Chapter 22: Excessive Use of Magic

Chapter 22: Excessive Magic Usage

Just as the card was about to solidify, Moran felt a wave of weakness spreading from the inside out, and lost consciousness the next moment.

Without a supply of magic, the Book of Cards vanished along with its traces.

Lilith withdrew her hand-chop and caught the fainting Moran: "Good thing my reflexes were quick! Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to get out of bed for a month!"

Supporting the unconscious Moran, she began walking toward her dormitory.

Sylph and Vasita, who were busy clearing weeds in the courtyard, saw them and hurried over to help.

One opened Moran's courtyard gate, while the other helped carry her.

They couldn't help but worry: "What happened to her?"

"She mobilized her magic too rashly without controlling it; the consumption was too high, and she fainted," Lilith said.

Who would have thought that Vasita, who looked like the most accident-prone, would be full of vitality, while Moran, who looked the most steady, would be the one to collapse!

This batch of juniors! One cannot judge a witch by her appearance; they were all reckless in their own way.

At this moment, Lilith couldn't feel at ease with Vasita and Sylph either, so she cautioned them

"The two of you must not be as impatient as Moran when researching your talent manifestations. It is best to wait until after the first week of classes, once you can roughly control your power and have a sense of restraint, before you mobilize magic to research your talent manifestations!

Try your best not to exhaust your magic completely.

Vasita, it's one thing for you since you can replenish yourself by eating with your Devouring Stomach, but Sylph, you must be careful. Once magic is overused and completely depleted, the recovery time increases exponentially, and it will leave your body in a weakened state.

It's also my fault; I was a step too slow with my words, and Moran's magic flowed into the Book of Cards before she could control it.

Fortunately, I stopped it in time, so Moran's magic isn't completely depleted. She'll be fine after some rest, but if she wants to fully recover her magic before Monday, she'll have to suffer a bit."

Vasita and Sylph nodded like pecking chickens; as long as Moran was okay, everything was fine.

However: "Senior, are you saying we can also use magic to research talent manifestations?"

This time, Lilith had learned her lesson. She didn't mention how to do it regardless, only saying

"Once you get your own Witch's Book, find a book called *The Path of the Witch* and you'll know! Understand it clearly before you try; whatever you do, don't be reckless!"

The three of them worked together to get Moran into bed.

"Senior! When will Moran wake up?"

Even though she knew Moran was fine, Vasita was still somewhat worried; Moran's complexion looked truly terrible.

Her dark circles were only slightly lighter than the zombies at her house.

"She spent the whole night researching her talent manifestation last night. I estimate she won't wake up until evening," Lilith said.

"Then I'll come see her in the evening."

Vasita and the others left Moran's dormitory.

By evening, Moran sat up, rubbing her faintly aching back of the head. She jumped in surprise when she saw three dark silhouettes sitting quietly by her bed.

"Moran! You're finally awake!"

"How are you feeling?"

Hearing Sylph and Vasita's voices, Moran's racing heart finally settled: "What happened to me? I remember I was condensing a card..."

She raised her hand to summon the Book of Cards to check the card, but Lilith grabbed her hand

"Stop summoning! You still have a little magic, but it's truly just a tiny bit!

Even though you can summon your talent manifestation, with this little magic, you might run out at any moment, and it won't be as comfortable as it is now.

Don't you feel like you have no strength? That's your body warning you that your magic has reached the danger zone!"

After being lectured earnestly by Lilith, Moran finally understood what had happened: "I'm sorry! I made you all worry."

She had been too eager for quick results; fortunately, she hadn't caused a major disaster.

Seeing that she understood the gravity of the situation, Lilith let go: "As long as you know. Be extremely careful from now on. Aside from having no strength, do you feel any other discomfort?"

"Um... just a bit of pain in the back of my head. Nothing else is a big deal," Moran said.

Lilith looked away guiltily.

It was her first time using a hand-chop to knock someone out, and she hadn't gauged the force correctly; it was a little too heavy.

"You're fine for now since your magic isn't completely depleted. Using this remaining magic as a guide, once you recover a little, the physical discomfort will disappear. Just be careful when using magic."

"Senior! When will my magic fully recover? It won't affect Monday's classes, will it!" Moran asked anxiously.

"If you recover naturally, it will take at least a week! If you don't want it to affect your classes, eat more Bread Fruit in the coming days; it might be possible to return to your peak state."

Seeing that she was indeed nervous about it, Lilith comforted her: "It's fine even if you don't return to your peak state. Magic is of a higher quality than mana. If you recover even ten or twenty percent and are more economical when using magic, it will be enough to handle the upcoming week's classes."

*Gurgle~*

Vasita instinctively covered her stomach, but immediately realized something was wrong: "It's not me! I'm full!"

Moran gave an awkward smile: "It's me."

She hadn't eaten all day; she was hungry.

As she got out of bed, Sylph tried to support her, but Moran waved her off: "It's fine, I'm not that weak yet."

She went downstairs to the storage room, plucked a Bread Fruit from the bunch she had brought back the day before, took a deep breath, and shoved a large bite into her mouth.

The next moment, her face crumpled into a ball.

There was no choice; to recover some magic quickly, she had to eat.

Lilith looked at Vasita—forget it, she was an exception—and then looked at Sylph: "See? This is the price of excessive magic consumption!"

Looking at Moran's expression, Sylph felt a sourness in her own mouth: "I really envy Vasita!"

Moran, for whom chewing Bread Fruit was like torture, deeply agreed.

Under the envious and jealous gazes of the three, Vasita poked her finger: "(*▽*)"

It was too sour. Moran didn't even dare to chew it thoroughly; she took a bite and swallowed it whole with a strained neck. She had only finished more than half when she felt full.

Indeed, she felt her strength returning: "Senior, how much magic have I recovered?"

"Less than five percent!" Lilith delivered the cruel result: "The satiety of Bread Fruit is too strong; you can't eat too much at once..."

Vasita: "???"

"...Except for Vasita!" Lilith added: "The energy level of magic is high, so the amount of magic recovered is also limited. You have to work hard to eat more Bread Fruit to recover faster."

The lights were clearly on in the dormitory, but Moran felt like she was in total darkness—it was so sour!

The day before yesterday, she had thought that although Bread Fruit could restore magic, it was so disgusting that she would never eat it unless absolutely necessary!

When she brought the ingredients back yesterday, she had banished the Bread Fruit to the "cold palace" (the storage room).

Who would have thought that today, not only would she have to eat Bread Fruit, but she would also have to pray that it didn't make her too full so that she could eat more of it.

(End of Chapter)