Griselda eventually cleared her throat, which was impressive for a goose. She flapped one wing toward the enormous doors at the far end of the treasure hall.
"Before any of you attempt something reckless, you should rest here for the night. If you leave through that door after nightfall, you will die."
That immediately caught Elyonari's attention.
"Who exactly lives in this castle?"
"It is exactly as the fairytale describes. There is a giant and the giant's wife. The giant himself is extremely powerful. His strength is at least equivalent to a Fifth Enlightenment Divine, and his combat ability is… unpleasantly impressive."
That's concerning.
"His wife is arguably more interesting. She is a Puppeteer Witch."
Griselda began pacing on top of the treasure pile.
"She has the ability to create puppets that are indistinguishable from real humans. They can eat, drink, sleep and behave exactly like living people. They possess their own thoughts, emotions and personalities. In many ways, they are nearly perfect copies of living beings. Honestly, she would be the perfect Split of Life if Elyonari did not already exist."
Elyonari slowly turned her head toward the goose with a glare. Griselda immediately honked.
"I am simply stating a factual observation!"
Elyonari's eyes narrowed but Griselda quickly continued.
"It is well known that you're is afraid to fully use your abilities as a Split."
Veneri raised his hand. Guess he already knew that Elyonari was getting pissed off.
"We should probably focus on the trial. First, we need a plan. And I want to confirm something."
Before anyone could ask what he meant, Veneri casually lifted his hand and pointed toward the unconscious boy lying on the treasure floor. A faint bluish glow spread across Jack's body as he used Body Reconstruction. The boy immediately jerked upright like someone had poured cold water on him.
"Where am I?!"
His eyes landed on the three of us standing there.
"Who are you people?"
Then his gaze landed on Elyonari. Jack stared. And stared. Then, he smiled.
"Well hello there. Are you an angel?"
Jack stood up and brushed dust off his clothes, clearly attempting to recover whatever dignity he thought he had.
"Because I'm pretty sure I must have died and gone to heaven."
I slowly turned toward Veneri. This is going to end badly...
Elyonari tilted her head slightly as she studied Jack. To my shock, she chuckled softly.
"I have seen trees in the forest that are more attractive than you."
"What..."
Elyonari continued calmly.
"In fact, you are not even half as good-looking as those trees."
Jack looked completely stunned. He opened his mouth but no words came out. Meanwhile Veneri sighed deeply and rubbed his forehead.
"Jack."
The boy looked at him. Veneri's expression was completely calm.
"You should keep your dick inside your pants. Flirting with my beloved directly in front of me is normally sufficient justification for killing someone."
Jack immediately stepped back.
"But, since you are technically the protagonist of this fairytale, I will allow it this once."
Jack looked extremely confused.
"What?"
Veneri waved a hand dismissively.
"You know what, never mind. I want to ask you something."
Jack crossed his arms defensively.
"What?"
"What are you doing in this castle? Shouldn't you be at home farming or something?"
"I'm not telling you strangers anything."
Veneri stared at him for a moment. He reached forward and placed two fingers on Jack's forehead. I felt him use Memory Extraction on Jack. For a second nothing happened. Jack fell to his knees free a few seconds, coughing violently. He gasped for air, clutching his chest.
"What… the hell…"
Veneri calmly stepped back.
"Well, that confirms it. The story is accurate."
He began summarizing calmly.
"A man sold Jack a handful of magical beans in exchange for the family cow. The beanstalk appeared shortly afterward. It has existed for approximately six months. Every three days Jack climbs the beanstalk and enters this castle to steal treasure for his mother."
Jack slowly raised his head.
"You can't just—"
Veneri ignored him.
"However, during the third month, Jack encountered the giant's wife and the two of them developed a… relationship."
Jack's face turned red. Veneri continued mercilessly.
"Since then, Jack has been visiting the castle five days a week instead of three. Apparently the giant's wife is quite beautiful, although according to my standards she is… barely average."
Jack finally managed to stand up again. He looked extremely embarrassed. Veneri tilted his head.
"Which raises an interesting question. Either the giant is foolish enough not to notice what is happening or, he hears everything and is choosing to ignore it."
Elyonari looked genuinely amazed. "Just how loud are they?"
"Very loud. According to his memories, every time Jack climbs the beanstalk and comes to the castle, he spends most of his time with the giant's wife."
Jack, who had just finished coughing and was still trying to recover from having his memories forcefully examined, immediately stopped moving. Veneri continued anyway.
