Annie left the Ancestral Spirit Society Headquarters with remarkable efficiency. Following the instructions on the scrolls, the Ancestral Spirit Society members got busy.
That work lasted an entire month.
One month later.
In a forest dozens of miles from the Ancestral Spirit Society Headquarters, nearly a hundred meters underground.
Here, a vast underground space had been forcibly carved out with extraordinary power. Quite a few Wizard Apprentices and Wizards were busy using Earth Magic to reinforce every corner of the space, preventing it from collapsing due to an earthquake or some other cause.
"Tap, tap, tap..."
Footsteps rang out as Annie walked through the area, scrutinizing her surroundings with a serious, attentive gaze. Whenever she spotted anything wrong, she pointed it out without hesitation.
The Ancestral Spirit Society's leader—Barry—stood beside her. Whenever Annie pointed out a problem, he promptly informed his subordinates and ordered them to rectify it as soon as possible. His attitude was far more deferential than it had been when they first met.
At that moment, Barry looked like the contractor of a construction crew accompanying Annie, the client, on an inspection of the worksite.
In fact, that was more or less exactly the case.
"That support pillar just now was obviously too thin. It doesn't meet the specifications and must be thickened. Otherwise, if it can't withstand the pressure from above and collapses, at least half of this place will be ruined," Annie said as she walked.
"Understood. I'll have someone thicken it shortly and add a secondary support pillar to prevent any accidents," Barry quickly proposed a solution.
"Mm." Annie nodded in satisfaction and walked to the center of the underground space, where she stopped.
Looking up, she could see that there was no ceiling overhead, nor any soil. Several meters above her head