Chapter 857 – Spreading Magic

“Look, you can buy a {Light-Gathering Society Invitation Letter} with an initial Heart Light detection function in the shop for just 1 Gem Coin! We… we can spread Magic just like the Light-Gathering Fairy, and get more of our people to join us!”

…

In an instant, the White Crystal People who had originally planned to hide forever in this valley, unwilling to face the desperate society outside, felt an irrepressible urge rising from deep within their hearts — a powerful desire to proactively leave this place and venture outward — all for the sake of obtaining those miraculous cards and upgrading their permissions to learn more powerful Magic.

Through this period of living and studying together day and night, the twelve White Crystal People who had originally been complete strangers had already developed a deep camaraderie.

They sat in a circle around the simple altar, bathed in the faint glow of each other’s Light spells, carefully studying the various cards available in the “Light-Gathering Society” shop within their minds while heatedly discussing plans for going out to spread Magic.

“The permission requirements for these {Magic Cards} really aren’t that high, and they even allow us to purchase one card above our permission level every so often.”

Xinhen pointed at several attack and defense cards in the list and analyzed, “We can lay low for a while first, accumulating a few cards that can ensure our safety before heading out. The Radiant Nobles who control the emotional energy weapons will never sit idly by and watch Magic spread. We must be prepared.”

“We also need to stockpile some {Light-Gathering Society Invitation Letters} in advance,” Yingyu added, carefully reading the invitation letter’s description. “According to the description, opening an invitation letter provides a free initial Heart Light detection and plays the Light-Gathering Fairy’s Heart Light transformation instructional projection. We don’t actually need to make a big fuss about preaching from the start. We just need to quietly deliver them into the hands of those who need them most, like sowing seeds. That would be much safer.”

“Our targets should preferably be Dustlight Folk.” Thinking of the world outside, Jingchen’s voice carried a trace of bitterness. “Those nobles live in extravagance, rich in emotion, never short of Light Fluid. Why would they need Magic? Only we Dustlight Folk, drained of our emotions until we can barely keep our bodies from crumbling, would see Magic as our only lifeline!”

“How about… we start by going to the outskirts of various cities and look for those who, like us back then, are about to end their own lives?”

Yaotong’s quiet suggestion resonated with everyone. They had all been saved by the Light-Gathering Fairy in their final moments, and they understood better than anyone how wonderful it felt to receive hope at such a time. Moreover, starting from the city outskirts would be much safer.

“Before we leave, we can save up Gem Coins to buy a {Communication Card}. This card allows us to communicate via text over long distances. That way, even if we’re not together, we can share information with each other if any issues come up,” Xinhen said, pointing at the {Communication Card} in the shop.

This suggestion immediately won everyone’s approval.

In the perilous outside world, being able to maintain contact would undoubtedly greatly increase their chances of survival and success.

They began browsing the Society shop more carefully, planning how to optimally allocate their limited initial resources among the cards that could ensure their safety and communication.

Practice of the Light spell was also temporarily suspended — they needed to save up their Heart Light and convert it into Gem Coins to purchase cards.

Several months later, the twelve White Crystal People were fully prepared and walked out of the valley for the first time.

The valley that they could never manage to leave before was now passed through with ease.

They followed the farm’s original transport route toward the nearest city, then scattered toward the outskirts of the cities each was familiar with.

At the garbage dump on the outskirts of Crystal Glow City, Yingyu walked among mountains of discarded crystal stones and broken emotional collector wreckage.

Before her desperate suicide attempt, she had spent a long time scavenging at the garbage dump, picking up things the nobles had thrown away that still held some use for the Dustlight Folk — things that could be traded for meager amounts of emotional energy. She knew there were many scavengers here, just as she had once been.

She quickly found her target — a young White Crystal Person sitting against a discarded crystal cluster, the faint light within their body nearly extinguished completely.

She didn’t approach rashly. She simply placed a {Light-Gathering Society Invitation Letter} gently within the other’s reach, then slipped back into the shadows. The young White Crystal Person looked blankly at the card that had suddenly appeared, shimmering with a faint glow. A flicker of something stirred in their lifeless eyes.

They instinctively touched it.

The next moment, they sat bolt upright, their eyes blazing with incredulous light.

They “saw” the Light-Gathering Fairy’s projection. Through the projection’s explanation, they learned that there existed something called Magic in this world, and that they — with an initial Heart Light of 32 Mana — could possess this miraculous power. They truly, through the projection’s instruction, converted their “Heart Light” into light-element force.

Most crucially, this Heart Light that could recover naturally needed only 1 Mana to exchange for one drop of low-grade Light Fluid — the undiluted kind!

They had nothing left to lose. New hope was right before their eyes, and there was nothing they didn’t dare try. Without hesitation, they signed the contract and joined the Light-Gathering Society.

At the bottom of an abandoned irrigation channel in Fallen Crystal City, Yaotong discovered a White Crystal Person hiding in the dried-up channel bed, their body already showing multiple cracks.

He walked up silently and, right before the other’s eyes, condensed a small but steady, warm orb of light in his palm.

The dying White Crystal Person’s eyes went wide, their enormous butterfly-wing collector trembling slightly from the shock.

Yaotong dispersed the light orb, then placed the invitation letter in the other’s hand and patted their shoulder. “Make good use of it. You can do it too.”

Sometimes, a miracle seen with one’s own eyes is more powerful than any words.

In a Dustlight Folk village outside Polychrome Crystal City, Xinhen quietly gathered the villagers. Under the gaze of many numb or curious eyes, he cast the Light spell and activated the Fairy projection from a {Light-Gathering Society Invitation Letter}.

“Aren’t you all curious how I came back? I survived not through the charity of nobles, but through the grace of the Light-Gathering Fairy!”

His voice was clear and resolute. “The Magic the Fairy taught me lets me cast orbs of light. Join the ‘Light-Gathering Society’ — we can survive on our own!”

At first there was doubt, but when the first villager brave enough to try used an invitation letter, the excitement and commotion it sparked rippled outward like waves.

Hope spread through this desperate village alongside the “Light-Gathering Society.”

Every weekend, the twelve White Crystal People operating separately would exchange information through their {Communication Cards}.

“All the Dustlight Folk in the east district garbage dump of Crystal Glow City have joined the Light-Gathering Society!”

“All the Dustlight Folk at the bottom of the abandoned channels in Fallen Crystal City have joined the Light-Gathering Society. Everyone has relocated to a nearby abandoned white crystal tree plantation and is lying low for now.”

“Everyone in my hometown has also joined the Light-Gathering Society. They’re currently doing everything they can to recruit new members.”

… (End of Chapter)