The Cornflower Witch Chapter 85

Chapter 85

Blood-colored Berries

“Wuwu, Lia, you’re finally back!”

In the village chief’s room, Talil hugged Hylial and wiped away tears. If this girl hadn’t come back, she wouldn’t have known what to do.

“It’s okay, I’m back,” Hylial said, hugging Talil’s back, comforting her and stroking her hair.

It was indeed her fault. Due to her lack of understanding of her innate abilities, she fell into the Shadow World.

After a long time of catching up, Hylial asked the Old Village Chief how long she had been gone.

“About one day and two nights. I sent many villagers to the mountain to look for you, but they found nothing. If we still couldn’t find you today, I would have had to send people to Burntstone City immediately to notify the important figures,” the Old Village Chief said with a worried expression.

“I’m sorry, Village Chief,” Hylial replied, grateful to the Old Village Chief.

When she first came to this world, she was bewildered and it was thanks to the kindness of the villagers that she was able to integrate peacefully into the environment without any mishaps.

“Alright, it’s good that you’re back. Now Talil and I can finally get a good night’s sleep, hehe,” he said, clearly in a better mood.

After resting another night at the village chief’s house, Hylial and Talil set off the next day to return to Burntstone City.

December was nearing its end, and the assessment day would be in January or February of the new year, leaving Hylial with little time to prepare.

…

Back at Madame Faran’s mansion, Hylial found an opportunity to tell the Madame about her general experience of falling into the Shadow World, but she omitted the part about “Merelankah Praying in the Lake,” as this holy scripture involved many things, and there was currently no record or circulation of the “Silverlight Church” in the outside world, so asking her teacher would be meaningless.

“I didn’t expect you to experience the Shadow World so early this time, and even return unharmed,” Madame Faran said, looking at Hylial with surprised eyes for the first time, making the girl a little embarrassed.

“Your situation occasionally happens in various parts of the continent, but it’s very rare for someone like you to fall into the Shadow World and return on their own.”

“The reason why everyone lives in cities and towns is to use the ritual arrays of the ‘Castle’ aspect to stabilize space and avoid encountering such strange ‘fall’ phenomena,” Madame Faran explained.

“However, after ascending to the next aspect phase, one generally won’t encounter such things,” she continued.

“It’s like using a bamboo basket to sift flour; large particles can’t fall through. High-level aspects can hardly pass through such faint space-time fissures.” Madame Faran seemed to be unaware of the ‘Alien Star’ aspect.

“Have you changed from Jade Nectar to Blood Discipline?” she asked, noticing another interesting detail.

“Uh, yes, because it was too dangerous in there, my previously condensed Jade Nectar class shattered, and I could only temporarily switch to ‘Blood Discipline’ to survive,” Hylial replied sheepishly.

“There’s nothing wrong with Blood Discipline,” Madame Faran said, waving her hand indifferently.

“In the 1st-2nd tier stages, the power of the aspect is unstable, and conversion is not difficult. Many rituals can achieve it.”

“It’s just that these rituals cost resources, and most people can’t afford them.”

“Hylial, do you think there’s a good and bad distinction among Gardeners?” she asked the girl in front of her with interest.

“Can Gardeners be good or bad?” In her impression, the most powerful Gardner, like her mother, almost had the ability to change the local climate and season.

“Of course, it’s like the difference between black witches and white witches,” Madame Faran said, tapping her finger.

“I mean, a small number of Gardeners are particularly adept at combining ‘Blood Discipline’ and ‘Emerald Honey’ to utilize the power of blood pulse.”

“This approach isn’t inherently evil, but some methods are too effective and have been abused, giving it a very bad reputation.”

“What is it?” Hylial wondered why Madame Faran was being so convoluted today, not stating it directly.

“It’s using living people as nutrients, Lia,” Madame Faran said, raising her eyelids to look at the girl.

“A common evil use is to extract the enemy’s blood pulse to nourish the mutated plants in their hands, then condense ‘Scarlet Blood Fruits’. These fruits can strengthen the physique of people who can’t learn breathing methods.”

“A slightly better use is to nourish plants with one’s own flesh and blood, thereby gaining the ability to command a certain peculiar plant as if it were an arm.”

“The highest-level usage is the legendary birth ritual of the ‘Blood Flower Fairy’. This involves nourishing a fresh flower with one’s flesh, soul, consciousness, and everything else. When this flower blooms, the original self will die and disappear, giving birth to a ‘Blood Flower Fairy’ with the memories of the original host.”

“But the two are fundamentally different. The latter merely inherits the memories of the former, and ‘Blood Flower Fairies’ are prone to extremely strange personalities, causing great destruction.”

“Uh, teacher, is there no more benevolent or brighter use?” Hylial felt sick to her stomach after hearing that.

“Hehe, let me think. There actually is a relatively bright use, which is to drip your ‘Blood Discipline’ aspect into a blooming flower, infusing it with ‘Blood Discipline’, and finally producing ‘blood-colored berries’. The juice of these berries can be used as a substitute for your own blood.”

“Some doctors use this method to prepare ‘blood-colored berries’ in advance for warriors in dangerous surgeries.”

“If you don’t plan to continue on the ‘Blood Discipline’ path, I can use this method to remove the ‘Blood Discipline’ aspect from your body and allow you to re-enter the ‘Emerald Honey’ path.”

“Then I’ll choose that.”

She still wanted to continue on the “Emerald Honey” path. As for “Glorious Moon,” she could also cultivate plants in the future to change her aspect and achieve similar abilities.

In the following days, Madame Faran pricked Hylial’s finger with a needle and had Hylial condense and expel a tiny bit of the “Blood Discipline” aspect from her blood to nourish the berry flowers she had prepared.

About three days later, Hylial sat back in her chair with a pale face, having returned to the stage of having no condensed aspect.

“Rest well, Little Lia. I’ll be home these few days, so you don’t have to entertain guests or tend to the flowers,” Madame Faran said, tenderly stroking the girl’s hair.

“Mm.” She drank the “Blazing Sun Flower Tea” Madame Faran had prepared for her, recovering some vitality, and her complexion also regained some color.

Whew, now she had to start over again.

That night, lying on the soft bed by the window, she recalled the past few months, her heart stirred with ripples.

Although she had left her family, her mother, and the familiar world, she had also met many good people: the strict Captain Friein, the kind Scholar Hyde, the graceful Madame Faran, and Winnie, Marilyn, Talil, Van der Heath, and others who had helped her.

This world was indeed dangerous. Whether it was the wild beasts in the mountains, the bandits at night, or the endless monsters under the Twilight Sea, they all threatened many lives. But in this chaotic world, there was also a touch of warmth and faith.

In distant times, the “Silverlight Church” that first explored the Shadow World, the steadfast knights who pioneered land in the barbaric frontier, and the scholars who imparted knowledge—even if they weren’t perfect or selfless, their actions ultimately brought much positive significance to this world.

Just as Scholar Hyde taught her, even if you desire supreme freedom, would you rather swim in a polluted and wicked ocean, or stroll through a colorful sea of flowers?

Would you rather be king among primitive people who are barely clothed and hungry, or be a free member of a wonderful civilized world, witnessing countless sparks of inspiration and the birth of countless novelties?

The Silverlight Church, Knight Holen, and the witches from the founding period of Regas Kingdom had no direct connection to her present, but the traces they left behind gradually changed the world and shaped the life she was living today.

The connection of silk strings, countless subtle accumulations.

Even if the “mycelium” had dissipated, as the oldest aspect, its concept remained the foundation and starting point of everything.

(End of this chapter)