Chapter 35 – The Golden Pen Technique

The bell struck ten times, and the black-robed Amisha strode into the first-year alchemy classroom right on schedule.

Under the eager gazes of the young witches, Amisha rummaged through the pile of miscellaneous items beside the lectern and produced a stack of parchment.

She distributed two sheets to each young witch.

The young witches held their two flimsy sheets of parchment, thoroughly puzzled.

Why paper? Weren’t they supposed to be learning how to make a Grimoire today? Who among them hadn’t seen their witch mothers’ Grimoires? Each one was distinctive in style — a thick, hefty tome.

What could two sheets of paper possibly accomplish?

Mo Lan, who had already come to understand the Academy’s ways, felt her heart sink. Surely making a Grimoire didn’t start from the paper itself!

Then again, that was perfectly in line with how witches insisted on starting everything from scratch.

After distributing the paper, Amisha settled leisurely into her chair.

“To make a Grimoire, you must first understand its origins.”

“Outsiders all believe that the grimoire, the wand, and the broomstick are innate companion treasures that witches are born with.”

“But in truth, not a single one of them is.”

“The wand and the broomstick are special magical items that our witch ancestors developed based on the suffusion properties of their own magical power.”

“As for the grimoire, it was actually created by the Sorceress Theresa, who combined alchemy with the Omniscient Book to invent a form of Sorceress Magic — the Grimoire spell!”

“From then on, every witch could use the Grimoire spell to create her own personal tome of knowledge and legacy.”

“Now, Sorceress Magic uses a Sorceress Contract as its medium, and the contract document for a Sorceress Contract can only be created using Lady Carmela’s Contract Magic.”

“Therefore, the first step in making a grimoire is to sign a contract with Lady Carmela and obtain the ability to create contract documents.”

Mo Lan: “???”

To use Sorceress Magic, you first had to sign a Sorceress Contract, but the contract document for a Sorceress Contract could only be made with Sorceress Magic — wasn’t that a dead loop?

Unless there was a ready-made contract document available.

Mo Lan looked down at the blank parchment in her hands. Could it be…

Sure enough, she heard Amisha say, “This first contract document, I’ll prepare it for everyone. Watch closely!”

As she spoke, golden magical light appeared on the wand at her side and flew toward the young witches.

A golden fountain pen materialized on the parchment before each of them.

It wrote rapidly across the parchment, and in moments, a contract document was complete.

The content read roughly: “Willing to permanently pay 5 mana units, or magical force equivalent to 5 mana units, in exchange for the right to use the Sorceress Carmela’s Contract Magic technique Golden Pen Technique (Apprentice rank). All energy costs incurred when using Golden Pen Technique (Apprentice rank) shall be borne by the user.”

“Hss—!”

Mo Lan was studying the contents of the contract when she suddenly felt a sharp sting in her finger.

She looked down to see a bead of blood welling from her fingertip.

A slender ice needle with a blood-stained tip drifted lazily to the floor and melted into a single drop of water.

Glancing left and right, she saw that everyone else was the same — inexplicably pricked by an ice needle.

“Smear the blood on the contract document,” came the Headmistress’s voice, making it perfectly obvious who the culprit was.

Caught off guard by the sudden prick, the young witches winced but quickly followed the Headmistress’s instructions, smearing the blood from their fingertips onto a corner of the contract.

The next moment, the blood-stained contracts were enveloped in dazzling golden light.

When the golden light faded, the contracts had merged into the young witches’ bodies.

“There — the appearance of golden light means the contract is complete. If the contract document simply vanishes without any golden light, it means the Sorceress hasn’t processed the contract yet. If the contract document burns to ash, it means the Sorceress has rejected the contract,” Amisha explained.

“Remember: if you want a contract to be approved quickly, write it using the standard contract template and sign it with blood. When a witch uses her own blood along with the standard template, it generally goes through instantly.”

“Otherwise, the Sorceress will need to review it individually.”

“From the moment the contract succeeds, the Magic Power or magical force you just paid can no longer be used.”

“Unless you summon the contract document you just signed and tear it up — only then will that portion of power return to you.”

“Of course, once you tear up the contract, the Golden Pen Technique technique obtained through it can no longer be used either.”

“Moreover, if you want to sign the contract again, it won’t be so simple. Even if you offer a greater price, success isn’t guaranteed—nobody likes being spurned, least of all Sorceresses.”

“Now you can use the Golden Pen Technique technique to write a Sorceress Contract document with Lady Theresa.”

“You can follow this contract template.”

A sample contract appeared on the blackboard.

It was much the same as the one they had just signed, except “Sorceress Carmela” and “Contract Magic Golden Pen Technique (Apprentice rank)” had been changed to “Book Witch Theresa” and “Book Magic Grimoire (Apprentice rank).”

The price was the same: 5 mana units of Magic Power, or magical force equivalent to 5 mana units.

Though they had the template, the young witches had no idea how to actually use the Golden Pen Technique technique.

That was when Amisha spoke up:

“Once you’ve signed a contract for Sorceress Magic, you can use it immediately — no studying required. The only cost is your own magical force or Magic Power.”

“Simply recite ‘Golden Pen Technique’ in your mind, and you’ll be able to summon the golden pen Technique.”

“Then just hold the pen by hand, or control it with your magical force, and write the contract contents on the blank parchment. After that, you can sign it with a drop of blood.”

The Golden Pen Technique technique turned out to be even simpler than Magic Infusion — you truly just had to think it, and the pen appeared.

Mo Lan tried to hold the pen with her Magic Power, but her control was insufficient, and she failed.

She had no choice but to take the golden pen Technique in hand and copy the contents from the blackboard onto her remaining sheet of blank parchment.

Throughout the writing process, her Magic Power was being steadily consumed.

The consumption wasn’t significant, though — about the same as the Magic Infusion needed to turn the color-revealing paper green.

Every single young witch completed her contract document without encountering any obstacles.

The only issue was that most of the young witches’ contracts had crooked, uneven letters of varying sizes.

After all, witches were only born with an innate understanding of the witch script — calligraphy still required practice.

Only Mo Lan, who had nothing better to do before school started and had specifically practiced writing in the witch script, produced a contract that was neat and beautiful.

But they were all witches. Signing with blood meant instant approval from the Sorceress — whether the handwriting was pretty or not had no effect on the contract’s power.

“Headmistress! If we want to sign contracts with other Sorceresses in the future, can we just write contract documents the same way?” Cheryl asked.

“Not necessarily. For specifics, you can refer to these four books: 《Contracts of the Sorceress》, 《Book Magic》, 《Contract Magic》, and 《Fireworks Magic》.”

“Choose based on your own abilities and needs.”

“If you ever research and invent a special form of magic on your own, or discover one during your travels, then regardless of whether others can learn it, you can share that magic with others through contracts — just like an Sorceress — and collect energy as payment.”

“That is also one way to increase your own magical power.”