Chapter 234 – Golden Bird Stationery

Chapter 234 – Golden Bird Stationery

“What is it?”

Alchemy was delicate work that required a quiet environment.

Amisha walked into Mo Lan’s workspace before speaking.

Mo Lan pushed the wooden board she had just finished carving toward Amisha. “Headmistress, does this pass inspection?”

After examining it, Amisha asked, “Were you a carpenter in your past life?”

“I learned just a tiny bit.” Mo Lan held up her thumb and forefinger, barely a fingernail’s width apart.

Amisha raised an eyebrow. “This will do. Follow the grooves and channel your runic force to fill in the carved lines until they’re level.

“Better to start with less and gradually increase the runic force than to use too much at once. Otherwise you’ll damage the grooves on the board, and you’ll have to carve a new one.

“Once you can easily fill the entire pattern with the right thickness of runic force, you can try drawing runes with a pen, practicing how to guide your runic force along the ink lines to form them in a single stroke.”

“Understood!” Mo Lan immediately began practicing with the wooden board.

At first, she converted only a tiny amount of runic force and began channeling it from the starting point of the grooves.

Having the grooves to help constrain her runic force made things much easier. At least the runic force wouldn’t scatter in every direction the way it had when she practiced the Reveal rune yesterday, refusing to form proper lines.

Again and again she guided her runic force along the grooves. Gradually, she learned to direct it along a fixed path, forming complete runes.

Of course, occasional deviations still occurred. Minor ones were corrected by the groove walls, but major ones would damage the grooves.

When that happened, she had to carve a new board.

As she continued practicing, the deviations became fewer and fewer. Once they stopped entirely, Mo Lan knew it was time for the next step.

She took out paper and a fine-tipped steel pen, then drew the rune combination from the alchemy blueprint onto the paper.

Then she raised her hand again to have Amisha check her work.

“Did you also study calligraphy or painting in your past life?” Amisha asked after examining it.

Getting it perfect on the first try wasn’t something that could be achieved through extraordinary memory alone.

There was a vast gap between what one envisioned in the mind and what one’s hands could produce! Ordinary young witches simply didn’t possess this level of pen control.

Mo Lan nodded. “Just a tiny bit.”

She hadn’t really studied at all—it was merely the accumulated experience of predecessors from her Earth memories.

This time, Amisha studied her with a probing gaze. “Cooking, just a tiny bit. Farming, just a tiny bit. Carving, just a tiny bit. Calligraphy and painting, also just a tiny bit. Is there anything you can’t do?”

“If it doesn’t exist on Earth, then I can’t do it,” Mo Lan said.

Amisha drew a sharp breath. The implication was that she could do everything that existed on Earth?

She could see it clearly now—Mo Lan had been an overachiever since her previous life.

Amisha herself had lived for several hundred years and even held the title of Omnipotent Witch, yet she wouldn’t dare claim she could do everything that existed in Valen.

She couldn’t even claim to know everything that witches knew!

How terrifying!

With such drive, and having been unable to attend school or learn anything before age thirteen, how miserable must this child have been!

Amisha suddenly waved her hand in weary resignation. “Go on, keep practicing ink-assisted rune drawing. Once you’ve mastered it, you can start making golden bird stationery following the blueprint.”

Mo Lan immediately began guiding her runic force along the ink traces.

She had already mastered the appropriate amount and thickness of runic force during the carving-assisted stage. Now the challenge was controlling the direction and speed of her runic force without grooves to constrain it.

Were it not for the fact that the alchemy runes for golden bird stationery had to be drawn on paper for the golden birds to carry, she could have started making the stationery as soon as she’d mastered carving-assisted rune drawing.

For now, she could only practice diligently.

Perhaps her limitless alchemy talent lent her strength, or perhaps her ever-improving magical control from long hours of practice gave her an edge—her progress was remarkably fast. Before long, she could accurately trace the paper-drawn runes with her runic force.

This time she didn’t raise her hand to ask Amisha for approval. She went straight to crafting her first proper golden bird stationery according to the blueprint.

The blueprint was fairly simple: draw the rune combination she had just practiced in each of the paper’s four corners, then connect them all with runic force.

The larger the paper, the larger the runes needed to be.

The only thing to keep in mind was that the rune combination would only function properly on paper made from animal materials.

The stack of paper Amisha had distributed was all parchment, so Mo Lan took a few sheets to use directly.

First, she drew all the runes and energy circuits onto the paper with her steel pen.

Then she steadied her breathing before converting her mana into magical power and retracing the ink lines.

Dark golden runic force condensed into a fine thread, extending slowly to form a rune, then following the energy circuits onward to the next position to continue drawing.

Mo Lan focused with absolute concentration, not daring to let her attention waver for even an instant. Only when the thread of runic force had completed a full circuit and returned to the starting point—head meeting tail, the rune combination fully stabilized—did she finally let out a breath of relief.

She inspected it with Rune Eye. It was flawless in every detail!

Joy surged through her heart. She grabbed the stationery and stood up, ready to find Amisha.

Instead, she saw the young witches gathered around the perimeter of her desk area. As for Amisha, she was nowhere to be seen.

Mo Lan hadn’t noticed them arrive at all.

“Why aren’t you all at your seats practicing?”

The moment she said it, she remembered the one-way sound-dampening magic circle—sounds from within the blue-lined brick area were greatly muffled when passing outward, making them impossible to hear clearly.

Before she could even step outside the blue-lined brick area, she heard Vasida and the others asking, “How did it go? Did you succeed?”

Mo Lan walked out and, before she could answer, broke into a grin. “Hehe, I made a golden bird stationery!”

“That’s incredible! Does that mean you can write to your mom this Sunday when the Academy’s mail channel opens?” Vasida said enviously.

“That’s so great! We haven’t even gotten the hang of carving-assisted drawing yet. If we miss this Sunday, we’ll have to wait another two weeks.” Sylph sighed.

Today was already Thursday. Tomorrow afternoon was Magic Q&A class, and the next alchemy class wouldn’t be until Monday.

It was practically impossible for them to finish in time for this mail window.

“How about I make one for each of you? You can use them this week, and by the next biweekly weekend, you’ll definitely have learned how to—”

Before Mo Lan could finish, Amisha’s voice rang through the air: “Making golden bird stationery on behalf of others is prohibited. Selling golden bird stationery cards to enrolled young witches is also prohibited.”

The last escape route was sealed off.

Mo Lan could only say, “There are still two days left. Why not give it another push? Alchemy class isn’t over yet, is it?”

“It ended ages ago! Amisha already left!” Iris said. “She told us to keep quiet and not disturb you while you were in the final stage of making your stationery.”

Mo Lan checked the time and only then realized she had been so absorbed in crafting the stationery that she hadn’t even heard the bell signaling the end of class.