Chapter 41 : Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Spell Book - Cleaning Spell

After eating and drinking our fill, the bakery closed early for the day.

It wouldn’t inconvenience anyone nearby.

In the end, the manager was dragged away by Ying Shiqian and Tang Yihan.

Our group of six, including the chef, ended with two people passed out drunk.

One of them was the restaurant owner.

I could feel the awkward and helpless expression of the owner’s apprentice.

So, I got a paid half-day off.

There was nothing left for me to do this afternoon.

All I had to do was handle some minor shop chores and lock up.

“Wait, Xiao Han, don’t go yet.”

Just as I clocked out and was about to leave, Tang Yihan stopped me.

“What’s up, Senior Tang?”

I turned around, looking at her.

She wasn’t going to ask me to work overtime, was she?

It was a paid half-day off, but if I had to work more, I’d need extra pay.

“Of course there’s something. You’re in luck this time,” Tang Yihan said with a rare teasing tone, approaching me with a look that said I’d hit the jackpot.

“In luck? What’s that mean?”

“Here, take this.”

Tang Yihan handed me a glowing orb-like object.

“What’s this?”

I instinctively took the orb.

It felt weightless, emitting a soft glow that didn’t hurt the eyes.

“It’s a spell book. I took advantage of the manager’s good mood to get it from her stash. It’s the cleaning spell I mentioned earlier.”

“Really?”

Hearing this, my eyes widened.

This was a spell book?

I’d thought it’d be like a physical skill book, not something like this!

“Of course. Hurry and use it. These things slowly self-destruct if they’re not in their special storage container.”

“Okay, okay, how do I use it?”

I asked eagerly.

I was excited but had no idea how to proceed, so I waited for her explanation.

“It’s simple. Just press it onto yourself—head, heart, chest, wherever you want,” she said, demonstrating with her hands.

“That simple?”

I still had doubts but chose to trust her.

I loosely held the glowing orb, worried it might slip from my hand despite its weightlessness.

Following her advice, I pressed it to my chest.

The orb dissipated, countless glowing particles trailing long streaks as they merged into my body.

No special sensation?

No, there was something—a connection, hard to describe, like it was innate…

And a surge of information rushed into my head!

“Don’t worry. Spell books usually need a manual to learn how to use them, but the manager’s spell books come with built-in instructions. Take your time to feel it. Make it instinct. Spells are just tools for you to use…”

Seeing my reaction, Tang Yihan didn’t panic.

Knowing it was normal, she quickly explained.

“Mm…”

I was busy processing the information, only managing a brief response to her words.

I had to admit, the feeling of instructions beaming straight into my brain was indescribable but incredibly convenient.

“Feeling better?”

Seeing me open my eyes and come back to myself, Tang Yihan asked with a hint of concern.

“Much better. Thank you, Senior Tang.”

I sincerely thanked her.

This was my first real spell not counting the one on my badge.

This was truly my first.

Even if it was just a non-offensive utility spell, it was still a spell!

“No need to thank me. But… from now on, you’ll be washing the baking tools yourself.”

“Of course!”

I nodded.

Even if I had to handle all of them, it’d be no problem!

But I didn’t say that out loud.

You always need to leave yourself out, don't take on everything.

Keeping promises wasn’t as simple as talking big.

After saying goodbye to Senior Tang, I headed back to my big dorm.

Though the walk wasn’t long, I couldn’t resist trying the cleaning spell on the way.

I had the instructions and knew how to use it, but I had to try it myself.

I couldn’t hold back.

According to the manual, casting a spell required mental strength to activate it.

Once controlled, the spell would draw magic power on its own.

It skipped the step of using mental strength to manipulate magic power directly.

As for how the spell used magic power, the manual didn’t explain.

I felt my dormant magic power source stir under the spell’s influence, a force flowing from it in a way I couldn’t comprehend, feeding into the cleaning spell.

“Is this what controlling a spell feels like?”

When the cleaning spell activated, I felt a force under my control.

Opening my Spirit Vision, I observed my current state from the magic power source to the spell, to the gentle force I could now manipulate at will.

The transformation process was incredibly complex, but the force I was controlling wasn’t raw magic power anymore.

And maintaining the cleaning spell consumed so little from my magic power source that it almost balanced with its regeneration.

If I had to compare which was more terrifying under Spirit Vision, the magic power source or the spell.

I’d say the magic power source.

Of course, the cleaning spell was complex too.

The information it fed back through Spirit Vision was equally overwhelming.

But the incomprehensibility was different.

To use an analogy, the magic power source was like a streamlined mass-energy equation simple yet terrifying, impossible to tackle.

Unraveling it revealed an overwhelming cascade of derivations.

The spell, on the other hand, felt intricate but somewhat understandable.

With my prior theoretical knowledge, I could grasp parts of it, but fully understanding it would take ages.

I couldn’t comprehend either right now, but I could use the spell with the manual.

Practical application always came before theoretical analysis.

I used the cleaning spell on my clothes, wiping away visible and invisible dust.

Incredibly magical.

But the manual also had a disclaimer: if the cleaning spell removed an object’s natural surface, color, or dye, it wasn’t the spell’s fault, it was the object’s quality.

You could report it for compensation, and it even included a hotline for complaints…

The manual was oddly thorough in strange places.

Why not include the spell’s principles too?

But that was wishful thinking.

In the supernatural world, knowledge like that probably came with a price.

Whatever.

Back at the dorm, I’d use the cleaning spell to tidy the whole villa and practice using it.

Sure, there was the smart housekeeper, but that little robot didn’t seem reliable.