The Cornflower Witch

Book 2: Chapter 19: The Moon's Distant Echo

Vol 2 Chapter 19 The Moon's Distant Echo

When she first arrived there had been only a single carriage, but this time she returned with a long convoy. It included stone masons contracted for construction tasks from the Stone Mason's Guild, attendants from the bakery, and several Patrol Cavalrymen.

After returning to the valley, Sylutia first had the bakery staff unload the stored 2,400 jin of wheat and handed it over on the spot for them to transport away.

Then the guild masons surveyed the valley, picked a spot on a cliff face to excavate, and quarried large blocks of stone to use as materials for building a windmill.

Because many guild members were Transcendent, their efficiency far exceeded that of ordinary people. Quite a few were apprentices of the Castle Aspect, so when they built the windmill they engraved special patterns into it, allowing the windmill to form a small, stable formation that prevented other creatures from approaching and offered some resistance against Distortion corrosion.

Once the windmill was built, they cleared a large flat area around it, laid flagstones, filled the cracks with limestone plaster, and finally coated the surface with a special gray mortar. Once dried, it became exceptionally hard, similar to the cement Sylutia remembered.

This area could later be used for drying and threshing, or as a plaza.

Next came the toads’ living quarters. Their previous huts had been too crude and were built crookedly from wood by the toads themselves.

Now the houses were standardized and even included a proper kitchen, dining hall, latrines, and a bathhouse so that if humans ever lived there it would be reasonably comfortable.

Lastly came the warehouses. At Sylutia’s request, three warehouses were constructed in the valley: one carved into a mountain cave, one partially buried beside the windmill, and another large cellar next to Sylutia’s residence with an interior space about half the size of a football pitch.Finishing all the construction took nearly a month and cost 120 gold coins. Although expensive, the quality was excellent, far above surface standards.

During the construction period, the new round of wheat in the valley gradually sprouted and grew lush.

…

After sending off the Stone Mason's Guild members, the valley returned to its quiet state.

Today Sylutia wore a black dress that contrasted sharply with her pale legs as she sat on her bed and counted how much money she had left.

When she arrived, Lady Franne had given her 200 gold coins, an enormous sum for her at the time. In a place like Scorchstone City, that could have allowed someone to live comfortably for decades.

But after coming to the Hidden Grove, expenses had quietly increased.

First came the complete set of seeds, which cost 50 gold coins. That price was a bit high—probably because the local guilds knew the apprentices in the Camel Tower weren’t short of money and deliberately quoted a higher rate. Then, in previous months she had hired toads and bought food utensils, costing 8 gold coins. That expense had been worth it; most of it had been put to use.

Additionally, selling wheat to the bakery recently earned her 96 gold coins. Building the windmill and other structures cost 120 gold coins, so those two items basically balanced out, leaving her effectively 24 gold coins spent, with 118 gold coins remaining.

Other small miscellaneous expenses—renting a post station in the city, meals, and so on—were not included in that calculation but together didn’t exceed 1 gold coin.

She put the remaining coins away, hugged her pillow, rolled once on the bed to soothe her petty-money worries, then leaned on the pillow and took a short nap.

In the afternoon, Sylutia tried on the apprentice robe issued in the supplies. She had to admit the outfit was well designed. The robe was slightly loose to fit most body types, and the waist had a wide girth strap that both secured it and showed the curve of her figure. The side openings allowed large movements without constricting the legs.

The material was a special cotton-linen fiber that was exceptionally tough and likely not made from ordinary plants. Ordinary swords would find it hard to slice through unless they were finely crafted blades or blunt weapons were used.

It was even better quality than the set Lady Franne had given her.

As for the light armor, the tough leather plates were about one centimeter thick. Even a Black Steel Short Sword could only make a rather shallow wound, giving it excellent defensive performance. Once donned and adjusted with lacing between the plates for a snug fit, it did not hinder movement. The overall color was dark brown, and the style was crisp and practical.

With this light armor, facing most First Tier beasts would greatly improve survival rates, and it would still provide good defense against Second Tier opponents.

Seeing this, Sylutia thought that if she fully equipped herself she should be fine exploring the Shadow World’s secret realms.

Her original plan had been to travel to the frontier garrison after reaching Second Tier, but she did not want to progress too quickly. The valley’s operations hadn’t even been running for half a year; it was far from the time to leave.

At the very least, she would wait until this batch of wheat matured before setting off to attempt Second Tier apprentice tasks.

After trying everything on, Sylutia took off the light armor, dressed in the more comfortable apprentice robe, and stepped out of the room.

The valley remained peaceful. The wheat in the nearly one hundred mu fields was healthy. Right now, a group of toads were watering the crops according to Sylutia’s instructions.

Of course, they didn’t pour the water directly on the plants; they poured it into the channels beside the fields so the water would flow naturally along the irrigation ditches and seep into the soil through tiny gaps on either side.

After they finished watering, Sylutia inspected the fields and used her gardener ability to groom the wheat along the way so it would absorb moisture to the right degree.

This ensured consistent growth conditions across the fields and kept all crops in optimal condition.

After several rounds of this back-and-forth, Sylutia finished today’s field care tasks and returned to her room to rest.

She read some idle books for a while, then thought about what she should learn at this stage.

She realized she had never taken a course at the association, which offered many teachers and classes that could be attended by spending points rather than extra money.

Currently she lacked an offensive method. The Flower Blooming Method was good, but it was a wide-area impact; against a single powerful foe it wasn’t very effective.

