'Subjugation-type Witch Hunt?' Vaan paused his steps briefly before he proceeded to exit Grissel's room and enter a spare room on the same floor.

He already guessed that there were other types of witch hunts when he received his first elimination-type witch hunt, but it was still pleasant to confirm that he could avoid killing witches.

Depending on the situation, the choice to kill witches or not was up to him.

Ding!

<Based on the lump of refined mana with fire attributes extracted from the witch, a list of suitable rewards is available>

<Please select one of the following rewards>

<Option 1: Infuse refined mana into a type of sensory organ and enhance its bodily functions with a slight chance of awakening a special ability related to it>

<Note: The better developed the sensory organs, the greater their chance of awakening a special ability>

<Option 2: Ignite the fire attribute and temper the body to increase defense by 1 point and gain slight resistance to fire>

<Option 3: Infuse refined mana in a single limb muscle and increase its strength by 5 points. No additional benefits noted>

<Note: Equal distribution at the lower improvement of 1 point in strength is possible but not advised>

<Option 4: Feed the fire-attribute refined mana to the Heaven-Swallowing Space and expand the subspace>

<Note: There may be unexpected gains in the last option or nothing at all>

Looking at the list of rewards, Vaan fell into deep thought on the bed after closing the door to the spare room.

The last option was immediately ruled off his list of choices.

There wasn't much to gain from it, and it would only waste the little amount of fire-attribute refined mana he could only gain from making love to witches with specialization in fire magic.

Even so, it was still listed by the system.

'This means the unexpected gains mentioned are useful enough. However, I'm not really fond of gambling with my life,' Vaan pondered.

The dangers beyond the city walls aren't small. He needed guaranteed improvements to increase his survival chances.

Moving up the list, option two and option three seemed quite good.

However, he lacked information to understand the improvement scale of one to five points in strength and defense.

Improving his strength and defense was definitely a good thing, but not so much if the improvement is minuscule at best.

'I don't really want to be lopsided either… This invites all sorts of misunderstandings…' Vaan's mulled before shifting his focus on the first option.

Reasons told him this was the best choice to pick.

'Among the sensory organs, improving my sense of sight would prove to be the most useful when I head out into the wild,' Vaan thought.

Good visions will allow him to discover hidden dangers when assessing his environment, especially at night, the peak period for danger in the wild.

Furthermore, his eyesight deteriorated due to prolonged periods of reading in the library in the past year.

Improving his eyes was the right choice.

'I choose Option 1 reward,' Vaan made up his mind.

Ding!

<Option 1 has been selected>

Shortly after hearing the system alert, Vaan felt traces of heat from various parts of his body begin to gather towards a specific location, his eyes.

Despite possessing fire attributes, the refined mana felt lukewarm at best—at least that was what Vaan thought before he started feeling pain from the burning sensation in his eyes, compelling him to close them.

"Ugh…" Vaan made a soft groan.

Nevertheless, the pain did not exceed his tolerance level. At the very least, it wasn't enough to make him break down in tears.

After enduring the pain for fifteen minutes, the heat died down.

Ding!

<Sense of sight has been successfully greatly enhanced>

<Your eyes' affinity to mana has increased>

Vaan steadily opened his eyes and immediately noticed the difference. His eyesight was restored and improved further beyond.

Everything around him had become crystal clear. He could even detect the numerous specks of glowing blue dust in the bedroom from a distance.

"Hm? Glowing blue dust?"

Vaan furrowed his brows before shortly noticing faint blue lines on his hands running through his arms and to the rest of his body.

'Are these the so-called mana veins?' Vaan wondered.

Only witches and their descendants possess mana veins, and the entirety of their mana veins in their body is called the mana circuit, also known as the magic root.

It was the symbol of their affinity to mana.

Without it, neither witches nor their descendants can absorb mana, let alone manipulate it to invoke magic spells.

To this day, it was never understood why male witch descendants are unable to manipulate mana despite possessing the same quality even after extensive research and study.

Ding!

<A special phenomenon has been detected>

<You have awakened the ability to perceive mana>

<Please give this special ability a name>

<…>

'The ability to perceive mana?' Vaan's eyes immediately flickered.

Magic roots were inherent in all demons and demon beasts. Therefore, being able to see these magic roots implies that it would be easier for him to detect them in the wild.

'I wasn't pinning any hopes on awakening a special ability when I picked the first reward, but luck must be on my side tonight,' Vaan thought with a pleasant surprise.

'I'll keep it simple and call it Magic Vision,' he decided.

Ding!

<The special ability's name has been confirmed>

<You have acquired the skill, Magic Vision>

Shortly after the last message, the system went completely silent.

Nevertheless, Vaan wasn't too bothered with this. He will figure out how to interact with the system sooner or later.

He was already happy with his unexpected gains.

'I made the right choice to stop by the brothel. Still, Magic Vision won't be enough for me to survive outside the city walls. But before I make them the necessary tools and weapons, I need to review the region and understand its monster habitats,' Vaan mused.

It will be his first time leaving the city, but he had studied the geographic layout of the region and its surrounding monster habitats back in the academy's library.

As long as he knew the monsters he could potentially face, he could develop the appropriate countermeasures to fight or escape from them.