Chapter 46 – The Reading Room

Chapter 46 – The reading room

“Wait!” Mo Lan called out to Vasida and Sylph. “Let me make something first.”

She cut a large sheet of parchment.

Then, using colorful ink, she wrote up a big poster.

Vasida read it aloud with curiosity: “Want to know how much Magic Power you have left? Want to know how far you are from advancing to the next level? Little witch Moira’s Status Cards fulfill all your needs! For just a one-time payment of 50 Mana, you’ll have one that lasts all the way to Peak level without worry!”

“Not enough Magic Power? Pay in installments! Interest of just 1 Mana—practically free!” Sylph was equally astonished. “Moira, is this how you’ve been selling cards to other young witches?”

Mo Lan nodded. “Of course! I guarantee every young witch can afford it! Everyone gets to clearly see their own magical progress! Oh wait, let me draw a simple illustration of the card too. Right, and my dormitory number!”

A colorful advertisement with eye-catching lettering and an illustration of the card took shape beneath her hands.

She went straight to Warehouse No. 3 to pick up some ready-made glue, then stuck the advertisement on the wall outside the entrance to Warehouse No. 1.

After putting it up, Mo Lan waited quietly for a moment.

When no strange voices popped up to stop her, she relaxed.

“There we go! Now every young witch who comes to Warehouse No. 1 to pick up supplies will see it!”

It was also here that she had bumped into senior Tracey, which had given her the idea.

This place was open to all young witches, so every young witch would come here to collect their school supplies.

Otherwise, she truly wouldn’t have known where to find the fourth and fifth-year seniors.

Vasida and Sylph were utterly amazed. “Senior Lilith would definitely be so moved if she saw this. The price you gave us really was incredibly reasonable!”

“Right?! Senior calling me a sprite was so unfair.” Mo Lan felt she was practically the picture of generosity!

If she were to sell these cards to anyone other than witches and sorceresses, she’d charge at least two or three times more!

With the card advertisement posted, Mo Lan returned to the alchemy classroom with her friends, feeling very pleased with herself.

The other young witches had already finished cutting their paper and were infusing it sheet by sheet.

“Infusing one sheet at a time like this—isn’t that too slow?” Mo Lan recalled how when she had infused the beast-hide book before, the process had worked from the outside in, gradually penetrating deeper. So she simply began infusing an entire roll of paper at once.

She gave it a try, and it actually seemed to work!

It was just that compared to a single sheet, a whole roll of paper had much greater surface area and volume, so infusing it took longer and required slightly more force.

But that wasn’t a problem. She could work from the outside in—infusing the outer layers of paper first, then the inner layers afterward.

That way, when it came time to use it, she could simply cut off however much she needed.

After all, the blank inner pages had to match the dimensions of the cover.

She wouldn’t be using this little beast-hide book in her hands forever.

By infusing a roll of paper in advance, when she eventually switched to a new book, she could just cut the paper to size and use it right away.

Besides, Magic Power was far more effective at infusing and permeating than magical force.

When it came to infusing objects with significant thickness, Magic Power had a clear advantage.

Vasida and Sylph watched her and followed suit.

By the time there were ten minutes left before afternoon classes, the three of them had already infused half a roll of parchment.

The other young witches couldn’t infuse an entire roll at once like they could, but they drew inspiration from watching them and spread several sheets flat across their desks, infusing multiple sheets at a time.

Mo Lan measured against the dimensions of her beast-hide book and cut thirty sheets, adding them to the Grimoire.

The thin beast-hide booklet was finally starting to look like a proper book.

“You girls never cease to amaze me!” Amisha looked at the rolls of paper piled on every young witch’s desk and knew they hadn’t been idle during lunch.

“Headmistress! Hurry and tell us how to add books into the Grimoire!” Iris said impatiently.

The young witches had been eager to learn this for ages.

“Alright! You’ll find out very soon. Bring your Grimoires and follow me!” Amisha gestured for them to keep up.

They left the West Tower and made their way to the library in the Castle’s main building.

The young witches were thrilled. “Headmistress, the library is finally being opened to us, isn’t it?”

Amisha shook her head without a word, leading them past the library entrance and into another corridor.

“There’s another corridor here?” Many of the young witches hadn’t even noticed it before.

They passed two small doors with plaques reading “Third-Year reading room” and “Second-Year reading room.”

The young witches looked toward the door at the very end of the corridor, thinking, No way…

Sure enough, Lady Amisha stopped before this door. The plaque on it truly did read “First-Year reading room.”

One look at this door was enough to tell that this place couldn’t compare to the grand library.

“You still lack sufficient understanding of the magical world. One careless mistake could put you in danger. Many books are not yet appropriate for you to access.

The books here have been specially selected to be suitable for first-year young witches to read—they’re relatively basic and also relatively safe.

In your second and third years, the other two reading rooms will be opened to you.

These three years are all about building your foundation.

After fourth year, once your foundation is solid and you begin specializing in your areas of strength, the library’s full access will be granted to you.

However, if any of you manage to master all the required magic for your current academic year ahead of schedule, you may come to me to obtain an early pass to the next reading room.”

After briefly explaining the reason for the library restrictions, Amisha pushed open the first-year reading room and stepped inside.

The young witches filed in behind her one after another.

The interior was much larger than they had imagined—roughly the size of the Great Hall where the enrollment banquet had been held.

The magical lamps inside the reading room were very bright, and there were comfortable desks and chairs. It seemed like a wonderful place to read.

The bookshelves inside were all quite short, only about 1.6 meters tall.

Even Vasida, the shortest among the first-year young witches, could easily reach the books on the top shelf with just a slight tiptoe.

“All of the Academy’s books have undergone special treatment.” Lady Amisha took a book from the first bookshelf near the entrance and pointed to the rune on its spine. “See this?”

The young witches nodded, and only then did Amisha continue her explanation.

“This is a magical rune created through Sorceress Traci’s transcription spell. It can be used in conjunction with the Grimoire.

Simply press the spine of the book you want against a blank page of your Grimoire, and the transcription will be completed quickly.

If the rune appears dim, it means someone else has just used it for transcription and it temporarily cannot be used again.

There are charging arrays on the bookshelves. For a book of this size, it takes less than a minute to recharge. Once the rune lights up again, it can be used for transcription once more.

I recommend that once you have Magic Power to spare, you learn the transcription spell yourselves. It will come in handy after graduation—after all, only the Academy library’s books come with transcription runes.

You can find the method for learning it in the book called Book Magic.”