Chapter 551 – Tidewhisper Forest

Chapter 551 – Tidewhisper Forest

The other drinks and delicacies on the table were each as distinctive as the Merfolk’s Tears, Bubble Coral, and Sunken Ship Treasure Platter.

A three-tiered gradient blue cake topped with decorative little mirror-sugar wafers — when you ate the cake and peered into the sugar mirror, you’d see a crown of bubbles floating above your head.

A pale purple filled shell cake — one bite would briefly make you forget all your troubles.

A shaved ice buried in crushed ice with transparent overwintering Crystals and edible glitter — when stirred, it looked like ocean waves washing over a sandy beach.

Faintly glowing green spiral seaweed noodles, accompanied by roe from oceanic magical beast fish — while eating, tiny “magical starlight” drifted from your fork.

A thick chowder served in a giant conch shell — hold it close and you could hear the sound of ocean waves.

Coral-shaped fried small fish, and French fries planted upright in blue salt crystal “seawater.”

A gradient purple drink with sugar seashells perched on the rim of the glass — by the third sip, you’d float right up off your seat.

A potent fruit liquor with an edible “gold coin chocolate” clipped to the rim — drinking it would make you forget where you’d hidden your treasure.

And in the center, a luxurious seafood risotto with a candy mast standing tall in the middle, with a lucky fish bone hidden somewhere in the rice — whoever found it got their meal for free.

“This isn’t the most delicious meal I’ve ever had, but it’s definitely the most fun,” Mo Lan said. Her stomach was stuffed to bursting, but her spirits were still running high.

“Right?! The merfolk waiters and the merfolk singing are just one of this place’s perks. The drinks and food are what’s really interesting,” Rose said.

“It’s just too expensive!” Dora said. “We can’t come here to play often.”

“Well, it is food made with magical ingredients… Some human restaurants use materials that aren’t even this rare, don’t taste this good, and charge nearly as much!” Lena said.

“Senior, it’s all thanks to you that we got to try so many Merfolk Tavern dishes in one go!” Rose said gratefully, rubbing her belly.

“And thanks to all of you, none of it went to waste.” Mo Lan could never have eaten this much on her own.

With this many dishes, even the four of them had overdone it — every one of them was round-bellied and stuffed.

Guests were gradually leaving their seats, riding shell boats back to shore. Mo Lan checked the time — it was nearly dawn.

She hadn’t expected time to fly by so quickly. The ocean-view suite she’d booked hadn’t even been slept in, and the night was already over.

She couldn’t keep staying at inns every night, anyway.

“By the way, do you know anywhere near Moon Harbor with beautiful scenery that would be convenient for setting up a temporary home?”

Though Mo Lan knew the map of Moon Harbor like the back of her hand, she still couldn’t match Rose and the others’ familiarity with this land.

“If you fly along the coastline, the scenery is nice in both directions, north and south.

The south has flat terrain, convenient transportation, and a higher degree of development — though the best spots have all been claimed by vacation estates built by human mage aristocrats. On the bright side, the surrounding dangers have been surveyed and cleared, so it’s relatively safe.

To the north, past Dragon Spine Cliff, is Tidewhisper Forest. Apart from adventurers who go there to hunt magical beasts or gather magical plants, few people venture that way. If you lived there, you’d need to guard against environmental dangers.

Most witches who’ve established a Witch’s home near the coast of Moon Harbor choose Tidewhisper Forest.

As far as I know, Lady Aquina lives in Tidewhisper Forest,” Rose said.

Anyone capable of establishing a Witch’s home was certainly a powerful witch who wouldn’t fear environmental threats — they were the ones who reshaped the environment to suit themselves.

“Then I’ll go check out Tidewhisper Forest later,” Mo Lan said.

She had no desire to squeeze in among the aristocratic mage vacation estates. The sparsely traveled Tidewhisper Forest suited her much better.

Dora glanced at her watch. “Oh no! It’s almost time for work!” She’d taken orders yesterday, and today she needed to start deliveries early — otherwise she might not finish them all.

“Senior, we probably need to head back,” Rose said.

“Go ahead!” Mo Lan said. “If anything comes up, reach me by Communication Card.”

“Goodbye, senior!”

Rose, Dora, and Lena grabbed their broomsticks, mounted up, and flew off toward the Witch Knight shop.

Mo Lan also mounted her broom and headed north — first, she’d find a place to live, then go searching for sunken ship treasure in the sea.

Once she crossed a jagged, saw-toothed cliff that jutted up like a mountain ridge or a dragon’s spine, she saw a vast expanse of deep forest.

This forest was named for the whispers carried by tidal sounds echoing through its tree trunks.

For historical reasons, witches loved all remote, uninhabited forests. They were accustomed to foraging for usable resources within forests, living self-sufficiently.

To a witch, every forest was a vast storehouse of materials.

Across the Continent of Valen, every major forest with a name bore the footprints of witches. What magical beast materials and magical plant materials could be found as local specialties had all been thoroughly surveyed.

Mo Lan recalled that when she’d read the Mo Lan recalled that when she’d read the Mo Lan recalled that when she’d read the Mo Lan recalled that when she’d read the Mo Lan recalled that when she’d read Mo Lan recalled that when reading the Mo Lan recalled that when she read Mo Lan remembered that while reading the Mo Lan remembered that while reading the Mo Lan remembered that while reading the 《Encyclopedia of Magical Flora of the Continent of Valen》 and the 《Encyclopedia of Magical Beasts of the Continent of Valen》, quite a number of magical plants and magical beasts had been annotated with “commonly found in the [cardinal direction] section of Tidewhisper Forest.”

In the ingredients sections of potion manuals and alchemy books, the name “Tidewhisper Forest” appeared frequently as well.

Sentinel coconut palms, sailor vines, salt sumac, mermaid’s comb, tidal bloom, moonlight moss, drunken sea buckthorn, strangler coral fig, sneezewort, lazy banana, compass dandelion, sighing mushroom, treasure bamboo, monstera… and other coastal magical plants;

Plus coral-backed boars, tidal wolf eels, jellyfish apes, hermit crab demons, pirate parrots, social anxiety coral polyps… and other semi-aquatic creatures — all were specialties of Tidewhisper Forest.

Mo Lan checked the Material Cards in her Book of Cards. The material samples for all these magical plants and magical beasts had already been cataloged.

When she looked at the witch who had submitted the materials, she found a familiar name — Aquina.

As expected of a witch who had built her Witch’s home in Tidewhisper Forest — she hadn’t let a single resource here go uncollected.

But materials were just materials — they were still different from living magical plants and magical beasts.

This was Mo Lan’s first time in a coastal forest, and she was quite curious.

Along the shore of Tidewhisper Forest, tall sentinel coconut palms and short salt sumac trees stood interspersed.

Salt sumac could secrete salt crystals, so wild beasts frequently came to lick them, leaving the bark covered in scars.

But on the spiral-patterned trunks of the sentinel coconut palms nearby, there wasn’t a single scratch — and beneath the trees, there wasn’t even a wild beast’s footprint.

Mo Lan watched as a coral-backed boar — its back covered in hardened coral armor — swam ashore from the sea, then deliberately gave the sentinel coconut palms a wide berth before rubbing itself against a salt sumac to scratch an itch.

This was all because the sentinel coconut palms were laden with pitch-black fruits, each one the size of a basketball.

Clearly, this was the fruiting season for sentinel coconut palms.

In this state, they were like sentries guarding their territory — the moment any creature drew near, the fruits would automatically launch themselves at the intruder like cannonballs.

If the fruits hadn’t yet ripened, they could be picked and used in potions.

But once ripe, that was no longer an option.