Wilona breathed in deeply and held the air within her lungs. She's gotten herself a new profession, one about alchemy. It didn't do much when it comes to magic, but now that she had it, she thought that spending most of her time learning how to make potions was a bad idea since she could just rely on her system to do all the work for her.

  Fuzz said she was interested in learning about doing it though, so while Wilona may be stuck as a [Novice] alchemist, the myceloid would be able to increase her skill and potentially provide her with more potions in the future.

  It was something that Wilona was excited for, but since it'll be a while before something good comes from that, she's probably going to be neutral towards it when the time comes.

  She'll celebrate with Fuzz when the myceloid shows progress, that's obvious, but like, it won't have the same enthusiasm as she'd have when she still feels excited for all the possibilities of having an alchemist whenever you want. It's a nifty thing, Wilona mused, to feel excited one day and then not the day after.

  Wilona released her breath, then inhaled again. The mana in her lungs gathered every time she repeated the process until she had enough to start infusing it into her bloodstream. Her channels began to surge with mana and she cast a spell, the ball of wind that formed in front of her was an improved version of her barrier spell and she'd been practicing how to use this for some time now.

  Every night she would do this exercise several times, she would start with gathering mana, then using a spell, and after that, spending most of her own mana before repcing it with the raw energy in her lungs.

  This way, she was able to practice her spells and improve her magical capacity since quickly refueling mana channels after they get depleted stops them from getting damaged, and the very little strain that they did get slightly improved them. The changes weren't visible immediately, but after repeating it several times every single night, even Wilona could see the difference.

  She practiced with her barrier spell for a while longer before moving on to work on her fireball. Her wind bdes didn't need to be worked on since they were so simple, and it's not like she doesn't improve her ability to solidify the air while practicing the barrier spell.

  Using fireball was actually so much simpler now that she just ignited the catalyst for the spell using a spark. Fuzz told her to just make it explode from the inside, and Wilona compared it to an engine after that. This resulted in her basically squeezing a tiny part of the catalyst in a small space, which caused sparks to form and light up the catalyst. She also learned that the more she thickened the catalyst, the more powerful her fireball became and the harder it was for her to ignite.

  But that didn't matter when, like, she squeezed a part of the catalyst to make it combust. Like, it's super easy to make a powerful fireball using her method.

  Fuzz was actually shocked to learn that she didn't use her staff to create a stronger version of the fireball since it's standard for mages to have some kind of aid when casting powerful spells. Fuzz didn't ask her more about it and just told her it was impressive.

  And speaking of magical staffs, Wilona actually wanted to make a new one for herself. This time it was going to be a lot more permanent than the one she was currently using, since the materials she wanted to use for the staff were going to be expensive; she wanted to use ironwood, the same ones that the Castorimorphians used to make their spoons and stuff, and then after that, gemstones were going to be the go-to material to act as the support for the staff and hold the pnetary alignment.

  It would have been fine if she stopped there, but she also wanted to enhance the ironwood using alchemy, and before that, she was gonna purify it with fire produced by burning Argent Purgefmes, and when the ironwood was as smooth as steel, she was gonna carve runes into it using Mawferns.

  She was gonna add more of her pnts into the mix, first by pouring mana into it and improving its ability to conduct magic and enhance the runes that she carved. Then to top it all off, she was gonna add a yer of wood from Maliceheart Thorn—a tree that earned its name because people gifted it to the ones they hate.

  It's also fucking small... and the remaining pnt that came out of her magical seed pouch.

  Anyway, what makes Maliceheart Thorn so insulting as a gift is because it's cursed. Its size? Yeah, people thought it was cursed by nature itself, and it's said that before they went extinct, Dwarves used to love the tree because of their "simirities". This was before they went to war with the elves and turned the world miserable for several thousand years thanks to the conflict.

  But besides the love it got from the Dwarves as well as the insulting nature of its existence in general, the tree is otherwise fine and is even used in both alchemy and magical studies.

  What Wilona wanted to use it for was to make it act as a resistor to her staff because the magic that would be flowing through the staff would have several wasted energy if it wasn't contained. It's basically going to be the rubber lining that surrounds a copper wire—it's there to keep the user safe, stop any leakage, and make everything more efficient.

  Right as long as she doesn't add some of its leaves accidentally, everything should be fine!

  Wilona killed her fireball and exhaled. "Fuzz? I'm done with my exercise for the night, open the door please. I want some fresh air."

  She stretched as the moonlight pierced into her home and illuminated the humble space she called her room. It's improved a lot since the first time she moved, that's clear, but it still needs work. It doesn't feel "witchy" enough, but one day, when she finds a spell that expands existing space, it'll work out.

  "How's everything by the way?" Wilona asked as she stepped out. The fresh air felt so nice after staying in such a cramped pce for so long. The fact that it's night is just an added bonus, really. "Like, you have been transferring some of our pnts to the pots, right?"

  All three of them, including Mossheart, built a tiny frame just outside the ent's burrow to hang pottery on. The holes across the wall made pcing things convenient and the magical essence that came out of the burrow enriched the pnts and encouraged their growth.

  Fuzz's humanoid body came into view, her expressionless head moved to nod. "Yes, I've set up several stalks I pruned from pnts with promising features and started selectively breeding them."

  "That's nice," Wilona smiled. Fuzz was weirdly pushy when it came to creating better versions of the pnts they had, and even though Wilona said that it'll take several months for the pnts there to even begin showing any promise, Fuzz argued that it'll also take her that much time to learn how to brew potions better.

  "I am still searching for any of our pnts that have the traits that I want, or maybe they'll come from the pots? I'm not sure," Fuzz shook her head, "either way, once I get my hands on a pnt with improved traits and not just a slight difference in quality, I will selectively breed it until it is as good as it can get in this environment."

  "Can't you just make a greenhouse for that? Or like, set up a pce where you can grow them well or something?" Wilona asked. She waited for Fuzz's reply, but before she got one, another idea popped into her head. "Maybe you can set it up while you're not doing anything?"

  Fuzz had a lot of free time right now, so like, that's something she could do easily. And she also didn't sleep like a normal human so that's double.

  "Hm... I can do that, yes. Set up an area which will complement the growth of the pnts that we have. That way, we can improve them even more. Tell me when you get a book that will help with cultivating pnts. The one that you already have served nothing more than as a guide for foraging."

  Wilona smiled. The mushroom was weirdly passionate about this, huh? She nodded eagerly, "I'll do that, yep!"

  WannabeAlien