Chapter 33 – The Pitied Mo Lan

Chapter 33 – The Pitied Mo Lan

“Moira, how much Breadfruit juice did you put in here? It can’t be much, right? I already had lunch, and I’ve drunk most of the cup without feeling full at all!” Sylph asked.

“I used about a dozen Breadfruits to make this pot! But I only got one cup of actual Breadfruit juice out of it—the rest is honey sugar water,” Mo Lan said.

“That many only produced one cup?” Sylph said, puzzled. “Breadfruits are pretty juicy though!”

“I used the most primitive juicing method, so I really couldn’t squeeze out any more. I’m not sure if it’s a problem with the technique.”

Mo Lan continued, “Also, the Breadfruit pulp seems to be highly absorbent. What I squeezed out was more of a thick paste than juice. I had to filter it several times before I got one cup of relatively clear liquid.”

“I also feel like this juice doesn’t give any sense of fullness.” Vasida finished an entire cup without feeling anything. “Does that mean the Breadfruit’s satiating effect has weakened or even disappeared?”

Mo Lan nodded. “It should be.”

“The magic power restoration effect is even more efficient than eating Breadfruit directly!” Lilith took a sip, and the magic power she had spent on the Spring Water spell was already restored.

Only then did Mo Lan dare to confirm—this time, it had truly succeeded.

Although the satiating effect had been affected, for someone desperate to restore her magic power, losing the fullness was actually ideal. She could drink more juice at once and recover her magic power even faster.

Lilith and the others also realized the value of the honey Breadfruit juice.

Lilith, whose magic power was always stretched thin, was the most excited. “Moira! How did you make this? Can you teach me?”

“Of course! I was planning to make more anyway! Why don’t you all make some with me? It’s really simple!” Mo Lan said.

“Sure!”

Lilith and the other two all ran back to their own dormitories to grab tools.

Before long, Dormitory 69 was filled with the sound of pounding Breadfruit.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Thump! Thump! Thump!

…

After pounding for a while, Lilith swirled the basin. “It seems like the juice I pounded out got absorbed back into the pulp.”

“We can wrap it in cloth and squeeze it out later,” Mo Lan said.

“This is way too hard to pound!” Sylph rubbed her wrist. After just a few strokes, her hands were already sore.

She had only brought a small basin and hadn’t been making much to begin with.

“It really is hard to pound!” Lilith agreed. “But once we learn Culinary Magic, we can use magic to do it instead.”

“Oh right! Lilith, you already know Culinary Magic, don’t you? Why not use magic to juice them?” Sylph asked, confused.

Mo Lan and Vasida also looked at her curiously.

Lilith looked at her naive juniors and shook her head.

“Do you think Culinary Magic can conjure things out of thin air?

You have to master the entire preparation process yourself first before you can use Culinary Magic to replace it! Why else do you think every Culinary Witch who excels at Culinary Magic is a true master chef?”

“Is that how it works? I thought you just used magic to tell the pots and pans how to cook, and they’d do it!” Sylph said.

Vasida nodded too. Her father taught the zombie chefs at home by giving them instructions one command at a time. It wasn’t magic per se, but she had assumed it was more or less the same!

“The prerequisite for learning Culinary Magic is knowing how to cook yourself!” Lilith said. “And you have to be proficient at it before you can use Culinary Magic to prepare things.”

Otherwise, why would she be here pounding away miserably too!

“If only we had a juicer,” Mo Lan said as she kept pounding away.

“A juicer? What’s that?” the other three little witches asked curiously.

“A machine specifically for juicing!” As she said this, Mo Lan had a sudden realization—she really hadn’t seen a juicer in any household here. Then again, witches handled all their kitchen work with Culinary Magic.

With a wooden pestle that moved on its own for juicing, or even ingredients that squeezed themselves—better than any fully automatic juicer—who would bother inventing a juicer?

“A machine?” Three confused faces stared at her.

“Valen probably doesn’t have that concept. On the planet from my previous life, there was no magic. The energy sources humans commonly used were oil and electricity. Objects powered by oil and electricity were called machines,” Mo Lan explained.

“Oh! So that’s what it is!” Vasida had already heard her talk about some things from her previous life and wasn’t surprised.

But Lilith and Sylph were so shocked that their hands stopped mid-motion. “Pre… previous life? You’re from another world…”

Mo Lan hung her head, her voice low and somber. “It seems I can’t hide the fact that I’m a Soul from Another World anymore. Now that you know my secret, be careful…”

Lilith and Sylph’s hearts leapt into their throats. But then, a certain someone suddenly raised her head, clawed the air with her hands, and made a silly face.

“…Be careful or I’ll gobble you up in one bite!”

After an awkward silence, Lilith said, “Moira, in your past life… you weren’t very old, were you?”

“???” Mo Lan was indignant. “Who says I wasn’t old? In my past life, I was the last person to die in our shelter!”

“How old?” Sylph gazed at her with gentle eyes.

Mo Lan struggled to answer. “Twenty… but in my past life I was a human! And I was the last one in the shelter to—”

Sylph’s gaze filled with tender pity. “You poor child, dying so young…”

“Don’t be afraid, Moira. This life will be better. Witches have long lifespans, and Sorceresses live even longer… The world of Valen is also very resilient. Although the various races fight and kill each other, none of them could ever destroy the world.”

Vasida offered her comfort too.

“I was just trying to make a joke! I’m not actually childish!” Mo Lan protested, trying to salvage her dignity.

“You don’t need to say anything! We all understand!” Lilith said.

Vasida and Sylph nodded as well.

Mo Lan had no way to defend herself and soon gave up entirely. “Forget it, let’s just focus on juicing!”

After several hours of work, Lilith and Sylph each produced a large jar of honey Breadfruit juice.

Mo Lan and Vasida made a bit more—a full large pot each.

They sealed everything up and placed the containers in buckets of water. Lilith cast a Flash Freeze on each of their buckets. “This way, we’ll have iced juice to drink tomorrow.”

“I can already picture the envious looks on the other little witches’ faces tomorrow!” Vasida said with a sly grin.

“On the way to the castle tomorrow, Moira’s little classroom can open for another lesson!” Sylph added.

“From now on, nobody will have to endure the sourness or stuff themselves full just to replenish their magic power with Breadfruit.”

Mo Lan was delighted to be able to help the other young witches. She planned to share the recipe for honey Breadfruit juice publicly.

“That won’t do.”

A voice sounded right beside their ears.

Mo Lan and the others froze, then looked at one another.

It wasn’t any of them.

They looked around in alarm.

There were only the four of them in the dormitory, yet a fifth person’s voice had just spoken.

Goosebumps rose all over their skin in an instant.

(End of Chapter)