Chapter 49: The Little Witches
About ten days have passed since arriving on Arden island.
The people of Arden are now divided into three groups. Children attend school, adults receive military training, and some women supervise the logging and learn about cooking.
Arden’s little animals haven’t been idle either.
Their current intelligence is almost no different from that of ordinary children, actively participating in the rearing of domestic animals and livestock. They have done a pretty good job and have been rewarded by Bai Luo many times.
On the other hand, Lilith has done enough work for the Ardennes, so in addition to the daily tasks of land cultivation, sowing, and building, she no longer carries out other tasks.
Bai Luo is adamant about training and maintaining the subjective initiative of the Ardennes. They cannot rely too much on the power of miracles.
What’s more, Lilith has a more important job.
Lilith has to teach the girls to tap into the miracle energy within them and awaken its power.
This is Arden’s hundred-year plan!
If every qualified witch could use Lilith’s magic, even if it was far from being comparable to Lilith, it would be an unimaginably huge boost for both Arden and Bai Luo.
Of course, there’s still that prerequisite, the gestation of miracle power needs time, it can’t awaken in such a short time.
In addition, there is good news, that is, the miracle power required for the awakening of the tree elves’ descendants has reached 45%.
Perhaps in another month or two, Bai Luo will be able to completely awaken this race.
At that time, a group of tree elves who have awakened their miracle power… Their combat power must be terrifying. Bai Luo felt that they might even directly surpass the Arden clan.
Without mentioning those far away things, let’s focus on things that are near.
Once the pirates attack, the power of the tree elves’ descendants would be crucial.
Bai Luo wasn’t worried that they would lose. He is worried that some of his people would die.
‘Arden is sparsely populated, losing even one of my subjects would be heartbreaking. ‘
Bai Luo will take action personally, coupled with Shirley and Lilith’s power, the number of those pirates wouldn’t matter. Unless Morgan comes in person, they would kill as many as they come.
“These pirates don’t know about us, so they certainly won’t inform Morgan.”
“As long as we wipe them out, not leaving a single survivor…” Bai Luo said, “We can delay this matter for some time.”
“What is the progress of farmland cultivation?”
Lilith’s speed of developing farmland is exceptional. In just a few hours, she brought 10,000 mu of farmland to Arden Island. (TL: 1 acre equals approximately 6 mu, so if you want the approximate number of acres, you can split the number of mu by 6)
If she had continued working at the same pace for ten days, let alone 10,000 mu, even 100,000, or 1 million mu would have been a breeze.
But after taking ecological issues into consideration, Bai Luo stopped her from continuing to develop the land.
Because the amount of seeds needed for one mu of land is really a lot.
Taking corn as an example, an average of 5 pounds of seeds is needed per mu for sowing, but if it is replaced by potatoes, with tuberous stems cultivation, 300 pounds might not be enough to fill 1 mu of land.
If the basic sacred pouch can be upgraded again, it might be able to produce more seeds.
However, Bai Luo only has 6,500 kilograms of seeds in his hand at the moment, which is equivalent to 13,000 pounds of seeds.
1 to 8 pounds per mu is the requirement for general crops and fruit trees.
Taking just normal seeds into consideration, based on an average of 5 pounds per mu, 2,600 mu of land would require 13,000 pounds of seeds.
Therefore, it’s almost impossible to sow all the farmland at one time by simply relying on the basic sacred pouch.
In desperation, Bai Luo could only sow one mu of land with potatoes, roughly about 500 pounds.
This mu of potatoes isn’t for eating but will be used for cultivating a larger batch of potatoes.
After they get the first yield, they will use it to cultivate more potatoes. The yield of one mu will be planted in ten mu, ten mu to one hundred mu, and then one thousand mu, ten thousand mu, etc…
The process will take about a year or two.
If Arden has about 10,000 mu of potatoes, 8,000 pounds per mu might be a bit exaggerated. After all, Arden doesn’t have that much fertilizer but even if it’s less, it should yield 4,000 pounds per mu. That is forty million pounds of food.
What’s more, this is only 10,000 mu. After Arden island is fully developed, there will be at least 600,000-800,000 mu of land, enough to feed millions of people.
At that time, it would be hard to imagine the extent of population growth Arden would have to experience before food shortage problems emerge.
