Release That Witch

Nightingale in her Mist was observing the change in the witches' magic power.     

There were few chances to see such bright and colorful scene in the black-white world. Compared to the time when they were looking for Holy Mountain, their magic powers had increased a lot through daily practice. They could now control their power more accurately. But what was the most comforting thing for Nightingale was the expressions of her friends.     

Despite Wendy's gentle inspiration and Cara's firm action, they were never able to sleep peacefully, even for one night, in the Witch Cooperation Association. Any little signs of arrest from the church and suspicion of the public could make them wake from their stressful sleep. Even when they were looking for Holy Mountain, they were not able to relieve their stress. No one knew Holy Mountain would really be a safe shelter for them. Back then, the witches were usually downcast with numb, vacant expressions.     

Now, nobody went hungry and had to worry about the Church arresting them. Everyone wore lively expressions never before seen on their faces. When she saw the relaxed smiles her sisters had, Nightingale shared their feelings. Holy Mountain was real. It was not in the wild, but here.     

At this moment, she felt a slight tremor coming from the magic power.     

A cloud of purple fog started revolving, sucking in other magic powers like a tiny storm. But only Nightingale saw this scene. She held her breath unblinkingly to see every detail. Comparing Anna and Soraya's hindsight, it was the first time she saw the gathering of magic power in person.     

Lily stood in the middle of the storm.     

She was absorbed in observing the micro-world and paid no attention to the change in quality in her magic power.     

As the fog became denser and the revolving became faster, the fog became almost solidified. At the same time, the silhouette which produced some waves no longer appeared in a whirlpool shape. In the end, magic power gathered and stopped just as slowly.     

Her new magic power was not as hard and glossy as Anna's cube or as soft as Soraya's silk. Her magic power was as big as a fist. The main body was an oval with eight pairs of tentacle. Four pairs were upturned and others downturned. Her new magic power looked like… a worm.     

...     

Roland never thought that the outcome of the first fundamental biology class would be this great or that the first witch who evolved was Lily.     

Roland did not assign her many missions, except for instructing her to practice daily and learning a little about her because keeping food fresh was her magic power. After Roland listened to Nightingale's report, he nodded without speaking. He did not make her stay until the class was over either.     

"What? Are you saying that my magic power has evolved?" Lily said in shock, "I didn't see the particles you mentioned."     

"Of course you can't see them." Roland shook his head, smiling. "Particles are thousands of times smaller than microorganisms. Even though we could construct a limitless microscope, we would still not be able to see the particles that form matter."     

"Is that so? I thought I can evolve my magic power after thoroughly understanding the particle theory," she murmured, "I can't believe everything in the world is made of those particles. If those particles are what hard steel are made of, they should be collapsing into a pile of sand."     

That was the reason he thought the microscopic particle theory was not the only way to improve the ability to evolve a witch's magic power. "What did you see?" he said.     

"Uh..." Lily gave it a thought before saying, "There were many purple worms that can be summoned using magic power. They can turn other organisms into beings like them."     

"Worms?" he said, "Are they as big as microorganisms?"     

"Sort of." She nodded. "They're still transparent if you see the water with your eyes."     

"So… Let's have an actual test."     

...     

Unlike Anna and Soraya, it was hard to observe Lily's magic power with naked eyes.     

When Roland saw the microorganisms arrange themselves in an orderly manner in synergy, he was surprised that they seemed to have a sense of collective consciousness.     

Next were the partial tests including the function, effective time, and influence of Stone of Magic on these microorganisms.     

This test lasted three days. Although Lily would retort and complain sometimes, she still diligently carried out Roland's commands.     

Through the quantities of sample pairs and a discussion with Anna, he had a rough idea of the features of Lily's new magic power.     

In the variant purple worms, it was obvious to see they could be divided into the parent population and clones.     

The parent population was the primary variant microorganisms Lily's magic power produced.     

The characteristics of the parent population were similar to Blackfire. As long as there was a magic power supply, they would always exist. The magic power user should stay within five meters or they would disappear. They were also affected by the God's Stone of Retaliation, instantly dispersing within the scope of the stone.     

When the parent population was present, surrounding microorganisms would be assimilated into clones in a short time. It was inconceivable for Roland that the clones were actually the result of the "ability", like Soraya's coating, and were no longer bound by the God's Stone of Retaliation. Simply speaking, Lily could create a magic parent population that could create new and real microorganisms.     

The clones have the same feature of assimilation like the parent population, eroding the other microorganisms. But the result of test left Roland confused. The assimilation did not last. In some samples with the same amount of clones, some microorganisms were completely converted. In others, he could see the clones and unaffected microorganisms coexisting.     

He could only rely on guesswork for this as he lacked precise observation instruments.     

After the discussion with Anna, Roland formed a hypothesis that the number of assimilation was relative to its size.     

Lily could not distinguish the types of microorganisms with her power. That was why there were unobservable viruses and bacteria, as well as visible protozoa and single cell algae under the microscope among the clones. The numbers of clones were dependent on the parent population. if the parent population was larger, the number of assimilation would be increased.     

Besides, the clones could not continue living in the form of spilled propagation. When the number of assimilation ran out, the last batch of clones could only live for about one day. Boiling the water could kill most of the clones. As new lives, they were not that starkly different than other microorganisms.     

But one interesting point was that these clones arranged in a line would gather around the parent population. They seemed to be waiting for orders from the parent population, like soldiers.     

Due to the limitations of their observation, Lily's new ability was still not made clear. Unfortunately, the little girl was now completely puzzled whether parent population and clones had the same influence on viruses, bacteria or all kinds of fungi used in the chemical and food production. Leaving alone the instructions of finishing those corresponding by using her power.     

Even so, those clones still had great potential for further development. Even though there was nothing to do, all the deadly bacteria or viruses could be assimilated. Lily's power could play the role of rapid sterilization. This unreasonable drugs could apparently pave the way for healthcare in the domain.