"He has been… satisfying her."
"You really didn't need to say it like that."
Veneri ignored him.
"The situation developed naturally. Because of that repeated intimacy, Luciana eventually developed genuine feelings for him. However, because I possess the Love Divinity, I can sense emotional connections quite clearly. The affection he feels toward Luciana is genuine."
"Wait, you can sense that?"
"Yes. And when you saw Elyonari earlier, I could also sense a small amount of attraction from him."
Jack immediately raised both hands defensively.
"Hey, that was just a compliment!"
Elyonari looked at him like he had just compared her to a fungus. Veneri didn't seem bothered.
"Either way, that part of the memory is not important. What's important is the identity of the giant's wife. Her name is Luciana. She is a Ninth Star Witch."
That immediately made Elyonari slightly confused.
"A Witch? Is there a difference between a Mage and a Witch?"
"Oh, I can explain that."
Everyone looked at me. This is one of the many things I actually understand extremely well.
"So, Mages and Witches both belong to the Occult Sciences. That basically means they both manipulate the unseen forces of reality. Their power is measured using the Star Ranking System, which is separate from the Divine Enlightenment system used by Divines. The main difference between them is philosophical."
Veneri tilted his head slightly, clearly interested.
"Mages of Spheraphase practice Mysticism, which is about experiencing the mystery of existence. It focuses on internal transformation, enlightenment and understanding the hidden truths of life. Mages of other worlds use Magic. Witches practice Magic but they can't use Mysticism. Magic is much more mechanical."
That sounded weird so I explained further.
"Mysticism tries to experience the divine. Magic tries to manipulate reality."
They sounded similar at first glance but the difference is actually huge.
"Mysticism is about seeking union with the divine, reaching enlightenment, and transforming yourself internally. Magic on the other hand, focuses on influencing the external world. It tries to control or change physical circumstances using mechanics."
Griselda nodded approvingly. "Correct."
I crossed my arms proudly.
"So because of that difference, Witches usually cannot become Divine Rank beings."
"Why not?"
"Because Ely, it contradicts the fundamental philosophy of Magic. Divinity requires surrendering to the cosmic order and becoming part of it. Magic however, is built around the idea of manipulating and controlling the unseen forces of reality. That conflict makes it extremely difficult for a Witch to follow the path of Divinity. So, most Witches pursue power through other means."
Elyonari looked curious now.
"What kind of means?"
"There are three main paths. They can continue increasing their magical mastery through the Star system… or they eventually become Demons and Demonesses."
"I was not aware of this. I thought Witches used Mysticism like us mages."
I looked at him.
"That's because you never asked about Magic. Anyway, Magic does exist in the Spheraphasian system, but it's not very common. That's because the dominant power structure revolves around Divinity and Magic tends to disrupt the concept of Divinity."
"What do you mean?"
For some reason, seeing Darling ask questions like this make me happy. At least for once I get to know stuff he doesn't. I know I have knowledge of a lot of things but he rarely asks...
"Well, Divinity assumes that reality follows certain cosmic principles. Magic basically says, 'What if we just bypass those principles entirely?'"
Griselda honked in amusement. "That is a surprisingly accurate description."
"Well thank you Golden Goose. There is one exception though. A Divine Witch can exist. That's the third method."
"How?"
"Theurgy."
Griselda nodded approvingly again.
"Theurgy is a magical discipline where the practitioner aligns their magic with a divine being instead of trying to dominate the universe themselves. Instead of commanding reality, a Theurgist cooperates with it. In that system, magic becomes a tool for worship and alignment."
"So their Divine nature comes from the divine being?"
"Exactly. Now you're getting it, Ely. They borrow power instead of forcing it."
Then I turned to Veneri.
"You know what that means, right? If you take Luciana as your subordinate and guide her toward Theurgy, she could become a Divine Witch. She would then be able to train under the Enlightenment Stages like other Divine practitioners. In fact, she would pass them faster than any Divine if you make her your subordinate."
Veneri considered that idea carefully.
"That is actually a very good idea. Especially considering she is a Puppeteer Witch. That ability has enormous potential."
"Hey!"
We all looked at Jack.
"You shouldn't talk about Luciana like she's some kind of collectible item! She's a person!"
Veneri looked at him calmly.
"I am simply returning the favor. You flirted with my girlfriend five minutes ago. Also, I bet that she's aware about this fairytale."