Chapter 248 – Hunting Techniques Class

Chapter 248 – Hunting Techniques Class

As for Mo Lan, the ruthless one who had ended the battle in just a few minutes, the young witches declared: “You’re already beyond our range of comparison!”

They couldn’t compete. Not even close!

Mo Lan also felt that at this rate, while winning was satisfying, the training wasn’t achieving its intended effect.

Winning or losing was secondary—what mattered most was getting results from the training.

After thinking it over, Mo Lan said, “Next training session, I won’t use Super Speed.”

“You won’t use Super Speed? Are you serious?” Vasida perked up immediately. Wouldn’t that mean she could just outrun Mo Lan until she lost from exhaustion?

Mo Lan obviously knew what she was thinking. “Only if you all don’t use it either.”

If nobody used it, the speed difference would be negligible, and winning would be much harder for Mo Lan.

At least it wouldn’t be a training exercise decided purely by speed.

Super Speed didn’t really need much training anyway—it improved through blood fusion, essentially an acquired innate ability.

“So it’s still a loss either way. Just a slower one,” Vasida said.

She didn’t think she could beat Mo Lan.

“That’s not necessarily true…” Cheryl suddenly said.

“You have an idea?” Vasida asked eagerly.

Cheryl looked toward Mo Lan.

Mo Lan took the hint. “Fine, fine, fine—I won’t listen! I’ll go practice magic at another training ground first.”

What could they possibly scheme? At most, they’d gang up on her during next week’s training.

For her, it would be a small challenge, but nothing more than that.

Now that would be interesting!

Come to think of it, the last magic practical class of the semester was about to start.

After burning through half her mana for the day, Mo Lan went back and started reading the textbook for the Hunting Techniques class.

“《How to Prepare a Wild Beast》?” Mo Lan read the title aloud, somewhat puzzled. “How come this doesn’t seem like a hunting techniques book? It reads more like a butchering manual.”

Only after finishing the entire book did she realize her initial confusion upon seeing the title was entirely justified. Mo Lan would gladly call it the witch version of Paoding’s ox-carving technique!

The book approached hunting from the perspective of the prey’s ultimate use, explaining how to hunt in ways that preserved the maximum value of the quarry.

For prey with valuable pelts, it taught how to kill without damaging the fur, and after the kill, how to skin and process the hide.

For prey with valuable flesh and blood, it taught how to kill while minimizing damage to the meat, along with subsequent preservation methods.

This class also involved a special type of magic that operated on the same principles as Culinary Magic and Sewing Magic—Butchering Magic.

The concept was to Attune a set of ordinary butchering tools, then let the tools process the prey on one’s behalf.

Of course, the prerequisite was being skilled at processing prey yourself before the butchering tools could take over.

The learning method was similar to Culinary Magic—first you learned to process prey by hand.

As for the magic portion, the book only mentioned it briefly in the final chapter, with minimal coverage, clearly indicating it wasn’t the focus of the course.

“If I’d known Butchering Magic existed, I wouldn’t have used the knives from my Mobile Kitchen Card to practice sharpening spell and flying dagger technique.”

Mo Lan sought out her senior Lilith and asked about the style of butchering tools, then combined that knowledge with hunting tools from Earth to create a Butchering Tool Card, and began Attuning it ahead of time.

She didn’t forget to notify the other second-year witches either.

The Hunting Techniques class was still held at the Magic Training Grounds.

Outdoor Training Ground No. 114 had a terrain that was eighty percent grassland and twenty percent woodland, housing dozens of species commonly found on witch dining tables—Dodo Birds, Green Fruit Lambs, Black-Skinned Pigs, Dash-Dash Cattle, and more.

More than half of the meat ingredients from the Academy’s Ingredient Collection Station came from here. The area was normally enclosed by a magic circle and wasn’t open to the public. Mo Lan and the others had only ever seen the inside from the sky above.

As soon as class began, Lady Amisha assigned their task: “Today, each of you must process at least five Dodo Birds!”

Each of them had a cage containing Dodo Birds placed before them.

“For prey like the Dodo Bird, where you only need to harvest meat and eggs from a feathered animal, getting the feathers cleaned off properly is the key. Typically, you start by scalding them with hot water…”

Mo Lan thought to herself—isn’t this exactly like butchering a chicken?

But don’t you need to slit the throat and drain the blood?

After Lady Amisha finished speaking, Mo Lan asked this question.

“No need. Dodo Bird blood has no gamey smell. In fact, Dodo Bird meat with blood still in it is actually more tender. So when you kill the Dodo Birds later, it’s best to minimize blood loss,” Amisha explained.

Mo Lan nodded, indicating she understood.

After Lady Amisha finished explaining the feather-plucking techniques, she let them get to work.

The other young witches pulled out their Butchering Tool Cards and selected their bird-killing implements.

Only Mo Lan drew her Wand.

A large mass of water surged forward, engulfing the five Dodo Birds with bound feet inside the cage.

This was the Water Drowning Technique. When this spell covered the mouth, nose, and any other openings, water elements would seep in and rapidly flood the heart and lungs.

Before long, all the Dodo Birds had been drowned by the spell.

Mo Lan didn’t stop casting. She maintained the Water Drowning Technique as the water-wrapped birds floated out of the cage. Then a large mass of fire appeared.

It started as a small cluster, then quickly spread and expanded to envelop the water spheres. The water temperature gradually rose.

After counting roughly twenty seconds in her head, Mo Lan withdrew her magic, and five perfectly scalded Dodo Birds dropped into the bucket.

While the other young witches were still deliberating whether to whack the Dodo Birds on the head first or slit their throats, Mo Lan had already begun plucking feathers by hand.

She finished processing all five Dodo Birds in under an hour—clean and efficient, with magic doing most of the heavy lifting.

“Don’t tell me you learned butchering in your previous life too!” Amisha asked.

“Just a teeny tiny bit,” Mo Lan said with a smile.

Hearing this answer, Amisha found herself not the least bit surprised. “Have you read the textbook?”

“Finished it,” Mo Lan said.

“Then go try processing the other animals on the training ground. Process one of each species, and if you can finish them all, you’ll be considered done with this class early.” Amisha sent her off to work on her own—she would only inspect the final results.

Mo Lan had no objections, of course.

Unlike the Dodo Birds, the other prey wouldn’t be tied up and waiting in cages—she’d have to catch them herself. But for Mo Lan, who had already mastered all eight branches of Elemental Magic—metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, lightning, and ice—that was nothing to worry about.

“This is actually a great opportunity to practice magic! I need to make the most of it!”

Mo Lan planned to use every applicable spell she could.

She wasn’t afraid of overkill—after all, some spells rarely got a chance to be used in practice.

This time, she finally had live, moving targets to practice on.

After casting a luck spell on herself, she hopped on her broom and flew up to search for prey.

The young witches watched her fly away with envy written all over their faces.

Now that was real hunting!

Meanwhile, they were stuck here… Ugh! These bird feathers were so hard to pluck!