Chapter 118: The Water Given by the Witch Is Problematic

Tasks to be completed in the near future:
1. Chop wood and stockpile sufficient fuel.
2. Conduct growth potion experiments. Confirm the safety of the growth potion by observing the reactions of mice (and rabbits) and the five individuals, including Sun Rong, after consuming the associated vegetables.
3. Continue researching magical space arrays to find a way to develop defensive magic through them.
4. Continue optimizing the magic-covering-the-body spell.
5. Continue researching fireball and water ball spells to see if fire spears, water spears, or even ice spears can be developed.
6. Research necromancy, hemorrhage, mana absorption, and other spells.
7. Continue researching the Starlight Shimmer spell.
8. Conduct alchemy research using limited materials.
9. Study ancient Dragon Kingdom martial arts via videos to comprehensively enhance basic close-combat abilities.
10. Research various applications of mana, such as physical defensive reinforcement, speed augmentation, and attack enhancement.
...
Su Miao recorded these one by one.
Items 1, 2, 3, and 4 are ongoing research projects. In particular, the magic-covering-the-body spell is much more convenient and effective than bulky, cumbersome polar gear or even space suits.
Beyond insulating against extreme heat and cold, it also grants the body a certain level of defensive capability.
Item 5 is something Su Miao has recently wanted to pursue. Every time she uses simple fireball or water ball spells for attacks, she adopts a method of compressing mana to enhance their power.
In this case, the explosion is powerful, but the mana consumption is immense.
Su Miao is wondering if she can increase the attack power by altering the forms of these spells.
If she can develop ice-based magic through the water ball spell, her attack methods will become much more diverse.
"Right!"
Su Miao recalled those magic skills that appeared in the game.
For instance, Pyroblast, Frostbolt, Flamestrike, Blizzard, the Sword of Ice and Fire, etc...
Having just written down a few names, Su Miao crossed them out.
Trying to research these without any foundation is unrealistic.
Before the apocalypse, she might have been able to research this way—it wouldn't have mattered if she wasted time—but now, in the world of the apocalypse, time is extremely precious and cannot be squandered.
She will proceed with further research once she has truly mastered ice magic.
Regarding item 6, these spells have been very effective in actual combat.
However, when using necromancy, Su Miao encounters a brand-new problem: the controlled undead possess a certain level of consciousness, which is terrifying.
Furthermore, the undead continue to move even after the necromancy spell is lifted.
Su Miao cannot determine when these undead will truly find peace.
Currently, the only thing she can do is offer them a choice when lifting the spell: entering the flames to become ash can bring peace to their souls.
Without a doubt, these necromancy spells from "Blood Magic" all have significant issues.
They must be studied thoroughly.
If possible, she must resolve these related problems to avoid any major issues in the future.
Item 7, Starlight Shimmer, was the first spell Su Miao learned.
By now, she has practiced it to the point where she can use it with her eyes closed. Every time she spreads her hands, starlight shimmers around her, looking quite beautiful.
"Is this magic just for setting the mood?"
Su Miao waved her hand, filling the room with shimmering specks of starlight, imbuing the space with a magical atmosphere.
From another perspective, gathering these shimmering specks around her could create the aura of a supreme powerhouse, directly blinding enemies.
Su Miao has already researched such usage, and she can even generate the chilling wind that accompanies a powerhouse's entrance using the reserves from her magical space; the effect is excellent.
However, it is useless to her.
Drawing such attention in the apocalypse—if she carelessly encounters someone who likes using artillery or snipers—she might lose her life directly.
Wait, it is not entirely useless; she could cast this dazzling effect on others, making them the center of attention on the battlefield.
Su Miao recorded this.
She will continue to research Starlight Shimmer.
Her intuition tells her that this magic is definitely not as simple as just providing a shimmering atmosphere.
Item 8: Crafting potions whenever she has materials is something she is already doing.
Unfortunately, the materials she possesses for alchemy are still too scarce.
Collecting them alone is too difficult.
Ultimately, the Star Base and the Vulcan Base are truly incompetent; they didn't store any materials usable for alchemy.
Item 9: After several battles, Su Miao realized that close-combat ability is becoming increasingly important.
Fortunately, she stored a large number of martial arts videos before the apocalypse.
She plans to use magic to assist her in quickly memorizing these movements, forming muscle memory so she can learn these martial arts and gain an extra trump card for survival.
Item 10 is a derivative of item 9 and can be studied together.
"That's all for now."
Su Miao closed her notebook.
Next, she needs to draw up a rough schedule to ensure she has sufficient time every day to handle these tasks without getting flustered.
"First, start with martial arts."
Su Miao opened the downloaded videos and browsed; the various boxing styles, footwork, and sword techniques were dazzling.
"The things left by our ancestors are truly amazing."
Unfortunately, there are no omnipotent netizens to consult anymore.
