Chapter 54: A Little Bit of Encouragement

Chapter 54: A Little Bit of Motivation

After Ms. Amisha left, the little witches were still immersed in the joy of successfully crafting their wands.

One by one, they brandished their wands haphazardly, absolutely delighted with them.

It wasn't until Vasida let out a gasp that all the little witches' gazes were drawn toward her.

"Moran? Is that your wand made of green sandalwood?"

"Yeah," Moran said. "I processed it a bit. Used some carpentry techniques from my previous life."

Looking at Moran's smooth, delicate, and carved wand, the little witches suddenly felt that the wands in their hands were no longer quite so appealing.

Compared to Moran's wand, theirs truly looked like mere sticks—the kind you wouldn't even be able to find if they fell into a pile of branches.

"Is it too late to peel and sand them now?" Vasida asked.

"It should be too late. Once they've been infused, they aren't as easy to carve."

Moran comforted them, "Actually, they're quite nice as they are. They have a very natural, primitive aesthetic."

The little witches: "..."

"Aside from the castle garden, where are the nearest trees?" Aes asked.

"I think there are a few on the path down the mountain!" Cheryl said.

"Then I'm heading out first!" Aes grabbed Alba and ran off, not forgetting to grab a machete.

"Hey! Wait for me!"

The little witches swarmed out of the alchemy classroom.

Moran shook her head with a smile. It seemed Ms. Amisha's goal of wanting the little witches to make more wands had been achieved.

She was the only little witch left in the classroom.

She rubbed her dry eyes, let out a yawn, and leaned on the desk to catch up on some sleep.

The aftereffects of staying up late were quite significant; she had spent the entire morning forcing herself to stay alert. If she didn't rest for a while, she was worried she might fall asleep during class in the afternoon.

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 little witches hadn't returned yet, likely having run to a further distance to find branches.

With an hour left before class, Moran took out her Book of Witches and flipped to the first volume of *The Birth of an Exquisite Cover*.

The current animal-skin book in her hands was too small, making it a bit difficult to read; she needed to hurry up and replace it with a new one.

"If you don't want to lose face in front of your junior classmates, this book is a must-read! — Julietta"

The author's note on the title page hit the nail on the head, resonating with every little witch.

Perhaps the reason none of the seniors used the original animal skins, bark, or stone tablets was because they were inspired by this very sentence!

Moran skimmed through the table of contents and discovered that this was actually a series of books teaching how to make various styles of Witch Books.

There was only one binding method described, which was somewhat similar to the loose-leaf notebooks from Blue Star in her previous life.

According to this senior Julietta, this binding method was most suitable for a Book of Witches, as it allowed the page order to be adjusted freely.

Most of the content was about cover making.

It collected thousands of different styles of covers along with their detailed production methods, as well as various crafts that could be applied to cover making.

It included not only the popular styles of the wilderness but also the popular styles from various countries across the Valen Continent.

If one only wanted to make a single Book of Witches carrier in their preferred style, they didn't need to read the entire fifteen-volume set.

One could simply flip through the cover illustration collection in the first volume, pick a favorite, check the corresponding volume and page number, find the production diagrams and guides, and follow them.

However, Moran wanted to make a Book of Witches with a style similar to her Card Book.

She couldn't find an exact match in the cover illustration collection.

She could only find a few covers with similar elements and study them carefully, planning to combine them later, learn the corresponding crafts, and ultimately create the version in her mind.

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

As Cheryl passed Moran's seat, she asked curiously what book she was reading. Upon hearing the answer

" *The Birth of an Exquisite Cover*? There are 15 volumes, right? It doesn't look like an easy read. I feel like I won't have time to look at it anytime soon!"

"Exactly! If the current covers are a bit ugly, then so be it! As long as the Book of Witches can record books, it's fine. This set would require fifteen blank pages just to hold it; that's too much," Aes added.

The little witches were already feeling the increasing academic pressure.

Moran shook her head and flipped to the first page of the first volume. "Let me read the author's message to you!"

After listening to the author's message, the little witches: "..."

Thinking about a year from now, if they were still carrying bark, animal skin, or stone tablet books just like the freshmen, it would indeed be quite embarrassing.

They would have no senior dignity at all.

"Look, look! We must read it!"

"We must finish it before next year's entrance ceremony!"

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

There was no new content in the afternoon class; Ms. Amisha only had them infuse their wands more to prepare for the magic studies starting next week.

The more they infused, the better the wands would be and the easier spellcasting would become.

Seeing the little witches bring out other wand materials and begin reprocessing their wands, Amisha understood.

After all, with a little witch around who made her wand look like a piece of craftsmanship, it was only natural for the others to follow suit.

However, fine processing and carving wood was not an easy task; it was much harder than infusing a wand.

Even if they prepared several pieces of wand material this time, the results likely wouldn't be very beautiful.

Even knowing this, Ms. Amisha turned a blind eye and said nothing.

Trial and error meant there would be more failures than successes.

Of course, after everyone had failed at least once, Moran stepped in to teach them some simple sanding, polishing, and carving techniques, and Amisha did not stop her.

She gave them complete freedom.

They were all novices after all; even with Moran's reminders and guidance, the things they produced were not as exquisite as imagined.

One could only say they were slightly better than the uncarved versions.

The little witches also realized the limits of their skills and eventually chose the wand material they were most satisfied with to infuse into a wand.

After class, the little witches were all preparing to leave, but Moran did not join them.

She wanted to go collect some fabric, animal skins, and needles and thread to make a wand protective sleeve.

"What protective sleeve?" the little witches asked.

" *Wand and Wand* records simple ways to make protective sleeves; they're basically small pouches to store and protect the wand. I plan to just make a small crossbody bag—the kind that can hold both a book and a wand," Moran said.

Although a Book of Witches could be stored using magic, other things like paper, ink, waterskins, and snacks could not.

Having a small crossbody bag would make carrying things much more convenient when coming to the castle.