Chapter 54 – A Little Motivation

After Lady Amisha left, the young witches were still basking in the joy of successfully crafting their wands.

One by one, they waved their wands around with wild, aimless gestures, utterly delighted.

That was until Vasida’s startled cry drew everyone’s attention.

“Moira? Is that the wand you made from your green sandalwood?”

“Mm-hm,” Mo Lan said. “I did a little extra work on it. Used some carpentry techniques from my past life.”

Looking at Mo Lan’s wand—smooth, refined, and adorned with carved patterns—the young witches suddenly felt a lot less impressed with their own.

Compared to Mo Lan’s, theirs really did look like plain sticks, the kind you’d lose in a pile of branches and never find again.

“Is it too late to strip the bark and sand mine down?” Vasida asked.

“Probably too late. Once they’ve been infused, they’re not so easy to carve anymore.”

Mo Lan consoled them. “Honestly, they look great as they are. There’s a real natural, rustic beauty to them.”

The young witches: “…”

“Besides the Castle Gardens, where are the nearest trees?” Iris asked.

“I think there were a few on the path down the mountain!” Cheryl said.

“Then I’m heading out first!” Iris grabbed Alba and bolted, not forgetting to snatch up a chopping knife on the way.

“Hey! Wait for me!”

The young witches poured out of the Alchemy classroom.

Mo Lan shook her head with an amused smile. It seemed Lady Amisha’s goal of getting the young witches to make more wands had been achieved after all.

She was the only young witch left in the classroom.

She rubbed her dry, tired eyes, yawned, and slumped over the desk to catch some sleep.

The aftereffects of staying up all night were hitting hard. She’d been forcing herself to stay alert all morning, and if she didn’t rest a bit, she was afraid she’d fall asleep in the afternoon lesson.

She didn’t sleep for long. An hour later, when the one o’clock bell rang, she woke up feeling much more refreshed.

The classroom was still empty—the young witches hadn’t returned yet. They’d probably ventured a bit farther out to find branches.

With still an hour until class, Mo Lan took out the Grimoire and turned to the first volume of *The Birth of an Exquisite Cover*.

The beast-hide book she currently had was too small and a strain to read. She needed to replace it with a new one soon.

“If you don’t want to lose face in front of the younger students, then this book is required reading! —Julietta”

The author’s note on the title page struck right at the heart of the matter, resonating deeply with every young witch.

None of the senior students still used the basic beast-hide, bark, or stone-slab books from their first year. Perhaps it was this very line that had motivated them.

Mo Lan skimmed through the table of contents and discovered that this was essentially a set of books teaching how to craft Grimoires in various styles.

There was only one binding method in the book, somewhat similar to the loose-leaf binders from Earth.

According to this senior named Julietta, this binding method was best suited for Grimoires, as it allowed pages to be freely rearranged.

The bulk of the content, however, was about cover crafting.

It catalogued over a thousand different cover styles along with detailed instructions for making each one.

It also covered the various techniques and craftsmanship that could be applied to cover production.

There were not only styles popular in the Wilds, but also styles fashionable across the various nations of the Continent of Valen.

If one simply wanted to make a Grimoire cover to their liking, there was no need to read through all fifteen volumes.

You could browse the cover gallery in the first volume, pick your favorite design, look up its corresponding volume and page number, find the blueprints and instructions, and follow them.

But Mo Lan wanted to make a Grimoire that matched the style of her Book of Cards. She couldn’t find an exact match in the cover gallery.

She could only pick out a few covers with similar elements and study them carefully, planning to combine them later, learn the relevant techniques, and ultimately create something that matched the vision in her mind.

By the time the young witches returned with their new wand materials, there were only ten minutes left before class.

Cheryl passed by Mo Lan’s seat and curiously asked what she was reading. Upon learning the answer:

“*The Birth of an Exquisite Cover*? That set has fifteen volumes, doesn’t it? It doesn’t look like an easy read.

I don’t think I’ll have time to look at it anytime soon!”

“Yeah! So what if our covers are ugly? As long as the Grimoire can store texts, that’s all that matters. That set takes fifteen blank pages just to copy down. Way too many,” Iris added.

The young witches were already feeling the academic pressure mounting.

Mo Lan shook her head and flipped to the very first page of volume one. “Let me read you the author’s note.”

The young witches, after hearing the author’s note: “…”

Just imagine—a year from now, if they were still carrying the same bark, beast-hide, or stone-slab books as the new first-years, that really would be embarrassing.

Not an ounce of senior-student dignity.

“Read it! We have to read it!”

“We absolutely must finish it before next year’s entrance ceremony!”

Changing one’s mind required only a tiny bit of motivation.

The afternoon lesson had nothing new. Lady Amisha simply had them continue infusing their wands, preparing for the magic lessons that would begin next week.

The more they infused, the better the wand would perform and the easier spellcasting would be.

When she saw the young witches pull out additional wand materials and start working on new wands from scratch, Amisha understood immediately.

After all, with one little witch who’d crafted her wand into a work of art sitting right there, it was only natural for the others to follow suit.

However, fine woodworking and carving were no easy tasks—far more difficult than infusing a wand.

Even though they’d prepared several pieces of wand material this time, the results probably wouldn’t turn out very pretty.

Even foreseeing this outcome, Lady Amisha turned a blind eye and said nothing.

Trying and failing was part of the process—there was always more failure than success.

And of course, after each of them had failed at least once, when Mo Lan stepped in to teach them some simple sanding, polishing, and carving tips, Amisha didn’t stop her either.

She gave them complete freedom.

They were all beginners, after all. Even with Mo Lan’s guidance and instruction, the results weren’t as refined as they’d imagined.

At best, they looked a little better than the completely unworked originals.

The young witches recognized the limits of their own craftsmanship and ultimately chose the piece they were most satisfied with, infusing it into their wand.

After class, the young witches all prepared to leave, but Mo Lan didn’t go with them.

She wanted to requisition some fabric, beast hide, and sewing supplies to make a wand holster.

“A what?” the young witches asked.

“*Wands, Wands* has instructions for a simple wand holster. It’s basically just a small pouch for storing and protecting your wand.

I’m thinking I might as well make a small satchel—something that can hold both books and a wand,” Mo Lan said.

While the Grimoire could be magically put away, other things like paper, ink, water skins, and snacks couldn’t.

Having a small satchel would make it much more convenient to carry things when coming to the Castle.