The Witch Hunter System

Vaan's written list mostly contained Rank 3 materials and above. Only very few materials were Rank 1 and Rank 2. The most shocking part of the list was the astronomical quantity of each item.

According to Solana's rough calculation, Vaan's ten-thousand-foot magic tower would consume around ten times more construction materials than a standard three-thousand-foot magic tower.

It wasn't a project that could be completed in a day.

Nevertheless, Solana understood that the ten-thousand-foot magic tower Vaan envisioned wouldn't just be taller but also much wider than the usual magic tower.

Little did she know, Vaan had only listed a portion of the material required to construct the ten-thousand-foot magic tower.

She would have received a bigger shock if she had known the overall cost.

Shortly after Solana raised her concern regarding the ten-thousand-foot magic tower being too big of a project that it wouldn't benefit Sunpeak Town's development in the short term, Vaan assured her of the magic tower's construction plan.

The ten-thousand-foot magic tower was divided into three construction stages: the inner core, body main, and outer shell.

Only the inner core needed to be completed before they could start harnessing mana from the sky.

Although the amount would be limited and far from the magic tower's full potential, it would at least provide Sunpeak Town with a steady supply of mana for development.

Vaan estimated the inner core would take no more than three days to complete as long as the materials were prepared.

After everyone finished breakfast, Vaan left behind a generous amount of mana stones for Cyrena, Dahlia, and the others to use before he headed for the Red Goblin Mountains.

On his way out, he gave Sunpeak Town a quick scan with his Omni-Sense.

Shortly after Vaan left, Aeliana set up a containment room and placed Dorothy inside after nursing her back to health.

Then, she buried herself inside her study room, reviewing some old laws and reforming them to adapt to the changes in Sunpeak Town.

Additionally, she penned down new laws regarding how trades are conducted in Sunpeak Town to control price fluctuations of goods, prevent exploitation, and eliminate fraudulent and deceptive businesses.

To ensure the new laws were enforced properly, Aeliana posted a list of hefty fines and severe punishments for each crime on the town's bulletin board.

At the same time, people would be granted rewards for reporting any crimes committed in Sunpeak Town—but only if their reports were confirmed to be true.

Furthermore, Aeliana posted a recruitment notice to increase the town's security after considering the lack of subordinates she could use.

Meanwhile, Cyrena practiced her magic on the training ground next to the lord's estate as she waited for her potioneering warehouse to restock on ingredients.

Dahlia left the lord's estate with Silvaria after the latter volunteered to accompany her around central town for an on-site inspection of the development area.

On the other hand, Solana took the material list to negotiate with the subordinated witch merchants and work with a feasible material supply plan without crippling their ability to do business and pay back their debts.

As for Astoria, she went to supervise the recruitment and train the recruits.

…

…

…

"Start searching."

Several miles east of Sunpeak Town, a small group of black cloaks arrived in the forest and started searching the area after a leading S-rank Witch Hunter gave the order.

After taking several minutes and expanding their search radius by three hundred feet, they finally stumbled upon what they were looking for.

"I've found it, Lord Death Blade," an A-rank Witch Hunter alerted, drawing the rest of the group over.

A patch of grass was quickly removed from the ground, revealing a trapdoor leading to a hidden underground bunker.

Within the underground bunker, several spare pieces of high-quality equipment, several months' worth of rations, and a long-range communication-type magic tool were stored.

"Investigate it."

"Yes, Lord Death Blade."

Shortly after receiving the order, multiple A-rank Witch Hunters entered the underground bunker and thoroughly inspected the area, checking every hint left behind.

Sometime later, the A-rank Witch Hunters exited the bunker after completing their investigation.

"Group A and Group B had been designated to the Sunpeak Region, but it's been a couple of days since their bunker was last used, Lord Death Blade," the A-rank Witch Hunter reported.

"Infamous Enigma and Lethal Shade wouldn't have led their groups away from their posts without informing the organization…" Death Blade muttered with a frown.

"But even if they abandoned their missions, Lord Dream Streak and Lord Smiling Knife would have reported it. So the fact that they have all gone missing implies something major had happened inside Sunpeak Town, or they have all been killed…"

"Considering the content of their last report, it's safe to assume they are all dead," Death Blade guessed before falling silent, contemplating his information.

"Whoever killed two S-rank Witch Hunters and over a hundred A-rank Witch Hunters from our organization would have to possess at least Mid-level Rank 5 power…"

"But to be able to kill off everyone from Group A and Group B without letting even a single survivor escape and report back to their organization, the person's strength would have to be even higher. That means this person has to be at least High-level Rank 5 or even Peak-level Rank 5…"

"However, there wasn't any information on such a powerful person residing inside Sunpeak Town, not to mention very few have reached such a level of power… We didn't receive news of any Rank 5 beings passing through our encirclement either…"

"That would mean this person teleported to Sunpeak Town before he killed everyone…" Death Blade analyzed with a deep look before suddenly glancing at one of his subordinates. "There wasn't any news on the Black Rose Transcendent leaving Blackthorn City, was there?"

"None, Lord Death Blade," the A-rank Witch Hunter answered before further adding, "In fact, there hasn't been any news coming from beyond the Hundred Night City."

"Hm? Does that mean someone else is preventing news from entering and leaving the central region?" Death Blade wondered with a frown. "We need to investigate this. But of course, the issue in Sunpeak Town comes first."

"You, you, and you." Death Blade picked out three A-rank Witch Hunters before ordering them, "Disguise yourselves as merchants and mercenaries and enter the town to collect information."

"Yes, Lord Death Blade!" the three A-rank Witch Hunters complied.