Chapter 598 – Candy House Security

“The magic candies are all ready. When are you planning to open your candy house?” Garona asked. “When the time comes, we’ll help you promote it well.”

“We’ll have to wait a bit longer,” Mo Lan said. “I still need some time to finalize the candy house’s security measures. I’m thinking this weekend!”

She certainly didn’t want to see her painstakingly stocked shelves ransacked clean by Light-Shadow Sprites within two days of opening.

She still remembered why the Holy City had no candy shops to this day!

To get the candy house’s security measures ready as soon as possible, Mo Lan didn’t join the witches that evening to collect Sacred Radiance Tree sap. After returning to her residence, she immediately began setting things up.

Alchemy Magic proved tremendously useful at a time like this.

Mo Lan crafted a candy machine for each type of candy, firmly anchoring them to the floor.

All the candies were stored inside the candy machines. The machine compartments were inscribed with layer upon layer of spatial alchemical rune combinations that not only expanded the compartment’s interior space but also isolated it from the outside.

Only her magical energy, as the candy machine’s owner, could open the compartment space and reveal the candies stored within.

When anyone else touched a candy machine for the first time, they would receive one free sample candy. To get more candies, they would have to insert the corresponding number of specially-made candy coins into the machine’s coin slot.

This “anyone else” included the Light-Shadow Sprites.

That single sample candy was bait Mo Lan was dangling.

How could anyone with a sweet tooth possibly be satisfied with just one piece of candy?

Light-Shadow Sprites had no offensive magic, but they could merge with light elements and travel at high speed along beams of light. Their abilities to hide and escape were extremely powerful.

In the Holy City, even the nights were as bright as day—light was everywhere. One could say that Light-Shadow Sprites could hide anywhere or travel along light to reach anywhere.

Conventional anti-theft measures were completely ineffective against Light-Shadow Sprites.

The candy machines Mo Lan designed had compartments separated from the outside world by spatial power. Although there were light sources inside the compartments, those lights weren’t connected to the light outside, so Light-Shadow Sprites couldn’t travel into the compartments to steal candy.

A Light-Shadow Sprite that came to steal candy would happily receive one free sample. But after the Angel behind it finished eating, no matter what they tried, they wouldn’t be able to steal any more. Naturally, they would have no choice but to go through the proper process—inserting candy coins in exchange for candy.

As for the candy coins themselves, once crafted, Mo Lan kept them in her own spatial ring—well out of any Light-Shadow Sprite’s reach. They had to come to her and exchange {Gem Coin Cards} for them.

{Gem Coin Cards} could only be obtained by members of the Dawn Society.

The Angel race had rather few Dawn Society members, so Mo Lan was also indirectly expanding the Society’s influence.

After the Dawn Society had swept across all of Valen, {Gem Coin Cards} had already become a currency recognized by many spellcasters, on par with Magic Gold Coins. Accepting only {Gem Coin Cards} was a little bit odd, but not too rare–especially when a Dawn Society member was saving up for big purchases, so it wasn’t considered unreasonable.

The candy coin exchange area was the true centerpiece of Mo Lan’s renovation.

She converted the former bakery’s front hall into the candy machine display area. The kitchen, storage room, and washroom in the back, along with the connecting corridor, were all knocked through and combined into a single independent workroom that served as a space for candy-making, cooking, dining, resting, and receiving guests.

On the wall connecting the workroom to the front hall, she installed a large Crystal glass window.

From the front hall, one could see what was happening inside the workroom.

Of course, they could only see what Mo Lan wanted them to see.

The entire workroom was heavily protected with layers of magic circles.

Not only did it have spatial isolation and spatial expansion functions similar to those on the candy machines, it also had capabilities for monitoring, alerting, anti-scrying, defense, and concealment.

Mo Lan employed every defensive magic formation she could think of, drawing not only on Witch Alchemy Magic but also on human mage Alchemy.

That Crystal glass window, for instance, was a visualized psychic illusion glass window that Mo Lan had constructed by combining mage Alchemy with Psychic Magic. Under normal circumstances, people outside the window could see what was happening inside the workroom through the glass. But as soon as she activated a psychic illusion inside, what people outside the window would see was merely an illusory scene fabricated by the illusion.

Similar to this were the visualized psychic illusion wallpaper and flooring that covered every wall and the floor.

Even if someone used magic to probe, while she was maintaining a psychic illusion, all they would detect was the illusory scene simulated by the wallpaper and flooring.

Her other magic circles completely blocked all magical fluctuations. One could say that people outside the room would have an even harder time detecting the psychic illusion’s existence than those inside—unless she deliberately let the illusion show flaws that defied common sense.

All of this was prepared for the Angels.

At the workroom’s entrance, she hung a sign reading “Candy Coin Exchange.”

Anyone wanting to exchange for candy coins would need to come to this room and do it with her in person.

If an Angel came to buy candy and entered this room, Mo Lan could copy their memories right under everyone’s noses.

With the Crystal glass window as cover, no one would suspect that the transparent glass was displaying an illusory scene.

At that point, even if Angels on Heaven’s Peak were spying on the Holy City, they would only see the illusory images she wanted them to see.

Unless someone attacked this room, no one would discover the secrets it contained.

Beyond all that, Mo Lan also installed a trigger-activated one-time teleportation device inside the room. The destination coordinates were set to the mist barrier at the edge of the westernmost world boundary—the very spot from which she had once used Mist Barrier Teleport to escape.

If she encountered danger while receiving an Angel, she could use this teleportation device to teleport there directly, then use dragon-tongue magic Mist Barrier Teleport to shake off any pursuit.

Once everything was ready, Mo Lan sent a message in the Eight-Times-Speed Gossip Alliance group chat.

【Mo Lan: The Magic Candy House officially opens this Saturday at 9 AM. Everyone’s welcome to come show your support!】

【Garona: Understood! Leave the publicity to us.】

【Mo Lan: Actually… taking it slow would be fine too.】

【Bella: Say no more—this is our way of showing we care!】

The group chat quickly fell silent, and Mo Lan had no choice but to get back to making candy.

She couldn’t conveniently use her Book of Cards right now, so every piece of candy in the shop was genuinely handcrafted by her one by one using Culinary Magic.

Tomorrow was already Saturday. There wasn’t much time left for the witches to promote, and although she didn’t know what they could accomplish, stocking up on extra candy certainly couldn’t hurt.

Two hours later, Garona called her out through the Eight-Times-Speed Gossip Alliance group chat to come outside and see.

Mo Lan walked out of the candy house, curious.

“The witch’s magic candy shop officially opens tomorrow at 9 AM!”

“Free candy samples—first come, first served!”

“Want to be radiant and glowing like us, with smooth, clear skin, thick and silky hair, bright eyes, and flawless complexion? Try a magic candy!”

“If you can dream it, you can eat it—come get a magic candy menu!”

…