After dinner, Candlefire entered the castle hall early.

Every night, Ms. Juan would give lessons in the hall. Unlike the aristocratic academies in big cities, the students who came to listen were all witches from the Witch Cooperation Association.

But she wasn't the first to arrive at the "classroom." Evelyn was already sitting at the long table and waved to her.

"Has Roland recently assigned you any tasks?" Candlefire had just sat down when Evelyn asked impatiently.

She remembered when she first came, she called him Lord. Candlefire smiled secretly in her heart, "Yes, he asked me to use my ability on some strangely shaped metal lumps to solidify them at room temperature. I don't know what they're for."

"Is... is that so," her eyes dimmed, "His Highness hasn't let me do anything yet."

"Isn't there any requirement for practice?" Candlefire asked strangely.

"No, I just practice on my own," Evelyn shook her head. "He only occasionally asks me to taste his newly brewed white wine."

"Maybe that's what His Highness values. You've been in a tavern before and are very familiar with the tastes of various wines. There aren't many witches like that."

"But you don't need a witch to taste wine," she protested, "The salary of a gold royal is enough to hire a professional winemaker."

"Uh..." Candlefire patted her on the shoulder, "I think His Highness must have his plans."

"Juan also comforted me like this, but even I don't know what this ability can do. I can't turn water into wine out of thin air... Could it be to make the best-tasting wine to sell? But commoners can only afford inferior ale, and the tastes of the nobles are different." Evelyn rested her chin on the table, dejectedly. "Moreover, the wine His Highness makes is getting more and more... awful. I suggested adding water or juice to blend it, but he seems to only want to make the strongest wine."

Candlefire didn't know what to say for a moment. In this respect, she and Evelyn could be said to be in the same boat. After going to Sleeping Island, they spent most of their time doing chores. As fish oil resources became increasingly abundant, solidified candles became dispensable, and drinking was strictly prohibited by Tilly.

And in the early days of tight living, supplies were often distributed according to ability. Candlefire sometimes only got a unsalted grilled fish a day. She didn't think there was anything wrong with this approach and was willing to give more food to those witches who consumed a lot of magic power. But the groups and subtle sense of exclusion that were divided among the witches because of this made her feel uncomfortable. Fortunately, Tilly took good care of them and apologized for this distribution method, promising that adjustments would be made after the resources were abundant, which prevented the witches from showing their exclusion too obviously.

But in Border Town, this kind of situation hardly ever happened—the witches all sat at the same table and enjoyed meals with Prince Roland, and there was no difference in what they wore and used... Most importantly, they regarded each other as a whole, regardless of whether their abilities were strong or not. This could be seen from their daily interactions. Although she had only been in Border Town for a short two weeks, she had deeply felt this.

They really treated each other like sisters.

This made Candlefire very envious.

When all the witches had gradually taken their seats, Ms. Juan walked in holding a stack of white papers. "Today we won't be teaching new content. I will conduct a comprehensive test of the knowledge you have learned."

"What's that?" Lightning raised her hand first.

"Gugu?" Maggie followed closely behind.

"You have been studying for three months. His Highness believes it is necessary to test your learning results." Juan smiled, "All the questions are listed on these papers, divided into Kingdom Language, Mathematics, and Nature, a total of sixty questions. Correct answers are awarded points, and incorrect answers are deducted... Of course, if you don't understand the question, you can't raise your hand to ask. I believe you have initially mastered the writing of words, otherwise you won't be able to answer even if you know the answer." She paused, "By the way, His Highness said that only those who answer more than half of the questions correctly can enjoy ice cream dessert on Sunday afternoon, and those whose scores are below this limit will be disqualified from afternoon tea."

Candlefire heard a snap behind her. She turned her head and saw that Nightingale looked stunned, and the charcoal pencil that had fallen on the ground was broken into two pieces.

"In addition, His Highness specifically instructed that the five witches from Sleeping Island are not included, so you can stay and take the test with everyone, or you can have a day off," Juan looked at Candlefire and Evelyn and the others, "No matter what the final score is, you can enjoy delicious afternoon tea."

"Phew," Evelyn patted her chest and whispered, "I don't even recognize all the words. I thought there would definitely be no ice cream for me."

Honey and Lotus happily got up and saluted Juan before leaving the hall.

Including Sylvie, who was feeling unwell and didn't come, only she and Evelyn were left among the Sleeping Island witches.

"Are you going to stay?" Candlefire asked in a low voice.

"I want to try," she nodded. "Didn't Roland say that knowledge can evolve abilities? If I don't put more effort into this, I'm afraid I'll never be able to compare to them." She showed a cunning smile, "These days, I've been practicing writing in my room after class, and Lily and Mystery Moon will also teach me how to write some common words."

Speaking of this, the frustration in her tone disappeared a lot, and her eyes began to shine, which made Candlefire couldn't help but curl up the corners of her mouth.

"Is that so, then I'll try too."

...

"Your Highness, the test results are out," Juan handed the summary table to Roland.

"Thank you for your hard work," he had been puzzled by the new discoveries in the North Slope Mining Area recently. He had difficulty concentrating even on his daily work, so he simply shifted his attention to something easier. "Oh, Nightingale's score actually passed?"

"Yes, and her score is among the top, and the Kingdom Language section is full marks," Juan smiled. "After all, the questions you asked are mostly very simple, and she originally knew how to write, so it's naturally much better than the witches who are learning from scratch."

"Tsk tsk," Roland clicked his tongue. "I thought this exam would make her eat less sweets." Before he finished speaking, he felt a heavy pinch on his shoulder. "In short, the results look good this time. All the Witch Alliance members are above sixty points, so it seems that your education is effective."

"This is also inseparable from their efforts."

Roland moved his gaze down, "Only two witches from Sleeping Island participated in the test?"

"Yes, Evelyn got five points, and Candlefire got thirty-six points. The latter should have some foundation, and most of the points come from the Kingdom Language section," she replied.

Having only taken two weeks of classes, she was already able to get points from the assessment sections outside of writing. The individual qualities of the witches were indeed amazing, and they were worthy of being continuously improved by magic both internally and externally. His own witches were equally outstanding. People like Lily, Hummingbird, and Mystery Moon had gone from being illiterate to basically mastering writing in just three months, which alone surpassed most ordinary people.

If everyone could completely abandon prejudice and work together with the witches to promote social and civilizational development, what would the future look like? Roland's heart was full of anticipation.