Chapter 56: Creating the Cover

Chapter 56: Making the Cover

"One portable small furnace, one crucible, ten pounds of mold clay, three pieces of light-colored smooth animal hide, one bucket of deep purple dye, five pounds of gold, ten pounds of brass, seven pieces of purple magic gems..."

Moran picked up the materials, cross-referencing them with the list.

After several trips back and forth, she had all the materials and tools prepared and laid out on her desk.

Then, she buried herself in the work.

She molded the clay, melted the brass, and crafted the inner core of the cover.

The animal hide was boiled and bleached, then dried and dyed a deep purple before being stretched over the inner core and secured.

Next, she melted the gold, used a mold to create the rough shape, and then proceeded to hammer, shape, engrave, and inlay...

Thanks to her memories of Earth, her production process was generally quite smooth.

However, the process was complex and required patience.

She worked in the alchemy classroom from morning until sunset before her drawings finally became reality.

An octavo-sized (260mm × 375mm) gold-engraved, gem-inlaid, loose-leaf book was complete.

However, this could only be considered an ordinary book for now; to use it as a vessel for Witch Book magic, it still needed to be infused with magic.

Infusing a book of this size was more difficult than the previous parchment book.

Although the materials used for this book were of higher quality and had greater durability, allowing for a stronger infusion, the better the material, the higher the difficulty of the infusion.

Moran spent a full three hours before she finished the infusion.

It was already nine o'clock at night.

Moran took out the roll of parchment she had finished infusing and cut it all into sizes that matched the book, producing over a hundred pages.

Since a Novice-level Witch Book could only accommodate a hundred pages, she punched holes in them all and installed them into the loose-leaf binder.

Finally, she placed the new vessel into the Witch Book, replacing the original parchment book, and it was done.

When Moran summoned the Witch Book again, what appeared was a beautiful, large tome.

(Moran's Witch Book cover image attached)

Moran loved it immensely.

The first page was an index she had prepared, allowing her to find the page numbers of the books she had recorded.

Although the large octavo book still held only one book per page, it allowed for larger fonts and more content per page, making the reading experience much better than the previous palm-sized parchment book.

The only issue was that the book was somewhat heavy; it was fine to read while resting on a table, but it was a bit taxing on the wrists to hold.

However, this wasn't a problem, as she could use Witch Book magic to hold it. With magic, she could hold it at any angle or position without effort.

For instance, right now, the Witch Book was floating near Moran's left hand, naturally open.

Her other hand continuously pulled books from the first-year library shelves, transcribing them into the Witch Book.

She quickly transcribed books she found interesting, leaving only ten blank pages for backup.

After leaving the library, she didn't forget to go to the basement to fetch two rolls of parchment.

By the time Moran walked out of the academy castle, it was already past eleven o'clock.

On the way down the hill, she had only the stars in the sky and the magic lamps along the road for company.

However, having walked this path for a week, Moran was very familiar with it.

She could even read the Witch Book while walking.

The skill of using a phone while walking from her previous life was still serving her well in Valen.

The bright magic lamps made it quite convenient for her.

At 1:30 AM, Moran finally entered the dormitory area.

The little witches had all gone to rest; not a single dormitory light was still on.

She walked to her own courtyard and looked at the gate, which was nearly buried in slips of paper, then glanced doubtfully at her dormitory number.

It was correct! Number 69!

What were these?

Under the light of the streetlamp, she saw there were words on them.

She took them down one by one to examine them closely.

It turned out that some second-year and fourth-year seniors had come to find her today to buy {Character Cards}. Since she wasn't home, they had left messages saying they would come back tomorrow.

Moran pressed her hand to her forehead in realization. "I thought the seniors weren't interested! It turns out they were planning to come buy them this weekend!"

But why weren't there any fifth-year seniors? Had they not seen them, or did they not need them?

Moran went to the backyard to collect the laundry, only to find the clothesline was already empty.

When she returned, she saw that her clothes had already been neatly folded and placed in the laundry basket at her dormitory door.

There was also a note inside.

"It's dark and you aren't back yet, so we collected your clothes for you! Don't mention it! — Vasida, Sylph."

Moran felt a warmth in her heart.

Since it was very late and she knew little witches would be coming to buy cards tomorrow, she did a quick wash and went to sleep.

The next day, she didn't even hear the six o'clock bell; she was woken up by the little witches coming to buy cards.

She didn't even have time to wash up before rushing downstairs to open the door. "Sorry! Senior Sophie, I went to bed a bit late last night." "Be careful not to stunt your growth by staying up late!" Sophie reminded her.

"I know, I'll be careful." Moran obediently took the advice.

For a thirteen-year-old little witch who was only 1.5 meters tall, not growing taller was a significant threat.

"Alright, I saw the promotional poster at the castle warehouse entrance. Give me one of those cards that can show magic power values! I can pay the magic power in full at once," Sophie explained her purpose.

"Okay!"

Moran quickly used the Gold Pen Technique to write the contract and handed it to Senior Sophie.

Once the contract was signed and the magic power arrived, Moran gave her the card.

"Then I'll be going!"

After watching the senior fly away on her broom, Moran's sleepiness vanished. She hurried to wash up, as other seniors would be coming to buy cards soon.

Throughout the morning, Moran received twenty-nine second-year seniors and thirty-one fourth-year seniors.

All the magic power obtained was funneled into the Card Book.

In the entire Witch Academy, except for the fifth-year witches and the Headmistress, every witch now had a {Character Card}.

After finishing the sales, Moran stayed in her dormitory to preview the textbooks for the courses she would be taking next week.

The textbooks for the theory classes were alright; the knowledge points were dense and full of substance.

As for the book *Learning Cooking from Scratch*, Moran didn't know what to say.

The title was quite literal; it truly taught you from scratch.

The entire book only taught three dishes: baking bread, simmering vegetable soup, and pan-searing steaks.

Everything started from processing the ingredients.

More than half of the book consisted of recipes for these three dishes, written in meticulous detail, covering every single step.

Only the final tenth of the book discussed cooking magic.

Judging by the thickness of the book, one could never tell that it was just a recipe book for three dishes.

Rather than a cooking magic textbook, it was more like a culinary tutorial.

There was a reason for choosing such a book as a cooking magic textbook.

To use the book's words: "Only when you know the cooking process like the back of your hand can you command the pots, pans, knives, and forks."

After flipping through the book, Moran even felt that with her culinary skills and her memories of Earth's cuisine, she would certainly have an advantage in learning cooking magic.

She could skip the time needed to familiarize herself with cooking procedures.

Wasn't it just a matter of transitioning from doing it by hand to using her will to command the utensils?

Moran was familiar with this; wasn't magic driven by will?