"Then she picked up the longsword of the Judgment Army, stabbed Farian to death, and cleaved another member of the Judgment Army in half, the blade breaking into several pieces. But the whistle alerted the entire monastery, and many people came with oil lamps in this direction. She stripped Farian's clothes and put them on herself, picked up the weapon of another person, and walked alone towards the guards who were swarming in."

"I sat in the blood-soaked room in a daze for a long time before I came back to my senses. One of the dead was in charge of the keys to all the entrances and exits of the monastery. I found the keys from the scattered clothes, and also stripped off the Stones of Divine Retribution from their bodies—at that time, I didn't know the function of the stones, but I just thought that the crystal-clear appearance might fetch a good price. The monastery's priests, guards, and Judgment Army were all attracted by her, and I almost walked unimpeded to the little-known door on the side of the backyard, tried all the keys, and finally opened the little door and left the monastery."

"Later, only one stone was sold, and the rest were snatched away. I relied on those ten or so silver wolves to wander all the way to Seawind County before stopping. Two years later, in winter, I also awakened as a witch." Wendy paused, "That's my whole story."

Nightingale held the other's hand and was silent for a long time before saying, "What about the girl from the Catechism Class?"

"Maybe she's dead, maybe she escaped. I inquired later, and the Church said that there was a fire in the monastery at that time, and then they closed it. No one knew, and no one cared where the girls inside went. They were all abandoned."

Nightingale sighed deeply and hugged Wendy, "Now you have us. Sleep, Wendy."

After a long time, she gently replied, "Mmm..."

*******************

The next day, when Roland yawned and walked into the office, he saw Nightingale sitting seriously at the table waiting for him.

"Well, what happened?"

"Have you heard of Transcenders?" she asked in a deep voice.

Seeing the prince shake his head, Nightingale repeated the story Wendy told last night, "If it weren't for awakening, I would find it hard to imagine that an underage girl could easily kill fully armed members of the Judgment Army."

"Witches not restricted by Stones of Divine Retribution..." Roland thought for a moment after listening, recalling the categories he had divided the witches' abilities into, "Could she be a self-enhancement type witch?"

"Self... what type?"

Roland pulled out a piece of paper from the drawer and handed it to her, "I've made a basic classification based on the way you use magic power. Self-enhancement type witches are constantly consuming magic power, transforming themselves, and this change is not affected by the Stone of Divine Retribution. Although the physical fitness of ordinary witches will also be improved because of the magic power they contain, self-enhancement type witches are more prominent. If I understand correctly, Scroll should also be considered a Transcender in the eyes of the Church."

"Scroll?" Nightingale was stunned, "But she..."

"But she's not good at fighting, right?" Roland said with a smile, "This classification is not based on strength as the judging standard, and it may not be completely correct, it's just my personal thoughts and speculation. A strength-enhancement type witch can indeed cause a lot of trouble for the Church. Without the restriction of the Stone of Divine Retribution, she can selectively intercept Judgment Army squads, or single-handedly take down churches in small towns. However, one person's power is ultimately limited, and the number of witches who awaken as self-enhancement types must be less than the other two types, otherwise the witches would be chasing the Church instead." Although he said it easily, he had a faint premonition of unease when he thought of the one red and one black pellet.

Even if there are few Transcenders, there should be a dozen or so in the past hundred years, right? If there are only two or three strength-enhancement types among them, they can make the Church uneasy. For example, taking advantage of the fact that the Church concentrates all its energy on the Hermes defense line during the Months of the Demons, they can massively clean up church facilities in other cities, and kill the churches, priests, and clergy together. If this continues for several years, the Church's believers will probably decrease significantly.

However, apart from this Transcender that Wendy happened to encounter, Roland had never heard of any witch's counterattack against the Church, and even the monastery where Wendy lived as a child was covered up by a fire, and the whereabouts of the girls in the Catechism Class were unknown.

The Church definitely doesn't want to sit and wait for death, he thought, maybe they already have the means to counter Transcenders, and these two pills are one of them.

In any case, let's test the effect of the pills first.

Thinking of this, Roland called the guard outside the door and asked him to extract a prisoner from the prison, and also summoned Carter over.

The test site was arranged outside the city wall.

To be on the safe side, Roland transferred four teams of First Army soldiers, surrounding the test site in a circle, armed and on guard.

On the city wall, besides him and Nightingale, Anna and NanaWawa were also standing. As long as there is no Stone of Divine Retribution, Anna's emerald green fire wall is enough to protect her own safety. NanaWawa can provide the fastest treatment.

"No problem, right?" Roland leaned down and asked Carter.Lannis, who was stretching his muscles below, "Don't underestimate your opponent."

"Don't worry, Your Highness," Carter put on his helmet, "Your Chief Knight is not just for show. Moreover, the opponent is using a wooden sword, there's no way I can be injured."

The test subject was a death row prisoner who robbed and killed someone. Roland also didn't like the trick of being pardoned for meritorious service. He bluntly told the prisoner that if he sacrificed himself for the test, his family would receive a reward of five Gold Royals. The other party hesitated for a moment and then agreed to this condition.

Carter originally hoped that the other party would put on armor and pick up an iron sword to have a fair competition with him, but Roland refused without hesitation. If the death row prisoner used a sharp weapon, the danger would increase exponentially. If he cut off the knight's head, NanaWawa would have no way to save him. As for not wearing armor, it was precisely to test the pain tolerance of the black pill.

After the prisoner took the two pills, the expression on his face quickly changed. Veins popped out on his forehead and arms, his skin turned deep red, and his breathing became rapid. He grabbed the wooden sword and rushed towards the knight who was waiting quietly, his speed comparable to a charging wolf, and the soil under his feet was kicked into small pits.

Carter also looked a little surprised, but he still didn't panic. He swayed to the side, and slashed horizontally with his sword. This move could force the opponent to change direction, otherwise the sword would cut into his ribs.

The opponent was just a murderer. Apart from being ruthless, he had not undergone any combat training. He unexpectedly missed, and a deep cut was opened on the side of his chest, and blood flowed out. Such an injury was enough to affect the movement of half of his body, but he didn't seem to care. He turned around and rushed towards the knight again. Carter repeated the same trick, but this time there were some slight changes. When the two passed by, the prisoner twisted his body and waved the wooden sword towards the knight's position with one hand. This awkward posture of exerting force should not be threatening, but the moment the wooden sword swept out, the knight only saw a phantom. He subconsciously raised his sword to block, and the powerful impact force shook him back two steps. The wooden sword also broke in response.

"Got some strength, huh," Carter shook his hand, "Give him a sword, let's go again."

The prisoner did not take the wooden sword thrown by the soldier, but suddenly turned around and rushed towards the Misty Forest. In the blink of an eye, his speed increased to a level that ordinary people could hardly reach—like a galloping wild horse, he held his hands across his chest and directly slammed into a soldier who was preparing to raise his gun and fire. The latter let out a scream, and the person was knocked into the air. At this time, other soldiers had already pulled the trigger. A few spots of blood appeared on the prisoner's back, but his speed remained undiminished, and he quickly rushed out of the encirclement. In a few breaths, he had run more than ten meters.

"Don't let him run," Carter shouted, "Bring my horse!"

Before the knight could get on his horse, the prisoner suddenly shook and looked at his abdomen in disbelief. A diagonal cut across the abdominal cavity opened with a whoosh, and the hot intestines rolled out.

Slowly turning his head, a woman in white appeared behind him at some point, holding a silver bishou in her hand.