Of course, it’s naturally impossible to use all of their lands to grow potatoes. Arden isn’t that short of food.
Therefore, they will plant potatoes in only a small part of their land. The same is true of sweet potatoes. Bai Luo plans to sow a variety of diverse crops.
After some thinking, Bai Luo planned to reserve 3000 mu for potatoes, leaving the rest for other grains.
“The seeds aren’t enough.”
Bai Luo carefully calculated and found that the seed problem really isn’t small.
Fortunately, To Bai Luo’s surprise, some of the crops require a rather small amount of seeds per mu.
For example, rapeseed flowers, one mu of land only needs 200g of seeds.
The required tomatoes seeds per mu of land are even less than that of rapeseed flowers, only 80g.
Why waste so many words?
Vegetable oil is an indispensable material for cooking. There’s no need to say more, Bai Luo decided to sow a few dozen mu first.
As for tomatoes, who doesn’t like to eat them? There are many different varieties of them and they are cheap.
As for the fruit forest, Bai Luo wasn’t in a hurry because of their slow growth speed, so for every mu of land that he sowed, he asked Lilith to develop another mu.
She would uproot those tree stumps, then develop the land, transforming it into land suitable for fruit tree planting.
However, they must keep a slow and consistent pace. After all, if the land had been developed but there were no seeds to sow, it would be quite awkward.
Therefore, in the past ten days, the Ardennes have cleared a total of more than 500 mu of mountain forests.
They have planted more than 50 kinds of fruits, such as apples, peaches, pears, tangerine, and mandarine, each having exactly 10 mu, very even.
Unfortunately, some fruits require a specific environment, such as dates and cantaloupe.
However, Bai Luo is really craving some cantaloupe.
So no matter whether it can yield something or not, Bai Luo asked Lilith to plant some of them anyway. This can also be considered the king’s privilege.
Fortunately, Bai Luo didn’t lose his rationality, planting only 1 mu of land.
The Ardennes aren’t short of a mu of land or two.
In fact, no one would say anything even if Bai Luo used dozens or hundreds of mu of land to experiment.
In addition, Bai Luo also planted dozens of mu of watermelon in the fields. When it reaches summer, he can eat the long-lost chilled watermelon.
‘Watermelon ah, really nostalgic. . . ‘
Bai Luo was still rather calm, but Inya, who heard him talk about the deliciousness of watermelons, was dying with anticipation. She ran every day to the orchard and eagerly watched the developing seeds, seemingly unable to wait for the fruits to appear.
Bai Luo really couldn’t bear to tell her,
‘Little sister, watermelon is fine, you can eat it in the summer, but if you want to eat apples, you have to wait five years.’
“Pop! Pop!”
“Your punching posture is wrong, it should be like this.”
“That’s right, that’s the standard,” Noel said, then knocked Abaddon to the ground, a grin etched on his face,
“But you need to be more adaptive.”
“Big Brother Noel…”
Abaddon was speechless. They aren’t practicing actual combat at the moment, “You… You’re cheating!”
“Hahahaha!”
Noel laughed, “Everyone! You should thank student Abaddon for his demonstration.”
“Pam! Pop! Pam!”
At this time, the students were in the midst of their martial arts course.
Everyone is eager to become stronger, so many children signed up, including 6-year-old little girls.
The magic classes and martial arts classes are timed well, so everyone has enough time to attend both. Of course, if they fulfill the requirements of the magic class.
Arden’s wizards mustn’t be weak and fragile.
Bai Luo: ‘If you can’t even use two axes to rampage across the battlefield. Do you have the nerve to call yourself a wizard?’
“Your Majesty?!”
Noel noticed Bai Luo, and the latter quickly said, “Don’t mind me, continue your task of teaching, I’ll just watch for the side.”
“Understood.”
They were in an open space, that is, the school playground, and it wasn’t small, perfect for the students to exercise their martial art skills.
Arden’s martial skills are divided into one-handed swords, two-handed swords, scimitars, daggers, lances, spears, bows, arrows, concealed weapons, etc., and they are taught by different teachers.
However, for the moment, the students are still in the stage of finding the weapons that are suitable for them, so they need to try them all.
When they discover their advantages, they will specialize in one, or a few of them.
“Ding Dong ~ Ding Dong~~”
Soon, it was the end of the class. Cat Lingling, Yiyi, and Erer walked out from the corner.
