Chapter 142 – The Path of the Sorceress
by spirapira“Well then, I know a whole lot!” Mo Lan said. “So many that I can’t even think of them all at once!”
Having said that, Mo Lan’s curiosity got the better of her, and she called out to the Headmistress: “Headmistress, Headmistress, does the Academy have combat classes?”
Although witches primarily relied on Magic for battle, what if they ran out of magical power, or accidentally let someone get too close? Learning skills like that still seemed very useful.
“There’s a close-quarters combat class in second year,” Lady Amisha’s voice came through.
Mo Lan was relieved. She looked at Vasida: “Study hard in second year! Then we can have another go!”
Vasida: “…”
Mo Lan was threatening her, wasn’t she? Wasn’t she?
This time, Mo Lan truly left the classroom and headed for the library.
She still had so many Mo-Pic books left to read!
As usual, she stayed in the library until six o’clock, then made her rounds through the greenhouse, the Ingredient Collection Station, and the farmland before returning to the Dormitory.
After finishing dinner and taking a bath, she pulled out a sheet of paper and began listing things to do over the break.
The last class of first year had ended today. They only needed to wait for the next cohort of young witches to enroll, and then they would officially advance to second year.
Oh right — when exactly were this year’s new students enrolling?
Mo Lan only knew it was generally sometime between June and August, with no fixed date.
When in doubt, ask the Headmistress.
Soon, she got her answer from the Headmistress: “July 20th.”
That was much later than when they had enrolled last year!
“What determines the timing?” Mo Lan asked.
“It’s determined by the birthday of the last young witch to turn thirteen before August. The enrollment ceremony is held on the evening three days after the last young witch’s birthday.”
“Doesn’t that mean I was the one with the latest birthday in our cohort?” Mo Lan asked.
She recalled that she had come to the Academy just three days after receiving her enrollment letter.
“That’s correct.”
Witches didn’t particularly care about yearly birthdays.
Naturally born witches only celebrated their thirteenth and eighteenth birthdays.
One symbolized a young witch leaving her mother’s protection, and the other symbolized a young witch leaving the Academy to begin an independent life.
Witches who had awakened from among humans didn’t celebrate birthdays at all — they only celebrated on the anniversary of their awakening.
Witches had only one traditional holiday: Independence Day, commemorating the day the Wilds came to belong to the witches.
Of course, Independence Day didn’t have much to do with young witches still at the Academy.
That was a celebration for adult witches!
“Oh right! Headmistress, when do the fifth-year seniors graduate?” Mo Lan asked.
“The last day of May.”
“Independence Day?”
“That’s right! It is both their graduation day and the first Independence Day they celebrate as adults.”
“Headmistress! On the day the seniors graduate, could I prepare some Earth delicacies to celebrate for them?”
“No! Only fifth-year witches may attend the graduation ceremony. And don’t even think about selling cards! As I’ve said before, if your cards are exposed to the outside world before Sorceress Magic has been properly developed, it won’t be a good thing.”
Mo Lan: “…”
How annoying! She hadn’t even said anything about selling cards!
She just wanted to show a little sentiment for her graduating seniors, that was all!
“If the graduation ceremony is off limits, then what about the enrollment banquet? Could I provide some of the food for the first-year table? Just a portion would be fine!” Mo Lan said. That would be an excellent opportunity to promote her cards!
“Why not provide all of it?”
“Why else? What if another young witch with abilities similar to Vasida’s shows up? She’d eat me into bankruptcy!”
“…You may set up an additional table to promote your food products.”
“That works perfectly!”
Once the first-year witches realized that the enrollment banquet was their last free dinner, she would lay out all her seasoning packet cards and free samples. Would she even need to worry about card sales next year?
Mo Lan was satisfied. But come to think of it, how inconvenient would it be for the fifth-year seniors to leave school without being able to take her cards with them!
She was absolutely not thinking about squeezing one last round of profit out of the seniors before graduation.
Mo Lan did the math — there was still a month and a half until Independence Day!
During this month and a half, she needed to devote herself fully to studying Sorceress Magic.
She didn’t need to achieve the full suite of functions she hoped for — at the very least, the cards needed to look more like a type of Magic. That way, the cards could masquerade as an entirely new form of Magic to deceive prying eyes for a while.
Judging from the experiences of previous Sorceresses, this method was quite effective.
In the past, witches lived scattered and apart. Many didn’t even understand their own abilities, casting spells through willpower and imagination alone. Every witch’s Magic was a little different.
Even after mages had studied them for so many years, they couldn’t figure out the underlying principles.
Later, when the Wilds came to belong to the witches, the Witch Academy and the Witch Council standardized the transmission of witch knowledge. Witches finally came to understand their own abilities — but by then, they were no longer lambs to the slaughter.
No Race dared to openly hunt witches anymore.
For witches, the readily available knowledge and traditions were closely guarded secrets to outsiders.
On top of that, the Well of the Sky had opened to all beings on the Continent of Valen at Peak level and above, and exotic products from other realms would appear on the Continent of Valen from time to time.
By now, many outsiders believed that “Sorceress” was merely an honorary title for powerful witches, and that a Sorceress’s Manifested Gift was a divine artifact from the Well of the Sky, each possessing unique abilities.
Carmela’s “divine artifact,” for example, was believed to possess the ability to trade anything through contracts.
It wasn’t just Sorceresses who used Contract Magic to share Sorceress Magic — powerful individuals who had gained something from the Well of the Sky would also teach the otherworldly Magic they’d obtained to others.
The only difference was that others traded knowledge of how to cultivate Magic, while Sorceresses traded usage rights to Magic.
But to outsiders, it all looked about the same — just another type of otherworldly Magic they’d never seen before.
The danger of exposing otherworldly Magic was naturally quite different from exposing a “divine artifact.”
Combined with Falsification Magic — which could forge and conceal energy auras — young Sorceresses were able to hide their true nature when out in the world.
There were no Mo-Pic books for Sorceress Magic. There was only one book, compiled by previous Sorceresses based on their own experiences — 《The Path of the Sorceress》.
Mo Lan found 《The Path of the Sorceress》 in her Grimoire.
She had heard about this book from senior Lilith and Lady Amisha not long after she first enrolled.
But ever since she had created the Book of Cards, researching her own Manifested Gift had become much easier. She basically hadn’t encountered any difficulties she couldn’t solve.
On top of that, her coursework had been demanding — she’d had plenty of fragmented time but little uninterrupted time — so she had never been in a rush to read this book.
Now the time had come.
“Chapter One: Know Yourself. — Author: Traci”
“Chapter Two: Develop Yourself. — Authors: Traci, Anita”
“Chapter Three: Elevate Yourself. — Author: Carmela”