Chapter 45 – The Castle Warehouse

“How on earth do you even use this book!”

Vasida turned hers over and over, examining it from every angle. Hers was a stone tablet book with only two pages of straw-stalk paper inside — a couple of flips and she’d already gone through the whole thing.

“We’ll probably find out this afternoon!” Sylph wasn’t in nearly as much of a hurry.

Mo Lan stood up. “Want to go to the castle warehouse?”

“What for?” Vasida asked, confused.

“Didn’t the Headmistress say? An Apprentice-level Grimoire can hold up to a hundred books! We still don’t know how to absorb books into it, but at the very least, we can start preparing blank pages!

The paper still needs to be infused before it’s usable!

And besides, are you really planning to keep using carriers that look like this?

At the enrollment banquet, not a single senior’s Grimoire looked this crude!”

Mo Lan said, “So, what do you say — shall we go check out the castle warehouse and grab some useful materials?”

“Of course!”

Mo Lan had laid it out so clearly that Vasida and Sylph naturally weren’t going to sit idle.

The little witches who hadn’t known what to do with themselves had found their leader:

“Let’s all go together!”

“Wait! Let me hit the washroom first!”

……

The twenty-seven first-year witches bustled their way to the warehouse.

The castle warehouse was on the first underground level, comprising three rooms.

Warehouse No. 1 mainly provided study supplies — paper, ink, pens, and notebooks.

Warehouse No. 2 mainly provided clothing, shoes, socks, fabric, and sewing supplies.

Of course, all the clothing, shoes, and socks were Academy-issued standard uniforms, identical to the ones distributed at enrollment.

The fabric and sewing supplies, however, came in quite a rich variety.

Warehouse No. 3 was a general living supplies warehouse — pots, pans, bowls, ladles, toiletries, bedding, and furniture were all available, though everything was the same standard dormitory issue.

Of the three warehouses, only Warehouse No. 1 had a sign indicating it was open to witches of all years.

Warehouse No. 2 was only open to first and second years, and second-years couldn’t take ready-made clothing.

Warehouse No. 3 was likewise only open to first and second years.

One look and it was obvious — this was yet another part of the Academy’s self-sufficiency survival training for its young witches.

Mo Lan and the others entered Warehouse No. 1.

Many of the little witches made a beeline for the notebook shelves. Moments later, disappointed sighs echoed through the room: “How come they’re all plain softcover notebooks? So drab and gray — not pretty at all!”

“But the seniors’ Grimoires all looked so nice!” Iris said, puzzled. “Did they all make their own?”

“No idea! Hey, is that a senior over by the ink shelves? Looks like a fourth-year, but I can’t remember her name!” Alba said.

“…” Iris couldn’t remember either. “Why don’t we get Moira to ask? She remembers every witch’s name!”

They found Mo Lan by the paper shelves.

She was discussing with Vasida and Sylph which type of paper to take.

They only needed to choose the material — size wasn’t an issue, because the paper here was dispensed by the roll.

Each roll was 1.5 meters by 10 meters, and they’d have to cut it to the size they needed back at the dormitory.

After hearing what Iris and Alba had to say, Mo Lan peeked over. “That’s Tracey, a fourth-year senior! Leave it to me!”

It was also a perfect opportunity to sell another card.

“Tracey!” Mo Lan walked over.

“Oh, Moira!” Tracey smiled at her. “Settling into Academy life alright?”

“Very well! It’s just that the Breadfruit is a bit hard to stomach!” Mo Lan said, her face scrunching at the memory.

“Ha ha ha!” Tracey couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “Seeing you all now reminds me of three years ago — those were the days! Cherish the good times while you can!”

Mo Lan noticed the heavy dark circles under the senior’s eyes. She looked utterly exhausted. Mo Lan asked with concern:

“Is life in the inner zone really that tough?”

Tracey let out a sigh. “You’ll understand when you reach third year. All I can say is — make sure you study Magic seriously! Especially Magic that can improve your quality of life. We have it relatively good in the inner zone. The fifth-years who’ve gone to the outer zone have it even worse!”

Her beloved red tea plant! Those wretched beasts had gone and uprooted it! Otherwise, she could have treated her juniors to afternoon tea.

“Got it! I’ll keep that in mind!” Mo Lan said.

So life in fourth and fifth year really was rough!

“Oh, by the way — do you need a card?”

“A card?”

“Mm-hm! Made with my Manifested Gift! It lets you see your Magic Power values at a glance in real-time, just like during the Talent assessment…”

Three minutes later, Mo Lan’s Magic Power reserves were up by 16 Mana.

Tracey had chosen to pay in two installments, 26 Mana per day.

“It costs 150 Mana to upgrade to Beginner? Can the upgrade cost be paid in installments too?”

“Absolutely! Same terms — 1 Mana per day in interest.”

“Alright! Then it’ll probably take me about six days to finish the upgrade.”

“If you have any questions about the card, feel free to come find me at my dormitory! I’m in Dormitory 69!”

“Dormitory 69! Right behind Lilith’s room, yeah? I used to live in that very room!”

“What a coincidence! Oh, one more thing — I wanted to ask, did you all make your Grimoires yourselves? They’re so beautiful.”

“Oh, that! Isn’t there a book on the first-year extracurricular reading list called ‘The Birth of an Exquisite Cover’? Everyone just followed that.”

“Ohhh! Great, thanks so much!”

After saying goodbye to Tracey, Mo Lan returned to the group of first-years and shared what she’d learned.

“‘The Birth of an Exquisite Cover’? So they really do make them by hand!”

“Another book?!”

“You know what, I’m suddenly feeling like my bark-bound book has a nice rustic charm. Maybe I’ll just keep it!”

“My stone tablet book isn’t bad either — not even a thief would bother stealing it!”

“Honestly, I think the plain softcover notebooks are just fine. Whether the cover looks good doesn’t matter — what matters is that it’s sturdy! And it saves us the trouble of cutting paper and binding!”

“True. What matters in a Grimoire is the content, not the appearance! Here at the Academy, resources are limited — keep it simple. Once we graduate, we can just buy a nice replacement!”

……

In any case, the little witches had given up their hopes of getting a beautiful blank notebook handed to them.

The Academy really was the type of place that refused to provide any finished product it could possibly avoid — yet had no shortage of instructional materials on how to make things yourself!

Some of the witches went to grab plain softcover notebooks, planning to infuse them and replace their current Grimoire carriers as a stopgap measure.

Others still wanted to craft a proper new Grimoire from scratch and took only paper and paper cutters.

Mo Lan and Sylph fell into the second group, while Vasida went with the first.

Everyone had found what they needed — it was just considerably less impressive than they’d hoped.

“Let’s go! Back to the classroom to infuse the notebooks and paper!”

This time, Mo Lan didn’t need to take the lead — the little witches were eager to get back to work on their own.

It wasn’t for any other reason than Tracey’s warning, which every one of them had heard loud and clear.

If they didn’t work hard now, were they going to wait until they got kicked out of the dormitory to start suffering?