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Shortly after claiming he had Gehenna plants, Vaan took out several stalks of purple grass from his Heaven-Swallowing Space.

However, he activated some aura on a new black ring on his finger and made it look like he was withdrawing the Gehenna plants from the interspatial ring.

The interspatial ring was one of several interspatial storage-type magic tools he had acquired from the slain wolf-men.

“This should be enough Weeping Soul Grass for several test runs. However, we’ll need the rest of the Weeping Soul Grass buried deep under the Red Goblin Mountains if we want to save some expense. Otherwise, we can only import them from the north,” Vaan mentioned.

The several stalks of Weeping Soul Grass were placed on a maidservant’s tray before the maidservant brought it over to Helia.

“These stalks of Weeping Soul Grass are surprisingly still in good conditions,” Helia inspected the goods with astonishment.

Shortly after, she quickly took out a special ice box from her Magic Domain and stored the Gehenna plants inside.

“However, whatever Gehenna plants we find under the Red Goblin Mountains, they won’t be in the same condition as these. Would they still be usable?” Helia wondered with a contemplating look._.

“As written on the potion recipe, both the Tenacious Soul Potion and Furious Soul Potion requires the Weeping Soul Grass in the form of dried powder, Lord Helia. We’ll be lucky if we can find them whole, but even fragments of them wouldn’t be a problem,” Vaan casually mentioned.

Weeping Soul Grass is usually desolate like dry leaves. After a bit of refining, their dried powder form can easily dissolve in water.

It wasn’t a coincidence that he just happened to have the core ingredient for making the Tenacious Soul Potion and Furious Soul Potion.

Many Gehenna plants were either toxic or had soul-related properties. And among the Gehenna plants in his possession, he had both.

Nevertheless, there was no need to reveal everything in front of Helia and Astoria. They were for his personal use and may even prove their usefulness in the Thousand Fog Mountains.

“That said, the pocket realm was destroyed, and the Gehenna plants were crushed. They won’t stay in usable conditions forever. It would be best if you could mobilize a workforce to retrieve them as soon as possible, Lord Helia.”

“On the off chance that some people still survived the collapse and are stuck down there, they could be saved by the excavation work,” Vaan added.

“You’re right, Sir Vaan. These Gehenna plants are very delicate and susceptible to change in the human world. I will do exactly that,” Helia acknowledged with a nod.

“After so many witches and aura users died in the Red Goblin Mountains, people may be reluctant to sign up for an excavation job there,” Astoria kindly reminded.

“That could indeed be a problem, but it won’t be a big one, Headmaster Astoria,” Helia replied, unconcerned by the matter Astoria raised. “Fallen Witch Elvira had fled, and all monsters are more likely to be dead. Thus, if the pay is good, people will still be willing to take up the job. This is the power of money.”

“I see,” Astoria noted.

…

Sometime later, Vaan and Astoria finished dining with Helia before he asked Astoria to accompany him to Redpine Academy.

Naturally, Astoria agreed without a second thought.

But as they took their time strolling towards Redpine Academy together, she suddenly became curious about Vaan’s reason for asking her to tag along.

Of course, she would have asked to follow him regardless. She believed that simply by being around him, she would learn something new.

After all, Vaan was a walking grand library of profound knowledge.

“Why did you ask me to come along, Teacher Raphna?” Astoria raised her question.

“You looked like you wanted to tag along, so I thought it was a gentlemanly thing for me to ask you first, Headmaster Astoria,” Vaan casually replied.

However, Astoria didn’t believe his excuse.

“Is that the only reason? Probably not, right? C’mon. What’s the real reason, Teacher Raphna?” Astoria insisted on hearing the truth.

In response, Vaan slightly shook his head with a smile and said, “You’ll find out when we arrive.”

“More importantly, don’t you have other questions to ask me, Headmaster Astoria? Considering a High Witch acknowledges me as her teacher, it won’t do if I don’t at least dispel some of her doubts.”

“You can ask me anything.”

After Vaan spoke frankly, Astoria’s eyes brightened with excitement and anticipation. She had been looking forward to such a talk for a while.

“Since Teacher Raphna offered, I won’t hold back,” Astoria pleasantly smiled.

“It might be strange to ask you about cultivation for High Witches, but I feel like you are the best person to seek answers. Many High Witches have attempted to advance to the middle stage and paid the ultimate price for their failures.”

“Do you know why Early-stage High Witches failed to advance to the middle stages and how to solve it, Teacher Raphna?”

“Oof, straight to the billion mana stone question, huh? Your appetite is not small, Headmaster Astoria,” Vaan casually smiled after listening to Astoria.

Nevertheless, he didn’t answer right away. Instead, he responded to her question with another question, “What are the known causes of death after the High Witches failed their advancement? What methods did they use?”

“The records stated that they all died by the eruption of mana caused by the collapse of their mana circles. They were mainly divided into two main methods: refining their third magic circle and forming their fourth magic circle,” Astoria answered.

“There should be more than just these two methods attempted by High Witches in the past, but we don’t have any official records of them. The High Witches either didn’t record a journal of their attempts, or they were simply destroyed in the mana eruptions.”

“I see,” Vaan uttered thoughtfully.

“No doubt, it’s another problem with insufficient mental strength and energy. However, the methods are also inefficient. Just because they worked for True Witches and Senior Witches doesn’t mean they would also work for High Witches.”

“Why didn’t the High Witches try forming their magic circle inside their Magic Domain? It would save them so much effort,” Vaan wondered aloud.

However, Astoria’s eyes immediately lit up.

“As expected of Teacher Raphna, I’ve also thought about this method. However, this method also has its cons,” Astoria mentioned.