Chapter 407 – Mushroom House Camp

Chapter 407 – Mushroom House Camp

The two Burrowing Mushrooms dove headfirst underground and hid themselves away.

Only the enormous Vampire Vine remained on the grass, sprawled across the ground.

It had bloomed with pretty little white flowers, spreading its fragrance outward, waiting for prey to come to it.

Underground, the caps of the two Burrowing Mushrooms tilted slightly, their stalks pressed tightly together.

Where they touched, the mushroom walls dissolved, and the two mushroom houses—one large, one small—merged completely into one.

As soon as the two sides connected, Lilith came over. “Once all four of our Burrowing Mushrooms have grown up, we’ll be able to set up a spacious underground camp anytime we want!”

“That might still take some time.” Mo Lan also took out the planting pot she used for cultivating her Burrowing Mushroom, nurturing it with Hybrid Magic.

Up to now, her Burrowing Mushroom still showed no intention of opening its interior space to her.

Vasida was in a similar situation. At the moment, she was busy feeding Breadfruit to her Devouring Stomach to replenish its Mana while simultaneously infusing her Burrowing Mushroom with Mana converted through Hybrid Magic.

“Don’t worry. With how much Hybrid Mana you two are pouring in, it’ll be a few months at most before your mushroom houses are big enough to fit a tent inside,” Lilith said.

Who else was like the two of them, treating Burrowing Mushroom cultivation like meals—three times a day, morning, noon, and night!

Sylph nodded in agreement. “Your Burrowing Mushrooms are in great condition. They’re growing remarkably fast!”

“Really?” Mo Lan and Vasida looked at the red mushroom caps perched atop their fingertips (and wand tip), their faces brimming with delight.

“Wait—Vasida using food to replenish her Mana is one thing, but Moira, using your Mana like this, won’t you run a huge deficit? I haven’t seen you eating extra with recovery magic food supplements either! Don’t tell me you’ve been spending Gem Coins to restore your Mana and speed up cultivating that red mushroom cap!” Lilith asked.

“I’m using Mana converted from my psychic power,” Mo Lan said. “So far it hasn’t been insufficient. A little meditation and it recovers right away.”

Thinking of Mo Lan’s absurd reserves of psychic power, Lilith relaxed. She then suggested, “We’ll be traveling together for quite a while yet, so let’s each take responsibility for one day’s cooking! That way everyone gets a chance to practice Culinary Magic, and the others can offer feedback.”

“Sounds good!”

Mo Lan, Vasida, and Sylph all had no objections.

Even Vasida and Sylph, whose Culinary Magic levels were still relatively low, could let the cooking utensils prepare dishes on their own.

Cooking itself wasn’t difficult for them.

Making progress in Culinary Magic, however, was another matter entirely.

Having companions around to learn with and help taste-test was always better than fumbling around alone.

“Then let’s start with tonight’s dinner! I’ll go first. You all rest for a bit—I’ll call you when it’s ready. No peeking!”

Lilith claimed first dibs and dashed back to her own tent, even closing the tent flap behind her.

“I don’t know why, but seeing how serious she is about this… I have a bad feeling,” Vasida said.

Sylph shrank her shoulders. “Same here.”

“Let me divine the fortune of this dinner!” Mo Lan channeled her Mana.

“You can use Divination Magic for something like that?” Sylph asked in amazement.

“Of course! Every opportunity to use Magic, no matter how big or small, is precious!” Mo Lan said as she cast the Fortune-Telling Spell.

When the spell was complete, Sylph and Vasida asked curiously, “How is it?”

Mo Lan furrowed her brow and shook her head in silence.

“No way! Is it that bad?” Vasida’s heart sank. “Actually, I just fed a lot of Breadfruit to the Devouring Stomach. I’d be perfectly fine skipping dinner.”

“I… I’ll just have a little honey water with Bi’er for dinner,” Sylph added.

“Ahaha!” Mo Lan couldn’t hold it together any longer and burst out laughing. “It’s fine, really! Average level. Probably won’t be too delicious, but it won’t be too terrible either.”

“Moi! Ra!” Vasida clenched her fists.

Mo Lan immediately ducked back into her tent, poking just her head out from behind the tent flap. “Dinner probably won’t start for a while yet. I’m going back to meditate.”

With that, she closed the tent flap too.

Vasida: “…”

Sylph patted Vasida on the shoulder with a smile. “I’m going back to meditate too. That way I’ll have more time to practice Alchemy tonight.”

“Ugh! Sylph, how are you turning out just like Moira?” Vasida protested.

Sylph was utterly unmoved. “Don’t think I don’t know—you’re planning the same thing.”

Vasida, caught red-handed: “…”

It was all because her Alchemy Magic was so far behind. Who wouldn’t want a cool, convenient broomstick and wand like Mo Lan and Lilith had!

Mo Lan unfurled the Natural Atlas of Earth in her mind. A massive surge of psychic power was drawn forth, and within just a few minutes it was all active again, her condition fully restored.

After finishing her meditation, she turned to reading.

About an hour later, she finally heard Lilith calling them to eat.

Mo Lan closed her book and walked out of the tent carrying Zhizhi. Vasida and Sylph had also just emerged.

“Come on! Over to my place—dinner’s ready!” Lilith looked extremely confident and expectant.

Even though she had already divined this meal’s outcome with the Fortune-Telling Spell and the result was neither good nor bad, Mo Lan couldn’t help but feel curious. “What did you make?”

“It’s a dish I just learned recently. It definitely won’t disappoint,” Lilith said.

When they entered the dining room on the second floor of Lilith’s tent, an enormous deep-red cake on the table immediately caught their eyes.

“Is this red berry cake?” Sylph spotted red berries and jam on the cake. Although the color was a bit dark, they were unmistakably red berries. “But what are these white flowers?”

Mo Lan eyed the little white flowers decorating the cake with suspicion. “Those aren’t Vampire Vine flowers, are they? You can use those in a cake?”

Vasida sniffed. “It smells amazing!”

“Of course you can! Vampire Vine flowers can be used to brew blood-replenishing potions. They smell sweet and actually have blood-replenishing benefits when eaten—it’s just that the taste is slightly bitter, so they’re not very pleasant on their own.

“But I found a book in the Witch Council Library called Mo Lan paused—《Potion Witch’s Cooking Recipes》. It said that red berries can mask the inherent bitterness of Vampire Vine flowers.

“This red berry blood-replenishing cake was made following that recipe.

“I’ve tried it myself and it turned out quite well. It’s good for your health too! The blood-replenishing effect is only slightly weaker than an actual blood-replenishing potion, and it also stimulates the appetite—once you smell its fragrance, you can’t help but draw closer, and your appetite opens right up.”

Lilith cut each of them a generous slice. “Go ahead, try it! They say this cake is very popular among Vampires. I sent one to my dad once, and he loved it…”