The Cornflower Witch

Book 2: Chapter 3: Sealing Ability

Vol 2 Chapter 3 Sealing Ability

Early in the morning, Sylutia woke up in bed.

Perhaps because she had just arrived in a new place and hadn't yet adapted to the unfamiliar environment, her sleep was light. She didn't linger in bed, waking up shortly after dawn.

Sitting before the simple dressing mirror, she smoothed out the hair strands that had been bent from sleeping, then got up and rummaged through her luggage to find an early-era white cloth dress to change into.

Walking downstairs, the tall roan draft horse was still kneeling and resting on the ground, with two ponies snuggled close beside it.

Hearing the sounds, the draft horse opened its eyes. Seeing the slender, delicate girl before it, it slowly pushed itself up on all fours, then shook its head. Its thick, dense mane swung through the air with a whooshing sound, and then it let out a loud snort, its rough, warm breath spraying onto the girl.

Mmh, Sylutia covered her nose and took a few small steps back, then approached again from the side.

According to those patrol cavalrymen, this draft horse had a gentle temperament, was easy to tame, and only needed enough fodder and fresh water each day.

She first carried over several blocks of fodder and placed them in the feed trough, then went to the well.

Besides the most traditional method of lowering a bucket to draw water, this well could also use the lever beside it. When pushed, a water pump would pressurize and bring water up.After the water gushed to the surface, it flowed into a large water pool below, which had two additional layers stacked above it, resembling a multi-tiered fountain.

The water that came out first would fill the upper layer, where 'Shadow-Settling Powder' would be placed to coagulate and precipitate the faint 'Distortion' Aspect within the water. Then, the relatively clear well water would flow into the middle layer, undergo another round of precipitation with 'Shadow-Settling Powder,' and finally collect in the bottom pool.

Carrying a wooden bucket, Sylutia drew a bucket of water from the preliminarily purified pool, carried it to the stable, and poured it into the dedicated stone water trough. The draft horse drank the entire bucket in just one gulp.

"This won't do. If this continues, I'll be busy all day just fetching water for you," Sylutia shook her head somewhat helplessly.

She brought over a wooden crate, stood on it so she could easily reach the horse's head, first tried stroking its head to let the draft horse become familiar with her scent, then fed it a few carrots as a treat.

Just as that cavalryman had said, this draft horse was indeed very gentle. When eating the carrots, it used its lips to roll them into its mouth to chew, avoiding biting Sylutia's hand.

After comforting it for a while, Sylutia felt the situation was about right, so she untied the rope and led the draft horse out.

Walking slowly on the grass, following Sylutia to the edge of the water pool, the girl let it drink directly from the pool.

Now, the horse lowered its head into the pool and began drinking heartily, allowing Sylutia to see the water level gradually drop.

After a little while, the draft horse finally drank its fill, and the two ponies that had been sleeping in the haystack also ran over, curiously gathering by the pool's edge.

They drank some too, though the amount was much smaller.

After the horses drank their fill, Sylutia led the large horse across the newly turned soil in the valley. The weeds in the soil, having been separated from water and earth, were gradually dried by the sun, turning withered and yellow.

Walking to the center of this newly cultivated field, the girl squatted down, grabbed a handful of soil, carefully examined it, feeling its moisture and looseness, gave it a slight sniff, then let it go.

The soil also contained some pollution from the Distortion Aspect. She stood up.

Although crops could still be planted here, cultivating high-quality produce would indeed be quite difficult.

No wonder no gardener had taken over this place. Probably knowing the local conditions, they all preferred to work the fields around the fortress—those were already mature, cultivated, purified, and cleared fertile farmland.

She led the horse forward, arriving at a small hillside and stopping.

"From now on, you do your business here. Absolutely do not do it in the stable, understand?" She wasn't sure if the draft horse could understand, but she decided to try training it first.

Afterwards, Sylutia made some gestures, assisting in teaching the tall draft horse. Finally, after a period of confusion, the draft horse understood the girl's meaning. It simply turned around and, on the edge of the hillside, let loose the 'waste residue after food digestion.'

The girl stood waiting at a distance, covering her nose, thinking that placing the stable 100 meters away from the cabin was indeed the correct decision.

The two ponies watched curiously for a while, then also followed the mare's example to relieve themselves here. Afterwards, Sylutia once again led the draft horse back to the stable, letting it continue munching on fodder.

Returning to the bedroom, Sylutia went to the windowsill, where three potted plants covered by glass domes were placed: 'Fire Glow Orchid,' 'Ice Cup Flower,' and 'Swan Orchid.'

