Chapter 185 – Academy Traditions

Chapter 185 – Academy Traditions

You could tell from the devastated expressions on the new students’ faces that the witch-mothers were all remarkably in sync.

Every single witch-mother knew that the Academy didn’t provide three meals a day.

But not a single witch-mother had gone out of her way to teach her young witch how to cook before sending her off to school—unless the girl happened to be interested in it herself and had picked up a thing or two from family tradition.

“Oh heavens, I can’t cook! Am I going to starve to death?!”

Anna and Annie were the only two freshmen who could remain calm. The two of them could at least bake bread—they wouldn’t starve.

The new students were filled with dread, while the upperclassmen were secretly amused. Suddenly, all those difficult days they’d endured felt thoroughly vindicated!

How absolutely delightful!

Once the freshmen had sunk into the depths of despair, Mo Lan finally spoke up, just as Lilith had told them last year:

“You won’t starve. There’s a Breadfruit Grove to the west of the dormitory area. If you can’t cook yet, just go pick some breadfruit to eat! Breadfruit is nutritious and can replenish your magical power—it just doesn’t taste very good. And remember, don’t casually heat up breadfruit—it’ll explode!

If you don’t want to gnaw on breadfruit for five years, make sure you study Culinary Magic diligently! My seasoning pack cards are also a good option.”

The freshmen’s spirits, which had plummeted to rock bottom, instantly soared.

At this point, they had no idea just how terrible “doesn’t taste very good” really meant.

All they could think was: as long as we won’t starve, as long as there’s something to eat.

Even if it meant gnawing on wild fruit, that was fine.

Besides, this fruit was called “breadfruit” and could even replenish Mana—it sounded quite extraordinary.

Their minds at ease, they went off to enjoy the evening feast.

There was the Magical Feast to eat and the upperclassmen’s cooking demonstrations to watch—they were run off their feet.

Mo Lan also returned to the second-year long table. She had spent cards to hire young witches to demonstrate how to make seasoning pack cards precisely so she wouldn’t miss the delicacies at the Magical Feast.

Right now, Vasida, Sylph, and the others were still at the tasting table giving demonstrations!

“This year’s freshmen are so lucky! They get seasoning pack cards right from enrollment. Unlike us back then—we had to gnaw on breadfruit for days on end.” Alba sighed from beside her.

“I suspect they’ll still be eating breadfruit for a while, though.”

Cheryl said, “Don’t forget, Moira’s cards are now only sold through the Card Shop, which is different from how things were for us.

First-year witches absolutely have to buy the Golden Pen Technique and a Grimoire—that alone costs magical power equivalent to 10 Mana. Buying Card Magic on top of that… they might not be willing, especially without a Status Card to know how their magical power is growing.”

Alba looked toward Mo Lan, her eyes carrying a questioning look. “Can’t the freshmen just buy the Status Card separately first?”

Mo Lan shook her head.

When it came down to it, today’s promotion was really just about planting an impression in the freshmen’s minds.

Whenever they decided to buy Card Magic, Mo Lan could accept it.

Vasida’s, Sylph’s, and Lilith’s Sorceress Magic were all connected to her Card Magic. They’d buy it sooner or later—and that was enough.

The Magical Feast vanished, the evening banquet ended, and Mo Lan wiped her mouth, pulled out a food waste bin card, and went to the tasting table to clean up.

The spread she’d conjured with her cards might have looked like Amisha’s Magical Feast—appearing out of thin air and all.

But in reality, everything was tangible and real. There was no one-click undo.

The trash bin series of cards, created with the authority support of Vasida’s Sorceress Magic, were exceptionally useful at times like these.

A trash bin stored inside a card, ready to be taken out at any time—never full, never needing to be emptied, never giving off any unpleasant odors.

When the cards first went on sale, Mo Lan had been the very first buyer.

She set the trash bin on the ground and used the Levitation Spell to float the various scraps from the table into it one by one.

Vasida was also helping clean up, carrying her Devouring Stomach, but after dumping just a few hotpot bases, Mo Lan had already floated the rest of the trash into the bin.

Vasida looked at the bin on the ground, feeling the sense of fullness transmitted from her stomach pouch. It felt strange.

It was as if the stomach pouch had grown a second mouth—often, without her even realizing it, she’d feel a little bit fuller.

Mo Lan didn’t notice anything unusual about her. She stored the trash bin back into a card, then cast a Cleaning Spell to restore the table to its original state.

The whole process took less than three minutes.

Seeing that she’d finished, Vasida sidled over. “Moira, if this bin were sold all across Valen, would my Devouring Stomach be able to feed me in return?”

The sensations from her Devouring Stomach were connected to her own belly and body.

When the stomach pouch was full, her belly was full too, and her Mana was replenished.

When the stomach pouch was hungry, she was even hungrier, and her Mana would plummet.

“In theory, yes. Though trash doesn’t convert into much energy. But still, something feels off about it!”

Mo Lan knew Vasida didn’t care about such things, but a powerful Manifested Gift sustaining its owner by eating garbage… it really did sound rather pitiful!

“Give the stomach pouch something nice to eat once in a while! It’s manifested from your exclusive Mana—it’s a part of you!” Mo Lan urged.

“Relax! The good stuff I taste—doesn’t it end up in its belly anyway? It has no sense of taste, so eating a bit of trash is no big deal!” Vasida said without a care. Then, spotting the underclassmen approaching, she quickly lowered her voice. “Shh! The juniors are coming!”

Eating trash was nothing to be embarrassed about in front of her fellow upperclassmen and classmates, but in front of the underclassmen—especially ones she was meeting for the first time today—it absolutely must not be revealed!

She wasn’t some weirdo upperclassman with strange habits. She simply liked to… recycle waste!

Mo Lan: “…”

And here she’d genuinely thought Vasida was carefree to that extent!

As a Sorceress, she had zero concern for her image. But as an upperclassman, she cared about every last bit of it.

“Moira, Vasida, is that trash bin and that flesh-colored pouch—are they both spatial items? How can they hold so much?” Bertha asked curiously.

“No,” Mo Lan said. “Mine is a card. Vasida’s is her Manifested Gift.”

The trash bin had been her idea. The relationship between the trash bin card and Vasida’s stomach pouch was something best kept from the naive little underclassmen for a while longer.

Mo Lan had her own upperclassman’s pride too.

An upperclassman should set a good example for the underclassmen—answering their questions, clearing up their confusion, pointing them in the right direction. But the matter of the trash bin card and the Devouring Stomach was something they could live without knowing.

It was the same principle as the mouth-puckeringly sour breadfruit, the spartan dormitories, and the endless variety of exams.

Young witches needed to experience and discover these things for themselves to leave a deeper impression. That was the Academy’s tradition.

Upperclassmen who’d been through it all mustn’t interfere with the young witches making their own “wonderful” memories.

The more Mo Lan thought about it, the more justified she felt.

They really were such good upperclassmen!