The Cornflower Witch Chapter 79

Chapter 79: Alien Perception

After a good rest, Hylial felt much better, especially after that dream. She now understood that this place was not entirely unrelated to the normal world.

Since knights and witches from the past could enter here, it meant that this place wasn’t completely unknown and there had to be a way to enter and exit.

After tidying up, she continued hiking up the slope. As she walked alongside the towering cliffs, the view gradually opened up until she reached the summit, from where she could gaze over a vast world in the distance.

Her vision was dominated by large expanses of gray and white, though occasionally she could spot faint splashes of color hidden within, like a small blue flower appearing suddenly in a black-and-white print, or red berries growing on a bush.

In this almost monochrome and still world, she noticed a subtly different silhouette in the misty mountains in the distance.

In the center of that forest, there seemed to be partially ruined stone pillar structures, possibly ancient ruins.

Could people have lived in a world like this before? Hylial was surprised. But if people had once resided there permanently, they should also have had a passage between the normal world and this place.

Perhaps she should go there to look for clues.

Her eyes darted around, planning her route there, and then turned back.

Returning to the colorful bubble where the gray iron sword stood, Hylial rested briefly before stepping into the gray-white world below.

This time, she traveled for a long time, gradually leaving the sparsely vegetated slope and entering a dense, twisted forest.

The trees here had long been twisted and distorted by the ‘twisted’ phase anomaly. Seeing them still in the gray-white world, they might have long ceased growing and become withered, dead things.

Passing through the small patch of forest, Hylial reached a node where a tall, mossy boulder stood.

She remained suspicious and cautious of anything unusual, a lesson she learned from the experience of seeing Knight Holen in her dream.

Facing the stone, Hylial focused her perception, her eyes fixated on it, trying to discern if there was anything different within.

However, nothing seemed out of the ordinary; all her senses told her it was just a regular stone.

Was it a prank? Hylial was a little unconvinced, and decided to go around.

She walked around the stone, then lightly “escaped” into the gray-white world, leaving the colorful bubble. Nothing unexpected happened throughout the process, and she no longer cared about it, continuing to walk forward.

The next node was by a stream in the forest.

As she stepped into this colorful bubble, she was attacked.

A poisonous snake from the forest attacked her, leaping from a tree and gliding for a short distance in the air, its head twisting as it struck at her.

The maiden quickly recoiled, then drew her short sword.

With the aid of her Breathing Method, the short sword swiftly slashed, cutting the venomous snake into three pieces in mid-air. Black blood and thick mist flowed from the wounds on its body.

Soon, the strangely patterned venomous snake died.

Standing to the side, Hylial observed it carefully for a while, then used her dagger to pry open its dead head, carefully extracting the fangs and collecting them.

[Snake Venom Fang] (Twisted): A fang containing twisted venom, usable for refining potions and harming enemies.

She continued forward, reaching the small river and gazing into the water.

Hylial’s reflection appeared on the surface, her silver-white hair flowing, her somewhat dreamlike features undulating with the water.

‘I envy you.’

The girl in the water suddenly spoke in a hoarse voice, then she opened her mouth, and a bloody tongue abruptly shot out, flicking towards the girl by the river.

Facing this sudden attack, Hylial’s heart rate quickened. She narrowly avoided it as the bloody tongue flashed past her eyes and instantly retreated into the water.

She quickly jumped back, away from the riverbank, and drew her short sword.

However, this time, the reflection in the water had vanished, and there was nothing unusual to be seen.

This… this place is a bit creepy, the maiden thought to herself.

She picked up some pebbles and threw them into the water, but this time there was no reaction, which made Hylial a little troubled.

If she continued, she had to cross the river, but it was clear that the river was not safe.

What other means did she have? Breathing Method? Dew Prayer Method? Neither of these could harm this strange thing.

Could she only solve the problem with the Black Rabbit? But that was a one-time use, and Hylial was a bit reluctant.

By the way, she hadn’t used this power since she transformed into an Alien Star.

Hylial thought for a moment, her eyes fluttering, then raised her wrist to carefully sense her own information.

