The Cornflower Witch Chapter 222

A golden-haired beauty, also a talented alchemist, arrived in town.

Dorothy’s arrival quickly became the talk of Lantern Town. After all, most of the members were still at the second tier, and now there was a third-tier professional, rumored to be a genius among her peers. Naturally, she attracted a lot of curious attention.

“Oh, you mean the Mithril badge with an ‘Excellent’ rating? I’ve received one before too.” Dorothy sat by the window on the second floor of the restaurant, holding a chilled concoction in one hand, and from who-knows-where, she pulled out a silvery badge, tossing it lightly before catching it.

Seeing the badge, many students nearby looked on with envy and admiration. Although there were many members in the Woodland Association, only one in several thousand could receive such a badge. Before this, they only knew of Hylial having been honored with one.

Beautiful, exceptionally capable, daring in her attire, and with a lazy demeanor, as Dorothy sat in the restaurant, many gathered around to chat with her. She didn’t mind and answered all their questions directly.

In the public office not far away, Hylial sat behind a desk, while a student handed her a stack of lists, detailing various resources and materials.

“These are what Miss Dorothy needs. She hopes Senior Lia can gather them as soon as possible.”

“So many?” The girl took the list, her blue eyes scanning the items and data.

Most of the materials were common and familiar to her, but there were a few she had never seen and wondered why they were needed.

“Dried corpse of a black weasel bat, withered leaves of glittering wind white grass, shell of a tide-sounding conch, water-ring blue pearl…” These items clearly looked difficult to find.

“Are there any students who know the origins of these materials?” Hylial pondered.

“I’ve asked a few scholar students. They only have a partial understanding, merely having seen a few of their names in books occasionally.”

“So, these things do exist, she didn’t just make them up. It’s just that they are rarely used and quite scarce, right?” Hylial subtly curled her finger and placed it under her chin.

“Take this list and give it to the scholars in town. Let them research the origins of these materials and how to obtain them. If there’s anything still unclear, then go ask Dorothy.” She felt it was important for them to get some practice, otherwise, if they asked Dorothy about everything, they would become mere decorations.

“Understood.”

After the student left with the list, Hylial continued to recall the resources on the list. There were a few items she could produce in large quantities, but her current stock might not be enough.

“Third-tier, Rare or higher-quality Clear Spring Holy Water, and also ‘Glorious Moon’ Aspect. I’m quite good at making that. But the other kind, ‘Third-tier, Rare’ or higher-quality Sun Essence, I can’t make that.”

“Wait, can I really not make it?” Hylial checked the current construction status of her ‘Autumn Garden’.

She had already entered the third stage, continuously adjusting the state of the 12 plants, ensuring they grew perfectly in the garden and achieved a natural material cycle.

If the ‘Autumn Garden’ was completed, she would be able to reach the third tier, and cultivating fruits with the ‘Blazing Sun’ aspect would then become much easier.

It was still her own lack of strength, Hylial let out a small sigh and looked out the window.

The wind was getting stronger. According to a student skilled in the ‘Sky’ aspect, a storm would arrive in another week, and the transport teams in the Dark Mist Mountains would cease operations then.

This time, she wouldn’t be able to prepare enough glass replacements. They would have to close the greenhouses when the storm came, sealing them with sturdy materials and nails.

This would mean the greenhouses wouldn’t get sunlight, and they could only cultivate plants that thrived in darkness. The upside was that the outer glass layers of the greenhouses could be protected during the sealing.

Plants in the dark… Hylial couldn’t help but think of mushrooms.

This time, she’d grow mushrooms.

Five days later, the wind in the Dark Mist Mountains grew stronger, forcing the gardeners in the town to prematurely ripen and harvest a batch of fruits and vegetables. Afterward, they sealed off the large greenhouses, covering them with protective layers and securing them with nails. At this point, the interior of the greenhouses was pitch black, making it impossible for ordinary plants to grow.

Hylial walked into one of the greenhouses, her eyes blinking. Even in the darkness, she could clearly see everything.

She took out the cultivated mushrooms from a glass jar, gently shaking them. Tiny spores delicately scattered onto the soil.

Afterward, Hylial sat in front of the soil, carefully using her ‘Emerald Honey’ aspect to guide the growth of the spore mycelium before her.

Cultivating mushrooms and similar plants was a fresh and new experience for her.

Their growth method was completely different from ordinary plants. The mycelia grew secretly in the soil, incredibly delicate and fragile. If they found nutritious substances, they would gradually absorb them and then transport the nutrients through their mycelial network.

Those clusters of mushrooms seemingly growing separately under different large trees in the forest might actually all be connected in a single mycelial network deeper underground.

This was the marvel of ‘Mycelium’, a connection of threads and strings, an accumulation of countless subtle changes, the mother of life that alters the world.

“Eh…”

While attempting to cultivate mushrooms, Hylial let out a soft, strange sound.

She suddenly felt a peculiar familiarity, as if parts of the mycelium were just like the alfalfa she had cultivated before.

“What is this?” She stood up, went to the soil, dug it open with a small shovel, and carefully unearthed a small piece of residual alfalfa root system.

This root system seemed to have connected with the mushroom’s mycelial network. Hylial examined it closely, her small eyebrows constantly shifting in thought, before finally relaxing.

“It seems I can use the power of ‘Alfalfa’ to enhance the cultivation of mushrooms,” she murmured to herself.

She then went to her other private small greenhouse and brought out a large quantity of uprooted alfalfa, scattering them into the soil.

The underground mycelium made contact with the alfalfa, connected with it, and then both underwent marvelous changes.

Hylial felt she could command the alfalfa to provide nutrients, making these mycelia grow strong and dense, and also allow the alfalfa to use the mycelia to absorb more nutrients and moisture from the soil and air.

This feeling of ‘connection’ was quite wondrous.

Let’s try it, Hylial composed herself and began to make the two grow synergistically. First, she used the alfalfa’s nutrients to rapidly promote the dense growth of mycelia. Then, she let the mycelia assist the alfalfa in absorbing special nutrients from the air, and then repeated the process.

After completing one, two… six cycles, the alfalfa gradually withered and died, but in their place, a large area of glowing purple mushrooms grew, emitting a faint bioluminescence in the dark greenhouse.

[Purple Jellyfish Mushroom] (Tier 1, Mycelium): A rare ‘Mycelium’ aspect life, which can be used for certain ancient rituals and potion manufacturing recipes. (The origin of ‘Mycelium’ has vanished, and cultivating life forms with the Mycelium aspect will be exceptionally difficult.)

Seeing the mushrooms that successfully condensed their aspect in her hand, Hylial wiped the sweat from her brow.

Indeed, ‘Mycelium’ cultivation was difficult. Using so much ‘Tier 2’ alfalfa, she only obtained a small amount of ‘Purple Jellyfish Mushroom’ in the end. Moreover, she vaguely felt that the upper limit of the ‘Mycelium’ aspect was already locked; it was impossible for any ‘Mycelium’ product or life above ‘Tier 3’ to be born in this world.

History cannot be reversed. Although ‘Mycelium’ could connect the past and future, their era was long gone.