Chapter 227 – Vasida’s Invitation

After magic class ended, Mo Lan didn’t take out her Mobile Kitchen to cook while practicing magic as she usually did. Instead, she went straight to the broom rack to retrieve her broom.

This startled the young witches who, having taken a blow to their confidence today, had been mentally preparing to put in extra magic practice after class:

“Mo Lan, are you finally going to take a day off?”

If Mo Lan was ready to call it a day, shouldn’t they reward themselves too? Even though their progress wasn’t as impressive as Mo Lan’s, they’d been working really hard this whole time!

“No, there are some metal magic auxiliary spells that are better suited for practice at the Outdoor Training Ground,” Mo Lan said.

The young witches: “…”

They knew it! This was so Mo Lan!

Well, so much for their hopes of resting. Back to practice it was!

Mo Lan didn’t stop her magic practice for the day until she had burned through half her mana.

After returning to the Dormitory, she began reading up on wood-element magic.

Like metal magic, wood-element magic had three offensive spells, two defensive spells, and the rest were all auxiliary spells.

Thorn Spike, Flying Leaf, and Tree Guardian were for offense; Bark Skin and Wood Shield were for defense.

At lower magic levels, wood-element offensive spells dealt considerably less damage than metal magic. But at higher levels, combined with plant toxins, they could sometimes be even more troublesome than metal magic.

All things considered, their lethality was nothing to scoff at.

Defensively, though, wood-element magic fell well short of metal magic. However, wood-element defensive spells had their own advantage: lower mana consumption and greater endurance.

Moreover, wood-element auxiliary spells were better suited for survival.

There was Leaf Venom, which could extract plant-based toxins—useful both for drawing toxins from the human body as an antidote and for extracting poisons from toxic plants to combine with other spells. There was Tree Friend, which enhanced plant affinity and allowed one to gather information from ancient trees. And there was Wood Walk, which let the caster hide inside trees or travel through them, among others.

“I finally finished reading the entire Witch Magic Catalog last night. Wood-element magic left the deepest impression on me. Tomorrow I’m going to go transcribe the 《Green Witch Spellbook》.”

After finishing magic practice on Friday, on the flight back to the Dormitory, Sylph asked Mo Lan, “Moira, you’ve been reading wood-element magic books all week. Is there anything to watch out for when learning wood-element magic?”

“Elemental Magic shouldn’t have any taboos, right?” Vasida hadn’t yet decided which branches of magic to major in. Lately she’d been studying the introductory textbook for All-Element Magic, researching which branches suited her best.

“Metal magic doesn’t, but wood-element magic actually does!” Mo Lan said.

“What is it?” Sylph asked curiously.

“It’s best not to wantonly destroy plants—it affects your wood elemental force affinity. Of all the elemental forces, only wood elemental force affinity fluctuates. It can drop significantly, but it will never spike upward.”

When Mo Lan had read this, she found it quite surprising too. Fluctuating affinity meant that wood-element magic talent was also fluctuating.

“What? With my appetite, after eating so many plants, will the wood elemental force reject me?” Vasida said in alarm. “It won’t affect my Plant Magic studies, will it?!”

“It won’t! Plants you’ve grown yourself—you can do whatever you want with them. And if it’s not something you grew, as long as you’re not ripping them out root and all, it won’t rise to the level of being rejected by the wood elemental force.

As long as you don’t set an entire forest on fire, it’s not a big deal.”

Mo Lan continued, “So if you’re learning fire-element magic, just be careful. In areas with dense vegetation, avoid using fire-element spells with long durations and you’ll be fine.”

“Oh! That’s a relief then.” Vasida let out a breath. “Who goes around burning down forests anyway!”

“Sometimes it might just be a momentary lapse,” Sylph said. “I’ll need to think about whether to delay learning fire-element magic.”

…

They chatted as they flew, and soon arrived at the Dormitory.

After landing in her own courtyard, Vasida didn’t forget to shout at Mo Lan and Sylph, “Remember not to cook lunch tomorrow—come eat at my place!”

“Got it!”

“We’ll definitely be there!” Mo Lan and Sylph replied.

Vasida had learned several new Earth recipes and had been going on about it for a whole week, wanting to invite them over for a gathering at her dorm.

She’d invited not just the two of them, but also their senior Lilith.

To boost sales of Earth-specialty seasoning cards in the card shop, Mo Lan had compiled a book of Earth Chinese recipes during her break at the end of first year.

After submitting it to the Witch Council for evaluation, it had been added to the library collection.

However, each dish only included one preparation method, and the recipes for sauces and seasonings weren’t included.

Everyone’s taste preferences differed, so even if someone learned to make Earth cuisine, it wouldn’t cut into the sales of prepared Food Cards. If anything, it would actually boost seasoning card sales.

Vasida had been the first to transcribe this collection and had been studying it ever since, though Mo Lan had never found out how her progress was going.

Mo Lan was quite looking forward to it.

The next day, before noon had even arrived, Mo Lan went to Vasida’s dorm.

“You’re here so early? I’ve only just started cooking!” Vasida ignored Mo Lan’s attempt to offer help, pulling her over to the dining table and pushing her down into a chair. “Sit and wait a bit—it’ll be ready soon!”

“Are you sure you don’t need help?” Mo Lan asked. “I feel bad just sitting here waiting to eat! I brought my Mobile Kitchen Card.”

Vasida shook her head firmly. “It’s better if I do it myself. If you absolutely must help, when Sylph and Lilith get here later, help me get the door.

Oh, and there’s plum juice in the teapot on the table. Pour yourselves some. My Culinary Magic still isn’t good enough—once the utensils start moving, I have to keep my eyes on them. I can’t afford to lose focus.”

“Alright!” Mo Lan said.

She picked up the teapot from the table, poured four cups of plum juice, and set them at each place.

Then she lifted the cup in front of her and took a small sip.

(O_o)??

This was plum juice? Mo Lan suspected she’d misheard earlier. Perhaps this wasn’t plum juice at all, but brown sugar water.

There was barely any sourness, while the sweetness was overwhelming.

But even as brown sugar water, the sweetness was way too intense!

And besides the sweetness, there was another flavor she couldn’t quite identify.

Mo Lan silently set down the cup.

She glanced toward the kitchen, where Vasida stood with wand in hand, directing the utensils with total concentration, and decided not to ask whether she’d accidentally dropped the entire sugar jar into the pot.

At least Vasida had her back turned and hadn’t seen Mo Lan’s reaction to the “plum juice.”

*Knock knock!*

There was a knock at the door.

Mo Lan felt as though she’d been granted a reprieve. She hurried over and pulled the door open. “Sylph! You’re finally here!”

Sylph walked in carrying a basket of vegetables. “Where’s Vasida? I picked some mutant crops from the greenhouse—not sure if she can use them!”

“She’s cooking,” Mo Lan said.

Sylph glanced toward the kitchen.

Vasida had all the utensils stop before turning around to look at them. “I’ve got all the ingredients I need! Just sit and wait for the food!”