Just as there is the title of chief engineer within the ranks of engineers, or the title of historian among those who study history, witches also have their own hierarchy.
All supernatural beings do.
Take vampires, for instance. Locke's rank is the absolute highest, belonging to the Monarch class. Progenitor of his own Lineage
As for witches...
The Supreme.
Because the lead medical examiner at the police department's forensics office, Dr. Edward, still had three corpses to dissect and autopsy, he refused to accept any line-cutting or back-door favors.
Consequently, Locke and Carrie returned to the hotel first.
Once they were back in their room, Carrie started telling Locke about the Supreme.
"I heard about it from Teacher Harkness," Carrie said. "The Supreme is also called the Mega Witch. But... after the Salem witch trials, the source of the witches' power was destroyed along with them."
Carrie shook her head, a bit curious. "How could there still be a Supreme here? Besides, Teacher Harkness said that even for Supremes, it takes at most three hundred years for one to be born."
But the one here?
An election every hundred years?
Good grief.
The lifespan of a Supreme is calculated in centuries at the very least. If things are calculated this way, New Orleans should have three Supremes hanging around.
But if there really were a Supreme, would the witches of New Orleans be bullied to this extent?
I just don't buy it.
And...
It goes back to the same point. Even for supernatural beings, their power does not appear out of thin air, unless you are a cheater like Locke.
In reality, Locke's supernatural abilities did not come from nowhere either.
Locke's power was supplied to him by Limitless Energy; it was just that Locke himself was the master of his own power source.
The supernatural power of Locke the Witch was derived from Endless Energy that came from Limitless, which generated witch power and infused it into Locke.
The supernatural power of Cain the Vampire was derived from Endless Energy, which generated the purest darkness and infused it into Locke.
To put it simply, a source of power is the starting point for stepping into the supernatural world. If you cannot find your power supplier, even if you turn into a supernatural being, you will still be a weakling.
Therefore, looking at it from a certain perspective, when Locke opened his first box and got Endless Energy, it could no longer be called hitting the jackpot. It should be described as his ancestral graves blowing out green smoke.
No, wait.
I do not seem to have an ancestral grave, do I?
Hold on.
Lorraine Broughton's grave probably counts as an ancestral grave.
Yes.
As for the power suppliers, those are the endless dimensions scattered all around Earth.
Beyond Earth, there are almost infinite dimensions surrounding it. Some dimensions are like grains of sand, some are like kingdoms, and some are like entire worlds...
The development and expansion of a dimension are inseparable from its believers. Dimensions grant their power to believers, and believers give back what the dimension itself needs. It is a complementary relationship of win-win cooperation.
Of course, there are also some dimensions that are rather unconventional or downright malicious.
The power supplier for the Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme, is the Vishanti. To be precise, the long-term contract supplier is the Vishanti, while other dimensions serve as retail suppliers.
In the past, the power supplier for witches was called Salem, a dimension belonging to witches.
Carrie shared the knowledge she had gathered from her teacher, Agatha Harkness, with Locke.
Salem was the Lord of the Witch Dimension. Like Dormammu, she possessed her own consciousness and wisdom, while simultaneously possessing an unparalleled kindness.
But then again, in this universe, kindness and honesty only lead to one inevitable outcome.
Because of Salem's kindness, she never rejected any believer who came to follow her. However, Salem did not know that her actions would infuriate another dimension at the time.
"The Heaven Dimension."
"Wait a minute!"
"Hmm?"
Hearing Carrie mention this, Locke raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "The Heaven Dimension? Does such a dimension exist?"
Are there angels in the Marvel Universe?
Mutants do not count.
Hiss!
Does that mean I lie while swearing on God every single day?
Carrie shrugged. "That is what Teacher said. Otherwise, why would the Holy See persecute witches back then?"
Locke opened his mouth.
Could it be because male chauvinism was prevalent back then?
Forget it.
Maybe it did exist at that time.
Wait...
When did the Sorcerer Supreme take charge?
Locke was slightly dazed.
Speaking of which, Locke thought of a possibility.
Perhaps there really was a Heaven Dimension back then, but Earth has been the territory of the Vishanti since ancient times. Therefore, after the Sorcerer Supreme passed the trials of the Vishanti and became the Sorcerer Supreme, the process of driving out the barbarians began.
Thus...
Holding the Time Stone, the Sorcerer Supreme found God, who was entrenched on Earth trying to transform it into a kingdom of God on Earth, and the following dialogue took place.
"God, will you leave on your own, or should I send you away?"
"Ami..."
"Bah!"
"Ancient One, I will be back."
After that, God turned into light and fled miserably, driven away directly by the Ancient One.
