Chapter 356 – The Imperfect Familiar

Mo Lan asked Zhizhi how it had made the discovery, but Zhizhi simply said it had sensed treasure over there.

Intermediate magic materials were small treasures, and Advanced magic materials were big treasures.

Low-level magic materials were just roadside junk—Zhizhi wouldn’t spare them a single glance as it passed by.

Later, Mo Lan also discovered that Zhizhi had a certain ability to sense the strength of magical beasts.

Sometimes, after finding a pile of magical beast droppings, it would charge over excitedly to pick a fight.

Other times, after discovering a set of claw prints, it would study them carefully before sneaking over to launch a surprise attack.

And sometimes, after catching a foul, bloody scent drifting through the air from far away, it would turn tail and run.

The ones it charged at recklessly were all low-level and Intermediate magical beasts. The ones it sneak-attacked were the weaker specimens among the Advanced magical beasts. And the ones it fled from—when Mo Lan checked with Wind Sensing—turned out to be the cream of the crop among Advanced magical beasts, right on the verge of advancing to Peak level.

This ability to seek profit and avoid danger left Mo Lan utterly amazed.

Though Zhizhi didn’t possess Witch Sight the way witches did, it seemed to have an innate, keen perception of the strength and danger level of energy.

Which things had high energy and were treasures, which things were dangerous—it knew with perfect clarity.

Its efficiency at collecting magic materials was actually even higher than when Mo Lan had been using Wind Sensing to scout the path and guide it.

The only issue was that sometimes they encountered duplicates—materials already cataloged in the Book of Cards.

Mo Lan didn’t let any of them go to waste, storing them all in her spatial ring.

Every time they encountered new magic materials or magical beasts, Mo Lan would explain their properties to Zhizhi—which parts were most valuable, and how to harvest and preserve them.

Zhizhi always listened attentively, and eventually it could recognize which materials Mo Lan had already collected and which ones she still needed.

It even learned the crudest but safest methods of material harvesting: dig up magical plants roots and all, and beat magical beasts to death targeting a single spot.

Eventually, Mo Lan simply gave Zhizhi two Spatial Cards to store the magic materials it found.

One card for magical beast materials, one card for magical plant materials.

As for magic ores, it couldn’t mine them well, so those would wait for Mo Lan to collect with Magic.

Only when Zhizhi sensed “dangerous” magic materials or magical beasts would Mo Lan step in herself.

The rest of the time, she could focus on processing magic crystals and practicing Energy Conversion.

She only needed to set up the tent each evening, activate the magic circles, then take Zhizhi’s two Spatial Cards to review, organize, and further process the materials inside.

Looking back on it now, Mo Lan felt that when the Fortune-Telling Spell had read “minor fortune” after she’d dug through the bottom of the Wine-Cellar Cave’s wine pool and cracked the topaz stone, that reading had been conservative.

Breaking through the wine pool, compensating with the wine card—that was what had caught the white-haired giant ape’s attention, which in turn had delivered Zhizhi to her.

With Zhizhi, Mo Lan’s survival trial had essentially turned into a sightseeing tour aboard a mobile monkey-mobile.

For her, Zhizhi was far more than just “minor fortune.” “Great fortune” wouldn’t even be an exaggeration!

In her eyes, Zhizhi was absolutely perfect as a familiar in every way… Wait, no. There was still one imperfection.

In the dining area of the Spatial Tent.

Mo Lan ate her Dodo Bird stewed with red mushrooms, polishing off two full bowls of rice and still wanting more.

More than half a pot of meat remained uneaten, but her stomach couldn’t fit another bite.

At times like these, sharing food would double the joy.

She had once fantasized about using Culinary Magic to prepare a whole tableful of delicious food to share with her familiar.

With a familiar that had a big appetite, she wouldn’t have to worry about making too much—she could satisfy her desire to have multiple dishes in one meal without any waste. But now she could only seal the leftovers as-is into her spatial ring and take them out to eat tomorrow.

Mo Lan cast a resentful glance toward the living room sofa, where a small silver-furred monkey was sucking on a long, flexible straw, hugging the tablet projector, legs crossed casually.

The other end of that long, flexible straw was submerged in a cask of monkey-head wine beside the sofa.

The tablet projector was playing first-year witch theory class instructional videos. Zhizhi couldn’t understand Witch language, nor could it ever learn a language rooted in bloodline.

Heart Speech couldn’t take effect on mindless machines either.

So it truly couldn’t understand a single word.

At first, Mo Lan couldn’t figure out why Zhizhi loved watching something it clearly couldn’t understand.

She knew perfectly well what those theory class videos were like. On screen, it was just Lady Amisha talking nonstop by herself, occasionally writing on the magic board, and only rarely showing them images or physical examples.

Later, Zhizhi asked her what the red wine was, and why the Headmistress’s stick was so big. That’s when Mo Lan realized Zhizhi wasn’t watching the lessons at all—it was watching Lady Amisha drinking during breaks between lectures, and Lady Amisha’s extravagant giant Wand casting spells.

Zhizhi had absolutely zero interest in fine cuisine.

Its sense of taste was quite strange. Fruits that monkeys universally loved to eat, it didn’t care for.

Other kinds of delicious food held no appeal for it either.

Mo Lan—an Advanced Culinary Magic practitioner, a witch skilled in various Earth cuisines—had pulled out every trick in her repertoire, yet couldn’t win over Zhizhi’s stomach with a single dish or get it to join her for dinner.

Zhizhi only loved drinking. Only various kinds of alcohol qualified as irresistible delicacies to it.

The higher the alcohol content, the more it liked it.

Everything else made its little face scrunch up like old tree bark when it ate, and sometimes after forcing something down, it would throw it back up.

Even sweet rice wine dumplings tasted bad to it.

Mo Lan truly couldn’t bear to watch Zhizhi eat until it vomited again, so she stopped forcing it to try other foods or join her for meals.

The world had carnivores, herbivores, and scavengers—having an “alcoholivore” like Zhizhi didn’t seem all that bizarre.

The white-haired giant ape really hadn’t lied to her about this.

Given that Zhizhi could only drink alcohol, even if every peach in the entire grove were picked and brewed into wine for it alone, it wouldn’t be enough.

Not to mention that the golden-armed apes’ territory was supposedly bitterly cold in winter, and the entire troop relied on fruit wine to survive the season!

As Zhizhi grew, its appetite would only increase, and the troop simply couldn’t supply the amount of alcohol it needed.

Only a Sorceress like her, who could casually create wine cards with Mana, could afford to raise a large alcohol-consuming magical beast like Zhizhi.

“Why do I feel oddly proud about this?”

Mo Lan shook her head, then took out the more-than-half pot of Dodo Bird stewed with red mushrooms she’d just stored away, along with the rice, and dumped it all in one go into the Kitchen Waste Bin Card.

“I suppose this counts as Vasida having dinner with me?”

Far away on the other side of the forest, Vasida was lying in a cave she’d just seized from a magical beast when she suddenly felt the Devouring Stomach in her belly stir. “What’s wrong with you? Why so excited all of a sudden?”

She focused her senses and felt a pang of jealousy. “Damn it! Which Culinary Witch is being so wasteful? Piping hot Dodo Bird stewed with mushrooms, just thrown in the trash? And rice too! Wait—rice?”

That damned Goblin Sorceress, the gourmet tycoon Moira!

Vasida licked her lips and hugged herself, unable to stop drooling.

Due to her lack of salt and spices, it had been a very long time since she’d had a proper meal with appealing color, aroma, and flavor.