Chapter Sixty-Three: The Most Beautiful Woman in the World

When Stein's corpse came back to life, Alves knew his corpse refining had succeeded this time. He quietly sensed the strength of this refined corpse and found it had indeed regained its former bronze-level power. He could not help but feel satisfied.

Later, he sensed that the corpse still bore severe wounds, but he smiled indifferently and pointed to the side. Instantly, the refined corpse pounced upon Carol's body, and soon the sound of chewing was heard. In Alves’ perception, the wounds of the refined Stein healed rapidly.

Once Stein had fully recovered, Alves produced a ten-centimeter-long miniature coffin. With the incantation he recited, “Refined Stein” gradually shrank and was drawn into the coffin. Alves expertly fastened the coffin into a slot on his belt, where seven such coffins were already arrayed.

Alves knew that this trip to the royal capital, besides fulfilling the task from the Azure Phoenix Society, now held a new purpose: to release the obsession gripping his newly acquired refined corpse. Only by resolving this obsession could he further vitalize the corpse, allowing it to undergo another round of refining to increase its strength, and even grant it thought, enabling it to act and cultivate independently.

Alves, having read through the corpse's memories, knew the previous owner harbored deep hatred toward the one who inflicted irreparable wounds upon him years ago. That enemy, Peter Clark, was in the royal capital.

Alves decided that if he encountered this man in the capital, he would not mind taking care of him as well.

He then exited the tomb through the thieves’ tunnel he had used, professionally erasing all traces of his activity. Alves dusted off his clothes, gazed quietly at Dallas City, and vanished into the night.

––––––––––

On the official road from Dallas City to Silverwing Fortress, the Divine Wind Knights were marching through the night.

Unlike their arrival at Dallas, where each rode alone, now the procession included a carriage. This had been specially approved for Bill by Captain Barton. Rare talents always received special treatment wherever they went.

Bill and Jera were sitting inside the carriage. Ever since he ran into Jera at that little tavern on the road, Bill had been so happy that his grin never left his face; he felt immense joy filling him, found everything pleasing, and even Diya’s chatter seemed adorable.

“Hey, kid! I’ve said this a hundred times, why won’t you put away that look? You’re making us alchemists look bad!”

Bill, still grinning, retorted silently in his mind, “You, a perennial bachelor, would never understand the wonders of love, hehe…”

Diya heard Bill’s smug words and was greatly annoyed. “Kid, when I was courting, your grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfather hadn’t even been born yet! I’m not boasting—my romantic history would scare you to death!”

Bill grew curious but replied mentally, “Romantic history? Wasn’t your crush just the girl next door?”

“Nonsense! My lover was Charlotte Augustus, the little princess of the Arcane Empire, daughter of Emperor Morpheus Augustus, the most beautiful jewel of the Empire, she was…”

Diya started shouting indignantly, but as he spoke, his words faltered. He couldn’t help but recall his millennia of tribulations and wondered how she was now. With her talent, achieving the rank of Radiant Arcanist and gaining millennial longevity should not be difficult. With her background, acquiring rare longevity herbs would be no trouble.

After a long pause, Diya suddenly spoke solemnly, “Bill, you must grow quickly and take me back to the Arcane Empire to see her again…”

––––––––––

Meanwhile, in Dallas City, Andy was telling Catherine her usual bedtime story. As Catherine listened, she fiddled with Andy’s spatial pouch, taking things out and putting them back in, over and over, happily occupied.

Ever since she’d heard the story of “Machine Cat,” she had resolved to have her own treasure pouch one day, so she’d pestered Andy to let her practice with his spatial pouch.

Of course, Andy refused—he joked that Catherine’s human body was still kept inside.

Unexpectedly, Catherine suddenly rattled off, in rapid speech, the name of every item in Andy’s spatial pouch, as if reciting a menu, including her own human corpse.

Andy was dumbfounded; even he couldn’t recall his pouch’s contents so precisely. Speechless, he decided to give Catherine the pouch outright.

But she refused—she found it ugly, clearly a model for men.

Faced with such a powerful reason, Andy was at a loss and could only promise to get her a beautiful, large spatial pouch in the future.

Though Catherine didn’t want it, she didn’t mind playing with it, so she scattered its contents all over Andy’s bed.

Andy didn’t mind; he was used to Catherine’s antics. He continued to tell her stories, his voice rising and falling, knowing that she seemed distracted but heard every word clearly, and even days later could recall them perfectly.

Sometimes Andy couldn’t help but wonder—who really had the “Enhanced Memory” soul talent? How was it that he, supposedly a transmigrator with unlimited buffs, lately felt like such a loser?

Tonight’s story was “Snow White.” When he reached the wicked queen and her magic mirror, Andy casually picked up a mirror from the bed, gesturing as he told Catherine the tale.

“At that moment, the queen said, ‘Mirror, mirror, tell me, who is the most beautiful woman in the world…’ Wait, what’s going on?” Andy was startled by what happened next.

As soon as he finished the phrase “who is the most beautiful woman in the world,” the mirror suddenly shimmered with a ghostly blue light, capturing Andy and Catherine’s attention.

Soon the blue glow faded, and words appeared on the mirror: “One hundred magic stones.”

Andy hadn’t figured out what was happening when Catherine, with her tiny paws, pushed a heap of magic stones toward the mirror, which absorbed them like water.

Andy was pained by the loss but curious about what would happen next.

Soon, the text on the mirror changed: “The most beautiful woman appeared five thousand years ago. Her name was Charlotte Augustus!”