Chapter 224 – Final Exams
by spirapira“Far more Beyond Peak witches have died at the Well of the Sky than have passed away from natural causes.”
These words Amisha left behind echoed in Mo Lan’s heart.
The Well of the Sky was far more dangerous than the Continent of Valen, yet it was a place she had to go.
She absolutely had to prepare in advance!
Mo Lan returned to her seat to pack up her things, listening to the video as she called Vasida and Sylph to leave the classroom with her.
Her broom blazed out in afterimages, all so she could get back to the Dormitory faster and watch the videos at higher speed.
*
Tuesday evening, the third week.
Just past midnight, a teaching video finished playing.
For once, Mo Lan turned off the tablet projector early.
After a full week of intensive use, it was fortunate the device was made from cards—the superb quality was the only reason it hadn’t given out.
Mo Lan let out a soft breath and called into the empty air with a hint of anticipation: “Headmistress No. 69, could you pass along a message to Headmistress No. 102? I’d like to apply for the final exams in Valen Common Language and Wilderness Survival—as soon as possible. I think tomorrow morning’s Basic Mathematics class would be a good time.”
Over the course of nine days, Mo Lan had finally managed to watch every single teaching video for Valen Common Language and Wilderness Survival without missing any of her daily classes.
She’d watched them in a rush, but the learning results were no worse for it.
The moment she finished, she couldn’t wait to take the final exams and free up the time those two classes occupied.
“…”
A stretch of silence hung in the air. After a moment, Lady Amisha’s voice came through: “I’ll go ask.”
Mo Lan waited a few minutes, and when there was still no response, she went to wash up first.
Time was plentiful today, so for the first time in a while, she filled the bathtub with hot water and had a proper soak.
Just as she was having the time of her life playing with bubbles in the tub, a voice exploded by her ear: “Are you sure you want to apply for the final exams in ‘eight and a half hours’? Don’t you want a few more days to review?”
Mo Lan jolted, answering instinctively: “I’m sure!”
Only after the words left her mouth did the thought occur to her: “Why did it feel like Lady Amisha put extra emphasis on ‘eight and a half hours’? She didn’t seem too happy about it.”
“…”
“Fine!”
Seeing that Lady Amisha had agreed, Mo Lan tossed her earlier doubts to the back of her mind and continued playing with bubbles, humming a tune.
Meanwhile, in the Headmistress’s Lounge Underground at the Academy, Amisha No. 102 had grabbed No. 69 Amisha by the collar:
“Did you not tell her that I need rest too? It’s past midnight, and she’s telling me she wants the final exams tomorrow morning—am I supposed to stay up all night writing the exam papers?”
“Avatars don’t need rest. Unless you’d like me to tell her right now that you spend your evenings drinking wine and eating little cakes?” No. 69 said.
They were all avatars, so why did the Guardian Headmistresses have to stand by around the clock watching over the young witches, while No. 102 and the others got entire nights to rest?
“…” No. 102 took a deep breath. “What good does this do you? We’re all losing face here!”
No. 69: “I’ll tell her that No. 69 watches over her around the clock. It has nothing to do with me.”
“Hmph! It’s just one exam paper—I can write it in a few minutes!” No. 102 stomped off to work overtime, grumbling the whole way.
The next day, Mo Lan grabbed her broom and stepped outside, standing in the courtyard to call out: “Sylph, Vasida! Time for class!”
“Hm? Why are you coming to math class too today?” Vasida and Sylph asked, puzzled.
“You’ll find out soon enough.” Mo Lan said with a smile.
When Lady Amisha slapped two exam papers down on Mo Lan’s desk with a face full of resentment, then placed an hourglass on the lectern, the young witches finally understood why Mo Lan had come to math class again. She wasn’t here to attend class at all—she was here to take exams.
The young witches heard it crystal clear: these weren’t monthly tests or exams for a single subject, but the final exams for Valen Common Language and Wilderness Survival.
The courses were forty lessons each, and they had only properly attended two lessons—yet Mo Lan was already applying for the final exams.
It wasn’t that no one had expected her to finish early, but no one had expected her to be this fast!
Those were 240 hours of video! From the day the teaching video recordings were released to today, it had only been ten days.
Even watching nonstop, twenty-four hours a day for ten days, one would barely finish all the videos—and this tenth day had only just begun!
In between, there were classes to attend, meals to eat, and sleep to get.
No one had seen Mo Lan miss a single class or show up with dark circles from staying up late!
In fact, every mealtime, the young witches who lived near Mo Lan could smell the aroma of cooking wafting from her dormitory.
How on earth did she manage it?
Yet even as incredible as it seemed, not a single young witch doubted that Mo Lan would pass the final exams.
After all, throughout the entire first year, Mo Lan’s exam scores had never changed—they were always perfect.
If she weren’t confident, she surely wouldn’t have applied for the exams in such a rush.
Sure enough, when the class was only two-thirds through, Cheryl, sitting behind Mo Lan, noticed that Mo Lan had already set down her pen and was blowing on the ink on her exam papers.
From what she knew of Mo Lan, whenever she went through that particular routine, it meant she had finished answering every question.
And at that moment, the hourglass on the lectern still had plenty of sand left to fall!
During a break between practice problems, Mo Lan turned in her papers.
Since she had to wait for Lady Amisha to grade them, Mo Lan didn’t leave the classroom. Instead, she took out her tablet projector and continued watching the teaching videos for Alchemy Theory.
She had her own system now.
When she had dedicated viewing time, she watched videos like Alchemy Theory that required watching demonstrations.
When she could only listen to videos, she listened to language-based teaching videos.
Everything was arranged with perfect clarity.
By the time Basic Mathematics class ended, Lady Amisha had also managed to finish grading the papers during the intervals when the young witches worked on their practice problems.
“Perfect scores on both! Here’s your reward for completing the courses early.” Amisha handed her a plump little coin pouch.
“There’s a reward too?” Mo Lan opened the pouch in surprise. Inside were gleaming Magic Gold Coins. She counted them: “Thirty? Isn’t that a bit too many?”
The combined monthly test and final exam rewards for those two courses would only amount to around twenty-four coins!
“The extra is a bonus for taking the exams early and achieving outstanding results.”
After saying this, Amisha turned to the other young witches:
“The Academy doesn’t encourage everyone to skip required classes to watch teaching videos, but we do encourage you to use your free time to study proactively while maintaining your learning quality. Anyone who passes the final exams early will receive additional rewards.”
The young witches: “(!)”
What were they supposed to do when their hearts were racing with excitement?
After Lady Amisha left, Mo Lan was surrounded by the young witches, all eager for her to share her study tips.
“Just listen to the videos whenever you can listen, and watch them whenever you can watch. Make use of every bit of time. Once you’ve listened enough, you’ll be able to keep up even at higher playback speeds. Toward the end, when I was focused on listening, I was going at 2.5 or even 3x speed. That’s just how you train yourself.”