Chapter 67 – The Witch Magic Catalog

Chapter 67 – The Witch Magic Catalog

Granted, Mo Lan’s passion for researching cards had cooled somewhat recently, with her focus shifting to studying books instead.

But when it came to cards that had already been market-tested, she sold them without the slightest hesitation.

Yesterday’s Mobile Kitchen Card and Portable Utensil Card, today’s recording card—Mo Lan updated them all on the big notice board posted outside the Castle Warehouse.

She’d essentially turned the space into her own personal card sales column.

On the way down the mountain, upperclassmen were already coming to buy cards from her.

After the afternoon Culinary Magic class ended, Mo Lan walked to the dormitory and spotted Senior Lilith pacing uncertainly at her courtyard gate. “Senior?”

“Huh? Moira, you’re back!” Lilith’s body stiffened. She turned to look, clinging to one last shred of hope as she asked, “How’s the research on the Energy Storage Card going?”

Mo Lan shook her head. “It won’t be ready anytime soon.”

Her hopes dashed, Lilith’s face contorted with the pain of parting with money. “Then… give me a Portable Utensil Card! Can you make it cheaper?”

Mo Lan smiled. “I’m afraid not! It’s already at the little witch friendship price.”

A one-time-use mana charge that replenished daily—even at ten times the price, witches would still be willing to pay.

Lilith gritted her teeth. “I knew it! Forget it, I’ll just buy the Mobile Kitchen Card instead! Might as well go all in at once.”

What if a certain goblin Sorceress raised her prices in a few years?

“Wonderful!” Mo Lan pulled a sheet of parchment from her satchel. “Installments or full payment?”

“Installments! Obviously installments! Five hundred Mana—even a Sorceress can’t cough that up all at once!” Lilith said.

Mo Lan scribbled out a contract in a flash, practically shoving it at her to sign before she could change her mind.

Once the contract was established, the mana transferred, and the card delivered, only then did Mo Lan console her:

“Senior, with your total mana capacity, five hundred Mana would take less than a day to recover, right?”

After all, Lilith was already an Advanced Sorceress with over a thousand Mana—five hundred wasn’t even half.

“Once you learn a few more spells, you’ll understand. Practicing magic takes mana, researching your Manifested Gift takes mana too. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been able to keep half my mana reserves before midnight? Your cards just keep getting more expensive—buy one and I have to scrimp for days!” Lilith said resentfully.

She really missed the days when her underclassman used to offer cards for free at the drop of a hat!

“Thank you for the reminder, Senior! I’ll definitely take advantage of my low magic practice consumption right now and save up plenty of mana in reserve!” Mo Lan said.

She couldn’t stockpile mana that could be directly used for casting spells, but she could save up mana for making cards!

“Oh, by the way, Senior—do you have any news about the fifth-year seniors?” Mo Lan asked.

Little witches from the first through fourth years had all come to buy her cards, but the fifth-years had never shown up.

“I don’t know either. After the enrollment banquet each year, you don’t see the fifth-year little witches anymore. All I know is they go to the Academy’s outer regions. But they do reappear just before graduation,” Lilith said.

Mo Lan felt relieved hearing this.

Before enrollment, all little witches had signed contracts prohibiting them from leaking information about underage Sorceresses.

So until she came of age, her card clientele would be limited to the little witches currently enrolled at the school.

Every year, little witches graduated. Missing even one was a loss for her.

As long as she could still reach the fifth-year witches, that was all that mattered.

Having just lost a large sum of mana, Lilith was in no mood to chat further. She climbed back over the wall to her dormitory, shut the door, buried her face in a cushion, and let out a muffled scream of frustration:

“How can there be such a huge gap between Sorceresses?!

Sorceress Magic, Sorceress Magic! No! I need to develop Sorceress Magic faster—I can’t just keep spending without any income!”

Having sold another card, Mo Lan returned to her dormitory in high spirits. She nibbled on the jerky that Iris had offered her while organizing her question notes from the day, compiling them into an essay.

Before long, the essay was finished.

The summary essay was easy enough to write. The other one—”On Witch Magic Schools and Their Representative Spells”—would be a bit more involved, requiring some research.

Mo Lan opened The Witch Magic Catalog.

This was an encyclopedia of witch magic. It recorded the school affiliations of all existing witch magic, the spell effects corresponding to different ranks, approximate mana consumption, common uses, recommended learning stages, and recommended study guides.

With this book alone, one couldn’t actually learn a single spell—but one could gain a foundational understanding of every spell, know roughly at what rank it was appropriate to study it, and which books to read for learning it.

For example, the recommended study materials for Culinary Magic included the course textbook 《Learning Culinary Magic from Scratch》, as well as elective reading materials such as 《The Culinary Atlas of the Continent of Valen》, The Selection of Ingredients, The Making of a Chef, and so on.

The information needed for the essay was easy to find. Mo Lan quickly filtered through it, summarized it into an article, and wrote it out on parchment.

Only after actually writing them did she realize that today’s two essays had only looked intimidating—they weren’t actually that difficult to write, and they didn’t need to be very long either.

After finishing the essays, Mo Lan still couldn’t bear to put down the book in her hands.

Given that Culinary Magic classes would continue for quite some time, perhaps she could try self-studying another spell ahead of schedule?

Like the Spring Water spell, for instance?

After all, no matter how carefully she rationed it, the water in the backyard water tower was nearly used up!

Conveniently, she already had the introductory study guide for the Spring Water spell.

She opened 《Fire, Light, and Water》.

This book was a guide for beginners learning the Flame spell, the Light spell, and the Spring Water spell.

Mo Lan skipped straight to the section on the Spring Water spell.

“Preparation before learning: a basin of completely pure, impurity-free spring water, a suitable wand, and an empty basin for collecting water…”

Mo Lan prepared everything the book listed, then continued reading:

“Step one: Feel the spring water. Observe the spring water. Form a precise impression of it.

Step two: Hold your wand, concentrate, and issue a clear, precise command to your magical power to transform it into pure spring water.”

“That’s it? That’s really it?” Mo Lan flipped ahead in disbelief.

The practice steps for this spell really were only two steps!

Everything after that was about how to control the flow rate and speed of the spring water.

It was even more concise than the Culinary Magic learning method described in 《Learning Culinary Magic from Scratch》.

The simpler it was, the less Mo Lan dared to take it lightly.

It had been exactly the same when she first attempted Culinary Magic.

It looked simple, but she’d later discovered that every single sentence in the book was precise and deliberate.

For instance, the book had told her to start by using magic to knead dough, and to use an Attuned spoon—all of which had been mentioned.

It was she who, upon reading that one could begin using Culinary Magic to make bread, thick soup, and pan-fried steaks after mastering those techniques proficiently, had automatically extended that to mean she could try using Culinary Magic on any dish she already knew how to cook.