Over the next three days, Jiang Han saw the Sea Forest, like a fairyland on earth; the Cat Lamp estate; and the breathtaking sea spring that shot thousands of meters into the air from beneath Sky Island. When the sea spring crashed against the entire Sky Island, she felt the island itself trembling and shaking.
On the last day, when it was time to head home, Kraken took them off Sky Island and into Gaia's market district.
The market district was far more bustling than Jiang Han had imagined. Countless witches in swimsuits wandered everywhere, most of their magic fluctuating around the minimum threshold for Archwitches. In this place, which was not open to ordinary witches, witches, or landfolk, even the bare minimum among explorers was an elite witch—anyone with magic above 5,000 could be called elite.
These witches wore swimsuits as if they were on vacation, carrying glasses of juice, laughing and chatting as they gathered in twos and threes to exchange information. Some hawked goods that appeared only on the black market. Folded space was a lawless land, yet it also possessed a certain tacit understanding and a highly witch-centralized order.
Most of the market consisted of little shops selling local specialties, all run by witches dressed like scholars.
There were also merchant witches. They wore black, gray, and white swimsuits—swimsuits with the feel of suits—unexpectedly formal and rather good-looking. Nearby were bunny-girl witches—the ears on their headsets were real rabbit ears, so they felt wonderfully soft to rub.
Merchant markets needed professional witches to appraise goods and determine purchase prices. Of course, if some sucker was willing to pay a huge sum to buy something outright, that was a wonderful thing. Especially since most elite witches had middle-class incomes; they could instantly buy something worth a hundred