Also, her First Tier Fire Glow Orchid was beginning to lag behind Second Tier opponents. She needed a more powerful plant or to further cultivate the Fire Glow Orchid to Second Tier.

Ascending the Fire Glow Orchid would not be easy and probably required special techniques. Since Lady Franne was not present, Sylutia could only make a note to ask again when she returned to White Stone Fortress.

Meditation was another matter. First Tier abilities generally did not demand much mental power, but as tiers increased, stronger spells and abilities required far greater mental control and guidance.

Meditation could raise mental power. It looked like she needed to learn a Meditation Method as well, Sylutia noted.

At that moment she remembered the purple gem the witch had given her after the assessment; a Meditation Method was engraved inside it.

Should she use it? The idea tempted her.

She took the deep purple gem from its box, rested it lightly against her forehead, felt its rhythm, and sank into immersion.

It was like entering a half-dream, half-awake state. A strange coolness spread across her forehead, then a black world unfolded.

According to the gem’s rhythm, she needed to prepare suitable incense, enter a full meditative state, and then simulate phantasms from nightmares, overcoming and defeating them repeatedly. That would improve one’s past fears and increase a certain amount of mental power.

If someone did not possess the Nightmare Aspect, they would need Nightmare-Attracting Incense to practice, and that incense was not cheap—about one gold coin per stick.

Never mind. These mid-tier Meditation Methods delivered good effects but required many conditions. She decided to try a more basic Meditation Method first.

Sylutia flipped through her previous notes and recalled knowledge from Meleranke Praying in the Lake, which also recorded Meditation Methods.

[Meditation Method]: A Meditation Method usable by all three moon Aspects. Practitioners of other Aspects can study it, but it cannot raise the practitioner’s primary Aspect tier.

Luminous Moon, Mist Shadow, and Nightmare are all strong in the mental domain. Transcendents of other Aspects often had to cultivate them as a foundation in the early stages before learning specialized Meditation Methods for their own Aspects.

As a girl favored by Luminous Moon, she naturally chose Luminous Moon as the foundation for this Meditation Method. Before learning, she first removed Flower Blooming Method Lv.3 to free up an Ability Card slot.

At night Sylutia opened the window to let moonlight spill onto the floor.

She laid a soft blanket on the ground, knelt on it under the moonlight, closed her eyes, and focused, sensing the faint lunar radiance.

Following the Meditation Method’s instructions, she concentrated her mind and began to sketch the moon in the sky.

The outline of the moon…

The color of the moon…

The details of the moon…

The scars on the moon…

As the moon she constructed in her mind became clearer and more real, her consciousness began to echo with the moon in the night sky. A faint halo glimmered on her skin.

Finally, a bright moon formed in the sea of her consciousness. The spiritual power used to construct the moon poured moonlight back into her, then slowly returned to her sea of awareness.

Through that cycle, her mental power was slightly refined.

(Meditation Method loop complete, Progress +24)

The whole process encountered no obstacles; it felt like some kind of muscle memory, and she naturally completed a cycle.

After a while, when her sea of consciousness calmed again, she opened her eyes.

Half an hour had passed. Her mental power increased by about 1% during this meditation. Sylutia didn’t know whether that speed was fast; perhaps increasing mental power was really a slow, grinding process.

[Meditation Method Lv.1] (Luminous Moon): Bathed in moonlight, you sketch the moon’s image, and your spirit is refined in the process.

However, just as Sylutia thought the training had ended, another cool sensation began to circulate in her body.

(Lunar Radiance Breathing Technique loop complete, Progress +24)

(Sylutia's Clear Spring familiarity increased, Progress +12)

Could all three be trained and improved simultaneously? Sylutia found it incredible. Heide had once taught her that practicing multiple abilities at the same time easily led to power disorder, greatly increasing the chance of failure and backlash.

On the Fate Plate tied to her soul consciousness, three Luminous Moon Aspect Ability Cards shone in resonance. The faint lunar radiance around them spread toward the center of the Fate Plate, attempting to turn the Fate Card Maiden Surrounded by Alfalfa from Verdant Nectar into Luminous Moon.

The lone Fate Card Maiden Surrounded by Alfalfa could only resist this invasion by itself. Fortunately, it was already Second Tier and especially solid, not something that could be easily changed. The verdant vines surrounding the card intertwined silver and green, but the silver lunar radiance could not enter the card’s interior.

Seeing this, Sylutia couldn’t help but press a hand to her forehead, feeling like a mother watching several kids fight—she didn’t know whom to help.

Suddenly she had an idea. With a thought she flipped the Fate Card in the middle and transformed it into a same-tier Alien Star Fate Card.

Maiden Surrounded by Alfalfa (Second Tier · Verdant Nectar) → Maiden Surrounded by Starlight (Second Tier · Alien Star)

The alfalfa that had wrapped around it dissipated. The girl on the card was bathed in a sky full of starlight, and the Luminous Moon Aspect that had extended toward it was entirely absorbed and then transformed into brilliant stars that bloomed one by one in the night sky.

Alien Star did not fear such invasion. Or rather, Alien Star might be the most invasive Aspect. Even Distortion was a special Aspect brought about by Alien Star.

If the Phantasmal Moon split into three Aspects, with Luminous Moon as the primary inheritor, then Alien Star could also be a fragment split from some original Aspect. Alien Star, Distortion, and another unknown Aspect—these three were all star-related Aspects.

Sun, moon, and stars—the three great attributes and nine Aspects in total—this accounted for half of all Aspects. They are the origin of many spells: without physical form, these invisible rules still influence the world’s operations.