Chapter 70 – This Is Insane

Vasida followed Mo Lan to the backyard in utter confusion, and watched as she climbed up the water tower, opened the lid, and plunged her wand into the opening.

The sound of rushing water was “deafening.”

All traces of sleepiness vanished from Vasida in an instant. Her eyes went wide: “W-water?!”

She slapped a hand over her mouth, not daring to make another sound that might disturb Mo Lan.

But that didn’t stop her from screaming internally.

A wand, water—the Spring Water spell!

Mo Lan had learned the Spring Water spell!

The water gushed and splashed, the flow even stronger than many of the second-year upperclassmen could manage!

Mo Lan was using the flow rate that felt most natural to her, channeling roughly half a Mana’s worth of mana at a time. The stream of water was as thick as a thigh.

In just a few minutes, she had filled Vasida’s water tower to the brim.

She cut off her mana, stopped casting, closed the water tower lid, and climbed back down the ladder.

The moment her feet touched the ground, Vasida grabbed her hand: “Moira, when did you learn the Spring Water spell?”

“Last night,” Mo Lan said.

“The Headmistress hasn’t even taught it yet, and you’ve already learned it? And you’re this good at it?” Vasida was in awe.

“The Spring Water spell is much simpler than Culinary Magic. You can learn it just by following the books!” Mo Lan said.

“What books? I want to learn too!” Vasida asked.

“The recommended study books for the Spring Water spell listed in 《The Witch Magic Catalog》. It mentions two primary references, 《Fire, Light, and Water》and《Babbling Brook》. The former is an introductory reference, the other is a more detailed, in-depth study guide. They’re both quite interesting, too.

Once you read them, you’ll be able to learn it too. Just be a little careful—when you succeed at casting for the first time, keep your emotions in check. Don’t get too excited, or it’ll affect the spell’s effectiveness and there’s a risk of losing control.”

Mo Lan laid out all of her experience without reservation.

“《The Witch Magic Catalog》? That sounds kind of familiar…”

Vasida was about to go look through the first-year reading list when Mo Lan stopped her:

“It’s the reference book for the essay assigned in yesterday’s Fundamentals of Magic Theory class! It’s on the first-year elective reading list.”

“Oh! That one!” Vasida remembered now. Then something occurred to her, and she looked at Mo Lan suspiciously: “The essay was just assigned yesterday, and you already read the reference books last night?”

“I didn’t finish them,” Mo Lan shook her head. “I just skimmed through them and wrote the essay.”

“Just? You wrote the essay last night too? How many?” Vasida pressed.

“Two,” Mo Lan answered honestly.

Vasida grew even bolder with her questions: “Do you have any essays left unfinished?”

Mo Lan shook her head.

Vasida’s mind went blank.

“This is insane. Absolutely insane.

Some little witches haven’t even started on their four essays, and here’s one who’s already finished all of them and learned a new spell on top of that…”

“What are you two talking about?” Sylph came around from the front yard carrying a bucket. “My water tower is empty. Vasida, do you have any water left? The wind chime flowers haven’t been watered today.”

“Come on! I’ll fill it up for you!” Mo Lan had been itching for a chance to show off—… practice the Spring Water spell!

Her own water tower was only so big—once it was full, there was nowhere else to put the water.

“Huh?” Sylph didn’t quite understand what she meant. She thought Mo Lan was offering to help carry water, and quickly said:

“No, no, I only need a little bit to water the flowers. I’ll go fetch the rest from the well when I come back at noon.”

“Hey! Let her fill it for you!” Vasida grabbed Sylph’s arm. “She’s learned the Spring Water spell! It’s way faster than you hauling water!”

Sylph: “What? The Spring Water spell?”

Moments later, in the backyard of Sylph’s dormitory.

“See? The Spring Water spell!” Vasida whispered to Sylph. “She learned it last night from reading books. And not only did she learn the Spring Water spell, she also wrote two essays, read several books, and finished the essays assigned on Monday and Tuesday too! Tell me that’s not ridiculous.”

“Ridiculous… no wait, how did she even do that?” Sylph couldn’t fathom how anyone could accomplish so much in such a short time.

This week, whenever she had free time she’d been reading The Birth of an Exquisite Cover, and she still hadn’t gotten very far, nor had she even settled on a cover style she liked!

Several little witches living in the row behind them spotted Mo Lan filling Sylph’s water tower.

Before long, the news had spread among every single first-year witch.

On the way to school, Mo Lan was subjected to an interrogation led by Vasida and Sylph on behalf of the first-year witches: “Spill it! How did you do it?”

Mo Lan obediently recounted everything she’d done after class from Monday through Friday.

“You don’t cook at all? You just eat Breadfruit Cake every day?”

Vasida had once eaten untold quantities of bland or even terrible food just to fill her stomach, prioritizing volume over taste. But even she couldn’t understand how Mo Lan—who was clearly skilled at cooking—could subsist on nothing but Breadfruit Cake day after day.

“It’s not just cake! There’s also the jerky Iris gave me!”

The little witches were looking at her as if she had something seriously wrong with her, so Mo Lan hastily added that in her defense.

“Please, stop talking! Here, take these—take them, they’re all yours! I’m genuinely worried that one day you’ll study yourself to death from starvation.”

Iris shoved some more of her stash into Mo Lan’s hands.

“No need! No need! Don’t worry, there is absolutely zero chance of me starving to death!” Mo Lan declared solemnly.

Seeing the skeptical looks from the little witches, she grew anxious: “What do you think I’m working so hard for? It’s so I can learn more, grow stronger faster, and eventually do whatever I want! How could I possibly not take care of myself?”

“You’d better mean that!” Iris said fiercely.

“Moira, don’t be so hard on yourself.” Sylph patted Mo Lan’s hand with tender concern. “You need to relax a little too!”

“Um… I am relaxed! Absorbing knowledge and learning magic—it’s practically bliss!” Mo Lan said.

Perhaps at first, her motivation had been to grow stronger as quickly as possible, to gain the power to save the world, to return to Earth in that other timeline and change the planet’s fate of destruction.

But after truly beginning to study magic, she had genuinely fallen in love with the process of learning.

Every single day, having her understanding of this world refreshed anew—it was wonderful!

The world of Valen, witches, Sorceresses, magic—they were all so captivating.

Mo Lan couldn’t wait to learn more.

The little witches: “…”

All they knew was that they could never abuse their own taste buds or do their stomachs dirty like that.

Seeing that they remained unmoved, Mo Lan pulled out her trump card: “Just tell me—don’t you want to learn the Spring Water spell? Don’t you want to fill up your water tower in one go, just like that?”

“Yes!” Not a single little witch could endure the suffering of hauling water from the well.

“Then find the time to study the Spring Water spell on your own! The reference books are all there, and I’ve already shared all my experience with you. The sooner you learn it, the sooner you can enjoy it. If you wait for the Headmistress to teach it, the earliest would be after Culinary Magic class is finished, right? And honestly—given how we’re progressing, do you really think Culinary Magic class is ending anytime soon?” Mo Lan said.

The little witches thought about how they were still struggling with bread, and felt a shameful stirring of motivation.