Chapter 87 – The Wind Chime Flower’s Leaves

Chapter 87 – The Wind Chime Flower’s Leaves

“It was just an accident. There’s no need to blame yourself.” Amisha didn’t hold it against her.

“When it happened, even we who were constantly watching over the young witches didn’t react in time.

When a Sorceress is developing her own Talent, all kinds of unexpected accidents are bound to occur.

But since you can communicate with it now, figure out what it does as soon as possible!

Ask it—besides its leaves, is there anything else that can quickly wake the young witches?”

Sylph nodded. She wanted to make amends however she could.

From Mo Lan and the others’ perspective, they could only see Sylph softly comforting the Wind Chime Flower. They couldn’t hear a single sound from the flower itself.

After quite a while, Sylph finally got her answer.

“Only the leaves it sheds voluntarily can counteract its sonic attack… but my mana can help it grow new leaves faster. I just need to remove the sound-isolating cover.

It’s still a seedling and can’t control its sonic attack. It only screams uncontrollably when something touches its bud.”

“Alright! Hold on a moment!” Amisha pulled out her Wand directly and cast a silencing spell on the flower. “There—now it won’t matter even if something touches its bud.”

She would absolutely not put the young witches in danger a second time.

The Wind Chime Flower desperately wanted to shriek right then and there, but it still couldn’t control its sonic attack ability.

Sylph slowly opened the sound-isolating cover.

The Wind Chime Flower, having been imprisoned for two weeks, was nearly moved to tears. Its slender stem stood up perfectly straight as it breathed in the fresh air.

Instinctively, it tried to nuzzle its bud against “Mama,” then suddenly froze and shrank its bud back.

Amisha gave a cold snort. She knew this flower couldn’t be trusted.

The day of the incident, Sylph had wanted to pet the flower. But the flower had already developed some rudimentary sentience by the time it grew its bud—it counted as an animated plant.

It knew perfectly well that its bud couldn’t be touched, yet because of its clingy nature, it hadn’t dodged away. That was what led to the current situation.

Sylph placed her hand in the flower pot and channeled a bit of mana into it.

The Wind Chime Flower visibly perked up with renewed vigor.

It so badly wanted to pour all its energy into growing a thick, sturdy body and beautiful buds.

But remembering what “Mama” had said, and with the big villain and little villain eyeing it menacingly from the side, it reluctantly channeled all its energy into growing leaves instead.

Soon, tiny buds sprouted along its stem, unfurling into small leaves one after another.

Once the leaves matured, they detached on their own.

One leaf, two leaves, three leaves—it wasn’t until eighty-five small leaves had been shed that Sylph finally stopped channeling mana and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

Stimulating leaf growth consumed far more mana than she had imagined. She was nearly drained dry, with less than 0.1% of her mana remaining.

Any longer and she probably would have passed out.

Amisha produced a bottle of azure-blue potion. “Recovery potion. Drink up!”

Mo Lan stared longingly at the potion. So this was the legendary recovery potion!

“Thank you, Headmistress!” Sylph took the potion and drank it in one gulp.

The leaves were collected and taken away to be fed to the other young witches. The silencing spell was lifted, and the sound-isolating crystal cover was placed back over the flower.

The Wind Chime Flower’s resistance was futile, and it cursed up a storm.

But Sylph had just expended too much energy. Even after drinking the recovery potion—which was only the most basic Apprentice-level recovery potion—it merely made her feel slightly better without significantly restoring her mana.

In her diminished state, she temporarily lost the ability to communicate with the Wind Chime Flower and completely missed its protests.

Only Bi’er, the Sprite who was born with the ability to speak with plants, silently twitched the corners of her mouth. This flower was truly noisy!

The Wind Chime Flower’s leaves were indeed the perfect remedy for its sonic attack.

Once a single complete leaf was administered, all the young witches—whether Intermediate, Beginner, or Apprentice level—woke up immediately.

“All done!” Amisha clapped her hands and began shooing everyone out. “Off you go! Starting tomorrow, classes resume according to the normal schedule!”

The young witches only knew they had been knocked unconscious by a flower and were still a bit dazed.

As the Headmistress herded them toward the exit, they asked:

“What time is it now?”

“It’s been two weeks. It’s now Sunday of the fifth week.”

“Two weeks have already passed? Well, at least it’s still Sunday. By the way, what time is it?”

“One in the afternoon.”

“What?! It’s already one in the afternoon?! I’m doomed! I haven’t written my essay yet!”

She was far from the only one who hadn’t finished her essay. “Headmistress! Are the essay assignments still due tomorrow as normal?”

“Of course!” Madam Amisha mercilessly shooed them all out of the infirmary, flowers and all.

She hadn’t closed her eyes in two weeks—even a magical clone needed rest!

The young witches: (﹏)

There was nothing more heartbreaking than being knocked out for two whole weeks, only to wake up and discover that time had shrunk, yet homework still needed to be done.

“Why couldn’t today be Saturday, or Friday—why does it have to be Sunday?!”

What made it even worse was that they were currently at the Castle.

“It’s fine! We can fly back!” The second and third-year witches managed to find some consolation.

At least they wouldn’t have to walk back like the first-year juniors.

But their joy lasted less than half a minute before Lilith asked, “When we were brought here, our broomsticks didn’t come with us.”

“So does that mean we all get to walk back to the Dormitory together?” Vasida’s eyes lit up. “I’ve never walked the mountain path with the third-year seniors before!”

The second and third-year witches: “…”

They were wrong. Something even worse than waking up after a two-week blackout with homework still due was having to walk an hour or two along mountain paths back to the Dormitory to write said homework.

Under the resentful gazes of the other young witches, Lilith went to the broom shed and retrieved her own broomstick. “I’ll head back first then. Take your time, everyone!”

On the first day she had woken up, she too had walked back on her own.

Along the way, Sylph kept apologizing to everyone.

The young witches complained as they walked, but none of them actually blamed her. Instead, they were quite fascinated by the Wind Chime Flower.

“Honestly, your flower is incredible. Can it produce seeds? If you planted some near your home, wouldn’t they be even more effective than a defensive magic formation? Anyone below Peak level—knocked out in one second flat!”

“I’m not sure.” Sylph shook her head. “I can’t hear Little Bell’s voice right now. I’ll ask it once my mana recovers.”

She still didn’t know why the Wind Chime Flower had mutated, what abilities it had besides the sonic attack, or how it related to her Sorceress Talent and Manifested Gift.

But at least when her mana was full, she could communicate with Little Bell now that it had grown its bud. She should be able to learn something then.

She silently resolved that if the mutated Wind Chime Flower could indeed produce seeds, she would make sure to give some to every young witch who had been innocently caught up in this incident.

Having cost everyone two weeks of their time weighed heavily on her conscience.