This beautifully explained why the Holy See rapidly slid down from its peak position after persecuting the witches.
However...
All of this was mere speculation.
Who knows what the truth is.
Locke snapped out of his thoughts, shook his head, and gestured for Carrie to continue.
Carrie shrugged accordingly and continued her narration.
Actually, there was not much left to tell.
Although the deaths of believers, whether many or few, would not affect the dimension itself, the inhumane persecution of witches was happening across the entirety of Europe back then.
Consequently, the kind-hearted Salem transformed her own dimension into land, becoming the Salem area in the present-day country.
And then...
The heresy trials were brought here by the Holy See as well.
Salem fell.
What was the banner raised by the Holy See?
That witches made deals with Hell?
What nonsense.
Witches were believers of Salem, not Hell. Furthermore, at that time, the witches who made deals with Hell, though also called witches, were all dark witches!
"The reason Teacher knows all this is because..."
Carrie recalled the expression Agatha had when teaching her this knowledge, looking a bit dazed. "Teacher is one of the few survivors who luckily escaped the Salem witch trials."
After that, Agatha found her own power supplier again.
As for which dimension it was, that was a secret.
Just like in certain settings where the true names of gods cannot be known by people, here, it is best not to tell anyone about your power supplier. This prevents others from going over your head to negotiate small business deals directly with your power supplier, which would be bad.
Locke nodded. "Maybe it is three hundred years."
Carrie frowned. "But..."
"Those are the rumors of ordinary people, not the witches."
"...True."
Locke stroked his chin, thinking of Cordelia Foxx.
She seemed to be a witch too.
Moreover...
Locke walked to the balcony and closed his eyes.
After a moment, Locke turned around and looked at Carrie. "It seems we arrived just in time. Tell me about that Supreme?"
The witch aura in New Orleans this afternoon was slightly stronger by about two traces compared to the morning.
Carrie frowned. "This is also just a legend."
Legend has it that Salem, who provided power and protection to the witches, did not truly die. She had simply fallen into a deep sleep across seven cycles.
"Seven cycles?"
"Yes."
Carrie nodded. "The Cycle of Location, the Cycle of Mind, the Cycle of Space, the Cycle of Time, the Cycle of Life, the Cycle of Death, and the Cycle of Magic!"
Locke smacked his lips. "Sounds pretty high-end."
Carrie shook her head. "Actually, it just requires you to master telekinesis, mind control, teleportation, divination, resurgence, astral projection, and magic manipulation. Back then, the first witch to find Salem became the Supreme. Legend says that if a witch can complete these Seven Wonders, she can awaken Salem."
"Wow."
Locke's eyes lit up. "That amazing? This reminds me of the Ozaki Eight!"
Carrie frowned. "What Ozaki Eight?"
Locke smiled. "A lie made up by a Japanese guy. Supposedly, if you can complete these eight challenges, you can achieve nirvana!"
To put it plainly, it was eight extreme challenges.
When Locke watched Point Break, he was very interested in these eight challenges. However, he was short on money in his previous life, and it was easy to die. In this life, when he occasionally remembered it, he still planned to find a time to try it out.
Carrie shook her head. "But this one is not a lie. The witches all firmly believe in this."
Locke smiled. "Then why doesn't Agatha go?"
Carrie said, "Because Agatha no longer believes in Salem."
Locke raised his eyebrows.
As if knowing what Locke was thinking, Carrie said, "I am not a believer of Salem either. I belong to you."
Locke remained silent for a moment.
The next second, Locke sighed, looked down at the wine in his glass, and drained it in one gulp.
Alright, he was overthinking things.
[ Mission Name: "Release That Witch!" ]
[ Base Mission Reward: "5000 Achievement Points", "500 Potential Points" ]
[ Mission Bonus Mode: "Reputation!" ]
[ Current Bonus Value: 10% (Upper limit 100%) ]
[ Mission Description: "It's coming, the big one is coming. You, who stepped into the supernatural world because of a witch, swear to protect these pitiful and kind witches. But today, the bloody and brutal witch hunters still live in this world. Tell them that witches have someone protecting them!" ]
[ Mission Note: "Settlement will occur once it is determined that the witches have a good living environment." ]
[ Mission Note 2: Dear, please pay attention to reading the prompt carefully. ]
Locke looked once more at the mission in his quest log, which only he could see.
He had thought the opportunity to complete the mission had arrived.
If he could just manipulate things so that Carrie became the Supreme and reactivated Salem, then wouldn't the revival of the Salem dimension, which was willing to provide self-protection power to the witches, be equivalent to telling the world that witches have someone protecting them?
Wouldn't the mission be completed then?
He did read the prompt carefully.
Could it be... the way he read it was wrong?
***
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