Chapter 207 – The Hundred-Spice Tree

Chapter 207 – The Hundred-Spice Tree

“This is the Hundred-Spice Tree?” Mo Lan stared at this bizarre-looking tree, her eyes filled with disbelief.

Just look at everything growing on this tree!

Green Sichuan peppercorns, red Sichuan peppercorns, garlic, ginger, cumin, cinnamon bark, star anise, bay leaves, black pepper, tsaoko, thyme… Whether they were things that normally grew on trees or underground, here they all fruited from the branches.

Every branch splitting from the main trunk displayed a different form, bore different leaves, and produced a different spice.

A hundred clusters of branches, a hundred kinds of spices—the name “Hundred-Spice Tree” was not the slightest exaggeration.

Even in a world of Magic, no single tree could produce so many different things.

It was as though different spice plants had been grafted onto this one tree in the crudest possible way—eerie, yet somehow harmonious.

It was absolutely stunning!

“Sylph, how was this tree cultivated?” Mo Lan asked. “Even for a mutation, isn’t this a bit extreme?”

“Hmm… I just kept feeding Mana into the Box of Ten Thousand Seeds, and then one day, a Hundred-Spice Tree seed suddenly appeared. Once planted, it grew into this.”

Sylph rubbed her chin, thinking back:

“If there was any trigger for its appearance, I suppose it was that right before it showed up, I’d been growing a lot of spice plants in my fields to make seasonings.

My Box of Ten Thousand Seeds has always been unpredictable when it comes to the timing and variety of new mutant plants—and each time, there’s only one seed.

Only mutant plants that have already appeared and been fully cultivated through one complete growth cycle can be directly condensed by spending Mana.

But the mutant plants that do appear are mostly mutations of plants I’ve already mastered the cultivation methods for…”

She was mid-explanation when she suddenly noticed Mo Lan summoning her golden pen. “What are you…”

“Buying your mutant crop planting magic!” Mo Lan declared.

Ordinary fruits and vegetables were one thing—practicing planting magic and Plant Magic, or just growing food for herself, was more than enough.

But spices were a different matter.

Her range of cooking was far too broad. She drew from cuisines of every country and region on Earth, and the variety of spices she needed was enormous.

Even if she wanted to make the most of the Academy’s challenging environment to train herself, her garden plots and fields simply weren’t large enough to grow everything.

More often than not, she still had to rely on the Book of Cards to create spice cards to meet her cooking needs.

This Hundred-Spice Tree might look a bit strange, but no witch with a talent for cooking could possibly resist it.

After signing the Sorceress Contract, Mo Lan purchased two Hundred-Spice Tree seeds. “I’m going to plant two in my backyard and stock up on spices!”

Sylph laughed. “Well, well! It took the Hundred-Spice Tree to finally win you over!”

Her mutant crop planting magic had been an easy sell among the young witches of second year and above—Mo Lan had been the sole holdout who never bought it.

Now even she had caved.

The two of them picked the spices they’d need for the roasted lamb together. Riding her momentum, Sylph pressed on, pitching her other newly cultivated mutant crops:

“Come check out the Fruit Lettuce! The texture is way better than regular lettuce. Oh, and there’s also a Mushroom Tree—I remember you’re quite fond of mushrooms, right?”

Since Mo Lan had already bought the mutant crop planting magic, she didn’t mind growing a few more mutant crops to improve her quality of life.

The Fruit Lettuce was bigger and more tender than ordinary lettuce, every leaf a lush, glistening green. Mo Lan ate half a leaf raw, and the texture really was fresher and crisper than regular lettuce.

As for Sylph’s claim that it could break down animal fat—she couldn’t taste that at all.

As for the Mushroom Tree, the moment she saw it, Mo Lan opened the card shop and bought one. Mushrooms that grew on dead wood were far harder to cultivate than ordinary crops.

Mo Lan loved eating mushrooms, but the conditions to grow them had always been out of reach.

During first year she could get them from the Ingredient Collection Station, but not anymore.

Only when she was really craving them would she use the Book of Cards to make a few mushroom cards to eat.

But this Mushroom Tree was different.

Though the tree had no leaves, it was still very much alive.

Its trunk and branches were thick, with tree hollows of various sizes along the sides, and every hollow was packed with plump, round mushrooms.

Best of all, Sylph explained that unlike regular mushrooms, which were quite demanding about temperature, humidity, and light, the Mushroom Tree itself created the ideal growing environment within its own hollows.

In short: easy to grow and high-yielding. Mo Lan, a true mushroom devotee, was overjoyed.

Not only did she buy Mushroom Tree seeds, she also picked a bunch to take with her. “Just roasted Green Fruit Lamb alone would be too simple—I’ll make a big platter of teppanyaki grilled mushrooms too!”

After visiting Sylph’s greenhouse, Mo Lan had spent a good chunk of her surplus Mana for the day, and also added another dish to the barbecue menu.

When the two of them flew to Cotton Grass Lawn carrying the spices, lettuce, and mushrooms they’d gathered, a small section in the middle of the lawn had already been laid with a layer of clay bricks, with a fire burning on top.

The Green Fruit Lamb had already been propped open on wooden stakes. Not far away on the grass sat Lilith, the tip of her Wand pointed at the lamb floating in midair.

Clearly, she had been using the Levitation Spell to suspend the lamb while roasting it.

Vasida had arrived too, sitting beside Lilith and directing a large pot and spatula by the fire as they stir-fried away.

“You’re finally here!” Lilith quickly floated the lamb over to Mo Lan. “I’ve rendered out a tiny bit of fat. What should I do next?”

Mo Lan gave it a look, then pulled out a small knife and scored several more delicate cuts into the lamb. “Just keep roasting it like this for now! Let me get the sauces and spices ready first!”

She took out her Mobile Kitchen Card and set her little kitchen down on the grass, then began directing the utensils to get to work.

The other young witches weren’t idle either.

Lilith continued roasting the lamb, Vasida continued stir-frying her rice, and Sylph took the lettuce and mushrooms to wash.

Once Mo Lan had the spices and sauces prepared, she transferred the whole roasted lamb to her own grill and took over all the barbecue duties.

Though really, all she had to do was maintain a steady output of Mana and let the grill turn and roast on its own.

Bowls of sauce and bowls of spice powder sat beside the grill, and a little brush would dip into the sauces and spice powder on its own from time to time.

On the other side, the teppan grill was busy roasting mushrooms.

Mo Lan even took over Vasida’s egg fried rice, transferring it to her station. She used the Book of Cards to create a few ham sausage cards and upgraded the egg fried rice into egg and ham fried rice.

The cookware bustled about in a frenzy of activity while Mo Lan lay on the grass with her Wand in hand, stargazing with her friends.

“Controlling this many pieces of cookware at once… has your Culinary Magic leveled up again?” Even Lilith couldn’t manage what Mo Lan was doing.

“I reached Advanced just before the break ended,” Mo Lan said.

Culinary Magic was her fastest-advancing Magic so far. She’d reached her current level with basically no struggle at all.

Making any dish, as long as she used the set of cookware from her mobile kitchen, was essentially just a wave of the Wand—it didn’t interfere with whatever else she was doing in the slightest.

Those cookware pieces were more than enough to host a get-together for three to five friends.