“Elder Sphinx, Please give me a chance to recover those materials for you!” Felix stopped relying on anyone but himself as he begged loudly for his life, “It may not be now, but I am confident in bringing them back! Isn’t that much better than just killing me to vent your frustration?”
Seeing Felix behave like this, the Jörmungandr decided to help him out by saying, “Give me some face and grant him a chance to redeem himself as he said.”
Felix’s eyes gleamed a bit after getting some support.
‘She will give some face to elder right? After all, I am not worth that much.’ He thought with a hopeful expression.
Alas, Lady Sphinx’s cold gaze didn’t change even a bit as she looked at the Jörmungandr and said, “Jörmi, stay out of this.”
She turned to Felix and criticized, “With your lowly strength, I doubt you can obtain even a single secondary material in the next couple thousand years. By then, I would have already concocted that potion and moved on to a difficult one.”
“So just be a good lad and die.” She said lastly before gazing at Felix with a penetrative gaze that made his soul freeze, causing the consciousness space barrier to start cracking!
However, a millisecond later, the effect had gone away as Lady Sphinx eyed Felix playfully and said, “What can run, but never walks; has a mouth, but never talks; has a head, but never weeps; has a bed, but never sleeps?”
“…”
“…”
“…”
At lose for words, Felix kept staring at Lady Sphinx’s while having his entire back drenched with cold sweat.
Meanwhile, Asna and the Jörmungandr didn’t know how to respond to the situation.
The lucky bastard truly was really saved by a riddle since Lady Sphinx had said exactly ten sentences before wanting to kill Felix!
But Felix knew that he would be dead whether he answered or not as Lady Sphinx seemed hell on bent on doing so.
Hence, instead of thinking about the riddle, Felix started brainstorming on ways to offset her suppressed fury that she clearly wasn’t displaying.
‘Promises are useless and begging didn’t work as well. I need to offer her something tangible that would offset her anger. But what do I have to give that can move a knowledgeable being like her?’ Felix.’
‘Something that she doesn’t know of.’ Felix’s eyes brightened up after realizing that he had something unique to only himself in the entire universe!
The fact that he was the only potential candidate to host multiple Elemental Manipulations!!!
“Elder, I believe that if you read my memories or listen to me for a few minutes, I can show you something that you have never seen before.” Felix offered with a hasty tone.
He could see that Lady Sphinx was slightly interested but she didn’t say anything in return.
“You better answer in the next ten seconds.” The Jörmungandr advised.
Realizing what he meant, Felix recalled the riddle and started pondering on it with his hand supporting his chin.
He realized that he wasn’t given the three choices like Asna and the Jörmungandr but he didn’t have time to complain about her unbiased treatment.
8…7….6…
‘What can run, but never walks; has a mouth, but never talks; has a head, but never weeps; has a bed, but never sleeps?’ Felix guessed the answer after a quick analysis, ‘Is it a river? Rivers always runs and they could devour anything. They have endings connected to seas or oceans that could be considered as heads. Lastly, there is the riverbed! It must be a river!’
3…2…
“It’s a river!” Felix answered and held his breath immediately in worry that his answer was wrong.
“Correct.” Lady Sphinx smiled beautifully to Felix, appearing like she was fond of anyone who answered her riddles.
Pheew.
Felix let out a long exhale and repeated what he said before quickly, worrying that he didn’t hear him. God knows what goes in her mind during her riddles telling.
“I heard everything that went in your mind.” Lady Sphinx said with a look of intrigue as she inspected Felix’s forehead where the tiny hidden purple dot was placed.
“A human without any relations to the primogenitors lucked out on an element manipulation.” She pondered while toying with her cat’s mustache, “With little Asna’s help and the human’s bloodline integration system, you managed to gather a tiny portion of my consciousness and was hoping that I will give you my Sand Manipulation when I wake up.”
“Am I correct?” She asked while eyeing Felix, making him nod his head in embarrassment after getting found out red-handed.
By now, Felix would be a retard to not realize that it was a fantasy to get Sand Manipulation from Lady Sphinx.
Why the f*ck would she give it to him while she was still alive in some part of the universe?
