39: Eat Quickly! The Power of Cognition!

Ian's gaze was drawn to the apple, which shone with the brilliance of a work of art.

Pandero urged him on from the side.

"Quick! Eat it fast, don't let the old Witch see, she'll definitely snatch it away from you." As Pandero spoke, he rushed forward and shoved the Golden Apple toward Ian's mouth.

"Cough, cough!"

This was Ian's first time trying to eat something from Limbo. Pandero's actions were somewhat rough, and he nearly choked, but fortunately, the apple—which was larger than a fist—melted the moment it touched his tongue.

"Ian is glowing!"

Ariana's exclamation rang out.

Ian could not see her expression.

Because at that moment, he only felt a warm and strange power instantly flowing through his entire body. The peculiar sensation of his soul being cleansed made him unable to help but close his eyes to feel it in detail.

His body felt as if it had been injected with vitality and life.

"Bang!"

It wasn't that Ian had exploded, but rather the sound of some iron object slamming against the wall in the hall. Immediately afterward, Ian faintly heard Pandero's panicked voice in his ear.

"That woman heard me call her an old witch! Run! Run!"

"Ian, we'll wait for you in town!"

The voices of Ariana and Pandero intertwined.

They gradually drifted away into the distance.

Ian did not know how much time had passed. When he opened his eyes again, the furniture in the hall had returned, and the Witch was looking at him with a complex gaze.

"I didn't expect them to actually find it..."

The Witch's tone was filled with wonder.

"I remember you saying, Teacher, that you chopped down the last Golden Apple Tree in the world?" While in Limbo, Ian had been unable to check his changes through the panel.

Now, he only felt his mind was clearer than ever before.

"Obviously, before I chopped down the last Golden Apple Tree, someone had smuggled a seed here." The Witch provided an explanation that made Ian's eyes widen.

"Before me, there were others who could do this?" Ian was quite surprised.

The Witch, however, shook her head.

"Foolish little one, no wizard is as special as you, and naturally, no wizard would receive the same favor as you. I only meant that someone brought a seed here."

"I don't know what method they used, but there have been too many brilliant wizards throughout history. Many past legends could have accomplished such things that defy common sense."

The Witch stared at Ian's youthful face.

She whispered softly.

"After all, the reason legends are legends is that they can create impossible miracles." The tapestries on the walls seemed to tremble slightly at the Witch's gentle narration.

The flames within those painted scrolls seemed to burn even more fiercely.

"Perhaps I can find some useful information in the school library." Ian nodded thoughtfully. Naturally, there wouldn't be many wizards throughout history who could be called legends.

"You'd be better off asking that damned Butcher friend of yours. Since he could bring this Golden Apple back for you, it naturally means he knew all along where the Golden Apple was planted."

The Witch rolled her eyes at Ian with a look that suggested he was an idiot.

"He doesn't have much memory left."

Ian gave a helpless reply; he had, of course, considered that path.

"Then he truly is pitiful."

The Witch offered a cold, mirthless smile.

"Teacher, I apologize to you on his behalf. He has always been a very reckless fellow." Ian lowered his posture and spoke in an incredibly sincere tone, "I promise to find your mirror for you, as well as the other things you want, as compensation for his deep disrespect toward you."

Upon hearing this, the Witch's expression became less unpleasant.

"I only want my mirror."

After a slight pause, she added.

"And that dragon he promised to catch!"

Good grief!

As expected!

The Witch really had been hiding in the depths of the castle eavesdropping the whole time!

"Of course, no problem!"

Ian hurriedly nodded in agreement. However, although his aggrieved teacher's expression had calmed down significantly, she still couldn't help but curse Pandero once more.

"Damn meddler! Vile executioner! Disgusting, despicable plunderer!" She pelted Pandero with a string of ugly epithets.

"He must have been an extraordinary person while he was alive, right?"

Ian asked tentatively.

He could certainly tell that the Witch knew a great deal about Pandero.

"My foolish apprentice, why do you always ask such idiotic questions?"

The Witch cast a look of disdain at Ian.

"The answer has been right in front of you all along; you have simply chosen to ignore the truth." The Witch heaved a heavy sigh, leaving Ian completely bewildered by her words.

What had he ignored?

Why couldn't he realize it himself?

"Teacher, I admit I'm a fool, so could you please tell me who he is?"

Ian's curiosity was becoming impossible to suppress.

"You may be a piglet, but I am not."

The Witch let out a scoff. "Tell you, so you can go and tell him? If he remembers, he could continue to jump around in this place for many more years. Do you think I'm the type of person who would go out of her way to make things difficult for herself?"

Teacher Mara certainly seemed to have no love for Pandero.

What she said made perfect sense.

Ian didn't even know how to respond.

"Do you know? Everything in this castle, including all the creations here and the abilities I've shown you—none of it is magic. It is all just a shaping brought about by cognition."

The Witch suddenly began to muse, quite abruptly.

"Cognition?"

Ian felt somewhat surprised.

"Yes. In this land, so far removed from the mortal world, cognition determines what you are capable of achieving." The Witch nodded, continuing to explain patiently.

"I believe in the power of knowledge, while he believed that he could accomplish anything he set his mind to... Three times over, he proved that his conviction was firmer than mine."

The Witch euphemistically explained the reason for her defeat by Pandero.

Her tone held a hint of resentment and... loneliness.

Is that even possible!

Ian found it hard to imagine that someone was actually pulling off "the power of belief" in Limbo.

"Indeed, it is so unreasonable. Knowledge, actually losing to conviction—how is that not a miracle of the impossible?" The Witch sighed repeatedly.

Just as Ian was still pondering whether her words contained any hidden hints, the Witch looked up.

Her gaze shifted toward the scattered fragments of armor outside.

"You are responsible for reshaping these guards for me."

Another sudden turn.

It left Ian stunned for a moment. They had just been talking about Pandero; how could Teacher Mara pull a complete three-hundred-and-sixty-degree turn like that?

Hiss!

The old woman's train of thought!

"Ah? Wasn't it agreed that he would find you a dead dragon to guard the door?"

Ian widened his eyes, feigning innocence.

"That is compensation, and this is your duty as an apprentice." The Witch sneered as she snatched up a copy of the potion textbook Ian had brought in.

"I only know how to mold little clay figures, not how to build moving men of steel."

Ian spread his small hands.

Her response was a cold sneer.

"If you don't know how, then go learn."

How familiar those words sounded.

"Does this count as a new assignment?"

Ian could already feel his presence beginning to fade.

"I don't expect you to learn it in a few days, but I will check your progress periodically." Having put down the potion text, the Witch tore another corner from her gown.

"Next time, roll back to that little girl's town first, then come find me." With a light toss from the Witch, the fragment of the gown, densely covered in runes, landed in Ian's hand.

"I'm afraid there won't be enough time."

Ian's figure had already begun to grow faint.

"There will be enough time. Things are different now."

The Witch's voice carried a casual certainty. From beginning to end, she never looked up, keeping her eyes fixed on the replica of the textbook Ian had brought in.

"Tick-tock~ tick-tock~ tick-tock~"

The clock was turning.

Ian snapped his eyes open in the waking world.

For once, he didn't check the time on the wall, nor did he look at the scrap of formal wear in his hand; instead, he couldn't wait to open his personal panel.

(End of chapter)