Chapter 316 – Burrowing Mushroom

Chapter 316 – Burrowing Mushroom

Sylph put on an innocent face. “I just wanted you all to personally experience the little design features of my home.”

Mo Lan looked at Alba, but Alba was looking right back at Mo Lan.

The meaning in both their eyes was identical: “She learned this from you?”

“Moira, why are you looking at Alba? Reflect on yourself! Sylph learned all of this from you!” Vasida said irritably.

Iris and Cheryl nodded in agreement.

Mo Lan exclaimed in shock, “Alba is the sesame tangyuan here! I’ve always been exactly what I appear to be.”

“What’s a sesame tangyuan?” Alba asked. “It sounds kind of cute.”

“It’s a dessert that’s snow-white on the outside but pitch-black on the inside,” Mo Lan said.

Alba pointed at herself indignantly. “??? I’m a little witch with outstanding talent in light-element magic—naturally sunny and cheerful! What do you mean, pitch-black on the inside?”

The two bickered all the way to the surface over who was truly the black-hearted one.

It wasn’t until Cheryl looked up at the tree canopy above and asked, “Our broomsticks are all up there. How are we supposed to get back later?”

Only then did Mo Lan and Alba stop debating the “sesame tangyuan” issue and turn to Sylph.

Sylph pointed at a small tree by the edge of the field. “Don’t worry! When it’s time to go back, we just hold a leaf from this Drifting Tea Tree in our mouths and we’ll float right up.”

“Just be careful not to hold it too long. Spit it out as soon as you reach where you need to be, or you’ll keep floating upward indefinitely.”

“This is a leaf that can make people fly?” Mo Lan asked in surprise.

If Featherfall Blueberries merely replicated an effect similar to Featherfall—a type of magic that many races possessed and thus wasn’t particularly rare—then a leaf that could make people fly was truly remarkable.

After all, the ability to fly had always been an extremely scarce ability.

If you weren’t born with wings, then only top-tier powerhouses or those possessing exceedingly rare flight-type magical items could take to the skies.

Witches’ broomsticks were an exception.

Sylph nodded, then shook her head. “It does let people fly, but you can only roughly control whether you go forward, backward, left, or right. The speed and tendency to fly upward can’t be controlled. If you don’t spit the leaf out in time, you really will keep floating upward forever.”

“Even so, it could still be quite useful,” Mo Lan said.

“Sylph, is this a mutation of a tea tree? What would happen if you brewed tea with its leaves and drank it?” Alba asked.

Bi’er suddenly burst out laughing, covering her face as she looked at Sylph. “The day Sylph drank the Drifting Tea, she was tethered by a vine and floated in the sky for an entire day and night. It even rained all through the night.”

Picturing that scene, the others couldn’t help but laugh too.

“Good thing there wasn’t any thunder, or you might have needed the Headmistress to rescue you,” Mo Lan said.

Even now, Sylph felt a lingering fear recalling that day—it had been absolutely miserable. “So Drifting Tea Tree leaves absolutely cannot be used to brew tea. It’s far too dangerous!”

“Can I try it?” Alba was itching to give it a go.

“Hold on! There’s still the most important thing here that I haven’t shown you yet,” Sylph said.

Mo Lan and the others looked around curiously.

Whatever Sylph was highlighting had to be a mutant plant.

But on this patch of ground, aside from the Drifting Tea Tree, there was nothing but bare soil—completely different from the lush, thriving farmland beside it.

Just as they were puzzling over this, Sylph crouched down and brushed aside some dirt, revealing a bright red mushroom cap buried in the soil.

Only then did they notice that it wasn’t empty after all—there was a mushroom buried in the ground.

“What kind of mutant mushroom is this?” Mo Lan asked.

“Watch closely!” Sylph channeled mana into the red mushroom while chanting, “Grow! Grow! Grow!”

And the red mushroom really did keep growing bigger and bigger.

Half a person’s height, a full person’s height, as tall as a small house… It didn’t stop until it had filled the entire clearing.

Mo Lan and the others stared at the enormous mushroom in astonishment.

Then Sylph patted the mushroom’s stalk. “Open!”

A round doorway actually appeared in the stalk. Sylph called out to the little witches, who were still frozen in shock, “Come on! Let’s go inside!”

Once inside, they found themselves in a white, cylindrical room—completely empty, but surprisingly spacious.

“We can sleep here tonight. There’s more than enough room,” Sylph said.

“This is a mutant mushroom that can grow into a house?” Mo Lan and the others were absolutely astounded.

“That’s right! I call it the Burrowing Mushroom. If you infuse it with a bit of mana, it grows to full size.”

“Its interior is hollow, so people can live inside. You can open a doorway from any part of it to get out.”

“Once you’re settled in, it burrows underground on its own to hide. After it goes under, the surface returns to normal, making it very hard for anyone to find.”

As she spoke, Sylph patted the mushroom wall. “Window!”

A round window appeared in the wall, though all they could see outside was dirt.

At some point, the Burrowing Mushroom had already tunneled underground.

“Once its mana runs out, it enters a dormant state and shrinks back to the small mushroom you saw earlier. You can pick it up and carry it with you.”

“I just infused about 20 mana, which is enough to keep it going until tomorrow morning. But when the mushroom goes dormant, it ejects everything inside it.”

“As a short-term temporary shelter, the space inside the mushroom is really quite convenient,” Sylph said.

“Say no more! Sylph, hurry up and list the Seed Card and the mutation planting magic—I want to buy them!” Alba said.

This mushroom that could rapidly grow to full size and burrow underground to hide was absolutely a top choice for camping in the wilderness.

Sylph sighed. “It’s not that I don’t want to sell them. The Headmistress won’t let me sell them to you all. You can only buy them after graduation.”

Mo Lan thought to herself, of course.

Even her own Tent Card had been forbidden by the Headmistress from being sold to the young witches, let alone this Burrowing Mushroom.

Many fifth-year senior students were still using handmade leather tents and sleeping bags.

The Headmistress refused to let them exploit any loopholes whatsoever, insisting they experience the hardships of wilderness survival and learn proper survival skills first.

“Then I’ll buy it after I graduate! Before building a witch’s homestead, I can live in a mushroom house. It’s way safer and more concealed than a tent—I’d actually be able to sleep soundly at night,” Alba said.

The other young witches all voiced their agreement.

Even Mo Lan wanted to grow one. It really was safer than an ordinary tent, convenient to carry, and most importantly—according to Sylph—the mana consumption wasn’t particularly high, making it affordable for short-term stays.

“That’s everything worth seeing in my home. So, what do you think?” Sylph waited expectantly for their verdict.

“Absolutely amazing!” Mo Lan said. “I’d even say it’s on par with my valley—just a completely different style.”

Vasida was already half-resigned. “I definitely can’t compete with you.”

She thought both Mo Lan’s and Sylph’s homes were exceptionally well-built. Though she felt her own place was decent enough, compared to theirs, the gap was enormous.