Chapter 112 – Planting Magic

Chapter 112 – Planting Magic

When Amisha arrived on her broomstick for the planting magic class, she was astonished by the size of the fields the young witches had cleared.

The smallest was just over one mu, while the largest looked to be around three mu.

“Sylph, don’t tell me you spent the entire weekend tilling land?” Mo Lan asked.

That largest plot belonged to Sylph.

“Yep! I was busy until dark last night before heading back to the dormitory!” Sylph looked exhausted, but her eyes shone with excitement. “Now that the land’s been cleared, it’s mine. It doesn’t even matter whether I plant anything or not. But I think I’ll definitely use it—there’s so much I want to grow! Grains, vegetables, fruits, spices, flowers… I want to grow one of every single plant listed in the Mo Lan felt inferior by comparison.

Planting flowers and decorative plants that you couldn’t eat or use—in her view, she’d rather spend that time reading a few more books.

Amisha flew a lap over the farmland on her broomstick, inspecting everything. “They all meet the standards! Go collect your wooden plaques!”

The young witches quietly cheered: “Wonderful!”

Once a wooden plaque was placed in the ground, the field officially belonged to them.

“Alright! Have you all skimmed through the textbook? Do you know what planting magic spells there are?” Amisha asked.

The young witches all nodded.

On their way to the Academy last week, they had all been reading Mo Lan had already finished the entire book.

The book documented Witch Magic methods for growing commonly edible plants such as grains, vegetables, and fruits.

Throughout the entire book, only three planting magic spells were covered: the Fertile Soil spell, the Growth Acceleration spell, and the Lush Flourishing spell.

Beyond these three planting spells, the book also covered the application of various potions and magic arrays in cultivation.

“Ordinary plants can actually be grown perfectly well without magic at all.

Many human farmers achieve bountiful harvests through their rich planting experience alone.

However, soil conditions, climate, natural disasters, pest infestations, and many other factors can all affect the harvest.

Ordinary farmers have no way to deal with these problems, but we witches are different.

We can use magic, potions, and magic arrays to overcome these unfavorable factors to the greatest extent possible, increase crop yields, and secure stable harvests!

Let’s start with magic…”

Amisha finally began the lesson in earnest:

“For growing ordinary plants, Apprentice-level planting magic is more than sufficient.

Regardless of one’s Talent for planting magic, every witch can master the Apprentice-level Fertile Soil spell, Growth Acceleration spell, and Lush Flourishing spell, and can support herself through farming.

The Fertile Soil spell can turn barren land fertile. Soil nurtured by the Apprentice-level Fertile Soil spell is more than adequate for ordinary plants to grow strong and healthy.

The Growth Acceleration spell can speed up plant growth. Although the Apprentice-level version doesn’t have a very noticeable effect on accelerating established plants, it works remarkably well for germinating ordinary plant seeds, so in the planting process, we mostly use it for sprouting.

The Lush Flourishing spell, when applied to an entire plant, nourishes it, making it more robust and full of vitality. When applied to a specific part of a plant, it can directly increase the yield and quality of that part.

For example, using it on the grain heads of wheat or rice plants produces more and plumper kernels. Using it on the fruit-bearing branches and blossom buds of fruit trees produces larger and more delicious fruit.

The effects of the Apprentice-level Lush Flourishing spell are already quite powerful when applied to ordinary plants.

Besides these three spells, there are also two potions used in planting: the herbicide potion and the insecticide potion.

And one magic array that will be used: the temperature-control magic array.

In our planting magic classes, besides learning these three spells, we will also cover the usage of these two potions and one magic array in ordinary crop cultivation.

The methods for making them will be taught in later Potions and Alchemy classes.

Wheat will be our learning example for the planting magic course.

The first step in planting: fertilizing the soil!

Humans use manure and decomposed leaves to fertilize their fields. We can simply use the Fertile Soil spell.”

At the mention of actual magic, the young witches immediately began listening intently.

“Give your magical power the command to make the soil fertile, then channel it into the earth, until the soil becomes loose and soft with a dark brown color—that’s about right.

Begin!”

The young witches: “???”

Seeing that the young witches were still hesitating, Amisha asked, “What’s wrong? Is there something you don’t understand?”

“Headmistress! We taught ourselves the Spring Water spell and Light spell from the books, but those all had corresponding real objects as references, so we could accurately convey commands to our mana. For this Fertile Soil spell, isn’t there any fertile soil we can directly reference?”

Vasida looked toward the distant farmland tended by the sprites. “Could we go dig up some soil from those fields over there to study?”

“Of course you can! Observation and understanding of things is the prerequisite for us witches to cast magic accurately. It seems you’ve already grasped the essence of magic.”

Amisha praised them first, then shifted her tone:

“However, if you understand the meaning of the word ‘fertile,’ I’d suggest you try a different method of conveying commands to your magical power.”

“What method?” Even Mo Lan couldn’t help but be curious—the instructional guides for the Flame spell, Spring Water spell, and Light spell had never mentioned any alternative method.

“Not all magic has observable objects that can be seen or touched.

Or rather, for most magic, before we learn to cast it, it’s very difficult to find objects in everyday life that we can directly observe and imitate.

The Spring Water spell, Light spell, and Flame spell are actually the special cases, because what they create are tangibly real water, light sources, and flames.

That’s why they require the most authentic real objects as references—the slightest deviation will affect the spell’s results.

Other spells aren’t this strict. Having a tangible reference object naturally produces better results.

But when we can’t find a tangible reference in the moment, we can also use language, memory, and imagination to form commands and direct our magical power to cast the spell.

For example, the word ‘fertile’ itself, or the memory of fertile soil, or even an imagined vision of fertile soil.

In the past, many witches habitually used language to form their casting commands, which is why to this day, many races still believe that we witches cast spells through incantations.

In reality, incantations are merely one method among many for helping us form clear commands.”