After much deliberation, Su Miao chose the ancient Tai Chi.
It is said that in the distant past, this Tai Chi was passed down without the accompanying breathing techniques, but later, as the environment for traditional martial arts became increasingly difficult, several Tai Chi masters simply uploaded the inner cultivation methods to the internet, essentially giving up.
Anyone who wanted to learn could do so.
Other martial arts schools followed suit upon seeing this, hoping that what the ancestors left behind could continue to be passed down through the internet rather than becoming extinct.
Originally, there would have been no problem with this, but the arrival of the apocalypse is likely to dash many people's hopes.
Even Su Miao only downloaded a small portion of them.
As for why Su Miao chose Tai Chi:
Her goal in learning Tai Chi is not for attacking, but for defense. Once defense is mastered, attacks can naturally be handled by magic.
In addition, Su Miao will also study the accompanying Tai Chi Sword technique.
After all, she has some confidence in using the umbrella sword.
Once she masters it, will she be able to kill terrifying enemies like Chi Wanning even faster next time?
After two hours of studying Tai Chi, Su Miao began researching magic.
Time slipped by until 3:00 PM.
Su Miao blinked, only then realizing she hadn't eaten anything yet.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang.
Hmm?
Su Miao looked down from upstairs; it was actually Sun Rong and the others who had returned.
This is quite interesting.
Walking downstairs, Su Miao deployed the magical space array and opened the door.
Su Miao looked at the five of them with an icy expression. Surprisingly, Sun Rong now had a distinct aura of an ability user, as did another one, she recalled, named Chu Zekai.
Can one awaken an ability just by spending one night in the cold?
Or was it awakened some time ago?
Su Miao didn't know.
The only one she could observe was Bage, who had almost frozen to death on the way to the villa but was able to adapt to the cold after sleeping for a few days.

"Your Highness, we caught a nest of field mice."
Sun Rong pointed to the wooden box they had carried over and said, "We stuffed it with plenty of soil and cotton; the mice should still be alive."
Field mice?
Su Miao glanced at the box, her eyes brightening.
Although field mice belong to the hamster family, they are perfectly fine for poison testing experiments.
"Good." Su Miao nodded, "You may go harvest the vegetables."
Sun Rong and the others were overjoyed and went to harvest the vegetables with the others.
In the morning, after suffering through the cold night outside, they decided to return, even if returning meant facing the threat of retaliation from the Vulcan Base—they accepted it.
Because returning meant hot food, a fireplace, and heating; at least they could eat their fill and sleep warmly.
But outside, they could freeze to death in just a single day.
The dilemma was how to return.
After all, the Witch had told them to harvest vegetables yesterday, but they didn't show up. Standing up the Witch was a serious matter.
Ultimately, the Witch owed them nothing.
The kind Witch not only provided them with shelter but also gave them food for free.
Instead, one of them, Teng Jingyu, brought trouble from the Vulcan Base to the Witch, and then they stood her up and tried to run away.
If they wanted to come back, they couldn't do it without a proper explanation.
As luck would have it, while they were racking their brains, they saw a field mouse passing by.
The five of them went crazy instantly, feeling as if their entire future was tied to this mouse.
They pounced on it like madmen.
The field mouse was terrified and ran straight back to its nest, while they chased it for their lives.
Fifteen minutes later, the five successfully blocked the mouse in its hole.
They immediately found tools and spent nearly two hours catching the entire nest of mice.
With these field mice, they could settle their debt with the Witch.
Now, they had gambled correctly.
Su Miao raised a hand, cast a water ball, and used it to lift the box into the room.
"It's time to prepare food for these cute field mice."
Locking the field mice in a separate empty room, Su Miao walked out of the villa to the vegetable patch.
Seeing Su Miao appear, Sun Rong and the others immediately bowed.
Su Miao stood to the side, watching: "Don't mind me, continue harvesting."
Sun Rong nodded repeatedly: "Thank you, Your Highness!"
It was evident that Her Highness was in a particularly good mood today.
Soon, he suddenly discovered a very important question: Witch Su Miao lived here as always, seemingly untroubled by the threat brought by the Vulcan Base. Could it be that the Vulcan Base hadn't discovered this place yet?
If the Vulcan Base hadn't discovered it, wasn't the Witch's life a bit too comfortable?
If the Vulcan Base had discovered it, wouldn't that be even more terrifying?
Realizing these things, Sun Rong's awe for Su Miao deepened.
"Your Highness, we have finished harvesting."
Half an hour later, Sun Rong, Chu Zekai, Yu Feng, Luo Zhengyi, and Guo Yixing bowed to express their gratitude to Su Miao.
They began carrying the vegetables home.
Seeing so many tomatoes, potatoes, soybeans, Chinese cabbage, green vegetables, cucumbers, and red peppers made them happy just looking at them.
