Chapter 63 – Extraordinary Abilities

By the time class ended, it was already six o’clock—right when dinner should be.

After class, the young witches all headed to the Ingredient Collection Station as if by unspoken agreement.

“Black bread is completely inedible!”

“I want meat! Steak—where’s the steak?”

“The Cooking Classroom is right next door. Why don’t we just cook here and eat before heading back? Saves us the trouble of lugging everything around!”

“Yes, yes! I’m absolutely starving.”

…

The other young witches all stayed behind in the Cooking Classroom to sort out their dinner, but Mo Lan and Iris walked together toward the Dormitory, carrying a basket between them.

What the two of them had made during Culinary Magic class wasn’t nearly as inedible as what the other young witches had produced—they were already full.

Iris glanced into Mo Lan’s basket. “Sugar, honey, pumpkin—what are you planning to make?”

“Breadfruit Cake,” Mo Lan said.

“One batch of that lasts ages, doesn’t it? I just saw you picking Breadfruit not long ago. You’ve already finished it all?”

Something suddenly occurred to Iris. “Moira, don’t tell me you eat Breadfruit Cake for all three meals every single day!”

Mo Lan smiled. “When things get busy, yes.”

“And when are you not busy?” Iris wasn’t falling for it.

“Um… every day is pretty busy…” Mo Lan said. “But on weekends I still make time to cook something nice!”

Iris looked at her with an expression of utter heartbreak.

A companion who loved good food just as much as she did was living a life of gnawing on fruit cake every day!

How was that any different from gnawing on tree bark?

They walked in silence for a while before Iris couldn’t help asking, “But why? Fruit cake isn’t bad, but eating it every day must get miserable!”

“It’s fine, really. It mainly saves time so I can spend more of it on other things,” Mo Lan said. “The coursework is so packed—if I don’t squeeze out every bit of time I can, I’ll never finish the reading.”

Iris: “…”

Right. Mo Lan was a Sorceress—a Sorceress with aptitude in all disciplines.

Iris herself only wanted to become a Culinary Witch like her mother.

The academic pressure was on an entirely different level.

The look in Iris’s eyes as she gazed at Mo Lan instantly filled with tender sympathy.

When they reached the door of Mo Lan’s dormitory room, Iris set her basket on the ground and began rummaging through her pockets.

“This is for you! And this too! I was planning to make something different tonight anyway, so you might as well try these! They’re easy to eat on the go—won’t waste your time. You can’t just live on fruit cake!”

In no time, all her jerky, meat candy, and other snacks had been transferred to Mo Lan.

Mo Lan’s pockets, satchel, and even her grocery basket were stuffed full of Iris’s little treats. “That’s enough! That’s way too much!”

With her pockets emptied, Iris looked a whole size smaller. She snatched up her basket and bolted, terrified Mo Lan would try to return anything.

“Make sure you eat them!”

“I will!” Mo Lan waved after her helplessly.

She genuinely didn’t think there was anything wrong with eating Breadfruit Cake. It was meant to fill her up, and it was nutritious too.

She had no idea how she’d become a pitiful little creature in need of feeding in Iris’s eyes.

Back in her room, she placed all the snacks Iris had given her into a separate basket and set it beside the Breadfruit Cake basket.

She took out a small dish, picked a little of each treat, poured a cup of freshly pressed Breadfruit juice, and carried everything over to her desk.

Sitting down, she opened the Grimoire.

“Volume Seven of the Continent of Valen… here it is. Now where did I leave off… Mm! This jerky is so tender—what kind of meat is it made from?”

Mo Lan read while snacking on jerky and fruit cake, sipping her juice.

She had to admit—Iris really knew her way around preparing meat.

It had certainly elevated her simple dinner considerably.

This volume covered the extraordinary abilities of the various creatures on the Continent of Valen.

The opening section explained that the extraordinary abilities of Valen’s creatures could be broadly divided into two major categories. The first was extraordinary abilities where energy acted upon the body internally—physical strength, speed, agility, and defense all fell under bodily extraordinary abilities. The representative creatures of this category were Dragons, magical beasts, and beastfolk.

The second was extraordinary abilities where energy acted upon the world outside the body. Magic belonged to this category.

All races possessing the ability to cast spells wielded the extraordinary power known as Magic, but their energy sources for casting differed, as did their methods of casting.

Reading this, Mo Lan knew her essay was as good as done.

She skipped past the chapters on bodily extraordinary abilities and continued from where she had left off at noon.

She took notes as she read, summarizing the key passages.

“A witch’s energy is magical power; a Sorceress’s energy is Mana. Both originate from the bloodline, using will and emotion to drive the magical power within the blood to cast Magic.

An angel’s energy is angel force, originating from faith. They expend the power of faith to cast Magic.

A demon’s energy is demon force, originating from the soul. They sacrifice the power of the soul to cast Magic.

A Dragon’s energy is dragon force, originating from the bloodline. They use voice to drive the dragon force within the blood to cast Magic.

A human’s energy is psychic power, originating from knowledge and wisdom. Using psychic power as the fulcrum and knowledge as the lever, they pry loose the energy within nature to cast Magic.

…”

By the time she finished the section on extraordinary magical abilities, she had filled an entire sheet of paper with distilled notes.

Mo Lan now had a solid understanding of the spellcasting principles of different races.

Lady Amisha herself had told them to reference this book, so Mo Lan certainly wasn’t going to hold back.

Working directly from the key passages she had excerpted, she assembled them into an essay.

She blew on the ink of the parchment, read through it from beginning to end to check it over, and—Fundamentals of Magic Theory homework, complete!

It wasn’t due until next Monday. Mo Lan paper-clipped the essay to the assignment page in the Grimoire.

She wouldn’t be putting the Grimoire away anytime soon anyway, so tucking a few things inside was no trouble at all.

With the evening’s tasks finished and feeling thoroughly productive, Mo Lan yawned and went contentedly to bed.

The moment the six o’clock morning bell rang, Mo Lan reached out with her eyes still closed, feeling around in the pouch hanging from her bedpost for a Breadfruit. She grabbed one and took a bite. “Eugh—”

The sourness jolted her awake.

While brushing her teeth, she mulled it over:

“What should I read on the way today? Keep going with What Is Magic, Really? or preview 《History of Witches》? Hmm… 《History of Witches》, I think…”

The Grimoire floating beside her flipped open on its own to the page for 《History of Witches》.

“Witches originated from human women…”

She read as she walked out the door.

“Moira! Vasida! My Wind Chime Flower has grown another little leaf!”

“Congratulations!”

“At this rate, it won’t be long before the Wind Chime Flower is fully grown!”

“Mm-hm!”

“Moira, what are you reading?”

“《History of Witches》.”

“I read a bit of it last night too. It’s way more interesting than the Magic Theory textbook!”

“Really? I’ve only just started!”

…

On the way to class today, all the young witches were reading 《History of Witches》, bracing themselves for the upcoming 《History of Witches》 class.

It was yet another dreaded theory class.

So much so that even as they read, they were already worrying about the questions that would come.