It was time to learn wand-making.
Wang Yue pulled off her hooded robe and rolled up her shirt sleeves, revealing slender fingers and pale, delicate wrists.
Her hands were beautiful, with long fingers and slightly tapered tips. Although they hadn’t yet fully matured into the soft, graceful hands of a woman, they already possessed a refined, youthful elegance.
Donna closed the shop door and flipped the “Open” sign on the handle to “Closed” before leading her into the inner room.
The adjoining room was a wand-making workshop. Materials and tools were organized with meticulous care; the marble workbenches and the forge were polished to a spotless shine.
Donna pulled a miniature wand, barely five or six centimeters long, from her bodice. With a gentle flick, the flames on the high-hanging tin sconces and glass chandeliers roared to life. The interlocking glows made the room as bright as day.
“I have taught many apprentices, but those with true talent are few and far between. If you find yourself unsuited for wand-making, do not be discouraged or lose heart,” she said.
“Thank you for the reminder. I’ll keep my expectations in check,” Wang Yue replied.
With a flick of Donna’s wand tip, a tool kit behind the workbench clicked open, unfolding its multi-layered structure. A ruler and a pencil flew out. From a stack of paper on the other side, a sheet of grid paper zipped through the air. The stationery landed neatly on a thick, heavy oak table.
“Wand-making isn’t just simple assembly—it’s not enough to just shove a head, a shaft, and a core together. It begins with the processing of raw materials. There is much to learn: the compatibility and conductivity between components, the selection and treatment of materials, structural design, and more. Only after repeated tuning to ensure a smooth flow of magic is the wand finally assembled.”
“It sounds complicated.”
“Yes, it is very complicated. When making a wand, your head feels like a room crammed so full of furniture that there’s no place to step. Many beginners are deterred, and only a few persevere. Therefore, I prefer to cultivate an apprentice’s interest rather than force-feed them knowledge. Interest is the best teacher.”
“Even though it’s hard, can it be used to make some money?”
“No, no. Making money has nothing to do with interest. Do you know of the ‘Dream Wand’?”
“What’s that?”
As someone raised on a steady diet of modern self-help “chicken soup,” Wang Yue felt a bit nauseous at the mention of the word “dream.”
“Every witch holds the image of a perfect wand in her heart. At first, it is only a blurry shadow in the imagination, but it becomes clearer and clearer until it finally takes physical form.”
The perfect wand…
Wang Yue immediately thought of the Elder Wand held by Albus Dumbledore, one of the Deathly Hallows. But the Elder Wand was crafted by Death; it couldn’t be replicated.
Her gaze fell upon Grandma Donna’s hand. She asked, “Your wand looks different from normal ones.”
“You have a sharp eye. This is a ‘Shuttle Wand.’ It breaks the usual three-part structure and consists of only two—it discards the shaft entirely, with the tip performing the shaft’s function. Although this causes magic to dissipate and significantly lowers accuracy, it increases casting speed and the range of the spells.”
“You like casting large-scale magic?”
“No, I just love its slender shape. Besides, it can also be used for knitting sweaters.”
“…”
“Have you thought about it? What does your Dream Wand look like?” Donna pressed lightly on her shoulder, signaling her to sit. “Don’t be nervous, little girl. Use your imagination. Draw whatever comes to mind.”
Wang Yue picked up the pencil, hesitated for a moment, and said, “My dream wand… first of all, it has to be long. Twenty centimeters? Not enough. It needs to be thirty-five to forty centimeters.”
She sketched two parallel lines with a few quick strokes.
“Next, it needs to be thick. But not too thick—my hand needs to be able to grip it. Let’s set the diameter at six to eight centimeters.”
“Is that a club?” Donna couldn’t help but ask. “Child, a wand shouldn’t be too thick. For one, a core that thick would waste magic. Secondly, I don’t recall any wand core materials that exceed six centimeters in diameter.”
“Then let’s just twist dozens of cores together into a single strand. Let me think… forty-six cores. I like that number.”
“This is ridiculous! Who ever heard of such a wand?” Donna was at a loss for words.
“Thick and big brings happiness!” Wang Yue insisted stubbornly.
Donna laughed helplessly. She’s just a twelve-year-old girl after all, she thought. Mischief is her nature. Once she begins her systematic study of wand-making, she’ll understand that magic is a delicate thing. The wand that releases it must be slender. A wand simply cannot be made that thick.
She stopped trying to correct her strange apprentice and chose instead to guide her. Pointing at the “club” on the paper, she said coaxingly, “Think about it. How will the wand head be arranged? Forty-six cores would correspond to forty-six wand heads. Are they just going to be tied together in a mess?”
“That would be stupid,” Wang Yue said, addressing the unspoken critique. She pointed at the grid paper and explained her idea. “For the head, I’ll use high-strength materials and craft them into tetrahedral spikes. Forty-six wand heads will be distributed evenly across an iron sphere.”
As she spoke, she sketched an iron ball covered in spikes like a sea urchin, connected to the exceptionally thick shaft.
“Isn’t that just a mace?” Donna blurted out.
“Based on its appearance, a cold weapon consisting of a spiked spherical head and a short handle is called a ‘Morning Star.’ It’s the most terrifying member of the mace family, combining armor-piercing, tearing, and bludgeoning capabilities. However… aren’t wands shaped like chopsticks? Would you call a wand a chopstick? No. We must look past the surface to see the essence. Although it looks like a Morning Star, it is actually a wand,” Wang Yue analyzed with a straight face.
Donna broke into a fit of laughter. She reached out a weathered hand and gently brushed Wang Yue’s bangs, saying with a hint of resignation, “You are the most peculiar apprentice I have ever taken on.”
This wasn’t a compliment; it was a criticism.
Whimsical ideas detached from reality are delusions. Taking action on those delusions without any hope of success makes one a fool. Many want to overturn common sense, but very few actually achieve it.
The master’s reaction was exactly what Wang Yue expected. In truth, she just wanted to make a mace, but she couldn’t say that out loud.
A little girl less than 1.5 meters tall wielding a mace would be considered insane—or at least, having violent tendencies. Her master didn’t know that her demon tail could easily coil around and swing heavy objects.
Furthermore, Wang Yue was particularly interested in whether wand cores could be used in parallel. To put it simply—if she held two wands, could she release two spells?
Just this morning, she had asked Professor Vida that very question.
The professor had brought two wands and let her try it for herself.
The result: she consumed twice the magic and manifested two Magic Missiles.
Professor Vida had said that while this might work for low-level magic, it was absolutely impossible for advanced spells. The runes required to trigger high-level magic were extremely complex and took too long to draw by hand. To use them in actual combat, one had to learn “Instant Casting,” which involved profound manipulation of magic.
Even a Hush-Name Witch couldn’t instantly cast two high-level spells at once.
***
After witnessing the mace design, Donna had no desire to discuss the “Dream Wand” topic further, and Wang Yue was tactful enough not to bring it up again.
Donna began explaining the basics of wand-making.
It was clear she was an expert at teaching; decades of experience allowed her to navigate the professional field with ease.
First, she gave a clear and simple explanation of the three-part structure of a wand and introduced several irregular types, such as the Shelley Wand and the Shuttle Wand.
Then, she began to explain the differences between ordinary wands and high-grade wands.
