Chapter 285 : Adorable Fool
Chapter 285: Adorable Fool
“But I did all of this willingly.”
Seeing the expression on Vivian’s face at that moment, the words Janna had prepared to say were forcibly swallowed back down.
Should she continue to persuade her?
Janna let out a silent sigh in her heart. In just an instant, she dismissed the idea.
Since the matter had already occurred, there was no room for reversal. Rather than complaining about it, it was better to look ahead and actively think of solutions.
In truth, the reason Janna reacted so strongly was not because Vivian chose the path of the warlock. It was because she made the radical decision to abandon the path of the witch outright.
Vivian, who had awakened the bloodline of the Cochin Viper later in life, was quite similar to Richard-Eva, who also awakened the bloodline of the Vampire Bat later on.
Both of them had first awakened the Witch Talents on the Elemental Side, and only afterward did they awaken extraordinary bloodlines.
In fact, at the beginning, Janna had been very pleased that Vivian had managed to awaken the Cochin Viper bloodline.
After all, among the various snake-type magical beast bloodlines, the Cochin Viper was of relatively high grade, and its development potential far exceeded that of Richard-Eva’s Vampire Bat bloodline.
Therefore, Janna believed that as long as Vivian made good use of the two highly compatible talents of Cochin Viper and B-grade Rapid Freezing, she would most likely be able to, like Richard-Eva, master both “Bloodline True Form” and “Elemental True Form” combat modes upon breaking through to Level Three Witch Apprentice.
If she just remained patient a bit longer, perhaps Vivian could also comprehend a Law Fragment related to Ice and thereby earn the qualification to enter further studies at the Dordogne-White Tower. This was, based on Vivian’s current situation, the most stable and statistically probable general-grade route Janna could think of.
Although the time required might be slightly longer, the ability to endure was an important quality on the path to success. However, Vivian’s choice completely contradicted Janna’s expectations.
She not only failed to remain patient, but also chose the most radical and highest-risk method.
That was, to directly “feed” her Rapid Freezing talent to the Cochin Viper bloodline.
“Hoo…” Just thinking about it made Janna unconsciously let out a long breath to soothe the slight turmoil in her heart.
Feeding Witch Talents to Bloodlines might sound outrageous, even quite “twisted,” but in the witch world, this practice was not uncommon.
When a witch apprentice possessed both Witch Talents and a Bloodline, it meant they had more pathways to choose from than others.
The most prominent example was still Richard-Eva.
When he could not comprehend any Law Fragment no matter what, he also considered enhancing his Bloodline-side talents and directly taking the warlock path.
However, Richard-Eva would not make that decision now. He would only truly switch to the warlock path once he was certain there was no further opportunity to comprehend a Law Fragment.
Otherwise, he would stubbornly persist on the path of the Law Fragment.
From one perspective, the general promotion path for warlocks might be easier to execute than that of witches.
But this kind of general path relied heavily on one’s bloodline potential. Once that potential was exhausted, it meant the warlock path had reached its end.
Unless one had enough financial resources to support the extensive materials needed for bloodline upgrades, and could improve one’s bloodline genes through repeated purification, thus achieving bloodline atavism.
However, this path was truly too arduous.
Compared to regular witches who could steadily improve by constantly comprehending the Authority Laws, a warlock’s promotion was more like a gamble.
And the stakes were: endless resources, energy, and even life itself.
Not to mention the bloodline advancement resources that were hard to come by, the “Blood Exchange Ritual” alone was comparable to torture.
The principle of the “Blood Exchange Ritual” was actually based on a curse.
The curse worked by tearing apart the participant’s body, soul, senses, and emotions, then sealing them into a certain “blood vessel.”
The curse would only end once everything about the participant was fully fused with the “vessel,” completely losing their sense of self and becoming a cursed “monster.”
The vessel of the Blood Exchange Ritual was the genetic chain of the atavistic bloodline. Although most of the negative effects of the curse had already been removed, the pain experienced during the ritual was very real.
“My family actually tried to dissuade me, but in the end, I convinced them all.”
“Janna, you should know, my Witch Talent was only C-grade to begin with. Being able to raise it to B-grade was already my limit—”
“I’m not like you. My Witch Talent was forcibly raised through resources, and all its potential has already been exhausted—”
“Even if I lived to a hundred, I still couldn’t possibly comprehend a Law Fragment—”
“So, I can only gamble everything. Otherwise, I’ll never be able to catch up to you—”
Hearing Vivian’s increasingly heartfelt “confession,” Janna went from initial incomprehension to letting out a long sigh.
Then, Janna gently held Vivian’s cold left hand with her own warm palm.
“If this is the path you’ve chosen of your own will, then walk it well. But don’t push yourself too hard, and never joke with your life. After all, a person’s life doesn’t need to mirror someone else’s. As long as you live it well, that is already a kind of success.”
Hearing those words, Vivian slowly lifted her previously bowed head, then reversed her grip on Janna’s hand, displaying the same smile she had at the very beginning.
“And also—sorry. I shouldn’t have tried to sway your decision, let alone blamed you for it.”
Seeing that Vivian’s emotions had gradually stabilized, Janna offered a sincere apology.
“Why are you apologizing to me? The things you said just now—other than my family, no one’s ever said those words to me.”
“Besides, the one who should apologize is me—”
With that, Vivian looked seriously at Janna and said loudly:
“I’m sorry!”
“I’m very sorry that I made you my goal to surpass without your consent—”
“Everything I did was my own choice, and even if I fail, it has nothing to do with anyone else—”
“All of this—I did it willingly!”
Watching Vivian sincerely apologize to her like that, Janna couldn’t help but show a helpless smile.
“You really are a fool—”