Chapter 69 – Immediately, Go to Sleep!

“Hmm, Will and intent, huh?”

Mo Lan reflected on how, when she had just been casting the spell, the slightest lapse in concentration would affect the Spring Water spell’s effectiveness.

Fortunately, with more practice, she wouldn’t need to maintain such intense focus every time she cast the Spring Water spell.

Thoughts were the hardest thing to control. Maintaining prolonged mental focus was never an easy task to begin with.

If casting always required complete concentration, her mobility would be terrible. One sneak attack and she’d be done for — how could she hope to protect herself with magic?

She made a mental note of this point.

She continued reading.

“Factor Three Affecting the Spring Water Spell: Emotion and Surges.

Emotions not only affect Will, but also affect magical power.

During spellcasting, if emotional fluctuations are too intense, the active spell will automatically become an outlet for those emotions, causing magical power to surge and the entire spell to spiral out of control.

A loss of control over the Spring Water spell typically manifests as a torrent of spring water exceeding the caster’s upper limit.

If emotions are not brought under control in time, the Spring Water spell will drain all magical power within a short period.

Once magical power is fully drained, if emotions remain intense and the casting state has not been interrupted, it will further damage one’s life force. In extreme cases, this can be fatal…”

“It can damage life force? It can even be fatal? That serious?” Mo Lan felt a lingering chill of fear.

Her very first attempt at casting had succeeded, and she’d gotten so excited that she lost control for just a moment. The spring water had surged out like a burst dam. Thankfully, she’d managed to rein it in just in time.

Mo Lan went to check the normal consumption rate for the Spring Water spell.

Since every witch’s magical proficiency and water magic talent differed, casting consumption varied and there was no precise figure.

But generally speaking, even for a young witch with the worst water magic talent, when first learning the Spring Water spell, producing enough spring water to fill a water tower would consume no more than 6 Mana at most.

Mo Lan’s water magic talent was Limitless — her Mana converted to water elemental force with absolutely no resistance. Her consumption could only be lower, never higher.

Yet her earlier practice had consumed 20 Mana.

The vast majority of that had probably been lost during her moment of emotional loss of control.

She had only lost control for less than three seconds.

By that calculation, even an amount of Mana approaching an Intermediate Sorceress’s reserves could be drained dry in under a minute.

If her emotional fluctuation had been even more intense — she didn’t dare imagine it!

Mo Lan recalled what the 《Young Witch’s Primer》 had said: “Young witches under the age of thirteen are forbidden from learning magic, as it may cause damage to their foundations.”

Now it seemed that young witches truly weren’t suited for contact with magic.

The younger a child was, the harder it was to control their emotions.

Young witches had so little magical power to begin with. During the casting process, a single emotional outburst could cost them their lives.

At the Academy, at least Lady Amisha was monitoring them at all times.

Speaking of which — why hadn’t Shana’s mother discovered she was a Sorceress before enrollment?

Even if witches couldn’t see a Sorceress’s energy Halo, surely a young witch having no energy Halo at all would be a clear sign that something was off!

At the enrollment ceremony, the young witches had all seemed completely unaware of their own talent situations.

What was going on?

Mo Lan was extremely curious, but the book in front of her held no answers.

Maybe… she should ask her personal Headmistress?

“Headmistress, Headmistress — don’t mothers know about their young witches’ talents before enrollment? Isn’t there an energy Halo?” Mo Lan asked.

A certain Amisha: “…”

It was true that she monitored the young witches around the clock. She was already quite used to Mo Lan treating her like a personal tutor to pepper with questions.

“Refer to the book Traces of Energy.”

“Oh!” Mo Lan immediately flipped open the Grimoire, preparing to look up Traces of Energy.

“It is already two in the morning. Close the book and go to sleep now. You can read it tomorrow. Insufficient sleep and poor physical condition will also affect the rate of Mana growth!”

She had just been going on about the contents of 《Babbling Brook》, and now she was suddenly asking about young witches — with her mind leaping all over the place like that, Amisha felt that if she didn’t step in, Mo Lan would probably pull another all-nighter.

Ensuring the young witches grew up healthy and strong was also part of her duty as Headmistress.

The moment Mo Lan heard that insufficient sleep would affect Mana growth, she panicked: “Sleep, sleep, sleep — I’ll sleep right away!”

She set the Grimoire aside and lay down obediently.

But she still couldn’t help worrying: “Headmistress, is there anything that can reduce the amount of sleep needed? Having to sleep a full eight hours means there’s barely any time left to study after coming back from classes!”

“Who told you that you need a full eight hours? Only young witches under thirteen need seven to eight hours. After thirteen, a young witch only needs five or six hours per day. After reaching adulthood, three or four hours is sufficient. At higher ranks, it can be even less. Of course, sleeping more doesn’t hurt either.”

“?(°°)?” Mo Lan was absolutely stunned. “The 《Young Witch’s Primer》 didn’t mention that!”

“Starting from today, it will. If you’re interested, there’s a book in the first-year reading room called 《Wellness Starts with Young Witches》. But right now — immediately, this instant — close your eyes and sleep!”

Amisha had never imagined that one day she would become the kind of existence that had to nag young witches into going to bed.

Mo Lan: “…”

So it was being added just now, was it?

She was probably the only one influenced by memories of her past life, instinctively assuming she needed a full eight hours of sleep.

Back at Emerald Creek Plains, she had spent her days with nothing to do, sleeping until she woke naturally. If she noticed it was still dark out, she’d go right back to sleep. She had never paid attention to exactly how long she actually slept.

No wonder the enrollment ceremony had been scheduled at such an ungodly hour.

No wonder the Academy bell started ringing at six in the morning.

For witches who needed so little sleep, the concept of rising with the sun and resting at dusk simply didn’t exist!

Mo Lan felt that she still didn’t know nearly enough about witches, and she urgently needed to read more to fill in the gaps in her knowledge.

But it really was too late. She suppressed her thirst for knowledge and closed her eyes to count sheep.

When the morning bell rang, it was yet another day of insufficient sleep, requiring a Breadfruit to perk herself up.

“I’ll just come back and take a nap at noon…” Mo Lan muttered to herself as she got out of bed and changed clothes.

Remembering the Spring Water spell she had learned the night before, she sped up her pace a little.

She ended up leaving slightly earlier than usual — Vasida and Sylph weren’t even out yet.

Today it was her turn to play the mysterious helper!

Mo Lan ran over to the yard next door: “Vasida! Do you still have water in your water tower?”

“There’s still some. Are you out of water? Use mine first! I’ll go fetch some for you when we get back at noon!” Vasida poked her head out in her pajamas, her hair a tangled mess.

She assumed Mo Lan had run out of water for washing up.

“No need! Leave it to me!” Mo Lan brandished her Wand and marched toward Vasida’s backyard with all the swagger of a soldier heading into battle.

Vasida rubbed her eyes: “???”

Leave what to her? She didn’t even have a bucket!