Chapter 190 – Flight Class

“You’ve all previewed 《Broom Flight》, right?

“First, dig up your Broomstick Grass, roots and all. Then clean off all the soil from the roots and remove any leaves that haven’t fully fallen from the branches.

“Use the largest shovel to dig up the Broomstick Grass. Start digging from the edge of the Broomstick Grass plot, excavate the whole thing first, then clean off the soil.

“Same goes for cleaning the leaves — don’t use a Cleaning spell. Picking them off by hand is safer.

“Try your best not to damage the roots or branches. These are all materials that can be used to make a broomstick!”

In the Broomstick Grass planting field outside the red building of Greenhouse No. 1, the blue-robed Lady Amisha was giving the second-year young witches their flight class.

On Friday evening, after the class schedule had been updated, the girls had pored over 《Broom Flight》.

An entire week — all flight classes.

The second-year young witches had long been bursting with eagerness to take to the skies.

Over the weekend, the book had been read cover to cover several times by everyone. Now, as soon as Lady Amisha gave the word, they sprang into action.

As for why flight class started with digging up grass and picking dead leaves — they weren’t the least bit surprised.

《Broom Flight》 stated that flight begins with owning a sturdy, durable broomstick, so it was perfectly natural for flight class to start with digging up Broomstick Grass to make one.

The young witches all followed the book’s instructions and Lady Amisha’s directions to the letter, using the largest shovel from their {Witch Tool Cards} to carefully dig downward along the edges of the low fences.

Mo Lan ran her hand along the low fence at the edge of her Broomstick Grass plot. Who could have guessed that this unassuming little fence was actually made of Repel Wood?

Repel Wood was a rare type of tree. In its vicinity, the root systems of other plants would automatically grow away from it.

Though it wasn’t a magical wood, it was more precious than many magical woods.

Had she not read in the first chapter of 《Broom Flight》 that witches had discovered that a four-square-meter plot with a Repel Wood fence could keep the Broomstick Grass’s root system in optimal form — which matched exactly the layout of their Broomstick Grass fields — she would never have known that these worn-looking low fences and perfectly square plots were designed with such purpose.

Just yesterday, she had come out and dug a little along the outside of the fence to confirm that it was indeed the same as the Repel Wood fence illustrated in the book, with a large section buried underground.

Other fences protected the crops above ground, with their essence on the surface. Only Repel Wood fences were meant to contain root systems — the underground portion used even more material.

Digging along the fence, the path was indeed completely clear, with no roots blocking the way.

After the large shovel had dug a deep circle along the fence, Mo Lan set it aside to wait. She rubbed her hands together, stepped forward in person, gripped the main stem of the Broomstick Grass, and pulled upward.

As most of the soil clumps fell away, the entire Broomstick Grass plant was lifted from the pit — unbelievably easy.

Feeling the weight in her hands, Mo Lan knew — success.

According to 《Broom Flight》, mature Broomstick Grass was extremely light.

With the Repel Wood fence containing the root system, the roots wouldn’t spread too far apart, nor would they become too thin and fragile.

Combined with the fact that Broomstick Grass didn’t need much water during its growth, the soil was loose and dry. As long as there were no tangled roots, it could be pulled out effortlessly.

Mo Lan examined the Broomstick Grass’s root system. Sure enough, everything was preserved perfectly intact — the roots were long, slender, and flexible, just like the branches. Perfect for making a broom head.

She produced a large bristle brush and began vigorously brushing away the residual soil clinging to the roots. The other young witches were doing the same — some using brushes, some wiping with cloth, and some picking at the dirt with their bare hands.

After roughly clearing the soil from the roots, they switched to finer tools to deal with the dust and mud stains on the roots and branches.

Once all that was done, they still had to go through every single branch, one by one, carefully plucking off any leaves that hadn’t fully fallen from the Broomstick Grass’s branches.

Everything was done by hand throughout — better to take the trouble, better to go slow, than to risk damaging even a single root or branch.

All of these would be used to make the broom head later.

In truth, the dense branches of the Broomstick Grass alone were more than enough for one broom head.

The reason for such care was mainly because a broomstick’s handle and broom head could only be made from materials that came from a single Broomstick Grass plant.

The extra materials were all kept as spares.

No one could explain exactly why, but without following this rule, the broomstick would lose the magic that allowed it to carry its owner into the sky.

The main stem made a sturdy, thick broomstick handle that was hard to damage. By comparison, the broom head — bundled from slender branches and roots — wasn’t nearly as durable.

Especially for broomsticks without any alchemical runes added, the broom head was literally held together by a bit of cloth strip or rope. With prolonged use, the broom head could grow increasingly sparse.

And the fullness of the broom head determined its flight speed and stability.

That was when spare materials came in handy.

The book said that as long as the Broomstick Grass was well-grown with plenty of roots and branches, and subsequent maintenance was done properly, even the most ordinary broomstick could accompany a witch for her entire life.

Even if one planned to add wear-resistant or anti-shedding runes to the broomstick in the future, these spare branches could be treated with Alchemy Magic and then all added to the broom head, boosting the broomstick’s performance to the next level.

The reason Mo Lan and the others were being so careful now was to stockpile materials for their own broomsticks. No one wanted their future trusted companion to be forced into early retirement because the broom head wasn’t full enough and there were no spare branches for replacement or repair.

Among humans, replacing old things with new was seen as a fresh start.

Among witches, it was the opposite — the new could never compare to the old.

A witch’s magical power had the property of Attuning, which could imbue items she used for a long time with the aura of her own magical power, making them increasingly aligned with her will, increasingly responsive.

Even if an item was originally just an ordinary twig or an unremarkable weed, after prolonged contact with a witch’s magical power, it could become better suited to its owner than most magical items.

Some could even develop extraordinary abilities.

Two hours flew by in the blink of an eye, and the first flight class ended. The blue-robed Lady Amisha wasn’t as brisk and decisive as the black-robed one, but she didn’t have a habit of running overtime either.

Almost the moment time was up, she announced: “Class dismissed! You can leave your Broomstick Grass here and head back to the dormitory for your midday rest. You can continue cleaning during this afternoon’s class. Don’t worry — we have plenty of time this week for every young witch to learn broomstick flight!”

This week’s class schedule was still one session in the morning and one in the afternoon, with each session lasting two hours.

The afternoon session was still flight class.

Although Lady Amisha had said this, and the young witches had agreed, not a single one stood up to leave. They all remained with their heads down, continuing to clean their Broomstick Grass.

The blue-robed Amisha walked a few steps, then a few more, and upon seeing the young witches who had no intention of stopping for break, couldn’t help but turn back around and walk over to them.