She took down the 'Fire Glow Orchid,' carefully transferred it into the lantern, then holding the lantern, walked downstairs.

The turned soil still had residual weeds. Considering the need for pest removal as well, Sylutia decided to first burn this field at high temperature.

When she stepped onto the field ridge, Verdant Nectar power poured into the interior of the lantern. The star-like stamens within the Fire Glow Orchid swayed, emitting ripples of halo-like light.

Afterwards, invisible waves of fire spread outward from the lantern, igniting the dry grass on the ground and quickly sweeping into the distance.

The withered, yellow weeds, once ignited, emitted wisps of bluish smoke. Then flames rose, making faint cracking sounds as the dry material burned, and waves of heat spread out.

Standing at the edge of the field, Sylutia watched the vast scene of bluish smoke and wildfire spreading before her, patiently observing and waiting.

She occasionally supplemented it with several more ripples of fire waves, striving to thoroughly bake this field, killing insect eggs and viruses in the soil.

Around noon, the large fire in the field gradually extinguished, with only some bluish smoke and the residual warmth of charred earth remaining.

...

The next day, Sylutia scattered the seeds, then used the draft horse to pull a water vat filled with fresh water along the field paths. During this, the girl opened the plug at the lower side of the vat, and a slender column of water sprayed out, irrigating the soil and seeds along the way.

Busy with this for nearly ten days, she finally completed the preliminary sowing of this newly cultivated fifty mu of land.

After finishing, Sylutia lay on the bed, not wanting to move at all, only occasionally turning over, her dress and hair tangled together as she continued sleeping. Although farm work was far less intense than combat, it lasted much longer.

That evening, Sylutia specially heated water for herself to take a bath. Sitting in the warm wooden tub, she rested properly for a while.

After finishing the sowing, she finally had a bit of free time and began focusing on her own cultivation and improvement issues.

First, she wanted to test whether she could temporarily seal the abilities in her Fate Plate, freeing up slots.

Sitting in the meditation room, Sylutia closed her eyes, carefully sensing the Fate Plate within her soul consciousness, then activated her innate ability, shifting herself from [Verdant Nectar] to [Alien Star].

A wondrous feeling once again surfaced in her heart, as if she could see many different aspects of this world.

In the Alien Star state, her perception further increased. Not only could she detect faint spatial-temporal gaps, but she could also easily traverse them using the power of Alien Star.

Now, Sylutia slowly opened her eyes. Her originally light blue eyes now seemed to have faint starlight flickering and vanishing within them, appearing incredibly mysterious.

Afterwards, she lightly shifted her feet, and her person directly passed through the wall from the meditation room, arriving in the adjacent study.

The entire process was as simple as breathing, consuming almost no power.

This discovery made Sylutia's understanding of her own innate talent a bit clearer.

After finishing exploring the ability to traverse spatial-temporal gaps, she continued with her previous plan, starting to try and seal the newly learned [Aromatherapy Lv.1].

Within the Fate Plate, the Fate Card [Girl Under the Starry Sky] (First Tier · Alien Star), overflowing with starlight, emitted ripples of halo-like light. Then, following the Fate Plate, it spread towards the [Aromatherapy Lv.1] card in the lower right corner, step by step enveloping and covering it with the power of 'Alien Star.'

After several breaths, a flash of light passed over [Aromatherapy Lv.1]. The flowing star power instantly solidified and congealed, as if coating the card with a film, isolating it from other existences.

Soon, this card adorned and surrounded by intricate flowers slowly separated from the Fate Plate, finally landing on Sylutia's fingertip.

The intangible card carrying a faint aura was held between the girl's fingers. She realized that if she didn't take some measures, the [Verdant Nectar] Aspect power of this card would slowly dissipate.

But as an intangible, non-physical conceptual card, it couldn't be stored like a physical object.

After experimenting several times, Sylutia finally found a place to temporarily store it.

The Fate Card [Girl Under the Starry Sky] at the center of the Fate Plate once again glowed, absorbing this sealed card into itself, then letting it fall into the painting on the card's surface.

On the card's surface, the silver-haired girl still slept, but on the grass beside her, a small, delicate card had appeared. If one observed even more carefully, they would discover that under the place pressed by her sleeve, there was also hidden a book with a white background and silver edges.

『Meleranke Praying in the Lake』

After finishing the sealing, an ability slot on Sylutia's Fate Plate was once again empty, allowing her to begin learning a new ability.