The third witch was called Hummingbird, a petite witch, just like her nickname suggested. She seemed more reserved than the other witches when asked about her abilities. She had just come of age this winter. Her symmetrical dimples, delicate features, and soft voice made her exceptionally adorable.
Her ability was to "Lighten Objects." After attaching magic to an object, she could greatly reduce its weight, almost to zero, according to her. Roland had Hummingbird demonstrate with her own teacup on the spot and found that the cup could almost float in the air—meaning its weight was roughly equal to that of air. Of course, in the eyes of people of this era, air had no weight.
It seemed that this was the reason why the Witch Cooperation Association could cross the Western Region of Graycastle without supplies. With the help of the young girl, bags of wheat and dried fish could be easily carried on their backs. Only a few people were needed to carry large quantities of supplies, which could greatly reduce logistical pressure.
Although Hummingbird was an adult, she had not developed any branch abilities. Her main ability required contact with the target to cast, was ineffective on living things, and the larger the object, the longer the transformation time and the more magic it consumed. Once the transformation was complete, it could last for several hours.
This ability seemed very suitable for the transportation industry and could be very useful in the upcoming war, but there were too many unknown factors, and further testing was needed to determine its potential.
Roland wrote at the bottom of the parchment: Practice using stones of different weights as targets, control the magic output, and make the effective time and failure time precisely controllable.
After dealing with the training plans for the three, he asked the servant to add a new candlestick to make the room brighter. But even so, reading and writing under the flickering orange-yellow candlelight was still an eye-straining task.
Roland yawned and spread out the parchment containing information about the fourth witch.
The fourth witch unusually had a surname, named Suoluo Ya. Zuoen (Soroya Zuoen), from a merchant family in the Graycastle royal capital, with short curly brown hair and slender eyes. The few freckles dotting her nose not only did not detract from the overall beauty, but also gave her a unique youthful vitality.
Soroya had just turned nineteen, and her ability was also very special. After adulthood, she could faithfully draw the people and scenery she saw or imagined. Coupled with the branch ability "Magic Pen," she could draw photo-like images without the need for pigments or paper.
The uses for this camera-like ability were countless. As for training, he would have her draw a few pictures every day.
He then pulled out the next piece of paper.
The fifth witch was called Huiyin (Echo), a woman from the extreme southern region, tall, with coffee-colored skin, and eyes and nose with typical Sandfolk features, full of exotic flair. According to her, after awakening, she could initially imitate the calls of animals, and after adulthood, she could imitate any sound exquisitely, with no branch abilities.
Roland named her ability "Illusionary Voice," and hadn't thought of a use for it yet. Training requirements... just shout a few times.
The sixth witch who was questioned was Lili (Lily). She was only sixteen years old, with two pigtails, and her face was as delicate as a doll. She looked a bit stiff when she saw him. Her ability was to prevent food from spoiling. Having only awakened as a witch a year ago, she was already the most popular character in the Witch Cooperation Association—without preservation abilities, many foods would spoil and mold on the road. Lily, along with Hummingbird, supported the logistics of the Witch Cooperation Association.
As for whether this preservation ability was achieved by killing bacteria with magic, it remained to be tested. Roland decided to have her practice with various meats and fruits and test the longest preservation time when magic was exhausted.
He rubbed his sore neck and stacked the information of these six witches. Only the last piece of parchment was left on the table.
This was also another surprise that Roland discovered after Yezi (Leaf).
The seventh witch: Miyue (Mystic Moon).
She seemed very nervous when she walked into the office. Ye Ying (Nightingale) comforted her for a while and specially explained the reason in his ear.
It turned out that Miyue's ability was considered the worst in the camp, almost useless. She was only assigned simple manual labor.
Plus, she was often blamed by Hakala (Hakarra), which made her act timidly, fearing that Roland would dislike her for being useless and drive her out of Border Town.
Her main ability was to magnetize objects. Before adulthood, it was limited to metal objects, but after adulthood, any object in her hands could become magnetic. There were no branch abilities, and magnetization required contact with the target and was extremely slow. According to her, it took half a day to magnetize a foot-square stone.
This was indeed not very useful for the Witch Cooperation Association. Magnets were nothing new. Ships sailing between fjords and the mainland were equipped with navigational needles for pointing. There were many landmarks on land, so there was no need for such things to quickly find the direction. On the contrary, magnetized objects would cause trouble for everyone. For example, iron pots and utensils lightened by Hummingbird would accidentally fly towards Miyue, so that Hakarra forbade her from using her power in the camp.
But for Roland, this taciturn girl was simply a priceless treasure sent to his door.
This was why he wanted to hum "super-star"—was there a more appropriate lyric than "You are electricity, you are light"?
Magnetism generates electricity, and electricity generates magnetism. This was knowledge that any engineering dog was familiar with. He thanked Faraday, Gauss, Ampere, and Maxwell in his heart. With electricity, there was light. Perhaps before long, he could show another miracle in his territory.
A witch who was forbidden to use her abilities still survived the demon's devouring, which showed that although she was self-deprecating and introverted, her will was not fragile. At least her desire to survive was stronger than most people. Roland secretly rejoiced that she had joined the Witch Cooperation Association for less than a year, otherwise, over the years, she might have been buried alive by Hakarra.
With a stroke of his pen, he set Miyue's training for the next few days to magnetize various objects and determine the relationship between magic consumption and the strength of magnetism.
With these seven witches, Roland's witch lineup suddenly increased to twelve. After seeing so many samples, he had a general understanding of the forms of magic expression. The traditional classification of combat and non-combat types was unreasonable. He preferred to divide them according to the characteristics of the abilities themselves. Comprehensively, the witches' main abilities could be roughly divided into three categories.
The first category was self-enhancement. This type of ability was very rare. So far, only Juan (Scroll) belonged to this category. As a passively effective ability, it was not affected by God's Stone of Retaliation. Even when wearing God's Stone of Retaliation, she could still have a photographic memory.
The second category was summoning. Anna, Ye Ying (Nightingale), Nana Wa (Nanna Wea), Lightning, Wendy, Yezi (Leaf), Suoluo Ya (Soroya), Huiyin (Echo), and Lili (Lily) all belonged to this category. The characteristic was that magic could take effect away from the user—although this distance was limited to within five meters. Summoning witches' abilities were the most varied and were most affected by God's Stone of Retaliation. Once entering a magic-forbidden area, any effect produced by magic would disappear. However, the results caused before the ability was stopped were permanent and irreversible.
The third category was enchantment. For example, Hummingbird and Miyue. The magic was cast through contact with the target. The transformation process was slow, the magic consumption was quite large, and it would be interrupted by God's Stone of Retaliation. However, once the transformation was complete, it became an inherent property of the object and was still effective in the magic-forbidden area. Enchantment was time-sensitive, and the duration depended on the object's volume and the user's own magic status.
This was probably why God's Stone of Retaliation could not eliminate magic backlash, he thought. God's Stone of Retaliation did not affect the gathering and flow of magic, it affected the process of magic transforming into abilities. In layman's terms, it targeted the client-side, not the back-end data.
Roland put down the quill and rubbed his eyes. No matter what, he would be busy again in the future. (。)