The Witch’s Ointment was complete; next came the drawing of the Stigmata.
Drawing the Stigmata wasn’t particularly difficult. One simply had to choose a preferred pattern from the textbook’s diagrams, trace it onto translucent paper, cut out a stencil, and then brush a layer of the ointment over the skin.
The Stigmata usually took the form of a symmetrical inverted triangle, resembling a goat’s head with curled horns extending to both sides. The placement of the mark was arbitrary so long as the lines remained unbroken. Generally, students chose large areas of skin, such as the forehead, abdomen, or back.
Wang Yue picked an aesthetically pleasing pattern. Like an elementary school craft project, she traced the lines and cut out the stencil. As for the location, she chose a spot two inches below her navel.
The reason was simple: it was the center of the human body. Absorbing mana from the center would allow for a more even distribution throughout the entire system.
She pressed the paper stencil against her lower abdomen and brushed on a layer of Witch’s Ointment. Peeling it away, she saw the Stigmata take shape. Then, she chanted silently in her heart:
“Great Demon God, please guide me, govern me, and protect me. I am a pure Anointed one. From this moment forth, please grant me the crown of magic!”
Like a gentle breeze blowing past, Wang Yue felt the flow of mana!
The world before her eyes changed. The air was filled with a faint purple “mist” that swirled and writhed as if alive, coalescing into eerie, inexplicable shapes. The Stigmata below her navel acted like a vacuum, relentlessly drawing in the mist.
As the mana entered her body, it gathered toward her heart. Using the heart as a convergence point, it carved out a spherical space before surging toward the second convergence point: the spine. The mana space opened within the spine was spindle-shaped, filling down to the coccyx and rising straight into the cranium.
The third convergence point was the brain. Within her skull, the mana generated an elliptical space.
Wang Yue recalled reading in a book that some powerful witches could be resurrected by their followers even after death, provided their remains were collected and a ritual was performed. Looking at these convergence points, a witch’s resurrection likely had everything to do with these three locations: the heart, the brain, and the spine.
As the mana gradually filled her skull, Wang Yue was shocked to find that the two tiny horns on her head were absorbing mana at an exaggerated speed!
What’s going on?!
Wang Yue jumped in fright, thinking her skull had sprung a leak. However, she quickly realized that these “Demon Horns” were assisting her in absorbing mana. They were so fast that they created a literal turbulence of energy; their efficiency was more than ten times that of a basic Stigmata!
“Impressive. It’s not just wireless charging; it’s fast charging.”
Now she was like a power bank—or more accurately, a mana bank—equipped with built-in wireless fast charging that could top her off in a second.
Once the heart, brain, and spine were saturated with mana, both the Stigmata and the horns stopped absorbing. Her body had reached capacity. Under the cleansing of the mana, a subtle transformation was quietly taking place.
When her cultivation session ended, Wang Yue opened her eyes to find Dorothy right in her personal space, her nose nearly touching Wang Yue’s face.
“Help me!”
“All right, all right, I get it.”
Wang Yue pushed the girl’s face away and looked at the table. It was a disaster. Almost all the materials had been squandered, and there was even a crack in the cauldron. Wang Yue wasn’t even sure how Dorothy had managed that.
“I’m sorry… I’m so stupid…” Dorothy said, her head hanging in dejection.
“It’s fine. Talent is a gift from the heavens; not having it is nothing to be ashamed of. Your hard work is a result in itself. Even if the product is terrible, it doesn’t negate the effort you put in.”
When playing MOBA games, Wang Yue used to type similar comforts to her teammates—things like “You guys did your best,” “Some things are just unavoidable,” “Let’s just hold on a bit longer,” or “It’s my birthday today, I just want one win.”
In her heart, she was thinking the exact opposite.
Hearing the encouragement, a warm current surged through Dorothy’s heart. Her frustration, sadness, and self-blame melted away like snow. She thought her master was truly magical; a casual sentence could provide such immense encouragement. She was like a little sun, warming the heart.
Hearing that Dorothy had run out of materials, their roommates lent a hand, offering their leftovers. Dorothy was moved to tears twice in a short span, feeling so happy she could have fainted.
However, even with Wang Yue’s meticulous guidance, she failed again.
“Am I just not suited to be a witch…?” she asked with a sob.
“Try one more time. The result can’t get any worse, can it?” Wang Yue suggested.
Dorothy found logic in that, so she tried again. This time, without the psychological pressure, she finally produced a decent result, turning her tears back into smiles.
“Why did you brush yours below the navel too?” Wang Yue asked in surprise.
“I wanted to be just like Master! Is that not okay?”
“Oh, it’s fine.”
“What happens next?”
“Do you feel the mana? It’s like a mist flowing into your body through the Stigmata, forming convergence points in your heart, brain, and spine.”
“No… I don’t feel anything…”
“I heard the ‘Anointed’ must be pure maidens. You haven’t… lost your virginity, have you?”
“Lost my virginity? What’s that?”
“Then that shouldn’t be the issue. Right, is your faith strong enough? If you close your eyes, can you visualize a clear image of a demon?”
Dorothy tried and shook her head.
“Do you have a strong desire in your heart to dedicate yourself to a demon?”
Dorothy shook her head again.
“If you don’t love the demon, the demon won’t love you. It won’t grant you mana.”
“But why?”
“Because there is no love or hate without a reason in this world. You believe in a god, and the god grants you power to become their agent on earth. It’s only logical.”
“Then… then I’ll try my best to love it…”
This was a difficult task for her. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to love it, but the demons she had seen were so hideous, covered in deformed organs. She really couldn’t bring herself to feel affection for them.
If only it were a bit cuter… like Master, she thought.
