Chapter 92 – Mo Lan’s Chicken Soup Literature

Mo Lan’s words made all the young witches lower their heads.

That’s right! They weren’t studying for anyone else’s sake.

Honestly speaking, were the workbooks really worse than the problem-summary essays? No, they weren’t.

It was only through completing the workbooks today that they realized how much they had missed or forgotten in the chapters they’d already studied.

Between problem-summary essays and workbooks, which one taught you more after completion? Without question, it was the workbooks.

Workbooks took more time and were harder, but they were absolutely worth it.

At the start of the semester, they had been brimming with ambition and passion, swearing to study hard and become powerful witches. How had they turned into people who complained just because the coursework was heavy?

Seeing them deep in thought, Mo Lan continued:

“I know that theory classes are much more boring than magic classes! The knowledge is tedious and complicated, and it doesn’t seem as useful as magic, so it’s natural for everyone to slack off.

But the importance of theoretical knowledge is truly no less than that of magic.

You wouldn’t want to keep hitting walls when studying magic because you don’t understand what magic actually is, unable to grasp the proper methods, right? You wouldn’t want to mistake a demon for an angel while traveling abroad and have your soul swindled away, or mistake a goblin for a dwarf and get massively ripped off, right?

And you certainly wouldn’t want to come across rare magical plants, ores, or other precious natural treasures, only to miss out on the chance to get rich overnight because you didn’t recognize them, right? Knowledge truly is power!”

The young witches shuddered just imagining the scenarios Mo Lan described.

Although mistaking a demon for an angel or a goblin for a dwarf was a bit of an exaggeration—they couldn’t possibly be that ignorant—failing to study theory well really could cause problems in their magic studies, and it was very possible to miss out on treasures due to lack of knowledge!

“Right now, you might feel like the heavy coursework is suffocating you, but compared to what you’ll face when you’re living independently after graduation, this is nothing but a light drizzle.

Your future selves will be grateful to your present selves for studying hard and building up your knowledge!”

Mo Lan’s chicken soup literature flowed effortlessly from her lips, completely transforming the young witches’ negative, school-averse attitudes.

However much they had hated the workbooks before, they now hated their former selves just as much for complaining and lacking motivation.

“Moira! Thank you for inventing the workbooks! With them, our theoretical knowledge will definitely be better than the young witches of previous years!”

Looking at the young witches, now brimming with energy and practically itching to tackle several hundred practice problems, Mo Lan nodded with satisfaction.

“That’s the spirit! You can never have too much knowledge! If you come across any problems you have no idea how to solve, bring them to me anytime. I can walk you through the problem-solving approach.”

“I have questions!”

“Me too!”

…

Mo Lan was surrounded by young witches clutching their workbooks.

After a round of answering questions, the young witches held their workbooks close:

“I suddenly feel like the workbooks aren’t so scary after all!”

“Solving a practice problem actually feels more satisfying than finishing an essay!”

Hearing this, Mo Lan smiled and said, “Wait until exam time and you’ll see—doing well on an exam is even more satisfying than solving practice problems!”

“What are exams actually like?” the young witches couldn’t help asking.

Mo Lan shook her head. “I don’t know the specific question types or content either. But they’ll certainly stay within the scope of what we’ve studied. It’ll probably be questions testing knowledge points, and then graded with scores!”

She had only attached a proposal to add examination assessments when she submitted the training plan, along with some reference question types and scoring methods for test papers.

She had no idea which specific elements Lady Amisha had adopted.

“As long as we study properly, we can all pass, right?” the young witches asked uncertainly.

Even with their current burning desire to learn, they couldn’t stomach such a “generous” reward as an entire workbook.

“Of course!” Mo Lan’s purpose in creating the workbooks and training plan had never been to stump the young witches.

The Headmistress wouldn’t make things difficult for everyone on this front either.

The Witch Academy’s exams were meant to encourage studying and assess learning outcomes—not selective examinations like the college entrance exam, where differentiation was required.

If she had to draw a comparison, the overall difficulty was roughly on par with the written portion of a driver’s license exam from her previous life. As long as you studied seriously, there would be no problems.

The question types would be slightly more challenging, though—they couldn’t all be multiple choice.

The young witches’ anxious hearts settled a little.

As long as that workbook “reward” didn’t land on their own heads, everything was fine.

“Oh, right! Moira, what were those workbooks Lady Amisha gave you during class? There were so many…” Iris recalled what she had seen earlier.

“Upper-year theory workbooks, compiled by the Headmistress. She asked me to review them for any issues,” Mo Lan said.

“Huh? The upper years are getting workbooks too?” Cheryl asked.

“Of course.” Mo Lan said definitively. “All theory classes will come with workbooks.”

“They finished writing them that quickly? The Headmistress wrote them all by herself?” Vasida remembered that when Mo Lan had written her books, there hadn’t been nearly this many.

“Well, the Headmistress isn’t working alone, after all!” Mo Lan said.

The young witches imagined the Headmistresses gathered together, heads down, furiously writing workbooks, and shivered.

“During those two weeks we were unconscious, the Ladies who were protecting us—they didn’t all go off to write workbooks, did they?” Vasida was utterly shaken.

“How terrifying!” Iris gasped, covering her mouth.

“But the senior students getting to enjoy the pleasure of workbooks soon is actually great news!” Alba said, stroking her chin.

The young witches nodded in agreement. “That’s right!”

“Let’s keep it a secret for now and not tell them the good news! We’ll give them a surprise!”

Vasida’s suggestion received unanimous approval from the young witches.

It was absolutely not because the senior students had once used their thin little Spring Water spells in the courtyard while watching them haul water from the well for entertainment.

Nor was it because the seniors had kept their mouths shut, letting them fully enjoy the experience of matching wits with Lady Amisha in theory class, only to be rewarded with a mountain of essays.

The Witch Academy had a proud tradition of leaving “surprises” for others.

It was just that in the past, the “surprises” had always been left by seniors for their juniors.

This time, the “surprise” was being left by the juniors for the seniors.

Watching the excited young witches animatedly discussing how the seniors would react upon receiving workbook assignments, Mo Lan swallowed the fact that she still needed to proofread them once more before they could be printed and distributed to the seniors.

She silently resolved to push everything else back and prioritize completing the workbook review.

After all, she too was eager for the seniors to enjoy the pleasure of workbooks as soon as possible!