Chapter 81 – Transcription Permit

The little witches hurried along, writing for an entire class period. Not only did they finish today’s summary essay—which the Headmistress checked and approved—they even made some progress on the 《History of Witches》 paper due tomorrow.

By the time the midday bell rang, the morning’s gloom over unfinished essays had completely lifted.

After class, Mo Lan took the Reading Room pass that Lady Amisha had issued her and headed to the Second-Year Reading Room.

Mo Lan wanted to organize the Earth reading and mathematics knowledge in her mind into proper books, and the Headmistress had recommended she learn the Transcription Spell.

For this purpose, she had been given permission to enter the Second-Year Reading Room and transcribe Mo Lan wanted to organize the Earth reading and mathematics knowledge in her mind into proper books, and the Headmistress had recommended she learn the Transcription Spell.

For this purpose, she had been given permission to enter the Second-Year Reading Room and transcribe《Book Magic》.

The method for learning the Transcription Spell was contained within that very book.

The inside of the Second-Year Reading Room looked much the same as the first-year one, though there were noticeably more magic books.

Mo Lan found the book《Book Magic》and placed her pass on top of it. The transcription restriction on the book was immediately lifted.

The entire book was transcribed into her Grimoire.

Flipping to the section on the Transcription Spell, the effects and contract templates for each level were all displayed here.

The Apprentice-level Transcription Spell could control a single quill to write on its own, recording whatever was in one’s mind or before one’s eyes. It could transcribe everything from text to illustrations—as long as the thoughts or visual input were clear enough, it could replicate them one-to-one.

Transcription speed was roughly two to three times faster than handwriting.

Price: 5 Mana of permanent magical power.

The Beginner-level Transcription Spell could control five quills simultaneously. Simply placing the material to be transcribed nearby would allow the spell to copy it automatically.

Transcription speed was roughly ten to fifteen times faster than handwriting.

Upgrade price: 10 Mana of permanent magical power.

The Intermediate-level Transcription Spell could transcribe and copy the contents of one standard page at a time.

Upgrade price: 15 Mana of permanent magical power.

The Advanced-level Transcription Spell could transcribe one-third of a standard book’s contents at once. Upgrade price: 20 Mana of permanent magical power.

To achieve the level of those specially-made library books—where you could simply press your Grimoire against one and transcribe an entire standard book’s worth of content—you needed Peak-level Transcription Spell.

Upgrade price: 25 Mana of permanent magical power.

One standard page was equivalent to one page of the library books.

One standard book was equivalent to one volume from the library.

This spell could only be purchased one level at a time, upgraded step by step.

In other words, if she wanted a Peak-level Transcription Spell, she would need to spend a total of 75 Mana of permanent magical power.

Way too expensive!

That said, the Transcription Spell was quite convenient for copying existing content.

Just place the material nearby, and the Beginner-level spell could copy it automatically.

But transcribing things from her mind was a different story—she couldn’t transcribe multiple pages simultaneously, because she needed to organize her thoughts first.

Looking at it this way, for the purpose of compiling reading and mathematics textbooks, the Apprentice-level Transcription Spell offered the best value.

Using the Golden Pen Technique, she wrote out an Apprentice-level Transcription Spell contract, then dripped witch’s blood—the mark of a witch’s identity—onto it. The contract was established, and she immediately mastered the Apprentice-level Transcription Spell.

Her total Mana was permanently reduced by 5, leaving her with only 980 Mana.

Over the past week, she had slept well, and her Mana had naturally grown by 15—only for a third of it to be spent in one go.

No wonder《Book Magic》,《Fireworks Magic》, and《Contract Magic》—these three Sorceress Magic books—weren’t available in the First-Year Reading Room!

First-year little witches had far less total magical power and much slower magical power growth compared to Sorceresses. They couldn’t afford to trade for many Sorceress-level spells.

“Moira, can this Transcription Spell be used to write essays?” Vasida asked after hearing about the spell’s capabilities.

The little witches who had come to the Reading Room together to transcribe books into their new Grimoires—their eyes lit up instantly.

Mo Lan was startled by the intensity of their gazes. “It should work, technically, but… you still have to think through your essay before you can start writing! The Transcription Spell can only replace the physical act of handwriting, at most.”

“That’s already great!” The little witches didn’t mind at all.

Mo Lan shook her head with an amused smile.

Only innocent little witches who had no concept of copying homework would think of using the Transcription Spell merely to replace handwriting.

Iris lowered her voice. “Do you think if we asked the Headmistress for a pass to learn the Transcription Spell early, she’d agree?”

“No! Your total magical power is too low—it would affect your subsequent magical studies!”

No one knew where Lady Amisha’s voice had suddenly come from, but it gave the little witches quite a fright.

The little witches looked crestfallen. Their magical power really was meager.

Vasida and Sylph, however, looked excited. “Headmistress! Can we learn it?”

They had enough Mana!

“You may. But using the Transcription Spell to write essay assignments is strictly forbidden!

The purpose of essays is to help you consolidate what you’ve learned in class. Handwriting provides a better review effect.”

Vasida and Sylph immediately lost interest.

If it couldn’t be used for essays, what was the point of learning the Transcription Spell?

Transcribing books was something you’d only need after graduation.

The Academy library’s books all had transcription magic runes built in—there was simply no need for the Transcription Spell right now.

They lost interest, but Mo Lan’s was piqued.

“Headmistress, I have a rather good memory. I remember every single word you said during class.

If that’s the case, do I really need to write problem-summary essays to review what was taught?”

“You’re certain you remember everything?”

“Absolutely!” Mo Lan was quite confident. “How about I recite everything you said during this morning’s class?”

Without waiting for the Headmistress to respond, she cleared her throat and began: “The essay assignments given out last Monday have all been completed by everyone…”

After quite a while, the Headmistress’s voice finally came again.

“Very well. Amisha, who teaches your classes, has agreed. From now on, you are exempt from all problem-summary essays.

However, you must not become complacent because of this. In your free time, read more books.”

“Yes!” Mo Lan was overjoyed!

Writing those essays really was a waste of time for her.

With so many fewer essays to write, she would have much more time each day to read books that actually interested her.

She absolutely loved the Witch Academy’s flexible and adaptable approach to education.

The little witches: “…”

Some little witches wrote essays quickly and brilliantly, and would never have to write them again.

Other little witches still had mountains of essays to write, would have to keep writing them in the future, and couldn’t even use the Transcription Spell as a shortcut.

How could the gap be this enormous!

o(one︿one+)o

When they reached the dormitory area, Mo Lan said to Vasida and Sylph, “You all go back to the dorm first. I’m going to the well to practice the Spring Water spell.”

“You’re not going back for lunch?” Vasida asked.

Mo Lan patted her satchel. “I brought Breadfruit Cake.”

“Wait—you don’t even have to write essays anymore, and you’re still eating Breadfruit Cake to get by?”

Sylph and Vasida couldn’t understand.

Mo Lan clearly possessed the great culinary art of hotpot, yet she lived on fruit cake day after day.

Before, it was because she had too many essays and too little time. But now that she was exempt from essays, why was she still eating cake!