They stood up, holding a big bell in their hands, and bounced from left and right, shaking the bell at the same time, telling everyone that it was the end of class.
“Class is over!”
“We’ve learned something new today.”
“Let’s spar again.”
“Sure!”
The boys either started playing or continued exercising with Noel, Anderson, and others.
The girls headed to another classroom, where the fairy Lilith would start her magic lessons.
Bai Luo was quite interested, so he followed behind.
“Master?”
Lilith naturally noticed Bai Luo. She wanted to come over to salute but was stopped by him.
Lilith is no longer the naive little fairy she used to be. She has been with Bai Luo for so long, sharing knowledge with him and interacting with various people and things in the world. Therefore, her mind matured at a rapid pace.
Although Lilith’s appearance hadn’t changed much, her mentality is in fact about the same as a 16 or 17-year-old girl.
“No need to care about me, just do your thing.”
Bai Luo found a seat in the back and sat down. He wants to see how Lilith is going to teach her class.
“Everyone doesn’t need to pay attention to me, just concentrate on studying.”
It’s the sixth day since the establishment of the school, and the fifth day since the class officially started.
Bai Luo introduced the seven-day-a-week concept into this world, with classes from Monday to Friday, and self-study classes on Saturday and Sunday, whether it’s raining or shining.
The students gradually got used to this kind of life. It’s , but also quite fun.
The Arden clan and the tree elves’ descendants have a strong desire for knowledge, especially these children. They deeply desire to grow strong and become Arden’s guardians as soon as possible.
However, compared to the martial arts instruction, the magic course is indeed somewhat different.
Since the start of school, five martial arts classes have been undertaken, compared to that, this was only the third fairy magic class.
“It’s time for class.”
“Did you remember the last lesson? I didn’t understand it at all.”
“Quiet! Everyone be quiet!”
“His Majesty came to listen to this class, so you must behave well.”
“…”
The classroom was filled to the brim with more than 40 girls.
The older women and men who had signed up had been dissuaded by Lilith, causing the average age of the magic class to plummet by at least 10 years.
The classroom was structured in an inclined way. From low to high, the further back, the higher it is.
It was constructed in this way to make it easier for everyone to clearly see the teacher’s movements.
Bai Luo sat at the very back and nodded secretly, ‘The view is very clear, and the design is good.’
Only girls under the age of 15 were present.
It was because Lilith told Bai Luo that children over 15 years old have lost the chance to awaken the fairy magic.
Of course, the 15-year-old here is relative. It should be more than just the physical aspect.
For example, there are many children over the age of 120 amongst the tree elves, but Lilith seems to believe that they still have the hope of awakening.
Bai Luo: ‘It’s really a world that looks at appearances’
Inya, who wasn’t present: ‘Am I not 15 years old?’
“Welcome everyone to my class, I’m your teacher, the fairy Lilith.”
While Bai Luo was lamenting, Lilith had already started her class. She waved her wand around, causing her palm-sized body to bloom with brilliant light.
“Whoa!”
As a light mist flashed by, a 150cm tall girl appeared in front of everyone.
This is the Transfiguration spell, it only changes the form of things. In this case, her body size.
In essence, Lilith is still the same little fairy.
“This is our third class.”
“Last time, I introduced you to the fundamentals of fairy magic. Can anyone tell me the content of our previous class?”
Lilith shares a lot of knowledge with Bai Luo, so her teaching method is deeply influenced by Bai Luo’s past life impressions and memories
“Swish!”
In the classroom, Ersa was the first to raise her hand.
“Very well, Ersa?”
“Magic is the product of the power of miracles, and it will only bloom in a few people,” Ersa seriously said.
“The power of miracles will only respond to us if our hearts are aligned with our king’s.”
“Nevertheless, different people have different aptitudes in fairy magic.”
“Talent affects the upper limit of achievement, but hard work is the crucial factor in determining one’s height,” Ersa continued,
“If one only relied on their talent without committing to any hard work, no matter how extraordinary their talent is, it would be fruitless.”
“Excellent!”
Lilith’s favorite student is Ersa,
“Unfortunately, this place isn’t called Hogwarts, and the teachers here don’t have the right to give students’ points. Otherwise, I would have given you 10 extra points, Ersa!”
“Thank you, Miss Lilith.”
