Chapter 654 – Otherworld Archive

It seemed that a world’s attitude toward its own creatures truly couldn’t be conflated with its overall alignment tendency.

Mo Lan also realized that for a world, a neutral alignment was already quite good — at the very least, it meant that the forces of good and evil creatures in that world were split roughly fifty-fifty, or at least not too far apart.

Becoming a world of purely good or purely evil alignment was probably no easy feat either.

Remembering Senior Traci’s warnings, Mo Lan didn’t rashly reach out to touch those flickering task invitations in the Well of the Sky.

She turned and walked toward the only door in her tent. The moment she pushed it open, it felt as though she had stepped from a sealed gray box into another, far vaster gray space.

The sight before her made her freeze for a moment.

Sky and earth were both a chaotic gray, identical to the walls inside her tent, as if the entire world had been shrouded in a layer of hazy mist.

And amid this gray haze, the most eye-catching features were doors standing upright in midair, one after another.

They varied wildly in style — some were entwined with lush flowers, brimming with vitality; some were inlaid with dazzling gemstones, exuding opulence; others were covered in brilliant painted designs, like works of art. Each one was like a distinct identity tag.

By comparison, the door behind her marked “Witch Camp No. 333” was so plain it looked like an unadorned tombstone.

Mo Lan looked around and finally understood why every location on the Explorer’s Camp map was marked with simple horizontal lines of varying sizes.

Every tent in the camp was represented as a door, and on the map they were simplified into lines — commercial tents had thicker lines, personal tents had thinner ones. This wasn’t simple marking at all; it was perfectly true to life!

Her tent was located at the very edge of the Witch Camp, separated from the Elf Camp by only a wide, deep-gray boulevard.

The doors to the elves’ tents shared a unified style, mostly decorated with vines, green meadows, flowers, and other natural elements, exuding a fresh and elegant air.

However, the Elf Camp was noticeably smaller in scale than the Witch Camp.

Mo Lan recalled the explanations from the 《Explorer’s Handbook》.

The size of a camp depended on the number of Explorers. Each time a new Explorer was added, another door would appear and the camp’s boundaries would expand accordingly.

Her No. 333 tent door had only just been generated.

It seemed the number of Elf Explorers was far fewer than Witches.

After roughly surveying the layout, Mo Lan gained a deeper understanding of the Explorer’s Camp map she had memorized.

Mo Lan walked along the main road beside the Witch Camp toward the Central Camp.

The Central Camp was the true core of the entire Explorer’s Camp, housing commercial tents such as the Tent Management Office, the Central Arena, and various marketplaces.

The place she was most interested in right now was the Otherworld Archive.

The other areas could be explored later. Right now, she needed to visit the archive first.

Before stepping into an unknown world, intelligence was the most reliable weapon.

On the Explorer’s map, the promotional description of the Otherworld Archive read: “The Explorer’s Camp’s largest information trading platform.”

Senior Traci had mentioned that the Otherworld Archive was founded by Witch Explorers, though it didn’t seem to serve only Witches. Mo Lan had noticed several thick lines on the Explorer’s Camp map all marked “Otherworld Archive,” with identical descriptions — clearly all pointing to the same place.

Nearly every district of the Central Camp had an entrance to the Otherworld Archive.

Brimming with curiosity, Mo Lan headed toward the Otherworld Archive entrance nearest the border between the Central Camp and the Witch Camp.

The Explorer’s Camp wasn’t particularly bustling. Along the way, Mo Lan hadn’t seen a single Witch — only a distant glimpse of an Elf Explorer, body entirely wrapped in leaves, emerging from a personal tent door and vanishing behind another door moments later.

Before long, Mo Lan spotted a massive gateway over ten meters tall, standing by the roadside several hundred meters ahead.

The sign above it bore the words “Otherworld Archive” in strikingly prominent characters.

The style of the door was immediately familiar to Mo Lan — it was an enlarged version of the Academy Library and the Witch Council Library doors, unmistakable to any Witch.

Only upon approaching did she realize the door wasn’t solid but existed in a semi-ethereal state. She couldn’t see inside, but there was no need to push — she could simply walk straight through.

Most of the open commercial doorways nearby were in the same state.

Mo Lan passed through the great door and entered a spherical room.

The walls were covered in fluffy felt, and from the ceiling hung numerous ropes of varying thickness, each with feathers and little bells tied to their ends.

Shelves carved from some unknown stone spiraled upward from the floor. Before a sunlit floor-to-ceiling window sat a half-meter-tall wooden house — a little nest lined with soft cushioned mats.

A dark, furry tail extended from the little nest, gently tapping against the cork floor.

With each tap, the floor emitted a soft “squeak-squeak” sound.

Even though the memories in her mind clearly told Mo Lan she hadn’t entered the wrong door, she couldn’t help feeling a bit puzzled.

What was this place?

No matter how she looked at it, this didn’t resemble an Otherworld Archive at all!

The only thing even remotely connected to an archive was the large wooden table and two cushioned chairs sitting not far in front of her.

Mo Lan walked toward the room’s only living occupant.

The moment her foot moved, the floor let out its “squeak-squeak” sound.

The little tail paused, then retracted.

From the wooden house nest emerged a black cat with four ears.

It wore a tiny vest and had little gold-rimmed glasses perched on its face. Padding across the squeaky floor, it walked elegantly up to Mo Lan, sizing her up while sniffing the air, and spoke in fluent Common Tongue:

“A new Witch Explorer?”

Mo Lan nodded. “Is this the Otherworld Archive?”

“That’s right! I’m Lan Qiqi, manager of the Otherworld Archive’s Newcomer Witch Reception, and also Lady Traci’s favorite familiar!”

The little black cat held her head high, introducing herself with pride. When she mentioned being “Lady Traci’s favorite familiar,” not even her fuzzy face could conceal her smugness.

“Hello, I’m Moira, a Witch who just arrived at the Well of the Sky.”

It was Mo Lan’s first time seeing an animal familiar even more intelligent than Zhizhi. There were no four-eared felines in Valen — she guessed Lan Qiqi must be from another world!

“Moira? Moira!” Lan Qiqi’s pupils went perfectly round for a moment, but she quickly composed herself, turning her head away as if nothing had happened, and walked elegantly to the room’s only wooden table, leaping lightly onto it.

“My job is to answer questions for newly arrived Witch Explorers, introduce you to how things work, and distribute welcome benefits. Whether it’s about the Well of the Sky, the Explorer’s Camp, or the Otherworld Archive — feel free to ask me anything.”

Lan Qiqi swept the tip of her tail across the chair in front of the table. “Have a seat! We can take our time.”