Chapter 52 – Wands, Wands

Chapter 52 – Wands, Wands

The mages’ hunts did not defeat the witches. On the contrary, the witches drew inspiration from the mages’ magical knowledge.

Alchemy Magic was developed by witches after they observed the magical items created through mage alchemy, summarizing and refining the techniques into their own system.

From then on, witches also began arming themselves with magical items crafted through Alchemy Magic.

The emergence of Alchemy Magic also brought new changes to wands.

Wands were no longer just simple wooden sticks that helped novice witches stabilize their spellcasting. More and more enhanced forms began to appear.

For example, melee wands fitted with sharp spikes and blades, amplification wands inlaid with magical gemstones, and so on.

Wands went from being exclusively for beginners to becoming magical items that could accompany a witch for her entire life.

However, no matter how they changed, every wand still began as a simple wooden stick.

After finishing “Wands, Wands,” Mo Lan still felt as though she hadn’t had enough.

Immersed in the historical stories within the book, her heart could not calm down for a long time.

The birth of the wand was accidental, its development full of twists and turns, yet it was a beautiful flower blooming in the most terrible of circumstances—a turning point when witches began to take control of their own abilities.

One witch after another had contributed to the development of the wand, each adding her own brick to the edifice.

They never monopolized knowledge the way the Church and later the mages and other Transcendents did, exploiting the weak by blocking their paths upward to secure their own positions.

Every witch, upon encountering one of her own kind, would share the entirety of her research without reservation.

This was the true reason why the witches’ ability to survive grew ever stronger.

Mo Lan felt genuinely fortunate and proud to belong to the witch community.

“Dong! Dong! Dong…”

The castle bells rang six times.

Mo Lan looked toward the window in shock. “It’s six o’clock already?”

Only then did she notice that her eyes were sore and dry.

“Oh no, oh no!” Mo Lan hurriedly checked the mana column on her Status Card.

【Magic Power: 989/989 Mana】

Her mana really had overflowed!

Last night when she had stopped making cards, she still had 356 Mana remaining.

In the early hours of today, the new day’s card income had arrived—a total of 613 Mana.

Calculating from her mana level before midnight last night, from the early hours until now—six hours—she should have naturally recovered about 89 Mana.

Added all together, that came to 1,058 Mana! A full 69 Mana of naturally recoverable magic power had been lost!

Mo Lan was heartbroken.

She hurriedly channeled 207 Mana into the Book of Cards’ Purple Gemstone, freeing up the capacity.

She couldn’t waste the natural mana recovery over the remaining eighteen hours of today.

Tonight she would also need to check and transfer any excess mana that might accumulate by tomorrow into the Book of Cards! Even if it couldn’t be used for spellcasting, it could at least be used for card-making!

The loss was so painful that Mo Lan was listless when she headed out that morning.

Of course, part of it was also the aftereffects of staying up all night reading.

“Moira, what’s wrong?” Vasida asked with concern.

Mo Lan’s dark circles could rival those of Vasida’s family zombies, and her expression was even more lifeless than a zombie’s—nothing like her usual energetic self.

“Ugh!” Mo Lan let out a gloomy sigh. “Don’t even ask. I got so absorbed in reading last night that I forgot to transfer my mana into the Book of Cards ahead of time. I wasted a whole 69 Mana!” It truly felt worse than death.

“Look on the bright side—mana recovers on its own! And your cards are so popular, you’ll earn that little bit of mana back in no time.”

Vasida consoled her. “Think about the good things. Today we might finally learn wand-making! Soon we’ll be able to study magic!”

“We’re definitely learning wand-making today.” Mo Lan said as they walked. “The most basic wand is just a branch or stick created through Magic Infusion.”

Sylph, who had just come out of her courtyard to join them, asked curiously, “Moira, how do you know that?”

“It’s from that book, ‘Wands, Wands.'” At the mention of the book, Mo Lan perked up a little. “Let me tell you, this book is incredibly good! You absolutely have to read it!”

“You stayed up all night just to read that book?” Vasida said.

“Mm-hm! I didn’t plan to stay up either. I just started reading and lost track of time. If I hadn’t suddenly heard the castle bells, I would have thought barely any time had passed! Otherwise I wouldn’t have forgotten to transfer my mana ahead of time.”

Thinking of those 69 Mana, Mo Lan’s heart ached again.

“What’s the book about? What had you so engrossed? Is it about wand-making?” Sylph asked.

“This book! It’s a popular-science history book all about wands…”

Mo Lan couldn’t help launching into an explanation.

Today, the first-year witches had agreed to go to the Castle Gardens together to cut branches, setting out as a group from the dormitory area.

Along the way, the young witches gathered around Mo Lan, listening to her recount the stories from “Wands, Wands.”

From the foot of the hill to the summit, Mo Lan spoke passionately the entire way. When they reached the top, she still couldn’t resist making her pitch:

“What I’ve told you is just the outline—I’ve left out a lot of details. You really must read this book for yourselves. It absolutely won’t disappoint you. The witches who came before us were truly inspiring.

“But it’s best not to read it at night. You might accidentally end up staying up all night like I did.”

The young witches had already been captivated by the developmental history of “the witch’s stick” that she had described.

One after another, they declared that after adding some blank pages to their Grimoires, they would go and copy the book down.

Her recommendation a success, Mo Lan’s mood improved greatly. “Let’s go! Time to find our wand materials!”

“Since wands are made by suffusing fresh branches, does that mean we don’t need to prepare branches of all different thicknesses and lengths? We just pick one that feels right?” Vasida asked.

“Exactly!” Mo Lan said.

“Yesterday I asked several senior students what the fresh branches were for, and they all gave the same response as the Headmistress—they refused to tell us. Well, now we know without their help!” Iris said.

“I bet the seniors definitely fell into the Headmistress’s trap before—they probably brought unwieldy branches or sticks to class, made awkward wands, and then had to start over from scratch!” Mo Lan said.

She suspected that wand-making was scheduled for Friday precisely because it left the weekend for young witches to remake a properly fitting wand.

“Hahaha! If we all pick the right branches, the looks on the Headmistress’s and the seniors’ faces will be priceless!”

“Shh! There’s a senior coming!”

…

The young witches guarded their shared secret, sneaking stealthily toward the Castle Gardens.

The garden was quite peaceful in the morning, with hardly any other young witches around—perfect for their operation.

The garden wasn’t large, but it had a good variety of plants. The first-year witches wove among them, each choosing a tree she liked, snapping off a branch, roughly trimming it, and giving it a test swing. Only when it felt right in the hand did she stop.

Mo Lan chose a branch of green sandalwood. It carried a faint sandalwood fragrance, was roughly the length of her forearm, and had a comfortable weight. She liked it very much.