Ersa is a good student, well-behaved, sensible, and very motivated. Bai Luo saw the potential of a top student and an overachiever in her.
“Now, everyone look at this.”
Lilith raised her hand, causing many wands to appear in the air. They were only about 30 centimeters long and floated upside down in front of Lilith.
Each wand is exactly the same, without any difference.
In the basic stage of learning fairy magic, there’s no need for too much individuality, universal use is the key.
“This thing is called a wand.”
Lilith waved her hand, and all the wands slowly flew in front of the girls. The handle of the wands was pointed at the girls, signaling them to hold the wands.
“It’s a prop I specially made for you. It can resonate with my miracle power.”
Naturally, the wand isn’t a miracle item. It’s more like a tool made of materials affected by miracle power. It contains a certain amount of miracle power.
“The magic power in your body (Lilith’s miracle power) is limited in quantity. And due to its small amount, it would be difficult to directly release magic at this stage.”
“The wand is like a guiding tool, it’s similar to a pipe, connecting the magic power inside your body and the outside world.”
This pipe can allow girls to release magic properly, in other words, it gives them the ability to cast magic spells.
“In addition to this, I have invented an auxiliary concept called ‘incantations’.”
“Leviosa!”
Lilith muttered a very odd syllable, but Bai Luo understood its meaning the moment he heard it,
“The purpose of this incantation is to make things float.”
“Snap!”
Lilith snapped her fingers, causing a large number of leaves to fly in from outside, then transform into feathers,
“Today’s class isn’t about theory, but about practice.”
“I’ll give everyone 10 minutes to recite the incantation I just said, and make the feathers in front of your float.”
“Everyone! wait a minute.”
Lilith stopped the eager children, and said,
“Remember that the release of magic spells has nothing to do with gestures and movements themselves, their purpose is only to mobilize the magic power within you.”
“What’s more important is to build up the determination and will to achieve something in your heart.”
“I want to do it! I have to do it! I feel that I can do it!”
“Only then will the magic within you help you realize your wishes and desires.”
“Okay, remember my words.”
“Everyone can start now.”
As soon as Lilith’s voice sounded, the young girls began their first spellcasting.
“Lefaso, Lefsao!”
“Levita, Levita!”
“…”
Their pronunciation was horrible.
Of course, the spell incantation is certainly not in Chinese. However, listening to the group of young girls struggle to pronounce such a sentence was quite awkward. It is like listening to a group of foreigners pronouncing mandarin words.
“That’s not how incantation is pronounced.”
Lilith immediately came forward to correct their pronunciation,
“Look at the movements of my lips… Leviosa.”
The incantation she created has the effect of resonating with the wand.
Although not necessary, chanting the incantation will definitely make spellcasting easier for beginners.
Once the children’s attention can be thoroughly focused, the incantation is actually optional. It doesn’t affect the power or effectiveness of the magic.
“Leviosa.”
Just when Lilith was about to speak again, a cold and clear voice sounded.
Lilith felt the fluctuations of miracle power and quickly looked over.
“Very good!”
Lilith shouted happily, “You did it, Ersa!”
The children raised their heads at the same time and looked at Ersa’s seat, only to see a feather floating with Ersa’s wand, slowly moving up and down, left and right under her control.
“It’s really possible!”
“Magic, we, we can really learn magic!”
Ersa’s success did not elicit the envy of the children. Instead, it seemed to set a good example for everyone.
Since Ersa can do it, then even if they aren’t as talented, they would be able to do it sooner or later, right?
Most importantly, fairy magic can indeed be imparted to others. This alone is enough to make the children and even Bai Luo very happy.
“Clap! Clap! Clap!”
Bai Luo got up and applauded Ersa, “Little Ersa, well done!”
“Thank you, Brother Bai Luo.”
Ersa was also very happy, causing her to mistakenly use the wrong address, “Ah, no! I, well…”
“It’s not a problem.”
The closer the Arden clan is to him, the happier Bai Luo felt,
“In front of outsiders, just give me some face, but in private, the closer the better.”
“Everyone!”
Bai Luo loudly said, “You can see that Ersa has successfully cast a magic spell.”
“Fairy magic can be learned, Ersa is the best example, so everyone mustn’t slack off. Keep working hard, listen to teacher Lilith’s instructions, learn magic as soon as possible, and become the little witches of Arden!”