The Cornflower Witch Chapter 41

Chapter 41

The Maiden’s Prayer

“So, today, let me first understand your fundamentals.”

Hylial was wearing a white top and a plain blue skirt today, looking quite bright and lively, much better than the consistently black, plain dress she had worn for a while.

In the resting area beside the training ground, the maiden hung up a small blackboard and began tutoring the two students.

After some communication and understanding, she quickly grasped their situations.

Komia’s problem wasn’t big; apart from some profound and obscure parts she didn’t understand, she comprehended most of the knowledge, just forgetting some things she hadn’t reviewed much.

Kalen’s problem was severe; not only did he only know most of the terms without understanding their connections, but he also had many issues with basic arithmetic and writing.

It seemed like a long and arduous journey, the maiden thought.

But she had to try; she couldn’t give up from the beginning. She started teaching Kalen the basics. As for Komia, for now, she only needed to consolidate her forgotten knowledge.

…

Two hours passed quickly. Afterwards, Hylial, instead of extending the class, announced that today’s tutoring was over.

“Phew, I thought Lia was going to keep talking,” Komia said, slumping over the table. She had just seen Hylial helping Kalen sort out his basics for a long time.

“Everyone has a limited capacity for understanding; talking too much in one day isn’t good. Besides, you also need to train, so don’t neglect that,” she said, putting away her notes.

“Oh, right.” Hylial remembered something and looked at Kalen with a bit of curiosity.

“Kalen, can you teach me how to shoot a bow?” She had never tried archery before.

“Lia wants to learn that?” Komia was surprised first.

“Archery is actually very tiring; drawing a bow requires a lot of strength.” She had tried it herself before.

“But the training ground has bows with very low draw weights, Lia can try them. Well, some noblewomen occasionally use them for decoration.”

Saying this, the three went to the archery range on one side of the training ground and quickly found the short training bows laid out.

Under Kalen’s careful guidance, Hylial generally understood the posture for drawing a bow and the precautions.

“Newcomers should not use bows with too high a draw weight,” Kalen reminded.

“First, it’s hard to draw, and second, if you accidentally dry fire, the recoil of the string can injure you and also damage the bow.”

“I understand.”

Hylial held the short bow, notched an arrow, and slowly drew the string. Then, following Kalen’s instruction, she released it. The arrow barely reached the nearest target.

(Basic Archery proficiency +12)

Basic Archery Lv.0: A skill still being learned, current progress (12/100)

Having gained some insight, Hylial looked at the arrow stuck diagonally in the distance. When she fired the second arrow, the accuracy was noticeably better.

By the fifth shot, the arrowhead finally landed on the bullseye, though not quite in the center.

Phew, this seems quite interesting, completely different from using melee weapons, the maiden thought as she put down the bow.

Because an arrow is not held like a sword hilt, once it’s shot, control is lost. So, she couldn’t operate it as precisely or flexibly as a sword. More often, it was about preparation, calculating the force, trajectory, wind direction, and the condition of the target.

Logically speaking, if someone’s archery skills are excellent, their mental calculation ability wouldn’t be bad either. Even intuition is a subconscious reaction after the brain’s calculations.

Thinking about it this way, Kalen might not be dull, he just lacked educational guidance.

…

In the following days, the three learned and trained together like this until Balun and Mick recovered from their injuries and returned to class.

The first time he heard Scholar Hyde say that Hylial would tutor him, Mick felt a surge of joy, but quickly suppressed it.

It’s just tutoring, don’t overthink it, he told himself to calm down.

However, that afternoon, when he actually sat in the resting area and listened to the maiden’s clear, soft voice, he couldn’t help but be a little distracted, noticing details he hadn’t before.

Lia’s voice wasn’t just pleasant; her figure, posture, and skin were also exceptionally beautiful. It was just a shame that her thick glasses marred her beauty.

“Pay attention, please.” The maiden gently tapped the blackboard with a wooden stick, interrupting Mick’s thoughts.

“Yes,” he replied, forcing himself to sit up straight, which made Komia cover her mouth and chuckle.

After tutoring Mick for a few days, Lei also joined in. The two of them, plus Kalen, had always been the three worst students in the class’s Secret History lessons.

