Chapter 36 - Cinderella's Magical Uses
In a moment of clumsiness, Cinderella accidentally turned the desk and a few pens into crystal, and the wooden paperweight that had been on the desk transformed into stone.
The battlefield after the storm left both of them a bit stunned.
Cinderella looked even more bewildered.
Then, Richard took her to wash up, leaving the task of cleaning the battlefield to the maids.
After changing clothes, Richard led Cinderella out the door.
“Rella, do you want to know how to use your abilities properly?” Richard asked, smiling as they walked.
Cinderella immediately nodded enthusiastically:
“I do!”
Seeing the eagerness in her eyes, Richard said, “Now that you have awakened as a witch, your body already contains magic power. You should take a moment to feel this new power.”
“Treat this power as if it were an instinctual part of your body, and try to control it and transform it!”
Cinderella tried to sense it for a moment and said, puzzled, “It’s truly amazing. It feels like a magical element that I can freely combine and transform. I just tried over a dozen different transformations.”
“But I don’t know what effects each transformation of magic has.”
Richard raised an eyebrow.
In such a short moment, she could instantly come up with more than a dozen different transformations?
Cinderella’s talent as a witch is quite remarkable!
“If you want to know the effects, you’ll just have to try them out slowly!” Richard said.
“We should find something unimportant to experiment on!” Cinderella thought aloud, then suddenly asked, “Master, where are we headed?”
“We’re heading outside the castle, where there are countless materials you can experiment with at will.” Richard explained with a smile.
He remembered clearly how the hardwood paperweight had been turned into stone.
If she could turn the ground into stone, that would be even more perfect.
They soon reached the fields.
“Rella, you can slowly test these clumps of dirt on the ground and see what they can turn into.” Richard said, crouching down with her.
Cinderella immediately nodded, her eyes sparkling with the excitement of a child with a new toy.
“Hey, it turned into wood! So this magic combination changes soil into wood…”
Cinderella tossed the piece of wood aside.
“Wow, it also turned into mud. Ugh, my hands are dirty!”
Cinderella shook her hands, then had a sudden idea. She transformed the mud on her hands into pebbles, which scattered to the ground.
Richard’s eyes lit up and he said, “Wait, try that magic combination again!”
Seeing her master’s interest, Cinderella eagerly nodded, picked up a clump of soil, and repeated the transformation.
“It turned into sand this time? No, it seems like I didn’t quite get the combination right…”
After several attempts, she finally succeeded in turning a clump of soil into a stone block. She excitedly held it up for Richard to see.
Richard nodded, taking the stone from her.
He noticed the stone was incredibly hard and tested its strength in his hand, comparing it to the granite he had encountered while hunting on a cliffside. He found that the stone’s hardness was no less than that of granite, and he couldn’t help but be amazed.
As expected of a witch, this kind of transformation truly defies reason.
Richard nodded immediately, “That’s it! Remember this feeling! You can slowly try other things later, but I have a big use for this; make a few more for me to see.”
Cinderella was delighted to be needed by Richard and tried several more times, each of which was successful.
“How do you feel? Is the magic consumption serious?” Richard asked.
“It doesn’t feel like much at all! It’s like I haven’t even exerted myself! I feel like the magic I used just now is like a single drop in a lake!”
“And every bit I use quickly replenishes itself.”
Richard was overjoyed and led Cinderella to a construction site where a road was being built.
A section of the road had already been packed down. Richard asked the others to step back and pointed at the ground.
“Rella, try to turn this section of road into stone. Be careful with the flow of your magic, and don’t let it affect the nearby fields!”
Cinderella nervously clenched her fists, then nodded firmly.
She crouched down, placing her hand on the ground.
Those around didn’t know what was about to happen and secretly watched.
At first, there was no noticeable change as Cinderella cautiously released her magic, trying to avoid letting it spread to the fields, so only a small area beneath her showed signs of change.
People at a distance hadn’t noticed anything unusual yet.
But as she became more familiar with her magic, in the next moment, her eyes locked onto the edge of the road, and the magic suddenly surged forth.
In an instant, the compacted section of road transformed into a solid block of granite-like stone!
Richard, overwhelmed with joy, embraced Cinderella and gave her a kiss, “Well done! You’re my treasure!”
Cinderella was so happy she was at a loss for words, ready to say something shyly when suddenly a cry rang out around them.
“Witch! She’s a witch!”
“A sorceress! She’s a sorceress!”
Everyone backed away in terror, dropping their tools as if Cinderella were a terrifying beast.
“Burn her! Burn her!”
“Yes, burn her! How could there be a witch among us?”
“Lord, you must order her execution!”
“If a witch appears here, it will surely bring curses upon us. We have to kill her!”
“Everyone, be careful not to let her turn you into stone!”
“Why does the lord allow such a woman to remain in Long Eagle Territory!”
Faced with something they couldn’t understand, their first reaction was fear.
And out of that fear, they wanted to destroy everything that frightened them.
The crowd shouted as they retreated, not even daring to approach the road that had turned into stone.
The scene became chaotic, and many people even fell into the ditches dug beside the road.
Cinderella was stunned by what she saw.
She couldn’t understand why they were treating her like this when she was clearly doing something good to help them build the road!
Why were they so afraid of her? She had never done anything bad; she had always remembered her mother’s words to treat others kindly and be a good person.
Yet, just because she showed a power they couldn’t comprehend, they didn’t even consider whether the result of that power was good or bad and immediately condemned her!
She was at a loss, the light in her eyes gradually fading, replaced by darkness.
Her hands fell weakly to her sides.
While the magic consumption was a mere trifle to her, the mental blow dealt by the people’s reactions seemed to crush her completely.