6080新视觉理论午夜

The Faerie disappeared in a flash, heading back into the Den, where Wolfe could hear Katerina laugh as they were reunited.

They came out to see the new Forest, followed by a handful of Witches with looks of awe on their faces. Most of them had been busy all morning with their maintenance duties or training.  They were all diligently working to reach the Second Rank now that they had seen that it was possible, and Wolfe wondered how they would take it if they learned that the Faeries considered them to be the evil cousins of the witch community.

He would hold off on telling them that for now since it wasn\'t like having them never use offensive magic again was an option.

"This is incredible. But where did they take Coconut? Is she coming back?" Alice asked while the Faerie made tiny braids in her long black hair.

"The other Treants agreed that taking care of a garden wasn\'t enough territory for a Treant, even a little one. So she\'s down by the river now. There are other types of Palm trees there, apparently, and that was the region that Coconut was assigned because they didn\'t come to the meeting between the Treants." Wolfe explained as well as he could since he had been up here at the time.

"Oh, that\'s good. The river isn\'t far, and if Coconut is guarding it, then it should be reasonably safe for us to go to now." One of the witches replied with a smile at the memory of the panicked little Treant.

"Maybe I can go hide there," Katerina muttered, just loud enough to be heard.

"Overwhelmed by the workload of learning Witch Magic?" Wolfe asked curiously.

"Oh, no, I\'m doing quite well. But that lazy dog won\'t save me, and Mary keeps petting my ears." The little witch complained.

The witches who knew her best all laughed. "You\'ve gotten off easy. As much as the rest of us have a fondness for soft things and animal ears, she takes it to the next level. Nothing is off limits to her if it\'s fluffy. But she\'s a good person, so just tell her if she\'s annoying you, and she will find a replacement fluffy object."

"Speaking of her, where is the Fluffy Witch?" Cassie asked from somewhere inside the cabin.

"I\'m not sure, I\'ve been out here all day, and I haven\'t seen her in a bit. But if you look for Pup and Ember, you will likely find her much more easily." Wolfe suggested.

Cassie focused for a second, then smiled. "I\'m pretty sure I found her. Ember is in the hot springs room with Pup."

"Ah, they\'re having a soak then. Or Mary is, and she\'s just got them for company. At least she\'s distracted and not here to scare away all the scouts." Wolfe joked.

"Is she mean?" One of the scouts asked, worried that not all of the Witches would be friendly. They had literally never spoken with one before, but the exchange of letters so far had always been positive.

"On the contrary. Where the rest of the witches like soft and cute things, she\'s practically obsessed with them. That makes her friendly nature somewhat dangerous to the scouting teams." Wolfe laughed.

"Hey, I heard that. I wasn\'t in the baths anymore, but the dogs still hadn\'t noticed that I had left, and the hellhound was chasing Pup around the room. You don\'t have to fear me. I do have some self-control." Mary greeted the scout.

"No offence intended, Miss Witch. It\'s been a big change for us to be able to speak with your people, so we\'re not really sure what your customs are. We\'ve all got to bring reports back home about what is going on here, so we are going to wait for a day or so and get all the information we can so that we don\'t miss something important.

You know that a lot of what we need to learn can\'t go over the radio where anyone could hear it, so this is the best way." The scout explained.

Mary smiled at the scout, then winked at Wolfe before speaking again. "Well, I was speaking with the Faerie earlier, and I think we have a plan. Since we used the power of two Pentacles of Rank Two Witches and a Rank Four Demon to make the Forest that now guards our home, we need more than just a shack in the woods.

So, what we decided is that the Fae Forest needs a magical castle."

Despite the light and airy tone of her announcement, Wolfe could see that there was determination in her eyes. She was also a Rank Two Witch, so even alone, she could build the castle easily enough. Once they had advanced to the Second Rank, they could modify the existing natural rock to some extent instead of using Earth Elemental Magic or just raising or lowering what was in the surrounding area.

Earth Elemental Magic that created an object only existed as long as there was the power for the spell. But since the Witches\' Nature Manipulation just moved around the dirt that already existed, once they were done, it was just a mundane object again.

"Well, if you\'re determined to do it, get both Pentacles working on it. You can enlist whoever else has time, but try not to mess with people\'s chore rotations while you make the castle plans." Wolfe reluctantly agreed.

"Why would you want a Castle in the Frozen Wastes?" One of the Scouts asked, confused about the nature of their intentions.

"You see, we really like being out in the fresh air and the light. So while the underground Den is important and will likely stay quite full, both as our laboratories and for the gardens and other facilities, having somewhere to go that is above ground so that we can breathe fresh air is important. Especially now that the air smells so good."

"I can\'t argue with that. The forest smells amazing. Do all forests smell like this? I\'ve never been in one before." A young woman with her hood pulled most of the way over her face asked in a halting and raspy voice.

"No, this one is particularly good. But since we\'re here, do you want me to heal that for you? It\'s not a problem." Mary asked.

"The witch who came by a few weeks ago tried, and I\'m much better. Thanks for your offer, though." The woman replied with a resigned tone.

"There is a big difference between the Ranks. Here, let me show you." Mary explained.

Mary took both of the woman\'s gloved hands in her own, and a bright green glow surrounded them both as vines rose up from the ground to cocoon the startled scout.

They retreated into the ground a few seconds later, and Mary struggled to catch the woman as she collapsed. Wolfe moved over to help her before the woman fell on the ground and injured herself again right after being healed.

"Perfection. I would say good as new, but she was born with those defects, so I suppose the phrase doesn\'t work." Mary giggled.

As Wolfe shifted the woman in his arms, he realized that the scout was not as big as she seemed. They had all of their gear and provisions strategically arranged inside their overcoat to make them look like a larger person.

They were also clearly a witch. The moment Wolfe touched them, he could feel the presence of the Mana Pathways with his enhanced sense of mana flow, but just like Katerina, they were underage. Unfortunately, they also had a much smaller potential due to the dilution of the Witch lineage over the generations.

It should still be enough for him to work with though.