Lily wrapped her wet hair in a towel and returned to her room.
Although she had previously criticized the prince for being too hedonistic, she had to admit that bathrooms were truly... amazing. Enjoying the cool well water showering down on her, sweeping away the stuffiness and stickiness brought by the scorching sun, made her body feel reborn after a busy day.
However, after the refreshing shower, she felt a little guilty. She wondered if she should apologize to His Highness for speaking so quickly that day.
"Traitor!"
"Huh?" Lily lifted the strands of hair sticking to her forehead.
"You clearly said you didn't believe in the small ball theory at all, but now you're the first to evolve a new ability," Miyue knelt on the bed, her upper body upright, pointing her finger at her, "You're a big liar!"
Lily rolled her eyes. "I still don't believe it. Everything is made up of small balls... how is that possible."
"But Nightingale said your magic has condensed."
"It has nothing to do with small balls," she shrugged, climbing into bed and pressing Miyue's hand down, "His Highness said that evolution doesn't necessarily require accepting the small ball theory. As long as you can deeply understand your abilities, your magic can undergo qualitative changes."
"Really?" Miyue pouted.
"That's what he said, anyway."
Lily thought that Miyue was not valued in the Mutual Aid Society, which led to her lack of confidence. Unlike herself, food preservation was a very important ability for the food-scarce Mutual Aid Society. And she could understand how the other felt, because after arriving in Border Town, her ability had become useless, completely unable to be put to use. She had also worried about being kicked out of town, but the result was the opposite of her worries. Although Prince Roland didn't give her extra tasks, his attitude towards her was no different from other witches.
Perhaps this was also the reason why Miyue had changed from being cautious and inferior before, becoming more and more daring. Her timidity was mostly because Hakala had never looked at her properly, and even forbade her from using her abilities in the camp.
"Then..." Miyue frowned, "How can I understand my abilities? His Highness said that magnetic fields are invisible and intangible, and microscopes are useless."
"Don't ask me, I don't understand either," Lily yawned, "In fact, I only know what my abilities look like. I can't understand what His Highness said about cells, bacteria, fungi... He also said he would write a textbook for me," she said helplessly, "Spare me, I haven't even learned all the characters yet."
"I want to become more powerful too," Miyue rolled around on the bed, "I want to do more for His Highness too!"
Lily sighed. She was obviously older than herself, but she acted even younger, really... "Go ask Anna."
"Ask her?" The rolling stopped immediately.
"Yes, aren't you afraid of wasting His Highness's time? Then ask Anna for advice." Lily said, "Besides Roland, she's the most knowledgeable in the whole town."
"But Anna is also very busy. I heard that all the machines in the town are made by her," Miyue hesitated.
"So you can find free time to ask her, such as after dinner, such as asking her to help heat the bathwater, or simply invite her to take a bath together, and then you'll have plenty of time to ask, right?" The little girl offered advice.
"What you said... seems to make sense," her eyes lit up.
"Then go to sleep, we have to get up early tomorrow." Lily untied the towel from her head, wiped it a couple of times, and fell headlong onto the pillow. "Go blow out the candle."
"Well, okay." She climbed to the end of the bed, blew out the candle, "Good night."
...
The next day, Lily didn't go to the kitchen or wheat warehouse to practice her abilities as usual, but sat at the table and began to learn how to use the microscope.
This was the new task assigned by His Highness before the textbook arrived to fully understand the types and shapes of various cells and fungi, and record their differences. It didn't matter if she couldn't write, she could draw them.
And according to His Highness, Anna was still trying to make a microscope with a higher magnification. If she could achieve a magnification of 400 times, she would be able to see smaller microbial bacteria.
The content of future practice would naturally no longer be preservation, but an attempt to diversify the uses of the mother and copy bodies. Lily found this a bit difficult to understand, but fortunately His Highness suggested several directions for practice, such as ordering them to simulate the appearance of a single bacterial cell, or using consciousness to instruct them to destroy or improve cells. Of course, these must be based on a full understanding of various subtle life forms. Although Lily didn't know if she could reach that step, she had to try.
What's more, exploring the unknown world is a very interesting thing in itself.
When evening came, Miyue returned with a frustrated expression.
"What's wrong?" she asked curiously, "Did Anna say anything?"
"She said a lot," Miyue collapsed on the bed, "But I couldn't understand a word. She said that magnetic fields are everywhere, and the compass can point the direction because we are in a huge magnetic field. Doesn't this mean that my ability is useless? Not to mention the principle of magnetic fields, what moving charged small balls and magnetic force are interdependent, and magnetic fields can also generate current... Is it true that I can't progress without understanding the small ball theory?" she muttered in a low voice, "Do you think I'm too stupid?"
"A little." Lily supported her forehead.
"Traitor!"
...
Wendy was very happy that another sister in the Witch Union had gained a new ability.
Moreover, Lily's evolution made the other witches' enthusiasm for learning soar. After the class tonight, some people kept pestering Scroll with questions. Even Maisie, after hearing that learning could increase her own abilities, obediently squatted on the chandelier and listened.
Only one person was excluded.
When she returned to her room with *The Foundations of Natural Science Theory*, Nightingale was趴 on the table, concentrating on整理something.
Wendy knew it definitely had nothing to do with learning.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Dividing dried fish slices, want some?" Nightingale mumbled with a dried fish in her mouth, "Just got them from the kitchen."
"So much?" Wendy looked at the pile of golden-yellow roasted dried fish on the table in surprise. The rich honey scent was overwhelming.
"Yeah, the chef saw that I came every day, so he simply roasted all the remaining ones. Anyway, this stuff can be stored for a long time." She took out a small cloth bag and put a handful of food into it. And there were five or six similar cloth bags on the side of the table, each stuffed full.
Wendy immediately understood what she was doing. This was preparing dry food. Whenever the Mutual Aid Society prepared to leave town, the dry food had to be divided according to the amount and put into the cloth bags they carried with them. No matter how hungry they were along the way, they could only eat the prescribed amount, so as not to run out of food. Since coming to Border Town, with a stable supply of three meals a day plus the frequently held afternoon teas, no sisters had ever done this again.
Of course, for Nightingale, it was more appropriate to say she was preparing snacks than preparing dry food.
"Aren't you reading?"
"Anyway, I can't understand it. I get dizzy just hearing those theories and theorems," Nightingale swallowed the dried fish and smiled, "And my abilities are enough, it doesn't matter if I evolve or not."
So that's it.
Compared to before, Nightingale's eyes were shining at this moment, without reluctance or hesitation, only incomparable naturalness. A confused person couldn't show such an expression, Wendy thought, she had found her goal.
Once Nightingale understood the path she wanted to take, her firm side would be revealed, as it was when she left the aristocratic family, as it was when she faced Hakala, and as it was now.
But Wendy didn't ask, because she believed that one day she would see the answer with her own eyes.