Chapter 405 – Adjusting the Route

Mo Lan wasn’t just trying to collect fish — she was clearly about to make new ingredient cards, blessing their taste buds once again!

Naturally, there was no reason to refuse.

“We don’t need to be in too much of a hurry anyway,” Lilith said. “We’re not just going out to sell Magic and earn Mana — we’re meant to enjoy the journey itself. Every witch, after coming of age, should have at least one free journey of exploration.”

“Lilith’s absolutely right!” Vasida said. “Besides… I want to eat fish too!”

“Exactly! That grassland in the Academy’s outer region that looks so similar to Emerald Creek Plains has plenty of water elemental force, but there’s barely any fish at all,” Sylph said.

“Thinking about that just breaks my heart. I didn’t buy the Headmistress’s Magic Waterbed technique early enough and missed out on the Water Elemental Essence from the Cloud Beasts!” Vasida said. “But I’ve bought the Headmistress’s Magic Waterbed this time, so I’m all set to start learning!”

Lilith looked up in surprise. “You’re not talking about that grassland to the west of the outer region where the water elemental force is really abundant, are you? There are Cloud Beasts there?”

“Moira discovered them and wrote to tell us,” Sylph said.

“That area always gets rain every so often — it’s caused by the Cloud Beasts.

I happened to discover a method of using the Magic Waterbed to condense water elemental essence, extracting Water Elemental Essence from the Cloud Beasts’ bodies.

It was only after I’d finished collecting that I learned those Cloud Beasts had been caught and kept in the outer region by Madam Amisha.

If you want Water Elemental Essence, you can just buy material cards directly from the Card Shop! I’ve already made them into cards,” Mo Lan explained.

Lilith opened the Card Shop and searched, discovering not only {Water Elemental Essence – Material Card} but also {Earth Source Essence – Material Card}.

“Earth Source essence? You managed to get Earth Source essence too?” Lilith said. “The Academy has such good stuff?”

“There’s more than just Earth Source essence — there’s Earth Source stone too! How else do you think I made the Planting Pot Card?” Mo Lan said. “But the Earth Source stone is very important to the Academy’s demiplane, so it can’t be taken.”

Vasida had a sudden flash of inspiration. “What if we find a demiplane in the future for Moira’s Book of Cards to devour? Wouldn’t that mean we’d have an endless supply of demiplanes?”

“Moira, the abilities of your Book of Cards are just too outrageous!” Lilith exclaimed.

“Ownerless demiplanes aren’t that easy to find, you know,” Mo Lan said helplessly. “And even if we did find one, the cost of making a {Demiplane Card} would definitely be astronomical.”

Sylph said, “The fact that it can be made at all is already incredible!”

“Hm? Look, isn’t that the Poison Mist Swamp over there?” Vasida pointed to the northwest.

Mo Lan and the others all craned their necks to look in that direction. On the distant horizon, there was a faint tinge of purple.

It was a purple far more ominous than the nights on the Greengrass Plains.

After checking the route plan, Lilith said, “It should be. The route we’re taking veers slightly west, so it’s possible to catch a distant glimpse of the Poison Mist Swamp.”

“My mama told me that just beyond the Poison Mist Swamp is the Black Forest. She used to go there all the time to pick up human corpses!” Vasida said.

“Really? Are there a lot of human corpses there?” asked Lilith, who had recently developed an immense passion for Necromancy Magic yet was sorely lacking in materials.

“Apparently the humans on the other side of the Black Forest treat it as a symbol of death and misfortune. Humans who’ve committed crimes get driven into the Black Forest to atone for their sins.”

Vasida continued, “They’re just ordinary humans, you know? Their bodies can’t withstand the dense aura of death in the Black Forest, so they just end up as corpses!”

Lilith was incredibly tempted. “The Black Forest borders Emerald Creek Plains too, right? How about we go pick up some human corpses for Moira to use as card-making materials, and then have her make corpse material cards for us? That way we’d have supplies for practicing Necromancy Magic later. Vasida, your egg fried rice needs regular body maintenance too, doesn’t it?”

“The Black Forest… found it!” Sylph said, holding her Grimoire. “The Death Force in the Black Forest is extremely dense. Entry is not recommended for anyone other than necromancer witches. However, for necromancer witches, the Death Force acts as a natural defensive magic formation… For us, the Black Forest should be safe!”

“Going for a trip would be fine, but I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to make human corpse material cards!” Mo Lan said.

“Why not?” Vasida said. “You can make cards from materials taken from magical beasts. Why wouldn’t materials from humans work?”

That question stumped Mo Lan.

What difference was there really between a human body and a magical beast’s body? Both were creatures of flesh and blood!

It was probably her memories as a human acting up, making her subconsciously believe that humans were special, somehow different.

“Then let’s go give it a try!” Mo Lan said.

Lilith immediately adjusted the route. “We should reach Emerald Creek Plains by roughly tomorrow. When we get there, we’ll first help Moira collect fish ingredients, then head toward the Black Forest. After we find human corpse materials, we’ll return to Emerald Creek Plains and take the route from there to the Duchy of Lance.

We should try not to go beyond the Black Forest. Beyond it lies the Kingdom of Watson, a vassal state of the Yala Empire. The people of the Yala Empire still worship the God of Light to this day. They’re more xenophobic, so it’s not a good idea for us to go there just yet.”

“Worship the God of Light?” Mo Lan asked in surprise. “Wasn’t the God of Light confirmed to be an Angel hoax?”

“It is a hoax, that’s true. But the Yala Empire’s royal family and nobility are rotten to the core internally. They refuse to relinquish their power, and they’re wary of mages.

When the Angel hoax scandal broke, the Yala Empire helped the Temple cover up the news and assisted the Temple in suppressing the mages, whose influence had been growing ever stronger.

The mages were indeed suppressed, but the Empire became a puppet of the Temple in the process.

Throughout the Yala Empire, many regions are jointly governed by the Temple and the nobility — and in some cases, the Temple holds even greater power. Even magical knowledge has been brought under the Temple’s control.

Mages who could flee to the Mage Empire all fled there. Those who couldn’t either joined the Temple or were branded as followers of Demons, forced into hiding, barely clinging to survival — much like our situation as witches back in the day.”

Lilith continued, “We witches don’t need to worry about being persecuted, but we’re not exactly welcome either. If we went there and wanted to avoid drawing attention, we’d have to pretend to be ordinary people who can’t use Magic. And even then, we’d easily be excluded just for being outsiders.”

“So the Temple doesn’t dare to openly persecute witches anymore, and instead turned its claws on its own people?” Vasida said in astonishment. “Can they not spread their faith without slandering someone?”

“Hardship and misfortune are what make people more likely to seek help from others — and that’s exactly where the Temple finds its purpose!”

Mo Lan said, “Lilith, where did you learn all this? I noticed there are barely any books about the Yala Empire in the library. Nobody seems to like going there.”

“Well… my father is a Vampire, isn’t he? Among the Vampires, there’s a duke who infiltrated the Temple and took control of an entire diocese. So when it comes to news about the Yala Empire, the Vampires know quite a lot!” Lilith said.