Chapter 26: Aileen’s Excitement

Aileen didn’t look like a noble magic apprentice at all. She was dark and skinny, and her snow-white apprentice’s robe was worn out from washing.

She had few friends, as most people didn’t like to associate with her.

Because her thoughts were always so peculiar.

When everyone at Felix Magic Academy was mocking Ajef for using the academy’s resources to cultivate crops, she was the only one who felt joy in her heart.

No one knew that she chose to study Wood Spirit magic not because of its practicality or economic value.

But because she wanted to cultivate crops.

In the academy’s magic apprentice records, it was stated that her mother died of dysentery.

But only she knew that her mother died of hunger, caused by eating unidentified weeds in desperation, which eventually led to dysentery and death.

Hunger was a distant concept for most magic apprentices.

But she knew it was a torment that lasted through countless days and nights.

Her mother once boiled stones in an empty pot, just to make her and her brother fall asleep while waiting.

After unexpectedly becoming a magic apprentice, she devoted most of her spare time to the research and cultivation of crops.

But unfortunately, her results were very limited.

She could make a grain sprout and bear fruit in a single day, even producing seeds larger than a fist, or grafting seven or eight types of fruit onto a single tree.

But what was the use of that?

Without the support of magic, all of this was like a mirage, painfully illusory.

She wanted to solve the food problem, but she didn’t even know where to start.

She wandered in confusion time and again, and the memory of her mother’s dying moments reminded her every day that her life was traded from the hands of the god of death.

So when she heard that the mysterious Ajef was going to cultivate crops, she was so excited her eyes turned red.

After the gathering ended, she immediately summoned the Internet and began to write down all her insignificant and clumsy insights from over the years, bit by bit.

She wrote deep into the night.

After carefully reading through what she’d written several times and correcting any typos, she sent it to Ajef. But she suddenly blacked out, feeling dizzy, and almost fell to the ground.

Logging into the Internet for such a long time had severely depleted her soul power.

She quickly sat down to meditate, recovering some of her soul power after a long while.

Despite the hunger in her stomach, she hurriedly reopened the Internet, but a flash of disappointment crossed her face.

Ajef had not replied to her message.

A look of self-mockery appeared on her face.

Of course, if even her friends didn’t agree with her ideas, how could she expect to be noticed by a big shot?

Forget it! Admit it! You’re just a dispensable magic apprentice.

If cultivating crops were so simple, would they still look the same after thousands of years?

Thinking of this, Aileen lay down on the couch in despair, burying her head in the pillow. Faint moisture gradually soaked the pillowcase.

She tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep.

The next day, Aileen, barely maintaining her energy through meditation, forced herself to act normal and went to class.

After finishing her regular magic classes, she returned to her private dormitory, secretly used Wood Spirit magic to cultivate some fruit to fill her stomach, and began her training.

In the afternoon, she went to the Forest of Magic on time.

Just like yesterday, Ajef stood calmly on the platform, asking all the magic apprentices to sign a confidentiality contract.

To this end, he had prepared a huge contract scroll.

After all the magic apprentices had taken turns to sign their names on the contract scroll, he said, ‘Before formally assigning the experimental tasks, I have something to say.’

He paused and said, ‘Who is Aileen?’

Aileen trembled all over. It wasn’t until the classmates beside her looked over that she hurriedly raised her hand and said, ‘I-I am, Mr. Ajef.’

‘Come forward.’

‘Yes!’

Under the gaze of countless classmates, her slightly dark face blushed as she quickly walked toward the platform.

‘Mr. Ajef!’

When she got closer, she respectfully nodded, her heart pounding. She didn’t know why Ajef had called her.

‘Yesterday, I said that anyone who had thoughts or suggestions about the experiment could send them to me privately. Aileen was the only one who did so, and she did a very good job. Now it’s time for me to fulfill my promise of a reward.’

As he spoke, Yu Sheng’an made a grabbing motion in the air, pulling out a Magic Wand from his space ring, and handed it to Aileen. ‘Here, this is your reward. I read your insights, and they were very good. Very thoughtful. Are you interested in becoming my assistant?’

‘Wow—!’

At that moment, the entire hall erupted in astonishment.

All the magic apprentices were captivated by the Magic Wand in Yu Sheng’an’s hand.

It was a wand made of dark red wood, and the natural wood grain formed Magic Seals that made it irresistible!

The most jaw-dropping part was the dark red gem embedded in the crown of the wand, where magic power churned like thick smoke.

This was a high-level Violet Snowwood Magic Wand!

The wand used by the academy’s Archmagister Ferguson was also a Violet Snowwood Wand!

Everyone was stunned by Ajef’s generous gift.

Even though some smart individuals guessed this might be a tactic to encourage others, they still regretted not participating.

If only they had known Ajef was this generous, they would have at least written some thoughts and suggestions!

Even if they didn’t get the Violet Snowwood Wand, getting a slightly lower-tier wand would still be an invaluable treasure.

While the other magic apprentices were filled with regret, Aileen’s attention was caught by Yu Sheng’an’s last sentence.

‘An assistant? Mr. Ajef, am I capable? I-I… I’m just a magic apprentice.’

‘You don’t believe in my judgment?’ Yu Sheng’an asked in return.

‘No, no…’ Aileen’s dark, skinny face turned red as she quickly nodded, ‘I am willing, Mr. Ajef.’

‘Wonderful!’

Yu Sheng’an patted Aileen on the shoulder and pressed the wand into her hand.

The warm, jade-like texture of the wand made Aileen’s heart flutter for a moment. Was this… the first time in her two years at Felix that someone so important had praised and valued her?

She bit her tongue to hold back the hot tears in her eyes, bowing politely and then standing behind Ajef, listening to his instructions for the experiment.

After a while, Ajef finished giving instructions and led the magic apprentices into the basement of the Forest of Magic.

As expected, the magic apprentices who entered the basement were shocked by the strange style of the experimental facility.

However, they had no time to be surprised, as tasks were immediately assigned to them.

Ajef’s assignment was very simple.

He divided all the magic apprentices into several small groups.

Each group was given different crop seeds to plant in microgravity glass containers.

He asked the magic apprentices to use Wood Spirit magic to rapidly cultivate these seeds to maturity, documenting their growth process and uploading it to the group.

To be honest, this magic experiment was beyond all the magic apprentices’ expectations.

It was… way too basic!

Is this even an experiment?

This is practically a vacation!

For context, when their mentors used to draft them for magic experiments, those were the real challenges.

One of the tasks might be cutting different plants in half and grafting them together to try and cultivate a plant with multiple traits.

Another task could involve stripping certain functions from plants while purely enhancing other functions.

Some extreme mentors even went so far as to cruelly plant seeds inside animal bodies to study destructive Wood Spirit magic.

In comparison, Ajef’s task of simply speeding up crop growth was child’s play.

However, as the students planted the seeds in the microgravity glass containers and began quickly inducing the plants’ growth, a shocking scene occurred.