"What do you... want?"
"I want to escape, and ideally, blow this hellhole to smithereens!"
Serie wasn't sure how effective this "psychological test" before creating the Mad Eater Witch would be.
Could it make anything she wished for come true? Or were there hidden restrictions?
Who cared? For a wish, it was always best to aim big.
What if it came true?
The female voice was silent for a few seconds, then the first multiple-choice question rang out.
"Choose—like spring rain nourishing all things, quiet and without a sound; or like a prairie fire, startlingly impressive?"
"Since I'm blowing it to smithereens, of course, I choose startlingly impressive!"
Serie didn't hesitate. She only wanted to blow up the Control Bureau and Hayato.
The second question followed closely.
"Choose—when facing an enemy, maintain composure and calmness, striking precisely at the vital points; or unleash the wild fire within, burning everything in sight?"
Having created the Mad Eater Witch before, Serie had a rough idea.
This question would likely determine the witch avatar's abilities or personality.
Neither option was inherently superior; they were just different paths.
She thought for a moment and still chose the latter.
Striking vital points sounded good, but how could it compare to the satisfaction of "burning everything"?
Perhaps for the next avatar, she could consider leaning towards the former?
The third question was immediately posed.
"Choose—when facing unjust oppression, endure for a moment for peace and quiet; or flip the table on the spot, fighting to the death?"
This time, Serie didn't hesitate at all: "Fight them to the death!"
Long-term planning was a wise approach, offering a high margin for error.
If Serie had to choose for herself, she would definitely play it safe, as she only had one life, and she, Serie, naturally had to be cautious.
But a witch avatar was different.
Even if one was completely ruined, there was no problem; she still had the Mad Eater Witch, which could level up even when idle, as a fallback.
Even if the Mad Eater Witch was also ruined, couldn't she still get new witch rebirth chances from quests?
Cowardly? That was impossible!
"Key elements... analyzed..."
"Generating Witch Template—"
As the female voice sounded, Serie's vision gradually blurred.
In the containment cell, the white noise created by the intertwined projection screen and ventilation outlet outside the window seemed to be abruptly silenced by an invisible hand.
When Serie opened her eyes, a bone-chilling wind, laden with snow particles, brutally whipped her face.
A piercing howl filled her ears, making her shiver. She looked around frantically, her heart sinking instantly.
She was stuck in a narrow rock crevice!
Dozens of meters above her head was the snow-ravaged surface, while below was an unfathomably deep darkness.
The only good news was that the crevice was just narrow enough to wedge her body, leaving her suspended in mid-air instead of directly plummeting to her demise.
But the bad news was more tangible: the rock walls on both sides were as sharp as knives. She instinctively moved her leg, and a sharp, piercing pain made her gasp.
Looking down, her pant leg had already been easily torn by the rock, and the icy rock edge had dug deeply into the flesh of her thigh.
"Suka!" Serie instinctively cursed. Why did she always find herself in such life-threatening situations every time she opened her eyes?
Cold sweat mixed with snowmelt streamed down her, and her whole body felt like it was being pricked by needles.
Serie gritted her teeth, desperately tensing her body, struggling to support herself in the icy crack, terrified that a single slip would send her sliding down completely, sinking even deeper.
Worst of all, she was already covered in a layer of snow, and the cold was seeping into her bones.
Her limbs were gradually losing sensation, becoming heavy and numb.
The easiest way out right now would be to withdraw her consciousness and switch back to another body, escaping the pain and torment, but Serie wasn't that kind of person. Since she could single-handedly carve out a path for the Mad Eater Witch, she could do it again this time.
She gritted her teeth, enduring the strain on her body in the rock crevice, her mind racing, wanting to open the "Witch" interface to first see what abilities this avatar had, then figure out a way to escape!
But before Serie could open the information panel, her body suddenly slid down a few centimeters due to her distraction.
"Hiss—"
Several bloody scratches immediately appeared on her palm, and the wound on her thigh was torn even longer. The moment blood beads seeped out, their heat was instantly drained.
Perhaps it was because she was too frozen, but the anticipated tearing pain didn't fully erupt; there was only a dull numbness.
The cold had long permeated her bones, and most of her body was frozen stiff.
But it was truly too cold!
Serie shivered from the cold, even her lips trembled. With every inhale, the knife-like cold wind, mixed with snow grit, poured into her throat, making her lungs ache. The pitiful wisp of white breath she exhaled, let alone providing warmth, was instantly torn to shreds by the wind.
Her brain felt like it was frozen into slush, and her eyelids were as heavy as lead weights, desperately drooping downwards.
An irresistible sense of heaviness was dragging down her will, and perhaps her almost senseless body, slowly descending...
Just as her consciousness, like a flickering candle in the wind, was about to be completely extinguished, an explosive surge of warmth suddenly erupted from deep within her body without warning. The bone-chilling cold, like fragile thin ice, was instantly crushed by this violent heat.
A crimson light, almost scorching her retina, forcefully pried open her heavy eyelids.
In an instant, Serie's unfocused pupils sharply contracted.
The sight that greeted her made her blood almost run cold: the wildly dancing, raging flames were actually gushing out from her own body.
But the anticipated agonizing pain of being consumed by fire did not arrive; only a comforting warmth enveloped her entire body.
Before she could even figure out what was happening, a terrifying, violent thrust, like a volcanic eruption within her body, sent her whole being flying out of the narrow rock crevice like a cannonball, accompanied by a muffled explosion and scattering broken stones and snow spray.
"Ugh—Ah!!"
For a moment, the world spun.
Bang!
She slammed heavily into the thick snow on the surface, and the soft snow instantly swallowed her.
Hiss—
A large amount of white steam suddenly gushed out from the snow pit she had created, clearly indicating that the high temperature had instantly melted the surrounding snow.
A few seconds later, Serie, like a drenched chicken, struggled out of the muddy puddle melted by her body heat, looking utterly disheveled.
The flames on her body had long vanished, but the lingering warmth prevented her from feeling the intense cold again.
She gasped for air, exhausted, collapsing onto the snow, staring blankly at the lead-gray sky.
What... just happened?
After a brief blank, a ridiculous yet somewhat ironic thought suddenly popped into her head, making her lose her composure for a moment. She let out a laugh in the icy wilderness, then winced in pain as it pulled at her wounds.
Heh... it seems being locked up by the Control Bureau as a guinea pig isn't entirely bad after all?
Anomalies really do have "manifest reactions" in extreme low temperatures!
Serie finally understood what it meant to gain true knowledge through practice.
Wiping the snow from her face, Serie composed herself and mentally summoned the "Witch" interface.
Besides Serie, who was feigning sleep, and the Mad Eater Witch happily gnawing on a rock beside her, a third, brand new figure appeared on the panel.