Right, it’s a question of whether one is suited for it or not,” Farosa said, “Witches are born with power, let humans slowly take exams and get certified.”

“Certification has its advantages, that’s the difference—highly qualified, knowledgeable, and skilled warlocks, as well as a bunch of uneducated Witches, might well achieve a balance.”

“Like a fool,” Farosa leaned on Xu Yang, parting his clothes, and licked her lips, “Chaos is the underlying hue of this world, you can’t change it.”

“That, well, remains to be seen,” Xu Yang sniffed the scent of Farosa’s body.

“Lift me up higher.”

Xu Yang exerted his arms, lifting Farosa high so that her feet left the ground, held aloft like a cat, her body soft and limp, her face wearing a strange smile.

“Not enough, if you could throw me up high and then catch me again, or—or hold me in your arms…

like a cradle—” Farosa stuttered unprecedentedly, “But—don’t tell anyone—that I ever made such a request to you.”

Another hour passed before Xu Yang saw Farosa off.

Xu Yang’s place for the Demon Expulsion Book was as a long-term cultivation tool, as well as a textbook for training his own sorcerers in the future.

He also understood the importance of moderation, only by continuing to elevate Nestor Corporation’s strength could he have the power to guard this collection.

Subsequently, he turned his attention to two other relics left by the warlock.

The clothes peeled from the dead had the secret patterns of the stars, likely a protective power the warlocks bestowed upon specific items.

Upon closer observation, they were like a spell fog swirling around, transforming ordinary garments into indestructible armor, though the defensive capabilities did not exceed those of standard bulletproof vests.

The other magic wand was more interesting, shaped like a trimmed tree branch with a black gem set at the top.

Analyzing the structure of the wand and the gem setting, Xu Yang found intricate energy conduction circuits within, which helped the caster draw the invisible energy that exists in nature from the air and the void; this was the basis for a warlock’s spellcasting.

These etched patterns, Xu Yang had already copied and filed, planning to introduce them into industrial production machinery, to mass-produce them using molds and see if they could match the performance of the originals.

If so, the problem of spellcasting catalysts for establishing a group of sorcerers would also be resolved.

After clearing out a stamp dealing den, A40 was called back to the industrial park for repairs.

It rushed ahead but took a bullet, its left arm immobilized, necessitating maintenance at the industrial park’s robot repair shop.

A40 was grasped by an industrial crane arm, moved back and forth in the air as if a newborn taken from the cradle by a mechanical arm in a social care center.

Even so, it wielded a combat blade with its intact right arm in the air, swinging the weapon at algorithmically-generated phantom adversaries.

“I’m almost finished!” A40 sounded triumphant, “My self-created sword technique, ‘Breathless Single-Strike Technique’, can bring down any formidable enemy beneath my blade!”

“Send it to me to check out.”

A40 used its own analysis processor to create a combat scenario and then sent it to Xu Yang, who after careful study, found it to be a martial art that seeks out differences between humans and synthetic humans.

In combat, A40 realized its battle logic differed from humans’.

Synthetic humans operate at high speed at all times, while humans need to breathe, regulate their emotions, and find their combat rhythm.

In other words, even the most skilled humans have physiological weaknesses.

A40 could use its microcomputer to analyze the natural patterns of human actions, identify gaps, and launch attacks at the opportune moments.

To the average person, the so-called “Breathless Single-Strike Technique” appears as an extremely unpredictable and elusive form of attack.

An adversary facing A40 would be thrown into disarray by its unnervingly rapid onslaught.

While A40 was rapidly advancing in martial arts, its emotional growth remained a conundrum.

Xu Yang checked A40’s backend version number, which was only at 3.01—far behind Seeking Shadow’s 3.112.

Xu Yang sat at the table while drones brought him a meat roll and cola from a delivery locker outside the industrial park.

Once A40 was fully repaired, it leaped across to face Xu Yang.

“I’ll take down any opponent you throw at me, send me on the most perilous missions!” it declared enthusiastically.

“Don’t rush,” Xu Yang said, as he contacted Sun Biotech to continue gathering information about the Golden Branch.

——The Golden Branch was stolen.

Sun Biotech had written up a bounty for the retrieval of the “Golden Branch” and put it on Aizu City’s bounty list; whoever found the Golden Branch could receive a reward of 1 million in funds from them.

Now, Sun Biotech was eager to recruit people to reclaim the Golden Branch, clearly aware of the magical properties of this ancient artifact.

If it was stolen, it was very likely the work of Black Fire Innovation.

However, it was uncertain who they sent and where the Golden Branch currently was; a visit to the theft site was necessary.

Xu Yang planned to pose as a benevolent mercenary, feigning assistance in retrieving the Golden Branch, but in reality, to gather intelligence at the scene of the theft.

Remote control was unreliable due to poor signal transmission, especially against complex hacking programs, so it would be better to take personal action.

As for the team, Lila, proficient in information gathering, was a must, and A40, eager to fight and itching for action, also needed to be included.

On the bounty list, apart from the Cyber Demon Shadow’s bounty soaring to 9 million, Xu Yang noticed another important bounty.

“Recover 3 escapees from the lab—total bounty 5.5 million funds.”

This was a bounty issued by the Z10 Research Institute in Anjiu City.

The institute was part of Kyoto Infinity’s R&D Department but not market-oriented, so it was relatively poor.

To save on research funds, their power system used cheap electricity provided by the Aizu City Underground Energy Company.

Due to the previous Rat Tide and the massive power outage in Aizu City, Z10 Research Institute also lost power, although it restored energy after 20 minutes.

However, during the power failure, several long-plotted inmates escaped from the institute, a significant loss for them.

Located on the outskirts of Anjiu City, Z10 Research Institute had its escapees successfully evade the “Century Pure Land” security system’s control, likely entering Aizu City through the sewer system, since then evading the law.

The three escapees had diverse identities.

Codename “Bud”: A biochemical test subject, retrieval reward 100,000 funds.

Codename “Cloris”: Institute staff member, suspected of assisting the test subject to escape, retrieval reward 400,000 funds.

Codename “Shallow Dream”: A test subject Witch, retrieval reward 5 million funds.

This bounty list was also profitable, and definitely not suitable to exchange these people for a bounty, but rather to use them to one’s advantage—especially a test subject Witch, who should be quite valuable, Xu Yang mused.

However, since the information had been released for ten days, if these three had managed to seek refuge in Aizu City and survive until now, it meant they had found a safe haven.

One must keep an eye on this in the future.