A Promising Young Girl

Jiang Han and Chu Yujun chatted a bit more about literature and were planning to leave. However, Du Ningzhuang invited her colleagues to have breakfast, and since it was hard to refuse such hospitality (and she was starving), she agreed.

I might as well see how good Miss Du Ningzhuang's cooking skills are! Jiang Han thought with a clear conscience.

Although the world had changed significantly, the domestic pursuit of fine food remained etched into the history and national character. Even a nutritional meal would come with pickled mustard greens and shredded pork, plus a sliced salted duck egg.

Du Ningzhuang's accent didn't sound local; it sounded like someone from the Gusu area, and the breakfast she prepared was distinct from the flavors of South City.

A bowl of savory tofu pudding, a serving of sugar-dusted rice balls made from limited ingredients, and a bowl of noodles with toppings.

The noodles were even topped with the shop's German-style smoked sausage, seaweed, and dried fish.

It wasn't just Jiang Han who ate happily; the other witches also offered their praise. The only regret was:

This breakfast felt very much like Miss Du Ningzhuang herself—exquisite, yet leaving one only just full after finishing.

"I have to say, Miss Du Ningzhuang, you really are a genius chef. This breakfast is the most perfect one I've had since coming to South City. If I can't find a girlfriend in the future, it'll definitely be because they can't cook as well as you." Tang Wen offered her heartfelt praise, her expression quite sincere.

She's really sucking up to her, huh... Jiang Han wiped her mouth with a napkin and chimed in, "Are you looking for a girlfriend?"

Perhaps because the posture and demeanor of Jiang Han and Tang Wen begging for food were too shameful, Miss Chu Yujun provided a formal demonstration. She pressed her palms together and bowed piously toward Du Ningzhuang:

"Please, another bowl of noodles, dear sister."

Miss Chu, stop sucking up, it's gross... Jiang Han didn't ask for another bowl, mainly because she felt her stomach was already slightly full and she wouldn't be able to finish another one.

"I'm glad you liked it." Du Ningzhuang returned to the kitchen and prepared another bowl of noodles for Chu Yujun.

After finishing breakfast, Jiang Han stood up and leaned casually against the wall, her hands resting on her stomach as she watched the television.

It's not good to sit for too long after a meal. I should see if I want to take a walk later to help with digestion... But it's so easy to get sleepy after a full meal; the drowsiness is starting to creep in. Jiang Han felt her eyelids growing heavy, but she hummed lightly in contentment. It was human nature to want to sleep after being full, and nature could not be changed.

Tang Wen offered a few more words of praise, while the young girl Chen Ligu said something more interesting:

"Miss Du Ningzhuang, have you considered opening a breakfast shop?"

"A breakfast shop?" Du Ningzhuang shook her head slightly as she spoke.

Chen Ligu continued:

"The TV said that South City is going to be established as a special zone. Recently, the number of witches coming to South City has increased ninefold compared to before. My neighbor, a witch lady, has been complaining every day about not being able to buy breakfast. I think others feel the same way. If you opened a breakfast shop, it might be very popular."

The duck knows the warmth of the river water in spring... Chen Ligu's observation reminded Jiang Han of this poem.

Business opportunities always appear in daily life and are keenly perceived by some. Therefore, Chen Ligu's idea was actionable; opening a breakfast shop in the increasingly busy South City was a viable venture.

For witches, a breakfast shop would count as a 'late-night snack shop,' and those were quite profitable.

Du Ningzhuang shook her head again: "This is just a hobby; I don't like turning hobbies into work... Besides, it's very time-consuming, and I don't even have enough time for my research."

Jiang Han nodded inwardly. A witch's leisure time was truly never enough; working, attending classes, and conducting research—it could be described as extremely grueling. Fortunately, witches didn't have to worry about going bald...

She changed the subject and asked:

"Then what kind of research are you doing lately? A variant of a spell?"

Spells were incredibly complex and profound. Even the simplest Mage Hand supported a large number of witches every year who wrote their theses on it, constantly innovating. She had heard that a certain Archwitch was currently developing a legendary-tier Mage Hand spell...

Du Ningzhuang said: "It's not in the field of spells, but at the technical level."

The other witches also wore expressions of interest.

Witch research generally refers to three categories.

Spell development, which focuses on studying and researching topics based on spells.

Item development, the work of alchemists and apothecaries, including research into plant cultivation and the like. Jiang Han's substitute teacher, Cen Jing, was a witch dedicated to item development.

Technical research, the work of inventors, the hobby of geniuses and fools alike—the terrifying thing is that geniuses don't always succeed, and fools don't always fail...

Du Ningzhuang's research could be said to require a bit of luck to yield results.

"Can you tell us about it?" Jiang Han asked.

Du Ningzhuang nodded at her, sat down, and introduced it to them:

"What I am researching is a convenient method of travel."

Is it more convenient than a broom? Could it be some kind of black technology like an aerial train... Jiang Han listened and guessed.

It seemed a bit complicated. Du Ningzhuang thought for a long while before slowly speaking under the encouraging gazes of the witches:

"My teacher and I have spent the past period of time researching rapid travel and comparing the fastest methods of movement."

"Imagine if we could partition a piece of Folded Space and link it to two different nodes; we could likely cross tens of thousands of miles in a second, or even go from Earth to the Moon. And it wouldn't require several Archwitches to act as batteries."

An Anywhere Door? Jiang Han felt this concept sounded a bit like an Anywhere Door, but the spell-based Anywhere Door didn't have such convenient effects.

"But space is not that easy to control," Du Ningzhuang said, explaining the second plan she and her teacher had. "So we set our sights on the River of Time. We hypothesized that as long as we blast a hole in the River of Time, according to the principle that space-time cannot be separated, we could expand an extra space for our own use!"

...What the hell, blasting the River of Time.

...Isn't that a bit too simple and crude? Because we can't dig a tunnel, we're going to find a way to blow it up with a nuke?

After her initial shock, Jiang Han thought about it carefully and realized that it actually made some sense...

First of all, if you want to create an ultra-long-distance teleportation gate, it is inseparable from time and space.

Therefore, to create a stable channel existing within a Folded Space, finding a way to blast open the River of Time and using the power of time to 'dig out' this invisible channel was the simplest and most direct method.

The power of time is incomparably mighty, and the most famous of all legendary spells, Time Stop, has already made this point clear.

Yet Time Stop is a form of "relative time suspension," which also demonstrates that time can be manipulated.

The birth of a Folded Space and the "time difference" that emerges within it further illustrate that a Folded Space is an "island" carved out by time; if that is the case, what is to stop one from borrowing from the river of time to dig out an island of their own?

After summarizing her thoughts, Jiang Han was astonished to discover:

It was actually, goddamn, feasible!

The problem, however, was how to manifest the river of time, how to blast it open, and how to ensure things didn't go horribly wrong...

As well as the greatest problem of all research.

"Theoretically, it is feasible. We all know the river of time exists, and every Folded Space contains a source that originates from it, but my financial situation does not support further research," Du Ningzhuang said with regret; a lack of funding for research projects was, after all, the biggest problem of all.