Copying the Book

Lan Qingyou's face darkened when she saw that message.

Seriously?

They had already survived the second mana tide; some things really didn't need to be scrutinized so strictly.

High Priestess: "Green Ghost? What's that?"

Everyone was curious, and the High Priestess became their mouthpiece.

The Star: "That sounds so cool..."

The Tower: "It’s nothing much. I noticed that treasure chests emit a faint green glow, and they’re easier to find at night than during the day. So, I basically just went out for an hour or two every night."

Sitting at her magic desk, Lan Qingyou couldn't help but laugh awkwardly as she typed.

It was a bit of a dark joke, given that her legs were paralyzed—otherwise, she would have been curling her toes in embarrassment.

The Empress: "..."

Magician: "Night travel?"

Hierophant: "A true hero..."

Chariot: "Does being able to fly really let you do whatever you want?"

Death: "Sorry, being able to fly really does let you do whatever you want sometimes."

Chariot: "The way you say that... can you fly too?"

Death: "My talent is wind manipulation."

Chariot: "That makes sense."

Chariot, who had built the wind-based mana thruster for Lan Qingyou, understood the power of wind magic very well.

It was only logical that someone with a talent for controlling wind would be able to fly.

Wheel of Fortune: "Are we done discussing? I'll send the book to The Tower first. You can finish reading it or just make a copy before passing it to The Star."

The Tower: "Copying it is a good idea. That's feasible."

Lan Qingyou nodded at Esmeralda's suggestion. This kind of knowledge probably wasn't something she could fully grasp in a single reading.

Transcribing it to study at her own pace was a good plan, and it wouldn't hold everyone else up.

After receiving 《Magic Instruction Science》 from Esmeralda, Lan Qingyou turned and left the tent.

She planned to leave the tent out in the wild to see how it held up.

Since it was meant for wilderness survival, if it couldn't last a single night, it was nothing more than a failure.

However, as she flew back, she noticed something was off.

Why did it feel... shorter?

Frowning slightly, she flew a few laps around the giant tree of her shelter before finally coming to a conclusion.

It was definitely shorter.

The entrance to her shelter was lower!

Previously, the entrance and the broken branches outside were about thirty meters above the ground—roughly ten stories high.

Now, it was only about fifteen meters, essentially cut in half.

Furthermore, the area beneath the tree, which should have been a tangle of thick, massive roots, had been replaced by irregular walls made of stacked stone.

Was this... a mutation?

How could that be... The most likely explanation was that it was a change from upgrading to a level 5 shelter.

To be honest, Lan Qingyou hadn't left the house since she upgraded to a level 5 shelter.

Seeing it so suddenly now, this was the only explanation she could think of.

After all, a level 5 shelter required a lot of stone, and even the interior of the shelter now featured stone-stacked walls and floors.

Whatever.

She would observe more closely during the next upgrade. For now, she had a book to copy.

With that thought, Lan Qingyou flew back into the shelter and headed to her magic desk on the third floor, preparing to take out paper and a pen to begin transcribing.

But when she reached under the magic desk, she realized she had run out of the notebooks she had stockpiled!

Thinking back, she hadn't collected many to begin with, and she had used quite a lot for recording experiments. It was only natural that she had run out.

The Tower: "Does anyone have spare notebooks or paper?"

This was the benefit of having all-powerful group members.

If you're out of notebooks, just buy them from someone.

The Star: "Now that you mention it, I realized I'm out too."

High Priestess: "Never mind paper, I'm almost out of toilet paper over here."

Chariot: "Just use leaves. It's not a big deal."

High Priestess: "Get lost!"

Seeing that no one had any, Lan Qingyou turned to Shang Chuan.

The Tower: "@The Moon, I need a notebook."

The Moon: "I don't have any either. No one is selling that stuff anymore."

Justice: "@The Tower @The Star @High Priestess, I've sent each of you two notebooks, a fountain pen, and a bottle of ink. That should be enough, right?"

Lan Qingyou looked—good heavens, it was a 500ml bottle of ink.

The Tower: "It's enough. I'm going to go copy the book now."

With her tools in hand, Lan Qingyou immediately threw herself into the task.

While copying a book word-for-word seemed easy enough, for Lan Qingyou, writing just a few hundred words made her wrists and fingers ache like crazy.

She had originally hoped to finish quickly and pass it to Ruan Qingyi and the others tomorrow, but it seemed that wasn't going to happen.

It was impossible to finish the transcription in a single day.

However, this 《Magic Instruction Science》 was quite interesting.

As she copied, she was also learning.

Magic Instruction Science was exactly as Esmeralda had described—it was very much like computer programming.

Except it used strings of symbols instead of code.

In a sense, it was an advanced version that combined 《Basic Semiotics》 and 《Basic Cartography》.

Lan Qingyou was able to understand it quite smoothly.

It was just a bit complex. Simple instructions like 'run,' 'jump,' 'repeat,' or 'pause' were all represented by long strings of symbols.

But the benefit of these instructions was that they allowed golems to follow specific routines, making them exceptionally useful tools.

Lan Qingyou copied the book from morning until afternoon, and from afternoon until night.

She ate her meals, had a midnight snack, then washed up and went upstairs to sleep, only to continue the next day.

The Tower: "Finally finished. The Star, I've sent it over to you."

After sending it, Lan Qingyou massaged her aching arm and let out a sigh of relief.

She had spent three consecutive days transcribing the book before she finally finished 《Magic Instruction Science》. If she could help it, she never wanted to copy a book again in her life.

This was no way to live.

Slurp!

That was the sound of someone eating noodles.

It was hot and sour noodles! She was slurping down hot and sour noodles!

To reward herself for her hard work over the past few days, Lan Qingyou had treated herself by placing an order with Gu Xiaobei.

Gu Xiaobei had really delivered.

She had used her supposedly prized Baoning aged vinegar to make this dish for Lan Qingyou. To 'whet her appetite,' she had even prepared a side of smashed chili with century eggs.

It could be said that she had brought out all of her best hidden treasures.

Since Lan Qingyou rarely requested a specific dish, Gu Xiaobei had gone all out.

Lan Qingyou did not let Gu Xiaobei's efforts go to waste, eating until she was drenched in sweat.

And why wouldn't she be? This was a top-tier dish that provided a +10 constitution buff. How could she not sweat?

If someone with a warrior talent ate this, they would be overjoyed; it was essentially gaining an extra 100 health points for thirty minutes for free.

Unfortunately, Lan Qingyou was just satisfying a craving.

Whether she got the buff or not didn't really matter to her.

Lan Qingyou: "How is the Orichalcum acquisition going?"

While eating, Lan Qingyou sent a message to Shang Chuan.