Chapter 145: The Starry Night Witch Awakens

【Performing Fate Trajectory Role Assignment and Integration…】

【You will play the role of the Adventurer Karen at this historical node.】

【Teammate Cecilia will play the role of the Starry Night Witch Ilysia.】

【Warning! Due to the current severe limitation of Aether concentration within Copper Creek Forest, the Large-Scale Composite Ritual Spell Formation cannot perfectly recreate the true historical monster difficulty of that era.】

【All incoming historical monster phantoms will be forcibly reduced to Ordinary Monster rank.】

【Final Sub-instance Objective: Resist the monster tide for one hour and recreate the protective feat of the historical figures from that time. The system will provide special rewards according to the players’ completion performance. This sub-instance is a Historical Projection Evolution. Injuries sustained within this space will not result in true death.】

When Lance regained consciousness—

Upon opening his eyes, what entered his sight was a vast lake shimmering beneath the bright moonlight.

The water possessed a transparent emerald coloration. As the breeze swept across the lake surface, silver ripples spread outward in circles, tranquil and beautiful.

At this moment, he was standing upon the damp shallow shore beside the lake.

Immediately afterward, glaring lines of red system text appeared across his retina.

It turned out that he and Cecilia had already been forcibly dragged into a special sub-instance called “Historical Echo Projection” by an irresistible spatial force.

And the identity assigned to him was none other than the legendary Adventurer Karen.

At that moment, a weak voice suddenly came from behind him.

“Senior…”

But just as those two words left her mouth—

Lance suddenly felt his shoulders sink. Immediately afterward, Cecilia’s warm face unexpectedly drooped onto his shoulder.

“Cecilia, are you alright?”

Lance was startled. Only then did he abruptly realize that his current posture was actually carrying this Half-Elf girl on his back the entire time.

Feeling the genuine physical sensation coming from his back, the stone hanging in his heart eased slightly.

If Cecilia’s body had not undergone any changes—

Then this meant he himself had likely been dragged into this projection space in his real physical body as well.

And according to the mission information provided by the panel earlier—

Even if they suffered fatal injuries here, it should not lead to true death in reality. At worst, it would probably just greatly lower the final completion evaluation upon clearing the sub-instance.

This was already fortunate amid misfortune.

Just as Lance’s mind rapidly turned while he considered how to utilize the terrain to survive this difficult sub-instance—

An unexpected situation suddenly appeared.

【The Starry Night Witch has detected fluctuations of false fate. Her soul has rejected this role-playing…】

The red warning text on the panel continued flashing.

The next second—

The Cecilia on Lance’s back suddenly let out a soft murmur resembling someone awakening from deep sleep.

“Karen, it feels like I slept for a very, very long time.”

“Hm? Why is there another person’s soul inside my body?”

At that moment, Lance felt the “Cecilia” behind him extend both hands and firmly brace against his shoulders, seemingly wanting to stand up using her own strength.

But probably due to mana exhaustion combined with severe bodily stiffness—

Those arms merely exerted slight force before weakly collapsing again.

She could only rest her chin upon Lance’s shoulder while stretching her head forward slightly, carefully examining Lance’s side profile beneath the bright moonlight.

“Little handsome guy, although you are pretty good-looking, you don’t seem to be that idiot Karen.”

Hearing this teasing tone full of playful amusement, Lance instantly arrived at the answer in his heart.

“You’re Ilysia?”

He slightly turned his head and lowered his voice while asking, “How is Cecilia right now?”

“You mean the body of the Half-Elf I’m currently residing in?”

“Cecilia” lightly laughed.

Then—

Lance suddenly felt the pair of hands supporting his shoulders loosen abruptly, and Cecilia’s body collapsed limply against his back as though it had lost all support.

Immediately afterward, tiny silver-blue lights began emerging from the surface of the girl’s body.

These lights rapidly gathered beside Lance like fireflies, eventually condensing into the semi-transparent phantom of a silver-blue woman.

This was a woman so beautiful that one could hardly look away.

She possessed long black hair cascading down her back like a waterfall.

She wore a luxurious, perfectly tailored mage robe. Even in her semi-transparent phantom state, it could not conceal her astonishingly captivating figure.

Without question, the woman floating in midair before him was the legendary Starry Night Witch Ilysia.

“Don’t worry. The instant I awakened and appeared, this little girl’s soul had already fallen into a self-protective slumber.”

Ilysia’s phantom circled around Lance once as she casually explained.

“It seems she’ll only wake up again after you successfully break this spell formation and return.”

Relying on the Witch’s knowledge and understanding far beyond ordinary people—

Merely sensing the flow of Aether around her slightly was already enough for her to see through the flaws of this place.

This was not a truly existing physical space at all, but rather a historical projection forcibly intercepted through a profound spell formation.

And she herself was not truly flesh and blood either, but merely a remnant shadow left behind within this fragment of historical memory.

Only then did Ilysia finally direct her gaze toward the surrounding environment.

Looking at the shimmering Emerald Star Lake, realization suddenly struck her and she clapped her hands.

“Oh, I remember now.”

“I stole the Silver Moon Tear guarded by that sub-dragon to prepare a birthday present for Karen.”

“It seems the spellcaster who arranged this spell formation made a slight mistake in their spell mastery.”

Ilysia floated in midair while twirling her long hair around one finger.

“Otherwise, according to the normal operational laws of spell formations, an existence possessing independent will like me absolutely should not appear within this false projection.”

“Let’s properly introduce ourselves again. I’m Ilysia from this point in time. Hello there, little handsome guy.”

In less than half a minute—

This genius Witch had completely figured out her current circumstances. Not only did her face show no trace of fear, but instead revealed an expression full of excitement, as though she found the entire situation extremely amusing.

Hearing Ilysia speak so casually—

Lance could not help feeling a trace of admiration.

The other party had actually guessed the true nature of this space with only a few glances.

As expected of the Starry Night Witch who would eventually step into the Legendary Realm.

Even merely existing at this point in time, she already possessed such profound knowledge.

“I’ve already analyzed this spell formation completely.”

Ilysia floated before Lance and proudly blinked.

“It seems that after Karen that idiot and I desperately survived here back then, we must have left behind quite a famous legend in later generations. Otherwise, this moment would not have been specially intercepted by the spell formation.”

“Although I’d really like to have a proper chat with you, it seems your time is running short.”