Chapter 656 – Mana Crystals

Although she didn’t yet know exactly what these Mana crystals were, judging from Lan Qiqi’s words, they were clearly important resources obtainable during otherworld exploration.

Mo Lan didn’t rush to collect them. Instead, she picked one crystal from each of the two piles and fed them to the Book of Cards as materials, then attempted to design and craft the corresponding cards.

【Card Design: {Ordinary Mana Crystal Card}】

【Estimated Cost: 100 Mana disposable Mana】

【Estimated Appearance: Appearance Template 1】

【Estimated Function: Produces one ordinary Mana crystal upon use】

【Card Design: {Origin Mana Crystal Card}】

【Estimated Cost: 1 Mana permanent Mana, 100 Mana disposable Mana】

【Estimated Appearance: Appearance Template 1】

【Estimated Function: Produces one origin Mana crystal upon use】

The designs were successful!

Although the {Origin Mana Crystal Card} required permanent Mana to craft—something she’d never encountered before—a successful design meant that as long as she had sufficient energy, she could produce them.

With her current reserves of permanent Mana and disposable Mana, she could make hundreds of millions of origin Mana crystals, and even more ordinary ones.

With this in mind, Mo Lan first crafted one card of each type, materializing them into two Mana crystals—one dim and mottled in color, the other pure and bright—identical to the ones she had just taken.

She placed the two Mana crystals back into the piles on the table.

“Keep these and save them for the other witches. I won’t be taking any.”

“Are you sure?” Lan Qiqi looked at her in surprise. “Mana crystals are hard currency among Explorers!”

“I’m sure.” Mo Lan slightly stirred her Mana.

After entering the Explorer’s Camp, the Mana that had been suppressed before was free once more. Within the Explorer’s Camp, only the use of offensive Magic was restricted.

Lan Qiqi sensed the Mana fluctuation emanating from her and instantly puffed up into a round black fur ball. “F-fifth order?! How did you manage that? Even for a Sorceress, reaching fifth order right after arriving at the Well of the Sky is absurd!”

Many Explorers with centuries of otherworld exploration experience hadn’t even reached fifth order!

Mo Lan wasn’t surprised that Lan Qiqi had recognized her. She smiled and said, “I’m rather good at earning Mana.”

Her Mana rank had already passed the halfway point of the fifth order, with a total Mana volume exceeding five hundred million. As for the disposable Mana stored in the Book of Cards, that was an astronomical figure.

Being this wealthy already, there was no need for her to take up the resource quota allocated to newcomer Witch Explorers.

Something seemed to click for Lan Qiqi, and this time she didn’t try to persuade her further. She decisively collected all the Mana crystals from the table, not leaving a single one behind.

Sorceress Moira… her fifth-order Mana rank—she had contributed to that too!

She’d spent all the wages she’d earned in recent years on her. Lan Qiqi struggled to maintain her expression and her professional service demeanor. “Do you have any other questions?”

Mo Lan shook her head.

She currently had dozens of books transcribed in her Grimoire, along with a thick book list, and was eager to start reading.

She believed that whether it was questions she’d thought of or ones she hadn’t, these books would have the answers.

“Then the newcomer orientation is complete!” Lan Qiqi hopped down from the table and walked to the wall behind Mo Lan.

There were two doors there, one large and one small.

The small one had a cat paw symbol on it, while the large one bore a witch hat symbol. “Press the hat to open the door and leave. If you have any questions within the next year, you can come find me again.”

“Thank you! What’s on the table is for you.” Mo Lan left a card on the table.

The moment Mo Lan disappeared through the door, Lan Qiqi transformed into a black blur and appeared on the table, her paws eagerly pawing at the card, overjoyed.

“{Dawn Society Identity Rank Promotion Card}! And it’s the highest rank!”

Mo Lan had sensed that Lan Qiqi was a member of the Dawn Society, and while crafting the cards, she had taken the opportunity to check her identity.

Chong’er Cat Lan Qiqi had been a member of the Dawn Society for eleven years and was still only a Level 3 Night Observer. Mo Lan figured she would be quite pleased with this gift.

As the familiar of Lady Traci, she was one of their own among the witches—she certainly deserved the status of Guiding Mentor.

After stepping through the door, Mo Lan found herself in a spacious Great Hall. The hall was densely lined with doors, looking much like the camp itself.

In the center of the Great Hall stood a person-high book sculpture and a spiraling staircase winding upward.

She took out 《Otherworld Archive Collection Catalog》 and found the map inside.

Cross-referencing the map, she learned that the book sculpture was the collection catalog inquiry station Lan Qiqi had mentioned.

The book in her hands could be updated there.

However, since it was currently the latest edition, there was no need to update it just yet.

The spiral staircase beside it led to other floors and moved automatically up and down, though its speed was slow and it saw little use.

Witches and Archive members would choose the teleportation doors in the Great Hall to go directly to their desired floor.

Witches or non-human Explorers with the ability to fly would occasionally fly up and down through the stairwell. Only non-member, non-flying non-human Explorers would ride that sluggish spiral staircase.

Consulting the map, Mo Lan found the teleportation door marked “Witch Rest Area No. 1” and stepped through.

Materials in the Otherworld Archive could not be taken outside the Archive; they could only be read within its walls. Only witches could transcribe materials into their Grimoires and take them out.

For this reason, the Archive had set up numerous reading areas and rest areas.

The reading areas had desks, chairs, and sofas, while the rest areas consisted of individual rest rooms.

Both areas had refreshment counters offering beverages and food.

For non-human visitors, aside from the desks and chairs in the reading area which were free to use, everything else was a paid amenity.

But for witches, aside from food and drinks which required payment, everything else could be used free of charge.

Mo Lan found an empty rest room and went inside.

The rest room was about the same size as a basic personal tent, furnished with a comfortable desk and chair, a bright Magical lamp, and even a small bed—offering more privacy than the public reading area.

After sitting down, she took out 《Essential Reading List for Well of the Sky Exploration》.

It listed over a thousand books, complete with detailed descriptions and reasons for recommendation.

After memorizing everything, Mo Lan tried searching for the locations of these books in 《Otherworld Archive Collection Catalog》.

This time, the results showed not only the collection locations but also a price list for each resource.

The prices differed for Witch readers, ordinary readers, Beginner member readers, Intermediate member readers, and Advanced member readers.

The pricing unit for general materials was “ordinary Mana crystals,” while the pricing unit for rare materials even included “origin Mana crystals.” (End of Chapter)