“What... what is going on!?”
Lan Qingyou frowned, squinting at everything before her like that meme of the old man on the subway staring at his phone.
The herb field outside the main tower was still the same herb field. The large alchemy workshop in the distance was still the same workshop.
Everything looked as peaceful and unchanged as ever.
But that could only fool an outsider. As the master of this place, Lan Qingyou had personally placed every plant and stone; she knew exactly what was different.
To put it simply, the outermost 'circle' of her magic circle was gone!
No, to be more precise, the 'form' was still there, but the 'spirit' was gone.
To be even more accurate, her magic circle had been mysteriously dismantled.
It was very strange!
If a magic circle were dismantled, the entire thing should have failed. Yet, everything was currently running normally.
Unable to make sense of it, Lan Qingyou flew into the air, intending to get a bird's-eye view of the problem.
She didn't know what to expect, but once she was up there, she was genuinely startled.
Squinting and leaning forward slightly, she wobbled in the air for a moment before finally spotting her 'missing' outer ring.
It wasn't far—just a few kilometers away from its original position.
Why did this happen?
Confused, Lan Qingyou sped toward the boundary on her Magic Broom.
Based on her estimation, the distance was about two thousand five hundred meters. Didn't that mean the diameter of the entire magic circle had jumped from one thousand meters to roughly five thousand?
Looking at the chaos of the mana tide raging outside the magic circle, Lan Qingyou realized her Five Dragon Reincarnation Protection Magic Circle had indeed expanded, and it was still functional.
Was it because she hooked up the big-eyed cutie?
That shouldn't be it.
Ksuya's Eye was at most a power source; it shouldn't have been able to influence the magic circle itself.
Furthermore, the magic circle at the boundary now wasn't a 'real' one; it was more like the original circle had been forcibly stretched that far by the sheer pressure of the creature's energy.
In layman's terms, it had bloated—but it was stable.
To get to the bottom of this, Lan Qingyou spent the entire morning circling the magic circle and inspecting it minutely, skipping lunch entirely.
Afterward, she pulled out her notebooks containing her magic circle research to study the phenomenon.
In her view, after eliminating all impossibilities, only one direction remained: there was a problem with the magic circle itself.
The Five Dragon Reincarnation Protection Magic Circle and the Mana Sealing Magic Circle.
These were the only two she had set up here.
Although both could be considered composite magic circles due to their functions, perhaps because they both tried to do a little bit of everything, they had ended up in conflict.
It was just like building a computer.
If the hardware isn't compatible, you end up with all sorts of bizarre, unprecedented problems.
“Hmm... there seems to be a problem here, and here, and here...”
The more she looked, the more she found.
Once she overlaid the two circles and viewed them as a single unit, Lan Qingyou discovered several issues.
The Five Dragon Reincarnation Protection Magic Circle was originally designed with a barrier to ensure internal stability.
But now, she had built a sealing magic circle inside that barrier meant to protect the outside world.
Both circles 'thought' they were the ones responsible for protection.
This created a rare 'mutual repulsion' between the two forces.
The end result was like two magnets of the same pole pushing against each other; the outer magic circle had been straight-up sent flying.
Yes, 'sent flying.'
It had caused the circle, originally about a thousand meters in diameter, to suddenly expand to five thousand meters.
Her actual controlled territory had exploded to five times its original size.
Ultimately, after figuring out the principle behind the phenomenon, Lan Qingyou decided to do absolutely nothing.
Yes, nothing.
She would let the 'sent flying' magic circle stay exactly as it was.
If a piece of code written by smashing keys actually runs, the best thing to do is never touch it.
Besides, Lan Qingyou already understood the underlying mechanics now. She was even thinking about using this principle to design a new version of the magic circle, which she could keep as a backup for when the current one eventually failed.
With that thought, Lan Qingyou, feeling a bit hungry, headed back to the main tower for a late lunch.
While Lan Qingyou was busy eating...
A storm of discussion was erupting on the regional channel.
And the center of the debate was none other than the sudden expansion of the magic circle.
“Did you guys feel that vibration just now?”
“I felt it. No idea what happened this time.”
“The weather is warming up. Do you think a seismic natural disaster is coming?”
“Natural disaster? Magic exists in this world, and you’re worried about natural disasters?”
“Aren't you talking nonsense? How can magic even compare to a natural disaster?”
“Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap!”
Just as everyone was discussing natural disasters, someone suddenly jumped in, using a series of shocked exclamations to grab the channel's attention.
“What's up? Did you eat too much crap?”
“No! The vibration just now—guess what it was?”
“An earthquake?”
“It couldn't be a giant dancing, could it?”
“No. Let me tell you, but don't be shocked.”
“Don't worry, we've had professional training. We usually don't get shocked.”
“Just spit it out. Stop being so dramatic over a little thing.”
“Fine, fine. I’m telling you, that vibration just now was caused by the Witch.”
“The Witch?”
“Is it like that magic circle that turned the sky purple last time?”
“Exactly. In fact, it probably was that magic circle.”
“Tell us the details.”
Hearing that Lan Qingyou seemed to be causing trouble again, everyone's interest was immediately piqued.
“I was minding my own business in the shelter, playing mahjong with everyone, when suddenly there was a very noticeable shaking. Right as the vibration ended, a purple ring of light from a magic circle swept right through our shelter. After that, the mana tide outside just... vanished.”
“Wait!! What did you say? A purple ring of light actually passed through your shelter?”
“Yeah, I definitely didn't see it wrong.”
“What kind of priority is that? Shouldn't the focus be on the mana tide vanishing?”
“The mana tide vanishing? That's actually a pretty funny joke. Gave me a good chuckle.”
The man's account drew ridicule from most people.
After all, you couldn't expect humans to understand things they had never seen before.
“He’s telling the truth. The mana tide here also vanished after a flash of purple light. I just went outside to check; the whole area feels like it's covered by something. The mana tide is only raging outside the magic circle.”
“Huh?”
“Wait a minute!”
“Why do I suddenly feel like I can't read the Federation common script anymore?”
“Are you saying the Witch created some kind of magic circle that can block the mana tide?”
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