High Priestess: "Wow! It's so beautiful!"
The Sun: "What's going on? Why are you wandering around outside in the middle of the night?"
Righteousness: "It must be the effect of that magic circle from before."
The Star: "So, it was a success?"
The Tower: "Yes, it's done."
Justice: "Remember to write the thesis."
The Tower: "..."
Lan Qingyou hadn't expected to be nagged for an update immediately after showing off her results.
She quickly sent the book on magic circles to Justice, attached a message saying, "Have someone copy it," and then closed her cards, ignoring any further messages.
She could already guess what they would say.
It would be nothing more than a bunch of people telling her to write a thesis, so she might as well just send the book out.
Now that this massive composite magic circle was a success, it meant she had officially entered the field. Keeping the book wasn't of much use to her anymore, so she might as well let the witches of the Kalim Supreme Council benefit from it.
Of course, since she told Chu Yuan to find someone to copy it, the book would eventually be returned to her.
Actually, no.
Now wasn't the time for that. The magic circle wasn't technically fully finished yet.
With that thought, Lan Qingyou immediately began the final cleanup work.
She walked to the base of one of the trees on the outer ring.
The roots of this tree were now completely surrounded by one of the small circles of the magic circle.
Looking closely, one could see many even smaller glowing circles within that circle.
Inside these tiny circles were pits about half a meter wide and twenty to thirty centimeters deep.
Taking the War Treant saplings out of her cards, Lan Qingyou began planting them one by one.
There were five giant trees in total, and she planted fifteen saplings around each one.
Since these five giant trees were on the outermost perimeter, they were the most vulnerable to attack and had to be well-protected.
Because each giant tree was over a hundred meters in diameter, fifteen War Treants seemed like a lot, but the spacing between them was actually quite large.
Lan Qingyou would have to supplement them with golems later.
But that was a task for another time.
After planting around the giant trees, Lan Qingyou returned to the fountain and planted the remaining saplings on the Yang eye of the Yin-Yang fish.
She wasn't done yet.
Once the War Treants were planted, Lan Qingyou went to the giant tree furthest from the shelter. She carved a small notch into the trunk and grafted the Ancient Tree Branch she had obtained from the cave's hidden paradise—the one that attracted flying monsters.
She chose the furthest tree because she anticipated it might attract many birds in the future.
Birds were noisy creatures, chirping incessantly. Keeping them at a distance would ensure her own peace and quiet.
In truth, Lan Qingyou had put a lot of thought into why there were five trees instead of six, seven, or even ten.
She had a specific purpose for each of the five trees.
One was her tower for living, research, and brewing potions; another was the nesting site for the birds.
The other three trees served as warehouses.
One was for minerals, one for alchemy materials, and one for her finished golems.
For her, the more golems, the better.
After her previous battle with the ancient tree and the protection they provided during this excavation, Lan Qingyou had gained many more ideas regarding golem construction.
But all of that would have to wait.
The mana tide would begin tomorrow, and she still had much to do.
For instance, clearing land or building a golem factory. But the most urgent task right now was "backfilling."
Exactly.
Whatever she had dug up had to be filled back in.
Lan Qingyou couldn't leave the alloy steel plates engraved with mana circuits exposed for others to see her weaknesses.
Of course, while it was called backfilling, she wasn't filling everything to the brim.
She mainly wanted to cover the steel plates with a layer of soil to hide them.
Otherwise, wouldn't the water from the Spring of Repose be flowing for nothing?
As for whether the excess water from the Spring of Repose would overflow, Lan Qingyou could only say you were being too literal.
Had you forgotten the stream at the entrance?
When designing the magic circle, Lan Qingyou had already planned for this.
It was simply a matter of drawing the water in from upstream and discharging it downstream.
Although this would dilute the mana concentration of the Spring of Repose, that level of dilution was negligible.
Besides, no matter how much power Lan Qingyou had, she didn't have the ability to reroute the entire stream.
Even if she could use an excavator to change the stream's course, it would take time. With time being so tight and her tasks so heavy, she couldn't afford to worry about that now.
At the very least, that project would have to wait until after the mana tide ended.
For such a massive project, the only time Lan Qingyou could squeeze out was the eleven-day window between the end of the mana turbulence and the start of the mana tide.
Otherwise, once the mana turbulence or mana tide arrived, anything she dug would surely be buried, and the magic circle in the sky might even be blown away.
Oh! The magic circle in the sky!
Lan Qingyou, who was in the middle of backfilling, suddenly remembered this and looked up. With a snap of her fingers, the magic circle in the air dissolved into shimmering particles of mana, vanishing completely within a few seconds.
As midnight approached, Lan Qingyou put away her excavator and scurried back to the shelter.
Even though the magic circle had been successfully activated, the mana tide was even stronger than the mana turbulence.
She hadn't forgotten what had happened during the mana turbulence.
Caution was best.
Ding.
As the clock on the wall struck midnight, Lan Qingyou could clearly feel the magic circle outside glowing brighter.
Yes, even though she had backfilled it with soil, those firefly-like spots of mana light had not disappeared.
They remained active throughout the area.
Initially, Lan Qingyou had been a bit uncertain about this phenomenon she hadn't seen before, but after the initial excitement, she decided it was fine.
While it might reveal some details about the magic circle, it was very practical for observing whether the circle was running normally. So, she stopped worrying about it.
After all, it looked good, didn't it?
Especially at night—it wasn't just beautiful; it perfectly suited her identity as a witch.
After admiring the specific effects of the magic circle outside, Lan Qingyou went to the fifth floor to check on the magic shield core.
Energy: 50,000/50,000
Perfect!
Seeing this number, Lan Qingyou grinned.
This was the whole point of absorbing mana from the surroundings and the stars, as well as the water-cooling cycle from the Spring of Repose.
This was the key.
It was also an inspiration born from the chaos her shelter had suffered previously because she hadn't been able to recharge the core while she was away.
Now that she had self-sustaining power, she would definitely want to go out occasionally.
Who could stand it if things turned into a mess every time they left?
But things were different now. With the magic circle, she would never have to worry about her shelter being trashed again.
Sitting on her bed, Lan Qingyou tapped on the magic desk, preparing to upgrade it.
After all, the lower floors were currently empty and needed proper renovation.
However, when she opened the upgrade requirements, she suddenly froze.
"This... what is going on?!"
Lan Qingyou clutched her head, her eyes wide as she stared at the long strings of numbers on the magic desk in disbelief.
Rate on N.U.