Recalling the cold they experienced last night and the undercooked food they ate, they felt miserable.
Today, they could finally eat to their heart's content.
The five of them left with profuse thanks.
Because there were so many vegetables, some tomatoes and green vegetables remained.
Su Miao collected them all, intending to feed them to the field mice.
If these vegetables were poisonous, she believed it wouldn't take long for the mice that ate them to die.
Arriving at the room where the mice were kept, Su Miao searched her magical space but couldn't find a suitable box for the mice.
"Got it."
Su Miao remembered the glass cabinets on the third floor used for displaying figures; with a little modification, they would be perfect tools.
Thinking of this, Su Miao went to the third floor, collected all the intact glass cabinets into her magical space, and brought them to the room on the first floor where the mice were kept.
Releasing the cabinets, Su Miao condensed several small fireballs to create ventilation holes in the glass.
After doing this, Su Miao opened the wooden box; she instinctively wanted to cast a water ball.
"No, the water ball has healing properties."
Su Miao immediately dissipated the spell.
She found a pair of tongs in her magical space and used them to transfer the mice into the glass cabinets.
She often used tongs when using the fireplace; otherwise, she really would have forgotten.
There were 22 field mice in the box, some large, some small.
Very good.
Without checking their genders, Su Miao simply put two mice in each glass cabinet and labeled them, totaling 11 groups.
If these mice could reproduce, it would be even more wonderful.
"From now on, this is your home; you don't have to face the cold to find food."
Su Miao placed some water and rice in each cabinet.
Groups 1 and 2 were fed green vegetable leaves.
Groups 3 and 4 were fed fresh soybeans.
Groups 5 and 6 were fed fresh cucumbers.
Groups 7 and 8 were fed fresh tomatoes.
Groups 9, 10, and 11 were given normal food, just in case all the previous groups died.
"I hope you grow up healthily."
After feeding the mice, Su Miao returned to the second floor in high spirits.
On the first day of feeding, the mice ate happily.
On the second day, the mice looked happy.
On the third day, the mice were energetic.
...
On the sixth day, the mice in groups 1 and 2 died.
The mice in groups 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 looked in very bad shape, but the control group remained as energetic as when they had just arrived.
"No way."
Su Miao looked at the mice before her and checked the heating in the room; there were no issues with the heat.
Out of caution for the experiment, Su Miao added some green vegetable leaves to the mice in groups 3 and 4.
Half an hour later, the well-fed mice in groups 3 and 4 died.
Throughout the entire process, Su Miao watched from the side.
"Your Highness, the mice are dead."
Bage flew in at some point and said.
To be honest, watching these mice die made it a little scared.
It remembered clearly that Her Highness had been feeding these vegetables to Sun Rong and the others for many days.
Those humans...
"Hmm."
Su Miao nodded, then remembered something: "Bage, these mice weren't scared to death by you, were they?"
Bage became anxious instantly: "Your Highness, how is that possible? Look, I'm flying so close, and the mice aren't scared to death."
It hovered over a glass cabinet; the mice inside panicked for a moment but then resumed normal activity.
Su Miao blinked: "Ah, I was just setting the mood, don't worry about it."
Bage breathed a sigh of relief; it was good that Her Highness hadn't misunderstood.
Su Miao used the tongs to remove the dead mice. The remaining mice could no longer be fed those vegetables; they had to be saved for future experiments.
It was just a pity about the growth potion she had successfully crafted earlier; who would have thought that the vegetables catalyzed by this potion would be poisonous?
Labeling the growth potions as [POISONOUS], Su Miao stored them away.
She would use them whenever she needed to plant trees or reforest.
"Your Highness, we've come to harvest vegetables."
The door was knocked; it was Sun Rong and the others.
Su Miao looked at the five people at the door and said, "The vegetables this time have problems; come back tomorrow."
The expressions of Sun Rong, Guo Yixing, Chu Zekai, Yu Feng, and Luo Zhengyi changed.
When they came, they saw that these vegetables looked about the same as usual.
"Wait a moment."
Su Miao returned to her room, took out five paper cups, condensed a water ball, heated it slightly with a fireball, and poured it into the cups.
She then used a tray to carry the five cups of water out: "One cup each, drink it."
Sun Rong, Guo Yixing, Chu Zekai, Yu Feng, and Luo Zhengyi looked at the water that could still steam in the extreme cold environment, finding it unbelievable.
Under normal circumstances, no matter how hot the water was, it would freeze into ice in a very short time once taken outside.
"If you don't drink it, it will turn into ice in a moment," Su Miao reminded them.
Su Miao had no intention of mentioning that the vegetables they ate daily were poisonous.
As for whether her magic water could detoxify, Su Miao didn't know.
However, the only thing she was certain of was that her magic water possessed a certain level of healing power.
