Cornflower Witch

Chapter 219 The Torrential Rains of the Gale Season
Golden violets floated up, their color fading in the wind.

The giant serpent moved forward through the vast sea of ​​clouds, its back rising and falling slowly, while the fourth continent supported on its back descended slowly from the sky.

A raging storm arose from the edge of the continent, with the strongest and most powerful air currents traversing the high mountains in the northwest corner of the continent and sweeping southward.

Wherever it went, the grass rustled, the trees swayed, and the animals running in the forest stopped to listen to the endless roar of the wind.

Farmers in the fields stopped what they were doing in the wind, holding their straw hats that were about to come off, and looked up. In the distant castle, soldiers came out of the tower and rang the iron bell, the clear sound echoing throughout the town.

The morning breeze has dissipated, and the blizzard has arrived.

Once people know that storm season is coming, they will reinforce their doors, windows, and houses to prepare for the strong winds and heavy rains.

The orange-red tigresses that once roamed the mountains and fields have disappeared. They have either lost their sexual characteristics and their fur has faded to the usual gray-brown, or they have become weaker and were no match for their opponents in subsequent battles, easily bitten on the throat and locked up in the grass.

Dandelions, imbued with a faint 'sky' quality in the wind, bloom in full glory, their white seeds scattering into the wind and drifting into the sky. They will travel with the wind to various places, reaching as far as across the sea of ​​clouds and into distant foreign lands.

The antelopes run and leap between the grasslands and mountains, their speed becoming increasingly swift, even leaping several meters into the air. It is now difficult for hunters to catch up with them. During this season, they reproduce in large numbers, and their fur turns gray.

Therefore, people would call this period the 'Wind and Antelope Festival,' a pastoral festival where vegetation grows and cattle and sheep roam the fields.

;
Dark Mist Mountains, Lantern Town.

Wearing a white dress, Hilti stood atop a tower in the town, gazing at the swirling air currents at the edge of the sky, which caused the dark clouds that obscured the view all day to crack open slightly, occasionally letting in slivers of light.

"The Storm Season is coming, Tia." Gran and several other first-term students walked up the stairs and came up behind Siltia.

"Hmm." The girl nodded softly, then asked.

"How are the windproofing measures at the base going?"

“We’ve had the craftsmen reinforce the structure, and overall, there’s not much of a problem,” Rachel replied, before the scholar Glenn added a few more words.

“When our town was first built, we took into account the strong winds of the Dark Mist Mountains, so the building standards were much higher.”

"The biggest impact will probably be that it will make it difficult for transport teams to travel."

“In the past, we could make a round trip about once a month, but now it may take 2-3 months, or even half a year, during the storm season, to make a round trip.”

“I see…” Hiltiya pondered the implications of this situation.

"How are the supplies currently stockpiled? If the transport teams don't arrive, how long can we hold out?"

"We have enough food and water, and we can even produce more ourselves, but we will face shortages of some things, such as salt, fuel, and exercise materials."

"Actually, the danger doesn't lie with us, but with the frontline outposts within the Dark Mist Mountains."

"Whenever the wind season changes, the environment of the Shadow World also changes, the surface continents sink, and the Shadow World will touch a deeper abyss."

"At that time, new resources will be produced, but more monsters will fall from the Twilight Sea into the Shadow World."

"So, the defense system needs to be reinforced too," Hiltia thought, wondering what would happen if a monster attacked the town.

"Yes."

"First, check all the buildings in the town and see if they can be reinforced. Then we'll think of ways to improve the town's defenses."

"Yes."

After everyone responded, they gradually left.

Silence fell once more atop the tower. Sylvia gazed at the swirling clouds in the sky, then lightly raised a finger, and a ethereal card appeared: 'Autumn Garden (Basic Stage)'.

The card depicts a circular open space constructed from mossy stones and water channels, covered with soft soil. The stone bricks inside have been neatly assembled, and clear water flows slowly through the channels.

In about two weeks, she will be able to begin the second step: transplanting the plants.

……

For the next few days, the dark clouds in the sky kept rolling, until one day, the dark clouds suddenly dropped and a downpour began.

Raindrops the size of beans pattered incessantly, striking the windowpane and leaving faint watermarks before flowing into the ditches on the ground.

These raindrops are full of distorted pollutants and toxins, making glass increasingly fragile and sewage further deteriorating the environment.

If this continues, the greenhouse glass probably won't last much longer, Hiltiya couldn't help but worry.

To prevent extensive glass damage, the trainees in the town used leftover harvested straw to bundle and cover the surface of the greenhouse, trying to guide water flow away from the straw and reduce corrosion of the glass. In order to prevent the straw from corroding and becoming soaked and failing, the trainees had to replace it every day.

The torrential rain continued for five days before gradually weakening and dissipating.

Afterwards, Hilti and the others inventoried the glass damaged by corrosion, repaired the leaks in the greenhouse, and finally restored it to its original state.

"This is just the beginning of the storm season; there will be more and more torrential rains in the future," many students worried.

"In other words, we either have to shut down the greenhouse or find better materials to withstand the damage," Hiltiya analyzed.

“A higher-grade glass…” Unfortunately, she is currently focused on building the core courtyard and cannot spare the time and energy to study the ratio of glass spirit liquid.

"We can only turn to other organizations within the association for help. If they are willing to help, it would be worth paying some compensation."

"I'll write a letter to the association's superiors right away." The scholar beside him nodded.

A week later, the first phase of preparations for Siltia's 'Autumn Garden' was completed, and the transplanting of plants began.

The first one, of course, is the cornflower, which she currently has the highest compatibility with and loves the most.

Numerous cornflower seeds were scattered around the edge of the irrigation ditch, where they began to germinate and grow, eventually sprouting tender green shoots.

Then the cornflowers spread around the canal and gradually bloomed, their varying shades of blue emitting a faint, clear fragrance, adding a touch of vitality to the card.

"Not too difficult," Hiltiya thought. After the cornflowers seemed to have stabilized, she added a second, a third, and a fourth plant.

When she added the sixth plant, the 'Golden Pear', she began to feel a bit overwhelmed, because each additional plant added meant a greater change in the environment, doubling the difficulty.

If adding cornflowers made it a difficulty level of 1, then it's now a difficulty level of 32.

The girl lightly pressed the card with her finger, feeling the subtle changes within it, before adding the seventh plant, 'White Camellia'.

The seventh method took a little longer, the eighth was okay, the ninth was a bit convoluted and took more time, the tenth was a bit troublesome, and the eleventh required thinking about and planning various plants to make room for them.

For the twelfth type, after some further planning and finding a suitable opportunity, Hilti placed the 'Purple Jellyfish Mushroom' inside. This mushroom, which had the characteristics of 'mushroom silk', quietly grew in a corner hidden by mossy stones.

That should complete the task.

After seeing the garden with all the plants planted, Hilti breathed a sigh of relief. Only two months had passed since she took the first step in building her core ability card.

(End of this chapter)