Chapter 81: Chapter 81

The Shi Yin figurine instantly became well-behaved, its eyes big and watery, cheeks soft and round—completely different from the sharp-featured original.

Mu Ying couldn’t resist poking its chubby cheek.

She watched as the little face visibly turned red.

Did I use too much force?

Feeling a bit guilty, Mu Ying withdrew her finger.

Far away in the starry sky, a silver-haired youth covered his face and stared fixedly in the direction of Deep Blue Star. He quickly steeled himself and began traversing space-time again. He had to get stronger, return faster, so he wouldn’t have to rely on his avatar anymore.

Mu Ying and Gun Gun teleported straight to the entrance of Sera’s Eatery.

“We have fresh bamboo shoots today—want to try some?” Madam Sera said with a smile.

Mu Ying looked down at Gun Gun, who nodded enthusiastically. Yes, I want to eat (●???●)!

“Give Gun Gun a large portion. I’ll just have some fried rice.”

She wanted something simple for dinner, so she could eat early and head home.

More than a month had passed in the Emerald World. Tonight, on the second day of the trial, it would be the full moon of the Month of Summer.

The long-awaited Four Seasons Gathering was about to begin—the witches’ exclusive market. She was quite curious about it.

Lost in thought, Mu Ying sped up her eating…"

"The sunlight filtered lazily through the white gauzy curtains, draping its hand over her blanket.

A broom in the corner hopped over and tapped on the bed.

Awakened by the sound, Mu Ying reached out to reassuringly pat the broom’s handle, then got up, went to the washroom to freshen up, and changed into her spring school uniform.

She was always the first to wake up. Ever since she’d learned cooking magic and dedicated herself to winning over the witches with the delicious foods she’d enjoyed over two lifetimes, she’d taken on most of the kitchen duties.

The older girls were also consciously handing over various responsibilities to them. After all, in a year, it would be their turn to look after the newcomers and pass these skills down.

Mu Ying’s cooking magic was already quite proficient. She only needed to stand near the kitchen counter and use her magic to direct the various utensils.

When making familiar dishes, she could even multitask and do other things at the same time.

Freed from tedious chores and the smoke and grease, cooking had become a pleasure.

“Mu Ying, it smells so good! Are you making my favorite egg pancakes today?”

Hearing Lillian’s voice, Mu Ying didn’t even need to turn her head. “And your most hated soy milk, too! Watch your image—your hair is so fluffy it could be used as a flying broom!”

Lillian, who usually woke up a bit later, was always the second to be roused by the scent of egg pancakes. She’d come out in her pajamas.

“Ugh, that evil soy milk!” Lillian instantly wilted, her messy red hair seeming to settle down a bit.

Mu Ying smiled. Somehow, hearing Lillian complain always put her in a better mood. Haha!

When the pancakes were golden and crispy in the pan and the aroma of scallions filled the air, Mu Ying waved her wand. Plates lined up and hopped out of the cupboard, catching the neatly stacked pancakes from the pan, then picking up a tea egg on the side, and finally landing in perfect order on the dining table.

Next came a pot of soy milk.

As the bedroom doors opened one by one and the older girls and classmates came out, the soy milk pot hopped around, pouring steaming soy milk into everyone’s cup—except for Lillian’s, where Mu Ying personally handed her a cup of hot milk.

Lillian took a sip, her frown instantly melting away. “It’s not soy milk! Mu Ying, I love you so much!”

Mu Ying shrugged. “I still prefer soy milk myself.”

“Long live soy milk!” Windsor whispered.

“Sigh, it seems every Red Witch can’t escape being targeted,” Senior Margarita said, clutching her chest in mock agony.

Three pairs of eyes immediately glared at her. Margarita straightened up and said meekly, “Soy milk is delicious!”

“Haha!” Mu Ying and the other two burst out laughing.

Another cheerful morning!

After breakfast, the older girls went off to their own tasks, while Mu Ying and her friends headed downstairs to class.

By now, history and herbology classes were basically finished. For more advanced topics, they’d have to go to the library and research on their own. Classes now focused on magic, alchemy, and potions.

After just over a month of classes, each of the three had begun to show their own talents.

Mu Ying was the most well-rounded, but in alchemy class, she was like a baby with unsteady hands—no matter how detailed Ms. Melani’s explanations, she just couldn’t smoothly draw any magic runes except her own specialty ones.

Lillian wasn’t much better; she could barely draw a single rune with some effect, but could never successfully link them together.

Only Windsor showed a bit of talent in this area. Though her progress was slow, with Ms. Melani slowing down her teaching for their sake, she’d managed to learn some basic runes.

If Windsor’s talent was in alchemy, then Lillian’s was all in flying and combat magic.

Besides her natural affinity for fire magic, she learned the basic combat spells of other elements the fastest and with the most power. Senior Margarita had already started teaching her how to hunt in the back hills.

After all, it looked like that might be her only way to make a living.

Mu Ying, on the other hand, was recognized by the older girls as the witch with the brightest “money-making” prospects in their cohort.

Like Senior Rosie, she was gifted in potions and herbology, and not bad at spells either. Although she couldn’t match Lillian in combat magic, she was talented in plant, life, curse, and blessing magic.

She found these types of magic easier to learn than others, and her results were better too.

Magic, compared to spells, was more flexible and its effects less fixed. Even with the same foundational education, each person’s inclinations and research would lead them in completely different directions.

For example, the most basic effect of plant magic was to make seeds grow rapidly.

Given the same vine seed, under the influence of the Entangling Spell, Mu Ying’s first attempt made the vines lash out wildly to bind things—though her magic was still weak, not even matching the strength of the standard Entangling Spell.

But when Senior Rosie used it, the vines were more orderly, quickly weaving into a dense wall of trees.

Apparently, that was because she wanted to use the magic to fence in and protect her future adult home.

Mu Ying had asked Rosie for tips on casting the vine wall spell, since she felt the fence around her own cabin offered no protection at all.

But Rosie thought Mu Ying’s vines were better at binding and could serve as active defense, and suggested she try to stabilize that binding property.

After casting plant magic, the seeds and magical effects would last for a while before disappearing.

The strength and control of one’s magic determined how long it would last.

A powerful witch’s magic could last until the end of her life.