“Mama...” She finally squeezed out a broken syllable, like a drowning person's first breath upon breaking the surface. “Mama!”
“It's alright... Mama is fine now.” Benita gently stroked Phelin's back. The girl's shoulder blades protruded like a pair of underdeveloped wings, yet they had carried the heavy burden of caring for her mother.
Phelin finally burst into loud wails. It was as if a dam had suddenly collapsed, her crying completely chaotic, snot and tears smearing her entire face, yet her small hands refused to let go of her mother's clothes.
Wu Yao had still been pondering how to improve her spell structure, but the moment the crying started, she shuddered. She walked out to the main room in a few steps and saw Phelin crying in a wretched state.
Logically speaking, since the NPCs were diligently playing out a touching mother-daughter scene, she should have joined in and shed some tears.
But Wu Yao had never been one to immerse herself in a game's story, so she naturally wasn't affected by how realistic and vivid these NPCs were.
She stood at the doorway, laughing uproariously as she watched Phelin blow a massive snot bubble.
It wasn't until Phelin's Affection rating above her head dropped from 85 to 82 that Wu Yao restrained herself slightly and turned back into her room.
Sigh, this is the downside of NPCs being too intelligent.
The next morning, Phelin was awakened by rustling sounds in the yard.
She rubbed her eyes and went outside, only to see Wu Yao squatting in their herb field, holding a freshly dug-up Peace Flower in her hand. Her mother was standing beside her, speaking in a soft voice.
“Lady Wu Yao, at your rate of learning, there won't be anything left for me to teach you regarding Herb Gathering in three days.”
The last time Benita had seen someone so talented was Hilna. When she herself first learned Herb Gathering, it had taken her three months just to avoid damaging the roots, whereas Hilna and Wu Yao possessed this ability naturally.
Is this the talent of a sorceress?
She had long suspected Hilna was a sorceress. After all, they were inseparable childhood friends; she was always the first to notice any changes, not to mention Hilna had never intended to hide it.
Flowers blooming out of nowhere, vines swaying under the moonlight, trees bearing fruit in unusual weather—Benita had turned a blind eye to all of it, and did her best to shield her from outside eyes.
“Once you have memorized the properties of the herbs, you can begin learning Pharmacy,” Benita said with some regret. “We have too few herbs here, which is holding back your talent.”
Wu Yao didn't care in the slightest. She planned to bring both NPCs back to her territory anyway.
It wouldn't be too late for Benita to teach her more once they had a larger supply of herbs. What she really couldn't bear to lose was this tutor guidance buff, which granted a +50% bonus to proficiency gains!
Over the next few days, Wu Yao revolved around Fancao Village. During the day, she stayed close to Benita to leech the tutor buff and grind her skill proficiency, and at night, she ran back to the forest to perform purification.
Since she didn't need sleep, had food to replenish her Satiety when it ran low, and had Mana Cores to restore her mana when it was depleted, she grinded to her heart's content, recapturing the feeling of playing games all night back in her college days.
Benita's teaching was extremely meticulous. She started from the most basic herbs, explaining clashing medicinal properties, temperature control, and medicine extraction. She even let Wu Yao practice with her own tools.
【Successfully crafted Bleeding-Stanching Powder (Common). Quality: Excellent.】
“Your talent is truly enviable,” Benita remarked in a wistful tone as she watched Wu Yao succeed on her very first try. “Hilna was just like this back then.”
Wu Yao was busy crafting the next batch and replied casually, “Hilna? That name sounds a bit familiar.”
Benita fell silent for a moment, unconsciously crushing the perilla leaf she was using for demonstration.
This sorceress hasn't even remembered Hilna's name until now!
Can she really help me get revenge?
For the first time, Benita doubted this.
“Hilna... she was also a sorceress.”
Watching Wu Yao's busy movements, Benita felt a sudden urge to share for some reason. “She was very powerful.”
“Oh, I see,” Wu Yao replied without stopping, taking a moment to offer a perfunctory response to the skill tutor who was providing her buff.
“She could revive dying plants, make grapes bear fruit in the winter, and grow magical plants that could dance...”
Irritated by her attitude, Benita listed Hilna's impressive feats one by one. She didn't know why she was telling this sorceress all of this, but she just felt that Hilna was also very powerful. If only... Hilna wouldn't be inferior to anyone else.
Wu Yao finally summarized, “So basically, she was the best at everything related to plants, right?”
Benita nodded with a touch of pride.
“With that kind of ability, couldn't she control plants to kill people?”
Wu Yao asked in genuine curiosity, but to Benita's ears, it sounded incredibly grating. “How did she still end up being executed?”
What flashed through Wu Yao's mind were all kinds of plant-type skills from various games: Entangle, Poison, Drain...
Using any of those skills against ordinary people would be a weapon of mass destruction, wouldn't it?
Don't tell me you people also adhere to some 'the ruler decrees the subject's death, and the subject has no choice but to obey' philosophy?
Her words were sharp. Benita turned around, lifted the curtain without saying a word, and walked out.
Wu Yao was fully immersed in crafting until she noticed her buff had vanished. Only then did she hurriedly run out to coax the angry tutor back.
Late at night.
Benita lay in bed, listening to Phelin's steady breathing, but she couldn't fall asleep.
Her body had never felt so light—so light that she felt a bit anxious, finding this cough-free frame highly unfamiliar.
She got up, threw on a coat, and walked out into the yard.
The moonlight fell like water on the mostly empty herb field. Further away in the darkness, a figure was occasionally illuminated by various colors of light.
Benita lightened her steps and walked over.
It was Wu Yao, experimenting with new spells. Having just learned Pharmacy during the day, she was trying to design a few spells that could make medicine crafting simpler.
“Aren't you sleeping, My Lady?” Benita stood beside her, looking at her expressionless profile.
Wu Yao's black hair was slightly disheveled by the night wind, and the sleeves of her robe were visibly damp, but her expression was incredibly focused. She uttered a soft “mm” in response.
Benita didn't mind. She looked up at the moon in the sky. Tonight, only the Bright Moon was visible; the Silver Moon was nowhere to be seen.
Recalling something, she suddenly spoke. “Hilna loved the moon. The plants she grew loved the moon too. I once heard plants singing in the middle of the night.”
The waterball in Wu Yao's hand popped with a splash, spraying water all over her face. She wiped her face casually and began condensing the waterball again.
Benita continued to talk to herself. “We grew up together. She was half a year younger than me, but she always seemed very reliable. When we finished our studies, the Physician made things difficult for us, saying he could only keep one of us. So, she opened a clinic of her own...”
Wu Yao was currently trying to construct a stable filtration structure and didn't pay any attention to the NPC's words.
“...Back then, the noble ladies of the royal capital clamored to invite her to treat them. Aside from Hilna's superb medical skills, it was also because she possessed a calming presence. Patients wouldn't feel as afraid when they saw her, and crying children would quiet down just by being held by her. Even those difficult nobles were willing to associate with her.”
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