Over the next few days, Lan Qingyou did nothing but read. She didn't even start a fire to make potions. If Gu Xiaobei hadn't sent her meals on schedule every day, she might have even forgotten to eat.
At night, the violent winds and lightning caused by the Mana Turbulence would arrive, then disappear again the next morning.
After it happened a few more times, even the people living in Level 2 Shelters had gotten used to it, let alone Lan Qingyou in her Level 3 Shelter.
Whenever they had nothing to do, they'd joke around in the channel.
Of course, there were also timid people who refused to go outside and begged in the channel once they'd eaten through their food supplies.
But District 666 didn't believe in tears, so nobody bothered with them.
Some short-tempered people who couldn't stand the sight of them would even start cursing, then disappear once they'd vented.
Still, this stretch of staying home wasn't without its downsides.
The first, naturally, was studying.
She'd learned plenty of useful things from the books. Even the ones that seemed like light reading had inspired her quite a bit.
The other thing was that some things that hadn't existed before the Novice Protection Period ended had started appearing.
Most notably, monsters.
During the Novice Protection Period, the only creatures in the forest besides wolves had been small animals like Unicorn Rabbits and Colored Feather Chickens.
After the Novice Protection Period ended, monsters started popping up everywhere like mushrooms after rain.
And there was quite a variety.
There were Plant Element Man-eating Flowers, Earth Element Sludge Monsters, Water Element Water-spitting Fish, Fire Element Jumping Pigs, and even her old friends, Wind Element Dire Wolves.
Don't ask how she knew their names.
Someone had taken their remains to be identified, and some had even eaten them.
Thankfully, though, all these monsters were E-Rank. They were troublesome, but they hadn't caused any large-scale casualties.
At most, ten or so people died each day.
Lan Qingyou could only say she was glad she hadn't gone out, but she also genuinely admired those people.
They knew the Mana Turbulence was still going on, yet when they saw monsters, they didn't run. Instead, they chose to stand and fight.
How could she not admire them?
There was another piece of news, too: everyone was forming groups.
It wasn't just the people in District 666—or, rather, it wasn't only the people in District 666.
Now, aside from online beggars, the World Channel was mostly filled with people looking for relatives and groups recruiting members.
There were even two groups from the same district going at each other in the World Channel.
Since this world had no way to block people, everyone could see what was going on. Their insults were downright filthy.
Lan Qingyou had no idea what these people thought they were doing, arguing in the World Channel.
Were they putting on a show for everyone's amusement?
Whatever the reason, it had let her witness the sheer diversity of life.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
That day, Lan Qingyou was sitting in her Recliner, sunbathing and reading, when her Magic Desk downstairs started beeping.
Li Huai: "When will you be selling potions?"
Lan Qingyou: ...
Floating beside the desk, Lan Qingyou stared at Li Huai's message, speechless.
In fact, this wasn't the first time someone had asked her that.
Shang Chuan had asked two days ago, too.
She'd been so busy reading these past few days that she hadn't brewed anything, so the potions on the market had long since run out. On the black market, +30 Mana Potions and Healing Potions had soared to a new high of one hundred to one.
They were desperate, but Lan Qingyou was desperate, too.
They could still fight without Magic Power, wielding weapons and relying on their footwork and agility to survive. But if she ran out of Magic Power, she'd probably have no choice but to wait for death.
That was right.
After several days of intensive study, Lan Qingyou had clearly realized how difficult it was to develop a special-effect potion.
No, not just special-effect potions. Developing any new potion was difficult.
Aside from being full of unknowns, most new potions came about through one coincidence or another. You could even say they were the product of luck.
Some of the books she'd read for extra material claimed that the successful development of new potions was purely a prank by the "gods."
A prank by the gods, huh?
Being forcibly transported to this world was already enough of a prank.
Lan Qingyou closed the friend chat window, then returned to the second-floor terrace and sat back in her Recliner to keep reading.
The next day, Li Huai messaged her again.
Li Huai: "The Mana Turbulence outside has disappeared. You can go out now."
"Ah..."
Lan Qingyou pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.
Lan Qingyou: "I know you're in a hurry, but don't rush me just yet."
Though she'd never met Li Huai, she guessed that this man, who looked to be in his thirties, had a pretty good talent—and it was likely a powerful Magic talent that required a lot of Magic Power.
So he depended on potions far more than other people did.
Li Huai: "What do you need?"
Well, he'd already put it that way, so it'd be hard for her to refuse. After all, he was a capable fighter. If she needed something in the future, he might—
They could just help each other out.
It'd been six or seven days since she'd brewed any potions. She could do a little work today.
Lan Qingyou: "100 Obsidian, 10 Mana Crystals, and 10 D-Rank Devilish Creature Cores."
Li Huai: "I don't know about the others, but I know where to find Obsidian."
Lan Qingyou: "Name your price."
Li Huai: "Two +50 Mana Potions per piece."
Lan Qingyou: "What level are you?"
Li Huai: "Level 6."
Lan Qingyou: "Does anything change when you level up?"
Since she'd never killed monsters to gain levels, Lan Qingyou was curious about it.
Li Huai: "Your stats increase by one point per level, and the point is probably weighted toward your specialty."
Hey, developers! Where are you?
One point per level? What kind of lousy game is this?
And if it's weighted toward my specialty, does that mean that if I level up, I'll only get a point in Spirit?
Can I only improve everything else with items?
Lan Qingyou: "Got it. I'll order 100 pieces of Obsidian."
The two-to-one rate was a bit of a loss, but Lan Qingyou still accepted Li Huai's offer.
It was all just one batch's worth of work, and at least she'd have all the materials she needed for one of the Level 4 Shelter upgrades.
She'd also learned something new, so it wasn't that bad a deal.
Li Huai: "Um... could you send me some in advance...?"
Who knew how Li Huai had managed to type that out? At any rate, he was looking down, making it impossible to see his expression.
Lan Qingyou: "I only have +30 ones right now. I'll send you all of them."
Li Huai: "Thanks."
Lan Qingyou sent him the twenty potions she'd set aside, then checked the channel chat.
Sure enough, everyone was talking about the Mana Turbulence disappearing.
Come to think of it, it had been another week. Could there be some kind of cycle to it?
Lan Qingyou thought about it for a while, but wasn't sure. She decided not to brew potions just yet and to go out gathering herbs instead.
Studying over the past few days had taught her how important it was to stock up on alchemy ingredients and have a wide variety of them.
The more kinds of ingredients she had, the less likely she'd be to find herself without the materials she needed when inspiration struck and she wanted to develop a new potion.
As for the Mana Potion... there was no harm in making it after she got back at noon.
As long as she gave it to Li Huai sometime today, she wouldn't be breaking her word.
After getting ready, Lan Qingyou flew out of the room. She didn't leave right away, but went over to the stone that marked the boundary of her shelter's Magic Protective Shield.
She lowered her altitude and floated forward. After slowly passing the stone and confirming nothing had happened, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Although the Mana Turbulence outside had indeed stopped, she had no intention of going far from her Shelter. She'd only be looking around nearby.
After all, what had happened before had left her with quite a bit of trauma.
To be honest, if Albert hadn't told her that she should gather materials herself when it wasn't too urgent, she wouldn't have wanted to go out at all.
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