“What are we doing all the way out here?” Mary Rose asks, looking at the surrounding forest.

Johnny smiles. “Didn't that lady ask us to find her a snake? We're here to look for a snake.” He says.

Mary Rose frowns. “I'm sure she didn't expect us to actually look for one. Why should we do this favor for her?” She asks, unwilling.

Johnny lets out a chuckle. “Mary Rose, this has to do with your cultivation technique. This is how flow works. Each thing prompting the next thing, in a never ending flow of progress and entropy. All she needed to do was mention it, and the task appeared in your mind, thus its your duty to progress that thought.” He explains.

Mary Rose continues to frown. “Hmm. I guess.” She says, still skeptical.

…

…

Johnny hunted several demon beasts as they explored, and he fed them all to the snake.

Eventually, a rustling was heard behind them. The snake had found a snake!

Johnny watches as the snake struggles with the snake. Eventually, Johnny’s snake managed to get the upper hand and bit out a large chunk of the other snake’s neck. Eventually, the smaller snake stopped moving.

Johnny nods his head. If his snake lost, Johnny was almost willing to take the other one as a replacement. But luckily for his snake, he won.

Johnny picks up the other snake and puts it into his space bag.

Mary Rose lets out a sigh. “Are we done now?” She asks. Her legs were aching from all this walking.

Johnny smiles. “Yup, let’s go.” He says as he leads the way back.

…

…

Johnny takes out the snake on the witch lady’s kitchen table.

The witch lady’s eyes light up. “Wonderful! Wonderful! Now I can complete my spell!” She says before taking the snake and exiting the room.

Mary Rose looks to Johnny and they both follow.

They walked into some sort of witch’s workshop. There were various items in jars and random bones and animal parts.

Mary Rose raises an eyebrow. “Are you going to do the spell now?” She asks.

“Of course! Seize the day, I always say!” The witch lady says happily. She quickly walks over and begins to dissect the snake, taking out a few parts. Then she ran around to gather various other ingredients.

Somewhat clumsily, in her hurry, she bumped into Johnny and their heads collided.

“Ow.” Johnny says, rubbing his head.

“Sorry!” The witch lady says before continuing with her tasks.

Eventually, the ingredients were gathered, and the witch began to chant as she arranged the ingredients in rhythm with the words she chanted.

On the spell altar, several items burst into a flame, the smoke drifting to a garnet pendant in the center.

As the witch chanted, another spell was also beginning to work. The curse on Johnny's neck began to glow.

With a slight movement of her head, two strands of hair, one black, the other brown, drifted down and fell into the garnet unhindered, settling inside of it, entwined.

“May heaven’s light shine down on hell, and may the struggling sprout reach for sun. Although we may never touch, may our spirits be as one. Accident after accident, may the stars align. The sweet taste of man, may he be super fine!” The witch lady says with a smirk before gathering her energy and completing the spell.

The ingredients have been used up, their essences absorbed into the garnet pendant accordingly. Eventually, the garnet began to glow red and the witch lady lifted it up with a smile before putting it around her neck.

A drowsiness overcomes Johnny’s mind and he had to struggle to stabilize himself. When he looks back up to the witch lady, he was stunned. She’s… She’s… She’s glorious! The beauty, the grace! How did I not notice this before! I must… I must… He begins to think before looking at Mary Rose. Suddenly an immensely painful headache began to hammer his head. “Ah, fuck.” He says.

The witch lady approaches. “Thank you! Thank you so much! How can I repay you guys?” She asks before looking to Johnny. “Hey, are you alright?” She asks.

Johnny looks up at the witch lady and his face immediately becomes flushed and heated. “I’m fine. And no payment is necessary. Consider it a favor. I might ask for something else later.” Johnny says, unable to think too much about it. He quickly grabs Mary Rose’s hand. “Come on, Mary Rose. Let’s go. This headache is killing me.” He says, feeling the need to escape.