Chapter 82: Chapter 82

Mu Ying could only make it last a dozen seconds at most.

Rosie’s tree wall lasted longer because she combined herb cultivation and potion knowledge. She suggested Mu Ying try thinking along those lines too.

Having a senior with the same talent focus was a huge help—Mu Ying avoided many detours because of it.

She successfully combined plant magic with herbology to cultivate a magical binding vine.

This was also her main product for the upcoming Four Seasons Gathering. Judging by how popular these vines were among the older girls, there should be a market for them.

“All right, that’s it for today’s class. Tomorrow night is the full moon—the Four Seasons Gathering. You all know about it, right?”

Mu Ying and the others nodded excitedly. “We know!”

“A witch’s first pot of gold—so nostalgic. Penniless witches often get their first taste of fortune at their first gathering night,” Melani said wistfully.

“Tomorrow night after dark, meet in front of the tower.”

As Melani disappeared out the door, Lillian propped her chin on her hand and sighed, “I feel like Ms. Melani looked at me when she said ‘penniless’…”

“…” Mu Ying didn’t know how to comfort her, because it really wasn’t her imagination. Nine out of ten Red Witches who were only good at fighting were the poorest among witches. The last one might get rich by robbing humans.

She could only pat Lillian’s head. No matter how poor a witch got, she’d never ask her companions for charity. Life might be tough, but at least they’d never starve."

"This year, the Four Seasons Gathering during the Month of Summer happened to fall on a Saturday. From after class yesterday all the way through today, Mu Ying and her friends had been busy preparing the things they planned to bring to the gathering to sell for some extra money.

Unlike the older students, who already had experience and had each found their own ways to make money, the three of them were eager to bring along every valuable thing they’d managed to come up with recently.

Mu Ying brought a pot of binding vine samples and a small packet of binding vine seeds, as well as a large barrel of sparkling water and a few bottles of hair dye potions in unusual colors.

If only her shrinking magic were better, she would have even brought cooking utensils and ingredients to sell snacks.

Lilian had prepared animal pelts and materials she’d collected with Senior Margarita in the back hills, plus a few bottles of brown hair dye potion—the only kind she could make.

Windsor, on the other hand, had gathered flower dew to make perfumes, along with a few alchemy pieces she’d practiced on in class.

The three of them had shrunk their goods down as small as possible with shrinking spells, hung them on their brooms, and spent the day flying around campus, eagerly waiting for the sun to set.

But as night fell, so did the rain.

“Haha, watching them now, I feel like I was so silly last year!” Margarita laughed.

“You got drenched last year too, remember?” Renee mercilessly exposed her.

Rosie and Lucia, their seniors, helped dry them off and cast waterproofing spells on each of them.

Just then, Headmistress Melanie appeared on her broom at the perfect moment. “On your brooms, everyone!”

Mu Ying and her friends mounted their brooms and flew behind Headmistress Melanie, with the seniors bringing up the rear. Together, they formed a triangle and headed out of the school grounds.

The sudden rain quickly dampened their excitement.

Even with the waterproofing spells from their seniors, so they didn’t have to worry about getting soaked, the cold raindrops still felt uncomfortable on their skin and made it hard to see.

The fun of their first long-distance flight was washed away by the rain; all they could do was keep their eyes fixed on the headmistress ahead, terrified of falling behind.

They didn’t know how long they’d been flying when more broom-riding figures began to appear in the sky.

Their group of eight stood out among the mostly solo witches, and their pace was slower, since they had to look after the new students.

Every now and then, a witch would catch up to them.

“Hey, are you new students?”

“Tsk tsk!”

“They look so fresh!”

“Speed up, little ones! We’ll be waiting for you at Hat Mountain!”

…

Whether teasing or just greeting them, all the other witches soon overtook them, looking effortlessly cool as they sped by.

Mu Ying felt like she was pedaling a bicycle and being overtaken by someone on a motorcycle.

Lilian’s urge to speed up on her broom grew wild, but Ms. Melanie wouldn’t let her get away with it—she shot her a look several times, forcing her to behave.

Just as Windsor was blushing furiously from the attention of the older witches, they finally saw the destination for the Four Seasons Gathering of the Month of Summer—Hat Mountain.

Hat Mountain looked just like a giant pointed witch’s hat, with many natural caves dotting its slopes. Even through the rain, they could see magical lights shining from inside the caves.

Because the Month of Summer was known for thunderstorms, this place had become the fixed location for the summer gathering.

Following the headmistress, Mu Ying and her friends landed at the foot of the mountain and hurried into a cave with their bundles.

“Phew—finally here!”

Mu Ying couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, rubbing her stiff cheeks. Flying in the rain really wasn’t a good idea.

The rain wasn’t even heavy today, and it was already hard to bear. If it had been a real storm, they’d probably have been blown silly.

The cave entrance was narrow, and after walking through a passage just wide enough for two or three people side by side, they entered a small stone chamber with a campfire in the middle.

About eight or nine witches were gathered around the fire, resting and chatting.

On the other side of the chamber was another passage.

Headmistress Melanie pointed at it. “Go in through there and head upwards. There are small caves along the way where you can set up your stalls. Go explore on your own—I’ll wait for you here.”

With that, she yawned, shuffled over to the fire, pulled a miniature couch from her pocket, unshrunk it, and lay down.

“…”

Once again, Mu Ying was amazed by the witches’ hands-off approach to education. The low population of witches probably had a lot to do with this style.

“Alright, don’t worry about the headmistress. She’s always like that. Let’s head up!” someone said.

After entering the passage, they climbed rough stone steps, and soon the tunnel split into several branches.

Mu Ying and her friends followed their respective seniors into different tunnels.

“Even though there are lots of passages and caves in Hat Mountain, as long as you remember to keep heading downward when you leave, you won’t get lost,” Senior Rosie explained.

“The weather’s always bad during the Month of Summer, so a lot of witches don’t like coming to the gathering at this time. But even though there aren’t many people, anyone who does come won’t leave early and brave the rain again. Usually, everyone will wander around Hat Mountain for a few rounds, so you don’t have to worry about your stall not getting noticed.”

Mu Ying nodded. Not many people were like their headmistress, bringing a couch to the gathering. With such a long night ahead, what else was there to do but browse the stalls?