The Queen of Scrolls never admits defeat

Chapter 405 Adjusting the Route
Moran isn't collecting fish at all; she's clearly making new ingredient cards to feast their palates!

Of course, there's no reason to refuse.

“We didn’t need to rush,” Lilith said. “We’re not just going to sell magic and earn mana; we’re going to enjoy the journey. Every witch should have a free journey when she comes of age.”

“Lilith is right!” Vasita said. “And… I want to eat fish too!”

“That’s right! The grassland outside the academy that looks a lot like Emerald Creek Plain has plenty of water elemental energy, but there aren’t many fish at all,” Sylph said.

"Thinking about this makes my heart ache. I didn't buy the Dean's Magic Waterbed beforehand, and I missed out on the Water Elemental Essence among the Cloud Beasts!" Vasita said. "But this time I bought the Dean's Magic Waterbed, and I'm ready to learn it!"

Lilith looked up in surprise and asked, "You're not talking about that grassland in the western part of the outer area where the water elemental energy is abundant, are you? Are there cloud beasts there?"

“Moran found out what the letter told us,” Sylph said.

"It always rains in that area every now and then, which is caused by the Cloud Beast."

I accidentally discovered a method to condense the essence of water elements using a magical waterbed, and to extract the essence of water elements from the body of a cloud beast.

Only after collecting the data did I learn that the cloud beast was captured by Ms. Amisa and kept in the outer area.

"If you want the essence of water, you can just buy the material card from the card shop! I've already made it into a card," Moran explained.

Lilith opened the card shop and searched, and found not only {Water Elemental Essence - Material Card}, but also {Earth Elemental Essence - Material Card}.

"Essence of Earth's Origin? You actually managed to get your hands on some Essence of Earth's Origin?" Lilith said. "The academy has such a valuable item?"

“Not only is there the essence of the earth, but also the stone of the earth! Otherwise, how could I have made the planting pot card?” Moran said, “However, the stone of the earth is very important to the academy’s demiplane, so we can’t take it.”

Vasita suddenly had a brilliant idea: "If we find a demiplane and let Moran's Book of Cards devour it, wouldn't we have an endless supply of demiplanes?"

"Moran, the power of your Book of Cards is just too outrageous!" Lilith exclaimed.

“How easy is it to find an unclaimed demiplane?” Moran said helplessly. “Even if you do find one, the cost of making a {demiplane card} is absolutely outrageous.”

Sylph: "Being able to make it is amazing!"

"Hey? Look, isn't that the Poison Mist Swamp over there?" Vasida said, pointing to the northwest.

Moran and the others craned their necks to look in that direction, and saw a faint purple hue on the distant horizon.

It was a more ominous purple than the night on the green grass.

After reviewing the route plan, Lilith said, "It seems so. The route we're taking is slightly to the west, so we might indeed see the Poison Mist Swamp in the distance."

“My mother told me that the Black Forest lies just outside the Poison Fog Swamp, and she often goes there to collect human corpses!” Vasita said.

"Really? Are there many human corpses over there?" Lilith, who was developing a great passion for necromancy but was extremely lacking in materials, asked. "It is said that the humans on the other side of the Black Forest regard the Black Forest as a symbol of death and misfortune. Humans who commit crimes are driven to the Black Forest to atone for their sins."

Vasita said, "Ordinary humans, going into the Black Forest where the aura of death is so thick, their bodies simply can't take it, they'll just turn into corpses!"

Lilith was incredibly excited: "The Black Forest and Emerald Creek Plains are adjacent, right? Should we go and collect some human corpses for Moran to use as card-making materials, and then have Moran make some corpse material cards so that we can practice necromancy in the future? Vasita, you need to take care of your health more often, right?"

"The Black Forest...we've found it!" Sylph exclaimed, clutching the Book of Witches. "The Black Forest is filled with extremely dense death energy. It's not recommended for anyone other than a necromancer to enter. But if you are a necromancer, the death energy will be your natural protective magic circle...For us, the Black Forest should be safe!"

“Going there is fine, but I can’t guarantee I can make a human corpse material card!” Moran said.

"Why?" Vasita asked. "You can make cards from materials from monsters, so why can't you make cards from materials from humans?"

This question stumped Moran.

What's the difference between a human body and a monster's body? They're both made of flesh and blood!

Perhaps it's her human memories at work; subconsciously, she always believes that humans are special and different!
“Let’s give it a try!” Moran said.

Lilith immediately adjusted the route: "We should be able to reach Emerald Plains around tomorrow. We'll help Moran collect fish ingredients first, then head to the Black Forest. After finding human corpse materials, we'll return to Emerald Plains and go to the Duchy of Lance from there."

"Try not to go beyond the Black Forest, and beyond that, the Kingdom of Watson, a vassal state of the Yara Empire. The people of the Yara Empire still worship the God of Light and are more exclusive, so it's not suitable for us to go there now."

"Worship the God of Light?" Moran asked in surprise. "Didn't the God of Light prove that it was a hoax by the angels?"

"It's a scam, that's true, but the royal family and nobles of the Yara Empire are corrupt, unwilling to relinquish their power, and wary of mages."

When the angel's deception scandal broke, the Yara Empire helped the temple cover up the news and helped the temple suppress the increasingly powerful mages.

The mages were suppressed, but the empire also became a puppet of the temple.

Within the Yara Empire, many places are jointly governed by temples and nobles, with temples often wielding greater power, even controlling magical knowledge.

Those mages who could escape to the Magic Empire did so; those who couldn't either joined the temples or were branded as cultists, now hiding and barely surviving, much like the witches we were in back then.

Lilith said, "We witches don't have to worry about being harmed, but we're not very popular either. If we want to go there and not attract attention, we can only pretend to be ordinary people who don't know magic, and we're also easily ostracized because we're outsiders."

"So the temple is afraid to continue harming witches, so they're turning their evil clutches on their own people?" Vasita asked in surprise. "Do they think they can't proselytize unless they slander people?"

"Difficulties and misfortunes make people more likely to seek help from others, and that's when the temple has a place to be used!"

Moran said, "Lilith, where did you hear about this? I see there are hardly any books about the Yara Empire in the library. It seems like nobody likes going to the Yara Empire."

“Hmm…Isn’t my father a vampire? There’s a duke in the vampire clan who infiltrated the temple and took control of a parish. So the vampires know more about the Yara Empire!” Lilith said.

(End of this chapter)