Something on Her Mind, Can't Sleep

That's right, the chaise longue.

The one that was even better than the one Lan Qingyou already had.

She had taken it as a copyright fee or something back then, but because of the snacks, she had completely forgotten about it.

"Aaaargh!"

Lan Qingyou rolled around on the bed, hugging her pillow.

She had been so focused on looting the snacks that she forgot something so important.

She clearly remembered seeing those chaise longues while she was gathering the snacks, so why didn't it cross her mind then?

For a moment, Lan Qingyou felt as if she had lost a hundred million.

This was fundamentally different from getting things for free; after all, the chaise longue was meant to settle a debt.

For someone like Lan Qingyou who believed in equivalent exchange, this was more painful than being killed.

Fortunately, there were all those gourmet foods, drinks, and snacks she'd picked up for nothing. Thinking about that made it barely acceptable.

Yes, exactly. She was just that much of a hypocrite.

Once she had more or less come to terms with it, Lan Qingyou stopped her 'death roll' and lay flat on the bed, reopening the Witch Group chat.

Witch of the Tower: "@Thorn Witch, how is the production of those flying magic brooms going on your end?"

Thorn Witch: "I've already selected suitable trees. I'm doing a small-scale trial planting now. Once the first batch is ready, we can start large-scale planting."

Witch of the Tower: "How many did you plant for the trial?"

Thorn Witch: "About ten thousand."

Witch of the Tower: "Is that still considered a small-scale trial?"

Thorn Witch: "It's small. We have so much space anyway. I originally planned to start with a hundred thousand to test the waters, but Diana stopped me."

Witch of the Tower: "That's good, but be careful not to interfere with the magic circle patterns."

Seeing the Thorn Witch's words, Lan Qingyou couldn't help but wipe a bead of sweat from her forehead.

A hundred thousand was just 'testing the waters'? Only a witch with massive mana points would dare speak like that.

After all, this girl's talent was similar to Gu Xiaobei's, though slightly inferior in some ways.

However, while Gu Xiaobei's was a single-target ability, the Thorn Witch's was an AOE. It was hard to say which was better.

Thorn Witch: "I know. These Hemp-stalk Trees aren't actually that big. With my talent, they'll mature in three to five days and enter the processing stage."

Witch of the Tower: "Mm-hmm. Once the flying magic brooms are ready, prioritize arranging them for the members of the Witch Group."

Dream Witch: "Awesome!"

Flame Witch: "Don't you already have one?"

Dream Witch: "It's because I have one that I'm saying it's awesome! Seriously, the feeling of flying in the sky is amazing. You just need to be careful with the speed adjustment."

Alice, the Dream Witch, who had obtained a flying broom long before the competition started, shamelessly 'shared' her insights on flying with the other witches.

But clearly, her actions weren't seen as 'sharing' in the eyes of the others.

Moonlight Witch: "I feel like you're just showing off. It's pure humblebragging."

Dream Witch: "No way! How could a cutie like me be humblebragging? I just wanted to tell everyone that the flying magic brooms are really fun."

Silent Witch: "Mm-hmm, we understand. We all understand."

Dream Witch: "What do you mean you understand? Honestly, I'm done talking to you guys. I'm going out for a spin."

Steel Witch: "Unbelievable. She even had to show off one last time before leaving."

Watching the witches' chat, Lan Qingyou shook her head helplessly.

To be honest, being eliminated so early did have an impact on Alice, the Dream Witch.

Even though she usually acted flighty, she was sharp as a tack. She claimed she was going out for a spin, but everyone knew she was going out to give herself extra training.

It was the same yesterday; according to a witch who lived near her, she had gone to a dungeon.

In short, she was working quite hard.

Of course, even though the members of the Witch Group knew she was being diligent, they wouldn't miss a chance to tease her.

Business was business, after all.

After getting an update on the flying magic brooms, Lan Qingyou did some mental calculations and realized that large-scale production could begin in a week at most.

At the very least, the first batch would provide every member of the Witch Group with her own broom.

Satisfied, she turned off the lights and prepared to sleep.

However, as soon as she closed her eyes, she felt like there was something on her mind, and she couldn't fall asleep no matter what. Even counting sheep didn't work.

Eventually, Lan Qingyou found the reason for her insomnia.

Something was bothering her.

Something deep in her heart.

Tower: "@Justice, help me tell the Supreme Council that I plan to upgrade to a Level 6 shelter. Have them prepare the materials. Also, see if there are any S-grade mental-type monster materials—corpses are fine too."

After sending that message to Chu Yuan, Lan Qingyou finally put down her card and let out a sigh of relief.

Indeed, what was on Lan Qingyou's mind was her talent upgrade.

She hadn't paid much attention to it before.

But during this competition, Lan Qingyou realized that although her talent was good and had an upgrade path, it was a bit lacking when facing high-end combatants.

For example, Hoger.

He was able to find the flaw in her tactic of dropping stones from above.

Although he only managed to dodge into a corner with high-speed movement, it was enough to make that move return empty-handed.

Imagine if they hadn't been in an arena but out in the wild; he might have had even more ways to escape.

Then there was Xin Tianle.

That undying attribute was a trait of the entire Demon race, but she had that attribute as well.

Regardless of how it was obtained, if there was a first and a second, there could very well be a third, a fourth, or even more.

She had to guard against that.

And then there was Alisa.

Although she didn't know the other woman's talent or Magic Eye, she could tell from their fight—and the fact that Alisa brought out a homunculus intending to steamroll her—that Alisa didn't care at all if she continued to drop stones to crush her army.

This meant Alisa either didn't care about her army at all, or she didn't care about the stones.

Lan Qingyou leaned toward the latter.

That was why she was tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

After all, her talent, like her Magic Eye, was her primary means of survival.

Even though she now had Adele and Shipton's slaves making magic tools like the flying magic brooms, that was no reason for her to become complacent.

Magic tools and talents had to advance side by side.

That way, even if she lost one someday, she would still have the other to support her.

As for the shelter upgrade mentioned at the start, that was merely a pretext.

But considering her shelter hadn't moved since reaching Level 5, upgrading it was truly just 'incidental.'

Looking at the current situation, Lan Qingyou felt there was no real need to upgrade her shelter at all.

With the large magic shield in place, never mind mana turbulence or mana tides—even the monsters that spawned were only the lowest E-grade, treated merely as 'meat products.'

In this situation, it felt like there wasn't much difference whether she upgraded or not.

Ding!

Just as Lan Qingyou thought, "Now I can get some good sleep," a notification sounded from her card.