Chapter 889 – A Close Call, Nothing More

“E-eight… eight trillion?” Vasida counted on her fingers, feeling like she couldn’t quite keep up with the math.

“Five trillion…” Lilith stared at the Gem Coin balance in her account—what had seemed like a rather generous sum now turned out to be barely enough for a rounding error.

“Ten trillion…” Sylph drew a soft breath. She had never been particularly sensitive about Gem Coins or disposable Mana before, but now, for the sake of the personal planting space she’d set her heart on, she finally felt the crushing weight of financial pressure.

Just a second ago, all three Sorceresses had considered themselves reasonably wealthy. Now, in perfect unison, they felt as though they were desperately, hopelessly broke.

Mo Lan watched them cycle from excited elation to thunderstruck disbelief, then to pained and conflicted expressions, and couldn’t help but laugh. The scene inexplicably reminded her of young people from her previous life—gazing longingly at the homes of their dreams while being suffocated by mortgage payments.

“Don’t make those faces,” she said with a reassuring smile. “It’s not like you can’t earn it! Didn’t I mention before? I’ve promoted Card Magic across sixteen otherworlds. You can absolutely select some suitable, appealing Sorceress Magic techniques, turn them into cards, and list them in those otherworlds’ Card Shops.”

“Trust me,” Mo Lan continued, her voice brimming with confidence. “The profits from selling Magic Cards are far higher—and far faster—than slaving away at world quests. You might not even need to wait until your next trip to another world before you can host me in your very own mirror spaces!”

Driven by the desire to customize their dream mirror spaces, Lilith, Vasida, and Sylph erupted with tremendous enthusiasm for earning Mana.

“Hurry up and tell us about your trip this time—especially about those fifteen otherworlds!”

Lilith urged her on eagerly, a hint of both impatience and puzzlement in her voice. “I’ll be honest with you—when I explored otherworlds before, I also tried directly promoting our Sorceress Magic and developing a few contractors. But the moment I so much as hinted at it, the world consciousness immediately warned me, and I nearly got kicked out on the spot! How did you manage it? And to spread across sixteen worlds all at once?”

Among the group, Lilith was the only one besides Mo Lan who had any real interest in accumulating wealth.

She alone had, after discovering that her Sorceress Magic’s revenue had entered a period of steady growth, carefully considered how to develop otherworld markets and find new contractors—only to shelve the plan temporarily after hitting that wall.

By comparison, Vasida and Sylph had been far more laid-back about such matters.

Vasida was the classic type who thought “as long as I have enough to eat, everything’s fine,” while Sylph was the “give me new plant seeds to research and I’m blissfully happy” sort.

Relying on the revenue their Sorceress Magic generated in the Valen world, they had long since accumulated more disposable Mana than they could ever use, and their personal strength had been steadily improving. They had never seriously considered how to “earn more.”

But now, things were different.

The jaw-dropping price of custom mirror space cards, combined with the deep-seated longing to possess a personal portable space that was entirely their own, cracked like an invisible whip, driving them to finally confront the matter of “earning Mana” head-on.

They developed an unprecedented, intense interest in what Mo Lan had described, their eyes burning with anticipation as they awaited her explanation.

Mo Lan produced, right on cue, the several thick volumes of her meticulously compiled 《Universe Travel Journal》, along with a 《Star Sea Map》 that, when unfolded, glittered with starlight and was annotated with the coordinates of numerous otherworlds and safe travel routes.

“This time, I went out into the cosmos specifically to develop otherworld markets, searching for zero-level worlds and endangered worlds. Worlds like those have weak world consciousnesses—not only would they not obstruct me from promoting Sorceress Magic, they’d actually be grateful that I used Sorceress Magic to help pull them out of endangered status. The only thing is, apart from White Crystal Star, which was a proper zero-level endangered world that I encountered at the very beginning, the remaining fifteen worlds all had rather… special circumstances.”

Mo Lan opened the section of the 《Universe Travel Journal》 covering the Immortal Realm, the Spirit Realm, and the various cultivation worlds, then pointed out these worlds’ locations on the Star Sea Map for them to see.

“These worlds are all cultivation-type worlds that are being drained of their source power through ascension channels by the evil faction of the Immortal Realm. Come to think of it, I should actually thank those conspicuous dark-gold ascension channels for pointing the way—that’s how I was able to find so many worlds suitable for promoting Sorceress Magic in such a short time.”

Lilith, Vasida, and Sylph huddled together in a circle, passing the 《Universe Travel Journal》 around, even resorting to the Speed-Reading Spell.

Pages fluttered rapidly through their hands, and the astonishment on their faces grew ever deeper.

“No wonder you were gone so long this time—you traveled that far and ran into so many things!”

Lilith was the first to set down the journal, her face still bearing traces of lingering shock. In her mind, the images of the Immortal Realm from the journal remained vivid—countless dark-gold “ascension channels” stretching out like greedy tentacles from the enormous entity known as the “Immortal Realm,” plunging into one subordinate world after another.

“Just looking at the pictures sends chills down my spine, yet you actually dared to fight against it… That’s a Fourteenth Rank world!”

“I know!” Vasida patted her chest with lingering unease. Although the journal focused on describing the worlds’ landscapes and didn’t touch on any of the battles, she could fully imagine the dangers involved. “Even if it’s only just entered Fourteenth Rank, it’s still a place with Ninth Rank powerhouses holding down the fort! Even if you didn’t charge straight into the Immortal Realm itself and only operated in its subordinate cultivation worlds, you must have run into plenty of trouble, right?”

“Moira,” Sylph gently set down the journal in her hands, her soft green eyes brimming with worry. “Even though the journal says the Immortal Realm’s Dao Ancestor cultivators are somewhat weaker than typical Ninth Rank casters, they’re still Ninth Rank. Facing them alone… it must have been really difficult for you, right? Were you ever hurt?”

Mo Lan looked at the concern in her friends’ eyes, nodded, then shook her head. “There were certainly some dangerous moments…”

But then a sly, confident smile spread across her face. “But don’t forget—I specialize in Divination Magic! Before every operation, I would carefully consult the Fortune-Telling Spell. Any place where the divination showed signs of ‘misfortune,’ I steered well clear of.

When you think about it, though the journey was full of twists and turns, in the end it was really nothing more than a close call—I didn’t sustain a single injury!”

“I’ve been meaning to ask—you killed five Dao Ancestor realm cultivators comparable to Ninth Rank, yet you came out without a scratch. What rank are you actually at now?”

This was something Lilith had been curious about for years. If it weren’t for the exorbitant cost of cross-world communication, she would have been unable to resist asking long ago.

Vasida and Sylph also fixed their burning gazes on Mo Lan, awaiting her answer.

Under her friends’ unwavering stares, Mo Lan rubbed her nose and answered honestly. “My Mana rank has already reached Eighth Rank. It’s just that some schools of magic haven’t quite kept pace—currently only my spatial, lightning, fire, ice, and wood Witch Magic, plus my mage Psychic Magic, have reached Eighth Rank. Most of the rest are still only at Seventh Rank…”