"Are you referring to the God's Punishment Witches? That mortal king probably wouldn't think so..."

"Strength isn't only reflected in force," Pasha pointed to Zoe, "The key to the changes in the human kingdom now is something irreplaceable, and that happens to be our advantage."

"So that's what it is!" Celine suddenly realized, "Compared to combat ability, this is indeed much more important."

"Ha..." Zoe held her forehead, "I'll pass, let Faldi and the others take on this important task."

"Hey, what are you guys talking about?" Erxia said dissatisfied, "Why can't I understand anything?"

"Pasha is talking about knowledge," the youngest Transcendent pouted, "Doesn't His Majesty's dream world have academies, libraries, and private scholars? Since everything in the dream comes from his memories, everyone should be able to learn as well—instead of selectively copying, comprehensive absorption is obviously more effective. As long as we set aside some entertainment time, starting from the most basic knowledge, and spending a few decades, His Majesty will have a group of helpers who can completely understand his intentions."

"Mortals' energy will gradually decline with their aging bodies, but we don't have to worry about that. A century is enough for God's Punishment Witches to become inheritors of His Majesty's consciousness, which is our greatest advantage," Pasha added, "Especially after he passes away, only we will know what that world is like."

"If we want to continue down the path pioneered by Roland, we must go through us—in this way, even if we put aside the identity of the witches, we won't be affected too much. In a sense, it's detrimental to us to try to overthrow His Majesty's will, and the Witch Union will never sit idly by. Conversely, we only control knowledge, which is beneficial to any faction. Even if we don't have force, we will become a force that can tip the scales."

"Isn't this the way of the Cloud School?" Erxia muttered.

Legend has it that when most humans were still in ignorance, some sages gathered together and spread the fire of civilization. They taught people how to smelt iron, weave cloth and make clothes, cultivate land and raise livestock, until humans spread throughout the Dawn Realm. Centuries later, their prestige became like the sun in the sky. All those in power tried their best to win them over by various means, turning many members from disseminators of knowledge into private property of power.

After the leader of the sages noticed this, he moved the organization out of the major city-states and stipulated that they should not easily get involved in politics, but only focus on studying the mysteries of the world and deciphering the mysteries of ancient relics. Because the relocated residence was located on the summit of a high mountain, which was covered by clouds and fog all year round, it was called the Cloud School by the world.

Although these people rarely interacted with the world after that, their status was still extraordinary. No matter how the kingship changed, they were all respectful to the Cloud School and sent a large number of supplies and young disciples every year, just to get the guidance of the sages.

However, the good times did not last long. Devils soon entered the sight of humans, and the First Battle of Divine Will broke out—it was also at that time that an unsettling rumor gradually spread, saying that the one who introduced these brutal and terrifying beasts into the Dawn Realm was a sage from hundreds of years ago.

The reputation of the Cloud School also plummeted as a result. Without any lords willing to lend a helping hand, it was swallowed by devils and became a corner sealed in history.

"At least we won't collude with devils," Celine said dismissively, "And the title of manager of knowledge is also good, it sounds better than those titles set by the Explorer Society."

"In short, this is just a preliminary direction. After all, any plan for the future will only make sense after we defeat the devils." Pasha smiled and patted Celine's head, "Okay, let's go adjust the soul instrument. When the celebration outside is completed, this side should also be ready—I don't think His Majesty will have the patience to wait until tomorrow."

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

While the people of the whole city were still celebrating the victory, Roland had already led the main members of the United Front into the Third Border City.

He really couldn't wait.

If the devil's city in the memory fragments was an old segment from hundreds of years ago, then what was stored in the brain of this High-Rank Devil was the latest intelligence about the enemy. Given that conventional intelligence channels are ineffective against aliens,

the significance of this opportunity is particularly important.

As soon as he stepped into the core hall area, he noticed something was wrong.

The Taquila witches stood in a row, in neat formation in the center of the hall, and the leaders were the three High-Rank Witches who embodied the Original Vessel.

Then the God's Punishment Witches raised their elbows and interlaced their fingers in front of their chests, bowing to him.

This strange way of saluting was not the first time he had seen it, but it should be a special etiquette for lower-level witches to their superiors. However, before he could ask, the three Vessels also overlapped their tentacles in front of their bodies, drooping to the ground, and Pasha's voice rang in his mind, "Thank you, Your Majesty, Taquila will always be loyal to you."

This made Roland quite surprised. The previous sentence of thanks was easy to understand, probably because they saw the hope of defeating the devils and avenging their hatred, but the wording of the latter sentence was obviously a bit strange. Although the United Front also requires all members of the alliance to be loyal to the leader, the respectful attitude of the other party told him that these two things were not the same.

He suddenly thought that High-Rank Witches themselves are the hierarchical level of the Union, and the only objects who need them to perform this salute are the three Transcendent Witches.

Are they treating me as one of the Three Seats of the Union?

Although he wasn't sure why the other party's attitude had changed, having been in power for so long, he knew that now was not the time to get to the bottom of it, no matter how slow he was to politics.

Roland coughed twice, regarded it as a normal salute, and nodded, "No need to do this, this victory belongs to everyone present. By the way, how is the soul transfer preparation going?"

"It can start at any time," Pasha pointed to a magic core emitting purple light behind her, "Please come with me."

Following her to the bottom of the core, Roland noticed that two stone beds were piled up next to each other—the bed on the left was lying a male God's Punishment Army soldier with no feet, and his hair was already gray, obviously he had been converted for a long time. On the right was a body that couldn't be recognized in human form at all. Not only were its limbs incomplete, but even the black armor on its body was full of dents. It was hard to imagine that it was still alive in such a situation.

"Generally speaking, it wouldn't last until this time," Zoe seemed to see his doubts and explained, "If it weren't for Nana Wawa *xiaojie*'s treatment, it would probably have died that day. In addition, Agatha also helped a lot, otherwise we wouldn't be able to preserve the captured red mist for so long. However, in order to prevent the High-Rank Devil from recovering on the way, a series of adjustments must be made, so it will look like this now."

"Adjustments?" Wendy asked puzzled, "How to do it?"

"It's very simple, if you feel it's recovering, give it a knife and try to make it consume its magic power in self-healing. It's just that this is the first time I've done such a job, so a few times I almost let it breathe its last." Zoe looked like she hadn't had enough.

Sure enough, this is what she expected the most.

Seeing that the atmosphere on the scene was a bit stiff for a while, Roland cleared his throat and said, "Then, hurry up... let's start the transfer now."

"As you wish," Celine stretched out her main tentacle and inserted it into the core.