“You are truly a fool.” Lady Sphinx shook her head and said, “If you went and attempted to accept another elemental manipulation bestowing, you would have ended up imploding until not a single atom was left from you.”
“Obviously, I was never planning on accepting another elemental manipulation right away as I wanted to first do some research on it before making sure that it was going to be safe.” Felix confessed.
He didn’t lie since the Jörmungandr had clearly told him that he simply was a potential candidate, not a certain one.
“Research it?” Lady Sphinx pushed her glasses upward her nose bridge and looked down on Felix openly, “You think you have what it takes to research a solution for a dilemma that had gone unsolved for billions of years now? Aren’t you way over your head?”
“I never said I will succeed.” Felix looked at her calmly, “But I am willing to attempt it. After all, I got nothing to lose.”
Lady Sphinx smiled beautifully after hearing so. “That’s the spirit of a researcher.”
Before Felix could thank her for the praise, he was left at loss for words after seeing her playful smile.
He knew what was coming and he started dreading talking with her already!
The Jörmungandr truly didn’t like when he said that he didn’t want to woe her because she was a pain in the ass to talk to.
Alas, they could only open their ears and listen to her fourth riddle.
“The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?”
Asna, the Jörmungandr, and Felix all glanced into each other’s eyes and answered at once, “Footsteps!”
“Ding Ding! Correct.” Lady Sphinx’s playful smile withdraws back, appearing like a satisfied cat after playing around.
Considering that she was a Chimera, Felix believed that she had multiple personalities each for a species she was from.
“Can you turn it off or something?” The Jörmungandr complained, “This is why no one used to hang around with you.”
“Why do you think I started having this habit in the first place?” Lady Sphinx confessed, “It’s to keep you guys away from me and not bother me with requests to concoct this and that.”
The Jörmungandr eyed her speechlessly, “Then turn it off here.”
“You really don’t want to listen to my riddles?” Lady Sphinx asked, appearing a bit saddened.
“I am fine with it.” Felix was the first to shamelessly show his support as he knew that his life was still not in the safe yet!
Alas, Asna had taken the Jörmungandr side as she didn’t want their conversation to keep getting interrupted.
“2 to 1. Alright, I will keep my riddles to myself.” Saddened, Lady Sphinx sighed and turned her attention to Felix.
“I admit that your research value is quite high and I will most definitely learn a lot if I managed to turn you into the 1st person in the history of the universe to host multiple elemental manipulations.” The Sphinx nodded her head while appreciating Felix like he was a piece of art.
Alas, Felix didn’t feel overjoyed at all by her look as it sent goosebumps on his skin. However, he was still happy that she was showing signs of changing her mind from outright killing him.
“But, are you willing to be a research subject of mine?” Lady Sphinx stated, “It’s going to be a torturous experience that is far worse than death.”
“Can I reject?” Felix said
“Do you wanna die now?” Lady Sphinx smiled.
“Where can I find you?” Felix coughed.
Lady Sphinx said casually, “Come find me at the Forsythia Witch Empire. I am staying in Vamdarohm, the capital city of the empire.”
“Vamdarohm?” Felix’s eyes widened in shock after hearing so.
He always thought that Lady Sphinx was staying on a planet that belongs to her at the corners of the galaxy away from the center of civilization!
“Why would I do that when I can just stay in my students’ empire?” Lady Sphinx said after hearing his thoughts.
“Students??” Felix stuttered his question in agitation, “Elder, are you the Queen of the Witch Empire?”
Even Asna and the Jörmungandr leaned closer, feeling curious about her answer as this development was truly unexpected.
“No.” Lady Sphinx shook her head.
Before they could react to her denial, she dropped a bombshell on them, “But the Witch Queen is my 189th student throughout the long years that I have been teaching witches how to utilize their Spiritual Eyes for Potion Concoction.”
“Sigh, she is a bit dumber than the last Queen that I taught.” Lady Sphinx sighed in dejection, appearing that she hadn’t noticed their dumbfounded expressions.
All of them managed to conclude a horrifying fact that no one knew about!
The Witches Potioneer Occupation was taught by Lady Sphinx personally and not inherited from birth like the entire universe assumed!!