Teaching one is teaching, and teaching three is also teaching. Lia was not uncomfortable with this. In the process of teaching the three, she gradually learned what many subjects looked like in the eyes of ordinary people.

For her, having received nearly 16 years of complete Earth education in her previous life, she understood the inherent connections between various branches of knowledge and the overall cognitive framework of the world. This made understanding many things very easy. However, for ordinary civilian students who are completely ignorant and unfamiliar with many concepts, learning certain things is entirely different.

For example, with an engine, she would know that it needs to be cast from metal alloys with sufficient strength, that it relies on a certain combustion chemical reaction to provide energy, and then uses physical mechanical transmission to deliver power to various parts. There are also the meshing of different gears and connecting rods, creating differential rotation to adjust, and so on.

A single engine actually involves the combined application of materials, metallurgy, chemistry, physics, mathematics, mechanics, and other knowledge.

However, people who only understand one aspect and have never been exposed to other knowledge can easily have a biased understanding due to the lack of a systemic framework.

In the process of teaching these students, Hylial also thoroughly reviewed the knowledge framework from her previous life.

By the way, despite it being knowledge from so long ago, she could recall it clearly now, even remembering the names of her elementary school classmates. It was almost unbelievable.

…

Life began to be peaceful and stable. In the mornings, Hylial and her classmates listened to the teacher’s lectures. In the afternoons, she tutored the three struggling students, then practiced archery in her free time. Evenings and mornings were spent tending to the flowers and plants in her backyard. At night, she chatted with Talil, listening to her recount interesting new happenings in Burntstone City, and then went to sleep.

Unbeknownst to her, a month had passed like this.

Her carefully cultivated ‘Swan Orchid’ was finally ready to bloom.

Carefully squatting down, Hylial held the small, tender green flower bud, her heart filled with joy.

No matter what, it was the first pot of flowers and plants she had meticulously nurtured. It had cost her a lot of time and effort, and it brought her anticipation and joy.

[Swan Orchid] (Rare – 82): Blooming, humidity not optimal, needs 23.53% more humidification, ambient temperature slightly low, needs to be raised by 7.4 degrees, excellent ventilation, sufficient nutrients, trace nutrients satisfied…

From the pale green and tender green flower buds, a few slender shoots emerged. In this most vibrant place, a faint resonance of ‘Jade Nectar’ gathered, just a step away from a complete ‘Tier 1 – Jade Nectar’ resonance.

Closing her eyes, even without looking, she could feel the faint grassy fragrance and invisible ripples emanating from the flower bud in front of her.

Just a little bit more. If this last missing puzzle piece could be added, the flowers would probably bloom with a complete ‘Tier 1 – Jade Nectar’ resonance.

Temperature, humidity. She stood up and looked around the small courtyard.

If she were to build a greenhouse with glass, there wouldn’t be enough time, and she also lacked sufficient funds.

So, for now, she could only use other methods.

Hylial inquired around and found a glass workshop in Burntstone City. She spent 6 silver coins to have workers specifically create three large glass covers for her, which she then carefully transported back to her residence.

She found the three best-looking and healthiest ‘Swan Orchids’ in the backyard, carefully covered them with the glass covers, and dug several narrow trenches underneath for ventilation and watering. Although this wouldn’t achieve perfection, it significantly improved the environmental conditions compared to before.

Facing the three blooming ‘Swan Orchids’, she added more ‘Jade Dew Water’ to ensure the condensation of the ‘Jade Nectar’ resonance.

Afterward, Hylial stood beside the glass covers, gently stroking them with her hand, thinking to herself.

Even if the flowers didn’t bloom with a complete ‘Jade Nectar’ resonance, she wouldn’t feel sad or regretful. This was already the best outcome she could achieve.

However, she still hoped they would bloom perfectly, because she anticipated such a thing happening.

Standing before the ‘Swan Orchids’, the maiden silently prayed.

The autumn wind carried a few fallen leaves into the small courtyard, stirring her soft hair. As the maiden closed her eyes in prayer, the tender green flower buds inside the glass covers subtly unfurled, and the closed buds began to reveal their first tiny crack.

Many thanks to the readers Ninth Heaven, Xietian,

uYexiu, Tu Ya T, You Xie Q, Mrs. Shenqi wants to hug Alice, Salted Fish Cuisine, and others for their generous tips~

(End of Chapter)