In case their digestive systems or internal organs had been corroded by the toxins, drinking this cup of water would at least heal them somewhat, allowing them to live longer.
"Thank you, Your Highness."
Sun Rong was the first to step forward and take a paper cup; the hot water was at the perfect temperature, and he drank it in one gulp.
His thinking was simple: if the Witch wanted to kill them, she would have done so already; she didn't need to use low-end methods like poisoning the water.
Since she gave them hot water to drink, there must be a reason; he just had to drink it.
Chu Zekai stepped forward second, thanked her, and drank the hot water.
Water that could steam in extreme cold—how magical.
He had to taste it. That was Chu Zekai's thought.
Guo Yixing and Yu Feng hesitated for a moment, then also stepped forward to take the cups and drank the water.
Noticing that Luo Zhengyi was still waiting, Sun Rong urged him.
"Thank you, Your Highness!"
Luo Zhengyi stepped forward, but the water in the cup had stopped steaming and was freezing into ice at a visible rate.
He held the cup, looking at the water that had turned into ice, not knowing whether to drink it or not.
Su Miao didn't pay him any mind and said, "You may leave now."
Sun Rong and the others bowed immediately and left the villa.
On the way, Luo Zhengyi was still holding the cup that had turned into ice and asked, "After drinking the Witch's water, do you feel anything?"
Chu Zekai smiled: "Yes, I feel warm all over, very comfortable. I even feel like I could take off my clothes and run carefree in the snow."
Luo Zhengyi said: "Chu Zekai, don't joke around."
Guo Yixing said: "I feel my body is very warm, but not as exaggerated as Chu Zekai described."
Yu Feng said: "I'm about the same as Guo Yixing. No, wait... haven't I had a bit of a cold these past few days? After drinking the water the Witch gave us, I feel like my cold has been cured directly; breathing doesn't feel like swallowing knives anymore."
Luo Zhengyi looked at the ice in the cup and asked, "Is that for real?"
Yu Feng said: "I have no reason to lie to you about this."
Luo Zhengyi looked at Sun Rong again: "Captain, what about you?"
Sun Rong held out his hand, and Luo Zhengyi instinctively grabbed it, feeling as if he had been scalded: "This is how I feel right now."
Luo Zhengyi was shocked: "Captain, your body temperature?"
Sun Rong said: "Hmm, it's a bit more intense than Chu Zekai's situation, but I feel better than ever."
He didn't mention one thing: he felt that if he started running right now, he could be as fast as if he were stepping on wind-fire wheels.
Simply put, his ability to escape had been greatly enhanced.
Survival abilities shouldn't be talked about too much, even among brothers.
Luo Zhengyi suddenly felt a void in his heart, as if he had lost a very important opportunity for no reason.
Sun Rong said: "Luo Zhengyi, were you afraid that Her Highness had poisoned the water just now?"
Luo Zhengyi shook his head: "No, no."
Sun Rong said: "Actually, this question is easy to resolve. If Her Highness wanted to kill us, she would have done it long ago; there's no need to give us vegetables and grain, and there's no need to poison the water."
"But my intuition tells me that because you didn't drink that water in time, you might regret it later."
Luo Zhengyi's expression changed: "Is it too late for me to boil the ice and drink it after we get back?"
Sun Rong said: "I don't know."
Yu Feng and Guo Yixing listened to Sun Rong's words, deep in thought.
Actually, they had also hidden something: after drinking the hot water from the Witch, they seemed to have awakened abilities...
...
Su Miao went to the vegetable patch, looked at the fruit-laden tomato trees and the abundance of fresh vegetables, and sighed, "What a pity."
"Your Highness, should we destroy them all?" Bage flew to the side and asked.
"Yes."
Su Miao raised her hand and condensed a large fireball to destroy all the vegetables in the patch.
She truly wished these vegetables weren't poisonous so she could eat those delicious-looking tomatoes.
If she was afraid of eating them cold, she could even use the tomatoes to make hot pot.
Destroy them!
In an instant, the vegetable patch was engulfed in flames.
Fortunately, she hadn't planted potatoes this time, or she would have had to dig them out to destroy them.
After disposing of the problematic vegetables, Su Miao returned to the villa, entered the mushroom room, and picked a large number of beautiful mushrooms, preparing to continue crafting growth potions.
After much deliberation, Su Miao also picked some non-toxic mushrooms this time.
She planned to craft two batches of growth potion.
After a full day of hard work, near 9:00 PM, Su Miao successfully crafted two batches.
One batch was crafted using beautiful mushrooms, and the other using non-toxic mushrooms.
"I wonder if the growth potion made from non-toxic mushrooms will be less effective?"
"I hope it won't be too much worse."
Labeling the growth potions, Su Miao dumped the dregs of the two batches into a corner of the courtyard, yawned, and went to sleep.
As for planting the second batch of experimental vegetables, she would deal with that tomorrow.