Name: Hylial.※※※※

Race: Human (※※※)

Status: Healthy (no abnormalities)

Talents: Star [Unknown level], Cornflower’s Affection [Rare level, can be upgraded]

Fate Card: [Girl Under the Stars] (Tier 1 – Alien Star)

‘A girl sleeping under the stars, with unimaginable potential. Now shooting stars twinkle, dispelling the twisted mist.’

–

Effect [Identification Eye Lv.3]: Originating from special talents and physique, you can discern colors that normal people cannot perceive, as well as the partial essence of things. (When you upgrade the tier of your Fate Card, this ability will also be synchronously upgraded) –

Effect [Alien Perception Lv.2]: Imbued with Alien Star power, your observation of all things has greater insight, allowing you to see five colors that are difficult for ordinary people to perceive, and discover unknown secrets.

Ability Cards: [Breathing Method Lv.3] [Strange Black Cat (Consumable)]

Skills: [Basic Swordsmanship Lv.4][Military Swordsmanship Lv.4][Basic Archery Lv.4][Basic Spear Skills Lv.4][Secret History Knowledge Lv.5][Gardening Skills Lv.4][Garden Swordsmanship Lv.2]

——

What is the effect of the [Alien Perception Lv.2] ability?

Hylial focused her mind on this effect, and her Identification Eye once again gained a strange color, allowing her vision to transcend normal boundaries and see deeper within.

This vision was between reality, shadow, and dream. She saw things that didn’t exist in reality, such as invisible monsters wriggling in thick, dark clouds, and dream creatures hiding in corners of the forest. They were like meatballs, with tiny wings, no eyes or mouths, and exhaled and inhaled.

When she approached, these meatball creatures seemed to be afraid of her and scattered, which is why she hadn’t noticed them before.

Afraid of me, why? Hylial was puzzled, but she didn’t bother with these little fellows for now, instead looking for the monster that had attacked her in the water.

After looking around, although there were some strange invisible things at the bottom of the water, they were all very weak and completely incapable of attacking, so she never found her target.

Suddenly, she thought of something, turned her direction, and observed the space above the water near the riverbank. At that moment, she found a hidden transparent tree frog at the top of a tree branch. It was called a tree frog, but this creature had six legs and no eyes on its head. Instead, it had a twisted human face on its snow-white abdomen.

This fellow is very bizarre. Its attack method is to attack through the reflection in the water, making everyone think it’s underwater, when in reality it’s above the water.

Not understanding this bizarre creature, Hylial carefully confirmed again that its true form should not be strong. So, she gripped her sword, quickly stepped forward, kicked off a tree trunk to leap up, and the sharp blade directly struck down, slicing it into two halves on the tree branch.

The strange tree frog fell, dead, and only then did Hylial get a clear view of its complete appearance.

[Human-faced Tree Frog] (Nightmare): A transparent tree frog hidden in dreams, capable of attacking through reflections, its methods bizarre and hard to trace.

‘Nightmare’ phase. This was the first time Hylial had encountered a creature with this phase.

Blue-purple blood flowed from the dead tree frog. Although it contained turbid, twisted black mist, the proportion was small, indicating that it had not been completely eroded and polluted.

Hylial suddenly wondered how this creature had survived before; it must have had other food, she thought, recalling the meatball creatures hidden in the woods on the other side.

[Dream Infant Beast] (Nightmare): A weak dream alien beast that can devour the dreams of living creatures and fears clear moonlight.

She hadn’t known the names and abilities of these creatures before, but now she understood them directly and clearly, gaining automatic comprehension.

It seemed that the power of the ‘Alien Star’ was particularly strong in analyzing and uncovering the truth?

Afraid of moonlight. Could it be afraid of the power of ‘Glorious Moon’? But she hadn’t cultivated the power of the ‘Glorious Moon’ phase, so why would it be afraid of her?

The young girl shook her head slightly, deciding not to continue thinking, or it would be endless.

She would just assume she still had some lingering Glorious Moon aura on her.

(End of this chapter)