Chapter 961 – Gravewoods Singer

The innkeeper’s memories contained more detailed intelligence about the Shadow Merchants.

After reviewing it, Mo Lan used Divination Magic to confirm she could handle them, then followed the leads.

From the Shadow Merchants’ core members and main strongholds to the mercenary companies they collaborated with, local gangs, independent slaving parties, major buyers, and even competitors engaged in similar trades—all fell within her scope of elimination.

It took over a full year of work before everything was completely cleaned up.

At first, she had only been clearing threats for the tribal Elves. Later, she was entirely motivated by the memories and resources she obtained from these people.

Though the Shadow Merchants were only a second-rate organization in the Seran world, they still had quite a few high-ranking professionals at level 15 and above. Their biggest backer was a level 18 mage, and their membership basically covered all the mainstream extraordinary professions in the Seran world.

The professional cultivation and magic-related knowledge in their memories, taken together, formed a remarkably comprehensive collection of extraordinary profession heritage memories from the Seran world, completely satisfying Mo Lan’s need for such magical knowledge.

Beyond that, her Book of Cards now contained many new Material Cards featuring resources unique to the Seran world.

Her Spatial Cards were piled high with leftover currencies, gemstones, magical materials, artworks, and magical items from her card-crafting.

Mo Lan planned to return to the mirror space and spend some time organizing everything.

She opened a transport channel, and the moment she returned to the Witch’s home, Zhizhi leaped into her arms.

“Zhiii, Master! You’re finally back! You have no idea how bored I’ve been these years. In this entire space, I’m the only one who can talk! If you hadn’t come back soon, I would’ve forgotten how to speak Common entirely.”

Mo Lan stroked Zhizhi’s still-sleek fur, then looked down at the tree root stretching in through the window, coiling around her hem in endless circles, and at Clack following closely behind her. She said apologetically:

“My identity this time was a newborn nature Elf. It took a hundred years just to reach adulthood and leave the forest. I’m sorry you’ve all had to endure this.

Once I’ve taken the Gravewoods Singer class, I’ll bring you all out. Then we’ll go together to this world’s capital of arcane magic and stars—Quelariel!”

Mo Lan knew they had been cooped up for too long.

As a druid, she could form contracts with natural creatures and have animal companions.

But the druid’s way of nature leaned toward vitality and strongly rejected death. She couldn’t keep an undead creature like Clack by her side for long periods openly.

As a necromancer, she could summon and control undead creatures as loyal servants. But a necromancer’s Death Force was corrosive, eroding the physical bodies of the caster and nearby living beings. A living animal companion couldn’t stay near a necromancer.

Under the rules of the magic web, these two professions were like fire and water—impossible to hold simultaneously.

Choosing the path of the druid meant being eternally at odds with death mages.

The only way to keep all of them with her was to take the Gravewoods Singer class.

This was a rare profession that required Natural Affinity, death affinity, and a certain degree of psychic talent.

Gravewoods Singers believed that death was not an ending, but a necessary stage in the return to nature; that life was not eternal, but a brilliant movement within a greater cycle.

They cherished the flourishing of life while also respecting the serenity of death. They were artists and mediators who walked the boundary between life and death.

Through ballads, chanting, or ritual dances, they used psychic power to guide the power of life and Death Force into natural circulation, bringing the two into harmonious resonance.

Most critically, this profession did not conflict with the druid class, and one could simultaneously have both animal companions and undead companions.

Mo Lan had obtained knowledge of this profession from an unremarkable graveyard keeper within the Shadow Merchants. That person was only level 10, and the Gravewoods Singer professional knowledge he possessed only went up to level 10 as well. But for Mo Lan, it was sufficient.

In her view, the dazzling array of extraordinary profession systems in the Seran world were, at their core, merely different approaches to understanding, refining, and applying magical energy of various natures.

Some professions delved deep into a single type of energy, pushing it to its extreme. Others attempted to fuse several types of energy, seeking complementarity or balance.

The Gravewoods Singer profession was simply a specific application model that simultaneously employed the forces of nature and Death Force, using psychic power as a mediating catalyst.

Its professional knowledge—whether concerning communication with natural flora and fauna, the soothing and guiding of Death Force, or techniques for psychic songs—could, when broken down, all be found in more thorough and systematic form within the professional knowledge of druids, necromancers, and bards.

The Gravewoods Singer class served her purpose as long as it let her openly keep both her animal companion and undead companion by her side.

When the three little ones heard they could come along, they were overjoyed.

Yet even as Mo Lan organized her gains from this period, they refused to leave her side for even a moment, as if trying to make up for a century’s worth of missed companionship.

The memories in her mind were categorized and sorted by profession, and that was mostly sufficient.

Mo Lan was in no rush to study them now.

Magical knowledge in the Seran world was all built upon extraordinary professions. Even spell structures were simplified spell models processed through the magic web—one could only begin to explore their full scope after taking a class and having it registered with the magic web.

Though she met the requirements for all of them, each investiture ceremony had its own unique characteristics. Some professions even conflicted with each other and couldn’t be held simultaneously. She would need to study one, relinquish the profession, then take another—hardly something that could be completed quickly.

She planned to take her time studying them after reaching Quelariel.

She didn’t stay long in the mirror space before preparing to complete the Gravewoods Singer investiture ceremony.

Looking at Zhizhi, Clack, and Sentai waiting eagerly at the doorway, Mo Lan reassured them: “Don’t worry. This time I’ll be able to bring you out very soon.”

The Gravewoods Singer investiture ceremony needed to be held at a place where life and death intersected.

The extensive memories from the slavers had also given her much greater knowledge of the Seran world. With just a moment’s recollection, she found a suitable location.

It was an ancient tomb-forest at the junction of Talencia’s southern border and the Central Mountain Range.

It wasn’t far from her current position. The memories even contained precise spatial coordinates, so she could teleport there directly.

A hidden valley embraced by steep cliff walls appeared before her eyes.

The entrance was narrow, with hanging vines draped like curtains. Inside the valley, the trees grew tall and dense.

Every tree here had a trunk that was thick and twisted, its bark displaying an interwoven pattern of grayish-white and deep brown, with a texture resembling weathered stone.

On many trunks, ancient carved patterns and symbols could faintly be discerned.

Some trees had root systems exposed above the ground, embracing the corners of stone sarcophagi half-buried in the earth. Others cradled tombstones carved with blurred faces.

Over the long ages, the trees had enveloped and merged with the tombstones that once stood here, ultimately growing into a symbiotic whole—forming a singular ancient tomb-forest.