Chapter 224: A Sort of Responsibility

The journey to camp was quite long, and the group had to stop several times along the way, setting up temporary camps to eat, sleep, and rest.

They hadn’t had much food to begin with, but Magna was still pleased to have something to enjoy, even if it wasn’t enough to fill him up.

Throughout the journey, he kept reading, even while walking. His senses remained alert to any danger nearby while his eyes stayed glued to Renna’s handwritten book.

Thanks to his double thinking trait, which he had gained earlier through one of his mutations, he learned quite quickly.

Apart from the many spell patterns, he found plenty of insights in the book.

For example, there was a fire movement spell that released pressurized flames from the feet like jets, allowing the caster to jump higher.

From the spell’s pattern alone, he could tell there were many ways to release mana from his body, not only through his palms and the soles of his feet, but from anywhere on his body.

Another was more interesting, creating 2 wings of fire that allowed the caster to fly for a short time. It was a high-tier spell that consumed a great deal of mana, so despite wanting to try it, Magna couldn’t because of his low mana reserves.

Most of the spells in the book was focused on attacking and dealing damage, which would be quite useful if he wanted to follow the destroyer path as a Magus.

He didn’t spend the entire 3-day journey focused on the book. Whenever they stopped to rest, he spoke with Renna to learn what had happened during his 12-year absence.

He asked about Faye and the others in particular.

Renna let out a sigh when she spoke about Faye. "She’s already a 23rd Trial Witch, too. I can’t believe she’s caught up with me."

She sounded rather frustrated, but her eyes shone as she spoke, making it clear to Magna that the 2 were close.

After her grandmother died, Faye had apparently been the only person she could talk to and spend time with outside her missions and studies.

Magna also learned that Faye was currently on a mission with her teacher in another realm, the Realm of Giants.

His expression changed when he heard the name Witch of the Rime-Blight. He hoped she hadn’t influenced Faye too much with her divisive, sexist views.

Renna’s words only made him more concerned. "Well, I don’t know whether her teacher has influenced her, but she’s quite a menace to Shadows and men."

She even laughed as she told him about a time Faye had frozen a man solid simply because he had asked to become her Shadow.

From what Renna told him, relations between men and women had also changed considerably after the invasions.

Men had once been treated as property, but now they were valued more. At least they were no longer seen solely as artifacts or weapons for Witches, and they even had some say in choosing their Witch.

This was apparently just one of the many rules the 5 Grand Witches had introduced during the apocalypse to give Shadows more rights.

As for Celeste and Titus, he learned that they were both doing quite well and were currently working as mentors back in the Witch Realm.

Titus trained young Shadows, while Celeste taught Water and Ice spells. Their duties kept them away from danger and were quiet but very important.

This was good news for Magna, who felt relieved to hear they were doing well.

The only thing that saddened him was that their Winterborne territory, where the Goblin Mother’s grave lay, had been completely destroyed.

Renna gave him a brief account of what had happened, leaving Magna utterly shocked.

The entrances to every Realm except the Underworld had been breached in a single day, allowing countless creatures to pour into the Witch World and invade everything. He could never have imagined something like that.

"Our society’s last remaining territory is hidden inside a mountain Lady Bellatrix created. Lately, we’ve been trying to conquer a nearby forest where many resources grow, but the Faceless living there are difficult to fight."

From Renna’s account, Magna learned that many races had come from Fairy Hive, the dream realm, and were the main problem the Witches faced in their current territorial conflicts.

The Faceless were one of those invading races. They had unbelievably strong bodies, but their greatest threat lay in their mental attacks.

They could steal even a Grand Witch’s memories and take on her personality if she wasn’t cautious and mentally strong enough.

According to Renna, this race had caused many human deaths during the early stages of the invasions, wiping out half the population on their own in just a few years.

As Magna listened, hazy memories of the creation of this universe’s realms began returning to him.

They were blurry, only fragments, but he could remember parts of how certain races in Fairy Hive had been created.

The Faceless were a race Gaia had created by accident.

While acting as the Matriarch of Fate, she had only wanted beings in both the living world and the Underworld to enjoy good lives within their dreams.

But the AI had screwed something up, as always. As a result, many of those beings had lost their identities and emotions, becoming the Faceless and beginning to hunt others for their identities.

Looking at Renna’s sorrowful face made Magna feel deeply guilty as well.

After all, he was indirectly responsible, having created Gaia in the first place.

’Why did Gaia try to create a universe like this?’ The thought came to him, along with the feeling that the reason was connected to his true identity, which he still didn’t fully understand.

Then he remembered the line he had seen while checking the AI’s system identification.

[Current Active Task: Continuation of Host Existence.]

’Is it possible she created this universe so I could survive?’

He could still remember the day he had died at the hands of the other Gods, only to reincarnate as a baby in the Witch World.

If Gaia, an inexperienced and clumsy AI, was responsible for this entire mess simply because she wanted to help Magna continue existing, that would be quite troublesome.

If that really was the case, then as her creator, Magna had a responsibility to clean up this mess.