Lan Qingyou was momentarily stunned after reading the description of the spell.
Alright.
It seemed she had some misunderstandings about the term "close-combat" and her perspective had been a bit narrow.
So-called "close-combat" didn't just include offense, but defense as well. This skill was clearly defensive, and by all appearances, it seemed specifically designed to counter skills like Magic Eye.
Was she worried about other witches harming her?
That didn't seem right either. There was no guarantee that others wouldn't awaken a talent similar to Magic Eye when they reached their own ascension.
In a sense, could this skill be considered a way to mitigate a potential danger?
Based on her mana pool of over two thousand points, she could maintain it for about half an hour. That was plenty of time for either fighting or fleeing.
It could even provide defense.
As expected of an S-grade skill; it was extremely practical.
She just wondered if it would block her own vision while obscuring her from the enemy.
Thinking of this, Lan Qingyou immediately activated the magic to test it out.
Silently, a ring of dark purple smoke manifested around her. It looked no different from the smoke of a hearth, felt like nothing to the touch, and didn't even affect her breathing.
However, it didn't look quite as beautiful as the description suggested.
But as time passed—after about five seconds—glimmering, multicolored specks of light gradually appeared within the dark purple smoke, making it look truly stunning.
Lan Qingyou tried looking around and found that her vision wasn't blocked; it was merely like looking through a thin layer of black gauze.
This put Lan Qingyou at ease.
If it were a skill that harmed her as much as the enemy, she wouldn't use it no matter what.
Afterward, Lan Qingyou flew a few laps to check the situation.
As she shifted from first to third gear, the smoke in front thinned, exposing her body, but the smoke behind her thickened, trailing a string of shimmering starlight.
It looked a bit like the witches she had seen in her childhood, the ones riding on magic broomsticks.
Oh, wait, I am a witch. Never mind then.
In reality, though Lan Qingyou appeared calm on the surface, her heart was already dancing with joy.
Everyone has a inner child, after all.
To gain such a dazzling and practical skill—anyone who claimed they weren't happy would be lying.
After flying and playing around for a while, Lan Qingyou finally returned to the sixth floor, satisfied, and took out the Gale Sap.
What kind of interesting magic would this sap, which granted speed-based magic, bring her?
Lan Qingyou was full of anticipation.
【Shining Starlight (A)】
【Effect: Consumes 500 mana points to anchor any location within a 100-meter radius and transform into starlight to arrive there instantly.】
【Description: You will turn into starlight and experience the joy of becoming a celestial body.】
Whoa!
Well then!
She had wondered what kind of skill she would get.
According to the effect, wasn't this just a teleportation skill?
Transforming into starlight, experiencing the joy of the stars... they certainly phrased it elegantly.
The reason its rank was A-grade instead of S-grade like Black Witch Smoke was likely due to the high mana consumption.
After all, while Black Witch Smoke had a similar activation cost, its defensive utility was all-encompassing.
Still, a teleportation range with a 100-meter radius seemed more than enough.
At the very least, it could save her life in a critical moment.
Considering that even a massive entity like the ancient tree was only about a hundred meters tall, Lan Qingyou felt her sense of security skyrocketing.
Moreover, neither the effect nor the description mentioned anything about a cooldown.
In other words, as long as she had enough mana, she could theoretically use it infinitely.
Hmm... it looked like the research for C-grade mana potions needed to be put on the agenda.
Previously, she had felt that the D-grade mana potions, which restored 100 mana points, were a bit excessive, but after becoming a witch, she realized that wasn't the case at all.
Thinking back, she realized how laughable her previous self had been.
No, it should be called a lack of information.
Right, the talent ascension potion also needed to be prioritized.
She now had the C-grade Dark Demon blood as a material; as for higher grades, she would just have to wait until those monsters appeared.
So, after finishing lunch, Lan Qingyou began her busy work.
Although she truly wanted to craft potions, there were still many things that required her attention.
Especially regarding the brewing process.
Lan Qingyou currently only had about a dozen humanoid golems available. Following her previous setup, one golem was responsible for seven crucibles.
As for the ones missing arms or legs, she would have to wait until she developed the two new potions and had time to remanufacture them.
Once she finished with the golems, Lan Qingyou turned her attention back to the shelter.
The shelter's functionality had been significantly weakened due to the "industrial transfer."
The first and second floors, which were originally intended to be herb fields, were now completely empty.
The shelter now had six floors in total.
Lan Qingyou decided to merge the first and second floors, building a wide staircase in the middle and turning both sides into gardens.
After all, she was now a "wealthy woman" with an area the size of a hundred football fields. Why shouldn't she enjoy herself?
Make it look better, give it a bit more of a lived-in feel.
When she got tired from reading or researching potions, she could go down to admire the flowers and plants to cultivate her mind—wouldn't that be wonderful?
The original Crystal Nest could be hung from the second-floor ceiling to serve as a chandelier, with elf butterflies dancing around it. It would be simply beautiful.
The sixth floor would, of course, remain the bedroom.
The library on the fourth floor would move to the fifth, and the alchemy workshop on the third would move to the fourth.
Since she hadn't had the chance to select a dedicated bathroom or shower facility during her upgrade, she would still have to go to the third floor for those.
She would address that the next time she had an opportunity to move things around, or perhaps she could just install a bathroom in the bedroom and library.
That would be much more convenient.
But until she got that sorted, she would just have to make do.
As for the design work for her visions, Lan Qingyou decided to dump that on Chu Yuan.
After all, his subordinates were a pool of talent.
Oh!
Speaking of the Crystal Nest, she recalled harvesting a large crystal cluster from the hidden paradise that she hadn't identified yet.
Using the hook on the second-floor ceiling, Lan Qingyou hung the large crystal cluster up to identify it before she put the Crystal Nest back.
【Large Crystal Nest (World-class)】
【Effect: Increases the hatching chance of elf butterfly pupae by 100% and the evolution success rate of elf butterflies by 50%.】
【Description: The Crystal Nest is a specialized hatching tool for elf butterflies and a playground for young elf butterflies. However, you must believe that these transparent little spirits are full of infinite possibilities.】
Well, even the mention of "possibilities" came up.
But the fact that elf butterflies could evolve was good news.
This Crystal Nest seemed much higher-grade than the one she got from the shelter upgrade.
This wasn't just about the level or the effects.
It was a simple matter of aesthetics.
Rate on N.U.
