Chapter 83: Chapter 83

Before long, Mu Ying spotted a small cave that was already occupied by an older witch. Judging by the bottles and jars she’d set out, she was probably selling potions.

Mu Ying didn’t have a penny to her name, so she didn’t linger—falling in love with something she couldn’t afford would be too painful.

Rosie, knowing how awkward it was for first-years at their first Four Seasons Gathering, led her onward until they found an empty little cave.

“You can set up here. I’ll go look further up. Good luck!”

Although the cave could have fit two stalls, Rosie still chose to find another spot.

Witches always had to learn to be independent; that had never changed since the day they started school.

There wasn’t any real danger at Hat Mountain. With so few witches, every companion was precious, and internal strife was extremely rare. If it ever did happen, the Witch Association would punish it severely.

Mu Ying opened her bundle, pulled out a table and a chair, unshrunk them, and set them up at the cave entrance.

Then she placed a wooden sign she’d prepared in front of the table.

On the sign, she’d written the items for sale and their prices in charcoal—clear and easy to read.

Finally, after neatly arranging her goods on the table, she could just wait for customers to come by.

She crossed her arms and idly played with the binding vine.

“It’s so quiet! This is nothing like the lively scene I imagined…”

Just as she muttered this, Mu Ying heard the sound of footsteps. She looked up at the cave entrance and listened carefully.

“Is someone really coming?”

She stood up, fiddled with the things on her table, and looked expectantly toward the source of the sound.

A young witch appeared around the corner, her bright pink curls making Mu Ying’s heart leap with joy."

"“Want to take a look? I’ve got some rare hair-dye potions in unique colors! This one’s milk tea brown, this one’s icy blue, and this one’s pastel lavender. All of them are brightening, uncommon shades—exclusively available here!”

Mu Ying immediately saw that this pink-haired witch was a hair-dye enthusiast, and a bold one at that.

When the pink-haired witch first saw this little girl in a school uniform, she hadn’t expected much.

What could a student witch possibly have? Hair-dye potions were common knowledge—most people just made basic colors like brown. Too plain.

But when she heard this girl list off a string of colors she’d never even heard of, her interest was instantly piqued.

“What are these colors you’re talking about? Do you have samples?”

Mu Ying nodded eagerly, already prepared. “These are wild boar bristles I dyed with my potions…”

“…” Wild boar bristles? That’s really not necessary.

The pink-haired witch did her best to ignore the fact that those vibrant strands were, in essence, animal hair. She had to admit, though, these colors were really something new—she wanted to try every single one!

“What’s this shade?”

“Rose brown. It really suits your vibe.”

“And this one?”

“Dusty pink. Also a great choice. I’m running a grand opening sale—bundle all the pink shades together. Original price 90 silver coins, now only 66.”

Mu Ying noticed this witch especially liked pink-toned hair-dye potions. Coincidentally, her current stock was mainly pinks, blues, and whites, with a ton of variations in each color family.

Just for pink, she had rose brown, pastel lavender, dusty pink, pink gold, peach pink, and cherry blossom pink—six in total.

“Over twenty silver off? That’s a good deal, but still pretty pricey. The pink hair-dye potion I’m using now only cost me eight silver a bottle. Can’t you go a bit lower?”

Although these colors did look much better than anything she’d seen before—vivid yet natural—she didn’t just want the pinks. She wanted to try them all.

Plus, she needed to save some money for other things. She was running low on cash.

“Miss, these potions are really hard to make, and the ingredients are tough to find. I only have one bottle of each color, and I can’t guarantee I’ll ever be able to make the exact same shades again. I’m hoping to earn a bit from this to build my own place…” Mu Ying put on a troubled face.

The pink-haired witch immediately sympathized, remembering her own tough days, but her wallet wouldn’t let her be generous.

She felt her coin pouch. “Sigh, to be honest, I’m a bit short on money. How about this: I’ll take all your potions, but can you give me the same bundle price for the blue and white shades too? Eleven silver coins per bottle.”

Mu Ying did the math, then agreed with a “pained” expression, slowly packing up all the hair-dye potions.

The pink-haired witch felt like she’d scored a huge bargain—four silver off per bottle, eighteen bottles in total, that’s a saving of about sixty silver! Afraid the little witch would change her mind, she quickly counted out twenty gold coins and handed them over, then hurried off with her potions.

“Hey! I still owe you two silver in change!”

Mu Ying kept her hand out in a “wait!” gesture until the pink-haired witch disappeared from sight, then her worried expression vanished.

She immediately pulled out another identical set of hair-dye potions from her bag and laid them out on the table.

The ingredients for these potions were just wildflowers commonly found behind the school—super easy to get.

“Hehe, first sale of the day! Witches really are adorable. Isn’t it standard practice for merchants to raise prices before offering a discount?”

She counted the shiny gold coins. There were three different designs on the twenty coins, probably from three different countries. They looked a bit larger and heavier than real-world gold coins.

And the exchange rate between gold and silver coins was only 1:10.

Mu Ying checked the conversion info for the gold coins.

[Rose Kingdom Gold Coin]

[Function: Universal currency in the Emerald World]

[Physical Conversion: 1 Source Energy / 10 coins]

[Physical Effect: Decorative precious metal currency]

[Source Energy Conversion: Not convertible]

Clearly, these gold coins weren’t the same as the ones used in the Doomsday Game, and they couldn’t be converted into source energy either.

“Sigh, source energy is way too hard to get in the Emerald World!”

Mu Ying sighed. She still hadn’t found anything in this world that could be converted into source energy. At times like this, the fifty tireless “source energy producers” back in Block World seemed especially precious—they’d contributed five or six hundred source energy for her by now.

“Glug~” Bored, she poured herself a glass of sparkling water.

After downing it, she felt refreshed. “Burp~”

Mu Ying’s mouth was still open when she made awkward eye contact with a passing witch.